Some of her favorite places to dive are the Cenotes near Playa del Carmen, Mexico, where there’s little marine life but incredible caverns and light refractions. Also, Raja Ampat, Indonesia, which has some of the most protected and abundant coral reef systems, “making each dive like jumping into a Dr. Seuss book – colorful soft corals, crazy looking fish, oceanic mantas galore!”

Diving brought her into a new life rhythm tied to that of the ocean, and she ended each day exhausted, but at peace, from spending all day outdoors doing what she loved. She also found that diving gave her an intimate understanding of the fragility of life in the ocean and all our planet’s ecosystems.

“When you spend enough time underwater, the ocean stops being an abstract cause and becomes something deeply personal.”

For this reason, Kuklinski wanted to use sunscreens and hair products that were safe for ocean ecosystems. Research cited by NOAA and others estimates up to 14,000 tons of sunscreen flow into coral reef areas each year. Certain chemical UV filters can harm aquatic life, including corals.

However, finding workable products for someone who spent a lot of time diving posed a challenge.

“The performance-driven products were quite toxic for marine life, and the ‘clean’ products often didn’t perform.”

While she was on the dive boat, she’d dive three to four times a day, lounging on the deck in the sun between dives. This dried her hair out, and it broke off in a tuft at the crown of her head, and her skin got weathered.

So, when she returned from traveling, she started building KOOK (inspired by her last name and by being unusual and distinctive, like a “kook”) on the side while working at American Express. She was on the insight and analytics team in her day job, which provided invaluable insight for someone starting a business.

“At first I was just building this for myself, but as I became more entrenched in the industry, I realized that there was a demand that needed to be met.”

There was more to developing a product line than Kuklinski realized. It took six rounds of samples and nearly a year to reach a formulation she was happy with, which would protect hair and skin even before sun, wind, and salt damaged them. She sent samples to over 100 ocean athletes around the world for testing, receiving valuable feedback.

“One of the biggest challenges has been building something that does not cut corners. Product development is slow, expensive, and humbling. Everyone loves to talk about the idea, but execution is the brutal part.”

Everything with KOOK has been designed with care and intention, through many rounds of experimentation to find the best way of doing things.

“What I’ve learned is that building a brand is equal parts vision and endurance. You need taste and instinct, but you also need operational discipline. You need conviction, but you also need to be able to iterate without ego,” says Kuklinski.

If she could start KOOK over again, she would invest even more time and care in the brand’s back end, making operations and communication flow effectively. While she doesn’t regret her enthusiasm and ambition, she learned that it was discipline that created traction and made a product line possible.

All of KOOK’s jars and bottles are recyclable and made with 30 percent post-consumer recycled materials, and they donate five percent of revenue to environmental restoration. “To date, we’ve funded the planting of 3,000 mangroves, with an estimated 924 tons of carbon sequestration potential,” she says.

Kuklinski also spends time speaking on podcasts and women’s health expos, educating people about buying sustainable skin care products. “Beauty is full of vague language and half-truths,” she says. “Words like clean, natural, and reef-safe are often used loosely, which makes it harder for consumers to know what is real. And I care about helping people understand what they’re buying and why it matters.”

She says the biggest step someone can take is to stop assuming that “beachy” branding means a product is ocean-safe. “It doesn’t!”

Instead, she advises people to look for credible third-party standards where possible and pay attention to what’s actually in the products they’re using. “Read those labels,” she says, “and use the Yuka app when in doubt.”

She also urges consumers to choose brands with less single-use plastic and those that invest in ecology and better systems.

“Once you spend enough time in the ocean, it stops feeling like a backdrop and starts feeling like something you have a relationship with. From there, better choices become a lot more intuitive.”

Next steps for KOOK are expanding distribution and more sustainable packaging, including a refill program. Also, she’d like the company to become an even bigger platform for education and impact.

“We’ve already planted 3,000 mangroves, led 10 beach cleanups, engaged 800+ event attendees, and partnered with 100+ sustainable, minority-founded, and local brands. I want to keep building on that.”

Long-term, she wants KOOK to help define a new category in beauty. “I want us to continue proving that products can be high-functioning, aesthetically sharp, environmentally responsible, and culturally relevant all at once.”