Speaker 1: Now, folks you've heard of Forbes thirty under thirty list, Well,
Speaker 1: one woman who was once on that prestigious list is
Speaker 1: in our studio right now. Her products are in your
Speaker 1: purse right now. They're also in your makeup cabinet right now.
Speaker 1: They're also all over your social media feed right now.
Speaker 1: But one place they are not right now in stores.
Speaker 1: And welcome to this episode of Amy and TJTJ. Holmes
Speaker 1: here alongside Amy, roboch and Robes. I have been so
Speaker 1: impressed because I've heard so much about this brand and
Speaker 1: then I finally wait, it's not in you can't even
Speaker 1: get it in stores, but it has exploded in popularity.
Speaker 2: It has, and the woman behind it all has had
Speaker 2: such an incredible vision because not only this isn't just
Speaker 2: a business to make money, This isn't a business just
Speaker 2: to sell makeup. This is I think a lot of
Speaker 2: people call this genre social entrepreneurship, where you're actually making money,
Speaker 2: but you're also giving money back. And so I have
Speaker 2: actually been in awe of this woman and this company
Speaker 2: for more than a decade now, well around a decade,
Speaker 2: I guess around ten years. And I had met this
Speaker 2: woman way back when, right around the time of my
Speaker 2: cancer journey and was so impressed with her. And then
Speaker 2: it was so funny. A few years later, my daughters,
Speaker 2: when they started getting into makeup, started showing me this
Speaker 2: mascara and showing me this makeup that they loved that
Speaker 2: they had bought online. And I saw, oh my gosh,
Speaker 2: it's Thrive Cosmetics, and my friend Carrissa is unbelievably crushing it.
Speaker 2: And so I started to read up on her and
Speaker 2: see how far she's come, and I am blown away
Speaker 2: at the success this Now thirty five.
Speaker 3: Year olds turn thirty five.
Speaker 2: The happy belated birthday thirty five year old powerhouse Carrisa
Speaker 2: Bodner of Thrive Cosmetics is with us here in studio
Speaker 2: in the Big Apple. Carissa, it's been way too long,
Speaker 2: so nice to see you again. Congratulations on all your success.
Speaker 3: Oh, thank you so much. It's truly so surreal to
Speaker 3: be here with you. The last time we were together,
Speaker 3: I think we were in Central Park with Florence and
Speaker 3: the Machine and you were helping to hype me up
Speaker 3: before my first Good Morning America segment. And you are
Speaker 3: a true day one. There are day ones and then
Speaker 3: there are Amy Roeboch day ones. So you have been
Speaker 3: so supportive of me since I was living on an
Speaker 3: air mattress on the Upper East Side shipping products out
Speaker 3: of my apartment. You are so kind, you are so brilliant,
Speaker 3: and I am just so honored to be with you today.
Speaker 2: You are very sweet. You can come back anytime, Chris TJ.
Speaker 3: We're really glad you're here too. Thank you for joining us.
Speaker 1: Oh no, you say that now, but you're going to
Speaker 1: need me later. A lot of people. Then here are
Speaker 1: conversation before we started. Oh yeah, next time, everybody listen
Speaker 1: to me. Next time she's a guest on this show,
Speaker 1: she will be praising me for something that I am
Speaker 1: now going to help her with her personal life? How
Speaker 1: about that?
Speaker 3: Forever? And deebted already.
Speaker 1: Na, but it's when was the birthday by the way,
Speaker 1: July night, July night? Well, happy belated, But it's good
Speaker 1: to have been hearing a whole lot about you through
Speaker 1: well card it's her, her daughter's I got an eleven
Speaker 1: year old who's now into all this stuff now, so
Speaker 1: it's you have come highly recommended a lot of folks
Speaker 1: that I know and care about and.
Speaker 2: Respect, and Charisa for people who don't know your story,
Speaker 2: I would because that's what makes this. Like I said,
Speaker 2: this isn't just a makeup company. This isn't just an
Speaker 2: incredibly successful business story, which I want to get into
Speaker 2: because it certainly is, and it's inspiring to so many
Speaker 2: women out there who are trying to make it on
Speaker 2: their own, and you are that woman to look up to. However,
Speaker 2: your story has so much more heart and so much
Speaker 2: more value that has nothing to do with money that
Speaker 2: I want to talk about. Because this all started. You
Speaker 2: had a passion for makeup. You had a passion. You
Speaker 2: were a makeup artist. You were working for Loreel, the
Speaker 2: biggest makeup company in.
Speaker 3: The world, makeup cosmetic chemistry.
Speaker 2: Baby, exactly. So you you had, you were there, you
Speaker 2: were in living the dream for what you wanted to do,
Speaker 2: but you had a personal tragedy that s hered you
Speaker 2: in a different direction. Can you tell us about Well,
Speaker 2: it was your best friend, Christy.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, thank you for the question. When I was
Speaker 3: working for Loreal, I think to set the stage. You know,
Speaker 3: I grew up on a farm on a dirt road
Speaker 3: in a really small town of five thousand people called Stanwood, Washington,
Speaker 3: and I had never even been to New York. When
Speaker 3: Lorel purchased the company that I was working for, it
Speaker 3: was called clare Sonic, Amazing, amazing brand, And all of
Speaker 3: a sudden, I'm on Fifth Avenue at five seventy five
Speaker 3: Fifth Avenue working at Loreal in their luxury division. And
Speaker 3: I didn't even know to dream that big for myself.
Speaker 3: I was scared to work in downtown Seattle because I
Speaker 3: didn't know how to drive on a one way street,
Speaker 3: but it was so I remember being so struck by
Speaker 3: this amazing opportunity. I was going to Paris for work,
Speaker 3: and I was twenty one years old, like that, that's crazy, right,
Speaker 3: and I would. Of course, my friend Christy was dedicating
Speaker 3: her life to teaching English to orphans in Tanzania and
Speaker 3: volunteering her time, really dedicating her life to really empowering
Speaker 3: young girls in education through her education. So we graduated
Speaker 3: from University of Washington at the same time. And while
Speaker 3: I was hell bent on climbing the corporate ladder and
Speaker 3: making the next groundbreaking thing for Loreal, she was living
Speaker 3: her life with so much purpose, and so I'll never forget.
Speaker 3: I was actually on a trip for Loreal in Paris
Speaker 3: when she called me and she was in Chile at
Speaker 3: the time, and she said, they think I have cancer,
Speaker 3: And it was just one of those moments where it
Speaker 3: was so surreal and we're like, oh, you know, maybe
Speaker 3: they don't know, maybe the doctors aren't that good over there.
Speaker 3: And and then nine months later she was gone, and
Speaker 3: in this really amazing way, she truly packed so much
Speaker 3: thriving into twenty four years of living. Her last day,
Speaker 3: she was smiling and laughing and so filled with passion.
