How it all started

I (Nina) never planned to become a formulator—let alone start a company—but destiny sometimes hides in plain sight. Mine revealed itself during a 2017 trip back to Mali after nine years away. While visiting a small mango-drying cooperative, a young mother slipped in, baby tied to her back, asking if she could clean or help in anyway in exchange for just a few francs so she could tend to her baby. Her husband had been in an accident and could no longer provide. In that moment I saw two truths at once: the daily challenges women face at home and the generational skill they already hold in their hands—crafting exquisite, unrefined shea butter. If I could grow the market for that butter, perhaps more mothers could depend on their own craft rather than charity. That day planted the seed for Sanoun—Bambara for “gold.”

Sanoun 1.0: Building the Shea Collective

Over the next few years, I helped a group of women artisans formalize quality standards, pool production, and dream beyond local markets. I played translator and bridge-builder, pairing centuries-old know-how with modern packaging and export logistics so their butter could travel farther than any of us had imagined.

Motherhood & the Second Awakening

In 2021 I became a mother. Wanting only the purest ingredients for my newborn, I read ingredient labels for the first time and panicked at the chemicals hiding behind “natural” claims. I stopped buying body and hair care products entirely, turned my kitchen into a lab, and began formulating with Malian shea butter as my anchor. My baby’s skin visibly loved the shea butter, friends and family loved the prototypes; their enthusiasm turned my side-project into Sanoun 2.0—a modern real clean beauty line rooted in ancestral wisdom and radical transparency.

The Power Trio: Fama, Koura & Me

Sanoun isn’t a solo act; it’s a sisterhood. Fama is our extroverted marketing dynamo who makes every conversation feel at ease. Koura is our aesthetic oracle. She turns every label, photo, and deck into art that’s both beautiful and minimal, keeping the brand’s visual language crisp and intentional. And I am the chief formulator and ingredient sleuth, forever tinkering in the lab to marry ancestral botanicals with safety and efficacy.

Titles shift daily; we all pack orders, answer DMs, and sketch new product ideas together. Three soul-sisters wearing all the hats, united by the same heartbeat: to create products that honor both the women who make them and the ones who use them, while remaining conscious of our footprint on our planet.

Looking Ahead

Whether Sanoun stays an online shop or someday scales globally, one covenant remains: we will prove that beauty grounded in African botanicals can uplift its stewards, delight its customers, and tread lightly on the planet. Our journey began with one mother’s plea, and it now flows through every woman who crafts, ships, or applies our butter.

From village kitchens to bathroom shelves worldwide, Sanoun is a promise that abundance—handled responsibly—belongs to us all.