PiliBee Story: Discover the Inspiring Journey Behind Our Brand

Hello! My name is Elvis, and I’m the founder of PiliBee. If you’re looking for a dramatic, awe-inspiring origin story, you might be a little disappointed, mine is pretty simple. Some might even call it boring. But it’s real, and it’s rooted in curiosity.

I’ve always been a deeply curious person. By day, I work as an Instructional Designer, partnering with executives to help define the value of learning in the workplace. I consult on learning strategy, adult learning theory, and best practices, essentially helping teams create training that’s engaging, practical, and aligned with real career growth.

During one of these conversations, I was asked a deceptively simple question: How do you define a skill or a competency, and can you simplify it enough to build a stronger framework around it?

That question stuck with me.

I decided to explore it using a real-world example, and that’s when I fell down the rabbit hole of soap making. What started with melt-and-pour soaps quickly turned into cold process soapmaking. Before I knew it, family and friends were asking questions, not just about soap, but about skincare. And since research is kind of my love language, I dove in headfirst.

That curiosity led to body butters, lotions, and deeper formulation work. Then a close family member introduced me to pili oil from the Philippines, and I was instantly hooked. This oil is incredibly luxurious, packed with skin-loving fatty acids, and surprisingly hard to find. Even more fascinating was pili pulp, a zero-waste byproduct of oil extraction that offers many of the same benefits.

That discovery changed everything.

What began as a learning experiment turned into a passion for clean, thoughtful, and sustainable skincare. PiliBee grew out of that journey, a blend of education, curiosity, craftsmanship, and a genuine desire to create products that are both effective and intentional.

I set out to build a company with the goal of taking a pragmatic green luxury approach to skincare. What this means is: I want to build products using as natural of ingredients as I can get, to tell the story of each ingredient, and ensure my products are both nourishing and safe. 

No Parabens, No Phthalates, No Formaldehyde, No Sulfates (SLS/SLES), and No Polyethylene Glycols (PEGs).

And honestly, I’m still learning. That’s the best part.