Backroom Lab? Sounds Scary...

Sarina Pilaroscia didn't set out to build a skincare company. She set out to fix something for her father. He had lived with severe psoriasis for decades. While looking through her dad's medicines, she noticed a flammable warning label on a steroid foam. Whatever he was putting on his skin was so dangerous, it needed a warning label. "Why is this the only option?" That curiosity sent her deep into research mode, visiting libraries, building her own back room lab, followed by a two year Health Canada validated cohort study, all to prove that a far less "toxic" answer to psoriasis and eczema care could actually work. That question became Phoilex, a phytoactive skincare line proven in a two year Health Canada cohort study and published in peer reviewed dermatology and pharmacy journals. She's also co-founder of SSKN Skin Firm and a talent manager with Commission Entertainment Corp, so she clearly doesn't do anything halfway. Heres what we talked about: • The flammable warning label that made Sarina stop and ask a question nobody else was asking • Why she skipped licensing someone else's formula and built her own R&D lab in the back of her mom's store • The week her father's skin flared worse than ever, and the diagnosis that reshaped her mission: Topical Steroid Withdrawal • The overnight regulation change that forced her to rebuild her supply chain, and what it taught her about staying flexible This is a conversation about turning a family's worst years into clinical proof, and it might change how you think about the shortcuts your own family has been taking.   Who this is for: founders building in clinical or heavily regulated categories, anyone managing a chronic skin condition and looking for options beyond steroids, and entrepreneurs scaling a Canadian brand into the US market.   Listen now and subscribe to Dynamic Decisions for more conversations where empathy and evidence meet.