Army Vet And Influencer Julianna Christensen’s New Brand Roame Affordably Elevates Personal Care

Julianna Christensen, an army veteran-turned-social media star, didn’t want to put out just another influencer-fronted money grab with trend-chasing goods. 

For her new personal care brand Roame, Christensen, who was deployed in Afghanistan, developed utilitarian products that she’s learned can make a big difference on the road or roaming, pun intended. There are four in its launch collection: $7.99 Disposable Toilet Seat Covers, $12.99 Portable Soap Sheets, $10.99 Flushable Wipes and $9.99 Hand Sanitizer.

Roame describes its Flushable Wipes and Toilet Seat Covers as biodegradable. The wipes meet nonprofit non-woven fabrics industry association INDA’s flushability and septic-safe guidelines. The products are available on Roame’s website and linkable through affiliate marketing platform LTK starting today and will soon launch on Amazon.

The lightbulb moment for Roame came to Christensen—where else?—in a bathroom two years ago. “I was using a toilet seat cover. I love packing my own individually packaged wipes. You never know in a public restroom when they might not have toilet paper,” she recounts. “I thought to myself, ‘What if I made these more elevated and put my own spin on it?’ That’s really when I said, ‘This is where I want to put my money. This is what I want to build and create.’”

Becoming a mother in 2020 was another motivation for Christensen’s creation of Roame. “As a new mom, I found self-care to be very difficult,” she says. “People used to joke like, ‘Oh, when you’re a mom, you have a hard time even fitting in a shower.’ I remember thinking to myself, how is that possible? But then you have a newborn, and I was like, ‘Oh my God, when am I going to take a shower?’”

Roame’s name conjures up visions of travel where its products are must-haves, but it’s also an homage to Christensen’s daughter, Roman. With little free time to dedicate to elaborate self-care rituals like long baths as she parents Roman, Christensen has reveled in the self-care of tiny moments such as having her own soap to use when on the go. She says, “To me, that was a very small moment to fit into my day and feel like I was taking care of myself.” 

For the two years Roame was in development, Christensen saved money to bring it to market. She estimates she’s spent about $300,000 to launch the fully bootstrapped brand. It’s important to 34-year-old Christensen that its prices stay accessible for her fans, many of whom are millennial moms pressed for time and money. 

“I really want this to be an inclusive brand where, if someone would like to purchase a product, they’re able to,” she says. “That was thought about from the very beginning, ensuring that we were creating elevated yet affordable products for the consumer that they could repurchase over and over again.”

Christensen, a graduate of the United States Military Academy West Point, began blogging under the name Julianna Claire in 2015. The term influencer wasn’t widely used back then. She jumped into content curation following a deep dive into books like “Blogging For Dummies” while she was serving in the Army. Today, she has 6.1 million followers across her social media accounts, including 2.9 million on TikTok and 2.8 million on Instagram, where she shares her favorite products for trips, pets, kitchens and, of course, bathrooms—and much more. 

“I read all of these books in my free time while I was deployed,” says Christensen. “For five years, before PT [physical training] at 6:00 a.m., I was working on my blog, during my lunch break, then when I got home, and then on the weekends. By the time I redeployed, my website was set up, and I have been creating content ever since.”