In this episode, I have podcast guest Lin Chen, founder of Pink Moon. After experiencing a series of toxic relationships, Lin embarks on a journey of self-love, which eventually inspires her to launch Pink Moon – a clean beauty skincare line based on holistic practices like Chinese medicine and Astrology. We talk about building perseverance and persistence when going through touch challenges and why the journey of self-care is not only necessary, but vital.

00:00 Introduction, Pink Moon 10% off with code GRACED10, & Giveaway Details

02:09 Interview begins

02:57 How Lin started Pink Moon and her self-care journey

06:09 Rituals Lin tried during her self-care journey

07:49 How those rituals influenced Pink Moon and its products

10:27 Pink Moon’s Astrology skincare line

14:11 What’s Lin’s big three – sun, moon, rising?

15:10 The perks of traveling alone

17:21 AD – rsvp for your ticket to the How to Create Your Deck masterclass! createyourdeck.club

19:20 Going outside of your comfort zone

20:09 Healing from toxic relationships

22:58 Establishing healthy boundaries

24:58 Patterns in toxic relationships

29:57 What’s next for Pink Moon

31:08 Moving on from toxic relationships

33:58 End + giveaway details!

Get 10% off all Pink Moon products with code GRACED10

💖 INTRODUCTION

Hello and welcome to the GRACED podcast, where we infuse everyday magic into your everyday life.

Today’s episode, we have Lin Chen from Pink Moon, a beauty and skincare brand inspired by this founder’s self-care journey. After a series of toxic relationships, Lin went into her own journey of healing, and that’s where Pink Moon was born.

Lin and I have collaborated over the past year and most recently I invited her to be on the Wellness panel I hosted at Shopify NY for the Astrology new year. You can listen episode 3 of this podcast or watch the full panel on the Mystic Mondays YouTube.

Also, I’ve tried the Pink Moon products and they are divine – especially the astrology skin care line that is matched with each zodiac sign. If you want to check out the YouTube video where I unbox and try the Pink Moon products, check it out on the @grace_duong YouTube channel – video coming soon!

You can get 10% off your purchase by using code GRACED10 at checkout. Also, to celebrate Asian American Pacific Islander month, Pink Moon has partnered up with other AAPI brands to give away free gifts with any orders over $35! So use code GRACED10 to get an additional 10% off and snag some free gifts to support AAPI brands!

If you listen all the way to the end of this episode, I’m revealing a giveaway where you can win a Pink Moon product! You’ll get a chance to win your choice out of the Astrology skincare line which includes clean beauty cleaners, toners, and moisturizers.

Now let’s dive in to this episode!

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✨ Interview begins, introducing Lin Chen

Grace Duong: Hi, Lin! How are you?

Lin Chen: Hi, Grace! Happy Monday.

Grace Duong: Happy Monday! We happened to be recording on a Monday. Which is obviously significant for Mystic Mondays. But how are you doing and thank you so much for being on the podcast.

Lin Chen: I’m good I had caught up on a lot of sleep over the weekend. I was so refreshed for the new week. How about you?

Grace Duong: Yes. I’m doing good too, I have also been resting. The last time we saw each other was at the Shopify event that Mystic Mondays had thrown together. And Pink Moon, you, were on the panel as well as one of the vendors for the Wellness Market. So thank you so much for being a part of it.

Lin Chen: Yeah, thank you. That was such a fun event.

Grace Duong: It was so fun!

✨ How Lin started Pink Moon and her self-care journey

Grace Duong: and I love seeing new diverse faces in the wellness space and I think it’s so important that you’re representing yourself, your story, and your brand. And I’d love to hear more about your brand and how it started.

