How mum went from living on $50 a week to becoming the CEO of the business behind item voted BEST in Australia – and Sonia Kruger is a fan

Sonia Amoroso was a college student living on $50 a week when the idea of ​​starting her own business came to me.

While studying communications, she launched her wildly successful health and beauty brands – Naturopathica with the famous FatBlaster and Skin Doctors – through her majors in research and advertising.

‘I think the courage of the youth made the process a little less overwhelming. When you are young and don’t have a lot of responsibilities, you don’t really have much to lose,” Sonia told FEMAIL.

‘Both businesses I started were from home – the first was a bit trickier as I was in a run-down house and had no income other than an Austudy payment of around $50 a week.

‘I had very little start-up capital, but I was lucky that I was studying… so I was able to do advertising as part of my university projects, which really meant I didn’t have to invest in designers or agencies.’

All she had to do was place the ads, which meant she took a small ad, generated revenue from it, and invested it in more and bigger ads.

‘It was a slower build, but I was able to grow the brands organically this way. I never attracted investors or financing, which allowed me to limit my risk.”

Her hard work paid off after she sold her two companies to start a new venture. Fast forward to today, and Sonia is the CEO of Freezeframe, Australia’s top-rated clinical skin care brand, available at major retailers including Chemist Warehouse and Priceline.

With ten years of experience in the beauty industry, Sonia knew she wanted to create a skincare line that is clinically proven and affordable, designed to be effective alternatives to aesthetic treatments and deliver real results for customers.

“I had spent ten years researching and developing skin care and I felt like something was missing,” Sonia recalls.

‘In my 30s, I wanted products that could extend my youth corridor and keep me looking young well into my 40s, 50s and even 60s. I wanted to develop what I like to call a line of youth extension products, or “youth extenders.”

‘I also thought that you don’t have to pay ridiculous prices to get results.’

And so Freezeframe was born in 2009.

“When I started the brand, I already had 10 years of experience in skincare product development, so the innovation was well known and I had very strong relationships with the best ingredient suppliers around the world,” Sonia said.

‘I knew which ingredients worked and I had access to them – so I became determined to develop targeted products with multiple benefits that would deliver extraordinary results and keep women looking good and feeling confident for years to come .

‘freezeframe is about keeping your skin and body looking beautiful for longer. The brand delivers products that are purpose-driven problem solvers, so customers don’t need a whole range of products or complicated routines to achieve their goals.”

However, starting the new skincare business was not easy, despite having already built two of Australia’s most successful brands.

“It was still a challenge because I went from having a team of 120 people to starting up again with one employee from my spare room at home,” she explains.

“Honestly, as hard as it was, it was the most exciting time in the industry and I thrived on working with ingredient labs on groundbreaking new ingredients, and retailers to bring the brand to life in-store.”

She started FreezeFrame with just one product: INHIBOX, which was launched exclusively at luxury department store chain Myer.

“I remember working with the buyer late into the evenings and on weekends to bring it to life. It was difficult, no doubt, but it was so exciting,” Sonia said.

‘Within a month we had the best-selling skincare product in Myer. I’m not going to lie: beating global giants like Estée Lauder to first place felt good.

‘We launched the brand as a single product and in the following years we launched targeted solutions, one by one, to develop a whole range of products for youth covering the entire range of beauty concerns.’

After building multiple businesses over the past twenty years, there are many life lessons she wishes she had known from the start.

‘You think you have to put everything into your business in the beginning, but that’s actually counter-intuitive. You need balance to keep the weight under control or you’re going to fall over,” she said.

‘Also in the beauty industry you are only as good as your last breakthrough. Keeping the focus on your customers’ needs and striving to deliver results for them is the only way to achieve long-term success.

‘We have to ask ourselves why we do what we do, what difference can we make in people’s lives. It has to be about more than just success or money.

“I now know how important impact is and while I may not have known this at first, I am grateful that I do now.”

As a busy working mother, Sonia said no day is typical for a CEO.

‘There are so many elements to my role, from inventing new products and discovering new active ingredients to developing marketing campaigns. Of course, there are also all the business and financial elements I have to check off,” she said.

“At the end of the day, I’m doing all the usual mom things for my beautiful twelve-year-old daughter, who is starting high school this year. And yes, I still pack her lunch and do the back and forth school work.”

Despite her hectic work schedule and parenting, she still finds time to exercise before leaving home every morning.

“I try to meditate and exercise before I go out because this really makes the day successful,” she explained.

Now, 15 years after Freezeframe’s founding, the brand is recognized as one of Australia’s top skincare brands, with celebrities such as Sonia Kruger among its fans.

What started as one product has now grown to more than 20 best-selling items, with REVITALEYES being named the number one eye cream in the country four years in a row.

The award-winning beauty formula is praised for its ability to reduce the appearance of wrinkles and under-eye darkness in just 30 minutes.

The brand’s latest product to hit the market is the ‘game changing’ PRO COLLAGEN SUNCEUTICAL, a ‘six year labor of love’ for Sonia.

“I suffer from debilitating chemical sensitivities and cannot use chemical sunscreens… Over the years I have become increasingly frustrated with the lack of comfortable mineral sunscreens,” she said.

‘Mineral sunscreen is often thick or greasy, causing a white haze to appear on the skin. You may be able to tolerate this at the beach, but no one wants their skin to look and feel like this every day.

“So the project began.”

Freezeframe created a product that was not just a tinted skin perfecter with a mineral sunscreen, but a serious cosmeceutical that delivered clinically proven results including smoother skin in 30 minutes and a dramatic facelift effect in 28 days.

During testing, 75 percent of participants agreed with the statement, “It looks like I’ve had a facelift,” after using the product for 28 days.*

Not only have Freezeframe products captured the number one position almost every year, but Sonia has also won numerous awards herself, including EY Entrepreneur of the Year and Most Influential CEO of 2023 by CEO Monthly.

Her greatest reward is the millions of women she has helped feel more confident and look fantastic.

*Clinical study on 20 women – 47 – 62 years, apply twice a day, apply to half face for 28 days.

Use SPF as directed, reapply often and stay out of direct sunlight whenever possible. SPF is just one form of sun protection. Wear protective clothing when outdoors.