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SUNY ESF senior Catherine Genao always had a love for science. As a child, she was found playing in the yard mixing dirt with leaves and was fascinated by explosions and living creatures.
Now, her passion for the subject has inspired an engineering career path and the creation of her two self-run brands, Hairified, and most recently, Bodyfide.
“I felt myself loving chemical engineering because I was able to create things to help people, my main passion is to help people,” Genao said.
Genao began brainstorming Bodyfide during her sophomore year of college and the beauty brand officially launched this month. Genao had extensive experience in chemistry and wanted to experiment with creating natural products. So far, Bodyfide has officially announced body oils in two scents, Velour Violet and Icey Lee.
Bodyfide grew out of her earlier company, Hairified, which she started in middle school and still runs. The hair and nail service got her foot in the door to entrepreneurship, Genao said. At ESF, Genao set up a lab in her dorm where she makes sure her products are well sanitized and curated.
For Genao, her love for science and her dedication to create her brand were shaped by both her identity as an Afro-Latina and her home in Harlem, New York City, she said. The community she grew up in often suffered from health struggles due to poverty and a lack of strong food and medicine systems, Genao said.
Genao’s products depend on all natural ingredients, reflecting the importance of health, Genao said. In addition to pursuing medicine in the future, Genao hopes to grow the scope of her brand, with the ultimate goal of displaying her own products in Ulta.
“I always wanted to just be my own company, because I felt like, if I worked under a company and tried to share my voice, it wasn’t going to be advocated or spoken out the correct way I want to,” Genao said.
Genao’s mother died when she was 10 years old. Genao said she tries to “see the light in everyone” like her mother did. Growing up, her older sister served as an important role model, Genao said. Both these relationships played a big part in her desire to help others, she said.
“That’s what gave me that passion to find a resource for my people and my community, to find hope,” Genao said. “Society kind of benefits from us, I wanted to change that with something.”
Genao wanted to create change and make something of her own, she said. Through this, she aimed to represent all people and those who looked like her. This outlook sparked the launch of her two brands.
ESF senior Venuri Atulugama, Genao’s friend since freshman year, has been following Genao’s work for quite some time. She has been getting her hair and nails done through Hairified for three years. When Bodyfide was introduced, Atulugama immediately followed the account on Instagram. Knowing her as a person also contributed to Atulugama’s trust in the brand, she said.
“She’s the type of person that makes everyone feel comfortable in their own skin and body,” Atulugama said. “She really tries to empower others by being a Black-owned beauty brand.”
Genao approached ESF senior Brianna Simone and asked her to be a model for Bodyfide’s first campaign. Simone said she felt seen by the body oil product and overall brand. It’s nice to be a part of a product everyone can use, Simone said.
Despite her customer’s varying backgrounds, Genao aims to send messages of inclusivity and makes it her mission to make sure everyone can relate to her products. Bodyfide’s motto is “embracing the authentic body.” No matter who the customer is, everyone is included in the target audience for the brand, Genao said.
Rather than centering Bodyfide around appearance or beauty standards, Genao builds it around people, using her background in science and engineering to guide the way she formulates and designs each item.
“I don’t want to be the image, I want to be on the sidelines. I want the people who buy it as the image,” Genao said. “Each product I create is based on a life story of that someone, so that they relate to the product.”
