When I met Modinc Skincare Founder Donna Howlett this past summer, I never would have guessed that she had most of the skin on her face burned off from a near-fatal accident when she was a teen in Australia. 

But thanks to her dad and the power of natural remedies, there’s no evidence of what she had been through. Indeed, the burn specialists at the hospital that treated her were amazed at how quickly and completely she healed. 

That incident was the inspiration behind Howlett’s line of clean-ingredient skin care products for women, men and babies that tap into the power of Australian botanicals and are showcased in sleekly-designed packaging that stands out on the shelf. 

And retail beauty buyers are taking notice. The brand has already landed several deals from ECRM's Skin Care, Bath, Cosmetics, Natural & Clean Beauty Session, including Sobey’s, SuperPharm and Shop LC (where you can watch Howlett live November 3rd at noon CST), and has several more in the pipeline from that Session it expects to come to fruition soon.

I sat with Howlett at the June Session to learn more about her interesting entrepreneurial journey and how she is managing the rapid growth of Modinc, which is already in approximately 4,500 stores. You can watch our full interview below or listen to it on our podcast, Winning Pitches with RangeMe & ECRM (Episode 59). 

The Outback Accident: A Near-Tragic Origin

The genesis of Modinc was born not in a corporate board room or a cosmetic laboratory, but in the remote Australian Outback. When Howlett was 17 years old, a weekend trip to a friend's 1,000-acre farm quickly turned catastrophic.

While staying in a caravan – the Australian term for a trailer – Howlett and a friend had spent the day water skiing and barefooting along a river. After turning on an old-fashioned gas oven, the two fell asleep. Two hours later, Howlett awoke to find the flame extinguished while the gas continued to flow.

"I woke up and realized the oven was off," Howlett recalls. "I turned the gas off, turned it back on again, lit the match and it just went boom."

The resulting explosion was devastating. Howlett lost a quarter of her hair, suffered temporary vision loss, and incurred severe full-thickness burns. During an agonizing 45-minute drive to the nearest rural hospital, family members repeatedly applied wet towels to her face. "My skin was just sliding off my face," she says.

Howlett spent two weeks in intensive care. When her father completed a five-hour drive to reach the hospital, medical staff cautioned him that his daughter was unrecognizable. Upon discharge, the hospital sent the family home with standard medical burn creams. Her father, however, took a radically different path.

"When we got home, he read the ingredients on the burn creams and he's like, 'I'm not using this rubbish.' And he just threw it straight in the bin," Howlett says. "I grew up on a horse farm in Australia. He went and grabbed the aloe vera plant, cut it open, sliced it in half and they got all the jelly out and put it all over my face and laid the leaves on my face. Three times a day he did that."

Two weeks later, Howlett returned to the hospital to see a specialist for anticipated skin grafting and plastic surgery. What the doctors found stunned them: new, healthy skin was regenerating under the scabs. When her father revealed he had bypassed the prescribed creams in favor of raw aloe vera, the specialist conceded that Howlett was remarkably fortunate.

"That was where my passion started," Howlett says. "Because my dad was a man of nature and I wanted to implicate that into the skin care line."

The Sydney Markets: Bootstrapping Skincare Through Fresh Produce

Despite her early epiphany regarding plant botanicals, Howlett did not launch her brand immediately. Instead, she embarked on a pragmatic journey to build capital, knowledge, and supply chain expertise. She took a bookkeeping role at the Sydney Markets, a massive produce distribution hub in Australia.

Working grueling hours that began at midnight, Howlett leveraged the position to establish her own lucrative produce company. She built direct supply contracts with major supermarket chains, distributing strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, cherries, and other fresh produce across the region.

This venture served a dual purpose: it generated the capital necessary to self-fund her future cosmetic brand while offering an immersive, ground-up education in botanical agriculture. "I started to spend a lot of time on the farms and learning a lot about how things are growing and what are the benefits they bring," Howlett says. "The luscious berries and the Kakadu Plum, and all of those particular produce that we have in Australia are absolutely amazing for skincare."

By working directly alongside growers, Howlett mastered the biological properties of native Australian flora. She learned how environmental stressors, harvesting cycles, and soil quality influenced antioxidant concentration – knowledge that would later form the technical foundation of Modinc's formulations.

10 Years in Development: Formulations, Chemists, and Manufacturing Strategy

Building a clean beauty brand from scratch was neither quick nor cheap. Howlett spent ten full years in research and development before bringing Modinc to market. The extended timeline tested her resolve and drew skepticism from onlookers.

"It's frustrating because your friends know your vision and you're always talking about it and then people start to doubt you," Howlett says. "They're like, 'She's never going to do this. All she does is talk about it.' But I don't talk about anything unless I do it. So that process was very tedious."

