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[00:00:00.080 --> 00:00:02.640] Hey business besties, welcome back to Female Founder World.
[00:00:02.640 --> 00:00:03.680] I'm Jasmine.
[00:00:03.680 --> 00:00:09.600] I'm the person behind all things Female Founder World and today I'm chatting with Deepakat Muriyala.
[00:00:09.600 --> 00:00:11.680] She's the founder and CEO of Live Tinted.
[00:00:11.680 --> 00:00:12.560] Welcome to the show.
[00:00:12.560 --> 00:00:13.680] Thank you for having me.
[00:00:13.680 --> 00:00:17.040] For people that don't know Live Tinted, what are you building?
[00:00:17.040 --> 00:00:18.960] I am building a beauty brand.
[00:00:18.960 --> 00:00:28.000] I guess I would say specifically a makeup brand that is focused on making it so everyone feels seen across all of our products, something that I feel like I didn't have growing up.
[00:00:28.000 --> 00:00:37.280] I feel like we're most known for our complexion products and our protection products, which is SPF products, which is kind of my goal and dream that I've always wanted to be the case.
[00:00:37.280 --> 00:00:38.000] So yeah.
[00:00:38.000 --> 00:00:40.960] And you started the brand in 2019?
[00:00:40.960 --> 00:00:41.920] 2019.
[00:00:41.920 --> 00:00:50.560] Since then, I'm going to like rattle off some milestones that you've hit because it's super, super impressive and I think it helps people understand just exactly what you've built.
[00:00:50.560 --> 00:00:54.000] So your skin tint product, one of those sells every three minutes.
[00:00:54.560 --> 00:00:59.280] And you are the fastest growing cosmetic brand in Ulta, which is incredible.
[00:00:59.280 --> 00:00:59.840] We are.
[00:00:59.840 --> 00:01:00.800] It's crazy.
[00:01:00.800 --> 00:01:02.320] It's exciting.
[00:01:02.320 --> 00:01:08.080] And I feel like we're just getting started, but to know that the growth is happening at that rate is the best.
[00:01:08.400 --> 00:01:14.000] Your kind of, I guess, like beauty career started really on YouTube.
[00:01:14.000 --> 00:01:20.800] I mean, you worked at Birch Box, you'd worked at, you'd interned at L'Oreal, but you really made a name for yourself on YouTube.
[00:01:21.120 --> 00:01:21.760] I did.
[00:01:21.760 --> 00:01:25.280] I did the corporate side first because I felt like it was parent approved.
[00:01:25.280 --> 00:01:30.640] You know, my immigrant parents were like, if you want to work in beauty, go be an executive in the beauty industry.
[00:01:30.880 --> 00:01:34.960] And while I was working at a beauty startup, I had a video go viral on YouTube.
[00:01:34.960 --> 00:01:39.760] My second video I ever posted using a red lipstick under my eyes to mask dark circles.
[00:01:39.760 --> 00:01:42.960] 10 million views later, I got asked to be on the Today Show.
[00:01:42.960 --> 00:01:44.400] I did the segment on air.
[00:01:44.400 --> 00:01:48.240] I quit my job, became a beauty influencer, built an audience.
[00:01:48.240 --> 00:01:50.240] Three years later, started Lift and Did.
[00:01:50.240 --> 00:01:55.200] I love that story of just this opportunity came and you just went, you just went for it.
[00:01:55.200 --> 00:01:55.680] I did.
[00:01:55.680 --> 00:01:59.280] I think at that moment in my life, the biggest risk was not going for it.
[00:01:59.280 --> 00:01:59.520] Yeah.
[00:01:59.640 --> 00:02:07.560] You know, I was young, I was in my 20s, and like I think about it now, and I have so much more fear that existed in me at 35 than I did at 25.
[00:02:07.560 --> 00:02:09.560] It just felt like low stakes at the time.
[00:02:09.560 --> 00:02:13.000] It was like, whatever, I'm in my 20s, I'll figure it out.
[00:02:13.160 --> 00:02:17.000] Which is weird because I think at any moment in your life, it is your reality.
[00:02:17.000 --> 00:02:20.280] So it's shocking that it wasn't scary to me at the time, but it wasn't.
[00:02:20.280 --> 00:02:23.400] To me, it was like, I don't want to look back and wonder what if.
[00:02:23.400 --> 00:02:24.200] I love that.
[00:02:24.200 --> 00:02:32.200] I'm also just, it like blows my mind this era when 10 million views would get you on the Today Show and you could like quit your job.
[00:02:32.200 --> 00:02:33.400] Isn't that so funny?
[00:02:33.400 --> 00:02:36.600] It's like people can breathe on TikTok and get that now.
[00:02:36.600 --> 00:02:40.920] Although it's funny when I feel like I'm trying and I think I have the good video, it doesn't pop off.
[00:02:40.920 --> 00:02:46.440] But yeah, in 2015, getting 10 million views on a YouTube video.
[00:02:46.520 --> 00:02:47.000] Big deal.
[00:02:47.000 --> 00:02:48.120] And it was because of BuzzFeed.
[00:02:48.120 --> 00:02:53.160] BuzzFeed, also archaic at this point, but at the time it was like the biggest deal.
[00:02:53.160 --> 00:02:57.800] And so getting featured on there made the video take off and all of a sudden my whole life changed.
[00:02:57.800 --> 00:02:59.480] Do you still YouTube?
[00:02:59.480 --> 00:03:06.600] Not like I should, you know, when I have like a big milestone or life update, but it's so hard running a company and being a content machine.
[00:03:06.600 --> 00:03:07.000] Yeah.
[00:03:07.000 --> 00:03:15.800] It's two separate jobs squeezed into one and I keep trying to make it make sense, but I don't really feel like I'm the same person I was when I started.
[00:03:15.800 --> 00:03:25.000] So it's also like I'm trying to do it in an authentic way that like I don't feel like I'm at a point in my life to wake up and do a beauty tutorial on YouTube the way that I did in 2015.
[00:03:25.400 --> 00:03:30.280] So I want to stay connected to that audience there because I have hundreds of thousands of people on YouTube.
[00:03:30.280 --> 00:03:34.200] But I also want to figure out how to do it in the way that feels right for a 35-year-old Deepika.
[00:03:34.520 --> 00:03:36.360] I think about this all the time.
[00:03:36.680 --> 00:03:51.440] I think about this all the time because I'm also someone that creates content on the internet, not as prolific as you as a creator, but I think about how I've changed and my perspectives and opinions and interests have just changed so much since when I started.
[00:03:51.600 --> 00:03:59.920] But the internet wants you to be a brand and wants you to have this one thing that you do and that you're known for, but it doesn't, that's actually not what humans are.
[00:03:59.920 --> 00:04:05.840] And I also feel like I'm going through a lot as a human being and as a founder, but as a woman in my 30s.
[00:04:05.840 --> 00:04:10.240] And sometimes I feel like the internet wants you to just be one version of yourself, like you're saying.
[00:04:10.240 --> 00:04:12.000] And that doesn't feel honest to me.
[00:04:12.000 --> 00:04:24.880] So I'm struggling with it, but also remembering it is part of my job and trying to understand: do I just treat it like my job and then go and have my life, which feels really healthy, but it doesn't feel honest in how I started my whole journey.
[00:04:24.880 --> 00:04:28.960] Like the reason I think it worked in the beginning was because I was so myself.
[00:04:28.960 --> 00:04:30.480] I was so genuinely myself.
[00:04:30.480 --> 00:04:31.360] I had no makeup on.
[00:04:31.360 --> 00:04:34.720] I was on the internet putting red product all underneath my eyes.
[00:04:34.720 --> 00:04:35.920] I looked insane.
[00:04:35.920 --> 00:04:37.520] But I think that's why it worked.
[00:04:37.520 --> 00:04:45.920] And then I started to vlog my personal life with my family and people really connected to them because I think they saw a little bit of their parents and my parents.
[00:04:45.920 --> 00:04:55.920] And yeah, it's hard because now I'm so drained from building this company that whenever I go home, I just want to like eat my mom's food and not pull out my phone.
[00:04:55.920 --> 00:04:57.360] Yeah, I think about this a lot.
[00:04:57.360 --> 00:05:02.480] I don't share any of my friends ever on Instagram or TikTok or anything.
[00:05:02.480 --> 00:05:03.280] It's just not.
[00:05:03.280 --> 00:05:04.320] It's like too special.
[00:05:04.320 --> 00:05:04.880] Do you know what I mean?
[00:05:05.440 --> 00:05:09.600] I want to protect them more than anything from this crazy world of the internet.
[00:05:09.600 --> 00:05:11.680] So how are you thinking about creating content now?
[00:05:11.680 --> 00:05:18.960] Because I'm guessing you have a content team that does live-tinted content, but I'm also guessing that when you post about the brand, that's what works really well.
[00:05:18.960 --> 00:05:31.160] Yeah, it's an interesting balance, though, because I think if my page, my Deepika page, was all live-tinted content, it actually shuts down the live-tinted content because my audience does want to see me as a whole human.
[00:05:29.760 --> 00:05:31.960] And that's the struggle.
[00:05:32.120 --> 00:05:38.520] Like what you said about not posting your friends, it's tough because I do feel like my audience loves seeing my friends and family.
[00:05:38.520 --> 00:05:41.560] And when you're going on a vacation, it's almost the content that does the best.
[00:05:41.560 --> 00:05:42.120] Totally.
[00:05:42.120 --> 00:05:47.480] So, like, then what is a real vacation for somebody whose content that's vacation content is what the world wants to see.
[00:05:48.440 --> 00:05:51.720] So I struggle with that a little bit, but again, like, it's like fake.
[00:05:51.720 --> 00:06:00.840] I always remind myself it's like high-class problems because a lot of creators are getting free rooms because they're posting about their lives on these trips and stuff like that.
[00:06:00.840 --> 00:06:11.160] So I'm actively in real time trying to figure out what my content strategy looks like for 35-year-old Deepika who's still running the company and also a content creator.
[00:06:11.160 --> 00:06:13.960] Did you see what Addison Rae posted this week?
[00:06:13.960 --> 00:06:20.680] She wrote, or she said in an interview, like tasting class is a privilege or something when it comes to content.
[00:06:20.680 --> 00:06:28.760] And she was talking about when she was like in a content house early on and how she had to post like 20 videos a day and just like do all of the crazy things.
[00:06:28.760 --> 00:06:34.360] That's not until you make it that you can like make those decisions to be like, actually, I don't want to share that.
[00:06:34.360 --> 00:06:35.960] She has a really good point.
[00:06:35.960 --> 00:06:47.000] I didn't know where you were going with that, but I totally agree that I feel that same way with having Live Tinted because people whose full-time life and career is based on being a content creator, you have to feed the algorithm.
[00:06:47.320 --> 00:06:51.160] For me, it is a piece of what helps grow Live Tinted.
[00:06:51.480 --> 00:07:00.920] But if for whatever reason, the way I monetized my content channels for me as a brand went away, I know I still have equity in the brand that I'm building long term.
[00:07:01.480 --> 00:07:04.920] I do both of them because one helps build the other.
[00:07:04.920 --> 00:07:09.160] My audience is still larger than what Live Tinted is in terms of like following and stuff.
[00:07:09.400 --> 00:07:13.960] But my dream, my dream is that Live Tinted outgrows me.
[00:07:14.440 --> 00:07:16.160] People pick it up.
[00:07:16.160 --> 00:07:17.680] I see them pull it out of their bag.
[00:07:17.680 --> 00:07:19.600] They have no clue that I was the founder of it.
[00:07:19.600 --> 00:07:21.360] And I'm just like walking by and seeing them.
[00:07:21.360 --> 00:07:24.480] And I'm like, oh my God, this is so crazy.
[00:07:24.480 --> 00:07:27.040] Right now, for the most part, it still is like...
[00:07:27.040 --> 00:07:29.280] people coming up to me and being like, I love your brand.
[00:07:29.280 --> 00:07:30.080] It's so cool.
[00:07:30.080 --> 00:07:34.880] I'm so inspired by what you're doing, which is awesome and like such a pinch-me feeling.
[00:07:34.880 --> 00:07:42.400] But I just think about one day when I have kids and a family, how it is that I want to show up in the world and I want it to be through my brand.
[00:07:42.720 --> 00:07:43.360] I get that.
[00:07:43.360 --> 00:07:43.680] Yeah.
[00:07:43.680 --> 00:07:44.640] I totally get that.
[00:07:44.640 --> 00:07:46.000] I'm sure you do, by the way.
[00:07:46.000 --> 00:07:54.560] And I feel like with what you're building, it's very much about a community and an ecosystem, which is actually how Live Tinted started as a community platform.
[00:07:54.560 --> 00:07:59.680] And it brought me so much joy at that time because it was less about the product and more about the community.
[00:08:00.160 --> 00:08:05.440] And now what I'm like trying to figure out is what does community mean for Live Tinted five years into the brand?
[00:08:05.600 --> 00:08:12.800] Where at year six and it's like, okay, so six years in, how do I make it so the community still sees themselves, but we can still scale?
[00:08:12.800 --> 00:08:13.040] Yes.
[00:08:13.040 --> 00:08:14.480] How do you scale community?
[00:08:14.480 --> 00:08:15.120] I don't know.
[00:08:15.120 --> 00:08:20.960] I think it's always never forgetting why you started and making sure that they feel seen no matter what.
[00:08:20.960 --> 00:08:29.600] It's part of the reason we made the brand tagline, it feels good to be seen, because whether you're my skin tone, a deeper skin tone, or your skin tone are much fairer than you, we all want to feel seen.
[00:08:29.600 --> 00:08:32.160] That's like a universal feeling inside of you.
[00:08:32.160 --> 00:08:38.160] But it also to me plays in a playful way around putting it on a mirror because you're looking at yourself.
[00:08:38.160 --> 00:08:42.720] And then you can also think of it as it's deeper than just a beauty product phrase.
[00:08:42.720 --> 00:08:44.560] It's just like a life mantra.
[00:08:44.880 --> 00:08:54.240] And so putting that at the center to me makes it so the young brown girl who saw herself in Live Tinted still sees herself, but it opens it up to a wider audience.
[00:08:54.240 --> 00:08:57.480] Did you see the like TikTok back?
[00:08:57.680 --> 00:08:59.600] Do you spend much time on TikTok, by the way?
[00:08:59.600 --> 00:09:04.680] So yes and no, like I cannot scroll because it's so unhealthy for my brain.
[00:09:04.840 --> 00:09:06.680] Like 10 years into doing this, right?
[00:09:07.240 --> 00:09:09.160] It rewires the shit in your brain.
[00:09:09.160 --> 00:09:13.400] It rewires the shit in your brain to a point where you're like, is this worth it?
[00:09:13.560 --> 00:09:13.880] You know?
[00:09:13.880 --> 00:09:18.920] So like now I have a team who does it and they tell me what trends to do and I do it, but I cannot sit there and scroll.
[00:09:18.920 --> 00:09:19.240] I can't.
[00:09:19.240 --> 00:09:21.080] So like when somebody's like, did you see this trend?
[00:09:21.080 --> 00:09:22.440] I'm like, no, I didn't unless it wasn't.
[00:09:22.760 --> 00:09:23.240] I'm the same.
[00:09:23.400 --> 00:09:24.840] I am not on top of trends at all.
[00:09:24.840 --> 00:09:26.680] That's 100% something the team sends me.
[00:09:26.680 --> 00:09:32.040] But did you see there's a lot of like cancellation backlash happening on TikTok with the founders of a lot of beauty brands?
[00:09:32.040 --> 00:09:32.760] Did you see that?
[00:09:32.760 --> 00:09:33.720] Or fashion brands?