Lin Chen: Yeah, so Pink Moon launched in the middle of pandemic June of 2020. And I have been working in the beauty space for pretty much my whole career. So now, it’s been about 10 years. And I’ve just always wanted to start my own brand. It was something I had on my list of things I wanted to accomplish before turning 30 when I was getting out of a toxic relationship. And one of them was to launch a company. And so it was always in the back of my mind to start a company one day, and also because my dad was really entrepreneurial and he’s had several companies of his own as well. So I feel like I definitely got my entrepreneurial spirit partially the from him and just from being someone that just like wants to create. And build a company that’s meaningful and really impacts people’s lives. And so part of my inspiration of launching Pink Moon was— I was in a series of toxic relationships and during these times I never took time for myself, didn’t know how to love myself, didn’t know how to enjoy my own solitude. And thus you know all these relationships were pretty co-dependent and after the last breakup, I made a promise to myself that I would just spend the next year or year and a half, however long it took, to learn how to love myself, learn how to take care of myself and really take care of my mental, emotional, and physical health. And so during this time, as I mentioned, made that list of things I wanted to accomplish before turning 30. Which included things like in addition to launching a company also included: traveling solo, and I wrote down a list of specific countries I wanted to go do by myself.

There’s just like you know things as simple as dining alone at a restaurant, sitting on a bar by myself and feeling comfortable not having to like look at my phone and scroll through my phone throughout the timeline by myself. And so I started doing a lot of these things, when it came to starting a company, I was like,  “Okay, this looks like a good time to launch a company.” And and also during this time of the healing. I was diving back into various holistic practices that I grew up with like Chinese medicines, was doing a lot of acupuncture, because I had like severe insomnia I was deep in depression, it was my lowest point.So I was doing a lot of acupuncture to help with sleep also dealing with like really bad period cramps, headaches, and then taking Chinese herbs and then I was also talking to various astrologers and diving deeper into astrology as well so I tried reiki for the first time so combining these various holistic modalities, I think were just so powerful to my healing and helped bring me back to a place of empowerment, joy, and really helped me learn to truly, deeply, unapologetically love myself so that’s when the first sort of first reiteration of Pink Moon was born in mid 2017, So it started out as a consultancy where I was working with various indie female lead beauty brands helping them with growth, expansion, social media, marketing, and so on.

Grace Duong: I love that! That’s amazing.

✨ Rituals Lin tried during her self-care journey

Grace Duong: And I love that this all started from healing your own pain of being in these toxic relationships, so I’m wondering what that year looked like for you year and a half of certain rituals that you tried, or certain Chinese herbs that you were attracted to, like what were you finding for yourself during that time?

Lin Chen: I literally tried everything, like I was also going through intense talk therapy, spent a lot of time in my bathtub, I would just take a bath, turn off all the lights, light a few candles, turn off my phone, and just laying the bathtub and cry or dream or whatever I felt like I needed to do, sometimes have a glass of wine or some hot tea, and just meditate. And then I was spending a lot of time walking around the city by myself, I would walk one day all the way from East village like East 7th Street all the way back to my apartment which was on West 83rd Street and when I got to my home, I was like, “Oh my god! I can’t believe I walked literally the entire city.” Like from South to North so you know, doing things that just I would never have done if I were in these relationships.  Yeah, and then what else I do.

Some of the herbs I take, I can’t really remember the herbs I was taking but I remember my acupuncturist gave me this essential oil blend that helped me a lot with breathing, because I had a lot of congestion during this time as well. And this blend, I’m sure it had like peppermint or spearmint and some other herbs. I would just like dab it onto a tissue and whenever I felt like an anxiety attack coming on or like it was hard to breathe, I would just put the tissue to my nose and just like take really deep breaths, so I did a lot of breath work during this time as well.

✨ How those rituals influenced Pink Moon and its products

Grace Duong: And from all of that, how did you decide to approach Pink Moon?