Speaker 3: If you read what she wrote. She had this incredible
Speaker 3: blog and if you read she wrote this piece, it's
Speaker 3: gut wrenching for me to read, but it's so beautiful
Speaker 3: about dying successfully and how she had determined that she
Speaker 3: was going to die successfully, and it was really that
Speaker 3: she wanted people to She was talking about all of
Speaker 3: her anger around the fact that I have babies to have,
Speaker 3: I haven't met the love of my life yet. She
Speaker 3: had so much living to do, and you know, she
Speaker 3: really wanted to dedicate her life to service, and she
Speaker 3: already had. And I remember sitting at her funeral just
Speaker 3: being so angry and so sad and needing to put
Speaker 3: that pain into purpose. And it was about a month
Speaker 3: later I had the idea for what would become Thrive Cosmetics,
Speaker 3: and and her you know, her parents have been so
Speaker 3: supportive throughout the journey. I'm still very close with them
Speaker 3: and her brother who just got married, and it's a
Speaker 3: it's a really amazing thing to feel like it's been
Speaker 3: twelve years since she passed over twelve years and in
Speaker 3: so many ways I know her better. I feel her
Speaker 3: all around me all the time, just like I feel
Speaker 3: my grandmother's around me. And I yeah, I just every
Speaker 3: time I'm you know, I was just in Compton with
Speaker 3: with kids, and this little girl ran up to me,
Speaker 3: this four year old, and I'd never met, and she
Speaker 3: just leapt into my arms. And I could feel Christie
Speaker 3: because I have so many photos of her doing that
Speaker 3: over in Tanzania. And so I in a way, through
Speaker 3: the works of service that we get to do, I
Speaker 3: have gotten to know my friend so much better. And
Speaker 3: that's the story of Christy.
Speaker 2: It's beautiful and tell us so the whole concept of
Speaker 2: Thrive Cosmetics. Because you took a business and a passion
Speaker 2: you had of climbing that corporate ladder and turned it
Speaker 2: into business and philanthropy. What is the mission or the
Speaker 2: business model basically, how does it work Thrive Cosmetics.
Speaker 3: Yes, So from the very beginning, every time somebody purchases,
Speaker 3: we donate. Since I started the business, we have expanded
Speaker 3: to eight causes. We give in all fifty states. We
Speaker 3: give around the world, And as someone from a small town,
Speaker 3: it's really important to me that we're giving in those
Speaker 3: pockets where there isn't as much support, you know, New
Speaker 3: York and LA. There's a lot to do, right, There's
Speaker 3: a lot of service that we can do. And as
Speaker 3: somebody who's from a small town, I know that those
Speaker 3: are often and when we talk about flyover states, that's
Speaker 3: basically where I grew up. And so I want to
Speaker 3: be reaching into those pockets, and so does our community.
Speaker 3: And so the cause has grown so much bigger than
Speaker 3: I ever dreamed possible. We've done donated over one hundred
Speaker 3: and fifty million dollars in both funds and products. The
Speaker 3: causes have exploded. When I met you, we were giving
Speaker 3: exclusively to the cancer community. Because of our community, we've
Speaker 3: added on domestic abuse, homelessness, veterans, under resourced youth, racial
Speaker 3: and social justice education. We have scholarship funds all around
Speaker 3: the world. I mean, it's just it's remarkable what a
Speaker 3: community can do, and I just feel so blessed to
Speaker 3: be a part. I'm a small part of this larger
Speaker 3: collective which is Thrive Cosmetics and now bigger than beauty skincare.
Speaker 2: Wow.
Speaker 1: You know what in your experience people you run into,
Speaker 1: how many are actually aware of how this company started?
Speaker 1: People use the products and don't actually know the backstory
Speaker 1: or the fact not just because you're honoring your your friend,
Speaker 1: but also that the products and the ideas behind them
Speaker 1: were meant for people who were dealing with cancer.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, I don't know how many people know
Speaker 3: because I have been so busy building business and I'm
Speaker 3: okay with that. I think that, you know, Thrive Cosmetics
Speaker 3: is really about this collective cause it's it's never been
Speaker 3: about one person. And so for me when i'm I mean,
Speaker 3: our customers are my muse. They help me develop products.
Speaker 3: I can sit on a Saturday and have face time
Speaker 3: that hundreds of customers are constantly texting me. Of course,
Speaker 3: we have an amazing customer service team that services them,
Speaker 3: but they have my personal phone number and we will
Speaker 3: talk about what lipsticks should we be making next? And
Speaker 3: you know what, what can we do to improve the
Speaker 3: products that we've already created, because we're never finished. Like
Speaker 3: the lipstick that I have on right now is our
Speaker 3: second Matt lipstick. Because what excites me as a science
Speaker 3: nerd is the fact that innovation is always evolving and
Speaker 3: science is always getting better, whether it's medicine or makeup.
Speaker 3: And I get to do the makeup and skincare part,
Speaker 3: and I get to help fund the science through the
Speaker 3: makeup that I do. Like we have STEM programs that
Speaker 3: we are a part of. We work with Girls, which
Speaker 3: is last year actually we donated we partnered with Disney
Speaker 3: Marvel and we donated one hundred percent of profits from
Speaker 3: a collection that we created with them. I'm not sure
Speaker 3: how many people really know, but the people who should
Speaker 3: know feel it, and they know, and I think that
Speaker 3: that's what matters to me. I am much more interested
Speaker 3: in Shirley Rain's on skid Row or traveling to Las
Speaker 3: Vegas with her and working in the projects there with
Speaker 3: her and shining a spotlight on her and the work
Speaker 3: that she's doing. It's incredible what well one woman can do.
Speaker 3: And Shirley Rains always reminds me of that her vision
Speaker 3: is truly remarkable. She started an organization called Beauty to
Speaker 3: the Streets and if you haven't heard of it before,
Speaker 3: I mean, she's my inspiration.
Speaker 1: I wonder how it works, does it even? Does it
Speaker 1: matter to folks? Right? People love obviously love the makeup,
Speaker 1: don't know what the backstory is. But would somebody be
Speaker 1: more prone to try the makeup if they know the backstory?
Speaker 1: Or does the makeup just speak for itself? And Okay,
Speaker 1: I can feel good about my purchase now, But I
Speaker 1: wonder how I'm always interested in that dynamic because if
Speaker 1: you just make a good product, that's all that matters.
Speaker 1: Nobody's gonna buy it just because they're gonna go to
Speaker 1: buy a bad product, just because it's going to help
Speaker 1: somebody right now.
Speaker 3: Yeah, they want to give a charity, they'll give to charity. Right.