[00:09:33.720 --> 00:09:34.680] Did you see this?
[00:09:34.680 --> 00:09:35.080] No.
[00:09:35.240 --> 00:09:35.720] Okay.
[00:09:36.040 --> 00:09:39.080] But don't you feel like someone's getting canceled every hour of every day?
[00:09:39.080 --> 00:09:39.320] I know.
[00:09:39.320 --> 00:09:44.120] And it's so, like, I'm seeing it happening now with some of these fashion brands.
[00:09:44.120 --> 00:09:45.800] And specifically, why?
[00:09:45.800 --> 00:09:46.520] Like, all different things.
[00:09:46.520 --> 00:09:47.400] They come up all the time.
[00:09:47.400 --> 00:09:53.000] It's a lot of these fashion brands that have like a, maybe like a drop model and that's fashion.
[00:09:53.160 --> 00:09:53.560] I don't know.
[00:09:53.560 --> 00:09:54.520] Yeah, but like this.
[00:09:54.840 --> 00:09:58.600] But I have to say, like, I, every once in a while when I see Sheen, yeah, yeah, yeah.
[00:09:58.760 --> 00:10:00.520] Well, yeah, those I've seen.
[00:10:00.520 --> 00:10:07.880] But what I can say also is I can open my phone and see a negative comment about me and I get this anxious fear of getting canceled.
[00:10:07.880 --> 00:10:08.440] And it's just an issue.
[00:10:08.520 --> 00:10:09.240] Do you still have that?
[00:10:09.240 --> 00:10:10.200] Do you still get that?
[00:10:10.200 --> 00:10:10.600] Yes.
[00:10:10.600 --> 00:10:11.000] Yeah.
[00:10:11.000 --> 00:10:13.000] It's part of the reason I can't do it.
[00:10:13.000 --> 00:10:13.880] I can't.
[00:10:13.880 --> 00:10:20.120] I am still working through this wiring you have in your brain of needing to be liked.
[00:10:20.280 --> 00:10:25.160] When I physically got paid, my job for years was getting liked on an app.
[00:10:25.160 --> 00:10:27.640] And then you as a person are a people pleaser already.
[00:10:27.640 --> 00:10:28.760] You care about being liked.
[00:10:28.760 --> 00:10:32.920] It's like that like that you see on the gram is much deeper than just like a heart.
[00:10:32.920 --> 00:10:39.320] It's actually like in your brain telling you the more I'm liked, the more I get paid, the more my company and business grow.
[00:10:39.320 --> 00:10:46.880] So if somebody says they don't like me, I freak out because it's like, it's not just about me, it's about Live Tinted and the 30 employees that I employ.
[00:10:44.840 --> 00:10:48.480] Oh my God, I completely understand that.
[00:10:48.720 --> 00:10:49.600] So have you, right?
[00:10:49.600 --> 00:10:54.640] I watched a video this week with, I think Miley Saris did an interview with the New York Times.
[00:10:54.640 --> 00:10:55.680] I loved it.
[00:10:55.680 --> 00:10:56.320] Did you watch it?
[00:10:56.320 --> 00:10:59.360] I watched her talking about the EDMR, the tapping.
[00:10:59.360 --> 00:10:59.760] Yes.
[00:11:00.320 --> 00:11:01.520] I need to do this.
[00:11:01.520 --> 00:11:02.160] And she talks.
[00:11:02.160 --> 00:11:05.600] And so for everyone who didn't watch this or didn't see it, go and watch it.
[00:11:05.600 --> 00:11:07.360] I'm going to link it in the show notes because it's so good.
[00:11:07.360 --> 00:11:09.440] But she basically says, I'll recap it.
[00:11:09.440 --> 00:12:20.120] She says that she was having really bad stage fright and she was doing this therapy and like and figured out that she like went to this place where she was like why like what is it and basically I just want them to love me I just want them to love me and then like work down to the root of what that is and I think so much of it like we're just we're social beings and when you put that into this hyper intense situation like TikTok or Instagram and you're constantly being perceived on there and that like social biological wiring doesn't go away it just gets like amplified and I think it just can lead to so much anxiety beyond beyond and I you know I think about people who are starting at like the age of 16 17 because at 35 at least I have enough self-awareness and confidence in myself and have a community of people around me my brain is fully developed when those people that age are not to where like I'm okay but I take it as a deep responsibility because of the company that I've built and the people that I employ and I just never want to say the wrong thing that could jeopardize all of that I've worked so hard for.
[00:12:20.120 --> 00:12:23.960] But again, it's like also an exhausting way to live because I also want to be myself and be free.
[00:12:23.960 --> 00:12:29.720] So, like, what's kind of cool is that people are getting canceled at such a rapid rate that, like, is cancel culture canceled?
[00:12:29.720 --> 00:12:29.960] Totally.
[00:12:30.040 --> 00:12:31.240] Does it mean anything anymore?
[00:12:31.240 --> 00:12:32.600] Does it mean anything anymore?
[00:12:32.600 --> 00:12:34.760] And so, it's like, okay, I was canceled today.
[00:12:34.760 --> 00:12:36.600] Let's go to bed and try again tomorrow.
[00:12:36.600 --> 00:12:40.440] Yeah, it doesn't seem to be the same as what it was in like 2019, 2020.
[00:12:40.760 --> 00:12:48.840] I think, like, pre-TikTok, where things weren't moving as quickly, and it did feel more permanent when founders or women were like canceled on the internet.
[00:12:48.840 --> 00:12:52.600] Now it's just moving so quickly that I do think people are like moving beyond it.
[00:12:52.600 --> 00:12:59.800] And also, I think that cancellations are happening within these like echo chambers and niches on these platforms as well.
[00:12:59.800 --> 00:13:03.880] That it feels like it's everywhere, but if you're not like in that echo chamber, you don't even know what's happening.
[00:13:03.880 --> 00:13:04.520] Isn't it crazy?
[00:13:04.520 --> 00:13:07.640] Like, if you just don't look at your phone for a week, it's like it didn't even happen.
[00:13:08.120 --> 00:13:16.120] Like, you have this beautiful life, and just you're walking through the world, like loving life, and then you open your phone and it's like everything has ended.
[00:13:16.120 --> 00:13:20.440] And I don't know, I just, it's, I'm so grateful for social media, right?
[00:13:20.440 --> 00:13:24.760] Like, so my entire career and my brand has all taken off because of it.
[00:13:24.760 --> 00:13:31.640] So, like, there's so many positives to it, but ugh, I just think about one day when I have kids, it's gonna be a scary world.
[00:13:31.640 --> 00:13:33.080] Yeah, yep.
[00:13:33.080 --> 00:13:35.560] There's an amazing nonprofit called Half the Story.
[00:13:35.560 --> 00:13:36.200] Do you know them?
[00:13:36.200 --> 00:13:37.720] No, okay, they're amazing.
[00:13:37.720 --> 00:13:43.080] So, Lars, the founder, started this, I want to say six years ago, maybe seven years ago.
[00:13:43.080 --> 00:13:49.800] She had really bad mental health issues around like social media, and she started this nonprofit called Half the Story, and now it is like prolific.
[00:13:49.800 --> 00:13:55.960] And they do, they create resources and education for parents and students.
[00:13:55.960 --> 00:13:59.720] And it's all around what you see on your screen is Half the Story.
[00:13:59.720 --> 00:14:00.440] They're amazing.
[00:14:00.440 --> 00:14:07.800] And she just started a like consumer-facing app that is around this, but it's not a non-profit.
[00:14:07.800 --> 00:14:10.040] It's her, it's a tech startup.
[00:14:10.040 --> 00:14:10.760] It's amazing.
[00:14:10.760 --> 00:14:12.440] I actually think they're fundraising at the moment.
[00:14:12.440 --> 00:14:12.920] Very cool.
[00:14:13.080 --> 00:14:13.800] I'm definitely going to live.
[00:14:14.040 --> 00:14:15.920] And she is like legit, incredible.
[00:14:15.920 --> 00:14:17.440] She's amazing.
[00:14:17.440 --> 00:14:17.920] I love it.
[00:14:14.920 --> 00:14:21.280] Anyway, anyone who's building this space, I'm just like, just give them all of the money.
[00:14:21.360 --> 00:14:25.120] Let's figure this out because truly the kids are going to be okay.
[00:14:26.160 --> 00:14:30.000] Let's go back to 2019 and when Live Tinted first started.
[00:14:30.000 --> 00:14:32.480] How did you launch the business and what worked back then?
[00:14:32.800 --> 00:14:36.880] Back then, I started as a community platform before I even launched a product.
[00:14:36.880 --> 00:14:42.160] I always knew since I was 16 I wanted to create this beauty brand, but I didn't know how and when I would do it.
[00:14:42.160 --> 00:14:48.560] And so, you know, after I had built this community around my own personal page for three years, I was ready to start the brand.
[00:14:48.560 --> 00:14:52.400] But at the time, I just felt like I wanted it to be bigger than myself.
[00:14:52.400 --> 00:14:55.920] So when I went to go fundraise, people would say, just launch the product.
[00:14:55.920 --> 00:14:58.160] You already have an audience of hundreds of thousands of people.
[00:14:58.160 --> 00:14:58.720] Launch it.
[00:14:58.720 --> 00:15:03.520] And I was like, no, like, I want this to be about a brand that outlives me and is different from me.
[00:15:03.520 --> 00:15:06.480] And so I started an Instagram page called Live Tinted.
[00:15:06.480 --> 00:15:15.920] And I started to ask people, hey, if you find a South Asian woman with deeper skin tone, please tag me in the photo using the hashtag Live Tinted.
[00:15:15.920 --> 00:15:21.360] And I'm not even kidding, within an hour, there was hundreds of people tagging hashtag Live Tinted.
[00:15:21.360 --> 00:15:22.240] And it was just so cool.
[00:15:22.240 --> 00:15:28.000] And I saw all these beautiful faces of women that I hadn't seen in 2019 at that time featured.
[00:15:28.000 --> 00:15:36.000] And then I was able to reach out to them and be like, wait, I want to create a page where we're spotlighting faces and aesthetics that you don't normally see in the beauty industry.
[00:15:36.000 --> 00:15:41.760] And so, you know, this is a pre-BLM time where people were, diversity and inclusion was kind of just a different conversation.
[00:15:41.760 --> 00:15:44.640] You know, you didn't see the traditional magazines even talking about it.
[00:15:44.640 --> 00:16:00.280] And so I created this page called Live Tinted that was just a community page where every day we would post a different topic and have people discuss it, whether it was colorism, growing up with facial hair as a woman, and how people feel about their noses.
[00:15:59.840 --> 00:16:04.680] And like it, I realized became so much bigger than just this brown girl page.
[00:16:04.840 --> 00:16:10.200] It was actually a page connecting people that didn't feel like they saw themselves in the beauty industry.
[00:16:10.200 --> 00:16:16.360] And so slowly but surely, we started to grow and then we created a newsletter, then we started to do events, and it really was this community channel.
[00:16:16.360 --> 00:16:24.440] And then eventually I asked the community what they felt was missing from the beauty industry, and overwhelmingly the audience said that it was hyperpigmentation in dark circles.
[00:16:24.440 --> 00:16:31.720] And so I was like, wait a second, I have this video from three years ago using a red lipstick under my eyes, all centered around dark circles and hyperpigmentation.
[00:16:31.720 --> 00:16:39.640] Three years later, I'm starting this community page and the same group, well, not even the same, this audience is telling me that they have the same problem.
[00:16:39.640 --> 00:16:46.760] So it was clear to me that the market hadn't created a solution and that's when we started to develop the product that, no, that's not true.
[00:16:46.760 --> 00:16:50.760] The product was already being in development because I knew at some point I wanted to start a brand.
[00:16:50.760 --> 00:17:04.120] What was going to be that product in the exact form, how I was going to involve the community, and how they verified and validified what I thought would be the case all happened through this year of building out the brand as a community platform.
[00:17:04.120 --> 00:17:04.440] Wow.
[00:17:04.440 --> 00:17:08.760] So the actual community started in 2018, but we launched the first product in 2019.
[00:17:08.760 --> 00:17:19.320] So whenever people ask me like when the brand started, I always like hesitate because the community started in 2018, but the business was actually a revenue generating business in 2019.
[00:17:19.320 --> 00:17:21.560] It just sounds like it's meant to be.
[00:17:21.560 --> 00:17:22.440] Yeah, I think so.
[00:17:22.440 --> 00:17:25.480] I mean, listen, like this wasn't like something I woke up and decided to do.
[00:17:25.480 --> 00:17:33.400] It was like a little girl from Texas who was like, I want to be the girl that creates a brand that finally, includes people who look like me, but becomes mainstream.
[00:17:33.400 --> 00:17:37.640] Like, the biggest thing that I want people to realize is like I have products that work for all of us.
[00:17:37.640 --> 00:17:45.920] Like, I want the girl from Kansas City down to the girl in Singapore to pick up my products and feel like we've created something for them.
[00:17:44.840 --> 00:17:48.080] And complexion is not easy, it's expensive.
[00:17:48.400 --> 00:17:53.360] It means you, and especially as a brand that's saying we stand for everybody, we're doing the best we can.
[00:17:53.360 --> 00:18:02.320] And I think for me, the way to do that is I can't promise that every single human being in the entire planet is going to see the shade that is perfect for them.
[00:18:02.320 --> 00:18:07.920] But I've made it so we had equal shade representation in the light, medium, and deep side of the spectrum.
[00:18:07.920 --> 00:18:14.160] So the person over here and here and here feels equally represented rather than typically in the beauty industry historically.
[00:18:14.160 --> 00:18:22.080] People start and make sure that the fairest side of the skin tone spectrum is taken care of, and this is more of an afterthought.
[00:18:22.080 --> 00:18:29.040] Because of that, we actually made it so the deepest shade is shade one for us, and the lightest shade is shade 20 for us.
[00:18:29.040 --> 00:18:37.360] So it's just like the little things we do to kind of flip things on the head to make it so those who hadn't traditionally seen themselves represented in the beauty industry finally do.
[00:18:37.360 --> 00:18:38.400] Clever.
[00:18:38.400 --> 00:18:48.080] If you were launching a brand today from scratch, would you follow that same build an audience first, launch a product second?
[00:18:48.080 --> 00:18:51.440] Okay, business besties, let's switch gears for a second.
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[00:20:09.400 --> 00:20:14.680] Yes and no, because it's just so much harder to launch with an Instagram page today.
[00:20:14.680 --> 00:20:17.640] Like, yes, because anyone can do it.
[00:20:17.640 --> 00:20:25.880] You can pick up your phone tomorrow and just start, but no, because it could start to feel defeating and it's like the scale and the growth is just not going to happen the way it used to.
[00:20:25.880 --> 00:20:31.080] Do I believe that you can like study TikTok and the algorithm and really, really dissect it and win there?
[00:20:31.080 --> 00:20:31.880] I do.
[00:20:31.880 --> 00:20:40.280] I also think having a retailer as a support system for you is more critical than ever in launching a brand if you're trying to scale it.
[00:20:40.280 --> 00:20:41.720] I think everybody has their own goals.