Lin Chen: Yeah, so from the consultancy, I had been doing the consultancy for a couple years. And then I just always wanted to start my own beauty brand. And this was actually a couple years before I launched Pink Moon. I had friends telling me: “Lin, you know so much about skincare ingredients, formulas, and product development. You should really start your own skincare brand.” And at that time, I had an idea. I had a potential business partner and we’re looking into how much it cost to launch a beauty brand, a skincare brand. And we’re like: “Okay, it’s going to cost like a million dollars if you want to launch it like with a lot of good press, branding, really strong brand identity, good quality formulas.” And I was in my early 20s at that time. So I was like: “Okay, it’s definitely not doable for me.” I don’t have like 500k laying around. And so it was always put in the back of my mind. And so from the consultancy to the brand, I was just working really closely with these founders much about product development and how to launch a brand. I even worked with a couple entrepreneurs that came to me with a concept and then I helped them bring their idea to the market.

So just having all this knowledge and experience helping these brands launch and grow, I felt like: “Okay, I think this is time to launch my own thing.” So my initial idea was to have this e-commerce platform where I would have the Pink Moon brand and these female led brands that I had been consulting for for a couple of years. So it would be like an ecosystem of female founded brands. That was the initial concept of Pink Moon.

Grace Duong: And from there, how did it grow into its own line?

Lin Chen: Yeah, I had launched the platform with our Rose Quartz Gua Sha Facial Tools. So that was the very first product that we launched. I actually launched that a couple of months before the e-commerce. So I did a holiday pop-up in Union Square. And at that time, it was like the marketplace where I was having these various female led brands. And then I was like, it’d be fun to launch something under the Pink Moon brand. That’s like this fun thing to gift, and it’s also a skincare, self-care, self-love tool. So I launched the Rose Quartz Gua Sha Facial Tool, sold out of it at that event. And a lot of people are coming back and saying, “I don’t know how to use this tool.” or “I don’t know what kind of product to use with it.”

And so I launched the Over the Moon Gua Sha facial oil. So the line really grew from there. So like people are buying the facial oil, they’re like, “Well, I really love this oil. It’s really high quality. I love the scent. Can you create something for body?” So I created the Midnight Melody Body and Hair Oil, and it just really grew from there. People are like, “I love this product. Can you create more products? Even like a perfume? Perfume oil would be nice.” So I launch the perfume oils and it just went from there.
 

✨ Pink Moon’s Astrology skincare line

Grace Duong: Yeah, I remember trying some of your products and love the versatility of the oil that you have that you can use that as your oil or you can use it in your hair. And I feel like self-care can be in multitudes, right? Like it can look in any sort of different way that you choose to. But something I really love that you launched was the Astrology skincare line that you have with Once in a Pink Moon.

Lin Chen: Yeah, so the idea of Once in a Pink Moon actually came around, now it’s been 4 years. So this was when I was starting to plan, when I was doing my consultancy, starting to plan out the Pink Moon platform and brand. And I made a list of products I wanted to launch under the Pink Moon brand. So of course, that included the Gua Sha Tool, and then I wrote at the bottom: “Astrology skincare line for tweens and teens.” And so the initial concept started out for an idea, a skincare line for tweens and teens. Tweens and teens are obsessed with astrology and also the skincare market for tweens and teens, particularly natural clean products that are efficacious is also lacking. And so, this was the idea on the piece of paper for a little bit. And it wasn’t until late 2021 when I started to think about: Okay, how else do I want to grow Pink Moon and what other modalities are we not incorporating here? Cause we already had the Chinese medicine, we had the Reiki, had the crystal healing aromatherapy. I was like “Wait, there’s no astrology?” And so I went back to that astrology concept and thought: Okay, instead of making it for just tweens and teens, I’m going to open it up to like really be an age-inclusive line that’s fun to use. It’s colorful.

And then I also partnered with an API astrologer to help me co-develop the line to ensure that it is authentic to spirituality and astrology. And just really making a skincare line that’s fun to use brings joy to your daily rituals because skincare is not fun for a lot of women, because a lot of the messaging is around anti-aging and just so much shaming. And I thought, okay, well, skincare brings me so much joy, so does astrology. And combined these two aspects of my life that just brings me so much comfort and joy. And so, here’s Once in a Pink Moon.

