Speaker 1: You're listening to I Choose Me with Jenny Girl. Hi, everyone,
Speaker 1: welcome to I Choose Me. This podcast is all about
Speaker 1: the choices we make and where they lead us. My
Speaker 1: gorgeous guest today is a trailblazer who founded a brand
Speaker 1: that is vegan, clean and able to be used by
Speaker 1: people who are immune compromised, which is so cool. Her
Speaker 1: beauty brand has an incredible message behind it and I
Speaker 1: can't wait to talk with her. Please welcome the founder
Speaker 1: of Thrive Cosmetics, Carissa Bodner to the podcast.
Speaker 2: Jenny, thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 1: I'm thrilled that you're here.
Speaker 2: I'm so excited to be here.
Speaker 1: You are beautiful. For anybody that can't see you right now,
Speaker 1: she's beautiful.
Speaker 2: You're so kind.
Speaker 1: This is so fun. I want to go back though.
Speaker 1: We were just chatting before a minute ago about our humble beginnings. Yes,
Speaker 1: we both grew up in the woods. We did out
Speaker 1: in the country. You grew up in rural Washington.
Speaker 2: Yes I did, and Stanwood, Washington.
Speaker 1: Shout out to Stanley.
Speaker 2: I always shout out my hometown. I grew up in
Speaker 2: a small town of Stanwood, Washington, which is about five
Speaker 2: thousand people.
Speaker 1: It sounds very similar to I don't even know how
Speaker 1: many mine had.
Speaker 2: I didn't know until somebody in the press told me that.
Speaker 2: I thought it was kind.
Speaker 1: Of wait, do they have, Like, was that fast food
Speaker 1: restaurants in your town or no?
Speaker 2: No? So when I was when I was really young,
Speaker 2: they didn't. And when we I was just talking about
Speaker 2: this the other day, when we got a McDonald's, it
Speaker 2: was like a national holiday had happened. What about you?
Speaker 1: Same thing. We had a dairy Queen when I lived there.
Speaker 1: Dairy Queen's the best.
Speaker 2: Ow My god, you know what we should be doing
Speaker 2: is eating doing this interview while we're eating dairy queen
Speaker 2: ice cream cake, because I think that's the best ice
Speaker 2: cream cake plan.
Speaker 1: I'd give up my no dairy for you.
Speaker 2: Yes, yes, But we're small town's sister is how fun?
Speaker 2: And my mom is named Jenny. Your dad's name is John. Yeah,
Speaker 2: so awesome. My dad's middle name is John. So we're
Speaker 2: basically sisters.
Speaker 1: Growing up in a small town like that. How did
Speaker 1: you figure out what you wanted for your life?
Speaker 2: Oh, my goodness. I think for me, I wanted to
Speaker 2: work in the beauty industry because I loved that it
Speaker 2: was this vehicle for helping me who. I think we
Speaker 2: all can relate to having different insecurities when we're growing up,
Speaker 2: like we go through the acne pace. I mean, hopefully
Speaker 2: people don't, but I think most of us do. And
Speaker 2: you know, I had you know, I had teeth that
Speaker 2: were all over the place, and so I was trying
Speaker 2: to draw attention to my eyes instead of my lips
Speaker 2: at a certain point. And I remember reading that. Do
Speaker 2: you remember the Bobby Brown book that had it was
Speaker 2: like an actual book that you could read with makeup
Speaker 2: artistry tips. It came out in the nineties.
Speaker 1: I don't think I ever saw I saw the hairstyle ones.
Speaker 1: Oh yes, those are different, though, what the what was
Speaker 1: this one?
Speaker 2: I mean it was it was an instructional book. This
Speaker 2: was before you two, and we didn't have internet at
Speaker 2: the time, and so it was really this opportunity for
Speaker 2: me to learn. I would read books like the Cosmetic
Speaker 2: Ingredient Dictionary to learn how to make the makeup, and
Speaker 2: then I would read the artistry books to learn how
Speaker 2: to do makeup. And so I loved it. Wasn't like
Speaker 2: I had this clear path of, Oh, I'm going to
Speaker 2: be an entrepreneur or I'm going to start a beauty company.
Speaker 2: In fact, that was not on my Bengo card, as
Speaker 2: the cool kids say. Now, it was really about wanting
Speaker 2: to work in this industry and I wanted to make
Speaker 2: the makeup. And I didn't even know what product development was,
Speaker 2: which is kind of an industry term, or cosmetic chemistry, Like,
Speaker 2: I had no idea that that's what it was. I
Speaker 2: just knew I wanted to make makeup and I wanted
Speaker 2: to put it on people. And when I fried my
Speaker 2: hair from a Loreal Faria box because I wanted that
Speaker 2: Jenny Garth blonde and I was I'm blessed with beautiful
Speaker 2: brunette hair that box died transtir So. But you know,
Speaker 2: I just yeah, it's I think it comes from that
Speaker 2: personal passion of like it's so creative and artistic, and
Speaker 2: I would say I am a really creative person. But
Speaker 2: it's also this opportunity to help other people feel confident. Yeah,
Speaker 2: And I've always loved like I started as a makeup
Speaker 2: artist when I was eighteen at Sephora.
Speaker 1: Oh like, okay, so you're the one of the gals
Speaker 1: in there that they offer to do your makeup. Yes,
Speaker 1: they help you find things.
Speaker 2: Yes, I was.
Speaker 1: I was.
Speaker 2: We were called cast members at the time, okay, and yeah,
Speaker 2: I was a cast member. And when we were working
Speaker 2: on the sales floor, we were on stage. And I
Speaker 2: loved the Sephora training was so cool. I worked there
Speaker 2: for five years, four years while I was in college
Speaker 2: and then one year after college while I was a
Speaker 2: product developer as well. So it was such a great experience.
Speaker 2: But as far as growing up in a small town, like,
Speaker 2: my goal was to win, you know, like the high
Speaker 2: school things like you know, most popular or whatever. My
Speaker 2: goal was to win most likely to stay in Stanwood.
Speaker 1: Oh my god, did you get that title?
Speaker 2: No? I didn't win it.
Speaker 1: No, did you win? Did they give you any I got?
Speaker 2: I'm gonna be honest. These are the two I got.
Speaker 2: I got best Hair okay, I can see it. And
Speaker 2: I got most Gullible Okay, which, like I still have
Speaker 2: mixed feelings about. Oh my god, did you win any
Speaker 2: of those awards? No, I didn't go to high school.
Speaker 2: Oh yes, I mean I did for a minute, but yes,
Speaker 2: and life happened. Yes, you were a global star.
Speaker 1: I went to the High School of Life.
Speaker 2: Yeah. When did you win? I mean, I know nine two,
Speaker 2: But I don't know what age you were. How old
Speaker 2: were you?
Speaker 1: I was sixteen going on seventeen.
Speaker 2: And you were like the biggest star on the planet
Speaker 2: when you were sixteen years.
Speaker 1: Old when I was seventeen eighteen. Thanks God, nuts.
Speaker 2: Yeah, what do we need to have a prom for? You?
Speaker 2: Have you had prom?
Speaker 1: I did go when I was a freshman in high school.
Speaker 1: I went to my senior boyfriend prom. I've done it.
Speaker 1: And now I have three grown daughters who have all
Speaker 1: had their proms. Okay, which so grateful. That's over. But
Speaker 1: what did your parents do? Like, did you have entrepreneurialship
Speaker 1: in your genes?
Speaker 2: Oh? I think I had it in the soil that
Speaker 2: I was raised on. I in Stanwood, everybody was an
Speaker 2: entrepreneur in some way. My dad grew up in Your
Speaker 2: dad was a teacher, so is mine. Do you know,
Speaker 2: Woul Do you remember what grade he taught?
Speaker 1: My dad taught adult education. He taught adults that hadn't
Speaker 1: gone through the school process to learn to read.
Speaker 2: My dad did that too. That is yeah, that is
Speaker 2: so cool. He still does that. He's now retired from
Speaker 2: his full time job, but.
