Today we’d like to introduce you to Angela Casey MD.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
As a double-board certified Dermatologist and Dermatologic surgeon, the most common sentiment my skin cancer patients share is “I wish I had taken better care of my skin when I was a young.” The first two decades of life form the foundation of lifelong skin health; when we don’t have the right products and habits on board, skin damage starts to accumulate. Part of my work involves viewing skin under the microscope as I surgically remove skin cancers, and that skin damage is quite evident.
Skin cancer is the most common type of cancer worldwide; it’s also one of the most preventable. I love my job, staff, and patients but I knew we could help more people by empowering them to care for skin, starting at a young age.
As the mom of three teen/tween daughters, specifically talking to this population was near and dear to my heart. I knew all of the best legacy skincare brands, and I brought all of them home to my daughters. And they weren’t interested in using them: namely, because most came in bland white packaging and didn’t “smell good” (because most Dermatologist-recommended brands are unscented.) They were getting all sorts of skincare recommendations from social media influencers and friends, and as I reviewed those products, I realized that many of the ingredients were not appropriate for young skin. Two of my three daughters have very sensitive/eczema-prone skin, and I can’t take any chances with their skincare. I was determined to find “that brand” of skincare that was fun, colorful, smelled nice…yet also had the ingredient profile that was right for their skin. I searched and never found it. So I set out to create it. Bright Girl was born 3 years later.
In creating Bright Girl, I drew upon my clinical expertise from seeing tens of thousands of patients in my practice over the years, and understanding what worked and what didn’t. Next, I researched ingredients extensively before putting together a framework of what would be included, as well as what would be left out, of Bright Girl. Then we sent out hundreds of surveys (in addition to surveying Dermatologists, patients, friends, and family) to better understand what parents and young people were seeking in skincare for Gen Z/Gen alpha. And perhaps most importantly, we vetted dozens of cosmetic chemist teams until we found the ideal partners to help us bring this brand to life. It was very important to me that we were bringing something new, innovative, and exceptional to the market, and I believe that we achieved that.
As we were refining the formulations, we tested with large focus groups then took that feedback and tweaked some more. Then we had Board-certified Dermatologists, all across the country, weigh in. The entire process took almost 3 full years of research and development, and we launched Bright Girl in 2022. Finally, the Bright Girl formulations underwent objective, third party full clinical trials in 2023-24, establishing their safety and efficacy.
Bright Girl formulations are clean (free of parabens, sulfates, phthalates, etc), pH-balanced, and designed specifically for “young skin” (ages 8-24), targeting the teen and tween market segment. I had the advantage of creating precise skincare for Gen Z/Gen alpha with elevated formulations benchmarked against the best products sold in Dermatology offices, thereby providing users a rewarding experience to instill consistent daily skin care practices.
Expert validation has been a key component in growing our brand. Bright Girl is now sold in hundreds of Dermatology practices nationwide and chosen by thousands of Dermatologists, plastic surgeons, and skincare experts for their patients and their own children. Bright Girl is also available in major retailers such as Macy’s, BeautySpace by Space NK (Walmart), Amazon, and Glosswire.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
The journey has been exciting and frustrating and happy and stressful. Some of our biggest challenges are our lack of retail/CPG experience and learning to navigate this space. We’ve relied a great deal on the expertise of others, but it is challenging when you don’t have the context to support decision-making. Building Bright Girl has required countless hours, tremendous focus, sacrifice, and significant expense. But each time we got a “win” it kept us going. We continue to grow significantly year over year, and our brand awareness continues to climb. I’m such a blind optimist, and I’m as persistent as they come…those qualities have certainly helped us to get where we are.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
Dr. Angela Sanfilippo Casey is a double board-certified Dermatologist and Micrographic Dermatologic Surgeon with a focus on skin cancer and cosmetic dermatology; she is a partner in a suburban private practice, Center for Surgical Dermatology, in Columbus, Ohio. She is assistant program director and the head of Dermatologic Surgery for the OhioHealth Dermatology residency program.
As the mother of three daughters, Dr. Casey is passionate about educating and empowering youth with the knowledge, tools and daily habits to care for their skin and prevent the majority of skin damage that she sees in her practice each day. Her roles demonstrate her commitment to teaching, and she uses various media outlets to share fact-based, practical skin health knowledge with the community at large.
Dr. Casey is the founder of Bright Girl youth skincare, a collection created to instill effective and consistent daily skincare habits from a young age. Bright Girl’s mission is to prevent skin damage and ultimately create an impact on skin cancer incidence.
What matters most to you?
Bright Girl stands for something much bigger than skincare products: it’s a skin health movement. I want Bright Girl to be remembered as the brand that started the preventative skin health movement.
In 1906 Bridgeport, CT Dentist, Dr. Alfred Fones trained his chairside assistant to clean teeth and perform other preventive treatments. In 1913 he founded the first school for Dental Hygienists. Despite it being housed in a converted Carriage house (garage) the school’s faculty included the deans of the dental schools of Univ of Pennsylvania and Harvard, seven professors from Yale and two from Columbia, along with other noted practitioners from across the United States and as far away as Japan. A single dentist from Connecticut started the oral hygiene movement which has added countless years to billions of lives globally. Now, a single Dermatologist seeks to create a skin health movement.
My ultimate goal is to make a significant impact on the skin cancer epidemic, currently the #1 cancer worldwide. I believe that we can accomplish this with proper skincare education with effective ingredients and consistent practices.
Pricing:
- $28 Bright+Clean pH-balanced facial cleanser
- $26 Day+Bright 24-hour facial moisturizer
- $24 Bright Tone hydrating toner
- $18 Calm+Bright calming face mask
- $40 Bright+Block mineral sunscreens
Contact Info:
- Website: https://brightgirl.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brightgirlbeauty
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brightgirlbeauty/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/angela-casey-md/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCz8_5HypUs0X2thsAzCN1ag
