Beauty Is Your Business – cosmetics, beauty, and lifestyle industry podcast

070 – Rita Hazan – The Business and Technology of Hair Color

January 17, 2019producer Leave a Comment

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 42:40 — 48.9MB) | Embed

Building a hair care line that organically captures the technical and creative skills of a high-end celebrity colorist and actually getting it into a high end retailer…

Rita Hazan (hair colorist known for her work with celebrities, and is the owner of the Rita Hazan Salon in NYC) joins Regina Gwynn, Abby Wallach, and April Franzino in the MouthMedia Network studio powered by Sennheiser.

In this episode:

Rita being blessed at young age to know what she wanted to do, and being in NYC to hustle and pursue her dream
Understanding many aspects, the type of water, where you live, other chemicals being used, and each chemical matters
First client Mariah Carey, needed a new look
Creating a look with JLo
Flying across the ocean to work with Madonna
Creating a new product that is magnificent
The biggest question is: what can you do at home in-between coloring, and big corporations didn’t have a solution for it
Her proudest moment in her beauty history
A weekly remedy — technology——manipulated Ph balance, working with hair cuticle
The little can that could
Getting her line into Sephora
Why glossing your hair matters
Girl talk
A hot hair color of the moment
That time Rita created a one-time best hair color ever for Jessica Simpson at a party

069 – Danielle Alvarez of The Bonita Project – Breaking the Beauty Barriers

January 5, 2019producer Leave a Comment

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 49:48 — 57.0MB) | Embed

An insiders look into influencer marketing and the do’s and don’ts of tapping into the multicultural consumer…

Danielle Alvarez, Founder of The Bonita Project (a marketing, public relations, and influencer marketing agency focusing on multicultural), joins Karen Moon and guest hosts Stephanie Flor and Deanna Utroske in the MouthMedia Network studio powered by Sennheiser

In this episode:

From former beauty PR agency, leading multicultural efforts, largely Hispanic
Own business came out of nowhere
Her first client for The Bonita Project

Cater to beauty and speak to both audiences
Hispanic market
Bonita is a compliment
Budget for brands in multicultural
Mailers still hugely used
Being careful of skin tones in ads, diversity important
Influencers, PR in a new world
Staying in touch with people, growing her network, The Wing workspace for women
Deskside – editors desk appointment still important?
Sliding into DM?
Mobile phone habits?
Innovation in other countries as a passion
Influencers in other countries and relevant economics
Peruvian background
Digging and doing research with influencers is crucial

From Danielle’s bio: As a result of gaining a deep understanding of the nuances of the cross-cultural consumer, Danielle decided to aim even higher and launch The Bonita Project where she bridges the gap between general and multicultural markets to build buzz for her brands and create a detailed, creative, and inclusive PR strategy for every client.

068 – Erika Zauner of HealthKick – The Beauty of a Healthy, Happy, Holistic Workforce

December 16, 2018producer Leave a Comment

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 36:29 — 41.8MB) | Embed

Corporate wellness membership that incentivizes and rewards employees’ healthy behavior…

Erika Zauner, Founder/CEO of HealthKick (offering exclusive discounts and experiences for 100+ leading consumer health, fitness and wellness brandHealth kick serve ecosystem for over 150 fitness and wellness brands) joins Karen Moon and Abby Wallach in the MouthMedia Network studios powered by Sennheiser.

In this episode:

Addressing all dimensions of someone’s wellness, on a holistic basis
A consumer-first experience to corporate programs
Helping people discover what’s out there to several lifestyle needs, discounts, special member experiences
Attracting the right talent
Benefitting three different parties
Why sleep matters so much
A benefit strategy as tied to talent acquisition and retention efforts
Working at a company that understands you and your needs
Meditation

HealthKick’s mission is to make healthy living accessible, personal and fun for employees, as a take-home wellness option for on-the-go lifestyles with access to popular and up-and-coming brands.