[00:20:41.720 --> 00:20:47.400] If you're like, hey, I really just want to see how this goes, TikTok Shop has really made it so beauty can be democratized.
[00:20:47.400 --> 00:20:48.680] I really do believe that.
[00:20:48.680 --> 00:20:50.280] We haven't been able to crack it.
[00:20:50.280 --> 00:20:51.720] We have yet to have a viral.
[00:20:51.720 --> 00:20:52.360] It's crazy.
[00:20:52.360 --> 00:20:55.640] Since my viral video 10 years ago, we have not had a viral moment.
[00:20:55.640 --> 00:21:06.360] It's just been steady, consistent growth year over year for us as a brand, which is kind of exciting because it just feels like that's just the moment that can happen, and then it's only up from there.
[00:21:06.600 --> 00:21:12.200] Like, I have a lot of founder friends who are like, no, trust me, it's not a good thing because it creates artificial demand.
[00:21:12.200 --> 00:21:14.840] I see it as in a brand awareness play more than a sales play.
[00:21:15.040 --> 00:21:25.360] Like, it's of course an amazing spike that you see in sales, but more than anything to me, it's like a whole new audience gets millions of views of people all of a sudden know about your brand that didn't before.
[00:21:25.360 --> 00:21:29.040] So, in that regard, it is an exciting time in beauty to be able to go start.
[00:21:29.040 --> 00:21:33.360] But I will say it was hard then, it's hard now, and it'll be hard later.
[00:21:33.360 --> 00:21:42.800] And I think that's the most important message to anyone: is like, if you want to start this, you have to really, really, really freaking want it because it isn't going to be easy, but it is possible.
[00:21:42.800 --> 00:21:47.920] And also, there were opportunities that existed for you when you were getting started.
[00:21:47.920 --> 00:21:50.400] Yes, and there are opportunities people now.
[00:21:50.720 --> 00:21:52.560] YouTube then is what TikTok is now.
[00:21:52.560 --> 00:21:55.920] Vicki, the founder of Tatcha, was one of my mentors when I first got started.
[00:21:55.920 --> 00:22:04.000] And I remember she was like, Honey, I know it feels like it's hard for you now, but I started when it was like a terrible financial crisis happening in the world.
[00:22:04.000 --> 00:22:06.160] And she was like, That was also hard.
[00:22:06.480 --> 00:22:12.960] And we didn't have social media, so the same time it feels like for you, anyone can start a brand, so the competition is that much higher.
[00:22:12.960 --> 00:22:14.800] At that time, she had her own problems.
[00:22:14.800 --> 00:22:21.680] So, it's just a good reminder for me that, like, whenever you're getting started, you're gonna have your own version of a challenge, but you just have to get through it.
[00:22:21.680 --> 00:22:23.920] How do you feel about all of the new brands launching?
[00:22:23.920 --> 00:22:26.640] Because there are so many new brands launching.
[00:22:26.640 --> 00:22:36.480] I feel like every couple of days I see a launch, whether it's a celebrity brand or something that's bootstrapped and scrappy on TikTok, but there is a lot of consumer products out there now.
[00:22:36.480 --> 00:22:37.920] I feel like it's just the reality.
[00:22:37.920 --> 00:22:44.080] You know, I don't find myself getting distracted by all the new brands because I'm so clear in my vision and my why and why we're building.
[00:22:44.080 --> 00:22:57.840] When it comes to celebrity brands, I think, like I went from, as somebody who's wanted to create this brand since they were a little girl, and then you see celebrities have a business manager kind of recognize that, hey, you have an audience, there's an opportunity to monetize on it.
[00:22:57.840 --> 00:23:06.040] In the beginning, it was kind of like a disheartening feeling because it's like, oh man, like this has been my dream since I was a little kid, and these people have somebody else running it.
[00:23:06.360 --> 00:23:08.760] It's not their heart and soul being put into it.
[00:23:08.760 --> 00:23:12.920] That said, I genuinely believe that the market course corrects itself.
[00:23:12.920 --> 00:23:18.920] And we're seeing that the ones that are meant to be winning and thriving are, and the ones that aren't don't even exist anymore.
[00:23:18.920 --> 00:23:21.080] Across influencer and celebrity, by the way.
[00:23:21.080 --> 00:23:33.320] So, you know, like the ones that are winning, like Rare Beauty, I think, like, is a beautiful example of the right founder with the right cause and the right products and the right team and the right funding all fitting together and creating a beautiful brand.
[00:23:33.320 --> 00:23:35.160] And I'm, that to me is exciting.
[00:23:35.160 --> 00:23:37.880] When I see brands like that happening, I'm inspired by that.
[00:23:37.880 --> 00:23:43.560] And using their platform for good, like having a brand have a mental awareness play into it is a beautiful thing.
[00:23:43.560 --> 00:23:48.600] We're chatting, I don't know, maybe a week after the Rode acquisition.
[00:23:48.920 --> 00:23:49.320] Huge.
[00:23:49.320 --> 00:23:50.840] Billion-dollar valuation.
[00:23:50.840 --> 00:23:51.160] Billion.
[00:23:51.400 --> 00:24:04.920] $600 million cash, $200 million in $212 million in revenue, $200 in stock, and then another $200 million in cash if they hit milestones is like the breakdown.
[00:24:05.240 --> 00:24:08.440] When you see these acquisitions, like how long have they been in the market for?
[00:24:08.440 --> 00:24:09.000] Three years?
[00:24:09.000 --> 00:24:09.400] Three years.
[00:24:09.960 --> 00:24:10.520] Record time.
[00:24:10.600 --> 00:24:15.240] I think I was told it's the fastest billion-dollar beauty exit in history.
[00:24:17.000 --> 00:24:24.360] But I guess I feel confused by that because wasn't Kay K-18 I thought was a billion and in two years, but I think it was the first celebrity.
[00:24:24.600 --> 00:24:25.720] KCA is like different.
[00:24:25.720 --> 00:24:26.280] That's true.
[00:24:26.280 --> 00:24:26.920] Okay, sure.
[00:24:26.920 --> 00:24:27.800] Maybe it was skincare.
[00:24:27.800 --> 00:24:28.120] Yeah.
[00:24:28.200 --> 00:24:28.840] What are the vibes?
[00:24:28.840 --> 00:24:30.120] How do you feel when you see that?
[00:24:30.120 --> 00:24:33.800] Because I had like more, I'm not even in the beauty industry and I had like lots of feelings.
[00:24:33.800 --> 00:24:35.960] Yeah, you know, okay, here's how I feel.
[00:24:35.960 --> 00:24:41.640] I think Hailey Bieber, when she came out, she had a very clear POV, and I thought her marketing was so good.
[00:24:41.640 --> 00:24:45.760] I thought sometimes when you look at these beauty brands, there's a lot of copy-paste happening.
[00:24:45.920 --> 00:24:52.720] You know, it's like, oh, we have a system and we know it works, so we're going to take it from this brand to this brand and we're going to create it again.
[00:24:52.720 --> 00:25:02.400] And what I thought was cool about what she did was like, it almost felt like a fashion approach to beauty in the sense of like, you know, the visuals were really like chic and she had different kinds of marketing.
[00:25:02.400 --> 00:25:09.040] I guess I'm really trying to say that her marketing was really strong and she did have a channel to be able to do it.
[00:25:09.040 --> 00:25:17.280] And I really do think the biggest thing that Hailey Bieber has been able to do that not all beauty celebrity founders do is Homegirls invested.
[00:25:17.280 --> 00:25:21.600] She was posting 24-7 about the brand versus a lot of other beauty founders.
[00:25:21.600 --> 00:25:26.160] It's just one of their 14 projects and you could feel that it was.
[00:25:26.160 --> 00:25:32.400] Every time you would click on her stories, and to this day, even post-exit, she's posting about Rode and she knows that it's audio.
[00:25:32.400 --> 00:25:36.080] She's like 200 million still to get when they do right.
[00:25:36.160 --> 00:25:37.760] She's like, I got to get that other 200 million.
[00:25:37.760 --> 00:25:39.440] So like, shout out to her in that way, right?
[00:25:39.440 --> 00:25:43.840] Like, I love when I see celebrity founders invested in the beauty brand themselves.
[00:25:43.840 --> 00:25:44.160] Yeah.
[00:25:44.160 --> 00:25:50.960] So to me, it's like the fact that you're actually posting and using your page to be invested into what you're building.
[00:25:50.960 --> 00:25:51.520] Good for her.
[00:25:51.520 --> 00:25:56.960] She probably also really wanted something that had her name on it when she's been known as Justin Bieber's wife, right?
[00:25:56.960 --> 00:25:59.680] And now like it's she's the founder of Rode, Hailey Bieber.
[00:25:59.680 --> 00:26:01.280] And that's really cool.
[00:26:01.280 --> 00:26:06.000] So on that side, I'm like, it's great for the market because it's showing that actual transactions are happening.
[00:26:06.000 --> 00:26:08.400] So as a beauty founder myself, awesome.
[00:26:08.400 --> 00:26:15.600] As somebody who's been building for much longer, the thing that I want most founders to know is it's okay if it takes time.
[00:26:15.760 --> 00:26:17.760] I think that's my biggest takeaway from it, right?
[00:26:17.760 --> 00:26:18.960] Like, good for Haley.
[00:26:18.960 --> 00:26:20.400] Like, she was always going to win.
[00:26:20.400 --> 00:26:25.040] It's not something that I can pay attention to or focus on because it's distracting.
[00:26:25.040 --> 00:26:33.720] But I think for me, when I started in a Glossier age, like I started my brand when Emily Weiss and all these incredible female founders were on the cover of every magazine.
[00:26:33.720 --> 00:26:44.520] I felt like the only way that I could win as a founder was to raise a ton of money and to scale and get the fattest valuation at the quickest rate possible.
[00:26:44.520 --> 00:26:47.800] Because at the time, that's what I saw when I started my brand.
[00:26:47.800 --> 00:26:55.320] And I think for me, what I am already seeing with my story, and I hope you know, inspires people out there, is that it's okay if it takes time.
[00:26:55.320 --> 00:26:56.680] Like, what am I in a rush to do?
[00:26:56.680 --> 00:27:01.160] I'm building my dream brand that I want to be a legacy brand that outlives me.
[00:27:01.160 --> 00:27:03.000] Something like that takes time, and it's okay.
[00:27:03.000 --> 00:27:03.640] It takes time.
[00:27:03.640 --> 00:27:05.000] In fact, it should take time.
[00:27:05.000 --> 00:27:09.080] And we're seeing all of these founders now buying their companies back who sold.
[00:27:09.080 --> 00:27:11.160] Like we saw Huda Beauty.
[00:27:11.160 --> 00:27:13.480] That's been, that's, she's acquired that.
[00:27:13.480 --> 00:27:15.000] And we've seen some others as well, which I think is a good thing.
[00:27:15.160 --> 00:27:16.280] You know what she's really buying?
[00:27:16.280 --> 00:27:17.320] She's buying freedom.
[00:27:17.800 --> 00:27:26.680] She's buying freedom to make her own decisions, to do her own political freedom, emotional freedom, decision-making freedom.
[00:27:26.680 --> 00:27:33.000] And I think it's a beautiful thing when a founder is able to say, I'm taking all the control and buying myself freedom.
[00:27:33.000 --> 00:27:34.440] And that's what she's been able to do.
[00:27:34.440 --> 00:27:45.720] Like, there's been so many times that, like, I want to say things on the internet that are controversial, but I can't because I have, like I said, I have a huge responsibility that I take very seriously.
[00:27:45.720 --> 00:27:49.720] And I also have investors and I have a board and I have things I have to answer to.
[00:27:49.720 --> 00:27:53.160] So I think it's really beautiful when I see people buy their brands back.
[00:27:53.400 --> 00:28:04.440] It also shows me that money isn't everything and money doesn't buy happiness because you could say that when people sell their brands, they are loaded and have all the money in the world.
[00:28:04.440 --> 00:28:08.680] And you would think a lot of people would say that that's actually the end game.
[00:28:08.680 --> 00:28:20.640] But what you're seeing with a lot of these founders is that once they've, you know, exited their businesses and have all the money in the world, they still want to be a part of the brand because it brings them happiness and joy, which is really cool to see, honestly.
[00:28:14.840 --> 00:28:22.720] It's another reminder of like, what's the rush?
[00:28:22.720 --> 00:28:23.040] Yeah.
[00:28:23.040 --> 00:28:24.880] What's your fundraising story?
[00:28:25.120 --> 00:28:29.520] We've raised over $15 million over the course of 5050.
[00:28:29.520 --> 00:28:30.480] 1-5-5.
[00:28:30.640 --> 00:28:36.880] I think that's really important to say again because I think, and everyone has their own journey.
[00:28:36.880 --> 00:28:43.200] But again, like hearing the Glossier narrative and the, I don't know, isn't it like, have they raised over $100 million or $70 million or something?
[00:28:44.000 --> 00:28:47.200] Series D, E, or F or something was raised, right?
[00:28:47.200 --> 00:28:50.400] Those are the kind of numbers you typically only hear for tech companies.
[00:28:50.400 --> 00:28:55.600] I saw David, the brand David just raised $75 million, the protein bar.
[00:28:55.840 --> 00:29:02.000] So it's not, I'm not saying it's not possible, but for like to get them to $100 million in sales, I saw that they were raising $75 million in sales.
[00:29:02.000 --> 00:29:07.920] And like, that takes a very specific founder to, first of all, just even be able to do that.
[00:29:08.480 --> 00:29:10.400] They usually don't look like someone like me.
[00:29:10.720 --> 00:29:11.840] So there's that.
[00:29:11.840 --> 00:29:17.280] But I think also for my business, to raise that kind of money, it just doesn't make sense for the economics of my business.
[00:29:18.480 --> 00:29:28.080] Again, I don't know the economics of David's business and all these things like that, but for my business, I would be giving up a massive majority chunk of my company to be able to raise that kind of capital.
[00:29:28.080 --> 00:29:29.520] So I did it in slow chunks.
[00:29:29.520 --> 00:29:35.600] I did a small pre-seed with friends and family and a few institutionals that were like, let's just watch what she's doing.
[00:29:35.600 --> 00:29:42.720] But that was great because an institutional just even saying they're part of the round helped give people like this interest in getting involved.
[00:29:42.720 --> 00:29:51.520] And then when we were doing our seed round, some of those institutionals were interested in putting in more capital, which then helped us get a proper seed round in place.
[00:29:51.520 --> 00:29:56.480] And then I was able to raise my Series A, which was the $10 million check that I got.
[00:29:56.480 --> 00:29:58.240] And then in total, we did some bridges and stuff.
[00:29:58.240 --> 00:29:59.920] So we raised a little over $15 million.
[00:30:01.160 --> 00:30:04.920] And the thing is, like, people are like, whoa, whoa, why?
[00:30:04.920 --> 00:30:07.880] Like, what do you need that kind of capital for?
[00:30:07.880 --> 00:30:13.320] And for me, we are very firmly building with a retailer.
[00:30:13.320 --> 00:30:15.240] And retail is very expensive.
[00:30:15.240 --> 00:30:19.160] And so whenever people ask me, like, when am I ready to launch with a retailer?
[00:30:19.160 --> 00:30:26.040] I always say, do you feel like you're capitalized to be able to do it and win in that environment?
