Photo caption: UC graduate Emmalee Abbott Joe at the Red Bull Basement world final in Tokyo 2024.
Just days after graduating, Emmalee Abbott Joe began a regional role with UK-based The Upcycled Beauty Company, promoting ingredients made from plant-based by-products that might otherwise go to waste.
Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha | University of Canterbury (UC) graduate is working across Oceania and Asia as Upcycling Ambassador. Her role focuses on raising awareness of upcycled cosmetic ingredients and supporting beauty and personal care businesses to use them in their products.
Abbott Joe completed a conjoint Bachelor of Product Design and Commerce, combining majors in Chemical Formulation Design and Marketing. She says the mix of technical and commercial study prepared her to understand both how products are created and how their benefits can be communicated to customers.
“It is really cool to have that industry connection and learn more about the supply, distribution and manufacturing side,” she says.
Anna Crovetto, Community Lead at The Upcycled Beauty Company, says “Emmalee brings a valuable combination of formulation knowledge, commercial understanding and entrepreneurial experience. Through FROTH, she has shown that she can identify a consumer need and develop an innovative product concept with sustainability in mind.”
“Her international outlook and ability to communicate technical ideas clearly will help us build relationships across Oceania and Asia and support more beauty and personal care businesses to explore upcycled ingredients.”
Evidence of that combination of skills can be seen in FROTH, Abbott Joe’s venture developing dissolvable shampoo, conditioner and body wash tablets. The products are designed to make travel with toiletries easier and reduce reliance on single-use plastic packaging.
The idea was inspired by her travels in Southeast Asia, where she experienced the inconvenience of carrying liquid toiletries and saw the volume of waste associated with travel-sized products.
Abbott Joe developed FROTH as a final-year Chemical Formulation Design project at UC. She later represented Aotearoa New Zealand at the Red Bull Basement world final in Tokyo. The global incubator and innovation competition helps students and first-time founders develop tech-driven ideas into practical solutions. FROTH placed in the global top 10.
Her practical study also included developing products such as vegan gummies using citrus peel by-products and hand cream for healthcare workers. These projects gave her experience in turning technical concepts into formulations designed around real-world needs.
Abbott Joe continued developing FROTH through the UC Centre for Entrepreneurship Summer Startup programme. The venture received a Christchurch Foundation Women’s Entrepreneurship Grant, and she was one of three finalists for the 2025 Momentum Student Entrepreneur of the Year award.
She also served on the executive of Entré, UC’s student-run entrepreneurship organisation, and took part in mentoring and venture development programmes.
“My community was Entré and the UC Centre for Entrepreneurship,” she says. “Being able to help other people with their business ideas and give them support was probably my favourite part.”
International experience also contributed to her development. A three-month internship in Malaysia helped inspire FROTH, while an exchange in Barcelona allowed her to study Marketing and develop the adaptability and communication skills needed to work across regions.
Abbott Joe is continuing to work on FROTH while building her knowledge of the international beauty sector through her job at The Upcycled Beauty Company.
She says persistence has been central to creating opportunities.
“I apply for absolutely everything. You are going to get rejected for lots of things, but you will get accepted for one, and then it snowballs from there.”
Over the next few years, she hopes to develop her industry expertise and move FROTH closer to market, with the longer-term aim of running the venture internationally and supporting other emerging entrepreneurs.
“I would love to be fully running FROTH in five years and giving back by helping other people with their business ideas,” she says.
