Founder Story

Meet the heart and soul behind Skins™ where the journey to true self-confidence and life fulfillment begins. Our visionary founder, Karina, embodies a strong passion for helping women reconnect to their bodies and has fueled the creation of a brand that transcends the ordinary.

From a young age of 3, Karina perceived a disconnection in the adults around her. In a unique and innate ability, she could witness the separation of their body movements from their soul essence. Recognizing this division as a source of profound pain, Karina embarked on a powerful 29+ year journey delving into the intricacies and complex threads of humanity. Her quest revealed a profound truth - the freedom, fulfillment, and joy we seek are not external pursuits, but reside within our own selves. 

Karina's personal journey played a pivotal role in shaping Skins™. She lived much of her life dissociated from her body and overeating due to trauma. Despite many great accomplishments and reaching personal life goals, she felt unsafe in the world, relationships, and even within herself. There was too much within creating a separation, which was painful and full of mistrust. In a world profiting from our disconnection, perpetuating a cycle of constant future goals, Karina envisioned a paradigm shift. A societal system rooted in fear, contrary to our basic need for safety, was inhibiting true connection, fulfillment, and satisfaction. She aspired to bring a movement forward that transcends societal pressures, timelines and circumstances. Something that was permanent and effective.

Karina's work as a Body Wisdom Expert led her to a deeper understanding, that true confidence and empowerment blossoms when we feel at home within ourselves and our bodies. Karina’s mission is to rewrite the narrative of disconnection, fostering safety within, empowering individuals to show up confidently wherever life takes them. The layers of this transformative journey to self-discovery is represented in the apparel brand. More than garments of clothing, they are symbolic milestones on the path to coming home to oneself and embodying one's true essence.

Join Karina on this transformative journey where the wisdom of our bodies and where we are at right now is celebrated, cherished, and remembered. 

What Does Skins™ Mean To Karina?

Skins™ is about embodiment and being in relationship with the identities you are currently wearing. The identities you express shift throughout your life — day and night — reflecting who you are and what you’re experiencing. All of these identities are a part of you. We do not shame or judge them. Instead, we become curious, we welcome them in, and we embody them fully to better understand and integrate them. Just like growing new skin, we constantly grow, shed, and transform as we embody the self in front of us. To step into your full, embodied, liberated, and confident self, you must embrace all versions of you.

At the heart of it, however, is the core of who we are — our essence, the identity God designed us to be. Over the course of our lives, we develop different identities that reflect our circumstances, our trauma, our lessons, and our environment. Someone might identify as a high achiever, another as a people pleaser — these are expressions shaped to survive, adapt, and belong. Yet, these identities are not our true self; they are adaptive layers.

Your core identity, your essence, is constant. It is the daughter of God, uniquely gifted and created. Life presents seasons that help us confront and shed these adaptive identities. In the season of shedding, God redeems and strips away what is false. In the season of being, He primes us to come to know the essence of who we truly are and who He is calling us to be. And in the season of becoming, our character is tested and refined, revealing gifts and strengths that were previously dormant.

Skins™ is not only about our own love. Yes, there’s an element of reclaiming sovereignty, of stepping into self-love as we experience the seasons of shedding, being, and becoming. But at the core, this self-love is rooted in the eternal love of God. In Genesis 3:21, the Lord made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. This story reflects human curiosity, desire to learn, and our shortcomings. In the biblical context, these are sins; in personal development, they may be known as shortcomings. But at the heart of it all, our curious and imperfect nature invites us into God’s love — the ultimate garment that Skins™ represents.

For some, the journey of Skins™ is about deepening self-love, especially if one has been harsh or critical toward themselves. Yet this self-love is not earned solely by our efforts; it is given through God’s righteousness, flowing from His eternal love and reflecting our true, divine essence. Skins™ embodies this love greater than ourselves, allowing us to walk fully into our essence with confidence, freedom, and grace.