We’re thrilled to present the latest addition to Afluencer’s content lineup – our podcast series featuring insightful conversations with influential brand owners. In this inaugural article, we have the privilege of introducing Brett Park, the visionary founder of Proangenix, as our esteemed guest.
Meet Brett Park: The Mind Behind Proangenix
Brett Park, the innovative mind driving Proangenix, takes center stage in the Afluencer podcast series. With a wealth of experience in the world of influencer marketing, Brett shares captivating insights, challenges, and triumphs that have shaped his brand’s journey.
Podcast Premiere: Delving into the Proangenix Universe
Join us in exploring the enchanting world of Proangenix through the eyes of Brett Park himself. We’ve embedded the riveting YouTube podcast video below, offering an exclusive glimpse into the transformative power of influencer marketing.
Also, listen to the Afluencer Podcast on:
Key Takeaways
00:00 🎙️ Introduction to the podcast and guest’s background,
– The podcast discusses hair growth and features Brett Park, the founder of Proangenix, which offers a natural approach to hair growth.
– Brett explains his background and the motivation behind the product.
02:04 🧪 The evolution of the product and the team’s expertise,
– The team behind Proangenix has diverse backgrounds, including healthcare and pharmaceuticals.
– They started with pain management products and moved into skincare and hair care.
– Proangenix offers an alternative to commercial hair products with natural ingredients.
04:32 🌿 All-natural formulations and their challenges,
– The market favors all-natural products, but formulation quality matters.
– Proangenix believes in effective natural ingredients and better formulation.
– Many natural formulations lack proper synergy among active ingredients.
10:16 💊 Active ingredients and their impact on hair growth,
– Proangenix’s active ingredients are plant-based, with a key component from echinacea.
– They aim to stimulate hair follicle growth and inhibit DHT, a contributor to hair loss.
– The product’s mechanism involves feeding growth factors and promoting a healthy hair system.
16:58 🔄 Comparing Proangenix to other hair growth solutions,
– Proangenix offers an all-natural alternative to products like Rogaine and Finasteride.
– It aims to provide an effective, natural solution for those concerned about hair thinning.
– While not making direct claims, Proangenix’s formulation addresses DHT-related issues.
21:13 📦 Usage, effectiveness, and user experience,
– The product is applied topically twice a day, with massage for better absorption.
– Results may become visible after 2-3 months of use.
– Some users may experience a tingling sensation due to addressing inflammation.
24:42 🧪 Developing a synergistic set of ingredients for hair care,
– Exploring a list of ingredients for hair care,
– Identifying the ideal combination of ingredients for optimal results.
26:35 💼 Criteria for selecting influencers for product collaboration,
– Looking for influencers who can engage and influence effectively,
– Emphasizing the importance of influencers interacting with their followers,
– Focusing on growing influencers with active engagement.
30:50 🌐 The role of micro-influencers and engagement in brand partnerships,
– Highlighting the significance of micro-influencers in audience engagement,
– Stressing the value of engaging with the audience,
– Emphasizing the importance of brand ambassadors among influencers.
Transcription Insight: A Peek into the Conversation
Gain an insider’s perspective as we burrow into the transcription of our engaging conversation with Brett Park. Discover the strategies, anecdotes, and wisdom that have fueled Proangenix’ success, all captured in this in-depth transcription.
In Conversation with Brett Park, Founder of Proangenix:
Brett Owens:
Welcome today’s Influencer podcast. We’re talking hair growth. We’ve got Brett Park founder with Stems by Progenics, a product I’m personally really interested in because it talks about hair growth in a natural way and also obviously this is of interest to influencers because Brett, we got Double Barrel Brett action here. Our other Brett here is looking for influencers to help promote this product, obviously, which kind of sells itself from that standpoint because I mean, how many of us in our thirties, forties, and beyond are looking for help on the hair side here? So Brett, welcome. Let’s kick us off. Give us a little bit of your background.
