Dignity by Design: Acne, Self-Perception, and the Unseen Ripples of Care

Hi everyone and welcome back to Be The Ripple. It's season two and this season is an invitation to look at impact differently. Not as something loud or instantaneously measurable, but as something that unfolds, something that's quiet, something that can be slow and sometimes in ways that we don't get to witness it. So today we're exploring the ripple effect of what happens when help with a.

when a health tool is designed around dignity instead of anxiety. Because the most meaningful influence often doesn't show up in a headline, it shows up in a tiny shift. How someone speaks about themselves, what they believe is possible, and when they stop hiding. So this conversation is with Dr. Akvile Ignotaite. She's the founder of System Akvile. And I hope you'll listen for the unseen ripples in this episode.

the ones that change life from the inside out. So we're so excited to have you here today Akvile. You're the founder of the System Akvile and it's a digital health system platform and it's built around something that I believe that we don't really hear discussed enough today and that's dignity. So your work lives at the intersection of data and health and that quiet emotional reality of being seen.

because for so many people, especially young people, skin issues aren't just skin, are they? They become a story that they carry with them. And it's a story about worth, and it's a story about confidence, and about whether you belong. So I appreciate you being here today, and that you aren't trying to create this perfection machine, that you're building a system that helps people learn about patterns and to step out of shame, and decisions from clarity.

that instead from clarity instead panic. And that's exactly why your voice belongs in season two, because this season is about movement and it's about bringing influence that's sometimes subtle and delayed and sometimes often misunderstood, but that changes the way that people live inside of their own lives. So thank you very much for being here today. And I'm really looking forward to this conversation on this cold, snowy, Hamburg

Saturday, actually Saturday we decided to do this today. Yeah. So thanks for being here and I'm excited to learn more. We've had a couple of conversations, but why don't you introduce yourself to the audience.

Nice ideas.

Hi Sabine, thank you for the invitation. It's really awesome to be this morning, snowy morning. Yes, I am Akvile I am the founder of System Akvile. And I'm really looking forward to the discussion about the dignity, about what we are building, and just maybe about the future for the younger audience.

Yeah, yeah, because you're addressing issues that a lot of young people struggle with. But maybe we can go back a little bit and tell me, like, how did you get here? How did you decide to build the system, which we'll learn more about, and maybe share the why with us?

Hi, yes. Actually, we have to start with a really good question. I would say that when we started building the platform, at the beginning it was about the skin, it was about acne, it was about skin issues. And then...

What the

We saw from the data because from the beginning we made clear that we collect first-hand data and we learn with our users alongside.

from them and not just but it's some kind of gut feeling what we're doing and we started seeing that actually 75 % of our users who come to our platform are actually not happy with the skin even if they do not have any visible skin conditions.

And it really made us think a lot, not just about the industry, but about the platform we also are building. And at the beginning, I was even joking. was actually, it's not about fixing your skin. It's becoming more about fixing how you feel about yourself, how you look at yourself. So at the beginning, was like, yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Right.

like joking, kidding, you know, when we saw this data. But actually, you know, it made us think a lot about the system young people are now living, the environment young people are living now in the TikTok world, in the perfect beauty filters. Now AI personalities are joining the conversation, so they look even more perfect.

Yeah.

So having some visible imperfections, that's directly sometimes on your face and it's really hard to hide this. So it affects even more than just physical health, it's emotional health as well. So that's why we started moving more and more into this dignity topic and dignity for us means

Mm-hmm.

Right.

Yeah. Yeah.

But we try to take the shame away of this topic and it's more about giving self-control for people instead of creating urgency, of creating blame and telling, you're doing something wrong. That's why you have skin issues or that's why you don't like how you look. But most of time, it's not even, know.

We can't even control this, especially if you're in your puberty, know, hormones are going around, like it's not your fault. And it's basically what they're telling our users as well, like it's not your fault, you are not alone, it's absolutely normal. It's like, you know, keep doing.

Right. Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Yeah, I think it's incredible the words that you use when and I think that we in general society uses them too when we talk about having skin conditions and acne, you know, it's actually quite sad that we use the words shame, that we use the words of not having confidence because of acne or another skin condition and this idea of perfection, you know, what is that? But we hold ourselves to these standards that

come in from everywhere else, think the generation that you're dealing with and that are the that are using your app. And I think it's incredible that you're looking at, how do you help them feel to feel differently and to not feel that shame or to take that shame away? Because you're right, it's not it's not them. What can they they can work on specific things? But we talked about earlier that sometimes somebody can feel almost.

like that they don't take care of themselves because they have acne or others perceive them potentially as not being hygienic or taking care of their skin. And that's just not the case at all. So it's kind of like breaking taboos as well about how we see and discuss skincare issues.