[00:30:26.040 --> 00:30:30.360] I wouldn't rush it until you are because it's the quickest way to also tank your business.
[00:30:30.360 --> 00:30:31.320] Let's talk about retail.
[00:30:31.320 --> 00:30:34.200] So you launched into Ulta in 2022-ish.
[00:30:34.360 --> 00:30:35.560] Yeah, 2022.
[00:30:35.560 --> 00:30:41.560] I think it started at the end of 2021, but you know, like the conversation started versus when you actually launched, but it was during the pandemic.
[00:30:41.560 --> 00:30:44.120] And were they your first retail partner?
[00:30:44.120 --> 00:30:45.640] We launched with Credo.
[00:30:45.960 --> 00:30:54.680] I would say that they were the first retail partner that required a ton of resources and a team and raising capital.
[00:30:54.680 --> 00:30:58.440] What advice do you have for other brands who want to get into Ulta?
[00:30:58.440 --> 00:30:59.800] How do you do that?
[00:31:00.120 --> 00:31:07.640] I think, okay, I want to answer this right because I don't want to lie.
[00:31:08.600 --> 00:31:10.360] It's a few things.
[00:31:11.000 --> 00:31:14.440] Be really, really certain of your why and your competitive differentiator.
[00:31:14.440 --> 00:31:19.160] And again, like, not to say, like, well, how do you differentiate yourself in a very cluttered makeup industry, right?
[00:31:19.160 --> 00:31:24.520] It's like, be so sure that this product that you have has a unique, some kind of innovation.
[00:31:24.520 --> 00:31:27.880] Packaging, formula, story is also an innovation, by the way.
[00:31:27.880 --> 00:31:31.360] Like, you grew up having viddle I go.
[00:31:31.320 --> 00:31:35.080] So, so you wanted to create a product that like made it so you can embrace it.
[00:31:35.040 --> 00:31:36.920] Or what, or what you know, I'm just trying to throw it out there.
[00:31:36.920 --> 00:31:42.440] But your story, your product, or your formula, something has to be innovative around it to make them excited.
[00:31:42.440 --> 00:31:47.680] They need to see some sort of market buzz or hole in their merchandising portfolio.
[00:31:47.680 --> 00:31:48.960] It has to make sense for them, right?
[00:31:44.840 --> 00:31:50.720] Put yourself in their shoes as merchandisers.
[00:31:51.040 --> 00:31:54.640] How are we filling our holes in our assortment?
[00:31:54.640 --> 00:31:59.920] And/or are you a buzzy product that we want to bring your audience into our store?
[00:31:59.920 --> 00:32:04.080] So, you kind of have to fill one of those two things to make it so a retailer is interested in you.
[00:32:04.080 --> 00:32:06.000] And if you can fill both, even better.
[00:32:06.320 --> 00:32:07.600] I could talk to you all day.
[00:32:07.600 --> 00:32:08.800] I'm looking at the time.
[00:32:08.800 --> 00:32:11.280] I could literally keep this conversation going forever.
[00:32:11.280 --> 00:32:13.920] I like blab a lot and talk really fast.
[00:32:14.160 --> 00:32:17.680] Yeah, like you have so much good advice and like good insights here.
[00:32:17.680 --> 00:32:19.280] I'm really, really loving it.
[00:32:19.280 --> 00:32:20.880] I want to keep talking about retail for a sec.
[00:32:20.880 --> 00:32:26.080] You mentioned it's super expensive to you know launch into someone like Ulta and to actually win there.
[00:32:26.080 --> 00:32:26.960] What does that mean?
[00:32:26.960 --> 00:32:30.400] Like, lots of people say, Oh, it's really expensive, but like, what do you mean?
[00:32:30.400 --> 00:32:31.680] What does what does that involve?
[00:32:31.680 --> 00:32:34.240] I would say you need a solid $2 million to do it, right?
[00:32:34.240 --> 00:32:40.080] Yeah, and I think there are ways to do it not that way, by the way, especially because these retailers have programs in place.
[00:32:40.080 --> 00:32:43.360] So, that then goes back to like capturing that person's attention.
[00:32:43.360 --> 00:32:50.400] They have these like incubator programs to help brands who don't have the money and capital raised get their footing in.
[00:32:50.720 --> 00:32:57.120] They help you fund it a little bit and give you the shelf space to see if you can stick and bring in and generate sales.
[00:32:57.120 --> 00:33:02.080] Because you have to remember, like, every square foot of their store is being measured, also, especially Ulta.
[00:33:02.080 --> 00:33:03.520] It's a publicly traded business, right?
[00:33:03.520 --> 00:33:07.280] So, like, they have their stockholders to make sure that they're appeasing.
[00:33:07.280 --> 00:33:09.920] So, you have to, again, put yourself in the retailer's shoes.
[00:33:09.920 --> 00:33:11.680] What is the value add for them?
[00:33:12.000 --> 00:33:13.760] And so, there are ways in.
[00:33:13.760 --> 00:33:19.840] I don't want people to think that if you haven't been able to raise this number that I just put out there, that you can't do it, you can.
[00:33:18.920 --> 00:33:24.960] You can, but I would highly recommend that you get into one of these incubator programs to do it because they set you up for success.
[00:33:24.960 --> 00:33:26.720] Yeah, that's a really good piece of advice.
[00:33:26.720 --> 00:33:27.200] Yeah.
[00:33:27.200 --> 00:33:29.200] What are you spending that $2 million on when you're there?
[00:33:29.200 --> 00:33:33.080] Is it, you know, you're paying for marketing once you're in there?
[00:33:33.080 --> 00:33:34.760] Like, what are those things that you're spending?
[00:33:34.760 --> 00:33:37.800] Yeah, I would say product development costs, marketing, and team.
[00:33:37.800 --> 00:33:38.120] Yeah.
[00:33:38.120 --> 00:33:39.720] You really can't do it all, honestly.
[00:33:39.720 --> 00:33:41.000] God, it's just so consuming.
[00:33:41.000 --> 00:33:43.240] And I would say even just getting part-time help, right?
[00:33:43.240 --> 00:33:48.200] If you can't do the full-time marketing support, get consultants and freelancers to help you build that social buzz.
[00:33:48.200 --> 00:33:56.600] Get someone who's like younger and better at TikTok than you to drive people into those doors because, again, you're being measured by how much productivity you're doing in those spaces.
[00:33:56.600 --> 00:34:00.920] The good news is, I can specifically speak to Ulta because that's how I grew.
[00:34:00.920 --> 00:34:10.280] They do understand that as a smaller brand, like they can't measure your productivity at the same level that they could do like a TART or NARS, which is great, especially again if you're in these programs.
[00:34:10.280 --> 00:34:11.960] So that's why I recommend it.
[00:34:11.960 --> 00:34:15.480] But yeah, it's got to be team, marketing, and product.
[00:34:15.800 --> 00:34:18.280] And you have been so successful in Ulta.
[00:34:18.280 --> 00:34:23.400] Like we said at the top of the show, you're the fastest-growing cosmetic brand in the store now, which is wild.
[00:34:23.400 --> 00:34:23.880] What are you doing?
[00:34:24.040 --> 00:34:25.320] It's really good to hear that, by the way.
[00:34:25.320 --> 00:34:30.840] I think like a younger me would be like very like, I hope you like stop and actually do celebrate that as well.
[00:34:30.840 --> 00:34:34.520] You're not just like on to the next big milestone.
[00:34:34.520 --> 00:34:35.640] Yeah, it's a balance, right?
[00:34:35.640 --> 00:34:37.720] Like sometimes I'm like, hell yeah, I'm so proud.
[00:34:37.720 --> 00:34:44.600] Like I hope the little girls like listening to this and just girls my age, whatever, anyone with a dream is like, I didn't have any privilege around this, right?
[00:34:44.600 --> 00:34:48.600] Like I grew up in Texas and didn't have any connections.
[00:34:48.600 --> 00:35:06.520] I did a case competition that got me an internship at L'Oreal that I then ended up ending up at a beauty startup, took my weekend and made a viral video that then made me take the risk on myself to go start this brand, ended up raising capital, and now here I am as one of the fastest growing brands at Ulta Beauty.
[00:35:06.520 --> 00:35:10.440] It's like every piece had to happen to make the other one happen.
[00:35:10.440 --> 00:35:12.360] And it was not an overnight success.
[00:35:12.360 --> 00:35:16.320] Like, I think because people hear viral video, they're like, oh, she woke up and it just happened.
[00:35:16.320 --> 00:35:18.320] It's like, this was a 16-year-old dream.
[00:35:18.320 --> 00:35:20.720] 20 years later, now I'm able to say that.
[00:35:14.760 --> 00:35:28.320] And so, I really want everyone to like take a step back and look at the success of Hailey Bieber is just one story, and it's a beautiful story.
[00:35:28.400 --> 00:35:30.640] I'm so happy for her, especially as a woman.
[00:35:30.640 --> 00:35:33.360] It makes me really excited to hear a woman having that narrative.
[00:35:33.360 --> 00:35:36.400] But it's not everyone's story, and it doesn't have to be your story.
[00:35:36.400 --> 00:35:37.840] It's not my story.
[00:35:37.840 --> 00:35:46.080] And I have to honestly wake up and remind myself and do gratitude journaling and stuff because otherwise it's so easy to get lost in the narrative of three-year exit.
[00:35:46.400 --> 00:35:47.840] Why am I not there yet?
[00:35:47.840 --> 00:35:49.680] And I'd love to look at other examples as well.
[00:35:49.680 --> 00:35:52.080] Like, you look at Touchland, they were just acquired.
[00:35:52.400 --> 00:35:54.640] And she's been building that for 15 years.
[00:35:54.640 --> 00:35:55.280] Yes.
[00:35:55.600 --> 00:35:56.720] Yeah, there's so many, right?
[00:35:56.720 --> 00:36:01.200] Like, the Tatcha story, like I was saying, is over a 10-year journey before she exited.
[00:36:01.600 --> 00:36:02.640] What's that other brand?
[00:36:02.640 --> 00:36:03.360] Polished Choice.
[00:36:03.360 --> 00:36:06.240] I think it took 22 years before they were a billion-dollar brand.
[00:36:06.640 --> 00:36:08.240] Some insane amount of years, right?
[00:36:08.240 --> 00:36:12.240] Insane, actually not insane, but to the world that we're seeing in social media.
[00:36:12.240 --> 00:36:12.640] Yeah.
[00:36:12.720 --> 00:36:13.680] Feels insane.
[00:36:13.680 --> 00:36:18.640] I also think that if you're building something that you do want to be a legacy brand, like that takes time.
[00:36:18.640 --> 00:36:25.520] If you want it to then last 20 years, 50 years, 100 years, like you can't build something in two years that's going to be able to do that.
[00:36:25.520 --> 00:36:37.200] And if I'm being so honest with myself and I look at the brand, when I look at Live Tinted, I see which products are winning and they're all based on the products that I am also the most passionate about.
[00:36:37.200 --> 00:36:45.440] So like, you know, I love that we have glosses and I think we have an incredible gloss formula, but like it's fine to me that we're not the leader in lip bombs, you know?
[00:36:45.440 --> 00:36:47.200] Like Summer Fridays is crushing that.
[00:36:47.280 --> 00:36:48.720] Road is crushing that.
[00:36:48.720 --> 00:36:56.000] I'm so excited that Live Tinted is a complexion authority and only going to grow and scale in being that because it's in the brand DNA.
[00:36:56.000 --> 00:36:59.640] And it's just cool because it's like, it makes sense for what I wanted the brand to be.
[00:36:59.640 --> 00:37:01.400] And it's actually translating in sales.
[00:36:59.280 --> 00:37:04.280] And it reminds me that everything else is a distraction.
[00:37:05.080 --> 00:37:07.160] You got to be known for something and really lean in.
[00:37:07.160 --> 00:37:14.440] So again, like advice for somebody who's listening is like create that hero skew in beauty, especially in makeup, but really in beauty.
[00:37:14.440 --> 00:37:15.800] You got to have a hero product.
[00:37:15.800 --> 00:37:17.480] Think what is your beauty blender?
[00:37:17.480 --> 00:37:19.880] What is your Summer Fridays jet lag mask?
[00:37:19.880 --> 00:37:22.760] What is your Rode Lip Peptide product?
[00:37:22.760 --> 00:37:24.360] You know, for us, it's our skin tint.
[00:37:24.360 --> 00:37:25.400] And I want to lean in.
[00:37:25.400 --> 00:37:26.760] We're sold every three minutes.
[00:37:26.760 --> 00:37:29.320] And it's like, now how can we be sold every three seconds?
[00:37:29.320 --> 00:37:30.680] That's such good advice.
[00:37:30.680 --> 00:37:33.240] The last thing I'm going to ask you is for a resource recommendation.
[00:37:33.240 --> 00:37:36.440] Do you have anything that you can share with other women who are out there building?
[00:37:37.080 --> 00:37:47.880] I think because content is such a machine right now, and I think for somebody who can't get into a retailer and they're like, I just want to get started, but social media is so stressful.
[00:37:47.880 --> 00:37:55.880] And I do think it still is the way, even though it's hard, to potentially open up to millions of people overnight.
[00:37:55.880 --> 00:37:56.680] You just never know.
[00:37:57.080 --> 00:38:01.720] If you master TikTok, I would say really, really try to study TikTok shop.
[00:38:01.720 --> 00:38:07.080] I've seen brands go from zero to 10 million in sales just because they've mastered TikTok shop.
[00:38:07.080 --> 00:38:16.600] I've seen brands that have gone under the radar for a while, like the Sarapotempa Beach Waiver, completely resurface and become iconic all over again because they've mastered TikTok shop.
[00:38:16.600 --> 00:38:20.840] So I would say really figure out your social media calendar in whatever way you can.
[00:38:20.840 --> 00:38:25.880] If you can invest in a tool like a Plan Ely or something like that, it's a, I think $10 to $20 a month.
[00:38:26.120 --> 00:38:27.160] That's what you use?
[00:38:27.160 --> 00:38:28.200] I use Plan Ely.
[00:38:28.200 --> 00:38:30.920] I use Plan Ely and it's my way of organizing my thoughts.
[00:38:30.920 --> 00:38:31.960] Obviously, there's free ways.
[00:38:31.960 --> 00:38:33.720] Just use a Google Excel sheet if you want.
[00:38:33.720 --> 00:38:42.040] But for me, having Plan a Lee where I can actually like understand what day I'm posting what, and I put my captions in there.
[00:38:42.040 --> 00:38:48.080] My team is able to say, hey, we're thinking about posting this because you have this partnership, we have this live-tinted launch, but also this family content.
[00:38:48.400 --> 00:38:52.720] We can just like play around with it within some sort of ecosystem.
[00:38:52.720 --> 00:38:56.720] I personally use Planoly, but some kind of social media planning tool I highly recommend.
[00:38:56.880 --> 00:38:57.280] Love that.
[00:38:57.280 --> 00:38:59.680] Deepika, thank you so much for coming on the show.
[00:38:59.680 --> 00:39:01.600] This is one of my favorite episodes already.
[00:39:01.840 --> 00:39:02.800] Thank you for having me.
[00:39:02.800 --> 00:39:03.760] That's so sweet.
[00:39:03.760 --> 00:39:11.360] I just wanted to jump in and end the show with a quick thank you and shout out to all of our paid business bestie subscribers.
[00:39:11.360 --> 00:39:19.920] Business besties bypass literally years of networking by getting access to all of the people that you need to build your dream business.
[00:39:19.920 --> 00:39:30.160] You also get invited to exclusive monthly group business coaching call sessions where you can speak to experts and founders and ask them all of those questions that you just can't Google.
[00:39:30.240 --> 00:39:31.680] You can cancel anytime.
[00:39:31.680 --> 00:39:36.720] Head to bestie.femalfounderworld.com or click the link in the show notes for more.