Speaker 3: This is just a vehicle I've always sid Thrive Cosmetics
Speaker 3: is a mission and movement that anyone can join. And
Speaker 3: they don't even have to buy our products. They can
Speaker 3: just nominate a charity for us to give too. I mean,
Speaker 3: we've donated to six hundred charities, and that's only possible
Speaker 3: over six hundred. Actually, it's only possible because our customers
Speaker 3: are constantly nominating different nonprofits for us to work with,
Speaker 3: and I I mean, some of these nonprofits we work
Speaker 3: with don't even have a website, and we always do
Speaker 3: our due diligence to make sure that it's legitimate. But
Speaker 3: to have customers who are so integrated into what we
Speaker 3: do is truly such a blessing. And I know what
Speaker 3: it's like. I mean, when I met Amy, I had
Speaker 3: no customers for the first three years. I'm like, I
Speaker 3: to me, what I get to do now and to
Speaker 3: be sitting here with you today is It'll never be
Speaker 3: lost on me how fortunate I am and how lucky
Speaker 3: this life is that I get to live. I didn't
Speaker 3: have customers for three years. I worked a full time
Speaker 3: job to fund it. Like I said, I was living
Speaker 3: on an air mattress in the Upper East Side, flying
Speaker 3: out here to try and get the brand off the ground,
Speaker 3: hustling the streets of New York. For some reason, Good
Speaker 3: Morning America took a chance on me, and that was amazing.
Speaker 3: And people have been so gracious with this journey. And
Speaker 3: I've eaten a lot of glass. I've eaten so much
Speaker 3: glass that it tastes like a slushy and I kind
Speaker 3: of love that. I kind of love it because the
Speaker 3: pain is what propels us forward.
Speaker 2: I mean hearing where you were and even when I
Speaker 2: met you, I had no idea that you were like
Speaker 2: this was your big break. I mean I think sometimes
Speaker 2: it gets lost on us as journalists with people coming
Speaker 2: through and to hear you come back now about ten
Speaker 2: years later and say, I was so nervous. I was
Speaker 2: living on an air mattress. I had no customers. That's
Speaker 2: so remarkable. How do you go from having no customers,
Speaker 2: not having a celebrity endorsement or some sort of a
Speaker 2: name that could put you in the spotlight. How do
Speaker 2: you go from not having customers to having the unbelievable
Speaker 2: brand that you have now. I mean people just think
Speaker 2: it's overnight or it came quickly. I mean, how do
Speaker 2: you get through those dark, tough days where you don't
Speaker 2: believe in yourself? I'm sure in moments, yeah.
Speaker 3: I mean that is a layered, a layered question, and
Speaker 3: I love that so much, and I want to come
Speaker 3: back to that moment that you really helped me have
Speaker 3: my big break. Amy. Last night, I took my parents
Speaker 3: to the US Open and the last time they were
Speaker 3: in New York. We were it was June fifth, twenty fifteen,
Speaker 3: and you helped me be on air that day, and
Speaker 3: you helped me feel really confident. And the last time
Speaker 3: they were there, we were staying in the Intercon Nettle
Speaker 3: Hotel for one hundred and ninety nine dollars a night,
Speaker 3: which is expensive, and there were five of us crammed
Speaker 3: into a room. My family flew out, and I remember
Speaker 3: thinking that I've made it, and I'm I'm gonna make it.
Speaker 3: And by the way, I didn't make it then that
Speaker 3: wasn't what did it, but it helped it. It was
Speaker 3: a signal that I was moving in the right direction.
Speaker 3: And so for for me, you know, I the greatest
Speaker 3: blessing that I had was that I donated a thousand
Speaker 3: pairs of lashes and Infinity Waterproof flash adhesive before I
Speaker 3: ever launched the business. Before I we launched it in
Speaker 3: New York Fashion Week because somebody told me that would
Speaker 3: be a great idea. Like I'm not a fashion person,
Speaker 3: I am not. I just want to I'm a nerd,
Speaker 3: Like I'm like a science nerd. That's I. I want
Speaker 3: to make amazing products that are truly game changing, and
Speaker 3: so I knew that I could make something amazing, but
Speaker 3: I didn't know how to promote it. I didn't know
Speaker 3: how to launch it. And it's really the community that
Speaker 3: has built it. Like I said, I didn't have customers
Speaker 3: for three years, so I had to fund it. But
Speaker 3: the community are the people that we donated products to.
Speaker 3: I don't know if you've heard Nali Augustin's story through
Speaker 3: the work that you've done on the more Philanthropics that
Speaker 3: she's a breast cancer survivor truly incredible person. Or Stephanie Sabah,
Speaker 3: those are some of the first people that we donated
Speaker 3: our products to. Maggie Kurdica another she's a metastatic breast
Speaker 3: cancer thriver and she's bald ballerina on Instagram. Those are
Speaker 3: the people that helped keep me going. They would tell
Speaker 3: me that the brand needed to exist when I couldn't
Speaker 3: believe in it for myself. I remember telling the entrepreneur
Speaker 3: that I was working for at the time that I
Speaker 3: was making seventy thousand dollars, which was the most I'd
Speaker 3: ever made in my life, and I told him, like,
Speaker 3: I don't know if this is going to work. I'll
Speaker 3: give you one hundred and ten percent during the day
Speaker 3: and I'm going to do Thrive as my side thing,
Speaker 3: And there were a lot of moments where I didn't
Speaker 3: think it was going to work. In fact, after Good
Speaker 3: Morning America, I think we did a thousand dollars in sales,
Speaker 3: and I thought like, oh, this isn't enough. That's a lot,
Speaker 3: but that's not enough. You know, there were many days
Speaker 3: we would have zero sales, and how did that feel?
Speaker 3: Really challenging. Those were some of the darkest moments of
Speaker 3: my life because I was getting told no by all
Speaker 3: the retailers. I was out in New York by myself,
Speaker 3: living on an air mattress, very unsuccessfully, trying to raise money,
Speaker 3: couldn't raise money. I was twenty four years old, Amy,
Speaker 3: I mean I was twenty five. I was twenty six,
Speaker 3: and I one of the blessings is ignorance was bliss
Speaker 3: for me. I didn't know that it was crazy that
Speaker 3: I was walking into Vogue magazine saying I did Anna
Speaker 3: Wintour's makeup one time. Here's some lab samples. You should
Speaker 3: write about me, Like, I didn't know that that was crazy,
Speaker 3: and I don't think it's crazy. I think it's cool,
Speaker 3: and I think it's confident, but it wasn't. In fact,
Speaker 3: part of my challenge over the last few years is
Speaker 3: through the success, I actually started to get imposter syndrome
Speaker 3: in a way that I didn't have before. I thought
Speaker 3: I needed to be this CEO, this cookie cutter CEO.
Speaker 3: That was never why the company was successful. And I
Speaker 3: am the first to admit that I'm a work in progress.
Speaker 3: But now I can say I'm a work in progress
Speaker 3: and a masterpiece at the same time because I've been
Speaker 3: through it and I know I'm still going to go
Speaker 3: through it. But to answer your question of what kept
Speaker 3: me going, it was always the people that it was
Speaker 3: the knowledge of the world that said you need to exist.
Speaker 1: Wow, what did those retailers site to you? You said,
Speaker 1: you took it into a bunch of folks and say hey,
Speaker 1: I want you to You said nobody would listen to
Speaker 1: you wouldn't return. The folks you did hear back from that,
Speaker 1: told you know what were the reasons they were giving
Speaker 1: you for? No, this isn't going to work for us.
Speaker 3: They asked me if I had an adult in the room. Well,
Speaker 3: they asked me, Yeah, I was, like I thought, last
Speaker 3: time I checked, I thought, when you're eighteen year an
Speaker 3: adult twenty one, I can drink, so why can't I
Speaker 3: have a business at twenty four? So I always had
Speaker 3: a little chip on my shoulder, but.
Speaker 1: It was a lot of it. They just wanted to
Speaker 1: ignore you because you were so young.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, definitely, And so I started saying to myself,
Speaker 3: You're never too young, You're never too old to be
Speaker 3: who you always wanted to be. That was like how
Speaker 3: it'd hype myself up. I had a playlist, and I
Speaker 3: was always like, I can do this, I can do this,
Speaker 3: and so for me, oh yeah, I'm playlists. That's a
Speaker 3: whole nother podcast. But we I mean, I would I
Speaker 3: would fly to all the retailers and I would sit
Speaker 3: outside waiting for a meeting. I would land in San
Speaker 3: Francisco or Chicago, and the meeting that I had with
Speaker 3: the buyer would get canceled as I was landing, and
Speaker 3: I'm like, hey, y'all, I actually like wiped out my
Speaker 3: airline miles to be able to even come here. I mean,
Speaker 3: I remember I was pitching to I got accepted. I
Speaker 3: was trying to raise money, and I flew out to
Speaker 3: New York. I was in Seattle at the time, and I.
Speaker 3: This was a couple of years into it, and I
Speaker 3: had I was so prepared for my pitch, and I
Speaker 3: was like, this is my big break. I'm going to
Speaker 3: have money. I can hire a pr agency. All the
Speaker 3: things that the retailers have told me that I need
Speaker 3: to do, I am going to be able to do now.
Speaker 3: And it was a women's focused fund, and I remember
Speaker 3: being in this gorgeous conference room just down the street
Speaker 3: from here in New York, and I pitched to them
Speaker 3: and they were all like and away. They were so excited,
Speaker 3: and they came I remember waiting outside kind of shark
Speaker 3: tank style. Well, no, it was damage sharksanks, so never mind,
Speaker 3: never mind the but I was waiting in the lobby
Speaker 3: and they came out and they said, oh my gosh,
Speaker 3: we loved your pitch. And I was ready for them
Speaker 3: to say that they were going to write me the check,
Speaker 3: and they said, but we have some really bad news.
Speaker 3: We only invest if you've done a million dollars in revenue.
Speaker 3: And I was like heartbreak crushed because I had barely
Speaker 3: any revenue at the time, and and so that was
Speaker 3: that was really challenging. So there was a lot of
Speaker 3: those moments that were really crushing, and I'm really grateful
Speaker 3: for them because It's never lost on me how lucky
Speaker 3: I am. I know, I know, I know. I breathe
Speaker 3: rarefied air and I will not ever squander this. When
Speaker 3: the business finally took off, we went from zero dollars
Speaker 3: to thirty million dollars in a year.
Speaker 2: WHOA what do you attribute that to?
Speaker 3: In our community? One hundred percent? On our community one
Speaker 3: hundred And when I say community, I say customers, and
Speaker 3: I also mean the people that we've donated products too.
Speaker 3: They made our Infinity Waterproof liliner er Go absolutely viral
Speaker 3: at the end of twenty sixteen, and I will never
Speaker 3: forget it. And it was that relentless drive that I
Speaker 3: had to build something because I was so driven by
Speaker 3: my purpose. In fact, I was. I actually had our
Speaker 3: first ever giving event in an organization called Strength United
Speaker 3: and Van Nuys. I wasn't from California, so I called
Speaker 3: it Van Nui's like I didn't even know.
Speaker 2: We believe me, as broadcasters, we have mispronounced almost every
Speaker 2: city in America at one point in our careers.
Speaker 3: Yes, and I will never forget being there and being so.
Speaker 3: It was right after the election which was a challenging
Speaker 3: election for a lot of people in the world. And
Speaker 3: I was sitting there and these women I was teaching
Speaker 3: makeup to that didn't even speak the same language as me,
Speaker 3: and I was basically sitting in a room that looked
Speaker 3: like a jail because they're the abusers will come back.
Speaker 3: You know, we're not a and allowed to talk about
Speaker 3: when we are at strength united because a lot of
Speaker 3: this is something that I didn't know that a lot
Speaker 3: of domestic violence shelters are truly a place of refuge
Speaker 3: that need to be off the grid. In fact, one
Speaker 3: in Boston that we work with, Kasamyrna, is one of
Speaker 3: the few that's very loud and proud about their address.
Speaker 3: So to bring it back to twenty sixteen. In November
Speaker 3: of twenty sixteen, I remember this woman who did not
Speaker 3: speak English but was so engaged in the makeup masterclass
Speaker 3: that I was teaching. She came up to me and
Speaker 3: she said, God bless you for what you do. And
Speaker 3: I had that moment where I just like I had
Speaker 3: to catch my breath. I remember going into the bathroom.
Speaker 3: I had to catch my breath because I had been
Speaker 3: hearing all these really profound stories and watching makeup truly
Speaker 3: transform these women from looking at their feet and not
Speaker 3: making eye contact with everyone to laughing and taking selfies,
Speaker 3: exchanging phone numbers. And that is what Bigger Than Beauty
Speaker 3: is all about to me, the reason why we named
Speaker 3: it Bigger than Beauty Skincare. Yes, clinically proven dermatologists endorseed
Speaker 3: Elizabeth colem doctor Elizabeth Coleman indors you know what I mean,
Speaker 3: Like bigger than Beauty skincare. It's an incredible line of
Speaker 3: clinically proven skincare. But to me, Bigger than Beauty is
Speaker 3: really rooted in the mission. And that giving event lit
Speaker 3: a fire in me. I got so mad because I
Speaker 3: had been told no by so many retailers, and I
Speaker 3: was like, am I allowed to curse?
Speaker 1: Yes?
Speaker 3: I said, fuck it, I'm building this motherfucker. And I
Speaker 3: just kept making ads. And I remember I made an
Speaker 3: ad that went live before I took off at Lax
Speaker 3: and that was the ad that made us go from
Speaker 3: zero to thirty million, and we've been growing ever since
Speaker 3: and it's just been the greatest ride of my life.
Speaker 3: I didn't sleep for pretty much all of twenty seventeen.
Speaker 3: I got really unhealthy, like really unhealthy, Like I couldn't
Speaker 3: even do a push up at the end of twenty seventeen.
Speaker 1: You were ripen and running in building. You weren't. You
Speaker 1: were focused on the business, not your sale. You were
Speaker 1: in bad health.
Speaker 3: Yeah, could you say I was in bad health? And
Speaker 3: I wouldn't trade it. I wouldn't trade it at all
Speaker 3: because it was a part of my path. And now
Speaker 3: I can have a lot of empathy for people who
Speaker 3: get that moment where I remember listening to Nicki Minaj's
Speaker 3: Moment for Life, which was a song that I had
Speaker 3: listened to many times, and it hit different for the
Speaker 3: first time in my life because I actually understood what
Speaker 3: she was saying then, like I want this moment for life.
Speaker 3: I want this feeling for life. I haven't slept. I
Speaker 3: might die because I'm not taking care of myself. But
Speaker 3: I will never complain about printing a customer label at
Speaker 3: two AM from my apartment because I am breathing rarefied
Speaker 3: air and I will never squander this moment. And that's
Speaker 3: been how it fell ever since.
Speaker 2: Wow, I mean, that is so powerful, and to hear you,
Speaker 2: it's funny talk about makeup that way, because I think
Speaker 2: a lot of people think of it as a superficial industry.
Speaker 2: It's funny. TJ's been struggling a little bit because his
Speaker 2: eleven year old is now starting to want to use
Speaker 2: skincare products and have a little highlighter on her face,
Speaker 2: and he's thinking, what's happening? You know, what's bad, what's right,
Speaker 2: what's wrong, all of that. But I loved hearing you
Speaker 2: talk about what makeup can do for women. And I
Speaker 2: don't think a lot of people think about it in
Speaker 2: that way. It's not just about looking a certain way,
Speaker 2: it's about feeling a certain way.
Speaker 3: Absolutely absolutely, And I mean, how does makeup make you feel?
Speaker 1: Oh?
Speaker 2: TJ knows I love makeup, and you know what having
Speaker 2: gone through, having gone through chemo, and I know that's
Speaker 2: where your mission started. I mean, for people who don't know,
Speaker 2: you talked about it, you referenced it. But the eyelash,
Speaker 2: the false eyelashes, and the lash glue that work on
Speaker 2: women who are going through chemo who don't have lashes.
Speaker 2: I mean I barely had lashes. Probably when I saw
Speaker 2: you they were starting to grow back. But it's one
Speaker 2: thing to feel sick. It's one thing to even be
Speaker 2: in a situation where you may be being physically abused,
Speaker 2: but if you can not look sick, if you can
Speaker 2: feel like something other than being a patient or something
Speaker 2: other than being a victim, if you can feel like
Speaker 2: a woman, if you can feel your own power and
Speaker 2: your own strength, it's transformative. It's not even really about
Speaker 2: the makeup. It's about what it does to make you
Speaker 2: feel like you're something other than the worst version of
Speaker 2: whatever you're going through. And so I get that, and
Speaker 2: I hadn't thought about it though. The way you just
Speaker 2: said that was really beautiful, because I think sometimes we
Speaker 2: tend to just make it seem like something superficial, but
Speaker 2: it is deeper than that. And I appreciate and applaud
Speaker 2: what you've done for women because it's kind of the
Speaker 2: I know people the look good, feel good, but there's
Speaker 2: truth to that, And especially I know when you're going
Speaker 2: through an illness where you feel sick and you just
Speaker 2: don't want to be pitied. Yeah, And I think sometimes
Speaker 2: when you can have these products that I mean, you
Speaker 2: even said this, I read this that doctors will tell
Speaker 2: women not to wear makeup, to leave your skin alone.
Speaker 2: You're going through enough, but we need to feel like women.
Speaker 2: We need to feel like something other than a patient.
Speaker 2: So thank you for all you've done, and that all
Speaker 2: built in the first place is such a beautiful part
Speaker 2: of your story. And TJ said, do people know My
Speaker 2: daughters had no idea about your story or about the
Speaker 2: fact that when they bought that mascara that they so love,
Speaker 2: that some of the proceeds of their hard earned money
Speaker 2: waitressing and babysitting was actually going to help other women.
Speaker 2: That's so cool and hopefully more people. I'm sure a
Speaker 2: lot of people already know the foundation of your business,
Speaker 2: but I think there are a lot of people who
Speaker 2: don't even know because they just like the product because
Speaker 2: it's that good.
Speaker 3: Thank you, thank you. Wow, I am I'm so moved
Speaker 3: by what you shared and it's so true what you said,
Speaker 3: and I just yeah, I'm a little speechless, honestly because
Speaker 3: it is beauty is so powerful. I have seen what
Speaker 3: I have on my eyes right now? Is this. We
Speaker 3: name all our products after inspiring people. We really need
Speaker 3: an amy. I'm just out there. What should your product be?
Speaker 3: I'll surprise you, Okay, the inspo is always viral marriage proposal.
Speaker 3: I'm actually doing one on Broadway. She doesn't know it yet.
Speaker 3: This upcoming weekend viral marriage proposal. So I will do
Speaker 3: a viral marriage proposal when you have your product. But
Speaker 3: I do need to know what products, Like, what's your
Speaker 3: dream makeup product?
Speaker 2: Well, let's just see anything that makes me not look
Speaker 2: fifty one. No. I love lipstick. I don't go anywhere
Speaker 2: without it, lip gloss, lipstick. And I love your mass
Speaker 2: Carrol already that's amazing. But yeah, lipstick is my thing.
Speaker 2: He knows. I walk around, I don't even go on
Speaker 2: my runs without some sort of lip product.
Speaker 3: Okay, I'm obsessed. Okay, okay, okay, So are we like
Speaker 3: more of like what level of opacity are we talking about?
Speaker 3: Do you want more of a sheer lip bomb? Or
Speaker 3: are we more of a lipstick?
Speaker 1: Oh?
Speaker 2: I like lip balm is great. I love a natural look. Yeah, okay, yeah.
Speaker 3: Okay, all right, Okay, I've taken my notes. I've taken
Speaker 3: my notes, and I'm gonna I'm gonna get a few
Speaker 3: people's phone numbers here so that we can actually I
Speaker 3: already got I already got I already got your phone numbers,
Speaker 3: so we can. So so okay, okay, oh well I
Speaker 3: will surprise you and that's cool.
Speaker 2: So wait, what's a viral marriage proposal? I don't know
Speaker 2: what you were referencing.
Speaker 3: So if anyone out there needs help proposing, I'm your girl. Like,
Speaker 3: I am so good at marriage proposals. I It's one
Speaker 3: of my superpowers because I love learning about people. I
Speaker 3: love people, and I'm a romantic, Like I am such
Speaker 3: a romantic that I'm like playlisting the whole thing. I'm
Speaker 3: storyboarding it. It's but that is what we do. So
Speaker 3: we've named products after over two hundred women at this point,
Speaker 3: and every time we're doing it. So like Maggie, who
Speaker 3: I've bald ballerina, who I was telling you about. ABC
Speaker 3: was kind enough to help me surprise her on People's List.
Speaker 3: Do you all remember that show? Yeah, People's List. It
Speaker 3: was like a summer show and we I don't know
Speaker 3: you you all would know better than me, but it
Speaker 3: was it's like People Magazine plus. Yeah, People Magazine plus anyway,
Speaker 3: so that was a good sales day and it actually
Speaker 3: aired on my That was really cool. But Maggie was
Speaker 3: a triple or is a triple threat color stick shade
Speaker 3: that we have and ABC helped create this moment where
Speaker 3: she was my model. She lives in Maryland and she
Speaker 3: came up to New York and she was the ruse
Speaker 3: was she was my model on air and then we
Speaker 3: surprised her as a part of the segment. So that's
Speaker 3: like it needs to be that level. So we've surprised
Speaker 3: people at New York Fashion Week, We've surprised people in
Speaker 3: their homes. We've surprised people. We've had faux photo shoots
Speaker 3: where they think that they're having an engagement shoot and
Speaker 3: then we show up with the product like it's like
Speaker 3: a whole thing, and it's it's like, I have these
Speaker 3: visions in my head. And so if anyone needs help
Speaker 3: with marriage proposals, I am your girl. And so TJ
Speaker 3: called me. I'm just saying, I'm just kidding. I'm not
Speaker 3: putting pressure on it, but the pressure is there.
Speaker 1: Can I can? I Can she be the bride and
Speaker 1: have the product?
Speaker 2: Right?
Speaker 1: Is that?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 1: I'm talking. So she's going to get opposed to in
Speaker 1: a surprise and as a part of it as well,
Speaker 1: she is going.
Speaker 3: To be taking it to a whole other level. About
Speaker 3: the new product, yeah yeah, yeah, yeah yeah.
Speaker 1: And what are you what's the product going to be
Speaker 1: going to be? What? Lip bam No, no, No, that's big.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: If you can make a lip bomb that she can
Speaker 1: only put on once a day only has to be great,
Speaker 1: it be really great.
Speaker 3: I have one. It's called Sheer Strength lip tint. So
Speaker 3: we've al know that the vision is there. Now she
Speaker 3: she casts the vision. Now we just have to execute.
Speaker 3: The dream is free. The hustle is sold separately, So
Speaker 3: now we're gonna hustle.
Speaker 2: Okay, don't you all have some other business too? I mean,
Speaker 2: we just heard that Chris is a romantic. I don't know.
Speaker 2: We were having a little conversation before the podcast.
Speaker 3: Not my Place TJ's Dating Services.
Speaker 2: Yes, Chris, seriously, you have been married, obviously to this business.
Speaker 3: Yeah, married to the game baby exactly.
Speaker 2: And that makes sense. You have to put all of
Speaker 2: your focus and passion into that to build something like
Speaker 2: you have. Yeah, but obviously you know there's more to life,
Speaker 2: So I mean, this has been a sacrifice for you.
Speaker 2: But are you ready to actually have personal goals outside
Speaker 2: of your professional goals? And how hard is that for
Speaker 2: you to say? Okay, maybe that. Do you have to
Speaker 2: take a step back, do you have to readjust your life?
Speaker 2: Do you have to prioritize I mean This is something
Speaker 2: that a lot of women face when they've put everything
Speaker 2: into their career and then they think, wait, I want
Speaker 2: more than that.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's such a great question. And I in so
Speaker 3: many ways, I am thirty five, but I'm also twenty
Speaker 3: one and eighty five at the same time, I am
Speaker 3: an old soul and I also love to have fun.
Speaker 3: And I froze eggs when I was twenty eight, and
Speaker 3: that was my insurance policy for myself. And also I
Speaker 3: would I mean every time I'm with our foster youth
Speaker 3: that we work with, Like I'm about to do Disney
Speaker 3: Days at at Disneyland, where we reunite foster kids, foster
Speaker 3: siblings that have been separated, maybe one lives in Chicago
Speaker 3: and one lives in California. We reunite them at the
Speaker 3: happiest place on earth. And top ten memories of my
Speaker 3: life is Disney Days. Like I will do that every
Speaker 3: I mean, you guys should come. And the thing is
Speaker 3: is like we aren't serving anybody. They're serving us. They're
Speaker 3: healing the inner child in me that needs the healing,
Speaker 3: and these kids heal me. And these are amazing children.
Speaker 3: And so they're there, I'm like I could wind up
Speaker 3: with three after one event, and I also recognize that
Speaker 3: that's a huge responsibility. So I would want to be
Speaker 3: in a position where, I mean, the great news is
Speaker 3: I have the greatest privilege of working with such brilliant people.
Speaker 3: When I started the business, I couldn't afford employees. We
Speaker 3: now have over seventy employees in LA that help run
Speaker 3: the business every single day, and so I'm one small
Speaker 3: piece of that collective that's really driving the business forward
Speaker 3: into the future. We've got an amazing leadership team that
Speaker 3: again I didn't have. I didn't have for many years,
Speaker 3: and so I do feel like in this next few years,
Speaker 3: I'm going to be in a place where if I
Speaker 3: want to have children, I can. I don't know if
Speaker 3: I do. I'm Auntie to all of my all of
Speaker 3: my friends have kids, and I'm the I mean shout
Speaker 3: out to Tula, and I mean all of I mean
Speaker 3: all of them, Tula, Lenny. I think about Babe, my
Speaker 3: friend Jamie's daughter, her son Simon, like I just I
Speaker 3: love children so much, and so I could see that.
Speaker 3: But I'm also not married to that idea. So I
Speaker 3: don't know how this came about children. I've got two
Speaker 3: amazing dogs.
Speaker 2: Well no, and I was asking you about are you
Speaker 2: able now at this point to start focusing on your
Speaker 2: personal life?
Speaker 3: Yes. Two years ago I realized I had no friends.
