Like many students, Hannah Wayne’s college journey has been filled with twists and turns. After bouncing from the University of Kentucky as a pre-dietetics major to the University of Cincinnati for anthropology, Wayne finally found her home at Northern Kentucky University. 

“I love it here,” she says. “This is definitely the best school that I’ve been to. I’m really happy to be at a smaller school. I feel like the instructors and the staff really, really care. I’m very happy here.” 

When Wayne enrolled as an online general business major, she was looking for a way to help her then-fiancé run his dog training company and didn’t expect to find herself kick-starting a personal passion project. After switching her major to innovation and entrepreneurship, Wayne’s small business was born. 

Carroll and Co. is a tallow-based skincare company. Tallow is rendered beef fat, and according to Wayne it’s something that people have been using as skincare for centuries. She says you can think of her products as a natural version of Aquaphor.  

“Tallow forms an occlusive barrier, a sealant on the skin to lock in moisturizer and protect your skin from the elements the way that Aquaphor and petroleum-based products might,” she says. “Most products like Aquaphor and other petroleum-based products are made from crude oils and fossil fuels, so they’re not very natural. They’re very refined. I’ve always been looking for natural alternatives to my favorite products, and that’s how I came into tallow.” 

Through Carroll and Co., Wayne sells tallow balms, lip balms and tallow and goat milk soaps. She came up with the idea during an entrepreneurship classed called Idea Validation. Wayne had been using tallow as skincare for about a year and a half but was having trouble finding the right products.  

“I worked at this idea all semester long doing market research and basically found that I, as a consumer and a potential business startup owner, was having a hard time finding the products that I was looking for,” she says. “So, I started making these infusions because I couldn’t find them anywhere, and when I realized there’s a gap in the market, I got really into it.” 

Tallow is fat and oil derived, which means there’s no need for any preservatives in Wayne’s products because they have a naturally long shelf life. Specifically, her products use tallow suet, which is the fat around the animal’s organs, often the kidneys, rather than the trim fat that is commonly leftover when cooking. Additionally, Wayne’s products are free of essential oils and she prioritizes ingredient transparency, which she says sets Carroll and Co. apart from other businesses.  

“I buy my tallow pre-rendered, meaning it’s already been cleaned and purified,” she says. “It’s also organic, sourced from the United States and is from regenerative farms, so it’s giving back to the Earth as well. Tallow suet is also more nutrient dense, so it’s going to be more beneficial to the skin, and it also has less of a beefy smell.” 

After enjoying the experience of selling her products at NKU’s 2025 Norse Marketplace, Wayne applied to the INKUBATOR program through the Haile College of Business. NKU’s INKUBATOR is an internationally recognized 12-week program that assists students and alumni in turning their entrepreneurial ideas into viable businesses.  

“I wasn’t really thinking about it, and then after my test run at Norse Marketplace, I realized that I really enjoyed doing it and wanted to make it into a real thing instead of just a class project.” 

The program assisted Wayne in sorting out the legal side of owning a small business and helped her through the process of getting approval from the Department of Health; but she says the greatest benefits of the program were accountability and networking.  

“I think the INKUBATOR program is honestly whatever you need it to be,” Wayne says. “Wherever you are in your business, they’ll meet you there and move you forward. For myself, that looked like getting ready for markets. I made some really good connections, both personal and professional. For me, it was mostly having that accountability and having great sounding boards and people to bounce ideas off of.”

The INKUBATOR program involved one-on-ones between the student entrepreneurs and a mentor, guest speakers, networking with other local entrepreneurs and workshops on topics like pitching and presenting. Wayne says her favorite aspect of the program was being part of a community.  

“I enjoyed the fact that I was with other people who were actively working on their businesses,” she says. “Entrepreneurship can be pretty lonely. People don't get it unless they're doing it or have done it themselves, so it was nice to be around people who got it—who understood the challenges and the wins and were genuinely supporting you throughout the whole process. That was huge for me.”

Since the program wrapped-up, Wayne says she’s gained the confidence to keep going and has her sights set on applying for spots in local farmers’ markets. After she graduates this December with her bachelor’s degree in innovation and entrepreneurship, Wayne is hoping to make Carroll and Co. her full-time job.  

“The hope is for it to be a full-time job,” she says. “If it doesn’t work out that way, then I’ll make it a part-time passion and keep building on it.”

For more information on Carroll and Co. visit its Instagram page @Carroll.SkinCo.