Exactly, because somehow we learned in the society to accept many things already, know, body positivity and all these things, but somehow, know, with skin positivity...

Like I saw some movement online and know in hashtags and all these things, but you know, it doesn't mean that, know, skin positivity that you don't need to take care and you accept that you have acne and you don't do anything about this. So it's not about this, what we are trying to do. We really try to help people to empower them to have some control, you know, in the actions,

their education and understanding. And sometimes, you know, even small habits can have an impact. At the end of the day, if we really talk about medical conditions, acne, et cetera, then you need to go to dermatologist and go on treatment. But for most audience who come in the app, they are not on medical conditions. It's really more about mental perception.

of perfection and how should I look. you know, it's having one pimple already, know, drama. Like, and how I feel about all these things. And it's really, you know, helping just navigate with noise and really understand sometimes, you know, what can I do for myself?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

What can I try? I'm on the right path. Where should I start actually? And all these things. So it's basically what we are doing and what we are developing.

So how is it it's really interesting. So maybe tell us a bit about the platform. So how does it work? Like we're talking about designing a system around dignity. And how did you do that? And was this I think what I understood from when you when you started describing it, that this was an evolution as well to bring this this this this piece into it. So tell us about that evolution and how did you take that step to bring that and develop that into the platform?

Exactly, our platform has main features. When we started, had face scanning technologies, some education in the app, skincare tracking, and just daily logs to track the habits. But what we saw after analyzing the data from onboarding questionnaires, because I think they're one of the first skin...

companies who started really looking into this psychographic things as well, like how do I feel about my skin and all these topics. So we started seeing this data in like psychodermatology, I think it's now the terminology we use.

So we started looking quite early into this topic, because all the time it's a huge gap. Like when you go to dermatologists and they look at you, because dermatologists learned on really medical cases. We see patients all day, so we see really no patients with strong conditions. But you know, and it's the same with AI. When you train AI algorithms for us,

skin recognition, you train on medical grade and all these things. But like, I don't care as a person that someone else has a bigger issue. I care about it. Exactly, you know? And that's, know, when the huge gap.

Yeah, you care about me. You care about yourself. Yeah.

You can see the huge gap then, know? Because I don't care, know, but when dermatologists look at me and say, yeah, I see the patients all day, you know, and it's not that bad. It's from his perspective or her perspective, you know, that it's not bad. And it's the same, know, with AI, you know, when you get your score and say, you know, actually it's not that bad. But you know, it's bad for me. Maybe, you know, someone is rude to me online because of this.

Yeah.

or maybe I'm just not feeling good. So we started seeing these patterns a lot, and so it became very clear that we are moving more and more into this direction. Because skin, anyway, you cannot treat so fast. It's like it won't be, you

but you get a miracle cream and you know next day, know your skin is perfect. It doesn't work like this. And it's really for us, it's more about helping people just understand and learn about themselves, about their skin. And that's how we started improving our platform. So more and more we started moving into this ecosystem for skin happiness and health happiness.

as well from meditation with pimsy or for example when you have urges to skin picking, pimple squeezing and all these things. You cannot leave your hands out of your face. I like I just feeling a little bit down so we said okay let's introduce pimsy. will tell a little bit more about pimsy as well.

Mm-hmm. Right.

Yeah.

can't wait to hear about Pimsy. I've met Pimsy.

That's awesome. And then we started changing more and more the language in the app, it's really very positive. And we still want to know that people take actions, so it's not like, know.

Hmm, okay.

but you're doing everything right and all these things, but it's like more, you you're not alone. It's about micro learnings and it's like being like a cheerleader for you instead of, you know, oh, you're doing everything wrong.

Yeah.

You're doing everything wrong. sounds like it's a very practical process too. So it sounds holistic that you're looking at first, first of all, to let people know that, that it's okay. Here are some practical steps that you can take and also things like, I think probably that we do like closet, at closet way of being that you, that you think these things are, can't, you know, you, you want to squeeze the pimple. You want to do all these things, but you don't.

necessarily talk about that with others because you don't feel comfortable because you feel the shame again. But you're bringing that into the platform to to make that normal and to to take the taboo away from all of these things that you're actually thinking your head to because we can be dangerous in our own head sometimes can't we like what we think and what we assume is maybe abnormal or not normal but you make that all okay. I think for the people for for the users.

And I think it should be okay. I spent a lot of time on social media as well because it's like where our audience is. So it makes sense for me to be on social media and just really get the vibe and insights. People talk about these topics already, about pimple squeezing, non-squeezing, and all these things. But the thing is, on social media we have so much

Hmm, yeah.