Speaker 1: He still does that. That is crazy.
Speaker 2: Yeah, he so. My dad started as an elementary school. Actually,
Speaker 2: let me get this right. I think he was a
Speaker 2: special education teacher, and then he was an elementary school teacher,
Speaker 2: and he did all kinds of different jobs within education.
Speaker 2: But I'm really inspired by my dad and teachers in
Speaker 2: general because I getting to watch how much they how
Speaker 2: much they really sacrificed to really show up for students
Speaker 2: and really change lives at such a meaningful level. Yeah,
Speaker 2: it's a big reason why we added our education pillar.
Speaker 2: We have so many different causes we support, and education
Speaker 2: is one of them. Is really important, and a big
Speaker 2: part of it, I think is my you know, growing
Speaker 2: up with a teacher in my household, and at the
Speaker 2: time I didn't really appreciate all of Like did you
Speaker 2: get those workbooks on the summer from your dad? Like
Speaker 2: my dad would like we would have like work like
Speaker 2: I had summer school, but it wasn't official. It was
Speaker 2: like the bot our summer school.
Speaker 1: No no. I When he left the school, he became
Speaker 1: a farmer, so I got to bail hay in the summers.
Speaker 2: Yes, yes, I think though, like what a gift to
Speaker 2: grow up the way that we did. I so when
Speaker 2: I say the soil that I was raised on. I think,
Speaker 2: you know, my parents always fostered an entrepreneurial spirit within me,
Speaker 2: even though they weren't entrepreneurs. But growing up in Stanwood,
Speaker 2: to the point of not having a large restaurant chain
Speaker 2: in the in the town, every time we were shopping,
Speaker 2: we were voting with our dollars to support our friends
Speaker 2: and family in the area. Right. So, I don't come
Speaker 2: from a family of entrepreneurs, but I think stan would
Speaker 2: be in my hometown really left an imprint on me
Speaker 2: that entrepreneurship or business ownership could be this vehicle for
Speaker 2: really living your purpose and having fun and making a
Speaker 2: living while you're doing it. So most of the people
Speaker 2: I grew up with are entrepreneurs. In my small town,
Speaker 2: most people don't leave Stanwood, so they own a construction
Speaker 2: company or they own a beauty salon. And I didn't
Speaker 2: know what I was going to do, but I feel
Speaker 2: really lucky that I grew up around so many entrepreneurs.
Speaker 1: Yeah, definitely, I love that it was in the soil.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was. It was, and I spent a lot
Speaker 2: of time in the dirt. I grew up on a
Speaker 2: dirt road, so my parents would be looking for me
Speaker 2: and I'd be like in the woods or like, yeah,
Speaker 2: I was doing all kinds of crazy stuff.
Speaker 1: Okay, our childhood sounds so similar. Were you alone when
Speaker 1: you were out there in the dirt?
Speaker 2: I was too. Yeah. I have a sister, but I
Speaker 2: like to joke that she was more of an indoor cat.
Speaker 2: So she likes to play with dolls. She liked to
Speaker 2: play with dolls and things like that, and I was
Speaker 2: more of a you know, we didn't have cable, we
Speaker 2: didn't have internet, and it was what.
Speaker 1: Year are we talking here? Like what year did you
Speaker 1: come up in? In this in what's called what's the Stanward?
Speaker 2: So we're talking about the nineties. We're talking about like
Speaker 2: peak nine oh two one oer era, which was on Fox, right, yes, yeah, okay,
Speaker 2: we didn't have cable. No, nobody had Fox. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 2: we didn't have cable. But I definitely know of nine
Speaker 2: two one oer and have seen it. And I love
Speaker 2: the whole I choose me and how this is woven
Speaker 2: into really who you are as a person. I think
Speaker 2: it's so cool. And but yeah we're talking I was
Speaker 2: born just like Taylor Swift in nineteen eighty nine. Okay,
Speaker 2: I felt really seen when that album came out, I bet,
Speaker 2: and I'm a swifty Swifty I mean too, I mean
Speaker 2: did you see her eras tour? I mean epic?
Speaker 1: Yeah, it is so good.
Speaker 2: I still watch it, like the the Disney Plus version
Speaker 2: of it. It's so good.
Speaker 1: I feel like once was enough for me. Okay, I'm
Speaker 1: not that much of a Swifty fan. I love listening
Speaker 1: to her music, though, like girls have grown up on
Speaker 1: it so inherently. I know every song, yeah, because I've
Speaker 1: heard them a million times. Yes, I am a fan
Speaker 1: for sure.
Speaker 2: Yeah, She's great.
Speaker 1: Okay, So it sounds like you got into makeup pretty
Speaker 1: early on Yeah, like what age did you say? What
Speaker 1: age did you start wearing makeup?
Speaker 2: Okay, when I was allowed to or when I started,
Speaker 2: because I think that's a really you know something about me,
Speaker 2: much to the chagrin of my parents, who had the
Speaker 2: painstaking task of raising me, is that if you tell
Speaker 2: me I can't do something, I'm going to want to
Speaker 2: do it more So. I probably started playing around with
Speaker 2: my mom's lipstick when I was about five, and I
Speaker 2: think I was officially allowed to wear makeup when I
Speaker 2: was about thirteen, but I was definitely sneaking it on
Speaker 2: the bus on the way to school, even in elementary
Speaker 2: school and middle school.
Speaker 1: So yeah, was were people like, oh my god, she's
Speaker 1: wearing makeup.
Speaker 2: Yes, yeah, for sure. I even got teased at certain points.
Speaker 2: I remember one time I did this pretty intense purple
Speaker 2: look where I had a really purple eye, like a
Speaker 2: very intense purple eye, because I had read in one
Speaker 2: of these makeup books that it would help enhance the
Speaker 2: green in my eyes, okay, And I remember getting teased
Speaker 2: at school for this like very intense purple smoky eye.
Speaker 2: And then I went home and cried to my dad
Speaker 2: about it, and he's like, well, you know, just it
Speaker 2: is a bit.
Speaker 1: Much, you know, did you like reel it in a
Speaker 1: little bit after that or no, you just kept doing purple?
Speaker 2: No, I just kept playing around with it. I think
Speaker 2: makeup is meant to be fun. And every time, you know,
Speaker 2: we we donate our makeup, and every time we do that,
Speaker 2: we love to host what's called giving events, and so
Speaker 2: we bring people all around the world into these different
Speaker 2: whether it's at a domestic violence home, or we host
Speaker 2: them at our office, or we go to a cancer
Speaker 2: center at a hospital, and we always start every giving
Speaker 2: event by saying, we are to give you tips and
Speaker 2: tools and tricks to really feel empowered when you're using
Speaker 2: your makeup. But there are no rules, like the only
Speaker 2: rules to have fun. And so I think that you
Speaker 2: know whatever you feel like in that moment. Like I
Speaker 2: love this beautiful red that you have on right now
Speaker 2: on your lips. It's so pretty.
Speaker 1: It's Thrive.
Speaker 2: It is I wonder if that's the empower mat and Laura,
Speaker 2: is it empower Matt.
Speaker 1: I might have worn my Thrive lip for you.
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, you're so sweet. I'm so flattered.
Speaker 1: Wow, the big crayon one I think you're.
Speaker 2: Wearing the one that I named after my friend Laura.
Speaker 2: And I'm going to tell you why this is a
Speaker 2: chismeic connection. Lara is friends with Laura Geller, who you
Speaker 2: and I both love. Laura Geller right right, And she's
Speaker 2: actually how I met Laura Geller as an entrepreneur. I
Speaker 2: met her when I was a makeup artist at SEFORA
Speaker 2: and I was selling Laura Geller products. This is so weird. Yeah,
Speaker 2: that's really cool. You're wearing Laura.
Speaker 1: That's full So I can tell from like five minutes
Speaker 1: ago when we were talking.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Laura Geller.
Speaker 1: Yes, that's crazy. Yeah, I really love your lipsticks.
Speaker 2: Oh, thank you very much.
Speaker 1: I'm curious what is your take on as a as
Speaker 1: a beauty brand founder. We're seeing more and more these
Speaker 1: young young girls sharing stuff on TikTok talking about you know,
Speaker 1: their beauty brand. What's it called when you get a
Speaker 1: big hall?
Speaker 2: Oh the hall.
Speaker 1: Yeah, they're showing like their twelve step makeup routine, their
Speaker 1: skincare routine, they're anti aging routine.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: What is your take on that about like, you know,
Speaker 1: young girls using products that are developed specifically for older women. Yeah,
Speaker 1: Like why do you think the young girls are doing
Speaker 1: this now?
Speaker 2: I think it's so layered. Yeah, you know why they're
Speaker 2: doing it, And I think the why and the intention
Speaker 2: is where it becomes really important. Like when I don't
Speaker 2: know how old you are, when you started playing around.
Speaker 1: With makeup about the same as you yet five.
Speaker 2: I mean I think it's it should be fun. At
Speaker 2: that point, we're playing dress up, right, it's not necessary
Speaker 2: to change something about ourselves. And I think whether you're
Speaker 2: five years old or eighty five years old, that message
Speaker 2: rings true. So I think when I think about these
Speaker 2: younger girls with playing with makeup. I'm like, yeah, let's
Speaker 2: have fun with it. And the skill of these young
Speaker 2: kids is amazing, and so I'm really inspired by seeing
Speaker 2: the way that they express their creativity that way. I
Speaker 2: think when you see them using some of these pretty
Speaker 2: aggressive ingredients like retinol or glycolic acid and lactic acid, which,
Speaker 2: by the way, I believe in those ingredients and I
Speaker 2: think they're super effective. But when they're not educated on hey,
Speaker 2: that's retinol or glycolic those are amazing things to use
Speaker 2: specifically on your acne, you know that you may be
Speaker 2: going excaring. Yeah, Like I think, you know, if a
Speaker 2: thirteen year old is using those ingredients. Sometimes I see
Speaker 2: them putting them like all over their face and their body,
Speaker 2: and I'm like, well, maybe we don't necessarily need to
Speaker 2: go that far, but I think it goes down to
Speaker 2: the intent. Goes back to the intention, and then education
Speaker 2: on how to use it safely.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, I see it all because my youngest
Speaker 1: is eighteen. Yeah, and she really grew up in the
Speaker 1: whole making videos of herself putting on makeup or doing
Speaker 1: things or doing the holes and she you know, she's
Speaker 1: already said things to me like I want to get botox,
Speaker 1: I want to get a lip flip. Oh, and I'm
Speaker 1: just like, what Yeah, No, you're perfect the way you are.
Speaker 2: And what a gift that you say that to her.
Speaker 1: I wish she would listen to me.
Speaker 2: I'll tell her. Okay, oh gosh, have you guys ever
Speaker 2: done beauty videos together? No?
Speaker 1: We should do that that way, these would be adorable together,
Speaker 1: all the Generator or all the girls, all the girls. Yeah,
Speaker 1: they're twenty eight, twenty two, and eighteen.
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, Okay, I'm taking notes. We need to
Speaker 2: do this, Okay. Yeah, I think, you know, what a
Speaker 2: gift that you're reinforcing that she's beautiful the way that
Speaker 2: she is. And I think so much about you know,
Speaker 2: how you're reinforcing that within her, and also that she's
Speaker 2: you know, much bigger than her beauty, like she her
Speaker 2: brains will take her so much further. Like, that's an
Speaker 2: amazing gift for her to have you.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I take it for granted. You know, my mom
Speaker 1: was always very encouraging, you know, and always telling me
Speaker 1: my reminding me of my worth, you know, and making
Speaker 1: sure I knew and I do that just inherently with
Speaker 1: my girls.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: I guess just part of all of our conversations, and
Speaker 1: I think that's made them really strong and resilient and confident,
Speaker 1: you know, in themselves. Yeah, and I really take that
Speaker 1: for granted sometimes thinking some young girls just aren't getting that.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, it's it's true. We see it a lot
Speaker 2: in the work that we do, and that's why I'm
Speaker 2: so grateful for there's there's people like you who are
Speaker 2: raising generations of strong, empowered, confident women. And there's also
Speaker 2: so many nonprofits that are also helping to show up.
Speaker 2: And there's this one organization called Self Esteem Rising that
Speaker 2: teaches classes for five year olds up to one hundred
Speaker 2: year olds about building confidence, and we work with them.
Speaker 2: They're one of our giving partners. And I remember when
Speaker 2: I went through the first self esteem training with them,
Speaker 2: and I was just crying in the corner because this
Speaker 2: is the most beautiful thing to because really the message
Speaker 2: transcends whether we have an amazing mother like you or not.
Speaker 2: These organizations are also helping to mother all of us
Speaker 2: to feel like we're so much more than what we
Speaker 2: physically look like.
Speaker 1: It so necessary, it's so necessary, and that's definitely one
Speaker 1: of the things I love about you. And Thrive Cosmetics.
Speaker 1: I'll come back to that. But when I talk to
Speaker 1: female founders, I always am interested in the journey. I'm
Speaker 1: always interested in the why and the how. Yeah, so
Speaker 1: what is your why?
Speaker 2: Oh, that's such a great question. My why has grown
Speaker 2: so much from when I first started. So the business
Speaker 2: plan I wrote on my iPhone, which was just a
Speaker 2: few bullet points, was really the why, which was to
Speaker 2: create game changing products that would really help people feel confident,
Speaker 2: whether they were receiving them as a customer or they
Speaker 2: were receiving them as a donation. So for me and
Speaker 2: for those of those listeners who don't know about our mission,
Speaker 2: which I would assume most don't, but are you know
Speaker 2: or that I've they've even that they've even heard of
Speaker 2: Thrive Cosmetics before I Thrive Cosmetics. Really, our mission is
Speaker 2: about giving back with every single purchase. So every single
Speaker 2: time somebody purchases, we donate, We donate products, and we
Speaker 2: also donate funds depending on what the nonprofit needs or
Speaker 2: what what our community is asking us to do. So
Speaker 2: I'll give you an example of kind of the standard
Speaker 2: way that we give. We So you know, Jenny purchases
Speaker 2: on Thrivecosmetics dot com and then we record that purchase
Speaker 2: and then we go with our community and say okay.
Speaker 2: At the end of every month, we have a total
Speaker 2: of what we can give based on all of the
Speaker 2: purchases and our community, whether it's our customers or people
Speaker 2: who are just friends of the brand that we love dearly,
Speaker 2: other giving partners, and our employees. We all vote on
Speaker 2: what nonprofits we're going to give to.
Speaker 1: And that's so cool.
Speaker 2: It's the coolest thing ever. Impact Committee. You should totally
Speaker 2: come to. It's so amazing. We get everybody together and
Speaker 2: these giving partners they submit videos as part of the application,
Speaker 2: and they're so creative and inventive, and really the prompt
Speaker 2: is like, how are you going to make these products
Speaker 2: really purposeful with your nonprofit? And so we've been able
Speaker 2: to give to over six hundred nonprofits since I started
Speaker 2: the business, and I think it's important to underscore how
Speaker 2: small we were for so many years, but really how
Speaker 2: our community helped fuel that over the last day decade.
Speaker 2: And we wouldn't have been able to give to all
Speaker 2: of these nonprofits without people helping us. People nominating these
Speaker 2: nonprofits also of course supporting us through their purchases. But
Speaker 2: I remember I shipped products out of my apartment for
Speaker 2: three years and we had one charity that we supported,
Speaker 2: and we supported one cause which was cancer. Now it's
Speaker 2: domestic abuse. We support foster youth. We have a whole
Speaker 2: education pillar where we have a scholarship. We're super excited
Speaker 2: to announce that we're going to be donating because of
Speaker 2: our community during the wildfires, we were able to raise
Speaker 2: five hundred thousand dollars. Nice to be able to donate
Speaker 2: to those who were impacted by the wildfires that just
Speaker 2: happened here in our backyard in Los Angeles. And one
Speaker 2: hundred thousand dollars of that is going to be or
Speaker 2: has been allocated to provide ten scholarships of ten thousand
Speaker 2: dollars to high school students that were impacted by the wildfires.