The financial burden was compounded by cross-border economics. Howlett was pouring Australian revenue into U.S.-denominated R&D and legal expenses. Due to currency conversion rates at the time, she routinely lost roughly 40% of her capital in exchange fees.

After experimenting with initial bench formulations at home in Australia, Howlett realized she needed clinical expertise. She conducted exhaustive research to recruit a cosmetic chemist whose philosophy aligned with her vision.

"I felt like I nailed the formulation right at the start," Howlett said. "But then when I worked with the chemist, she opened up Pandora's box and it was like, 'Okay, you've nailed it, but now we need to do this particular process.' And so that was a very long and extensive time."

Personal adversity intersected with business development when Howlett’s father was diagnosed with leukemia. Balancing her responsibilities between her produce business, skincare R&D, and caring for her family slowed momentum, but her family-first ethos remained non-negotiable.

When it came time to scale manufacturing, Howlett made a deliberate decision: despite her Australian roots, she chose to manufacture Modinc entirely within the United States. "I always knew that I had to make it in America because Australia's so far away," Howlett says. "Otherwise with the currency rate and the shipping costs it would have to be high end, and that's not what I was about. I want everyday people that use body wash and body lotion to enjoy something really good on their skin."

Botanical Formulation Science and Product Suite

Modinc’s product line centers on high-potency Australian botanicals designed to deliver functional dermatological benefits without leaving a greasy or sticky residue. Every formulation is vegan, cruelty-free, dermatologist-tested, and certified through clean sourcing channels.

The core product portfolio highlights distinct native ingredients:

Australian Marine Minerals

Considered Howlett's "first born" product, this formula incorporates nutrient-dense algae extracts harvested from the Great Barrier Reef, blended with ocean sea salt and natural coral notes.

Luscious Berries

Formulated with ripeberry, pepperberry, and malt berries, this antioxidant-heavy blend is packed with vitamins designed to protect and repair the skin barrier.

Kakadu Plum

Sourced from Australia’s Northern Territory, Kakadu Plum contains the highest recorded natural concentration of Vitamin C in the world – up to 100 times that of an orange, according to Howlett. 

Caviar Lime

Utilizing Australian finger lime, this formula is packed with natural Vitamin C and Vitamin E to soothe damaged tissue and promote dermal healing.

Hypoallergenic/Unfragranced

Formulated specifically for consumers managing eczema, psoriasis, and severe topical sensitivities.

Men's Line

Developed in response to strong retail demand, featuring scents like Surf & Sand, Sport (infused with Australian Ylang Ylang), Sandals, and Snowy River. Snowy River holds deep sentimental value for Howlett: "This one is actually in honor of my dad that passed away. It's very woodsy, which reminds me of him."

Packaging Psychology and Practical Engineering

Howlett’s commercial strategy relies heavily on visual branding and functional structural design. Indeed, the brand name Modinc was derived from "modern ink," representing a clean-cut aesthetic.

The visual identity relies on strict monochromatic contrast punctuated by vivid colors. "The black and white, that means there's no gray areas with my formulations," Howlett says. "I live in the black and white world. I'm not in the gray areas. And the color – people will remember colors, they don't remember names."

This insight stemmed directly from her produce career. While supplying supermarkets, she noticed local fruit growers produced superior berries but packaged them poorly. By redesigning their punnets – including creating a reflective mirror heart design for a strawberry farmer – she witnessed retail sales surge because buyers recognized the packaging immediately on store shelves.

Beyond aesthetics, Modinc’s packaging includes user-centric physical engineering:

• Custom Lockable Pumps: Modinc uses custom silver pumps featuring a simple quarter-turn locking mechanism. This design prevents accidental discharge or product leakage in luggage, eliminating consumer waste during travel.

• Standardized Fluid Volume: The men’s line uses a shorter, squattier bottle silhouette to appeal to male merchandising displays while maintaining the exact same fluid-ounce volume as the taller unisex bottles.

• Eco-Friendly Materials: Bottles are constructed from 100% recyclable PET plastic. Labels and text are screen-printed directly onto the container using non-toxic, lead-free ink, streamlining the recycling process.

Scaling to 4,500 Doors Organically

In an era dominated by high customer acquisition costs and heavy digital ad spend, Modinc’s commercial expansion stands out. Since launching commercially in 2022, the brand has grown entirely through organic wholesale distribution.

"All of my business is direct," Howlett says. "We're in over three and a half thousand stores across the United States currently, going into another thousand stores in the next four to six weeks."