Prompt 2: Key Takeaways

Now please extract the key takeaways from the transcript content I provided.

Extract the most important key takeaways from this part of the conversation. Use a single sentence statement (the key takeaway) rather than milquetoast descriptions like "the hosts discuss...". 

Limit the key takeaways to a maximum of 3. The key takeaways should be insightful and knowledge-additive. 

IMPORTANT: Return ONLY valid JSON, no explanations or markdown. Ensure:
- All strings are properly quoted and escaped
- No trailing commas
- All braces and brackets are balanced
Format: {"key_takeaways": ["takeaway 1", "takeaway 2"]}

Prompt 3: Segments

Now identify 2-4 distinct topical segments from this part of the conversation.

For each segment, identify:
- Descriptive title (3-6 words)  
- START timestamp when this topic begins (HH:MM:SS format)
- Double check that the timestamp is accurate - a timestamp will NEVER be greater than the total length of the audio
- Most important Key takeaway from that segment. Key takeaway must be specific and knowledge-additive.
- Brief summary of the discussion

IMPORTANT: The timestamp should mark when the topic/segment STARTS, not a range. Look for topic transitions and conversation shifts.

Return ONLY valid JSON. Ensure all strings are properly quoted, no trailing commas:
{
  "segments": [
    {
      "segment_title": "Topic Discussion", 
      "timestamp": "01:15:30",
      "key_takeaway": "main point from this segment",
      "segment_summary": "brief description of what was discussed"
    }
  ]
}

Timestamp format: HH:MM:SS (e.g., 00:05:30, 01:22:45) marking the START of each segment.

Prompt 4: Media Mentions

Now scan the transcript content I provided for ACTUAL mentions of specific media titles:

Find explicit mentions of:
- Books (with specific titles)
- Movies (with specific titles)  
- TV Shows (with specific titles)
- Music/Songs (with specific titles)

DO NOT include:
- Websites, URLs, or web services
- Other podcasts or podcast names

IMPORTANT: 
- Only include items explicitly mentioned by name. Do not invent titles.
- Valid categories are: "Book", "Movie", "TV Show", "Music"
- Include the exact phrase where each item was mentioned
- Find the nearest proximate timestamp where it appears in the conversation
- THE TIMESTAMP OF THE MEDIA MENTION IS IMPORTANT - DO NOT INVENT TIMESTAMPS AND DO NOT MISATTRIBUTE TIMESTAMPS
- Double check that the timestamp is accurate - a timestamp will NEVER be greater than the total length of the audio
- Timestamps are given as ranges, e.g. 01:13:42.520 --> 01:13:46.720. Use the EARLIER of the 2 timestamps in the range.

Return ONLY valid JSON. Ensure all strings are properly quoted and escaped, no trailing commas:
{
  "media_mentions": [
    {
      "title": "Exact Title as Mentioned",
      "category": "Book",
      "author_artist": "N/A",
      "context": "Brief context of why it was mentioned",
      "context_phrase": "The exact sentence or phrase where it was mentioned",
      "timestamp": "estimated time like 01:15:30"
    }
  ]
}

