She’s the social media ‘Boss Babe’ entrepreneur behind a New Zealand skincare company that was recently picked up by a major pharmacy retailer.

But this Celebrity Treasure Island fan-favourite had to rebuild her business after her stint on the show and the highly-publicised failure of a crowdfunding bid.

Edna Swart is the founder and creative director at ed&i body, which was co-founded seven years ago with her business partner Harry Ferreira. The business started as a swimsuit brand, then developed into a skincare company. 

A social media darling, Swart has a huge 41,000 followers on Instagram and has built a passionate community of potential customers.

But she found herself into trouble with ed&i body after a couple of major setbacks about three years ago.

Hindsight is an amazing thing 

Swart had to pull a capital raise from the crowdfunding platform PledgeMe in 2020 after the minimum target wasn't met. 

There was confusion about the valuation of the company after share prices were changed during the campaign. At the time, PledgeMe said valuations were a hard thing to set for early-stage companies. 

“In this case, the valuation and multiple were lowered for the benefit of potential investors.”

Determined to rebuild her business with the right foundation, Swart shrugged off the backlash and soldiered on. 

It would have been "cool" to have had the community with her, but she says, “it just didn’t hit the targets, and I had to keep going by myself”. 

Despite not getting the support she needed at the time, she believes things happen for a reason.

Swart admits the business partners took advice from someone they shouldn’t have. "Hindsight is an amazing thing.”

She had overbought stock to prepare the business for a likelihood she was told was going to happen, but it didn’t eventuate. That left ed&i body in the deep end with “quite a few big bills”.

Boss Babes going bankrupt

“I was freaking out – how are we going to cover our bills?” she says.

Not wanting to go down the crowdfunding route, Swart says the partners got to a point when they struggling.

Looking back, Swart advises anyone in a small business to be very careful who they take advice from.

“It's like you've got to follow your gut. I knew right from the start, like when something sounds too good to be true. It's too good to be true.”

She says she felt like she was sucked into a void, especially when the business was hit a second time during her stint on Celebrity Treasure Island. 

No one had taken over responsibility for the business during her five-week stint on the reality show.

“These businesses that are an overnight success that you see on social media are full of shit, and I wish we had more honesty.

“All I was thinking was, here we go again, it's gonna be in the headlines: Boss Babes going bankrupt.”

In a true 'Boss Babe' move, Swart has since secured an exclusive deal with Chemist Warehouse.

Growing retail footprint

She’s excited to forge a new path with the Australian-founded pharmacy chain, a deal her team has been working on for the past 18 months.

Her full range of skincare products from ed&i body is available on the Chemist Warehouse website, but this new deal will see her products exclusively stocked alongside Tom Ford and other high-end brands at the retail giant’s premium storefront, Ultra.

“We are growing our retail footprint. There will be five Ultra stores that will be open by the end of the year. After that, we’re hoping for more growth as we’ve been completely online with them. There’s a demand from our consumers to be more available in-store.”

Swart never expected to find herself a beauty mogul and says she is forever grateful to the team who backed her and her business.

She says she'll run her business differently for the global market, stepping away from being the face of ed&i because she’s well-known in NZ – which works – but not abroad.

“I think the products will stand on their own two feet without me, because they are amazing products. And you don't need somebody to be constantly portraying selling it." 

With time, they'd come to sell themselves, she says, because of positive feedback and word of mouth.

As the business’ creative force, Swart says she spends a lot of time researching ingredients and talking to her customers. However, she develops products based on her own needs. That’s how ed&i has evolved over the course of the last seven years, she says.

“Now we're moving into the next stage, my mid-30s. I'm spending more time and trying not to age, and I'm trying to bring in products that I think will be efficient and premium around the anti-ageing space.”

Very sad human

Swart says being in the public eye reinforced what she already knew about herself. She found people tended to make assumptions about her.

“They don't give you an opportunity, they perceive an idea of who you are, but when they get to know me, they apologise.”

Social media has made her business more accessible, but she says it's also left her vulnerable to bullying.

“You can really create your own future based on your own talent. I've grown a brand, I’ve done a lot on social media, there are so many pros. 

“But, obviously, social media has its downfalls. There's so much judgement and bullying. I get it all the time.”

Swart says she tries to understand that people are 'deflecting' who they are onto the person they’re bullying.

“You should never take it seriously because it's a reflection on who they are. They're insecure. They have gaps in their lives, and hurting other people feels fair to them.

“People throw hate at me now, and I just sort of laugh. I'm like, 'They're very sad humans'.”

She prefers to focus on the positive. Three years on from the PledgeMe campaign and the near collapse of ed&i, she says she’s come a long way from needing funding. 

“I was never taken seriously, it was tough. So much was against me, but I just kept doing what I needed to do.

“Now I'm at that point where people are wanting to invest – but they had their chance. I'm not interested now because I've worked so hard that I no longer need investment.”

Never really had a place called home

That’s the South African honesty in her coming out, she says. Those from her homeland are very truthful people.

“I've got a massive heart, though. I'm a person that forms very, very deep relationships. It's hard to break through my many, many brick walls. And when you do, it's like, you're my family."

Swart moved to NZ when she was five and has bounced across the North Island – from Te Kuiti, Tokoroa, Auckland, Stratford and New Plymouth to Palmerston North. 

“I’ve seen it all,” she says. “I've also felt like I've never really had a place called home – I'm gonna write a book one day called that."

She dropped out of school at 15 and then got kicked out of home, so she lived in her car for six months before couch-surfing.

“After Mum passed away, it was difficult, but I think it formed who I am today.”

After studying finance at university, she worked part-time at TSB Bank, then shifted to ASB and ANZ.

“I did five years in finance before I handed in my resignation.”

She says if she hadn't started her business, she’d still be working in a bank.

Numbers are a universal language

Using her skills as a banking adviser, she moved into small business and payments, which she enjoyed.

“Numbers – everything's just numbers. It’s a universal language.”

She discovered how to hustle: “Small businesses are always hustling and looking for help and need the support.”

She has lots of advice for others wanting to start their own businesses.

  • Know your purpose. Ask yourself why you want to be in business and why you are doing it. Because if you don't have a purpose when things get tough, your drive and your passion will fade.
  • Follow your gut. “You know what's right, and you know what you're trying to create – so be careful.
  • Get the foundations right. Learn from my mistakes. 
  • Be authentic. “Don't ever try to be another business. You need to be very authentic in your own way."

She says having her own business has been a joy for her – she feels that she makes a real difference to people's lives.

For example, customers have told her their cystic acne has been improved by using her products.

“I'm so proud of the voices I hear from my customers – the feedback. When I hear how my products helped them, I get very emotional. 

"I had this teenage boy who had severe lower back acne, and it's all gone. The kid’s confidence has been completely transformed.

“It’s so emotional because I was that kid.”

Her business also allows her to select her own life.

“The personal element, the biggest form of success for me, is being able to dictate my own time. I think time is something that just can't be bought. It's one of those things that's invaluable, right?

“I dictate when and how I work and how I live. I think that's a really big achievement.”

She's looking forward to a trip with her husband’s family in September, travelling Route 66 on Harley Davidsons with “dorky, matching T-shirts, like the Brady Bunch”.

She’s adamant she'll post the cringe-worthy photos on her social media account because it documents her living her life to the fullest.

“I have a very deep understanding of how precious life is.”