We are thrilled to welcome Anastasia Sapounaki, brand strategist & entrepreneur of Drops of Greece, a pioneering Greek cosmetic brand.

With a passion for natural beauty and a commitment to excellence, Anastasia has transformed her vision into a flourishing business that celebrates the rich heritage and natural bounty of Greece.

Join us as we delve into her inspiring story exploring her entrepreneurial journey, the challenges she has overcome, and her unwavering dedication to creating a brand that embodies the essence of Greek beauty.

Her story is a testament to the power of passion, perseverance, and the enduring allure of nature's gifts.

What motivated you to start ''Drops of Greece'' and how did your Greek heritage influence this decision?

It all started back in 2020 after coming out from the second quarantine that was imposed in Greece. Lots of women and men noticed significant skin damage which was largely attributed to harmful exogenous factors.

The chief culprits were blue radiation, indoor pollution, and outdoor pollution. We quickly realized that there is a need to design and develop a protective shield to combat these damaging factors which is how DROPS Skin Guardians was born.

Let me paint you a word picture of what it means to live in my hometown Athens for our skin: Athens experiences on average 300 days of sun per year.

Global warming has further exacerbated the harmful effects both of sun rays and of the ever-hotter temperature extremes especially during the summer.

Let alone that Athens is quite a polluted city with a high concentration of dust microparticles in its atmosphere.

Finally, we Athenians love to spend much of our lives outdoors, which means that daily exposure to these harmful elements is inevitable.

And this is where we come in. DROPS was inspired by the lifestyle of locals. Our primary goal was to create a product that nourishes, protects, and cares for the skin of our community.

But once our mission was completed, we identified the same gap as in Greece in the global market and started to expand our reach. 


As we’re speaking, DROPS Skin Guardians are off on their global journey, committed to liberating, protecting, and caring for your skin, no matter where you live or what lifestyle you lead.

How does your brand embody the principles of prevention, restoration, nourishment, anti-aging, and protection?

Not even that long ago it used to be common to have to use multiple products to cover each of these principles individually or maybe two at a time.

These times are over as our everyday lives have become increasingly agile and the pace has picked up to a point that having to do these routines is not only a luxury, but a waste of our precious time.

The disruption that we introduce to the market and what we are most proud of is that the DROPS formulations contain all five of these principles in each product.

Our formulations are inherently multifunctional as they enhance multiple skin functionalities while applying them only twice per day.

Cycladic Art and Culture significantly influence the brand’s philosophy and packaging. Can you explain how these elements are reflected in your products and what they symbolize?

We are inspired by the Cycladic figurines. Looking back at their history, one will discover that they were painted with very bright colors and designs.

They were quite complicated in their appearance, nothing like what we are used to associating with them. Over time, the colors faded, leaving behind this universal, timeless design.

They eventually became the ancient archetype of simplicity. In a weird twist of fate, skincare also used to be very complicated with multiple products needing to be applied in a certain order and at certain times of day.

Each product achieved only one goal making skin care tedious and more of a chore rather than a pleasure.

Through innovation, continuous R&D, and the use of modern scientific methods, we managed to combine all key ingredients needed for a daily skin routine in a functional formulation that you only need to use twice a day.

We firmly believe that we have created the modern archetype of simplicity.

As a female entrepreneur, what challenges have you faced in the beauty industry, and how have you navigated them?

As a committed multitasker by nature, I’ve had the opportunity to work in multiple fields during my career in the last decade and I still do in parallel to my venture into the beauty industry.

This means that I’ve faced various challenges that are either general or industry-specific.

Regarding your question, I’d rather focus on the general challenges, as I think that a lot of women will have faced them and might identify with them more than with industry-specific challenges which might be quite niche.

I have consistently observed and experienced men with equal and sometimes even lesser abilities/commitment/knowledge/experience/etc. inspire more trust in clients.

Women, on the other hand, must perform at a 150% to gain the same level of trust which I can see how it discourages young professionals from entering certain male-dominated fields.

It’s a total cliché, but I’ve only managed to gain their trust through a combination of being dedicated, focused, results-driven, and to a certain degree playing by their rules of the game.

Now, I am saying to a certain degree, because once you gain a certain level of trust and you’ve delivered what you were tasked to do, you can tip the balance in your favor and make them play by your rules.

Additionally, female entrepreneurs face time constraints due to multiple social roles and expectations.

In an era where sustainability is crucial, how does your brand ensure it adheres to ethical and sustainable practices?

When discussing environmental sustainability, it's crucial to actually walk the walk by minimizing our environmental footprint.

Our guiding principle is very simple: that what benefits the environment also benefits us, and vice versa.

So, how are we doing this?

1. Reduce transport to a bare minimum: We prioritize minimal transportation of materials, even if it means choosing a more expensive supplier, to reduce our environmental impact.

2. “In-House” Creation and Composition: By creating and assembling products in Greece, we significantly reduce our footprint. 

3. Sustainable Materials: We opt for materials like glass and paper, which are ideal for a circular economy, despite their significantly higher cost, rather than cheaper, non-recyclable alternatives.

Are there any upcoming products that you’re particularly excited about?

It will be our secret, right? Our next drop is the Milky Way Guardian. A recent diagnosis of a teammate prompted us to radically reorganize our priorities.

We were shocked to learn that statistically about 1 in 8 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer at some point in their lives. To make matters worse, discouraging statistics show that the median age for diagnosis is decreasing.

One of the most common treatments is radiation. Over 50% of patients receive radiation treatment at some time during their fight against cancer.

Radiation, however, causes significant skin damage that requires healing and regeneration.

So, we developed the Milky Way Guardian, It has successfully undergone clinical testing and so far the clinical results are very promising. We hope to launch the Milky Way Guardian by the end of 2024. ΙΑs a company we are always striving to respond to real-world problems.

How do you engage with your customers and educate them about the importance of protecting their skin from environmental stressors?

The obvious things put side (social media, our website, printed promotional material, etc.), our approach to customer education is following the newest trend of e-consultations.

Our skin experts can answer all your questions either by writing to us (e-mail or DM on Instagram, for instance) or by booking 1-to-1 online video consultations which are very beloved by our customers so far.

What does your daily beauty routine look like?

Νow the world renowned Greek summer is at our doorstep and I prefer – what I call – skin minimalism: a program that trains the skin to become more resilient, relying on its own mechanisms.

So, I wear sunscreen and skin guardian serum in the morning for daily defense, and skin guardian serum and a light moisturizer at night to promote skin restoration.

What advice would you give to a woman just starting her own business?

If I had to give a take home message from my experience in the business world in general, it would boil down to this: find partners who treat you as if you were a man!

Related to what I’ve already illustrated above, women face a lot of unjustified mistrust, so it's essential to have business partners that see and treat you at eye level.

Where do you see ''Drops of Greece'' in the next five to ten years, and what steps are you taking to achieve these goals?

We are admittedly a small brand now making its first steps into the big unknown. But before writing us off, don’t forget that we have big brand aspirations and most importantly lots of consolidated experience.

For instance, our lead scientist has extensive experience in R&D and formulation in a major global skincare brand. She worked there for over a decade developing some of their most iconic products that you are most certainly familiar with.

However, venturing into the world of startups, we couldn’t provide her so far with the capacity for the type of larger-scale production she was used to. Recently, though, this has started to change.

We are very proud and honored to officially announce that we have forged a long-term collaboration plan with a world-class university, to scale up our innovation, R&D, and eventually our production.

So, stay tuned as DROPS is growing and growing up. Essentially, our dream boils down to bringing a Drop of Greece into every home!