WOMEN IN BUSINESS By Deborah Prince PWM Contributing Writer
T
he birth of DorNee' Natural Body & Hair Luxuries was an accident, albeit bittersweet. The company name is a tribute to Torrian's mother, Renee', who inspired this luxury body product line made of natural ingredients free of parabens, sulfates, phthalates or any other harsh chemicals. A natural beauty, Renee' was diagnosed with stage four pancreatic cancer and the chemotherapy and radiation treatments took a toll on her body. Wanting to relieve the effects on her mom's dry, burned skin, Torrian combined raw Shea butter with natural fragrances to massage on her mother's damaged skin, and found that it worked wonders. Encouraged with the success of the raw shea butter as a moisturizer, Torrian experimented - adding orange, lemon, lime, sandalwood, ginger and other fragrant oils and her product line was born. Today, DorNee' Natural Body & Hair Luxuries body lotions and body butters can be found in the Whole Foods Market and Mustard Seed Market & Cafe' stores, various hair salons and now in Torrian's recently opened retail store in Bedford.
Meet Torrian Denise Owner of DorNee' Natural Body & Hair Luxuries 24 â–’ JULY-AUGUST 2015
Torrian's journey was no fairy tale - it was filled with challenges. Shortly after her mother's diagnosis, Torrian got the news that her husband's liver was battling with cancer. Three transplants later, he lost the fight. Now a widower and single mom, Torrian was devastated by the loss, and took time off from building her business. But destiny had plans for her. As Torrian worked through her grief, her mom passed - yet as her mom took her last breath, Torrian breathed life into DorNee'. She began attending trade shows throughout the country, making custom products upon request by customers. The demand of creating new fragrances on the road became too much so Torrian decided to focus on the most popular fragrances and streamlined her product offerings. Torrian never expected the tremendous support of her customers to lead to the growth of her business, so she wants to share a few words of advice to budding entrepreneurs: