As a celebrity yoga instructor and a licensed esthetician, Danielle Cuccio, CEO and founder of Southern California-based Cuccio Somatology, learned about the value of achieving balance in one’s personal and professional life, and the effects it has on skin and overall glow. This became the foundation for the creation of Cuccio Somatology, a multi-faceted approach to the study of the body and the development of inner and outer beauty through wellness and self-care. Today, Cuccio runs a fast-growing, women-led beauty business with a global reach of over 120 countries. Her vision is to continue to bring new and innovative self-care products to people’s homes and to define the principles of today’s wellness category.

Beauty I&O (BIO): Talk about what inspired you to launch your self-care line.

Cuccio: Being raised in the beauty industry with entrepreneurial parents, I knew I wanted to do something similar. After graduating from UCLA, I went to beauty school and received my esthetician license. I then went to yoga school as well and received my yoga teacher training license. I merged the two worlds and really focused on helping people achieve beautiful skin through healthy living and happiness.

I have taught celebrities private yoga for 12 years. The brand initially started as a yoga brand with yoga mat cleaners and relaxing oils, and the brand grew into something much bigger. Cuccio is now a global self-care brand, and our products range from bath salts, body lotions, muscle balms, and other health and wellness products.

BIO: How did you “marry” being a celebrity yoga instructor to help grow your business? It’s an interesting concept.

Cuccio: I truly didn’t feel like beautiful skin was just about topical solutions. It was so much more than that. Feeling relaxed and calm was an integral part. It was merely the foundation of a broader yoga-based business—the Cuccio brand was born out of the relaxing experience created for our clients. Since 2011, I have been bringing healthy living tips, yoga exercises, and recipes to a much wider audience through the health blog, The Beauty Blender, and also spent two years liaising with top California chemists prior to launching Cuccio Somatology in 2016.

BIO: Are you continuously updating and adding to your yoga videos?

Cuccio: Yes. I teach 4-5 times a week to private clients on Zoom. I also post videos on my Instagram (@daniellecuccio) with inspiration and positive mindset affirmations.

BIO: What have you learned from your years developing your products?

Cuccio: It’s a long process to create something. It’s not an overnight kind of thing. Our products and developing customer relationships have taken many years. The products must be perfect for us to introduce to the marketplace.

BIO: Please explain the true meaning of somatology.

Cuccio: Somatology is the study of the body. I have taken numerous courses to truly understand the body, and true beauty comes from the inside out. Think about when someone comes back from a vacation glowing. It’s because they were relaxed and without stress. That is what we try to achieve through our products.

BIO: How large is your company and where are your products sold?

Cuccio: I’m proud to say Cuccio is a woman-owned business. Our products, led by a team of 100 staffers, are sold at Neiman Marcus, Anthropologie, Thrive Market, Amazon, and several others. Furthermore, our product lines are cruelty-free, paraben-free, and never tested on animals.


BIO: What sets your brand apart from other skincare lines?

Cuccio: We are a unique self-care brand that focuses on helping people find relaxation and calm. Our products are manufactured in a solar paneled lab in Southern California. We use the finest ingredients, and we pay an excessive amount of detail to those ingredients.

We now have a new collection launching with Fabfitfun and over 100,000 units of our hand and body wash going out this fall.  We are excited to launch this product collection and telling our customers to keep an eye out for it. For now, it’s available on our website at https://cucciosomatology.myshopify.com/collections/botanicals.

BIO: You feature the Mastiha tree on your website. How does it help tie into skincare?

Cuccio: Mastiha is made only on one side of an island in Greece, and it has so many beautiful healing properties. We use this ingredient in many of our products. It possesses a plethora of health benefits that we share with our customers. 

Mastiha’s health benefits have not been a secret to those in Chios. It has been used for centuries as a supplement for both health and beauty. It has anti-inflammatory, anti-bacterial, and antimicrobial properties on the skin. It also helps reduce oiliness, giving skin a shiny and healthy appearance while also tightening it to reduce the effect of wrinkles. All these benefits combine to make one’s skin more radiant and beautiful while maintaining a youthful appearance.

BIO: Do you have celebrity clients? If so, what advice do you offer them?

Cuccio: Yes, I do. I have the same advice for them as all my clients. We are all humans just trying to find happiness and I am there to help bring them calm and clarity along the way.

BIO: What is one wellness tip you always share with your customers?

Cuccio: Use products that help calm you. It’s like a two-in-one. You’re using the product and getting relaxed through aromatherapy at the same time. It’s all about elevating our products and the experience of using them.

BIO: As CEO, does anything keep you up at night?

Cuccio: I have had my nights, but as I am in the business for more years and I get older, I realize that everything will always figure itself out. I’m a mom of two kids so it’s more of them keeping me up at night. 

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About the Author: Sheldon Baker is CEO of Baker Dillon Group LLC and has created numerous nutraceutical brand marketing communications and public relations campaigns for well-known supplement and food industry companies. For interview consideration or brand marketing consulting, contact him at SBaker@BakerDillon.com.