Speaker 1: So wonderful.
Speaker 2: I mean, it's incredible what our community has fueled. Like
Speaker 2: I think our goal was one hundred thousand dollars, which
Speaker 2: is amazing, Right, that's a remarkable donation. The way that
Speaker 2: the community showed up in the US as well as
Speaker 2: Canada allowed us to raise five hundred thousand dollars in
Speaker 2: one day. And we're a small company. It's not like
Speaker 2: we're you know, like you know, I started this out
Speaker 2: of an apartment. So I think that's where I really
Speaker 2: want to underscore how important our community has been to
Speaker 2: be able to donate at that scale. It's we've now
Speaker 2: donated over one hundred and fifty million dollars in both
Speaker 2: funds and products since I started. And that is millions
Speaker 2: of people showing up saying I'm going to vote with
Speaker 2: my dollars and I want to give back. It's amazing.
Speaker 1: One hundred and fifty million, you guys, that's that's a
Speaker 1: big number. You should be so proud. I know I
Speaker 1: can tell that you are. This sounds like your why.
Speaker 2: That's my why? Yeah, I think, yeah, Sorry, I didn't
Speaker 2: even answer your question super directly. I went on a
Speaker 2: whole tangent, but I got it. I tend to do that.
Speaker 2: What I will say, though, is, you know, I have
Speaker 2: the great privilege of working with over seventy people every
Speaker 2: single day to build this company. Our team is everything
Speaker 2: to me and I wouldn't be able to even be
Speaker 2: here with you without a team. And so I think
Speaker 2: that's another important piece of my why to really underscore,
Speaker 2: because I'm motivated every single day to be the best
Speaker 2: version of myself as a leader and as a person
Speaker 2: because of the people that I get to work with
Speaker 2: on our team, and that's a I didn't have that
Speaker 2: as a part of my why when I first started,
Speaker 2: because I couldn't afford employees. Yeh. And I was twenty
Speaker 2: four years old, so I didn't really know how to
Speaker 2: manage people or I didn't have a ton of experience
Speaker 2: doing that, And so I think that's another piece of
Speaker 2: my why is. You know, I've done this for over
Speaker 2: ten years and it always inspires me to work with
Speaker 2: our team as well.
Speaker 1: You said your first I'm going to ask you about
Speaker 1: your how in a minute, but I wanted to make
Speaker 1: sure I covered this too. You said your first charitable
Speaker 1: fundraising was for camp Sir. Yeah, is there a specific reason?
Speaker 2: Yeah? Yeah, I have this ring that I wear. I
Speaker 2: cry every time I talk about my friend Christy. I yeah,
Speaker 2: I started this business after losing my friend Christy to
Speaker 2: cancer and I was twenty three, she was twenty four.
Speaker 2: And I was so inspired by the way that she
Speaker 2: really dedicated her life to helping other people, Like while
Speaker 2: I was I'm going to be a product developer and
Speaker 2: I'm going to you know, I want to work in
Speaker 2: a laboratory and make makeup and skincare. She was like, CHRISA,
Speaker 2: I'm going to go to Tanzania and I'm going to
Speaker 2: help empower young girls and teach them English. And she
Speaker 2: again coming back to education being such an important pillar
Speaker 2: for us as a company. That's what she was doing.
Speaker 2: She was teaching over in Tanzania. And so for me,
Speaker 2: Christy is like the reason why I wear this ring
Speaker 2: in honor of her, and why I love to put
Speaker 2: sunflower seed oil in and all of our products, almost
Speaker 2: all of our products, is because that was really her symbol.
Speaker 2: She loved sunflowers, and after she passed away, we created
Speaker 2: this sunflower sticker that I keep with me in my
Speaker 2: wallet that we would put on like the Eiffel Tower,
Speaker 2: or when we would go on a hike, we would
Speaker 2: like take a picture because she loved to travel. And
Speaker 2: so for me, it was, you know, losing her was
Speaker 2: that moment where I think a lot of people go
Speaker 2: through this when a tragedy happens, we kind of reevaluate
Speaker 2: our lives and what we're doing. And Christie's death taught
Speaker 2: me how finite life is and also that we should
Speaker 2: be waking up every day feeling like we're living our purpose.
Speaker 2: And I absolutely loved making makeup and putting makeup on people,
Speaker 2: and I loved skincare and all of that. It was
Speaker 2: so fun. And then there was this element of like, God,
Speaker 2: I want to be like donating. I want to be
Speaker 2: donating this makeup and teaching people how to use this
Speaker 2: make up up. And so I never would have started
Speaker 2: a beauty brand, like I really really wouldn't have. I
Speaker 2: was very happy in a secure job situation. Entrepreneurship is
Speaker 2: not a secure job situation, and it's not easy. And
Speaker 2: I think that, you know, it's really Christie's passing that
Speaker 2: propelled me.
Speaker 1: To that's so heartbreaking and beautiful at the same time
Speaker 1: that your brand is built around this loss.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and friendship and the power of that. Yeah, I
Speaker 2: swear to God I know Christie better than when she
Speaker 2: was here ten years ago.
Speaker 1: Okay, I talk about this sometimes. Oh, tell me when
Speaker 1: you lose someone, Yeah, your relationship expands with them?
Speaker 2: Yes, yes, Okay, tell me your stories about this, because
Speaker 2: that's so cool.
Speaker 1: Well, my my my thing is like life is busy.
Speaker 1: We're all busy, We're all doing all of our things,
Speaker 1: and friendships are there, but you know, we touch upon
Speaker 1: those bases here and there when we have time and
Speaker 1: when specifically my friend Luke died, I and my dad
Speaker 1: of course, but I as a friend, I felt when
Speaker 1: he passed, like after I was, you know, well into
Speaker 1: my grieving process, I felt him with me all the time,
Speaker 1: whereas before it was just here and there when we
Speaker 1: would talk or when we would see each other. But
Speaker 1: now there's this like this feeling in me around me
Speaker 1: wherever I go, exactly, Harriet. Yeah, And there's just something
Speaker 1: so indescribable, indescribable about that feeling.
Speaker 2: That I have chills because that's exactly how I feel. Yeah,
Speaker 2: especially in the tough times. Yeah, Like I I totally agree,
Speaker 2: And I'm so sorry that you lost your friend. Luke's
Speaker 2: thank you. Yeah, I'm so sorry. It's it's such a
Speaker 2: unavoidable tragedy of life. And I agree with you completely.
Speaker 2: I feel I feel Christie around me all the time.
Speaker 2: I see her in the eyes of the people that
Speaker 2: we're serving, and I feel her even here with us now,
Speaker 2: and I just it's it's almost like this guiding compass.
Speaker 2: It's interesting, this is like the most la story. I
Speaker 2: don't even I don't really know. So again, not from LA.
Speaker 2: Grew up in a really small town, conservative Christian household. Okay,
Speaker 2: so the horoscopes were not a big part of my upbringing.
Speaker 2: And so then all of a sudden, when we moved
Speaker 2: the business to LA in twenty eighteen, people started talking
Speaker 2: to me about my signs all the time, and I like,
Speaker 2: I knew I was a cancer because I was born
Speaker 2: in July, but like, I didn't know the whole scope
Speaker 2: of this. But the reason why I'm saying this is
Speaker 2: an LA story is that we have an annual party
Speaker 2: with our team and we the team, I was like,
Speaker 2: where's the photographer. I remember going to our this amazing
Speaker 2: people leader, Grace, and then one of our team members, Michelle,
Speaker 2: and I was like, why didn't we have a photographer?
Speaker 2: They're like, we ran out of budget and I was like, guys,
Speaker 2: we had hired a tarot card reader instead. But she
Speaker 2: was amazing. She was amazing.
Speaker 1: Is that your first experience with that?
Speaker 2: So yeah, I actually didn't get to sit with her,
Speaker 2: but she because the line was so long with our
Speaker 2: team and the team loved it. But I'm like, I
Speaker 2: want photos because I love printing photos of our team
Speaker 2: and then like framing them for them. But I the
Speaker 2: Tarot card reader pulled me aside and she said, I
Speaker 2: don't know your story, but I want to let you
Speaker 2: know that this company is blessed by divine energy and
Speaker 2: divine power. And I'm like, I just start crying because
Speaker 2: I was like, Yeah, it really is.
Speaker 1: Ah, that's so incredible. How did you get out of
Speaker 1: your apartment into the marketplace?
Speaker 2: Well, you unlock the door and I'm just.
Speaker 1: Kidding, somebody let me out.
Speaker 2: Yes. So when I started the business back in twenty
Speaker 2: thirteen twenty fourteen, e commerce businesses weren't really a thing
Speaker 2: at the time, and so I really I literally went
Speaker 2: like door to door trying to get different retailers to
Speaker 2: carry the products. And I don't know what it was,
Speaker 2: but they didn't really believe in the vision of what
Speaker 2: I was trying to create at the time. And I
Speaker 2: only had one product, which were our false slashes that
Speaker 2: were it was paired with our lash adhesive or lash glue.
Speaker 1: That was your first product.
Speaker 2: It was the first product. Yeah, and it's it was
Speaker 2: a really important product because I saw this firsthand working
Speaker 2: as a makeup artist with people who were going through
Speaker 2: cancer or my friend Christy that when you lose your lashes,
Speaker 2: which many people do when they go through chemotherapy, they
Speaker 2: aren't able to use traditional slashes.
Speaker 1: Right because there's no lash to stick them on exactly.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and so that was so what I created were
Speaker 2: these really incredible lashes. I created them in my kitchen,
Speaker 2: like handmade them with little fibers, and I will never
Speaker 2: let the team throw out the original fibers. We're about
Speaker 2: to move our office and I'm like, do not throw
Speaker 2: away the lash fibers. Yeah. I would use like eggs,
Speaker 2: like I would use an egg as my surface area
Speaker 2: because I was trying to mimic what it would be
Speaker 2: like to have an eyelid without lashes. But what I
Speaker 2: found in the process was that they were really durable
Speaker 2: and long lasting, like people could wear them twenty or
Speaker 2: thirty times, and they were like everybody loved them. And
Speaker 2: so that was what I was pitching the retailers on
Speaker 2: and unfortunately, well it was actually fortunate for me in
Speaker 2: the long run and for the business. I had to
Speaker 2: build a direct to consumer business and I didn't know
Speaker 2: how to do that.
Speaker 1: So because you never went to school for business, you never.
Speaker 2: I kind of did wasn't the best student. I'm going
Speaker 2: to be honest. I went to community college, which I
Speaker 2: think is great. And so I went to Bellevue Community College,
Speaker 2: and yes I took chemistry classes, Yes I took business classes.
Speaker 2: But I was the kid that wanted to go to
Speaker 2: itt Tech so that I could work during the day,
Speaker 2: like I was getting d's in like classes like nutrition
Speaker 2: that only required participation because I wasn't showing up to class.
Speaker 2: Because I got an opportunity Nordstrum. I had an internship
Speaker 2: at the time, and they were like, would you like
Speaker 2: to work this photo shoot tomorrow at eight am? And
Speaker 2: I was like, heck, yeah, I want to work that.
Speaker 2: And I definitely had a class at that time. And
Speaker 2: so I struggled in school, but not because the teachers
Speaker 2: weren't awesome. I just wanted to be working and I
Speaker 2: had so many cool internship opportunities. But I did graduate
Speaker 2: from University of Washington, not with a business degree, even
Speaker 2: though I was in the business school. I dropped the
Speaker 2: business school so I could graduate early and then go
Speaker 2: work at Clarsona. That was what I So I did graduate,
Speaker 2: but barely. Like that was a long winded way of
Speaker 2: me saying I wasn't a good student. Don't be like me.
Speaker 1: So you basically just on a wing and a prayer,
Speaker 1: like you figured this out as you went, Oh.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I only knew the chemistry side and the
Speaker 2: artistry side, Like I only knew how to make the
Speaker 2: products and then how to make people feel amazing when
Speaker 2: they were using them. And so I've made a lot
Speaker 2: of mistakes. I joke that I have a PhD and
Speaker 2: what not to do. I've paid a lot in different
Speaker 2: fees of you know, fines, legal fees, all kinds of
Speaker 2: things because of all the mistakes that I've made. And
Speaker 2: I think every time, you know, I think it can
Speaker 2: be really lonely and depressing at times when you're making
Speaker 2: so many mistakes, as I did. But I had to
Speaker 2: just flip it and be like, I'm just this is
Speaker 2: just adding to my degree and my PhD of what
Speaker 2: not to do, and I won't do it that way again.
Speaker 2: So I really like to think of it as failing forward.
Speaker 1: Yes exactly. I was just thinking that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, because otherwise it's like what are we going to do?
Speaker 2: You know, We're all going to make mistakes, whether you
Speaker 2: have a business degree from Harvard or like me, you
Speaker 2: went to community college. I think entrepreneurship is the school
Speaker 2: of hard knocks, Like you can't teach some of the
Speaker 2: things that you're going to go through. And I kind
Speaker 2: of think that's the magic of it, though, because if
Speaker 2: I would have known how hard it was, I probably
Speaker 2: wouldn't have done it. And I'm so glad I did,
Speaker 2: and I'm so glad I didn't give up. I think
Speaker 2: like that was so to answer your question about getting
Speaker 2: out of the apartment, it was the power of our community.
Speaker 2: I will never, you know, not be grateful for every
Speaker 2: single customer, because there was a point in time where
Speaker 2: I was looking at every single order coming through on
Speaker 2: my phone and then personally shipping it myself out of
Speaker 2: the apartment. And you know, friends and family were helpful.
Speaker 2: My boyfriend built the website and you know, did an
Speaker 2: amazing job, and you know, has really helped fuel the
Speaker 2: growth of the company. And I just think, you know,
Speaker 2: my parents helped with order fulfillment, Like I wouldn't be
Speaker 2: here without an amazing community of customers and people who've
Speaker 2: just said, hey, I believe in you, And you know,
Speaker 2: that's that's why I'm here, is how I got out
Speaker 2: of the apartment.
Speaker 1: What Yeah, you said before. I think failure is just
Speaker 1: a part of growing. Yeah, we don't fail, We're not
Speaker 1: learning totally.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, and think about your career and what
Speaker 2: you've been able to build, and how many different things
Speaker 2: that you've you know, failed forward through. I can only
Speaker 2: imagine what it's like to be learning those lessons at sixteen,
Speaker 2: seventeen years old.
Speaker 1: I know I'm thinking the same thing about you, because
Speaker 1: you're considerably younger than me, and you have found this
Speaker 1: magical space that you feel so supported in and you
Speaker 1: feel such a purpose. You know, finding that purpose at
Speaker 1: a young ages is a gift.
Speaker 2: Yeah, how did you know that acting was your purpose?
Speaker 2: I mean, I know it's bigger now than.
Speaker 1: I never knew acting was my purpose.
Speaker 2: I just assumed.
Speaker 1: Yeah know, I stumbled into it and I found myself
Speaker 1: just in the deep water, so I started swimming. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and along the way, I did grow to develop a
Speaker 1: great love for what I did, and I really enjoyed that.
Speaker 1: The acting, which is a very small part of what
Speaker 1: you do every day as an actor. There's just a
Speaker 1: small amount of time when you're doing that scene, when
Speaker 1: you're on camera, when you're on your mark you're on
Speaker 1: the set, but there's so much waiting, there's so much
Speaker 1: you know, chatting, chatting all on the set, all those
Speaker 1: things I wasn't a fan of. But yeah, once I started, also,
Speaker 1: like you said, meeting the community, hearing how important the
Speaker 1: show was to people, or the impact that my storylines
Speaker 1: that Kelly went through had on somebody else, That's when
Speaker 1: I started to go like, yeah, I'm doing this for
Speaker 1: a reason. Yeah, you talked before about the brand giving
Speaker 1: back to so many different charities, and I just love
Speaker 1: this part of what you're doing. And I know that
Speaker 1: you do too. I can tell it's the best. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I saw some footage of you taking your products down
Speaker 1: to skid Row.