If no media is mentioned, return: {"media_mentions": []}

Full Transcript

[00:00:00.080 --> 00:00:02.640] Hey business besties, welcome back to Female Founder World.
[00:00:02.640 --> 00:00:03.680] I'm Jasmine.
[00:00:03.680 --> 00:00:09.600] I'm the person behind all things Female Founder World and today I'm chatting with Deepakat Muriyala.
[00:00:09.600 --> 00:00:11.680] She's the founder and CEO of Live Tinted.
[00:00:11.680 --> 00:00:12.560] Welcome to the show.
[00:00:12.560 --> 00:00:13.680] Thank you for having me.
[00:00:13.680 --> 00:00:17.040] For people that don't know Live Tinted, what are you building?
[00:00:17.040 --> 00:00:18.960] I am building a beauty brand.
[00:00:18.960 --> 00:00:28.000] I guess I would say specifically a makeup brand that is focused on making it so everyone feels seen across all of our products, something that I feel like I didn't have growing up.
[00:00:28.000 --> 00:00:37.280] I feel like we're most known for our complexion products and our protection products, which is SPF products, which is kind of my goal and dream that I've always wanted to be the case.
[00:00:37.280 --> 00:00:38.000] So yeah.
[00:00:38.000 --> 00:00:40.960] And you started the brand in 2019?
[00:00:40.960 --> 00:00:41.920] 2019.
[00:00:41.920 --> 00:00:50.560] Since then, I'm going to like rattle off some milestones that you've hit because it's super, super impressive and I think it helps people understand just exactly what you've built.
[00:00:50.560 --> 00:00:54.000] So your skin tint product, one of those sells every three minutes.
[00:00:54.560 --> 00:00:59.280] And you are the fastest growing cosmetic brand in Ulta, which is incredible.
[00:00:59.280 --> 00:00:59.840] We are.
[00:00:59.840 --> 00:01:00.800] It's crazy.
[00:01:00.800 --> 00:01:02.320] It's exciting.
[00:01:02.320 --> 00:01:08.080] And I feel like we're just getting started, but to know that the growth is happening at that rate is the best.
[00:01:08.400 --> 00:01:14.000] Your kind of, I guess, like beauty career started really on YouTube.
[00:01:14.000 --> 00:01:20.800] I mean, you worked at Birch Box, you'd worked at, you'd interned at L'Oreal, but you really made a name for yourself on YouTube.
[00:01:21.120 --> 00:01:21.760] I did.
[00:01:21.760 --> 00:01:25.280] I did the corporate side first because I felt like it was parent approved.
[00:01:25.280 --> 00:01:30.640] You know, my immigrant parents were like, if you want to work in beauty, go be an executive in the beauty industry.
[00:01:30.880 --> 00:01:34.960] And while I was working at a beauty startup, I had a video go viral on YouTube.
[00:01:34.960 --> 00:01:39.760] My second video I ever posted using a red lipstick under my eyes to mask dark circles.
[00:01:39.760 --> 00:01:42.960] 10 million views later, I got asked to be on the Today Show.
[00:01:42.960 --> 00:01:44.400] I did the segment on air.
[00:01:44.400 --> 00:01:48.240] I quit my job, became a beauty influencer, built an audience.
[00:01:48.240 --> 00:01:50.240] Three years later, started Lift and Did.
[00:01:50.240 --> 00:01:55.200] I love that story of just this opportunity came and you just went, you just went for it.
[00:01:55.200 --> 00:01:55.680] I did.
[00:01:55.680 --> 00:01:59.280] I think at that moment in my life, the biggest risk was not going for it.
[00:01:59.280 --> 00:01:59.520] Yeah.
[00:01:59.640 --> 00:02:07.560] You know, I was young, I was in my 20s, and like I think about it now, and I have so much more fear that existed in me at 35 than I did at 25.
[00:02:07.560 --> 00:02:09.560] It just felt like low stakes at the time.
[00:02:09.560 --> 00:02:13.000] It was like, whatever, I'm in my 20s, I'll figure it out.
[00:02:13.160 --> 00:02:17.000] Which is weird because I think at any moment in your life, it is your reality.
[00:02:17.000 --> 00:02:20.280] So it's shocking that it wasn't scary to me at the time, but it wasn't.
[00:02:20.280 --> 00:02:23.400] To me, it was like, I don't want to look back and wonder what if.
[00:02:23.400 --> 00:02:24.200] I love that.
[00:02:24.200 --> 00:02:32.200] I'm also just, it like blows my mind this era when 10 million views would get you on the Today Show and you could like quit your job.
[00:02:32.200 --> 00:02:33.400] Isn't that so funny?
[00:02:33.400 --> 00:02:36.600] It's like people can breathe on TikTok and get that now.
[00:02:36.600 --> 00:02:40.920] Although it's funny when I feel like I'm trying and I think I have the good video, it doesn't pop off.
[00:02:40.920 --> 00:02:46.440] But yeah, in 2015, getting 10 million views on a YouTube video.
[00:02:46.520 --> 00:02:47.000] Big deal.
[00:02:47.000 --> 00:02:48.120] And it was because of BuzzFeed.
[00:02:48.120 --> 00:02:53.160] BuzzFeed, also archaic at this point, but at the time it was like the biggest deal.
[00:02:53.160 --> 00:02:57.800] And so getting featured on there made the video take off and all of a sudden my whole life changed.
[00:02:57.800 --> 00:02:59.480] Do you still YouTube?
[00:02:59.480 --> 00:03:06.600] Not like I should, you know, when I have like a big milestone or life update, but it's so hard running a company and being a content machine.
[00:03:06.600 --> 00:03:07.000] Yeah.
[00:03:07.000 --> 00:03:15.800] It's two separate jobs squeezed into one and I keep trying to make it make sense, but I don't really feel like I'm the same person I was when I started.
[00:03:15.800 --> 00:03:25.000] So it's also like I'm trying to do it in an authentic way that like I don't feel like I'm at a point in my life to wake up and do a beauty tutorial on YouTube the way that I did in 2015.
[00:03:25.400 --> 00:03:30.280] So I want to stay connected to that audience there because I have hundreds of thousands of people on YouTube.
[00:03:30.280 --> 00:03:34.200] But I also want to figure out how to do it in the way that feels right for a 35-year-old Deepika.
[00:03:34.520 --> 00:03:36.360] I think about this all the time.
[00:03:36.680 --> 00:03:51.440] I think about this all the time because I'm also someone that creates content on the internet, not as prolific as you as a creator, but I think about how I've changed and my perspectives and opinions and interests have just changed so much since when I started.
[00:03:51.600 --> 00:03:59.920] But the internet wants you to be a brand and wants you to have this one thing that you do and that you're known for, but it doesn't, that's actually not what humans are.
[00:03:59.920 --> 00:04:05.840] And I also feel like I'm going through a lot as a human being and as a founder, but as a woman in my 30s.
[00:04:05.840 --> 00:04:10.240] And sometimes I feel like the internet wants you to just be one version of yourself, like you're saying.
[00:04:10.240 --> 00:04:12.000] And that doesn't feel honest to me.
[00:04:12.000 --> 00:04:24.880] So I'm struggling with it, but also remembering it is part of my job and trying to understand: do I just treat it like my job and then go and have my life, which feels really healthy, but it doesn't feel honest in how I started my whole journey.
[00:04:24.880 --> 00:04:28.960] Like the reason I think it worked in the beginning was because I was so myself.
[00:04:28.960 --> 00:04:30.480] I was so genuinely myself.
[00:04:30.480 --> 00:04:31.360] I had no makeup on.
[00:04:31.360 --> 00:04:34.720] I was on the internet putting red product all underneath my eyes.
[00:04:34.720 --> 00:04:35.920] I looked insane.
[00:04:35.920 --> 00:04:37.520] But I think that's why it worked.
[00:04:37.520 --> 00:04:45.920] And then I started to vlog my personal life with my family and people really connected to them because I think they saw a little bit of their parents and my parents.
[00:04:45.920 --> 00:04:55.920] And yeah, it's hard because now I'm so drained from building this company that whenever I go home, I just want to like eat my mom's food and not pull out my phone.
[00:04:55.920 --> 00:04:57.360] Yeah, I think about this a lot.
[00:04:57.360 --> 00:05:02.480] I don't share any of my friends ever on Instagram or TikTok or anything.
[00:05:02.480 --> 00:05:03.280] It's just not.
[00:05:03.280 --> 00:05:04.320] It's like too special.
[00:05:04.320 --> 00:05:04.880] Do you know what I mean?
[00:05:05.440 --> 00:05:09.600] I want to protect them more than anything from this crazy world of the internet.
[00:05:09.600 --> 00:05:11.680] So how are you thinking about creating content now?
[00:05:11.680 --> 00:05:18.960] Because I'm guessing you have a content team that does live-tinted content, but I'm also guessing that when you post about the brand, that's what works really well.
[00:05:18.960 --> 00:05:31.160] Yeah, it's an interesting balance, though, because I think if my page, my Deepika page, was all live-tinted content, it actually shuts down the live-tinted content because my audience does want to see me as a whole human.
[00:05:29.760 --> 00:05:31.960] And that's the struggle.
[00:05:32.120 --> 00:05:38.520] Like what you said about not posting your friends, it's tough because I do feel like my audience loves seeing my friends and family.
[00:05:38.520 --> 00:05:41.560] And when you're going on a vacation, it's almost the content that does the best.
[00:05:41.560 --> 00:05:42.120] Totally.
[00:05:42.120 --> 00:05:47.480] So, like, then what is a real vacation for somebody whose content that's vacation content is what the world wants to see.
[00:05:48.440 --> 00:05:51.720] So I struggle with that a little bit, but again, like, it's like fake.
[00:05:51.720 --> 00:06:00.840] I always remind myself it's like high-class problems because a lot of creators are getting free rooms because they're posting about their lives on these trips and stuff like that.
[00:06:00.840 --> 00:06:11.160] So I'm actively in real time trying to figure out what my content strategy looks like for 35-year-old Deepika who's still running the company and also a content creator.
[00:06:11.160 --> 00:06:13.960] Did you see what Addison Rae posted this week?
[00:06:13.960 --> 00:06:20.680] She wrote, or she said in an interview, like tasting class is a privilege or something when it comes to content.
[00:06:20.680 --> 00:06:28.760] And she was talking about when she was like in a content house early on and how she had to post like 20 videos a day and just like do all of the crazy things.
[00:06:28.760 --> 00:06:34.360] That's not until you make it that you can like make those decisions to be like, actually, I don't want to share that.
[00:06:34.360 --> 00:06:35.960] She has a really good point.
[00:06:35.960 --> 00:06:47.000] I didn't know where you were going with that, but I totally agree that I feel that same way with having Live Tinted because people whose full-time life and career is based on being a content creator, you have to feed the algorithm.
[00:06:47.320 --> 00:06:51.160] For me, it is a piece of what helps grow Live Tinted.
[00:06:51.480 --> 00:07:00.920] But if for whatever reason, the way I monetized my content channels for me as a brand went away, I know I still have equity in the brand that I'm building long term.
[00:07:01.480 --> 00:07:04.920] I do both of them because one helps build the other.
[00:07:04.920 --> 00:07:09.160] My audience is still larger than what Live Tinted is in terms of like following and stuff.
[00:07:09.400 --> 00:07:13.960] But my dream, my dream is that Live Tinted outgrows me.
[00:07:14.440 --> 00:07:16.160] People pick it up.
[00:07:16.160 --> 00:07:17.680] I see them pull it out of their bag.
[00:07:17.680 --> 00:07:19.600] They have no clue that I was the founder of it.
[00:07:19.600 --> 00:07:21.360] And I'm just like walking by and seeing them.
[00:07:21.360 --> 00:07:24.480] And I'm like, oh my God, this is so crazy.
[00:07:24.480 --> 00:07:27.040] Right now, for the most part, it still is like...
[00:07:27.040 --> 00:07:29.280] people coming up to me and being like, I love your brand.
[00:07:29.280 --> 00:07:30.080] It's so cool.
[00:07:30.080 --> 00:07:34.880] I'm so inspired by what you're doing, which is awesome and like such a pinch-me feeling.
[00:07:34.880 --> 00:07:42.400] But I just think about one day when I have kids and a family, how it is that I want to show up in the world and I want it to be through my brand.
[00:07:42.720 --> 00:07:43.360] I get that.
[00:07:43.360 --> 00:07:43.680] Yeah.
[00:07:43.680 --> 00:07:44.640] I totally get that.
[00:07:44.640 --> 00:07:46.000] I'm sure you do, by the way.
[00:07:46.000 --> 00:07:54.560] And I feel like with what you're building, it's very much about a community and an ecosystem, which is actually how Live Tinted started as a community platform.
[00:07:54.560 --> 00:07:59.680] And it brought me so much joy at that time because it was less about the product and more about the community.
[00:08:00.160 --> 00:08:05.440] And now what I'm like trying to figure out is what does community mean for Live Tinted five years into the brand?
[00:08:05.600 --> 00:08:12.800] Where at year six and it's like, okay, so six years in, how do I make it so the community still sees themselves, but we can still scale?
[00:08:12.800 --> 00:08:13.040] Yes.
[00:08:13.040 --> 00:08:14.480] How do you scale community?
[00:08:14.480 --> 00:08:15.120] I don't know.
[00:08:15.120 --> 00:08:20.960] I think it's always never forgetting why you started and making sure that they feel seen no matter what.
[00:08:20.960 --> 00:08:29.600] It's part of the reason we made the brand tagline, it feels good to be seen, because whether you're my skin tone, a deeper skin tone, or your skin tone are much fairer than you, we all want to feel seen.
[00:08:29.600 --> 00:08:32.160] That's like a universal feeling inside of you.
[00:08:32.160 --> 00:08:38.160] But it also to me plays in a playful way around putting it on a mirror because you're looking at yourself.
[00:08:38.160 --> 00:08:42.720] And then you can also think of it as it's deeper than just a beauty product phrase.
[00:08:42.720 --> 00:08:44.560] It's just like a life mantra.
[00:08:44.880 --> 00:08:54.240] And so putting that at the center to me makes it so the young brown girl who saw herself in Live Tinted still sees herself, but it opens it up to a wider audience.
[00:08:54.240 --> 00:08:57.480] Did you see the like TikTok back?
[00:08:57.680 --> 00:08:59.600] Do you spend much time on TikTok, by the way?
[00:08:59.600 --> 00:09:04.680] So yes and no, like I cannot scroll because it's so unhealthy for my brain.
[00:09:04.840 --> 00:09:06.680] Like 10 years into doing this, right?
[00:09:07.240 --> 00:09:09.160] It rewires the shit in your brain.
[00:09:09.160 --> 00:09:13.400] It rewires the shit in your brain to a point where you're like, is this worth it?
[00:09:13.560 --> 00:09:13.880] You know?
[00:09:13.880 --> 00:09:18.920] So like now I have a team who does it and they tell me what trends to do and I do it, but I cannot sit there and scroll.
[00:09:18.920 --> 00:09:19.240] I can't.
[00:09:19.240 --> 00:09:21.080] So like when somebody's like, did you see this trend?
[00:09:21.080 --> 00:09:22.440] I'm like, no, I didn't unless it wasn't.
[00:09:22.760 --> 00:09:23.240] I'm the same.
[00:09:23.400 --> 00:09:24.840] I am not on top of trends at all.
[00:09:24.840 --> 00:09:26.680] That's 100% something the team sends me.
[00:09:26.680 --> 00:09:32.040] But did you see there's a lot of like cancellation backlash happening on TikTok with the founders of a lot of beauty brands?
[00:09:32.040 --> 00:09:32.760] Did you see that?
[00:09:32.760 --> 00:09:33.720] Or fashion brands?
[00:09:33.720 --> 00:09:34.680] Did you see this?
[00:09:34.680 --> 00:09:35.080] No.
[00:09:35.240 --> 00:09:35.720] Okay.
[00:09:36.040 --> 00:09:39.080] But don't you feel like someone's getting canceled every hour of every day?
[00:09:39.080 --> 00:09:39.320] I know.
[00:09:39.320 --> 00:09:44.120] And it's so, like, I'm seeing it happening now with some of these fashion brands.
[00:09:44.120 --> 00:09:45.800] And specifically, why?
[00:09:45.800 --> 00:09:46.520] Like, all different things.
[00:09:46.520 --> 00:09:47.400] They come up all the time.
[00:09:47.400 --> 00:09:53.000] It's a lot of these fashion brands that have like a, maybe like a drop model and that's fashion.
[00:09:53.160 --> 00:09:53.560] I don't know.
[00:09:53.560 --> 00:09:54.520] Yeah, but like this.
[00:09:54.840 --> 00:09:58.600] But I have to say, like, I, every once in a while when I see Sheen, yeah, yeah, yeah.
[00:09:58.760 --> 00:10:00.520] Well, yeah, those I've seen.
[00:10:00.520 --> 00:10:07.880] But what I can say also is I can open my phone and see a negative comment about me and I get this anxious fear of getting canceled.
[00:10:07.880 --> 00:10:08.440] And it's just an issue.
[00:10:08.520 --> 00:10:09.240] Do you still have that?
[00:10:09.240 --> 00:10:10.200] Do you still get that?
[00:10:10.200 --> 00:10:10.600] Yes.
[00:10:10.600 --> 00:10:11.000] Yeah.
[00:10:11.000 --> 00:10:13.000] It's part of the reason I can't do it.
[00:10:13.000 --> 00:10:13.880] I can't.
[00:10:13.880 --> 00:10:20.120] I am still working through this wiring you have in your brain of needing to be liked.
[00:10:20.280 --> 00:10:25.160] When I physically got paid, my job for years was getting liked on an app.
[00:10:25.160 --> 00:10:27.640] And then you as a person are a people pleaser already.
[00:10:27.640 --> 00:10:28.760] You care about being liked.
[00:10:28.760 --> 00:10:32.920] It's like that like that you see on the gram is much deeper than just like a heart.
[00:10:32.920 --> 00:10:39.320] It's actually like in your brain telling you the more I'm liked, the more I get paid, the more my company and business grow.
[00:10:39.320 --> 00:10:46.880] So if somebody says they don't like me, I freak out because it's like, it's not just about me, it's about Live Tinted and the 30 employees that I employ.
[00:10:44.840 --> 00:10:48.480] Oh my God, I completely understand that.
[00:10:48.720 --> 00:10:49.600] So have you, right?
[00:10:49.600 --> 00:10:54.640] I watched a video this week with, I think Miley Saris did an interview with the New York Times.
[00:10:54.640 --> 00:10:55.680] I loved it.
[00:10:55.680 --> 00:10:56.320] Did you watch it?
[00:10:56.320 --> 00:10:59.360] I watched her talking about the EDMR, the tapping.
[00:10:59.360 --> 00:10:59.760] Yes.
[00:11:00.320 --> 00:11:01.520] I need to do this.
[00:11:01.520 --> 00:11:02.160] And she talks.
[00:11:02.160 --> 00:11:05.600] And so for everyone who didn't watch this or didn't see it, go and watch it.
[00:11:05.600 --> 00:11:07.360] I'm going to link it in the show notes because it's so good.
[00:11:07.360 --> 00:11:09.440] But she basically says, I'll recap it.
[00:11:09.440 --> 00:12:20.120] She says that she was having really bad stage fright and she was doing this therapy and like and figured out that she like went to this place where she was like why like what is it and basically I just want them to love me I just want them to love me and then like work down to the root of what that is and I think so much of it like we're just we're social beings and when you put that into this hyper intense situation like TikTok or Instagram and you're constantly being perceived on there and that like social biological wiring doesn't go away it just gets like amplified and I think it just can lead to so much anxiety beyond beyond and I you know I think about people who are starting at like the age of 16 17 because at 35 at least I have enough self-awareness and confidence in myself and have a community of people around me my brain is fully developed when those people that age are not to where like I'm okay but I take it as a deep responsibility because of the company that I've built and the people that I employ and I just never want to say the wrong thing that could jeopardize all of that I've worked so hard for.
[00:12:20.120 --> 00:12:23.960] But again, it's like also an exhausting way to live because I also want to be myself and be free.
[00:12:23.960 --> 00:12:29.720] So, like, what's kind of cool is that people are getting canceled at such a rapid rate that, like, is cancel culture canceled?
[00:12:29.720 --> 00:12:29.960] Totally.
[00:12:30.040 --> 00:12:31.240] Does it mean anything anymore?
[00:12:31.240 --> 00:12:32.600] Does it mean anything anymore?
[00:12:32.600 --> 00:12:34.760] And so, it's like, okay, I was canceled today.
[00:12:34.760 --> 00:12:36.600] Let's go to bed and try again tomorrow.
[00:12:36.600 --> 00:12:40.440] Yeah, it doesn't seem to be the same as what it was in like 2019, 2020.