Speaker 3: And I had a lot of deal friends, but I
Speaker 3: didn't have a lot of real friends. I have an
Speaker 3: amazing community of people who I get to serve with
Speaker 3: Drive Cosmetics and Bigger than Beauty Skincare, But I had
Speaker 3: no friends, and I had so many people who wanted
Speaker 3: to be my friend. And as somebody who grew up
Speaker 3: you know, pretty humble beginnings again on a dirt road
Speaker 3: in a very small town. The fact that I even
Speaker 3: don't live in that town anymore is pretty miraculous. Like
Speaker 3: I still go back to our our fair every year,
Speaker 3: and like everybody's still there, and I love that. I
Speaker 3: will always be a small town girl at heart. I
Speaker 3: say small towns. What do I say? Small town soul
Speaker 3: in big city brain? Like I can't. I need to
Speaker 3: be in that, I need to be in the big city.
Speaker 3: But I but I have that soul to me, small
Speaker 3: town sooul and I but I realized I had no friends,
Speaker 3: and my greatest anytime I get asked what my my
Speaker 3: leadership advice is, I say, have friends, because I was
Speaker 3: looking for love in all the wrong places. I was
Speaker 3: because I didn't have friends, because I didn't have community.
Speaker 3: I was seeking that from internal validation from like external
Speaker 3: validation from internal team members, and that made me a
Speaker 3: really bad manager and a really bad lie. And now
Speaker 3: that I have this validation of these friends who I
Speaker 3: can go for walks with, or I take dance lessons with,
Speaker 3: or piano lessons or just go have fun and do
Speaker 3: nothing like that to me has been one of the
Speaker 3: greatest joys of my life in the last two years
Speaker 3: is having the most beautiful friendships that don't care what
Speaker 3: the numbers are. They don't care if I messed up
Speaker 3: at work. They don't care if I close the big deal.
Speaker 3: They don't care if I messed up a product like
Speaker 3: they you know, we could we the company could go away,
Speaker 3: and they don't care. Those are real friends, not deal friends.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's funny. Like I always say, it's it's when
Speaker 2: the chips are down, sometimes people circle around you. But
Speaker 2: when the chips are up, when you find those people
Speaker 2: who love you and aren't comparing or or judging or
Speaker 2: you know, that's I think oftentimes you learn who the
Speaker 2: real people are in your life when you're down and
Speaker 2: when you're up, like you learn lessons both times. What
Speaker 2: would you say looking back now, I know so many
Speaker 2: people are out there and even teach, you know, either
Speaker 2: building their lives or rebuilding their lives or rethinking their careers.
Speaker 2: What is your best advice to people who are starting
Speaker 2: out or starting over?
Speaker 3: Stay in the game. Stay in the game because the
Speaker 3: joy truly is in the journey, and if you don't
Speaker 3: stay in the game, just like a muscle, all that
Speaker 3: joy that you have is going to atrophy. And so
Speaker 3: to me, really staying in the game, whether it's business,
Speaker 3: whether it's in a relationship, whether it's anything that you're
Speaker 3: doing in life, if you don't show up every single day,
Speaker 3: you're going to lose it. And I think that that
Speaker 3: is something that can make you anxious or it can
Speaker 3: inspire you. And I choose to let that inspire me
Speaker 3: because I wouldn't be who I am if I didn't
Speaker 3: stay in the game.
Speaker 1: The game is for me, it looks oversaturated. And what
Speaker 1: I mean by that is I walk into Sophar and
Speaker 1: I'm like, what the hell is going on? And the
Speaker 1: reason I'm walking in Sephara so much because my eleven
Speaker 1: year old daughter is just absolutely.
Speaker 3: What's your name, Sabine, Sabine, Okay, I'm going to meet Sabine.
Speaker 3: You're going to meet, so we're going to hang out.
Speaker 1: Well, I don't know, because I'm trying to get her
Speaker 1: away from makeup and maybe that's a mistake. I have
Speaker 1: a few questions just here about this the skincare line, yes,
Speaker 1: but I have questions, a few questions just about the industry.
Speaker 1: Please please give folks a recommendation. I know sometimes makeup
Speaker 1: is one thing and then skincare and beauty care are
Speaker 1: kind of different things, all in the same industry. But
Speaker 1: what is your recommendation? What do you think about? Because
Speaker 1: I see a child getting hooked and thinking this is
Speaker 1: what I need now at eleven to be beautiful. I
Speaker 1: heard a twenty one year old the other day talking
Speaker 1: about needing to go get botox or something because look
Speaker 1: at that wrinkle right there, and she was just squeezing
Speaker 1: her just trying to show me a wrinkle that wasn't there.
Speaker 1: Just what is your thought about how what is the
Speaker 1: right age? Is any age okay if their parents are
Speaker 1: guiding them, what do you think about so many of
Speaker 1: our young folks now in the game.
Speaker 3: You know, I want to come back to that what
Speaker 3: you just said around people looking for wrinkles, people feeling
Speaker 3: like they need to do something or be something that
Speaker 3: they're not. And I think the greatest gift that Sabin
Speaker 3: has is you, as her father, telling her that she's
Speaker 3: amazing and perfect just the way that she is. And
Speaker 3: I can't tell you how meaningful that is to hear
Speaker 3: that from a father, so she can be a work
Speaker 3: in progress and masterpiece at the same time. And you're
Speaker 3: showing her that by what you're doing every single day.
Speaker 3: Look at what you're building. It's incredible. And to me,
Speaker 3: you know, society is going to be society. We can't
Speaker 3: control what the new TikTok filter is that makes you
Speaker 3: look like you've got three heads, and you know, then
Speaker 3: that becomes the sexy thing to do. But for me,
Speaker 3: beauty has definitely been a way to hide in securities.
Speaker 3: I had jacked up teeth, and so I was always
Speaker 3: like before I had braces and so I mean, I
Speaker 3: was always trying to enhance those eyes. And the idea
Speaker 3: of like enhancing my lips actually came later. I didn't
Speaker 3: even know. I actually I've never done anything to my lips.
Speaker 3: But when I moved to LA for the first time,
Speaker 3: people started saying, like, I've never done filler, And I'm
Speaker 3: not like anti filler. I'm not judging that, I just haven't.
Speaker 3: And so I remember when I moved to LA, you know,
Speaker 3: in certain areas of LA, a lot of people got
Speaker 3: the same face. Yes, yeah, And I think that that
Speaker 3: is that is a that can be a part of
Speaker 3: self expression, and I think it also can be a
Speaker 3: lack of self love. And I think makeup is the
Speaker 3: same way you if you love yourself, like I would
Speaker 3: have showed up without makeup and been totally comfortable being
Speaker 3: with you.
Speaker 4: Guys.
Speaker 3: I want to come correct because I'm here to talk
Speaker 3: about makeup and skincare and I want to be respectful,
Speaker 3: but I would be here in my yoga pants with
Speaker 3: you and be very, very comfortable because I love myself
Speaker 3: and I couldn't always say that, you know. And so
Speaker 3: I think that for you with your daughter, just reminding
Speaker 3: her that no matter how successful her grades might be bad,
Speaker 3: sometime she's still lovable, she's still worthy, And that's what
Speaker 3: I think is the ultimate solve for anybody in life.