Brett Park:
Yeah, first of all, as another Brett talking to abr, I’m a fan of yours and I think this program is just absolutely needed and it’s something that basically strikes at the core of where a brand like ours and the influencers out there seeking to basically find a partnership solution can interact and find who is out there and who they’re interested in working with. So it’s timely. Now, for us, we’re sort of like a, you want to say a motley crew if you will, and not the band, but overall just a group of professionals that basically got together and it’s not like, oh, I know you. No, it was one of those happenstance things where essentially I’m from the healthcare side. My colleagues are more from the industry side, as in the pharmaceutical industry. They’ve worked with Merck, they’ve worked in American cyanide, and they have a number of patents to their name and so forth, so they’re steeped in it.
And I kind of met them because we were basically helping a client launch what was essentially topical for pain management and number of other issues. Now that in itself is a big deal now and it’s gone the way of I guess C B D oils and so forth. But at that juncture it was real because it was being relegated to a more, I guess, medical issue that could be offered not just at the drug stores, but offered through other channels. So fast forward, here we are, we worked on topicals, so obviously pain is part of that, but also we’re talking about skincare, where we’re dealing with medical grade skincare products and so forth, working with dermatology offices and so forth, and the smaller chains that would offer to private label products. And as an extension, because a colleague in our team had a lot of experience in haircare, we got steeped into it.
And basically, I’ll tell you in certain terms, salons loved what we had to produce and we basically produced vats and vats of them that they were able to introduce to their market, their audiences off-label version of what’s commercially available, so a better, more friendlier version. So here we are and we have basically opportunity to present alternative to what people could get in drugstore or big box stores. Now, we’re not here to bash big pharma, we’re not here to bash the big brands that basically do a fantastic job of safety testing, formulating and mass marketing these products with big names and a lengthy history behind it. But the thing is, is that the market also wants an alternative. What is that? I guess the prevalence is the all natural is become a catchall buzzword. So it’s a little bit of different thing, the different folks, but here’s where we stand on it.
All naturals are wonderful if you know how to formulate the problem or the challenge if you will, with just things being natural. There are just a hodgepodge of different active ingredients that left to their own. Yeah, it has a promise. But the thing is, is that if you do not formulate it in the best way possible, it will not have nearly the impact, the opportunity of being able to deliver on the promise as you will. So basically I see a lot of simple formulation. You’re taking a natural ingredient like let’s say rosemary oil extract and they’ll put it in with a little alcohol, puts it in with castor oil, and you got an instant mix. And I think for people that are fine with it, it’s fine. But thing is that from us, our take, it’s like taking Michael Jordan and putting him into a buzzer beater game with work boots on. Why would you want to take Michael Jordan and put work boots on a man could win the game for you? And in that regard, that’s a very simplistic analogy, but that’s what I see happening with a lot of formulations. So this is where we feel we can make an impact and we can make a difference.
Brett Owens:
Yeah, it’s interesting. So let’s get into the details of your formulation. It resonates, I think Rogan or the Minoxidil is the active ingredient. That’s something that many of us are familiar with, obviously that that’s a chemical so many, we look for alternatives, right? And you kind of remind me of searches I’ve done on Amazon where you’re looking for the all natural hair growth alternative and you end up with some shampoo. It’s got 17 different ingredients, like you said, Rosemary’s one of ’em, and it’s a hodgepodge, it’s thrown together. It looks great on the surface because it’s an alternative, right? I’ll read the ingredients like, okay, well this all looks pretty good, better than living on Minoxidil for the rest of your life. And you try it and it smells nice and it doesn’t really work. It doesn’t really do much. So it’s not offensive, but it’s not really giving you any results in terms of new growth or stopping loss or anything. So what we’re able to find that was different from that level in terms of taking the work boots off of MJ or getting these ingredients in a way that it actually stimulates new follicle growth. Is that right? In terms of what stems is doing? Okay, yeah. Can we describe that in terms of what these active ingredients are?
Brett Park:
Yes. Let me dive into that. First and foremost, I want to outline by saying rho gain with the active ingredient. Minoxidil has been out there for over 35 years. And prior to that I think enough people have come to realize that was not the original intent. Original intent was as a blood pressure medication, but as an interesting side effect, oh, somebody took note of that. And eventually the O T C version, which is the diluted version, came to be known as Rogan or just generally monoxide.