Grace Duong: Awesome! So how did you and the astrologer come up with the certain ingredients? Like how did you collaborate on this product together?

Lin Chen: Yeah, so I told her that I wanted to revolve the line around the four ashram elements: Earth, Fire, Water, and Air. She would do some research on ingredients. Like which ingredients that are good for that specific purpose of the element. All 4 Element Collection are very different from each other. They have their own purpose and ritual. So the Earth element is strengthening and nurturing. It’s focused on just strengthening the skin, and it’s good for those with really sensitive skin, redness, inflammation. Then we have the Water element, which is hydrating, of course. Air is brightening, and then Fire is energizing. So, she’s selecting ingredients based on those element collections, like what they do for this skin and what signs in that element tend to be drawn to.

Grace Duong: Nice, and do you find that other people who are not of the element, would it benefit them to try something that is different? So for example, I have a fire sign, would it benefit me to go to a water sign or something like that or use the water sign?

Lin Chen: Yeah. Yeah, we actually have quite a few fire signs using the Water Element Collection, because they feel like they need more water in their life because they have too much energy like they just want like a more not dreamy. I’m trying to think of the word like more. I guess like they want more hydration in their life, so they go for the water element.

Grace Duong: Yeah, it definitely depends on what else is in your chart because I’m an Aries Sun, but also Pisces Moon, so I feel like the water element also feeds my moon.

✨ What’s Lin’s big three – sun, moon, rising?

Grace Duong: But let’s ask, what’s your big three?

Lin Chen: Yeah, so double Virgo,Virgo Sun, Virgo Rising, and Sagittarius Moon.

Grace Duong: How do you feel like that relates to you and how you’ve approached building your business?

Lin Chen: I’ve been told that I’m a Virgo to a T. So, and I feel like, and I’ve been told pretty often that Virgos tend to be really good entrepreneurs and like good creators because, you know, highly detailed, organized, and just like always thinking of the next thing. And then the Sag Moon helps me be like energized and always intellectually curious, wanting to do a lot of research and have a lot of fire and passion for what I’m doing.

Grace Duong: Yeah, absolutely. Yes, definitely double Virgo with the detail oriented and how you are approaching all this because there’s a lot of SKUs within Once in a Pink Moon and there’s a lot to look at and handle, so kudos to you double Virgo.14:11 What’s Lin’s big three – sun, moon, rising?

✨ The perks of traveling alone

Grace Duong: So let’s talk about your Sagittarius Moon, because you mentioned traveling by yourself for the first time earlier in the interview and I find that traveling is such an eye-opening experience. Where did you go when you traveled alone and what did you learn from that experience?

Lin Chen: Yeah, so I went to Norway as the first country that I traveled solo. And I picked Norway because when I was doing a lot of research, because I was really actually deeply scared to travel alone, So I looked up a list of countries that are safe for women to travel solo. Norway was like number one. And I did so much research, like I’m part of several travel Facebook groups for women. And Norway came out to be like one of the most popular destinations for women traveling solo and I booked my trip like almost 7 to 8 months before I went and I didn’t tell my mom till like 2 months before, because I was like, “Oh my gosh! She’s gonna like make me cancel it!” because like my mom’s always been a warrior and even though she travels solo pretty often herself and has done so when she was younger, she’s just always been like really anxious about me doing things by myself, so— But yeah, I was like so scared! I almost canceled my trip, but I had like lined everything up. I wrote down my itinerary in my phone, in my email, and on a piece of paper. Just so I could have everything and I also told myself. Okay, I’m gonna have this trip just to myself. I’m not gonna make any friends. I’m not gonna talk to anyone. I just want like complete solitude. And I did spend the first night—I flew into Oslo, stayed a night with a friend of a friend and of course we hung out and then after that trip, I just went I did like some couch surfing. I did Airbnb—not Airbnb. I did couch surfing and I stayed at a hostel, which are two things I would never have done.Also, and so it was definitely like a really, I guess I would call it a very adventurous trip because I did so many things that I’ve never had done. Like the couch surfing was definitely something that I’ve heard a lot of horror stories about. I stayed with this guy that I read through literally hundreds of reviews on his profile. I read through every single one of them. And then the hostel, I did a lot of research too and actually ended up being in a pretty nice luxurious hostel. But yeah, I think I learned like, Wow! I can be independent. I can do things myself. I can navigate myself. Because whenever I traveled with like a boyfriend or a friend, I was relying on them for navigation and for the Google maps and things like that. So I had downloaded like all the maps beforehand. Even told my mom, “don’t get the passport, the AT&T passport.” I just want to rely on Wi-Fi and downloaded maps. So that’s exactly what I did. And I was just, at the end of the trip, I was so proud of myself. I was like, I can’t believe I navigated Norway, going from city to city, like city hopping, only all on Wi-Fi. Yeah.