067 – Nancy Berger of Marie Claire – Storytelling Beauty

December 7, 2018producer Leave a Comment

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 43:35 — 49.9MB) | Embed

A pioneer in the media industry who brings brands to life in a new and fresh way, who is also super fancy, pops up everywhere, and coins words that become part of the fabric of beauty and fashion industry…

Nancy Berger, Publisher of Marie Claire Magazine, joins Abby Wallach and April Franzino in the MouthMedia Network studio, powered by Sennheiser.

In this episode:

The evolving landscape of beauty brand advertising; telling your story and finding your super fans
Omnichannel advertising as it pertains to Marie Claire; Print, Digital, Social, and Experiential
The importance of experiential marketing and print’s ease of access to sample based advertising
Building trust amongst your audience, thinking about months to moments when connecting channels; a story in the magazine may have video content available only on the website or social media
Stretching the “old” budgets to meet the needs of today
The Global Beauty Awards – Marie Claire’s editorial team from around the world voting for the best products and brands
Partnering with Amore Pacific to create a pop event with influencers
The importance of real tactile experiences in today’s digital age
Partnering with Clarins to create “The Next Big Thing,” a pop up experience in SoHo; next gen retail experiences: smart mirrors, cashless transactions, touch screen window shopping, the future of retail
The Marie Claire Power Trip, and meeting Flower Shop’s owner
Nancy’s history in media and her initial trepidations about the beauty industry
Her surprise about the vastness and nuances of the beauty industry
The pre-Sephora/Ulta world of beauty and the reality of what’s in every woman’s make up bag
Beauty as a life style and inventing words; “Beautitude”
Beauty as part of the pop culture fiber at Alure
Recognizing the white space for beauty at Gourmet; creating events pairing wine and fragrance
Marie Claire’s platform for women’s empowerment, and the emergence of the “professional” market in beauty
The ying and yang of Marie Claire’s Marie Claire Play and Marie Claire Work
The founding of Marie Claire in France, and projecting where the women’s empowerment movement will go
Finding good role models, and “holding the door”
Disruptors in the beauty industry that caught Nancy’s eye
Working with the beauty industry vs. working with automotive or fashion, etc.
The type of person that the beauty industry attracts
The Global Beauty Forum – meeting with Marie Claire editor’s from around the world
Nancy’s favorite destination
Finding fun products in local pharmacies you won’t find at home
What’s currently in Nancy Berger’s make up bag?

066 – Sabeen Mian of Ipsy – Valuable Samples

November 29, 2018producer Leave a Comment

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 32:46 — 37.6MB) | Embed

Monthly makeup and beauty subscription box amplified by tutorials and extensive community, with valuable feedback and data for brands, and an influencer network…

Sabeen Mian, Head of Brand Partnerships & Merchandising at ipsy, joins Karen Moon, and guest hosts Stephanie Flor [Episode 17] and Deanna Utroske [Episode 14] in the MouthMedia Network studio powered by Sennheiser.

In this episode:

Addressing the need of beauty junkies
Inspiring people to express their unique beauty
Embracing changes in the beauty industry, working with influencers
Democratization, driving content-driven commerce
3 Million beauty obsessed people receive a monthly “glambag” that is personalized
A marketplace for 3 Million members with access to exclusive brand deals
Engagement with community pages for ipsy without ipsy’s direct involvement
Ipsy Gen Beauty
Working with brands when they want them to help create content and build brand awareness, help wth conversion, sampling program
Many reviews result in signficant data for brands
Patterns of keys to success
Becoming a part of the family—hard for small brands to invest in reaching a lot of people, so ipsy is a strategic partner to brands
A network effect with influencers
Sabeen’s own subscriptions, personal escapes, SoulCycle, and sheet masks on long flights to stay moisturized

065 – Romain Daumont of MemoMi – Memory Mirror

November 23, 2018producer Leave a Comment

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 14:00 — 16.1MB) | Embed

A high-end digital mirror for a new generation shopping experience…

Romain Daumont, General Manager of MemoMi Memory Mirror (a mirror for fashion and beauty — using simple body gestures, on the mobile app you can control the MemoryMirror™ to see 360-degree back and side views in new outfits) joins Karen Moon, Regina Gwynn, and Abby Wallach on location at NRF Big Show 2018.