Brett Owens:
That’s really interesting. And just to jump in on that, when it was a blood pressure met, was it a pill on the monoxide you were actually taking? Okay. And then they dialed it down and now it’s a topical diluted version for
Brett Park:
You could still get a prescribed in a pill for, but generally speaking, most physicians are lo to do that. They’ll first say, try Minoxidil topical version because it’s safer for obvious reasons. But first and foremost, let me just put this out there. Minoxidil is the industry standard for one reason, and it is F D A approved and by that account it’s been out there 35 years just to say it’s the only proof of principle that will grow here. The answer to that is absolutely not. There are other products or ingredients that have the properties to demonstrate it, but here’s where essentially rubber meets the road. F D A must green stamp anything that comes in the market, if it wants to get into the game and say, we approve this for this and this indication as a drug, unfortunately all naturals don’t fall into their purview because it’s not even remotely in the field of view from a standpoint of the general F d A process.
So there’s a separate office that deals with that. But from where we’re staying, we’re situated. We’re not here to knock Rogan Minoxidil. We’re not here to, A lot of people are very happy with that. But truth be told, it doesn’t work on everybody. There are some numbers behind it to which it demonstrates maybe 50%, maybe slightly less. But the thing is, is that there’s a reason behind it. And for all intents and purposes, what we’re sitting out to do is this is an all natural product. This is with all natural actives that has demonstrated in various studies to demonstrate efficacy. It’s just not going to ever be from our purview, F D A approved or its intended purpose. So the active ingredient in STEMS has variation of plant-based actives, including rosemary. But the thing is is that the key star comes from a ology called lon kava, of which there’s an active ingredient.
Some call it a metabolite called OL is part of the makeup, but it is found to have some amazing properties. So this is one of those things where the research came out of university in South Korea a while ago, and mainly the research focused on things such as cancer research, how do we use natural ingredients to basically prevent and possibly cure? But they also found other amazing properties and it was looked into and then they did the animal studies and then small bits of human studies. And this is where we took notice. We said, Hey, that’s worth checking out. So what we did was we took some of the raw actives, we inquired, okay, how do we purify it? And much of that was industry data that was kept proprietary. So we had to do our own experimentation, we had to do our own formulation. So in the end, after four years, give or take a few, we figured out what works best.
So in order to test it out, yours truly and the rest of the team members were thinning here. We did our own safety data testing that way, but we also got salons involved, namely because it’s hard to get a doctor’s office involved in anything that is testing unless there’s an institutional review board and so forth, so on. And essentially we gave up on that. We decided, okay, we’re going to do field testing. Proof of principle essentially is if they like it and it grows hair, and lo and behold, that’s what happened. So that was somewhat prior to the pandemic. Fast forward, here we are. So it’s kind of delayed the launch, but overall the proof of principle has worked many times over and we are confident that it will work at least as well as some of the top topicals that are O T C.
So we’re not going to get into ours is better than Rogan. No, it’s just I think the true test resides with the end users. We have our own belief why it is efficacious, namely because the actions are slightly different in a way that stems like the namesake goes to the root of the hair bowl and that’s the dermal pillow. So we associate hair with dead protein. That’s true. But hair itself is living breathing. It’s an organ onto itself. It is so complex that, I mean, it made my head spin when we did an analytical studies and all this reporting, and a lot of this information has been coming out in the last five years or so about that time where essentially we are now starting to accept that hair follicle and the dermal holds this reservoir of stem cells. Stem cells called mesenchymal stem cells, by their very nature are pluripotent, meaning they could be any cell in the body, but they’re there to perform one thing and one thing, which is to grow new hair and how are they going to do it?
Essentially, that is in the genetic predisposition process and so forth. So if you have a family history where essentially you’re prone to hair loss baldness essentially from mother’s side, father’s side, it can have a plan there. Why is partly some of the issues that we asked and we try to find answers to, but more importantly, what we’re finding is that before you can get all the answers to the why, what we know is at the end of the day, you need to find out what is going to actually stimulate hair follicle growth. Because the causation is just like it’s a long list from everything from poor health, poor diet to covid. So you’re talking women, it’s like P C O ss, you’re talking hormonal disruption to long list of things. If they use harsh hair care treatment, there’s trauma to the hair roots, and a lot of people understand that.