Grace Duong: That’s amazing. Yeah, I tend to travel that way too and rely on Wi-Fi. My first solo trip was to Barcelona.

Lin Chen: Yeah.

Get 10% off all Pink Moon products with code GRACED10

So a short interruption to this travel story to remind you that this upcoming Monday, I’ll be hosting a masterclass on How to Create Your Own Deck. The last time I taught this class was about a year ago and there’s no telling if I’ll teach it again!

I’ve made 4 decks now, self-published with a Kickstarter and have worked with traditional publishers – by now, I know a thing or two about making my own deck and I’d love to share my process to help inspire you and give you actionable advice on how to create yours. 

No matter where you are in the process, if you just have an idea, you’ve started making your deck, or you already have a deck, this masterclass will still have very valuable information for you to take with you on your journey as a deck creator.

There will be a live Q&A at the end of the masterclass, and the juicy questions have already started rolling in!

To RSVP for your ticket, go to createyourdeck.club Can’t wait to see you there!

✨ Going outside of your comfort zone

Grace Duong: And I just feel like when you go out of your comfort zone, so much magic can happen. So what was some of the learnings for you for going out of your comfort zone?

Lin Chen: I think it just taught me of like, so I went on that trip like shortly before I launched the consultancy. So I felt like that was definitely a good foundation for building a company and like just shown me that I can do anything if I really set my eyes to it, even though it sounds so cliche, like everyone’s always saying. Like what’s that cliche phrase? Like “You can do it!” or you know what I mean? But yeah, it feels like a cliche, but I was like “Wow, like I can’t believe I did that!” and I feel like I can do anything now. So it definitely set the foundation for bravery and persistency. And just going for what I want in my life.
  

✨ Healing from toxic relationships

Grace Duong: Right. And during that time, were you also healing from these toxic relationships that you had mentioned before?

Lin Chen: Yeah. So I went on that trip like 6 months after the last relationship. So I definitely did a lot of like I brought my journal, did a lot of journaling, did a lot of meditation, like just sitting on a rock, like looking out to the landscape and just did a lot of reflection.

Grace Duong: And now I know you’re in a healthy married relationship. So I was wondering what the transition is from this toxic relationship that you’ve had in the past and going into a relationship, a partnership essentially.

Lin Chen: Yeah. I think having that year and a half to myself was just like so needed because I never gave myself enough time in between relationships to myself. I always went from one relationship and literally five days later another relationship. And so I think having that year and a half just let me learn how to take care of myself and enjoy my own solitude and really do things for myself, and really only for myself. I was very selfish during that year and a half. That’s another thing I want to talk about too. Selfish is not a bad thing. People make the word selfish to be such a negative word, but it’s actually a positive word. You can spin it into a positive way, of course. So yeah, I was basically selfish for a year and a half. I think that helped me build a foundation for a healthy relationship because I also did a lot of journaling, a lot of therapy during this time and try to learn what makes a healthy relationship and how to watch out for red flags.

And so actually this year and a half, I did do some dating. Like I didn’t get myself into any relationships,but I was like dating here and there, and every time I met someone and I picked up a red flag immediately, I was like, bye bye.

