Nu Skin Enterprises is a global beauty and wellness company that develops and sells skincare products, beauty devices and nutritional supplements under the Nu Skin, Pharmanex and ageLOC brands. The company distributes its products through a global network of independent brand affiliates operating across nearly 50 markets.
You've been with Nu Skin for more than 30 years and have seen the industry evolve dramatically. When did you first realise beauty was becoming as much about long-term health as appearance?
I started with the company when I was 21, so my own journey has mirrored the evolution of the wellness and longevity industry. In the 1980s, going to the gym or taking supplements wasn't mainstream. That changed in the 1990s as gyms and supplements became more popular. In the 2000s, fitness movements like OrangeTheory, SoulCycle and later Peloton gained momentum. Over the last 15 years, biomarkers emerged with products like WHOOP and Oura Ring, and in the last three or four years, GLP-1 therapies have become what I'd describe as the fourth catalyst shaping the longevity market.
Nu Skin has always tried to stay ahead of that curve. Since our founding in 1984, our logo has represented the Fountain of Youth, reflecting our ambition to help people look, feel and live better. In the 1990s, we acquired Pharmanex, and by the late 1990s we were integrating beauty, wellness and science. In 2005, we introduced our first biophotonic scanner to measure carotenoid levels in the skin. This year, we’ve introduced a handheld-sized device to measure carotenoids called Prysm iO. We've often been 10 years ahead of our time, but today we're probably only three to five years ahead because interest in measuring nutritional health has accelerated so much.
Nu Skin now spans skincare, nutritional supplements and health technologies. What ties those businesses together?
We see wellness and longevity as an integrated journey that's both inside out and outside in. Since around 1989, we've positioned ourselves as a beauty-from-the-inside-out and wellness-from-the-outside-in company. Roughly half our portfolio is topical beauty and half is internal wellness, and we leverage the science across both. That's relatively unique because traditional beauty companies generally don't participate in wellness at scale, while most wellness brands don't have a meaningful beauty business.
Collagen is a good example. It's an ingestible wellness product that delivers visible beauty benefits, and much of our research focuses on those connections.
Around 15% of our revenue comes from devices that generate health data. We introduced our biophotonic scanner because consumers rightly question whether supplements actually work. That technology is even more accessible now with this year’s launch of Prysm iO. Rather than simply making claims, we've focused on measuring outcomes using Raman spectroscopy to measure carotenoid levels in the skin following supplementation.
Personalised health is moving beyond one-size-fits-all products towards data-driven insights. What role will measurement and biomarkers play in the future of beauty and wellness?
Consumer trends are clearly moving towards intelligent personalisation, particularly in beauty and wellness. People increasingly want products that deliver a personal benefit. I think of personalisation in layers. We all share common biology, but then there are differences such as sex, age and biological ageing. Beyond that, biomarkers provide another layer, allowing you to understand your individual nutritional health.
There haven't been many new nutritional biomarkers introduced over the past 15 years. Wearables measure metrics like heart rate variability, VO₂ max and metabolic health, but they tell you little about nutritional status beyond periodic blood tests. Using data from 21 million scans, representing 10 million people across 50 countries over 20 years, we developed Prysm iO to provide a non-invasive nutritional health measurement. Independent studies have shown a high level of accuracy compared with blood work, allowing users to measure nutritional health in 15 seconds and track changes over time.
GLP-1 therapies have transformed the conversation around weight management. Where do you see Nu Skin fitting into that new landscape?
We believe weight management is an important part of the wellness journey, but our broader focus has always been wellness. We have products such as our Transform TR line that support healthy living, and some of our Asia businesses lean more into weight management. I believe anything that helps people move more will improve longevity, and we've seen people using GLP-1 therapies become more active because they simply feel better.
The concern is that people may equate being thinner with being healthier. GLP-1s don't address fitness, cardiovascular capacity or muscle mass, and without exercise, muscle loss can become an issue. We see an opportunity to complement that journey by helping people become healthier, not simply thinner.
As GLP-1 therapies expand, particularly oral treatments, Nu Skin and Pharmanex can play an important role in supporting healthspan and helping people enjoy a higher quality of life for longer.
Consumers now get health advice from influencers, social media and increasingly AI. Does that make trust more valuable than ever?
I believe personal recommendation is going through something of a J-curve. Over the past 15 years, beauty and wellness have become two of the most social-media-driven categories, with influencer and affiliate marketing becoming major sources of information. But that has also created a great deal of noise. Before social media, recommendations came from people you trusted who shared similar experiences. Today, consumers are just as likely to take advice from influencers who may not be experts.
AI is adding another layer of complexity. As more content becomes AI-generated or AI-enhanced, consumers are finding it increasingly difficult to judge what's authentic and who they can trust. I believe that over the next two to three years, people will place greater value on trusted, authentic recommendations. The market has become overcrowded, and we're already seeing signs of fatigue, which I think will ultimately play to the strengths of our relationship-based model.
Healthcare is moving from occasional check-ups towards continuous measurement. Beyond Prysm iO, where do you see that shift leading?
According to Euromonitor, we've been recognised for many years as a leader in beauty and wellness device systems, and that reflects the direction we're continuing to pursue. We believe the future lies in moving from occasional health assessments to continuous measurement, giving people meaningful data about their health over time rather than isolated snapshots. Prysm iO is a significant step because it allows people to measure nutritional health consistently and build a clearer picture of how their daily choices affect their wellbeing. We're moving towards an intelligence-driven approach to health, where people use data to understand their sleep, nutrition, recovery and even emotional wellbeing.
If you can understand how your nutrition, sleep and lifestyle choices affect how you feel and perform each day, you can make better decisions about your health. Our strategy is centred on combining diagnostics, biomarkers and personalised insights to help people make those decisions. The goal with Prysm iO is to make nutritional health measurable every day, giving people practical insights they can act on. More broadly, we see technology, diagnostics and intelligent data helping people not just live longer, but optimise their health throughout those additional years.
