After leaving the big screen to raise a family with Ryan Gosling a decade ago, the actress resurfaces with a million-dollar startup.
Cuban music playing in the background, the scent of verbena in the air and a sink full of dirty dishes. This is Eva Mendes’ idea of a dream night. Even after decades of Hollywood premieres and glamorous red carpet walks, the kitchen is where she feels happiest .
“Cleaning for me and my family isn’t just about cleaning. It’s an emotionally bonding experience ,” Mendes, who is married to actor Ryan Gosling and has two daughters, says of household chores. “When I discovered mindfulness meditation, I thought, ‘This is what I love.’”
Finding happiness in her life took years of hard work , a trait she says she inherited from her Cuban immigrant mother.
Ever since Eva was a little girl, her mother taught her that freedom is when you earn your own money, and she led by example by working all sorts of jobs—from selling Easter baskets to neighbors to working as a maid and, later, as a bank teller. Eva, now 50 and a decade removed from her Hollywood career, has also lived a life of many acts.
After starring in her last film, 2014’s «Lost River,» she became a mother, fashion designer, children’s book author and co-owner of a successful home cleaning products startup, Skura Style.
Since acquiring an equity stake in 2022, Mendes has helped the company — founded in 2017 by Linda Sawyer and Alison Matz — expand its marketing reach and has even ventured into product design. Forbes estimates the business generated $7 million in revenue last year and is on track to reach $20 million by 2024.
“I started using it and loved it, so I reached out to the founders and fell in love with their story,” says the entrepreneur. Like Mendes, Sawyer and Matz left thriving careers to become entrepreneurs—Sawyer was the longtime CEO of Deutsch Advertising in North America, while Matz was a magazine editor at Meredith and Condé Nast, including Brides. With her new role as owner, the former actress has taken an interest in every aspect of the company. “ I want to be on those investor calls, I want to talk about the nitty-gritty stuff , like how tall our box is to fit on a specific shelf. I’m all in.”
Mendes was born in Miami, moved to Los Angeles as a child, and had no plans to pursue acting . It wasn’t until her 20s, when her photo was spotted by a Hollywood agent, that she considered the industry, recalling her mother’s advice about supporting herself. “ I just wanted to make money and be financially independent ,” she says. “My goal was to buy my mom a house, buy myself a house, and just put money in the bank.”
She started out with roles in music videos in the 1990s — including Will Smith’s “Miami” — and made her film debut in the “Children of the Corn” franchise in 1998. Then, in 2001, she got her big break: a role in “Training Day” with Denzel Washington and Ethan Hawke. “I loved studying the character’s backstory and what they wanted in a scene to dissect it,” Mendes says. “ That still excites me .”
The academic approach paid off: Mendes went on to star in blockbuster films like Hitch, 2 Fast 2 Furious and the life-changing film The Place Beyond the Stars, in which she starred opposite Gosling in 2012. Despite her success, she says she never loved being in front of the camera. So when her first daughter, Esmeralda, was born in 2014, Mendes left Hollywood behind and never looked back . “My ambition was still there. It was just suddenly directed elsewhere,” she says. “All my attention was on my home. That’s where I found my joy.”
Even though she took a break from acting, she never stopped working . In 2015, she launched a now-discontinued beauty brand, Circa Beauty. From 2013 to 2020, she partnered with New York & Company to design collections of dresses and suits. “It was a great job for me because I got to stay creative and I love connecting with women,” she says. “I was really fulfilled while I was doing it.”
The actress doesn’t mind people thinking she sacrificed her film career for Gosling’s . “I don’t give in to society’s bullshit.” Since taking on more responsibilities at home (she jokes that chauffeuring is her day job), he’s been nominated for two Oscars, including for his portrayal of Ken in the 2023 film “Barbie.”
The decision to join Skura Style came naturally to Mendes during her time at home with her daughters. She initially fell in love with the Skrubby antibacterial sponge—she was hooked as a customer by the disappearing monogram design. “It actually disappears with use, within one to two weeks, as a visual indicator of when it’s time to throw it away,” Sawyer explains.
Mendes reached out to the co-founders in 2021 to see how they could work together. The three met for the first time over Zoom and had an immediate connection . Plus, she was excited about a team founded by women . “The roles I found most challenging were when I was involved in a mostly male cast,” she says. “I like being surrounded by female energy.”
Since becoming a co-owner in 2022, her involvement has led to TV appearances and increased interest from retailers in the brand. “Mendes has been an incredible partner in the conversations we’ve been having with retailers,” Sawyer says. “They’re like, ‘You can tell she’s in the ownership of the company and the brand.’”
The artist is also an integral part of product design and development. The Skura Style x Eva Mendes collection, which includes her beloved Skrubby Sponge, was inspired by Cuba. The products are available in more than 220 Target stores across the United States and are the brand’s first step toward expanding into big-box stores . The co-founders say this marks the beginning of reaching an entirely new market. In the meantime, the company continues to produce microfiber cloths and kitchen towels, and Mendes is working on new ones.
While she knows sponges aren’t exactly sexy, that’s precisely the point. “ I wanted to be the face of it. I wanted to take that risk and be driven by people saying, ‘Why sponges?’” she explains. “There was something about it that really appealed to me. I thought, ‘If we can make a sponge beautiful and fun and happy and sexy, then cool.’”