Mm-hmm.

noise and you know it's constantly everything changing and you know the dopamine kicks and you know few second frames and you know everything is so fast moving so what we want in the app to have this more relaxed environment you know where you can spend time with yourself and really you know really sometimes even reflect like

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Hmm.

I'm touching my face a lot, so sometimes, all the time, I'm getting breakouts around my jaw because I sit all the time. And then you start with micro learnings or micro meditations, then you really start reflecting your own behavior as well. And this is what we want with the young users, instead of giving them a feeling that...

Yeah, true.

Right.

like it's your fault and you're doing everything wrong, actually, know, to give a possibility to reflect as well and like, maybe, you know, maybe I'm really sometimes going, you know, to bed with makeup on and that's why I'm breaking out. Maybe I'm touching my face a lot or maybe, you know, I don't know.

Mm-hmm.

Right.

I'm not following my routines or something, know, and really know seeing the patterns in your own behavior and seeing, okay, maybe I can tweak something and like learn about myself.

Yeah. Yeah, that's a really good point to actually reflect and to see your own patterns, because if you don't focus in on them, if you don't see them reflected back at you, you're just it's a lack of awareness. So actually something that the platform does, too, is to bring that awareness back to you so you can see and go, you know, it's like, yeah, when you hear yourself, when you watch a recording on yourself, all of those things help reflect and go, I didn't know I was doing that or.

how that's really valuable. And actually, that's a really interesting thing also for to learn for young people to learn that's gonna be so beneficial in the rest of their life. Actually that time, that meditation and that ability to self-reflect is so valuable. I didn't learn it until way too late in life.

Exactly. you know, that's not easy way to build as well because dopamine, know, hatred and clickbaits, they sell, know, they sell and, you know, they generate conversions. But like, know,

Mm-hmm. Right. Yeah.

If you want to go through more positive ways, you know, the way is a little bit longer. So it's a lot experimentation, a lot of understanding behavior, behavior science.

Yeah.

UX UI, user interface, user experience and experimenting a lot, how you put the buttons and changing and all these things. I could write a book already because it's, know, human psychology is a little bit different.

Mm-hmm.

Right.

We want quick things and young audience want quick things even more. But you know, with health, it doesn't work like this. You need to put effort. You need to change something.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah, so true. You're right, we do. I feel that as well. I just actually wrote something about that, a post about these quick fixes. Get this in one day. This morning routine will change everything in one day. these instantaneous gratification. And you're right, this is a process. It's actually teaching people about that as well. So how many users do you have now? And as you started to scale,

what surprised you around when people started using it daily, the information that you received.

Like we are hitting one million probably by the end of Q1. So that's really, really cool. And what surprised me most, I would say when we started growing globally, I really thought we will have...

quite different user behavior because of culture, different countries and all these things. But actually Gen Z and Gen Alpha.

are globally quite similar in how they behave and from the data point of view, it's quite similar beliefs and all these things. And I think it's because this is the generation that is basically growing up on social media and the trends are global. They can start in Europe and go to India, maybe less from

so sure.

you

India to Europe but like the trends are global. I'm just saying this 6-7 like still...

Yeah, it is so true. Yeah, it's so true. you and you have her and I can imagine that you also feel the sense of responsibility because you are you're stepping into their lives and you're influencing decisions that they make about their skin and how they feel about themselves.

Exactly, like I wouldn't say like yes responsibility, but I would say it's a huge opportunity as well. And to be not a role model, but really maybe to make a shift in the industry, to make a shift for the generations because...

It's a gap?

and someone needs to step in. And I think we should start moving from this attitude in quick fixing in anything quick fixing, especially in human health. We grew up in the environment for the dieting and all these things. And this quick fixing in human health doesn't exist.

It maybe brings some results and it's the same with skin health. This quick fixing approach, it just didn't bring any results. So maybe it's time to really step in and really guide the younger generation in better habits and just more self-love and...

so true, it just doesn't.

Definitely more of that. And maybe breaking some of the myths. You meant, I know that there are also daily quizzes, you're very creative in the way that you engage with the users. And when we, in one of our previous conversations, we were talking about myths around also acne and your skin. And what do you think in those quizzes, or what are you building in to kind of break those myths?

for the users.

We are experimenting a lot with quizzes because we launched this last year actually almost, it was like.

Let's do something, know, quick coding, quick engagement, and let's see how it works because we need it with daily feature in the app so that people can come daily. know with micro education it's really cool and quiz is really awesome tool for us as well to gather the data, gather the insights, gather the beliefs around different topics. And we launched this and we saw, wow, it's amazing.