Speaker 2: Yes, well, surely, and Beauty to the streets. Yeah, to
Speaker 2: the streets.
Speaker 1: That's right.
Speaker 2: Yes, you should come sometime. It's really such a transformational experience.
Speaker 2: I mean, or I mean, there's so many things we
Speaker 2: could do together. I know you're really big on women's empowerment,
Speaker 2: so there's so many different giving partners that we could
Speaker 2: we could work together with. And yeah, sorry, I totally
Speaker 2: cut you off because I got so excited about my
Speaker 2: friend Shirley.
Speaker 1: Sorry, surely shout out to Shirley. Yes, yeah, but no,
Speaker 1: it's just that is such an important element I think
Speaker 1: to give you that purpose, you know, that drive to
Speaker 1: help others. And I saw the transformation on these women,
Speaker 1: these unhoused women are down on their luck. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: they you know, nobody's looking at them like seeing them.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: And I think when you are standing right in front
Speaker 1: of them, close to them, and you're applying makeup to
Speaker 1: them and you're encouraging them through words and through touch, Wow,
Speaker 1: that's so powerful.
Speaker 2: It's it's so powerful, and I think it's also powerful
Speaker 2: for us as people, Like anytime I'm bringing somebody on
Speaker 2: a giving trip, because these are you know, we're talking
Speaker 2: about skid roads. It's not a safe place, right we
Speaker 2: you know, we're going to some really intense areas of
Speaker 2: the world when we're serving people, not always you know, sometimes,
Speaker 2: but they're they're heavy situations. And what I always tell
Speaker 2: people is I'm like, this is going to change your life. Like, yes,
Speaker 2: you're going to change lives, but you're really going to
Speaker 2: be changed from this. Like I didn't know how much
Speaker 2: internal healing I needed until I started working with some
Speaker 2: of these giving partners, like the Foster Community and these
Speaker 2: kids that I get to work with through you know,
Speaker 2: the work that we do. They have healed me in
Speaker 2: ways that I can't even fully put into words. But
Speaker 2: you know, I think also to people who are going
Speaker 2: through cancer, like the being able to work with those
Speaker 2: those people, seeing that, you know, the incredible, really scary
Speaker 2: challenges that we go through don't define who we are,
Speaker 2: and being able to witness somebody else inspiring us in
Speaker 2: that way. Like I think about my friend Nali, who
Speaker 2: is one of our namesakes or Infinity water Proof yeliner namesakes.
Speaker 2: But my friend Nlly, she was my age and she
Speaker 2: reminded me so much of my friend Christy. And we
Speaker 2: met when we were both twenty four and she was
Speaker 2: going through breast cancer the first time, and she was
Speaker 2: like the most inspirational, motivational speaker, Like if she she
Speaker 2: probably well spiritually she is sitting here with us, but
Speaker 2: she would be like she could just light up a room,
Speaker 2: whether it was five people or five thousand people, And
Speaker 2: until her last breath, she was inspiring people, whether she
Speaker 2: would she would go speak at conferences that weren't even
Speaker 2: about cancer. It was just about really living your life
Speaker 2: to the fullest. And I think being able to witness
Speaker 2: people like that has helped me recognize that the things
Speaker 2: that I am struggling with don't necessarily define me or
Speaker 2: the mistakes that I've made. You know, I think we
Speaker 2: all go through different health challenges, which I have had
Speaker 2: in my life too, and I think it gives us
Speaker 2: certain appreciation for life. But also like, let's not put
Speaker 2: ourselves in boxes. You know the world will already try
Speaker 2: to do that, so let's like keep our boxes as
Speaker 2: open as possible.
Speaker 1: Absolutely, you said that working with the foster kids helped
Speaker 1: heal you. What are some of the things that you
Speaker 1: noticed healing?
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, I think you know, I was labeled
Speaker 2: pretty early on as being like a tough kid and
Speaker 2: a kid that was Now I embraced being called tough
Speaker 2: because I think that's awesome, you know. I see it
Speaker 2: as a as a you know, a badge of honor.
Speaker 2: But very early on in my life I was told that,
Speaker 2: you know, I talk too much, that I'm argumentative, that
Speaker 2: I need to kind of color within the lines, if
Speaker 2: you will, And I just wasn't a kid that was
Speaker 2: meant to do that. I was meant to be running around,
Speaker 2: you know, on a dirt road on a farm, and
Speaker 2: I had a lot of energy, and I was really creative,
Speaker 2: and I appreciate that my parents really fostered that within me.
Speaker 2: And I think I also was challenging for them to
Speaker 2: raise and they they would say that if they were
Speaker 2: sitting here, but I think I know they loved me,
Speaker 2: but I think there was a lot of pressure to
Speaker 2: fit within a certain box. And so when I see
Speaker 2: these kids who have also been labeled as a problem,
Speaker 2: I love them. I'm like immediately attracted to them. I
Speaker 2: think I'm perpetually meant to have a complicated, complicated and
Speaker 2: I'm saying, in air quotes, thirteen year old in my life,
Speaker 2: specifically a girl I want like a thirteen year old
Speaker 2: girl always in my life that's like angsty and like,
Speaker 2: you know, like and I don't even want to say
Speaker 2: like mad at the world, because I was always told
Speaker 2: that that's what I was, and it was really I
Speaker 2: was hurting. I was sad, I was going through different
Speaker 2: challenges like we all do in life, and what I
Speaker 2: really just needed was a hug. And so being able to,
Speaker 2: you know, see a kid that is, you know, without
Speaker 2: revealing too much about their personal stories, like we see
Speaker 2: these you know kids that are really really struggling, and
Speaker 2: sometimes the foster system doesn't know what to do with them.
Speaker 2: And I think when you're able to just hold their
Speaker 2: hand throughout you know, they might be swearing at you
Speaker 2: or throwing things at you, and you just hold their
Speaker 2: hand and say like, you're so like I love you
Speaker 2: so much, and you're so awesome, and you're so smart,
Speaker 2: and finding those things that we can celebrate within them
Speaker 2: while still keeping boundaries and saying like, please don't talk
Speaker 2: to me that way that hurts my feelings, but also
Speaker 2: reminding them how loved they are. I find that to
Speaker 2: be such a healing experience because I think that's what
Speaker 2: we all need in life, and it's a being a parent,
Speaker 2: which I'm not, has to be one of the most
Speaker 2: challenging jobs that a person will ever have. You're a
Speaker 2: mom of.
Speaker 1: Three, yes, ma'am, it is.
Speaker 2: Is it the hardest job in the.
Speaker 1: World, hands down, hands down, And so.
Speaker 2: I have so much grace for parents, and my parents
Speaker 2: and most of my friends are moms, and so I
Speaker 2: just I love that I get to show up and
Speaker 2: love those kids with all my heart and hopefully help
Speaker 2: them feel seen and valued.
Speaker 1: And it sounds like you're born to be a person
Speaker 1: that gives love unconditionally.
Speaker 2: Oh I'm going to cry. That's so sweet, Thank you,
Speaker 2: I think so? Yeah?
Speaker 1: Yeah? Do you want to have children someday?
Speaker 2: Know? I am lucky. I went the first thing I
Speaker 2: spent money on when my business people are like, what
Speaker 2: did you spend money on when your business took off?
Speaker 2: Because I was really poor for a long time. I
Speaker 2: was like, really really struggling, not knowing how I was
Speaker 2: going to pay my rent for many years. And so
Speaker 2: when the business finally took off, the first thing I
Speaker 2: spent money on was freezing my eggs. Congratulation And so
Speaker 2: you have babies somewhere, yes, yes, So I would love
Speaker 2: to be a mother someday. I would love to be
Speaker 2: a mother of a little girl. I think that'd be
Speaker 2: so fun. I want to name her l because I
Speaker 2: think the Elwoods character such a like she left such
Speaker 2: an indelible mark on so many young women, myself included.