But what do you do about it? What you must do is at least give the hair chance to restore its health balance. And this is where STEMS comes into the picture. It’s first and foremost, it’s a hair health brand and product. Our objective is not singular about growing hair. Hair will grow when systemically and the hair system, it is basically being encouraged. All the signals are firing and everything else is engaging. It will grow naturally. But we all know D H T will really deliver a serious blow. It will starve it of necessary nutrients and so forth, so on. This is where stems offers an alternative. It feeds the necessary support for what is essentially a signal and it aids the growth factors to fire on all cylinders to push the antigen phase upwards. So you see the vellus hair grow into a nice full head of hair.
So does this work on everybody? The answer is clearly no. What it’s designed to do is that if you have still a viable hair follicle, it can potentially help revive it, push it into the antigen phase in some regards, not that dissimilar to what Minoxidil does, but one thing different, minoxidil is not a direct route to the derma papilla growth in terms of the stem cells. What it does is it basically opens up the potassium channels to get more blood flow, and that in itself can help the process along. This is a more direct, you are feeding growth and it is a systemic process which engages the natural longer term antigen growth, which should last you good six, seven years on a healthy person. So that’s where the difference lies. So whether or not you want to compare it to, let’s say I’m using Finasteride, and Finasteride has worked for me ever since I started, that’s fine, but I don’t even want to get into why someone might not want Finasteride because of all the side effects. Is that and the other? That’s a medical topic. The thing is, is that we’re offering an alternative, which is an all-natural version. So for us to make claims against that, that’s a non-starter. But what we can claim, the actives that we put together for stems by progenics can work in ways most other all-natural formulations will not. And this we’ve been able to demonstrate through our own studies and human basic support studies that we’ve compiled in the last four years.
Brett Owens:
That’s great. So is at the follicle level, we’re talking. So when we talk about obviously D H T inhibiting hair growth with stems, we’re not necessarily blocking the production of, we’re not getting into the person’s biology, I guess at their core, for lack of a better way to put it. But we’re going to the follicle and we’re just giving that follicle the opportunity to wake up, if you will. Is that a accurate layman’s interpretation? How STEM working?
Brett Park:
That’s one part of it. There’s another component, and that’s equally important for people, and I want to say in general, more men than women, but also women are affected with this issue. D H T is a principle component to how hair follicle loses its survivability. The long run, it thins out little by little and eventually it dies out. The point is the active ingredient has demonstrated anti D H D properties. So by that, it is in our opinion, maybe almost comparable to Finasteride, but something that we cannot make claims to without a randomized clinical trial, certainly not by an F D A standard. And this is, I think what is important, especially if you’re concerned about thinning hair and at the heart, it’s a D H T issue that you’ve been facing. So now if you go to a dermatologist and they’re basically making that assessment, you need to use D H T blockers.
We recommend starting with Minoxidil and we’ll move on to Finasteride. That’s fine. That’s a medical consult you want to get. Now, if you want to try an all natural, we recommend stems by cryogenics because it does both. The D H T inhibition is in principle, at its core, we’re talking about five alpha reductives. If you inhibit five alpha reductase from conversion to D H T, you can do a lot of good. You don’t have to block it all together because almost nothing does. But if you prevent that formation, you could see results. And that’s partly what the benefits of using this sort of formulation can provide. I use it and I could tell you I have thinning hair,
Brett Owens:
But yeah, you look good, Brad. I mean, it’s funny, I went to your website last week and I was trying to order some for myself, and the men’s was out, so I figured it’d be flying off the proverbial shelves for you. But I see it’s back in, the double size is back in. I’m looking at it right now.
Brett Park:
Yeah, yeah. Okay.
Brett Owens:
But I figure, Hey, I’ll talk to you first before I go crazy.
Brett Park:
Yes, yes. But you know what? You know what? In health and medicine, they say first do no harm. I can tell you emphatically, we did rounds of safety tests. There’s no way you could do any damage. However, I think the best results twice a day and twice, I guess the measure for which you could get the best molecular response, several pumps at the desired site, and you got to mass massage it in because massaging helps the follicles get at it because it will go there. However, it takes a little bit of attention from the user’s end, and you don’t have to go crazy with it. Twice a day is 20 because we find that, I guess if you want to call it the pharmacodynamics, how long it takes roughly, it absorbs in like 20 minutes. However, for it to take what is essentially the activity role, it takes anywhere from three six hours and the route to which it makes that relevant, it’s not that dissimilar than most other topical. But like I said, twice, that’s plenty. And it’s super convenient because essentially you don’t have to douse yourself. You don’t have to go crazy. And for those people who basically have gotten really good results using vitamins, and I’m not going to mention names, there’s some blockbuster vitamins out there. People are really crazy about it. I think it’s a great thing. It does point to a need systemically in our biology where essentially that nutrition can help the growth process. But there’s a place for a topical like this, you will see a benefit maybe in combination.