It's working. People are really engaging and the insights they're getting it's Very valuable as well because it gives really the feeling what's happening So they are now reviewing the quiz as well to make it even more engaging and it's Actually developing even in the direction of the game. So something like Duolingo, you know a little bit

faster moving education and what we do like we have.

always not just what's like myth, but like right answers as well. So you can have like not just a feeling, know, it is always just wrong, wrong, wrong what's coming in the quiz. And it's really about the micro educations, about the statements, what we see on social media, for example, trending or some biohackers or someone is promoting.

bigly on social media and we take this and then put, and the quiz is really like a living.

currency being living tool, it's changing, it's improving. And we're experimenting a lot. How we put the answers, how we make right or wrong so it doesn't feel like a school quiz, it should feel like more like a game. And it works really well.

Right.

Right.

Okay, so you're building in actually that the quizzes then build in myths or information that they're receiving in TikTok or social media. So you weave that into those quizzes. So it's very, is it very real time then?

Exactly, it's really real time and they are uploading the questions constantly. So it's not like, it's given, it's not AI made.

Mmm.

We come up with a statement, we do the research, we upload them in the system, then we see how people are responding, what kind of direction we see, and we develop around this as well.

That's incredible because information changes daily. so how valuable is that? That people are being hit with information that's potentially a myth or not accurate about skin care or dealing with acne and that you can bust those myths quickly. That's fantastic. I love that. We talked about Pimsy. We mentioned Pimsy in the beginning. So tell me about Pimsy and why you created a character and the of the evolution.

And where's Pimsy going?

Exactly, Pimsy. That was a huge project, I think, from November. We started developing Pimsy. We had this idea, actually, it's very inspired by Duolingo. Duolingo is this educational app and we have Dua and Dua is social media star.

they won so many awards for Duolingo's campaigns. It's very unique and I really liked this Duolingo approach because learning languages or learning mathematics, I think they learned mathematics as well, it's boring, but it helps really engaging and it's the same with skin, especially when we talk about,

educational topics, what we have in the app, it's also a little bit boring because our audience is used to click content. So we thought, okay, what can we have? And especially in the age where AI personalities are now becoming real influences on social media. So for us it was clear we don't want to human.

Yep.

AI personality, they wanted something what's right for our topic.

Mm-hmm.

And then my team started pitching and my designer she was like, what if we do pimple as a personality? Can we, and I was like, okay, you know, it's a task for you. Can you make pimple look cool? Because pimples actually, if you talk about a pimple, I don't think that the first thing what you would say about pimple, that pimple is cool. No, pimple isn't cool. What most people would say, it is

Okay.

Okay.

Right.

It's disquisting

No, there's not. Yeah. The furthest thing from cool. Yeah.

Exactly. And then, you she started showing me Pimsy and I was like, and then, you know, we have this Pimsy as it's now. And I was like, okay, cool. I think I like it. And then, you know, we started pitching to the entire team, to the developers as well. And I was like, you know, seeing, you know, who will sign on the mission.

Mm-hmm.

like I was feeling pimsy and at the same time I got my lawyer and I was like I think I have a vision. I have a vision.

Woo!

I think I went to launch his Pimsy and the answer was uh-huh. And then was telling him and showing and he was like, okay, that's cool. It's cool, I like it. And I was like, okay, know, lawyer on board. Finally, I started talking to investors as well. I was like, yeah, Pimsy. So investors with kids.

Okay.

They got it. it's some, they're like, oh my God, like, what's happening with like really, know, like Pimsy. But like Pimsy was born and for us, Pimsy is not, you know, brand extension. It's not, you know, a mascot to the brand. It's actually a standalone.

Okay.

Okay.

It's standalone, Pimsy has it on social media.

channels, it's a lot of work as well. And Pimsy for us, it's in the app as well. It's a support function to cheer you up, to take this shame and stigma away because exactly you don't talk about pimples in a cute way. Pimples are not cute. And then we say, okay, what if pimple is actually cute and looks approachable because it's so cute. And Pimsy,

That's true.

on social media maybe has friends and all these things and know understand sometimes and buys a lot of skincare and does a lot of skin myths like putting lemon or you know and then trying to get rid of itself and all these things you know in more approachable less human related way so that's Pimsy for us to really open that

Yeah, that's true. Yeah.

discussion about how we see certain health topics and like to make it more approachable for our audience as well.

Mm-hmm.

Okay.

Okay, so everyone should check out the platform and meet Pimsy or go to Instagram and meet Pimsy too, right? So we will share that a bit later or TikTok also.

tick tock, tick tock. Exactly.