Grace Duong: What are some of the red flags?

Lin Chen: One of them, a big one for me is manipulation. So my last boyfriend, for example, was like super manipulative. Like he would say one thing and then the following week he’d be like, “Huh, I never said that.” And so manipulation is a big one. And like on top of that being hot and cold. So like one week, like super affectionate. The following week he’d be like, I want some time alone. And like without any explanation. I mean, yeah, it makes sense that you want some time alone, but he was just shut me off and not reply to calls messages. Another one is jealousy. So I’ve dealt with quite a few jealous boyfriends. And that one specifically would like, he wouldn’t even let me spend the day alone. Like one time I was like “Hey, I just want to like go to the mat by myself for the day when I spend the time day alone.” And you know, I told him I was getting my hair done, like before going to the mat. And then I was exiting out the hair salon and there he was waiting outside the door. With a box of macaroons, cause macaroons are my favorite dessert ever. But he was like, let’s go to the mat together. I was like, I wanted to spend the day alone. Did you not get the memo?

✨ Establishing healthy boundaries

Grace Duong: Yeah, yeah. And that speaks to boundaries in so many ways. And so I know that you’ve gone through a co-founder breakup of sorts. I’ve just wondered how that experience is going for you and what boundaries have you set in place moving forward?

Lin Chen: Yeah. That definitely was a big learning experience for me. And so the co-founder was at my company for a year and the breakup happened almost two months ago. And I think one thing that I realized is it brought not only did the partnership with her and like the breakup after made several things resurface, like some of my negative patterns of letting toxic relationships continue and thinking things will get better and ignoring red flags. So that was one thing that made me realize like, “Wow, I really need to like shield my energy better.” like set more well-defined boundaries and also like not let anyone like diminish my self-worth and make me feel less than I am.

Grace Duong: Yeah, those are really important lessons, especially within your circles, just to have people that are uplifting you and supporting you. So what does boundary setting look like for you?

Lin Chen: For me, it’s a lot of making lists. I love making lists. I think that’s a Virgo thing, right? So I’m always making pros and cons lists or like, if you were to go through my phone, there’s like over 200 notes in the notes app. And throughout this like co-founder breakup, for example, I made like several lists like, I had a lot of talking points and like notes from: talking to various company advisors and like other founders who had a co-founder and things like that, just taking notes down and just kind of journaling. Okay, what does a healthy co-founder relationship look like? Obviously, this isn’t it. And so it helped me, just looking at these lists as reminders helped me realize, okay, this is not healthy. This cannot keep going on. And so yeah, referring to these lists were super helpful.

✨ Patterns in toxic relationships

Grace Duong: Do you find that when we talk about toxic relationships, I’m wondering if you find that they mirror each other in some ways, like do you find that there are patterns, whether it’s romantic or business or friends, like what do you find are commonalities within these toxic relationships?

Lin Chen: For sure. So I had a therapist tell me years ago, this was when  I was in like another toxic— before the most recent one. And she made a really strong point, your toxic relationships mirrors the relationship that you had with your mom or have with your mom growing up, because I have not the healthiest relationship with my mom or not very close. Like it’s always been butting heads all the time. And that therapist said because you were treated a certain way by your mother, you allow yourself to be treated this way by partners. And so that made me realize. Okay, I can’t continue this.

Obviously, I don’t want to be in a toxic relationship and I want to be able to get out. But then also getting out of a toxic relationship is harder than staying in it. And obviously, I can’t cut out my mom, but I do distance myself from her and try to. That’s why I’m all the way in New York and she’s in California. I mean, one of the reasons why we’re on opposite coasts. I’m trying to distance myself away from toxic people as much as possible. And so after this co-founder partnership broke up, it made me realize, “Wow, I did repeat kind of the same patterns as in my last relationship.” All the last partnerships where I think like: “Okay, things are gonna get better.” Maybe it’ll mature throughout this time or I have some hope that it’ll just like improve, the situation will improve and it just doesn’t. And obviously you set yourself up for disappointment and then you have all these expectations that don’t meet your needs.