In this episode:

MemoMi – digitizing mirror, experiences through digital mirrors
How MemoMi created three experiences — fashion, eyewear, cosmetic tutorial
Trying to reproduce beauty methods at home – working with a makeup artist – every step recorded – quality video via link in the mirror
Augmented reality, animation possible
Video recorded — comes with an angled camera, computer – process the image to make it look like a mirror in real time
At NRF, working with Intel
Two sided mirror, two experiences at same time
Beauty is about training, i.e. master class
Ability to run ads, and drive intention
Creating unique products allow creativity of brands explode and explore
Studies of people trying colors they wouldn’t have otherwise
Working with Sephora
Finding something immersive, an interesting experience
Capturing data on trends, can translate data very early, predict likely hot products
Ability to opt in and receive video library of all try-ons and tutorials and share
The customer feedback so far, monitoring multiple devices in a single store
A way to engage people in a store, a nice and fun experience, icebreaker
The ability to customize for the retailer client

064 – Essence Gant of BuzzFeed – Beauty Buzz

November 16, 2018producer Leave a Comment

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 46:49 — 53.6MB) | Embed

What it takes for beauty brands to grab the attention of BuzzFeed, what kind of posts perform best (and when they fall flat), diversity as a priority, the choice to use real people instead of models, a new lifestyle platform, and the journey from social work to BuzzFeed…

Essence Gant, Senior Beauty Editor for BuzzFeed (an Internet media and news company based in New York with a focus on digital media) joins Regina Gwynn, Abby Wallach, and April Franzino in the MouthMedia Network studios powered by Sennheiser.

In this episode:

Making sure all diverse voices are heard in beauty narrative
Diversity as a priority from the beginning has been part of success
Videos a big part of communication—don’t really use models—they use each other
Real beauty, real people, real talk
Trying to be funny
Anything that they really love and lives up the hype—performs well
Stories vs. tips doing well, products do well, consumer audience
The journey from social work to buzzfeed
Launched womens lifestyle platform in March
“As Is”
More thoughtful conversation about beauty
What gets attention with products to cover
Whats special about brand, sticks out from the rest
Why BuzzFeed will cover super indie brands
The impact of giving attention to small brands, and how it can transform their business
When content falls flat
Depends on what’s going on in world at moment, timing
You know beauty when you seeit, finding beauty at Afropunk
Instagram is pretty, and insane nails from Cardi B’s nail artist
Why reflection is so important to success

063 – Pamela Baxter of BONA FIDE Beauty Lab – A License to Succeed

November 8, 2018producer Leave a Comment

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 49:43 — 57.0MB) | Embed

How forging a licensing agreement with PopSugar has created a dialogue between beauty industry great Pamela Baxter and the next generation of beauty consumers…

Pamela Baxter, Founder of BONA FIDE Beauty Lab, President/CEO of CHRISTIAN DIOR Couture (LVMH Group), former President Specialty Group of Estee Lauder Companies, joins Karen Moon and Abby Wallach in the MouthMedia Network studios powered by Sennheiser.

In this episode:

Baxter’s extensive experience with 23 years with Estee Lauder – President of Speciality Group
Transitioning to being an entrepreneur
A pioneer in fragrance licensing agreements
Forged the first fragrance license agreement with Tommy Hilfiger
A major career change announced to her on stage
When a transition came from looking at moving into fashion as another move later in career, and no one would interview her
a challenge from Bernard Arnault (Christiand Dior) when beauty and fashion brand didn’t match
Playing a role in shutting down a company, at a cost of more than $30M, and the most difficult meeting in Baxter’s career
Starting BONA FIDE Beauty Lab, partnering with a media company, developing a beauty incubator
Seeing a lot of entrepreneurs, female founders of businesses
Moving into licensing
Why (and how) Baxter began partnering with PopSugar for audience
Considering that influencers with high engagement are doing makeup
How Baxter’s current feedback loop is a dialogue with the PopSugar audience
Fitness and wellness taking over celebrity as an audience interest
BONA FIDE Beauty Lab’s partnership with Ulta Beauty and is own direct to consumer Beauty by PopSugar
Today’s consumer is a multi channel shopper
A before and after storyline — with a swipe
Jazz in Marrakesh, and barrel racing
Taking risks