Incredible. So that, yeah. And again, I think that what you're doing is constant development, right? You have to look at what works, what doesn't, how does it impact people? Yeah. How do they engage? Is it relevant? So I can imagine you're just constantly looking and the data must be incredible what you're looking at and evaluating and making decisions on every day.

yes, actually sometimes I even try to look less in the data because exactly the data what we have, it's a lot, it's large, but sometimes also not forgetting the gut feeling and just really thinking, okay, does it make sense from business perspective, from user perspective, from the direction

we are going, does it make sense, yes or no, like these sanity checks and all these things.

Yeah, that's great. And Akvile the podcast is called Be A Ripple. And you're definitely a ripple in what you're doing and impacting people's lives. And for someone listening today who is potentially struggling with their own dignity issues, something that they might hide or that we manage a lot silently and internally, what would you want them?

for this week to consider to potentially change and support them.

That's a really, really good question. It's what we always say now as a mantra in the app for our users, you are not alone and it's not your fault. And I think when you understand that it's really not your fault, that you're doing enough, so it really changes the...

perspective, how you start approaching with dignity issues, less in you as something to fix and more maybe, okay, how can I start learning more about this?

Yeah, that's such a good point. Yeah, the learning piece and it's not your fault and little steps. I what you've described today are also consistent steps, micro steps, micro learnings, micro everything. You don't have to, there's not a quick fix and you need to be patient and you just take those little steps and those can have a big impact and I think sometimes we

We often wait for these moments that everything changes instantaneously. I think it's important just to say that's not the reality. So be kind and patient with yourself and take those steps and that you're helping people to uncover those micro moments that they can take to improve.

Exactly, and these micro steps they are hard to do and hard to maintain routines are difficult, especially around the health because human brain wants the gratification, wants the, know,

Yeah.

Yeah.

because I'm putting effort and I want to have something then, and I want to see something. And with health topics, it's more complicated. And I think that's, I not think, but it's like what science says, why most health routines fail. Because we don't have this gratification. But I think if you start even doing

Yeah, true.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

even more like smaller steps and really, know, sometimes just reflecting yourself as well. it will be easier to do this sometimes micro changes in your routines, in your behavior, in your...

Yeah.

perception, attitude, how you talk to yourself. And actually how we talk to ourselves matters so...

Yeah. Shoo.

Yeah, that is so true. I think that is such a big message. The words that we use to ourselves are just detrimental. Words that we would never say to someone else. What we turn inwardly, yeah, can be so detrimental or positive. I mean, we hope that there are going to be changes to be positive. So hopefully...

people using and then are in the platform that that's going to change that these steps that you're helping them take and to understand and breaking taboos and helping them look at their acne issue is a more holistic thing and not just one pimple or one outbreak on your face or more. I understand that it can be intense but to take these these little steps and it can be hard. It's not something that that is going to be easy and there could be two steps forward and

four back, but eventually there will be other steps forward. So it's staying focused on those.

Exactly.

Yeah, Akvile thank you so much. It's been such a pleasure having you just to start my weekend with you this morning. Thank you for that. And thank you for what you're doing. You know, we sometimes think of platforms and we think these types of things can't be beneficial or it's just something you use and don't pay attention to. But this can actually be changing to individuals and their lives.

and the data that you're looking at and everything that you're doing around this is so, so significant and I think helping so many people. So thanks for that. And to those of you out there listening, I'd like for you to think of a place in your life where you've been designing something around anxiety or trying to avoid embarrassment or rejection or being found out, which I think most of us have experienced it.

But instead ask yourself, what would it look like if I redesigned that one area around dignity as Akvile is doing in her platform instead? And remember, we've talked about it doesn't have to be big. It can be small steps. And let's kind of break down this idea of what's perfection. We can make one small shift, a practice this week. And Akvile, thank you for building your platform with integrity and for

Naming something that so many people carry around quietly with them and to help them to start to build dignity and to feel not shameful about issues that they have with their skin. And as we close, I want to leave you with this. A ripple doesn't need to have permission to begin. Sometimes it starts with a sentence that you actually give yourself. And sometimes it starts with a decision not to lead with shame. It's in our conversations and it's in your inner voice, what you say to yourself.

So if this is something, if there's something in this conversation that has stayed with you, take a moment and ask, where can I design my next step around dignity? And if you know someone whose story belongs in season two, somebody that's creating a movement, it can be quiet and steady, send them my way, because I'm always looking for individuals that are creating ripples in this world. And not necessarily that always announce themselves so boldly, but are ready to change things.

So Akvile thank you for being a change maker and doing what you do.

Thank you for having me.