profile joel

After more than 30 years in the health & beauty business, you would think that Joel Palix would have seen pretty much everything, but not so. The emerging excitement around plant-based wellness is truly innovative, and perhaps, more importantly, genuinely consumer driven. “Ten years ago,” says Joel, “consumers were satisfied with celebrity endorsements and big brands names. Today, consumers are doing their own research and actively listening to the positive real-life experiences of people just like them.”

It is this organic development that has highlighted the Cannabidiol (CBD) market as the leading growth category for wellness in the coming years. It is also this once in a generation level of excitement that has motivated Joel to join the senior leadership team at Sana Lifestyle. Part of Sana Life Science, Sana Lifestyle is Europe’s premier wellness CBD and cannabis product distributor, offering a wide-range of trusted brands in this emerging sector to retailers across the region. Sana’s mission is to offer a full-service solution from manufacturing through regulation management and all the way to the point of purchase.

During a career spent leading some of the beauty world’s most revered brands, including Yves Saint Lorent and Clarins, Joel has in-depth experience of what makes beauty consumers tick. “It’s very much about ‘connecting the dots’ for consumers,” says Joel. “there is a lot of technical information out there on CBD as a category and this can occasionally confuse or even mislead consumers, and we want to simplify that flow of content. There is a very real appetite for the right brands to reach those consumers and we are committed to creating trust with our shoppers. They can be sure that the brands available from Sana are brands that have the best interests of the consumer at heart, and brands which are in the market for the long haul – not a fast buck!”

“Beauty is one of the most fast-moving markets in the world, and in the last 18 months –perhaps even more so in 2020 – we’ve seen ‘Beauty’ become replaced by ‘Wellness’. That’s what make this such an exciting category and why the CBD revolution is so energising to be a part of.”

The core attraction of Sana to Joel was the depth of experience on the leadership team, as well as the fact that the brands available were some of the best-established, and respected across the global CBD market. “Natural sources are ever more important in this category. Consumers understand that natural is better, and of course, their overall personal wellness footprint is becoming central to the lives of more and more consumers. They want inside beauty as much as beauty on the outside”

It’s not a category without its challenges though. It can be complex to navigate the regulations and Sana is committed to doing lots of the work for shoppers, so that a product sourced from Sana, is one that comes with a bond of trust and reassurance. “Some businesses can offer consumers choice, but at Sana Lifestyle we want to help our customers make well educated choices. When our partners and customers, come to Sana they will understand that they can trust us to deliver every single time they interact with us.”

In short, after a career focused on looking great, this next chapter is about helping promote brands and productsthat make consumers feel good on the inside too. Joel sums up his task simply, “Making CBD simple, understandable, accessible and trustworthy is critical – we have the opportunity to do the hard work for consumers. Sana will focus on the detail, the regulation and the technical aspect, leaving consumer free to make the best choice for them and focus on their own wellness.”