Jennifer's Story

Hi, I am Jennifer Cook, the owner of Sugar Sand Tan, a professional, sunless tanning products company.

Here’s how Sugar Sand Tan all began!
I was totally just a mom with two children, staying busy with family and helping my husband out with his business occasionally. My daughter was a competition cheerleader, and we found ourselves buying tans constantly for competitions. Not only would I buy tans for my daughter, I tanned every time she did, and this
became quite expensive.

I remember writing that last Airbrush Tanning check, saying to myself, I’m going to learn how to do this. So, I did, I researched airbrush tanning, and the best products on the market. I became certified and I had instant clients with the cheer team and all their moms. As I realized, this could be quite a lucrative business, I decided to go all the way with it. We live in Louisiana, and our state was quickly becoming known as "Hollywood South", because so many movies were being filmed in Louisiana. Louisiana allowed a special tax credit
to the movie industry, which became very attractive to all of Hollywood. New Orleans was the main location for new movies to film, however, Baton Rouge had just built their very own movie production center. It’s called “Celtic Media Center.”

I decided to go big or go home with my small little airbrush tanning business, and that’s exactly what I did. I went straight to the gate at Celtic media center, and asked if they had a salon inside the studio? The man at the guard hut said yes, ma’am, they do, give me one second and I will call them. He made a quick call and buzzed me right in through the gate. Next thing, I know, I’m meeting with a salon owner inside the movie industry of Louisiana. The salon owner did not have an airbrush tanning artist working inside their salon. So, we set up a second meeting, and made our final arrangements for me to airbrush tan inside the salon of Celtic Media Center. Never be afraid to “shoot your shot!” I’ve always said, it’s going to be someone, why not me! As you can imagine, working inside the movie industry gave me lots of experience, and was so fun
in the process!

There was only one problem, I really did not like the sunless tanning products that were on the market. I constantly stayed on the lookout for something better, but never was truly satisfied with what I found.

As the movie industry changed in the state of Louisiana, they lost their tax credit. This led me to work with plastic surgeons, and Medical Aesthetics offices, all while still searching for a better Tanning product.

Then Covid-19 hit! Louisiana, just like the rest of the nation, shut completely down. No airbrush tanning was allowed for a very long time! I found myself at home, washing my groceries, and sanitizing everything in the entire house daily! I’m still in shock that our nation actually went through such a complete shutdown! It’s almost like a really bad dream! A pandemic! Who would have ever dreamed that America would go through anything like this!

During this time, it caused many of us to get real creative and think outside the box! The way we did business changed, forever!

One night, while watching the Miss USA Pageant and critiquing all of the tans on stage, a lightbulb came on! I said out loud to my husband, I’m going to have my very own sunless tanning products! I definitely had plenty of time to work on it being locked up during Covid! So, the research began! I found a company with a Chemist, that would help me design my dream tanning products.

As the process began, I remember thinking...there might be more to this, than just selling this product out of my little office!

I remembered how I boldly drove up to the gate of the movie industry, and the door opened for me to work there for many years! My mind began to swirl with possibilities! What if this product could be better than anything on the market? What if people really loved it? It was all very exciting!

It took me almost a complete year to get the formula to exactly what I wanted. I had very specific things that had to be included in the formula. Some of those things included, no smell, no orange, no transfer, no sticky, instant dry, long, lasting, and much more! I wanted a clean, healthy formula, something I would not be scared to use! Finally, I remember the day we finally got it right! I tested it out on everyone, and I had my husband wear it. I put it on all of my family and friends and got their opinions. It was so exciting to see how amazing it turned out! Everyone LOVED it, and Sugar Sand Tan was born! We launched it in a soft launch party at my office with about 50 Bottles sold, in December of 2020!

We may have been wearing masks, but we had beautiful tans!
Now, we currently are in more than 200 stores across the US and growing rapidly! Our goal is to become the number one selling tanning product in the nation, and then the world!