[00:12:40.760 --> 00:12:48.840] I think, like, pre-TikTok, where things weren't moving as quickly, and it did feel more permanent when founders or women were like canceled on the internet.
[00:12:48.840 --> 00:12:52.600] Now it's just moving so quickly that I do think people are like moving beyond it.
[00:12:52.600 --> 00:12:59.800] And also, I think that cancellations are happening within these like echo chambers and niches on these platforms as well.
[00:12:59.800 --> 00:13:03.880] That it feels like it's everywhere, but if you're not like in that echo chamber, you don't even know what's happening.
[00:13:03.880 --> 00:13:04.520] Isn't it crazy?
[00:13:04.520 --> 00:13:07.640] Like, if you just don't look at your phone for a week, it's like it didn't even happen.
[00:13:08.120 --> 00:13:16.120] Like, you have this beautiful life, and just you're walking through the world, like loving life, and then you open your phone and it's like everything has ended.
[00:13:16.120 --> 00:13:20.440] And I don't know, I just, it's, I'm so grateful for social media, right?
[00:13:20.440 --> 00:13:24.760] Like, so my entire career and my brand has all taken off because of it.
[00:13:24.760 --> 00:13:31.640] So, like, there's so many positives to it, but ugh, I just think about one day when I have kids, it's gonna be a scary world.
[00:13:31.640 --> 00:13:33.080] Yeah, yep.
[00:13:33.080 --> 00:13:35.560] There's an amazing nonprofit called Half the Story.
[00:13:35.560 --> 00:13:36.200] Do you know them?
[00:13:36.200 --> 00:13:37.720] No, okay, they're amazing.
[00:13:37.720 --> 00:13:43.080] So, Lars, the founder, started this, I want to say six years ago, maybe seven years ago.
[00:13:43.080 --> 00:13:49.800] She had really bad mental health issues around like social media, and she started this nonprofit called Half the Story, and now it is like prolific.
[00:13:49.800 --> 00:13:55.960] And they do, they create resources and education for parents and students.
[00:13:55.960 --> 00:13:59.720] And it's all around what you see on your screen is Half the Story.
[00:13:59.720 --> 00:14:00.440] They're amazing.
[00:14:00.440 --> 00:14:07.800] And she just started a like consumer-facing app that is around this, but it's not a non-profit.
[00:14:07.800 --> 00:14:10.040] It's her, it's a tech startup.
[00:14:10.040 --> 00:14:10.760] It's amazing.
[00:14:10.760 --> 00:14:12.440] I actually think they're fundraising at the moment.
[00:14:12.440 --> 00:14:12.920] Very cool.
[00:14:13.080 --> 00:14:13.800] I'm definitely going to live.
[00:14:14.040 --> 00:14:15.920] And she is like legit, incredible.
[00:14:15.920 --> 00:14:17.440] She's amazing.
[00:14:17.440 --> 00:14:17.920] I love it.
[00:14:14.920 --> 00:14:21.280] Anyway, anyone who's building this space, I'm just like, just give them all of the money.
[00:14:21.360 --> 00:14:25.120] Let's figure this out because truly the kids are going to be okay.
[00:14:26.160 --> 00:14:30.000] Let's go back to 2019 and when Live Tinted first started.
[00:14:30.000 --> 00:14:32.480] How did you launch the business and what worked back then?
[00:14:32.800 --> 00:14:36.880] Back then, I started as a community platform before I even launched a product.
[00:14:36.880 --> 00:14:42.160] I always knew since I was 16 I wanted to create this beauty brand, but I didn't know how and when I would do it.
[00:14:42.160 --> 00:14:48.560] And so, you know, after I had built this community around my own personal page for three years, I was ready to start the brand.
[00:14:48.560 --> 00:14:52.400] But at the time, I just felt like I wanted it to be bigger than myself.
[00:14:52.400 --> 00:14:55.920] So when I went to go fundraise, people would say, just launch the product.
[00:14:55.920 --> 00:14:58.160] You already have an audience of hundreds of thousands of people.
[00:14:58.160 --> 00:14:58.720] Launch it.
[00:14:58.720 --> 00:15:03.520] And I was like, no, like, I want this to be about a brand that outlives me and is different from me.
[00:15:03.520 --> 00:15:06.480] And so I started an Instagram page called Live Tinted.
[00:15:06.480 --> 00:15:15.920] And I started to ask people, hey, if you find a South Asian woman with deeper skin tone, please tag me in the photo using the hashtag Live Tinted.
[00:15:15.920 --> 00:15:21.360] And I'm not even kidding, within an hour, there was hundreds of people tagging hashtag Live Tinted.
[00:15:21.360 --> 00:15:22.240] And it was just so cool.
[00:15:22.240 --> 00:15:28.000] And I saw all these beautiful faces of women that I hadn't seen in 2019 at that time featured.
[00:15:28.000 --> 00:15:36.000] And then I was able to reach out to them and be like, wait, I want to create a page where we're spotlighting faces and aesthetics that you don't normally see in the beauty industry.
[00:15:36.000 --> 00:15:41.760] And so, you know, this is a pre-BLM time where people were, diversity and inclusion was kind of just a different conversation.
[00:15:41.760 --> 00:15:44.640] You know, you didn't see the traditional magazines even talking about it.
[00:15:44.640 --> 00:16:00.280] And so I created this page called Live Tinted that was just a community page where every day we would post a different topic and have people discuss it, whether it was colorism, growing up with facial hair as a woman, and how people feel about their noses.
[00:15:59.840 --> 00:16:04.680] And like it, I realized became so much bigger than just this brown girl page.
[00:16:04.840 --> 00:16:10.200] It was actually a page connecting people that didn't feel like they saw themselves in the beauty industry.
[00:16:10.200 --> 00:16:16.360] And so slowly but surely, we started to grow and then we created a newsletter, then we started to do events, and it really was this community channel.
[00:16:16.360 --> 00:16:24.440] And then eventually I asked the community what they felt was missing from the beauty industry, and overwhelmingly the audience said that it was hyperpigmentation in dark circles.
[00:16:24.440 --> 00:16:31.720] And so I was like, wait a second, I have this video from three years ago using a red lipstick under my eyes, all centered around dark circles and hyperpigmentation.
[00:16:31.720 --> 00:16:39.640] Three years later, I'm starting this community page and the same group, well, not even the same, this audience is telling me that they have the same problem.
[00:16:39.640 --> 00:16:46.760] So it was clear to me that the market hadn't created a solution and that's when we started to develop the product that, no, that's not true.
[00:16:46.760 --> 00:16:50.760] The product was already being in development because I knew at some point I wanted to start a brand.
[00:16:50.760 --> 00:17:04.120] What was going to be that product in the exact form, how I was going to involve the community, and how they verified and validified what I thought would be the case all happened through this year of building out the brand as a community platform.
[00:17:04.120 --> 00:17:04.440] Wow.
[00:17:04.440 --> 00:17:08.760] So the actual community started in 2018, but we launched the first product in 2019.
[00:17:08.760 --> 00:17:19.320] So whenever people ask me like when the brand started, I always like hesitate because the community started in 2018, but the business was actually a revenue generating business in 2019.
[00:17:19.320 --> 00:17:21.560] It just sounds like it's meant to be.
[00:17:21.560 --> 00:17:22.440] Yeah, I think so.
[00:17:22.440 --> 00:17:25.480] I mean, listen, like this wasn't like something I woke up and decided to do.
[00:17:25.480 --> 00:17:33.400] It was like a little girl from Texas who was like, I want to be the girl that creates a brand that finally, includes people who look like me, but becomes mainstream.
[00:17:33.400 --> 00:17:37.640] Like, the biggest thing that I want people to realize is like I have products that work for all of us.
[00:17:37.640 --> 00:17:45.920] Like, I want the girl from Kansas City down to the girl in Singapore to pick up my products and feel like we've created something for them.
[00:17:44.840 --> 00:17:48.080] And complexion is not easy, it's expensive.
[00:17:48.400 --> 00:17:53.360] It means you, and especially as a brand that's saying we stand for everybody, we're doing the best we can.
[00:17:53.360 --> 00:18:02.320] And I think for me, the way to do that is I can't promise that every single human being in the entire planet is going to see the shade that is perfect for them.
[00:18:02.320 --> 00:18:07.920] But I've made it so we had equal shade representation in the light, medium, and deep side of the spectrum.
[00:18:07.920 --> 00:18:14.160] So the person over here and here and here feels equally represented rather than typically in the beauty industry historically.
[00:18:14.160 --> 00:18:22.080] People start and make sure that the fairest side of the skin tone spectrum is taken care of, and this is more of an afterthought.
[00:18:22.080 --> 00:18:29.040] Because of that, we actually made it so the deepest shade is shade one for us, and the lightest shade is shade 20 for us.
[00:18:29.040 --> 00:18:37.360] So it's just like the little things we do to kind of flip things on the head to make it so those who hadn't traditionally seen themselves represented in the beauty industry finally do.
[00:18:37.360 --> 00:18:38.400] Clever.
[00:18:38.400 --> 00:18:48.080] If you were launching a brand today from scratch, would you follow that same build an audience first, launch a product second?
[00:18:48.080 --> 00:18:51.440] Okay, business besties, let's switch gears for a second.
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[00:20:09.400 --> 00:20:14.680] Yes and no, because it's just so much harder to launch with an Instagram page today.
[00:20:14.680 --> 00:20:17.640] Like, yes, because anyone can do it.
[00:20:17.640 --> 00:20:25.880] You can pick up your phone tomorrow and just start, but no, because it could start to feel defeating and it's like the scale and the growth is just not going to happen the way it used to.
[00:20:25.880 --> 00:20:31.080] Do I believe that you can like study TikTok and the algorithm and really, really dissect it and win there?
[00:20:31.080 --> 00:20:31.880] I do.
[00:20:31.880 --> 00:20:40.280] I also think having a retailer as a support system for you is more critical than ever in launching a brand if you're trying to scale it.
[00:20:40.280 --> 00:20:41.720] I think everybody has their own goals.
[00:20:41.720 --> 00:20:47.400] If you're like, hey, I really just want to see how this goes, TikTok Shop has really made it so beauty can be democratized.
[00:20:47.400 --> 00:20:48.680] I really do believe that.
[00:20:48.680 --> 00:20:50.280] We haven't been able to crack it.
[00:20:50.280 --> 00:20:51.720] We have yet to have a viral.
[00:20:51.720 --> 00:20:52.360] It's crazy.
[00:20:52.360 --> 00:20:55.640] Since my viral video 10 years ago, we have not had a viral moment.
[00:20:55.640 --> 00:21:06.360] It's just been steady, consistent growth year over year for us as a brand, which is kind of exciting because it just feels like that's just the moment that can happen, and then it's only up from there.
[00:21:06.600 --> 00:21:12.200] Like, I have a lot of founder friends who are like, no, trust me, it's not a good thing because it creates artificial demand.
[00:21:12.200 --> 00:21:14.840] I see it as in a brand awareness play more than a sales play.
[00:21:15.040 --> 00:21:25.360] Like, it's of course an amazing spike that you see in sales, but more than anything to me, it's like a whole new audience gets millions of views of people all of a sudden know about your brand that didn't before.
[00:21:25.360 --> 00:21:29.040] So, in that regard, it is an exciting time in beauty to be able to go start.
[00:21:29.040 --> 00:21:33.360] But I will say it was hard then, it's hard now, and it'll be hard later.
[00:21:33.360 --> 00:21:42.800] And I think that's the most important message to anyone: is like, if you want to start this, you have to really, really, really freaking want it because it isn't going to be easy, but it is possible.
[00:21:42.800 --> 00:21:47.920] And also, there were opportunities that existed for you when you were getting started.
[00:21:47.920 --> 00:21:50.400] Yes, and there are opportunities people now.
[00:21:50.720 --> 00:21:52.560] YouTube then is what TikTok is now.
[00:21:52.560 --> 00:21:55.920] Vicki, the founder of Tatcha, was one of my mentors when I first got started.
[00:21:55.920 --> 00:22:04.000] And I remember she was like, Honey, I know it feels like it's hard for you now, but I started when it was like a terrible financial crisis happening in the world.
[00:22:04.000 --> 00:22:06.160] And she was like, That was also hard.
[00:22:06.480 --> 00:22:12.960] And we didn't have social media, so the same time it feels like for you, anyone can start a brand, so the competition is that much higher.
[00:22:12.960 --> 00:22:14.800] At that time, she had her own problems.
[00:22:14.800 --> 00:22:21.680] So, it's just a good reminder for me that, like, whenever you're getting started, you're gonna have your own version of a challenge, but you just have to get through it.
[00:22:21.680 --> 00:22:23.920] How do you feel about all of the new brands launching?
[00:22:23.920 --> 00:22:26.640] Because there are so many new brands launching.
[00:22:26.640 --> 00:22:36.480] I feel like every couple of days I see a launch, whether it's a celebrity brand or something that's bootstrapped and scrappy on TikTok, but there is a lot of consumer products out there now.
[00:22:36.480 --> 00:22:37.920] I feel like it's just the reality.
[00:22:37.920 --> 00:22:44.080] You know, I don't find myself getting distracted by all the new brands because I'm so clear in my vision and my why and why we're building.
[00:22:44.080 --> 00:22:57.840] When it comes to celebrity brands, I think, like I went from, as somebody who's wanted to create this brand since they were a little girl, and then you see celebrities have a business manager kind of recognize that, hey, you have an audience, there's an opportunity to monetize on it.
[00:22:57.840 --> 00:23:06.040] In the beginning, it was kind of like a disheartening feeling because it's like, oh man, like this has been my dream since I was a little kid, and these people have somebody else running it.
[00:23:06.360 --> 00:23:08.760] It's not their heart and soul being put into it.
[00:23:08.760 --> 00:23:12.920] That said, I genuinely believe that the market course corrects itself.
[00:23:12.920 --> 00:23:18.920] And we're seeing that the ones that are meant to be winning and thriving are, and the ones that aren't don't even exist anymore.
[00:23:18.920 --> 00:23:21.080] Across influencer and celebrity, by the way.
[00:23:21.080 --> 00:23:33.320] So, you know, like the ones that are winning, like Rare Beauty, I think, like, is a beautiful example of the right founder with the right cause and the right products and the right team and the right funding all fitting together and creating a beautiful brand.
[00:23:33.320 --> 00:23:35.160] And I'm, that to me is exciting.
[00:23:35.160 --> 00:23:37.880] When I see brands like that happening, I'm inspired by that.
[00:23:37.880 --> 00:23:43.560] And using their platform for good, like having a brand have a mental awareness play into it is a beautiful thing.
[00:23:43.560 --> 00:23:48.600] We're chatting, I don't know, maybe a week after the Rode acquisition.
[00:23:48.920 --> 00:23:49.320] Huge.
[00:23:49.320 --> 00:23:50.840] Billion-dollar valuation.
[00:23:50.840 --> 00:23:51.160] Billion.
[00:23:51.400 --> 00:24:04.920] $600 million cash, $200 million in $212 million in revenue, $200 in stock, and then another $200 million in cash if they hit milestones is like the breakdown.
[00:24:05.240 --> 00:24:08.440] When you see these acquisitions, like how long have they been in the market for?
[00:24:08.440 --> 00:24:09.000] Three years?
[00:24:09.000 --> 00:24:09.400] Three years.
[00:24:09.960 --> 00:24:10.520] Record time.
[00:24:10.600 --> 00:24:15.240] I think I was told it's the fastest billion-dollar beauty exit in history.
[00:24:17.000 --> 00:24:24.360] But I guess I feel confused by that because wasn't Kay K-18 I thought was a billion and in two years, but I think it was the first celebrity.
[00:24:24.600 --> 00:24:25.720] KCA is like different.
[00:24:25.720 --> 00:24:26.280] That's true.
[00:24:26.280 --> 00:24:26.920] Okay, sure.
[00:24:26.920 --> 00:24:27.800] Maybe it was skincare.
[00:24:27.800 --> 00:24:28.120] Yeah.
[00:24:28.200 --> 00:24:28.840] What are the vibes?
[00:24:28.840 --> 00:24:30.120] How do you feel when you see that?
[00:24:30.120 --> 00:24:33.800] Because I had like more, I'm not even in the beauty industry and I had like lots of feelings.
[00:24:33.800 --> 00:24:35.960] Yeah, you know, okay, here's how I feel.
[00:24:35.960 --> 00:24:41.640] I think Hailey Bieber, when she came out, she had a very clear POV, and I thought her marketing was so good.
[00:24:41.640 --> 00:24:45.760] I thought sometimes when you look at these beauty brands, there's a lot of copy-paste happening.
[00:24:45.920 --> 00:24:52.720] You know, it's like, oh, we have a system and we know it works, so we're going to take it from this brand to this brand and we're going to create it again.
[00:24:52.720 --> 00:25:02.400] And what I thought was cool about what she did was like, it almost felt like a fashion approach to beauty in the sense of like, you know, the visuals were really like chic and she had different kinds of marketing.
[00:25:02.400 --> 00:25:09.040] I guess I'm really trying to say that her marketing was really strong and she did have a channel to be able to do it.
[00:25:09.040 --> 00:25:17.280] And I really do think the biggest thing that Hailey Bieber has been able to do that not all beauty celebrity founders do is Homegirls invested.
[00:25:17.280 --> 00:25:21.600] She was posting 24-7 about the brand versus a lot of other beauty founders.
[00:25:21.600 --> 00:25:26.160] It's just one of their 14 projects and you could feel that it was.
[00:25:26.160 --> 00:25:32.400] Every time you would click on her stories, and to this day, even post-exit, she's posting about Rode and she knows that it's audio.
[00:25:32.400 --> 00:25:36.080] She's like 200 million still to get when they do right.
[00:25:36.160 --> 00:25:37.760] She's like, I got to get that other 200 million.
[00:25:37.760 --> 00:25:39.440] So like, shout out to her in that way, right?
[00:25:39.440 --> 00:25:43.840] Like, I love when I see celebrity founders invested in the beauty brand themselves.
[00:25:43.840 --> 00:25:44.160] Yeah.
[00:25:44.160 --> 00:25:50.960] So to me, it's like the fact that you're actually posting and using your page to be invested into what you're building.
[00:25:50.960 --> 00:25:51.520] Good for her.
[00:25:51.520 --> 00:25:56.960] She probably also really wanted something that had her name on it when she's been known as Justin Bieber's wife, right?
[00:25:56.960 --> 00:25:59.680] And now like it's she's the founder of Rode, Hailey Bieber.
[00:25:59.680 --> 00:26:01.280] And that's really cool.
[00:26:01.280 --> 00:26:06.000] So on that side, I'm like, it's great for the market because it's showing that actual transactions are happening.
[00:26:06.000 --> 00:26:08.400] So as a beauty founder myself, awesome.
[00:26:08.400 --> 00:26:15.600] As somebody who's been building for much longer, the thing that I want most founders to know is it's okay if it takes time.
[00:26:15.760 --> 00:26:17.760] I think that's my biggest takeaway from it, right?
[00:26:17.760 --> 00:26:18.960] Like, good for Haley.
[00:26:18.960 --> 00:26:20.400] Like, she was always going to win.
[00:26:20.400 --> 00:26:25.040] It's not something that I can pay attention to or focus on because it's distracting.
[00:26:25.040 --> 00:26:33.720] But I think for me, when I started in a Glossier age, like I started my brand when Emily Weiss and all these incredible female founders were on the cover of every magazine.
[00:26:33.720 --> 00:26:44.520] I felt like the only way that I could win as a founder was to raise a ton of money and to scale and get the fattest valuation at the quickest rate possible.
[00:26:44.520 --> 00:26:47.800] Because at the time, that's what I saw when I started my brand.
[00:26:47.800 --> 00:26:55.320] And I think for me, what I am already seeing with my story, and I hope you know, inspires people out there, is that it's okay if it takes time.