Speaker 2: And you grew up in that era where it was
Speaker 2: kind of like the clueless era where it was like
Speaker 2: the girls. Did your character did you have to like
Speaker 2: play ditzy at times? Or were you always just a
Speaker 2: smart badass?
Speaker 3: No?
Speaker 1: She had to learn a lot of hard lessons.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, And I think that the ell Woods character
Speaker 2: was so incredible for me, in particular because I got
Speaker 2: to see Alicia Silverstone go from Clueless, which but I
Speaker 2: wasn't allowed to watch that movie. I like, I like
Speaker 2: snuck it. I snuck Spice Girls. This is the funny thing.
Speaker 2: I was allowed to listen to Madonna The Immaculate Collection.
Speaker 1: Okay, that doesn't make any sense.
Speaker 2: It's because my mom liked it until I started listening
Speaker 2: to Like a Virgin. Didn't know what that was about,
Speaker 2: but really liked that.
Speaker 1: Song, the lyrics, lack of virgin touch for there.
Speaker 2: But I so I was not allowed to listen to
Speaker 2: Spice Girls or watch Clueless, but I was allowed to
Speaker 2: listen to Madonna. So again an empowering person. But yeah,
Speaker 2: we uh. I think the gift of growing up when
Speaker 2: I did in the in the late eighties and nineties
Speaker 2: was being able to witness characters like Elwood's And so
Speaker 2: I would love to name a little girl l and
Speaker 2: just like watch her be a badass. We'll probably watch
Speaker 2: her be a pain in the.
Speaker 1: Ass like me. That keeps it fun.
Speaker 2: Yes, totally, yeah, Like I mean, you have three different girls, right,
Speaker 2: is it? Three girls?
Speaker 1: Three girls?
Speaker 2: My gosh, what's that like?
Speaker 1: It's amazing. Yeah, it's just it's all I'm in awe
Speaker 1: all the time of what came out of me, and
Speaker 1: that I've kept them alive this long. Yeah, and that
Speaker 1: they love me. Yeah, they'll love me for the rest
Speaker 1: of my life.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 1: That's that's a feeling that's very comforting to me because
Speaker 1: I too, am a small town girl and I love love.
Speaker 1: But yeah, it's it's cool, but it's not for everyone. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And I have so much respect for women that choose
Speaker 1: not to have children.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: I mean, that's what this whole podcast is about, is
Speaker 1: choosing what you need in your life, and so being
Speaker 1: able to define that is just part of the process.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I love that you said that, and I love
Speaker 2: that you love your girls so much, And gosh, how
Speaker 2: fun to have a mom like you. And I love
Speaker 2: my mom so much, and I think that's it's such
Speaker 2: a special relationship daughters and mothers. And I love boys too,
Speaker 2: like I think it was. I love being auntie to
Speaker 2: all of my friend's kids and things like that too,
Speaker 2: So I love playing with little boys.
Speaker 1: But you're a girly girl.
Speaker 2: I am a girly earliet. Yeah yeah, And I just think, like,
Speaker 2: what an amazing time to be a woman, Like, oh yeah,
Speaker 2: I am so lucky to have started when I was
Speaker 2: twenty four in that time where it was it was
Speaker 2: encouraged to be an entrepreneur if you were a woman.
Speaker 2: And I think we are really really lucky. And I
Speaker 2: can't even imagine what these future generations like your daughters
Speaker 2: are going to do. I can't wait to work for
Speaker 2: them someday. It's gonna be awesome.
Speaker 1: Because they'll hire us when we're older. That won't be
Speaker 1: a thing anymore.
Speaker 2: Yeah, totally, Yes, we are Like the whole age thing
Speaker 2: is just a number at this point, Like it really is.
Speaker 2: I mean, we are beautiful at every single age.
Speaker 1: This is true.
Speaker 2: Work with the coolest nonprofit called the Glama Project. Glama,
Speaker 2: the Glama Project, it's the coolest. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I love Grandma's and be I love glam So.
Speaker 2: We need to hang out with the Glamas. If you
Speaker 2: any day need if you ever need a boost of confidence,
Speaker 2: you hang out with the Glamas. We go into nursing
Speaker 2: homes with the Glama Project and we do full glam
Speaker 2: on them, we take headshots.
Speaker 1: Oh my god, they must love it.
Speaker 2: And they're teaching us tips and tricks like that's I mean,
Speaker 2: I think that's like the fun is.
Speaker 1: It's so reciprocal.
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh. Yeah. I was really lucky. I was
Speaker 2: a you know, I had two really powerful grandmothers, like
Speaker 2: very very strong women. One of my grandmothers immigrated here
Speaker 2: from when when she was young, in from Germany and
Speaker 2: she was a total badass. My Grandma Ruth, and then
Speaker 2: my Grandma Jackie was amazing woman who went from you know,
Speaker 2: not graduating from college and you know, being an alcoholic
Speaker 2: and having a son who was a drug addict, and
Speaker 2: just a lot of really immense challenges to in her
Speaker 2: fifties talk about like making a lasting impact. In her fifties,
Speaker 2: she decided to go to college and become a drug
Speaker 2: and alcohol counselor and she did that until she died.
Speaker 2: And she died in her sixties from lung cancer. And
Speaker 2: I just think, like, what an amazing example for me
Speaker 2: to grow up around. You know, That's why I don't
Speaker 2: do drugs like I could have. Like when I'm on
Speaker 2: skid row, I'm like, oh yeah, I very easily could
Speaker 2: have wound up here, you know. And I think that
Speaker 2: having a grandmother like her to basically do the DARE program.
Speaker 2: Every time I would go over to her class, she
Speaker 2: had like those remember the posters that were like a
Speaker 2: R e yes, and she would like fry the egg
Speaker 2: and be like this is your brain on crack. And
Speaker 2: I'm like, okay, I'm not going to do crack. Grandma like,
Speaker 2: but you know, her dying wish was that I would
Speaker 2: never do drugs or smoke. And I swear to God,
Speaker 2: you know, we're talking about Christy and Luke and everybody
Speaker 2: being spiritually around us. My Grandma Jackie is like sitting
Speaker 2: right here and she would throw a lightning bolt down
Speaker 2: from heaven if I did drugs. So I'm scared. I'm
Speaker 2: too scared to do drugs.
Speaker 1: Good.
Speaker 2: I'm fine with other people doing it, but I'm scared
Speaker 2: because Grandma Jackie will still.
Speaker 1: Come for me. He'll strike you down.
Speaker 2: Yes. But the Glama Project, Yes, it's such an amazing nonprofit.
Speaker 2: And I think what I would say about the Glama
Speaker 2: Project is like again it being a mutually beneficial relationship
Speaker 2: of we're helping them feel confident, they're also being Grandma's
Speaker 2: to us that you know, many people lose their grandparents
Speaker 2: very young and never know them, and so we have
Speaker 2: these like bonus grandmas all around us.
Speaker 1: It's very cool, so cool. Yeah, I want to tell
Speaker 1: everybody about how your makeup is designed with immune compromise people.
Speaker 2: Yeah, mind, yeah, Oh my gosh. It's so important to us.
Speaker 2: From the very beginning, I remember, because we wanted to
Speaker 2: give our products to cancer patients. I was calling on
Speaker 2: cologists and I was calling different cancer hospitals specific and
Speaker 2: they were saying, we don't want women who are going
Speaker 2: through cancer to wear makeup. And I said, respectfully.
Speaker 1: That's bullshit, yeah, and not your choice.
Speaker 2: Yeah yeah, And I said, you know, this is like
Speaker 2: we need to give women an option, Like, yeah, they
Speaker 2: should have an option. And so we worked really hard
Speaker 2: to develop formulas and we still do that are that
Speaker 2: are clean, which means that clean is kind of a
Speaker 2: buzz term in the industry, but clean is really about
Speaker 2: the thousands of thousands of ingredients we will never use,
Speaker 2: and we have a list that we're always building upon
Speaker 2: as we learn more from oncologists or from different scientists.
