The Sun-Care Innovators: Meet the People Saving Your Skin

If the world of sunscreen doesn’t seem exciting to you, you should take another look: Remarkable advancements from leading brands like EltaMD have been yielding cutting-edge, varied, and actually nice-to-wear formulas. And thanks to social media, education around sun care and experts in the field are more accessible than ever. Still, harmful misinformation about SPF is rampant, and skin-cancer rates are on the rise, so there’s work to be done.

The following four innovators, working across nearly every facet of skin care—formulation, dermatology, business, and content creation—have stepped up to the plate. Here, they talk about their unwavering passion for improving products and spreading knowledge, as well as the future of the sun-care industry.

Elyse Love, MD, FAAD, Board-Certified Dermatologist

Growing up, Dr. Love spent years searching for a dermatologist who “understood and cared for” her skin tone and concerns in her home state of Alabama, where there were just two practicing Black derms at the time. That experience inspired her own goal of becoming a beacon in skin-care education.

Today, with nearly 40,000 followers on social media, she uses her platform to amplify the necessity of sunscreen, among other skin-health-related topics, particularly for people of color. “UV damages all skin tones, so we all can benefit from the protective benefits of sunscreen,” she says. “People may say they don’t care about sun damage when they spend a day out at the beach, but 20, 30 years from now, they’re going to be extremely upset with moles, or biopsies, or sun damage.”

Dr. Love is also using her platform to debunk the unfounded backlash against the safety of SPF that’s been spreading on social media. “We, as dermatologists, have to make our voices heard, in the same way that people who don’t have the qualifications are making their voices heard,” she says.

Fortunately, she says, she is able to recommend to her patients and followers sunscreen formulas she stands behind not only in terms of protection, but of inclusivity and ease of use too. “Sunscreens are becoming more and more elegant,” Dr. Love says, adding that EltaMD is a personal favorite brand. “It’s beloved among dermatologists, because the company really thinks about skin health as a whole.”

She especially appreciates how EltaMD has formulas available for so many different skin tones and concerns, such as the brand’s Deep Tinted SPF for dark complexions and UV Clear, which she says is well-tolerated by acne- and rosacea-prone skin.

Echo Sandburg, Chief Brand Officer for CP Skin Health U.S.

When she stepped into the role of chief brand officer for CP Skin Health U.S. (the owner of EltaMD as well as PCA Skin and Filorga), Sandburg already had a passion for skin care—it’s all but a prerequisite for the job. But she still had a lot to learn, specifically around sun care. “I totally grew with my work, because I wasn’t as sun-safe as I should have been,” she says. “I thought that the makeup that said it had SPF was kind of good enough for most days.” (Spoiler: It’s not.)

That was just one of the many things she’s since learned on the job—and is now passing along. “I have two kids, and I annoy them all the time about [sun protection],” she says. “To me, our company has a huge opportunity to educate on [skin-cancer] prevention. We see it as our duty to help create impact. If we talk about sun safety, we literally have the opportunity to save lives.”

So how exactly are Sandburg and her team spreading the word? By meeting people where they’re at. “It is super-important that these conversations happen inside of the dermatology office. Unfortunately, not everyone’s going to a dermatologist,” she says, noting that CP Skin Health U.S. stresses the importance of an annual skin check for prevention, and partners with the Skin Cancer Foundation and Melanoma Research Foundation for additional resources.

And for those who don’t have access to a derm, EltaMD is helping bring skin checks outside of the medical office. “We work with sun-safety programs like Destination Healthy Skin, doing skin checks in communities across the country,” she explains.

Another goal of Sandburg’s is to counter the misconception currently circulating on social media that the UV filters that have been approved in the U.S. are not as good as those available abroad. She wants consumers to know that EltaMD formulas are as good as—if not better than—many imports.

“We agree that there’s room for the FDA to move forward,” she says. But Sandburg disagrees with those who say U.S. sunscreens aren’t innovative; rather, she believes that new filters will simply add to the breadth of wearable options—which doesn’t take away from the amazing options out there now. For now, she plans to continue pushing the needle forward in terms of wearability and helping consumers embrace sunscreen application: “My hope is that as a country, we get there and we have more options.”

Devon Cocuzza, Principal Scientist, Skin Health, at Colgate Palmolive and EltaMD

Cocuzza is one of the key figures transforming the sunscreen landscape in the EltaMD lab. Most recently, he helped bring to market EltaMD Deep Tinted SPF, mineral sunscreen made specifically for skin tones five and six on the Fitzpatrick scale, the deepest on the spectrum.

He started his career as a polymer-synthesis chemist, working in applications like hairstyling. “I gravitated towards the personal-care business because I really enjoyed the relatability of the job, in the sense that I could work on something and then take it home to try it,” Cocuzza says. “It just felt very satisfying.”

Now that he’s been at Colgate Palmolive, EltaMD’s parent company, for three years, he’s had the chance to see products he’s formulated come to fruition. “As a scientist, I love the challenge of seeing how we can elevate our products to the next level by making formulas that people love to use and that offer meaningful benefits to their skin,” Cocuzza says.

Those benefits stand out in both the UV Clear and UV Daily Deep Tinted SPF, which he says give him a sense of pride. Before the debut of this line, it was difficult to find a mineral sunscreen that wouldn’t leave a white cast on dark skin tones. With Deep Tints, Cocuzza and the EltaMD team found a solution. “These launches were about developing products that were designed to be inclusive,” he says.

Cocuzza notes that EltaMD is committed to putting in the work to create products that go above and beyond. “As a formulator, I love the challenge of always trying to take our sunscreens to the next level and find ways to make them an experience that people enjoy,” he says.

An Nguyen, Content Creator

An Nguyen, who goes by @phithegoldenskin on social media, is known for her fun, relatable, and educational skin-care videos, which have amassed her a combined following of over 275,000. Nguyen got her start as a teacher before taking several years at home to be with her son. During that time, she started a social media account dedicated to all things beauty, with a focus on skin and sun care.

“When I was a teenager, I didn’t know anything about sun care,” she admits. “I went to the tanning bed, like, twice a day.” Now 37, Nguyen says her skin has changed for the better—which she attributes to wearing her SPF. “And not just in terms of beauty standards, but in health standards too,” she notes.

One of the key things she stresses in her videos and posts is the importance of not just using sunscreen, but using enough sunscreen. “I notice that people tend to just use a little dab on their face,” she says. “You need at least two finger lengths.”

EltaMD is an essential brand for her, in part because of its support from derms. “I think dermatologists love it because it’s truly science-backed, and the brand takes its time formulating its products,” she says. Her sunscreen of choice at the moment is EltaMD UV Clear. “I like the texture, as well as the protection it offers.”

Nguyen has found her niche in the beauty content-creator landscape, as a perfect complement to expert-led accounts. “With my teaching background, I like to make my content shorter and more digestible for social media,” she says, adding that she loves to use trending sounds to grab viewers’ attention.

But at the end of the day, she says, awareness is her main focus: “If even one person changes their habits of using sunscreen, I’m happy.”