[00:26:55.320 --> 00:26:56.680] Like, what am I in a rush to do?
[00:26:56.680 --> 00:27:01.160] I'm building my dream brand that I want to be a legacy brand that outlives me.
[00:27:01.160 --> 00:27:03.000] Something like that takes time, and it's okay.
[00:27:03.000 --> 00:27:03.640] It takes time.
[00:27:03.640 --> 00:27:05.000] In fact, it should take time.
[00:27:05.000 --> 00:27:09.080] And we're seeing all of these founders now buying their companies back who sold.
[00:27:09.080 --> 00:27:11.160] Like we saw Huda Beauty.
[00:27:11.160 --> 00:27:13.480] That's been, that's, she's acquired that.
[00:27:13.480 --> 00:27:15.000] And we've seen some others as well, which I think is a good thing.
[00:27:15.160 --> 00:27:16.280] You know what she's really buying?
[00:27:16.280 --> 00:27:17.320] She's buying freedom.
[00:27:17.800 --> 00:27:26.680] She's buying freedom to make her own decisions, to do her own political freedom, emotional freedom, decision-making freedom.
[00:27:26.680 --> 00:27:33.000] And I think it's a beautiful thing when a founder is able to say, I'm taking all the control and buying myself freedom.
[00:27:33.000 --> 00:27:34.440] And that's what she's been able to do.
[00:27:34.440 --> 00:27:45.720] Like, there's been so many times that, like, I want to say things on the internet that are controversial, but I can't because I have, like I said, I have a huge responsibility that I take very seriously.
[00:27:45.720 --> 00:27:49.720] And I also have investors and I have a board and I have things I have to answer to.
[00:27:49.720 --> 00:27:53.160] So I think it's really beautiful when I see people buy their brands back.
[00:27:53.400 --> 00:28:04.440] It also shows me that money isn't everything and money doesn't buy happiness because you could say that when people sell their brands, they are loaded and have all the money in the world.
[00:28:04.440 --> 00:28:08.680] And you would think a lot of people would say that that's actually the end game.
[00:28:08.680 --> 00:28:20.640] But what you're seeing with a lot of these founders is that once they've, you know, exited their businesses and have all the money in the world, they still want to be a part of the brand because it brings them happiness and joy, which is really cool to see, honestly.
[00:28:14.840 --> 00:28:22.720] It's another reminder of like, what's the rush?
[00:28:22.720 --> 00:28:23.040] Yeah.
[00:28:23.040 --> 00:28:24.880] What's your fundraising story?
[00:28:25.120 --> 00:28:29.520] We've raised over $15 million over the course of 5050.
[00:28:29.520 --> 00:28:30.480] 1-5-5.
[00:28:30.640 --> 00:28:36.880] I think that's really important to say again because I think, and everyone has their own journey.
[00:28:36.880 --> 00:28:43.200] But again, like hearing the Glossier narrative and the, I don't know, isn't it like, have they raised over $100 million or $70 million or something?
[00:28:44.000 --> 00:28:47.200] Series D, E, or F or something was raised, right?
[00:28:47.200 --> 00:28:50.400] Those are the kind of numbers you typically only hear for tech companies.
[00:28:50.400 --> 00:28:55.600] I saw David, the brand David just raised $75 million, the protein bar.
[00:28:55.840 --> 00:29:02.000] So it's not, I'm not saying it's not possible, but for like to get them to $100 million in sales, I saw that they were raising $75 million in sales.
[00:29:02.000 --> 00:29:07.920] And like, that takes a very specific founder to, first of all, just even be able to do that.
[00:29:08.480 --> 00:29:10.400] They usually don't look like someone like me.
[00:29:10.720 --> 00:29:11.840] So there's that.
[00:29:11.840 --> 00:29:17.280] But I think also for my business, to raise that kind of money, it just doesn't make sense for the economics of my business.
[00:29:18.480 --> 00:29:28.080] Again, I don't know the economics of David's business and all these things like that, but for my business, I would be giving up a massive majority chunk of my company to be able to raise that kind of capital.
[00:29:28.080 --> 00:29:29.520] So I did it in slow chunks.
[00:29:29.520 --> 00:29:35.600] I did a small pre-seed with friends and family and a few institutionals that were like, let's just watch what she's doing.
[00:29:35.600 --> 00:29:42.720] But that was great because an institutional just even saying they're part of the round helped give people like this interest in getting involved.
[00:29:42.720 --> 00:29:51.520] And then when we were doing our seed round, some of those institutionals were interested in putting in more capital, which then helped us get a proper seed round in place.
[00:29:51.520 --> 00:29:56.480] And then I was able to raise my Series A, which was the $10 million check that I got.
[00:29:56.480 --> 00:29:58.240] And then in total, we did some bridges and stuff.
[00:29:58.240 --> 00:29:59.920] So we raised a little over $15 million.
[00:30:01.160 --> 00:30:04.920] And the thing is, like, people are like, whoa, whoa, why?
[00:30:04.920 --> 00:30:07.880] Like, what do you need that kind of capital for?
[00:30:07.880 --> 00:30:13.320] And for me, we are very firmly building with a retailer.
[00:30:13.320 --> 00:30:15.240] And retail is very expensive.
[00:30:15.240 --> 00:30:19.160] And so whenever people ask me, like, when am I ready to launch with a retailer?
[00:30:19.160 --> 00:30:26.040] I always say, do you feel like you're capitalized to be able to do it and win in that environment?
[00:30:26.040 --> 00:30:30.360] I wouldn't rush it until you are because it's the quickest way to also tank your business.
[00:30:30.360 --> 00:30:31.320] Let's talk about retail.
[00:30:31.320 --> 00:30:34.200] So you launched into Ulta in 2022-ish.
[00:30:34.360 --> 00:30:35.560] Yeah, 2022.
[00:30:35.560 --> 00:30:41.560] I think it started at the end of 2021, but you know, like the conversation started versus when you actually launched, but it was during the pandemic.
[00:30:41.560 --> 00:30:44.120] And were they your first retail partner?
[00:30:44.120 --> 00:30:45.640] We launched with Credo.
[00:30:45.960 --> 00:30:54.680] I would say that they were the first retail partner that required a ton of resources and a team and raising capital.
[00:30:54.680 --> 00:30:58.440] What advice do you have for other brands who want to get into Ulta?
[00:30:58.440 --> 00:30:59.800] How do you do that?
[00:31:00.120 --> 00:31:07.640] I think, okay, I want to answer this right because I don't want to lie.
[00:31:08.600 --> 00:31:10.360] It's a few things.
[00:31:11.000 --> 00:31:14.440] Be really, really certain of your why and your competitive differentiator.
[00:31:14.440 --> 00:31:19.160] And again, like, not to say, like, well, how do you differentiate yourself in a very cluttered makeup industry, right?
[00:31:19.160 --> 00:31:24.520] It's like, be so sure that this product that you have has a unique, some kind of innovation.
[00:31:24.520 --> 00:31:27.880] Packaging, formula, story is also an innovation, by the way.
[00:31:27.880 --> 00:31:31.360] Like, you grew up having viddle I go.
[00:31:31.320 --> 00:31:35.080] So, so you wanted to create a product that like made it so you can embrace it.
[00:31:35.040 --> 00:31:36.920] Or what, or what you know, I'm just trying to throw it out there.
[00:31:36.920 --> 00:31:42.440] But your story, your product, or your formula, something has to be innovative around it to make them excited.
[00:31:42.440 --> 00:31:47.680] They need to see some sort of market buzz or hole in their merchandising portfolio.
[00:31:47.680 --> 00:31:48.960] It has to make sense for them, right?
[00:31:44.840 --> 00:31:50.720] Put yourself in their shoes as merchandisers.
[00:31:51.040 --> 00:31:54.640] How are we filling our holes in our assortment?
[00:31:54.640 --> 00:31:59.920] And/or are you a buzzy product that we want to bring your audience into our store?
[00:31:59.920 --> 00:32:04.080] So, you kind of have to fill one of those two things to make it so a retailer is interested in you.
[00:32:04.080 --> 00:32:06.000] And if you can fill both, even better.
[00:32:06.320 --> 00:32:07.600] I could talk to you all day.
[00:32:07.600 --> 00:32:08.800] I'm looking at the time.
[00:32:08.800 --> 00:32:11.280] I could literally keep this conversation going forever.
[00:32:11.280 --> 00:32:13.920] I like blab a lot and talk really fast.
[00:32:14.160 --> 00:32:17.680] Yeah, like you have so much good advice and like good insights here.
[00:32:17.680 --> 00:32:19.280] I'm really, really loving it.
[00:32:19.280 --> 00:32:20.880] I want to keep talking about retail for a sec.
[00:32:20.880 --> 00:32:26.080] You mentioned it's super expensive to you know launch into someone like Ulta and to actually win there.
[00:32:26.080 --> 00:32:26.960] What does that mean?
[00:32:26.960 --> 00:32:30.400] Like, lots of people say, Oh, it's really expensive, but like, what do you mean?
[00:32:30.400 --> 00:32:31.680] What does what does that involve?
[00:32:31.680 --> 00:32:34.240] I would say you need a solid $2 million to do it, right?
[00:32:34.240 --> 00:32:40.080] Yeah, and I think there are ways to do it not that way, by the way, especially because these retailers have programs in place.
[00:32:40.080 --> 00:32:43.360] So, that then goes back to like capturing that person's attention.
[00:32:43.360 --> 00:32:50.400] They have these like incubator programs to help brands who don't have the money and capital raised get their footing in.
[00:32:50.720 --> 00:32:57.120] They help you fund it a little bit and give you the shelf space to see if you can stick and bring in and generate sales.
[00:32:57.120 --> 00:33:02.080] Because you have to remember, like, every square foot of their store is being measured, also, especially Ulta.
[00:33:02.080 --> 00:33:03.520] It's a publicly traded business, right?
[00:33:03.520 --> 00:33:07.280] So, like, they have their stockholders to make sure that they're appeasing.
[00:33:07.280 --> 00:33:09.920] So, you have to, again, put yourself in the retailer's shoes.
[00:33:09.920 --> 00:33:11.680] What is the value add for them?
[00:33:12.000 --> 00:33:13.760] And so, there are ways in.
[00:33:13.760 --> 00:33:19.840] I don't want people to think that if you haven't been able to raise this number that I just put out there, that you can't do it, you can.
[00:33:18.920 --> 00:33:24.960] You can, but I would highly recommend that you get into one of these incubator programs to do it because they set you up for success.
[00:33:24.960 --> 00:33:26.720] Yeah, that's a really good piece of advice.
[00:33:26.720 --> 00:33:27.200] Yeah.
[00:33:27.200 --> 00:33:29.200] What are you spending that $2 million on when you're there?
[00:33:29.200 --> 00:33:33.080] Is it, you know, you're paying for marketing once you're in there?
[00:33:33.080 --> 00:33:34.760] Like, what are those things that you're spending?
[00:33:34.760 --> 00:33:37.800] Yeah, I would say product development costs, marketing, and team.
[00:33:37.800 --> 00:33:38.120] Yeah.
[00:33:38.120 --> 00:33:39.720] You really can't do it all, honestly.
[00:33:39.720 --> 00:33:41.000] God, it's just so consuming.
[00:33:41.000 --> 00:33:43.240] And I would say even just getting part-time help, right?
[00:33:43.240 --> 00:33:48.200] If you can't do the full-time marketing support, get consultants and freelancers to help you build that social buzz.
[00:33:48.200 --> 00:33:56.600] Get someone who's like younger and better at TikTok than you to drive people into those doors because, again, you're being measured by how much productivity you're doing in those spaces.
[00:33:56.600 --> 00:34:00.920] The good news is, I can specifically speak to Ulta because that's how I grew.
[00:34:00.920 --> 00:34:10.280] They do understand that as a smaller brand, like they can't measure your productivity at the same level that they could do like a TART or NARS, which is great, especially again if you're in these programs.
[00:34:10.280 --> 00:34:11.960] So that's why I recommend it.
[00:34:11.960 --> 00:34:15.480] But yeah, it's got to be team, marketing, and product.
[00:34:15.800 --> 00:34:18.280] And you have been so successful in Ulta.
[00:34:18.280 --> 00:34:23.400] Like we said at the top of the show, you're the fastest-growing cosmetic brand in the store now, which is wild.
[00:34:23.400 --> 00:34:23.880] What are you doing?
[00:34:24.040 --> 00:34:25.320] It's really good to hear that, by the way.
[00:34:25.320 --> 00:34:30.840] I think like a younger me would be like very like, I hope you like stop and actually do celebrate that as well.
[00:34:30.840 --> 00:34:34.520] You're not just like on to the next big milestone.
[00:34:34.520 --> 00:34:35.640] Yeah, it's a balance, right?
[00:34:35.640 --> 00:34:37.720] Like sometimes I'm like, hell yeah, I'm so proud.
[00:34:37.720 --> 00:34:44.600] Like I hope the little girls like listening to this and just girls my age, whatever, anyone with a dream is like, I didn't have any privilege around this, right?
[00:34:44.600 --> 00:34:48.600] Like I grew up in Texas and didn't have any connections.
[00:34:48.600 --> 00:35:06.520] I did a case competition that got me an internship at L'Oreal that I then ended up ending up at a beauty startup, took my weekend and made a viral video that then made me take the risk on myself to go start this brand, ended up raising capital, and now here I am as one of the fastest growing brands at Ulta Beauty.
[00:35:06.520 --> 00:35:10.440] It's like every piece had to happen to make the other one happen.
[00:35:10.440 --> 00:35:12.360] And it was not an overnight success.
[00:35:12.360 --> 00:35:16.320] Like, I think because people hear viral video, they're like, oh, she woke up and it just happened.
[00:35:16.320 --> 00:35:18.320] It's like, this was a 16-year-old dream.
[00:35:18.320 --> 00:35:20.720] 20 years later, now I'm able to say that.
[00:35:14.760 --> 00:35:28.320] And so, I really want everyone to like take a step back and look at the success of Hailey Bieber is just one story, and it's a beautiful story.
[00:35:28.400 --> 00:35:30.640] I'm so happy for her, especially as a woman.
[00:35:30.640 --> 00:35:33.360] It makes me really excited to hear a woman having that narrative.
[00:35:33.360 --> 00:35:36.400] But it's not everyone's story, and it doesn't have to be your story.
[00:35:36.400 --> 00:35:37.840] It's not my story.
[00:35:37.840 --> 00:35:46.080] And I have to honestly wake up and remind myself and do gratitude journaling and stuff because otherwise it's so easy to get lost in the narrative of three-year exit.
[00:35:46.400 --> 00:35:47.840] Why am I not there yet?
[00:35:47.840 --> 00:35:49.680] And I'd love to look at other examples as well.
[00:35:49.680 --> 00:35:52.080] Like, you look at Touchland, they were just acquired.
[00:35:52.400 --> 00:35:54.640] And she's been building that for 15 years.
[00:35:54.640 --> 00:35:55.280] Yes.
[00:35:55.600 --> 00:35:56.720] Yeah, there's so many, right?
[00:35:56.720 --> 00:36:01.200] Like, the Tatcha story, like I was saying, is over a 10-year journey before she exited.
[00:36:01.600 --> 00:36:02.640] What's that other brand?
[00:36:02.640 --> 00:36:03.360] Polished Choice.
[00:36:03.360 --> 00:36:06.240] I think it took 22 years before they were a billion-dollar brand.
[00:36:06.640 --> 00:36:08.240] Some insane amount of years, right?
[00:36:08.240 --> 00:36:12.240] Insane, actually not insane, but to the world that we're seeing in social media.
[00:36:12.240 --> 00:36:12.640] Yeah.
[00:36:12.720 --> 00:36:13.680] Feels insane.
[00:36:13.680 --> 00:36:18.640] I also think that if you're building something that you do want to be a legacy brand, like that takes time.
[00:36:18.640 --> 00:36:25.520] If you want it to then last 20 years, 50 years, 100 years, like you can't build something in two years that's going to be able to do that.
[00:36:25.520 --> 00:36:37.200] And if I'm being so honest with myself and I look at the brand, when I look at Live Tinted, I see which products are winning and they're all based on the products that I am also the most passionate about.
[00:36:37.200 --> 00:36:45.440] So like, you know, I love that we have glosses and I think we have an incredible gloss formula, but like it's fine to me that we're not the leader in lip bombs, you know?
[00:36:45.440 --> 00:36:47.200] Like Summer Fridays is crushing that.
[00:36:47.280 --> 00:36:48.720] Road is crushing that.
[00:36:48.720 --> 00:36:56.000] I'm so excited that Live Tinted is a complexion authority and only going to grow and scale in being that because it's in the brand DNA.
[00:36:56.000 --> 00:36:59.640] And it's just cool because it's like, it makes sense for what I wanted the brand to be.
[00:36:59.640 --> 00:37:01.400] And it's actually translating in sales.
[00:36:59.280 --> 00:37:04.280] And it reminds me that everything else is a distraction.
[00:37:05.080 --> 00:37:07.160] You got to be known for something and really lean in.
[00:37:07.160 --> 00:37:14.440] So again, like advice for somebody who's listening is like create that hero skew in beauty, especially in makeup, but really in beauty.
[00:37:14.440 --> 00:37:15.800] You got to have a hero product.
[00:37:15.800 --> 00:37:17.480] Think what is your beauty blender?
[00:37:17.480 --> 00:37:19.880] What is your Summer Fridays jet lag mask?
[00:37:19.880 --> 00:37:22.760] What is your Rode Lip Peptide product?
[00:37:22.760 --> 00:37:24.360] You know, for us, it's our skin tint.
[00:37:24.360 --> 00:37:25.400] And I want to lean in.
[00:37:25.400 --> 00:37:26.760] We're sold every three minutes.
[00:37:26.760 --> 00:37:29.320] And it's like, now how can we be sold every three seconds?
[00:37:29.320 --> 00:37:30.680] That's such good advice.
[00:37:30.680 --> 00:37:33.240] The last thing I'm going to ask you is for a resource recommendation.
[00:37:33.240 --> 00:37:36.440] Do you have anything that you can share with other women who are out there building?
[00:37:37.080 --> 00:37:47.880] I think because content is such a machine right now, and I think for somebody who can't get into a retailer and they're like, I just want to get started, but social media is so stressful.
[00:37:47.880 --> 00:37:55.880] And I do think it still is the way, even though it's hard, to potentially open up to millions of people overnight.
[00:37:55.880 --> 00:37:56.680] You just never know.
[00:37:57.080 --> 00:38:01.720] If you master TikTok, I would say really, really try to study TikTok shop.
[00:38:01.720 --> 00:38:07.080] I've seen brands go from zero to 10 million in sales just because they've mastered TikTok shop.
[00:38:07.080 --> 00:38:16.600] I've seen brands that have gone under the radar for a while, like the Sarapotempa Beach Waiver, completely resurface and become iconic all over again because they've mastered TikTok shop.
[00:38:16.600 --> 00:38:20.840] So I would say really figure out your social media calendar in whatever way you can.
[00:38:20.840 --> 00:38:25.880] If you can invest in a tool like a Plan Ely or something like that, it's a, I think $10 to $20 a month.
[00:38:26.120 --> 00:38:27.160] That's what you use?
[00:38:27.160 --> 00:38:28.200] I use Plan Ely.
[00:38:28.200 --> 00:38:30.920] I use Plan Ely and it's my way of organizing my thoughts.
[00:38:30.920 --> 00:38:31.960] Obviously, there's free ways.
[00:38:31.960 --> 00:38:33.720] Just use a Google Excel sheet if you want.
[00:38:33.720 --> 00:38:42.040] But for me, having Plan a Lee where I can actually like understand what day I'm posting what, and I put my captions in there.
[00:38:42.040 --> 00:38:48.080] My team is able to say, hey, we're thinking about posting this because you have this partnership, we have this live-tinted launch, but also this family content.
[00:38:48.400 --> 00:38:52.720] We can just like play around with it within some sort of ecosystem.
[00:38:52.720 --> 00:38:56.720] I personally use Planoly, but some kind of social media planning tool I highly recommend.
[00:38:56.880 --> 00:38:57.280] Love that.
[00:38:57.280 --> 00:38:59.680] Deepika, thank you so much for coming on the show.
[00:38:59.680 --> 00:39:01.600] This is one of my favorite episodes already.
[00:39:01.840 --> 00:39:02.800] Thank you for having me.
[00:39:02.800 --> 00:39:03.760] That's so sweet.
[00:39:03.760 --> 00:39:11.360] I just wanted to jump in and end the show with a quick thank you and shout out to all of our paid business bestie subscribers.
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