Grace Duong: Yeah, absolutely. And that can be really tough when we’re going through these patterns that might appear from childhood and appear in our lives. I think one thing to give you credit for is just your self-awareness and your willingness to grow from these situations. So what lessons have you learned from this co-founder breakup? And how are you moving forward?

Lin Chen: Yeah, so it made me sign up for Reiki to get my certification. I mean, it’s something that I’ve been thinking about for a while, but after talking to several Reiki healers who, about the situation, they’re like, “You should really get your Reiki certifications It’ll help you with building a stronger shield, protecting your peace and joy, and having better boundaries. And so that’s one thing that I’ve been doing. Another one is I guess just talking it out with people and like talking about what happened, especially talking to various Reiki healers, like close friends who are Reiki and spiritual healers have helped me a lot because some of them have been through similar situations. 

I have a friend who had a co-founder situation as well. A couple of years ago, it was actually her ex-boyfriend and they had a company together and she like has helped me a lot just like talking through this various scenarios and situations and just talking out with people who’ve been through similar things have been really helpful because talk therapy for me is it’s been transformative. So talking it out with friends and people that I trust is something I’ve been doing. Another thing is also think about for future like, Okay if I were to bring on another co-founder in the future or like an employee who’s like a big part of my company what kind of interview process they’ll be going through. So I’ve been talking to various friends. You need to do 10 rounds of interviews, and have them interview with people in your trusted circle and even family members. So I made a list of 10 people that they’re going to, the next person, whoever I bring on is going to interview with. And if they don’t pass, basically even one of my friends/colleagues was joking, like, okay, this person is interviewing for a social media role and they’re going to think to themselves, why am I going through such a deep psychological evaluation for this job? But I think that’s what I needed to do. I need to do better due diligence and really talk to various references because I only talked to two references and just relied on their feedback. Obviously, it was probably the most positive references given to me. And so next time I’m just going to do a deeper due diligence.

Grace Duong: Yeah, yeah, I mean, there’s value in protecting yourself, especially with everything that you’ve created and built to this point. I’m Level 3 Reiki trained, so Reiki Master. And something that I really love about being a Reiki facilitator is that I also can do Reiki on myself at any given moment. So sometimes I’ll do it right before I sleep, or sometimes I’ll do it while I’m on a flight, or sometimes I’ll do it in scenarios I really need it. Um, something that is really special to me is that I was able to give Reiki to my grandfather right before he passed away. So I feel like that’s a very special gift to have.

Lin Chen: Yeah!

Grace Duong: And I’m so excited for you on this Reiki journey.

Lin Chen: Yeah, I’m really excited.

Grace Duong: Amazing.

✨ What’s next for Pink Moon

Lin Chen: So what’s next for you? What’s next for Pink Moon? Yeah, this year I’m really focused on retail growth and just really expansion for the company because now we’ve been around for almost 3 years and we have about…

Grace Duong: Bless you.

Lin Chen: I always sneeze in threes, but the fourth one was unexpected.
Yeah, so this year, very focused on retail growth and being more on a channel and having products that are easily accessible and shoppable for people in the Midwest and throughout the country. So currently we have about 20 retail partners. Most of them are either on the West Coast or East Coast, and then we have three in Hong Kong. So I definitely want to have the products be more accessible and easy to find for people in between and other countries.

So retail growth is something I’m definitely working on this year and also potentially launching a few new products more in like collaboration. So one of them is like planetary candles with this woman who’s a metaphysical geologist that I met from Instagram recently. And she used to have her own line of planetary candles that she stopped making them because she handmade them from scratch. And so it got to be a bit too much. And then when I brought up the idea to her, she was like, “Whoa, I already had my own line of candles, and I know how to make candles, I know how to make some blends.” So it just really felt like things aligned there.