But the people that we’ve sampled the stems by Progenics too weren’t on anything. We made sure that they used it as a standalone and they got good results from it. So we’re pretty confident that for the most part, most people will benefit because by and large, I think if you want to set a timeline, I think most people after two to three months of use will start to feel something happening and essentially it’s visible. So with that in mind, we say use it like if it’s a lifestyle issue, just like old days hairspray per se. But what it comes down to is matter of preference. The thing is, is that for some people they notice there’s a slightly tingling stinging sensation for some, but tingling sensation comes from the fact that it goes to what is essentially the heart of the issue when it comes to scalp condition.
And that is inflammation. It first tries to T down inflammation, calm, and also basically support what amounts to the overall follicular microbiome. So it is a very more ideal set of situations where the actives can go to work. So there’s a list of ingredients that we felt can work more harmoniously, more synergistically, and we tried different mixes and so forth, but we found the ones that conclusively, Hey, this is the All-star team. This is the starring lineup and this is what, it took us a while, but this is what we came up with. So I think in that regard, people will find it to be different. People will find it to be very beneficial. So I think hopefully that answers that part. But for anybody that’s watching this, I would say reach out to us, ask us questions, because there’s a lot of things that we feel beneficial. We are not going to list on lists of benefits or certainly not our website because let’s face it, there’s only so much information that you could post in there and essentially make it stick. And for what it’s worth, it starts with what people’s interest is all natural and is it going to work for me? We say yes, try it out so much. So we put 120 day money back guarantee. We’re that short of it.
Brett Owens:
So per angen.com is the website there, P R O A N G E N I x.com. Very nice website stems for men, stems for women are the two products here. Brett, before I let you go, we can’t walk out without talking about influencers. So other than myself, obviously your ideal dad influencer who will be partnering with you here, who are we looking for from the influencer standpoint? Are you sticking with the salon thread? Are you looking for salon owners, hairdressers? Describe your target ideal influencer partner, and what can an influencer, what are the benefits for an influencer for working with you for collabing with stems by Progenics?
Brett Park:
Yeah, sure. The thing is, is that, as I alluded to before, I think this is a fantastic platform for that kind of meeting to take place between brands and influencers. And from our perspective, we’re looking for influencers that are not just out there to help us market. We’re looking for influencers that can actually interact and influence, which is basically you’re talking to the end users you’re talking to who may follow you, who may take an interest and they’re going to have questions and they’re going to have concerns. We can’t be there. This is where we want influencers that could make a difference and say, listen, here’s the pros. Here’s our cons. This is where this is different, but guess what? We want something that is not just something you pick up out of C V Ss or big box stores. There’s a reason why influencers can go in and say, Hey, what if this product had ingredient X, Y, Z in it?
What would that benefit you? And if they get a response, Hey, for formulator like us, it means a lot. It means, hey, it could be an opportunity, it could be a solution. But this is where I think it could potentially provide a nexus where essentially we could ask the influencers, is there a market? Is this something we could educate the public about? Because no matter how good the product is, if the public is not educated on it, it’s not going to do any good and not going to sell all that well too. Ultimately, we don’t want to sell product because it is the lowest hanging fruit based on a popular buzzword. We want it sold because it does the job and it works and people like it. But that’s harder than most people realize. Certainly not in a economy and e-commerce situation where there’s just an information overload.