062 – Allison Collins of WWD – Beauty on the Financial Front

November 1, 2018producer 1 Comment

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 38:55 — 44.7MB) | Embed

The growth of mergers and acquisitions, innovation, mitigating risk, influencers platforms, the changing consumer mindset, performance marketing, dangerous discounting, surviving in a crowded industry, and more…

Allison Collins, Beauty Financial Editor for WWD, shares her perspective and observations on the current state and possible future of the beauty industry with Karen Moon and Abby Wallach in the MouthMedia Network studios powered by Sennheiser.

In this episode:

Collins on rapid fire M and A, and the current related climate
Entrepreneurs have more capital sources than ever, but where are the exits?
Big companies are looking for to help from small companies to make their business grow, an engine of growth, innovation, and “learning deals”
Why there is more money for beauty now as beauty tech is hot
People are looking for things that mitigate risk – crowd funding demonstrates interest
Determining what’s interesting?
An influx of various influencer platforms
Executives leaving and joining or starting small companies
How it is tough to work nimbly in a big corporation that has lots of rules
How the Internet and mobile have changed buying behaviors, which means ecommerce retailers need to up their mobile game, and the need for brands to hire experts at these things
Companies now have full staffs to have an ear to the ground, see what influencers are hot on
Managing customer views, performance marketing
The changing roles in companies based on consumer telling companies what they want
A lot of content on blogs are coming from user comments
Taking the voice of the people and packaging it up in a way that makes sense
Is there room for optimism in beauty or is a correction in beauty’s future?
The potential challenges of more regulation?
So many brands, so many duplicates
What is the right size for success and a sustainable model, and does industry fragmentation offer an opportunity?
Unit economics now vs. looking at an exit
Running unprofitable businesses in the name of growth
How brands are not just succeeding with direct to consumer, creating discount floors to generate foot traffic
Discounting from prestige brands in retailers, what part is a negotiation, and why this brings concern
Consumer mindset – the consumer has real and specific expectations

061 – Alexandra Wilkis Wilson of Allergan – Entrepreneurial Beauty

October 25, 2018producer Leave a Comment

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 43:47 — 50.2MB) | Embed

Serial entrepreneurship and moving into medical aesthetics…

Alexandra Wilkis Wilson, entrepreneur and cofounder of Gilt Groupe, GlamSquad, and Fitz, and who currently leads a digital ventures team, helping to disrupt the aesthetics industry, at Allergan USA, Inc., including digital editorial hub Spotlyte, joins Regina Gwynn, Karen Moon, Abby Wallach, and April Franzino in the MouthMedia Network studios powered by Sennheiser.

In this episode:

Wilkis Wilson on learning
Focused on at Allergan medical aesthetics
Created moonwalker, consumer and digitally oriented – spotlight a content site targeting consumers
Preventative care at earlier ages
40M Americans considerers of medical aesthetics
Botox uses
Resources about providers
Medical aesthetics division Botox, coolsculpting, etc
Why this role is now created, and bringing Spotlyte into forefront
Where Wilkis Wilson’s interest in beauty came from
GlamSquad, Gilt, etc.
Beauty was hard, not an industry open to discounting, sensitive to gray market activity
Changing to focus on launch of beauty products
Gilt City found success with beauty related products
The value of feedback while building a business and product, and being transparent with team
Taking an agile learning approach
Building a culture in a company or team
A sense of entrepreneurial failure if feeling like not giving value
A secluded island, a Brazilian adventure, and JetBlack, podcasts, and LinkedIn