Grace Duong: Nice. So I want to go back to when you spoke about

✨ Moving on from toxic relationships

Grace Duong: moving forward from toxic relationships. Did you feel different? Like how are you feeling afterwards? And what are some positive things that are happening for you in this relationship or in this new era of self?

Lin Chen: Yeah, I just feel, I guess, more empowered and stronger. And I have a more clear direction of where I want to take my company. Because one negative side to having a co-founder is that you have to always agree on things, or else it’s gonna lead to resentment and things like that. And some of my colleagues were telling me that it seemed like that co-founder was kind of clipping my wings in a way, because there were a lot of things I wanted to do at the company that she didn’t agree on. And so now that she’s left, I can move forward with doing these things. So it’s really taking my company in a more elevated direction, which I’m really excited about. 

And of course, like excited about the retail growth and potential products in the pipeline. But yeah, I just feel excited to just have the company back under my full reign because it is my story. The company is built on my self-love, journey and story. And I feel like it’s best if the company is run by me.

Grace Duong: Yeah. So since this is a journey of your self-love, how are you continuing that journey of self-love with your own rituals? What are some of your favorite rituals right now?

Lin Chen: Skincare is always to this day like my favorite ritual because it’s not only is it you’re touching your skin, which is impactful for your mental/emotional health and obviously physical health but to me like skincare has just always been relaxing and it also forces you to look at yourself in the mirror, So at the same time I give myself little affirmations like you’re enough, you’re worthy, you know? I don’t need this toxic partnership or person in my life, and so on. Another one, now that the weather’s getting better, just like walking outside more, getting more vitamin D, like going to the park with my dog, and just spending more time outdoors and traveling. 

So this year I’m hoping to, in June we’re looking at going to Iceland. And then later in the fall, we’re going to Asia. So I have these trips upcoming that I’m really excited about. I’m just excited to get out of the country because I haven’t traveled very much. I mean last year I traveled a lot, but that was more domestic traveling and I did go to Paris for a couple days but it was for a work trip so it wasn’t like you know I was having fun in Paris and so I’m just excited to get out more and satisfy the Sag Moon.

Grace Duong: Yes! I’m all for it. Amazing. So where can people find you?

Lin Chen: So our website is pinkmoon.co. That’s also the same handle that we have for Tiktok and for Instagram.

Grace Duong: Awesome. Well, thank you so much, Lin, for sharing your story, your light, and make sure to check out Pink Moon. We will link it all in the show notes.

Lin Chen: Thank you so much.  Yeah, thank you so much, Grace.

✨ ENDTRO + GIVEAWAY DETAILS

Thanks so much for tuning in to today’s podcast episode with Lin Chen!

So grateful for Lin’s honesty and vulnerability in healing her toxic relationships, but also how that sparked inspiration for her to launch her own company Pink Moon based on her healing journey.

And obviously, the healing is ongoing! But it takes perseverance and persistence to continue to learn, unveil layers, so that you can become the fullest and most authentic version of yourself.

And sometimes that can manifest into creating a vision of yours that can help others in their everyday lives too.

So now, here’s the giveaway details to win a Pink Moon product!

You have the chance to win one of the Once in a Pink Moon astrology skincare products where there is either a cleanser, toner, or moisturizer paired with each zodiac sign!

To enter this giveaway, you must leave a podcast review, screenshot your review, and email it to graced@mysticmondays.com. If you want additional entries, you can follow us on social media and get the complete rules on Instagram over @grace.duong.

Also, each follow, like, and comment on Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, and TikTok platform will be another entry for you to win a Pink Moon product! Winners will be announced next Wednesday, May 10th – so keep your eyes peeled on your email or socials should you be the lucky winner!

If you liked this episode, please share the GRACED podcast with your friends, like and follow along if you’re watching the videos, and subscribe to the podcast. Since this is a completely new podcast, all the support goes a long way!

Sending you so much GRACE today and everyday. Until next time!

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