Introduction - Solly & Dayna of BenSim Distribution

Hello,

We hope that everyone is doing well and staying safe.

We are Solly and Dayna, husband and wife duo behind BenSim Distribution. We are an authorized B2B Distributor based in Montreal, bringing a thoughtful curation of lifestyle and skincare products from around the world to the Canadian market. Our current brand partners include Egyptian Magic, Sara Happ, wakse, and non gender specific.

We are keen on building meaningful relationships with our retail partners, which is why we are kicking things off by re-introducing ourselves and BenSim Distribution for you to get to know us better.

THE BEGINNING: What does BenSim mean and why did you guys start BenSim?

BenSim is a combination of our two sons’ names – Ben and Simon. One of the key factors to us leaving our previous jobs was to spend more time as a family and to do something for our sons.

Solly: When Ben (our older son) was little, my job as a corporate sales director at a beauty manufacturing company brought me on lots of business trips for trade shows and meetings. It was a great experience being able to see the world, but I felt that I had missed a chunk of Ben’s childhood until he was 3.5 years old.

In April 2016, our younger son, Simon was born. As I watched my wife, Dayna, take care of our newborn, I looked at my schedule for upcoming trade shows and meetings and I knew that I would not have the work life balance I needed at that point. We sat down together for a long discussion and said, “let’s find something we can do where we can make our own schedules and be more independent”.

Dayna: When Simon was born, his skin was always itchy and reactive to everything. We searched high and low for products to help soothe Simon’s skin; from high end drug store brands to natural brands, nothing worked. Someone had suggested Egyptian Magic to us, and we tried a small sample of Egyptian Magic on Simon. Just like its name, it magically healed his skin. It was an “OMG moment” where his skin was smooth again and his skin did not have a negative reaction to it.

We did more research on the brand immediately and found out that this magical creation was only sold in ONE place in Montreal! We felt this is truly one of those special products that more people need to know about, so we reached out to the brand and started working with them.

This 6-ingredient natural skin cream has been a staple in our household ever since.

What do you look for in new brands that you work with?

We are always on the hunt for new brands. We are keen on cutting edge brands that think outside of the box, up-and-coming brands that are not widely distributed in Canada already. We look for products that are as clean as they can be without compromising the efficacy. We also strive on building a meaningful connection with the founders to have a parallel growth with the brands from the ground up.

What is your favourite BenSim product and why?

Dayna: Egyptian Magic holds a near and dear place to my heart because of Simon. It is just that product at home that both kids go and grab when they have a booboo, a mosquito bite, or a rash.

Solly: I have always been the person who just washes my face with water my entire life until we started working with non gender specific. While we do get to spend more time with the kids, long working hours as no strangers to business owners. After the kids go to bed at 7pm, we typically go back to work until bedtime. I do feel beat when I wake up in the morning, and it shows when I look in the mirror after my morning shower.

I have been very diligent with my non gender specific skincare routine and have seen a huge improvement in the quality of my skin, which is sensitive and freckled. The Everything Serum is great for protecting my skin and making it feel alive, but the Everything Cream is my favourite at the moment. I love massaging it on my cheek bones and under my eye daily, and the best part – my wrinkles are now GONE!

What is your favourite self-care tip during quarantine?

Dayna: Getting my body moving – whether it is working up a sweat on the peloton or bundling up and going outside for a nice stroll. We have also been enjoying a lot of time as a family in the kitchen, cooking and baking together with the kids. When I feel that my body is not at its best, enjoying a bath with several drops of essential oil really helps.

Solly: We have really cut down on eating out and have developed better eating habits. We had a great summer 2020 during quarantine as we cooked up lots of delicious healthy meals on the grill. I have officially become Dayna’s sous chef in the kitchen, and it has been a lot of fun cooking together.

On days where it is beautiful outside, we like to take a break from work at 2pm, drive out to a nice area and go for a 45-minute walk for some fresh air. Finding time to pause on work and focus on each other is one of the key contributors to us being together for almost 20 years!

What are your goals for BenSim?

Dayna: We would love to get more brands under our umbrellas. We are also excited to support all our retail partners for them to be bigger and better when they open back up post-covid, from the big box retailers, to health stores, to indie boutiques, to the mom-and-pop shops.

Solly: We truly stand behind the brands that we represent. With an extensive background in beauty product manufacturing, I know the secrets (both good and bad) behind products. We have seen and tested so many brands that we did not take on. We want to help as many people as possible with our products, for people to find the magic and fall in love with the products the way we did.

Thank you so much for taking your time to read this and getting to know us better. We look forward to connecting with you all!

Feel free to contact us if you would like to get some of the amazing brands that we work with into your stores.

#bensimdistribution #beauty #canadianbeautycompany #EgyptianMagic #nongenderspecific