And it is crucial if you can get PR or in this case, influencers to make that connection. A good influencer makes that connection by asking questions, engaging their followers. If they have questions, respond back. That’s who we’re looking for. And we’re talking about influencers with a growth and following versus somebody who already has all that and more. But hey, they could be a bigger name fine. But to us are growing influencers that have that kind of interaction and they could engage them and hopefully allow us to be able to place our product through their channel is more vital to us. So we can’t say enough positive things about that process to which we could both benefit. And there’s a lot that I think is probably going to change in the future if that model succeeds and we believe it will. We believe that especially in the personal care space, it’s ready for a disruption because not everybody wants to buy stuff just because they could get it conveniently. They want stuff that is personalized, but between getting it personalized and having something useful and efficacious, there’s a huge gap there. And I believe we believe influencers can play a vital role. Well,
Brett Owens:
It’s been great, Brett, well put on the engagement also because something that we always like to promote, especially our micro influencers, ones that do a great job of what you said, engaging, they’re replying to the comments, they’re answering the questions, and they’re acting as brand ambassadors for you. Because like you said, as a small business, we’re in the same boat. We can’t be everywhere. You can’t be everywhere. So we’re looking for scale from these partners who can just be great partners and answer the questions and be engaged with our audiences. And it doesn’t preclude the folks with the larger follower account. But don’t forget where you came from, keep engaging with your audience. That’s what it’s about. And great that you’ve narrowed in on that because that’s a big point of education that we always make is like, Hey, nano and the micro influencers are where it’s at. These are the people who are really closely connected with their audiences and they’re growing. And just because they’re not at a million yet, I mean that’s kind of better. It’s not about the follower, kind of like you said is about the growth. Oh, it’s about the engagement.
Brett Park:
Yeah. And I think for that influencer is an exceptional platform. And I’m not here to just plug that because we got two Bretts going on. No, I think I see the benefit right away. I think it stands to reason it could offer a lot of good, and not just to the brands, and not just to the influencers, but to the audience that basically want to be heard. They said, well, they could send requests to all these hotlines or these big products. But the thing is, ultimately if they want to be heard, you still need maybe people that can act as an intermediary, make a difference. And influencers can be that.
Brett Owens:
I’d say, well, we’re going to grassroots this with the double barrel. Brett get stems by Progenics out there. So thanks again for joining us, Brett, and we will get the link to your collab underneath here so our influencers listening can find you and they can also find you on your website. So again, it’s progenics, P R O N G E N I x.com. Yeah, go ahead Brett.
Brett Park:
I just want to do a quick shout out to our new influencer friends out there, and I just want to thank them for their interest involvement and just for scale, here it is men’s and women, so they know how big they’re, so anyway, but regardless, yes, there was a shameless plug, but
Brett Owens:
Regardless, that’s what we’re here to do.
Brett Park:
Yes, we’re looking for growing with influencers. We’re not looking for instant growth, we’re looking for organic growth and in the right product sectors as opposed to one hit we’re there. No, it doesn’t work that way. And we have a new product that’s coming out soon and essentially it will be a more natural, safer and easier alternative to olaplex. I’m just putting it out there. So look for that please.
Brett Owens:
Great. Nice teaser. We’ll have you back on to talk about that product and collab as well, Brett.
Brett Park:
I hope so.
Brett Owens:
All right, well, thanks again. Stems by Progenics. It’s been a fun conversation. Appreciate you coming on Brett.
Brett Park:
Thanks so much. Thank you.
Discover the art of influencer marketing with Afluencer’s newsletter. From savvy strategies to HOT COLLAB tips, we’ve got something for everyone. Don’t miss out—sign up today!
JOIN THE ULTIMATE INFLUENCER MARKETING NETWORK!
Reflecting on a Journey of Innovation and Influence
As we wrap up this enlightening podcast experience with Brett Park, we invite you to consider the valuable takeaways and inspiration has has shared. Looking to harness the power of influencer marketing? Afluencer is here to guide you on that transformative path.
Explore a World of Possibilities with Afluencer
- Unlock exclusive insights and strategies by signing up for Afluencer’s bimonthly newsletter.
- Catapult your brand’s presence through the captivating prowess of influencer marketing.
Become a Guest on the Afluencer Podcast
Are you a brand owner with a remarkable influencer marketing story to tell? We’re extending an invitation for you to apply as a guest on our podcast series. Share your experiences, challenges, and triumphs, and inspire countless others in the industry.
Join us in celebrating the launch of this captivating podcast series and continue to empower your brand’s influencer marketing journey with Afluencer.