Dawn Andrews’ nationwide business had been about enhancing people’s beauty.
But now her calling could very conceivably be about saving lives.
Such is the metamorphosis from one manufacturing moment to another. Less than two weeks ago, Andrews, who put her creation known as Garb2ART Cosmetics on a national, department store scale with lip glosses and more artfully packaged in recycled materials, realized the spread of the novel coronavirus was halting sales of her products because of dwindling shopper traffic amid sheltering-in-place guidelines.
In fact, one major store franchise that owes her $10,000 in cosmetics payments even sent her a note saying they couldn’t settle its account with her for a while amid the severe economic dip.
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But the self-proclaimed Gloss Boss made little time for sadness. Because the high-energy, seize-the-moment businesswoman suddenly fell into a new niche beginning March 12.
Seems that four years ago, she briefly made hand sanitizer in a pinch for Roche Diagnostics, and later manufactured some for a few hospitals. When COVID-19 began spreading, her Garb2ART sales reps across the country told her that pharmacies and other outlets “were begging for hand sanitizer” as demand rose to unprecedented levels. Hand cleansing steps are among the main routes to killing the virus, according to authorities.
So the reps asked if she would consider making sanitizer. She hardly understood.
“I said, ‘OK, I’ll make 1,000 (bottles),’” she said. “I remember that one of them chuckled and said ‘Uh, I think you’re going to need to make a lot more.’”
What a prophecy.
Now, already headlong into her new venture after a nerve-wracking $20,000 personal investment plus a batch of 25 new, added employees she hired only days ago, a reborn Garb2ART — she’s waiting to give this effort a proper name while the cosmetics line is on hold — is suddenly manufacturing 10,000 concentrated, one-ounce bottles daily for hospitals, pharmacies, nursing homes, jails, you name it. In fact, the demand at her business on Central Avenue in Columbus may be among few things spreading faster than the virus in major cities.
She figures she’ll be producing way more than those 10,000 bottles soon — with a possibility of meeting such a demand for perhaps a year or more. She already projects first quarter sanitizer sales will outpace her full 2019 year sales for cosmetics.
The current struggle: She is working six days per week and sleeping only a few hours per night. And procuring isopropyl alcohol for her mix is about as challenging.
“Never in a million years did I think hand sanitizer would put us on the map,” Andrews said. “It’s crazy.”
Much the same, never did she figure that she abruptly would be employing laid off, former Columbus restaurant servers and cooks such as Tyler Blankenship to help her with her twist of fate and faith.
“It’s amazing that something so small (as these bottles) can impact so many companies and so many lives,” said Blankenship, soon to inherit the title of general sales manager for the new venture. “My whole goal right now is to take half of these (orders and responsibilities) off her shoulders. We’re just pushing it out, pushing it out, pushing it out.”
Understandably, most of her customers would like the product delivered in a week or less. On Monday afternoon, an Indianapolis sales rep filled a van with some 20 boxes of the sanitizer and drove off. Just before that, a UPS driver could accept only a portion — 100-plus boxes — of another shipment because the mailings literally filled his vehicle.
Orders are such that she now is buying isopropyl alcohol in 500-gallon amounts. While she spoke about all this near where her staff mixed the concoctions, some perfumed with lighter scents such as lavender and flannel rose, her phone buzzed with more orders every few minutes. Her voice mailbox filled quickly. Monday afternoon alone, including calls, texts and emails, 200 customers were inquiring about orders.
All this begs the question: How did they hear of her so quickly?
“I really have no idea,” she said, looking as surprised as anyone.
But the attention grows. She did a live-streamed, national interview Tuesday with CNBC.
Clearly, the woman who made a name for herself with literal lip service, if you will, and customer service now is known for business practices as clean as her products. Consider the following note from one of her reps:
“I just wanted to let you know that one of my hospitals from Wisconsin out in an order for sanitizer today and they wanted me to pass along and say kudos to you for not price-gouging people. They said that they appreciate companies like yours!”
It should be no surprise that this is a woman who was among the Columbus Area Chamber of Commerce’s 2019 Women in Leadership honorees. New employee Karla Boggs, who has been working part-time for the Columbus Parks and Recreation Department until her work was put on hold, is grateful for Andrews’ self-starting ways — and the notice Boggs spotted online about workers urgently needed.
Boggs’ daughter and nephew also are working for Andrews.
“I just love it,” Boggs said, while grouping filled bottles of sanitizer for a large order. “And this definitely will help pay bills. My husband is a firefighter, so I love the idea of knowing this is certainly helping people.”
Monday afternoon, after part of Andrews’ crew quickly loaded an order of boxes to be delivered, the company leader looked at them and smiled.
“You guys are rock stars,” she said.
And, maybe in the big picture of a worldwide health scare, they’re life savers, too.
[sc:pullout-title pullout-title=”About Garb2ART Cosmetics” ][sc:pullout-text-begin]
- Company launched in 2013.
- Once briefly filled a few corporate orders for hand sanitizer four years ago.
- Has included products ranging from body butters to "bath bombs."
- Figures to be making sanitizer for the next year to 18 months, eventually under a separate name.
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