COPPERAS COVE, Texas — From the very beginning, things have been different and, at times, harder for Catrina Jackson. You wouldn't, however, be able to tell if you walked in her home in Copperas Cove.
"To not feel comfortable in your own skin, which I've felt before," Jackson told 6 News when asked why this is so important to her. "I mean, I grew up as a heavyset Black kid in El Paso and I was the only Black kid around for a very long time and I felt uncomfortable in my own skin."
Jackson owns and operates Natural Pure Skin Repair out of her home in Copperas Cove and just won The Best of Cove 2022. A journey, she said, that began during her childhood and kicked into high gear after the birth of her daughter, Malayna, who suffers from eczema.
"It just takes my breath away. Just to know that, it's, it's emotional, because to know that what I'm doing matters is an amazing thing to me because I put love into every single thing that I do," she said about being named Best of Cove '22.
Jackson said she never intended to become a company at all but said she was working for a company in Utah that laid her off after folding. Malayna suffered from seizures during this same time and after three surgeries, Jackson said her daughter has been seizure free.
"She had a stroke at birth, which caused a number of things: epilepsy, cerebral palsy, dyslexia, ADHD," Jackson said. "I say that not sad because if anybody saw my daughter Malayna, they would see that she's just an overachiever."
As a mom, seeing her daughter fight and survive through a stroke and different disabilities, as well as developing eczema, she just knew she had to do something to help her and that was the very least she could do.
"I knew there was a natural way to help heal her because going to the doctors they just had different creams and things that I couldn't pronounce," she explained. "Being here in Texas, they would tell her she should put this ointment on but that she can't go outside."
At the time, being 5 years old, that wasn't an option while she worked and her being in school while wanting to play with her friends.
What happened next is something almost any parent would probably do, Jackson said. She began researching and testing different ingredients to see what worked and didn't. The result was a body butter cream that changed her daughter's life, she said.
Jackson said it also changed hers and that's how Pure Skin Repair was born.
"It took numerous times, dozens of times before I found one that worked," Jackson said of the body butter cream that changed everything. "Malayna didn't like the smell and so I had to find a different method and reformulate because if it stinks to her and she's not going to wear it, it just won't work."
Jackson said she never realized that her unintentional business -- which picked up after others saw Malayna's eczema disappear -- would impact people she may not know or ever meet. She said she's just happy she have a positive impact somewhere.
"It's not just about sales and products," Jackson said. "Everybody needs somebody to talk to and it feels like I'm that person for you, please reach out."
To follow Natural Pure Skin Repair and to order products, or if you have questions, check her out on Facebook and Instagram.