This rapid footprint expansion was driven by old-fashioned door-to-door sales strategy: relentless cold calling, direct emails, conducting personal in-store demonstrations, and building direct relationships with store managers and regional buyers. And now, ECRM is added to the mix.

Masterclass in Retail Pitches: Navigating ECRM

To bridge the gap between independent retail doors and major national chains, Howlett participated in ECRM’s Beauty Session this past summer. It wasn’t her first Session, however. Howlett initially participated in ECRM’s Contract Manufacturing Session as a buyer, evaluating packaging and contract suppliers.

When she transitioned to the supplier side for the ECRM Session, her team structured a tight, highly coordinated pitch strategy:

Deep Buyer Research

Before entering a quick-fire meeting, the team audited the specific buyer’s store portfolio to ensure product alignment. "Some buyers are there for just lotion and some buyers are there just for body wash," Howlett says. "You're not going to sit in front of a buyer that buys wash and pitch them lotion."

The Three-Part Pitch Structure

• Founder Intro: A quick history of the brand origin, Australian botanical differentiators, and core product mission.
• Sales & Trade Support: Detailed breakdown of promotional calendars, margin structures, and retail support.
• Marketing Strategy: Overview of localized consumer marketing, brand collateral, and sell-through tactics.

Dedicated Q&A Time

Howlett stresses the importance of leaving aample time for buyer interaction. "You have to give the buyer the opportunity to ask you questions," Howlett says. "If you go into it unprepared, I think it goes south. Preparation is very important."

Howlett also emphasized the value of informal networking after hours. During casual dinners at the event, retail buyers shared positive product experiences, leading directly to verified purchase orders. One major retail buyer approached Howlett's team during dinner after testing a sample earlier that morning, confirming his intent to carry the brand right at the table.

The Entrepreneurial Mindset: No Plan B

Howlett’s advice for aspiring founders is uncompromising. "Being an entrepreneur is not for the lazy and it's not for the weak,” she says. “We can all work for somebody, but if you want to start your own business, you've got to jump in both feet. If you go into a business saying, 'Oh, this is plan A, but this is plan B,' you're setting yourself up for failure, because you've already got that mindset. You're planning your escape already."

Howlett is a living example of this advice. To launch Modinc in the United States, she put her lucrative, comfortable Australian produce business into dormancy and moved to America in 2022 without a local support network.

"During my first two years of being in America, I cried every day because I was very lonely," Howlett admits. "I didn't have any friends, but I started to get out there and meet people. Once I started getting to stores and doing in-store demonstrations, I made more and more friends. You have to be out there."

Rather than allowing introversion or isolation to stall her growth, Howlett threw herself into field work. Her guiding philosophy rejects dwelling on obstacles: "I don't believe in problems. I only believe in solutions."

Future Horizons: The Next Phase for Modinc

Modinc is currently executing an aggressive growth roadmap. Behind the scenes, Howlett maintains an intense schedule, regularly working 16-hour days, seven days a week to prepare for major Q4 retail rollouts. The brand is expanding beyond its core lotion and body wash SKUs to launch three brand-new product categories, which ECRM covers in its Personal Care Sessions:

• Natural Body & "Booty" Wipes: Formulated with gentle plant extracts for safe, daily full-body cleansing.

• Natural Deodorants: Aluminum-free, botanical-based formulations designed to neutralize odor without irritating sensitive skin.

• Natural Bar Soaps: Cold-processed, botanical-infused bar soaps utilizing native Australian extracts.

From surviving a near-fatal explosion in the Outback to conquering thousands of store shelves across America, Howlett’s trajectory illustrates the power of authentic story-telling, strict formulation discipline, and unyielding personal initiative. As Modinc prepares for its next retail expansion, its founder remains firmly focused on bringing high-performance, natural Australian skincare to everyday consumers nationwide.

Executive Summary of Modinc Skincare's Origin & Retail Success

• Founder: Donna Howlett, Founder & CEO

• Core Brand Mission: Clean, accessible, Australian botanical-infused body care that is vegan, cruelty-free, and dermatologist-tested.

• Origin Catalyst: A near-fatal gas explosion at age 17 resulting in severe facial burns, healed using raw aloe vera harvested by her father.

• Funding & R&D Strategy: Self-funded through a fresh produce wholesale business in Sydney Markets; spent 10 years formulating with specialized chemists.

• Distribution Footprint: Scaled to 3,500+ U.S. retail locations organically, expanding by another 1,000 stores.

• Key Innovation & Packaging: Recyclable PET containers, lead-free screen printing, leak-proof locking pumps, and high-contrast color psychology.

• Upcoming Product Pipeline: Natural deodorants, natural bar soaps, and body wipes launching within 16 weeks.