Speaker 2: We have incredible chemists on our team who are always
Speaker 2: looking at how we can become more clean and really
Speaker 2: create products that are safe for people who are immune compromised.
Speaker 1: So so good. Yeah, I mean, even if you gave
Speaker 1: me that list that you work off of of no,
Speaker 1: don't use these products or these ingredients, I would till
Speaker 1: feel overwhelmed and then therefore not do anything about it
Speaker 1: in my own like cupboards, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: So it's so good to know that when you buy
Speaker 1: certain brands, you know you're buying clean and it's it
Speaker 1: just it changes everything about your decision making because wouldn't
Speaker 1: we all rather use clean ingredients on our skin, in
Speaker 1: our mouths and our dummies. You know, these things are
Speaker 1: so important in this day and age, especially with the
Speaker 1: amount of chemicals that are being used, and just like
Speaker 1: you know, people are like, yeah, I know, but this's
Speaker 1: my favorite lotion or whatever. So it's so good to
Speaker 1: have options for people that are looking for that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And there are so many great brands that are
Speaker 2: doing clean beauty in amazing ways that I find incredibly
Speaker 2: inspiring and for us, like, it's just so amazing that
Speaker 2: we have access to so many great doctors through our
Speaker 2: cause you know, like those people, you know, I think
Speaker 2: about my friend doctor Elizabeth Coleman, who's a world renowned
Speaker 2: oncologist who is saving lives, preventing disease, helping cure disease.
Speaker 2: She's an amazing person. And being able to talk to
Speaker 2: her and workshop different ingredients and you know, also work with.
Speaker 1: Different amazing that you work with her.
Speaker 2: Oh do you know her or do you know of her?
Speaker 1: She's a foundation.
Speaker 2: Oh my, doctor Elizabeth Coleman is incredible. Yeah, she's at NYU.
Speaker 2: Now she's you should. She wrote this book called All
Speaker 2: in Her Head, which is all about the female anatomy
Speaker 2: and really teaching women and empowering women to know their anatomy. Like,
Speaker 2: I don't know about you, but until I froze my eggs,
Speaker 2: I didn't know where my ovaries were. I was just
Speaker 2: talking about this with my friend the other day.
Speaker 1: They didn't. They don't really, I mean cover that, and
Speaker 1: if they do cover that in school, nobody's listening.
Speaker 2: I yeah, I mean all respect to the Standward school system.
Speaker 2: My dad worked in it, but I don't remember them
Speaker 2: teaching me totally, Like we're so embarrassed. Yeah, totally. I know. Everybody.
Speaker 2: You're like ten years old and you're sitting next to
Speaker 2: the boy you have a crush on and they're like,
Speaker 2: let's talk about sex. It's like, oh my.
Speaker 1: Gosh, yeah, I'm so glad you learned where your ovaries are. Though.
Speaker 1: Who inspires you?
Speaker 2: You inspire me? Oh, I think you are so incredible
Speaker 2: what you've built here and how you've used Oh gosh, oh,
Speaker 2: I mean, it's just you are such an inspiration to
Speaker 2: so many women. And when I told people I was
Speaker 2: going on your show, they were like, oh my gosh,
Speaker 2: Jenny Garth is amazing. What you've done with your career
Speaker 2: and how you've really used it to impact people is amazing.
Speaker 2: You inspire me.
Speaker 1: Thank you.
Speaker 2: I'm glad. Yeah, yeah, I mean it, And I love
Speaker 2: knowing you now better too, Like it's one thing to
Speaker 2: read about a person, but to feel your spirit and
Speaker 2: how warm you are, it's how I want to live
Speaker 2: my life. And when I think about other people who
Speaker 2: inspire me, I think so much about the people that
Speaker 2: we get to serve and oftentimes we name products after them.
Speaker 2: So I think about Raquel, who is herself is a
Speaker 2: breast cancer survivor and she went on to go work
Speaker 2: at self esteem rising and help empower so many women.
Speaker 2: If that was the nonprofit. I was talking about five
Speaker 2: years old to one hundred years old and teaching these
Speaker 2: self esteem classes, and then she went on to go
Speaker 2: create her own nonprofit, and so like, that's an example
Speaker 2: of a woman who has experienced something that's really scary
Speaker 2: and that we hope never happens to people that we
Speaker 2: you know, anybody in the world, but inevitably, unfortunately, cancer
Speaker 2: is way too close to too many of us. And
Speaker 2: so I'm inspired by people like that who take their
Speaker 2: pain and they put it into purpose. And so Raquel
Speaker 2: is always at the top of the list. I think
Speaker 2: of my friend Nolly. I think of our amazing employees
Speaker 2: as well, you know, just watching them overcome their challenges
Speaker 2: and still coming up with really creative solutions like building
Speaker 2: a business and being a part of a business is
Speaker 2: never easy, and so I think being a part of
Speaker 2: a team is really inspirational to say, Okay, well we're
Speaker 2: in this together. We have three values that our company,
Speaker 2: and one of them is one team, one score, and
Speaker 2: it's that idea of togetherness and that we really are
Speaker 2: here to serve the collective and that it's not about
Speaker 2: me as an individual or you as an individual. It's
Speaker 2: really about coming together and supporting one another because we're
Speaker 2: supporting something that collectively is bigger than all of us,
Speaker 2: which is our cause. So I'm inspired by a lot
Speaker 2: of people.
Speaker 1: That's great.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I could go on for hours.
Speaker 1: I mean no, that's just good to keep your eyes
Speaker 1: open because the inspiring people are everywhere you look.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's true, very true.
Speaker 1: Okay, CHRISA. Bodner, I have a question for you. Yeah,
Speaker 1: what was your last I choose me moment?
Speaker 2: I love this question because for me, I have to
Speaker 2: choose myself every day, and I think that it's like
Speaker 2: choosing to to wake up and walk on the treadmill
Speaker 2: instead of you know, sitting and doom scrolling for an
Speaker 2: hour and then feeling depressed. You know, I think I
Speaker 2: used to believe that there was this moment where we
Speaker 2: would arrive, meaning that we don't feel depressing thoughts, that
Speaker 2: we don't feel anxious. And I feel like choosing myself
Speaker 2: is a daily practice that I come back to and
Speaker 2: that sometimes I go on a three week streak where
Speaker 2: I'm feeling awesome and I overcome a challenge, and then
Speaker 2: there are times where I'm really struggling. You know, every
Speaker 2: single day and every hour of every single day and
Speaker 2: saying I don't want to do this, you know, but
Speaker 2: I think being able to come back to the basics
Speaker 2: of like, okay, mood follows action. So I'm going to
Speaker 2: go for a walk. I'm going to go for a
Speaker 2: five minute walk without my phone, even though I don't
Speaker 2: want to. All I want to do is be addicted
Speaker 2: to my phone and sit here and be pissed off
Speaker 2: about my life. But I'm actually gonna get up and
Speaker 2: I'm going to go for a walk, and inevitably I
Speaker 2: feel better after five minutes.
Speaker 3: So those little choices, yeah, yeah, And once you start
Speaker 3: thinking and asking yourself, how do I choose myself, you'll
Speaker 3: start to notice all the little things that you do
Speaker 3: and then you'll be like, hey, I just had and
Speaker 3: I choose me moment.
Speaker 1: I feel good about that.
Speaker 2: I love that I choose me movement that you have created,
Speaker 2: and it's such a great reminder to be like, how
Speaker 2: are you choosing yourself today? This is every day we
Speaker 2: have to we have to. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I really enjoyed our talk and I've enjoyed getting to
Speaker 1: know you. Oh, thank you, Joe, And I just have
Speaker 1: all the hopes for massive success and happiness in your life.
Speaker 2: Oh, thank you so much, Jenny. This was so fun.
Speaker 1: Thank you