Featured Vendor:
Ian Lirenman, President – emerginC
Ian is the President of emerginC, a cutting-edge, result oriented, cosmeceutical line sold in top spas worldwide. Ian started emerginC with one serum out in his studio apartment in Manhattan. Today the company
has over 65 products for face and body. He lives in Manhattan with his wife and two daughters.
- Tell us about the product and how you started: Oh, this is a long story, too long to tell here. But emerginC itself was born in my then studio apartment in Manhattan with a single product; we found a lab that knew how to stabilize vitamin C better than anything else we had seen and thus emerginC arrived on the scene, with one single serum. Then it became two products, then four, then eight, and now we have over 70 products in our signature and organic range. We are proudly in many of the top spas in the country and in 7 other countries.
- The list of eco-friendly reasons to buy emerginC is numerous, what are three you're most proud of? The one I am hands-down most proud of is our tree-planting initiative. We created, as a permanent feature of our scientific organics brand, a "buy one plant one" program, whereby we plant a viable, indigenous tree, in a non-harvest location, all over the world with our partners at Plant-It 2020 (plantit2020.org), an organization started by John Denver, for every retail scientific organics product sold. We have done a lot of other things such as using paper from sustainably managed forests for our product boxes and brochures, biodegradable "stone" emerginC shopping bags, our office runs on wind power, we pack orders with biodegradable packing "peanuts"--basically, we are always looking at ways to reduce our impact and also give back. We don't want to be a company that is only taking.
- What can a spa do to be more eco-friendly? Well, first let me start with a shameless plug: carry our emerginC scientific organics range, as you will be effortlessly planting trees! Not bad, huh? Other than that, I think all sorts of things need to be looked at, from recycling, to everything from biodegradable cleaners to recycled toilet paper. One just needs to examine all aspects of the business to see what is out there as an alternative. People are always surprised to hear that our office runs on wind power in, of all places, Manhattan! They envision a windmill on our roof, but this is not the case; we went through our local power company (Con Edison) which offers a number of alternative energy programs. We chose the one we wanted (wind power) and they basically purchase energy from wind sources and put it onto the grid. There are all sorts of things one can do.
- When you're in New York with the family what are you doing? I like to take my two daughters to the Union Square Farmer's Market (or I go myself when they are in school) to show them the marvelous local, organic bounty that exists near us. (I like cooking for them as well and find it incredibly satisfying to know that I am getting them the best things they can eat, prepared with LOVE--it's the Jewish mother in me!) We go for dim sum sometimes or to museums or my youngest daughter implores me to push her as high as I can on the swing at the nearby park. "Higher, Papa, Higher!"
- What is something that you have not done yet that's on your "list"? This list is way too long and some of it is probably not even fit to print! I like to be wide open to the opportunities that life presents, open to new things, new experiences and new feelings! I don't want to just pass through this life without having some sort of positive impact--for me, the tree-planting is just a start, as there is a lot more I would like to do and create.
Ian can be reached at: ian@emerginc.com