Speaker 3: But yes, the beauty industry is incredibly saturated. It can
Speaker 3: be incredibly alienating to people, make people feel bad about themselves,
Speaker 3: and I never want to do that, but I'm sure
Speaker 3: we've missed the mark. You know, we're not perfect, and
Speaker 3: so for me, it's really beauty is a form of
Speaker 3: self expression and empowerment. You know the brilliant eyebrightener eyeshadow
Speaker 3: stick that I have on today, it's called Peeley and
Speaker 3: it's named after the executive director of Women Helping Women Maui,
Speaker 3: and she herself is a domestic violent survivor. And when
Speaker 3: she again I didn't know this, but a lot of
Speaker 3: times when people are being abused, their abuser tells them
Speaker 3: they can't wear makeup. I had no idea. I was
Speaker 3: actually out serving with her in Maui and she started
Speaker 3: crying and she shared with me this very personal story
Speaker 3: about how makeup was this sense of reclaiming her power.
Speaker 3: And so if you see Peelee now, and if you
Speaker 3: see what's on my eyes, I got a smokey eye
Speaker 3: on right now, Like this is not a this is
Speaker 3: not for those listening. I got a smoky eye on.
Speaker 3: And the reason why is because Peelee does that for
Speaker 3: a place of power and empowerment. And so I think
Speaker 3: beauty can be empowerment if we actually have a lipstick
Speaker 3: called empower mat because that I am wearing. Uh, this
Speaker 3: is not a plug for that. I'm just thinking about
Speaker 3: that stream of consciousness. Okay, get back on track. But no,
Speaker 3: it is truly a source of expression and creativity for
Speaker 3: so many people. And I think you're doing all the
Speaker 3: right things.
Speaker 1: Robes, you know this. It's difficult to just you're eleven,
Speaker 1: you don't need and blush, you don't need a smoky eye,
Speaker 1: Go take that off that. It's hard to just I
Speaker 1: just that's what I want to say, but I.
Speaker 3: Have to do. They bother you.
Speaker 1: It just seems like there's an like why so early,
Speaker 1: And what I'm noticing is almost an addiction, like a
Speaker 1: need for it, Like I have to go through this
Speaker 1: beauty regiment I have. We're going to get those little
Speaker 1: pimple sticker things like it's a it's not it's.
Speaker 3: Just starting a makeup company. You just don't even know.
Speaker 1: That's how they we'll look back at this and say
Speaker 1: I was all wrong. But it's just an automatic thing
Speaker 1: to where that's you're too young for that, you don't
Speaker 1: need that, and that's where my mind goes. But to
Speaker 1: your point, you have to be careful and just empower
Speaker 1: You're beautiful. You don't and I don't know how to
Speaker 1: support it without also being the parent and saying you
Speaker 1: can't do that.
Speaker 2: You've done a good job. I think you like it
Speaker 2: was I thought it was sweet. She didn't have a
Speaker 2: smoky eye by the way, she just had she just did.
Speaker 3: Like and He's like, she didn't.
Speaker 2: She didn't even have those gara on. Honestly, she just
Speaker 2: had like a highlighter around her face, a little highlighter
Speaker 2: on her eyes, and a little a little lip color.
Speaker 2: And it was you know, she grew up a lot
Speaker 2: in a year, but she a day it seemed like, Yeah,
Speaker 2: you just take it for yourself.
Speaker 3: That's hard. That's your baby girl.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so have to see her like that through me.
Speaker 1: And I was trying to be support But I'm just
Speaker 1: curious some money in the industry, what you think is
Speaker 1: a good age to start talking to young girls, to
Speaker 1: start allowing a little experimentation or do you let's let
Speaker 1: them go figure it out on their own.
Speaker 3: I mean, I gotta tell you, we have I've been
Speaker 3: in different hospitals, right I mean children's hospital. We are
Speaker 3: playing dress up with five year olds I worked where
Speaker 3: we have worked with Make a Wish. And I will
Speaker 3: never forget this young girl, Taylor. She we we actually
Speaker 3: wound up beaming a lip gloss after her that she
Speaker 3: helped me formulate on the you know we were we
Speaker 3: were there and that was a part of it. And
Speaker 3: shout out to Ellen K. Have you met Ellen K? Incredible?
Speaker 2: I have not.
Speaker 3: She's a part of my heart. She's incredible. Anyway, this
Speaker 3: was over a decade ago met Taylor. She is now
Speaker 3: in high school. And but back, I mean she was
Speaker 3: probably eight years old when I met her, and she
Speaker 3: was going through cancer and makeup was this sense of
Speaker 3: play for her, and it was really dress up. So
Speaker 3: again I think it's and I say this with no
Speaker 3: authority because I have all the awareness that I am
Speaker 3: not a parent, so I will not I will not
Speaker 3: even pretend like I know how hard it is to
Speaker 3: see your baby girl wanting to put highlighter on. What
Speaker 3: I will say, though, is that I've seen children light
Speaker 3: up because they are playing with something that's really fun
Speaker 3: for them. And and I hear you though on the obsession,
Speaker 3: and that that is a really challenging thing I think
Speaker 3: with social media and and they're always being shown what
Speaker 3: they're not and it's so accessible. Like we've always had
Speaker 3: the magazines that are overly photoshopped and the unrealistic beauty standards,
Speaker 3: no doubt, but I think social media really takes it
Speaker 3: to another level. And so I think again, just coming
Speaker 3: back to like, I don't know if there's an age,
Speaker 3: because I think the Internet kind of dictates what the
Speaker 3: age is. And I don't know about you, but have
Speaker 3: you ever been told not to do.
Speaker 1: Something you immediately want to do it?
Speaker 3: Yeah? I mean I kind of joked that I started
Speaker 3: a makeup company because my parents wouldn't let me shave
Speaker 3: my legs when I was a kid, and they wouldn't
Speaker 3: let me put makeup on two when I was eleven.
Speaker 3: I'm just saying, she is going to be running my
Speaker 3: company at some point, and I'm very excited about that.
Speaker 1: So come on over, so keep telling her no, got it.
Speaker 2: It's funny though, like I had very strict parents too
Speaker 2: with makeup. I had to be thirteen before I could
Speaker 2: even put it. So what did I do? Took babysitting money,
Speaker 2: went to the drug store on the bus, to school,
Speaker 2: was throwing it on, was wiping it off before I
Speaker 2: got home. And if there's a will, there's a way, right,
Speaker 2: and yes, to be told no means I'll figure it out.
Speaker 3: I mean, look at how successful you guys are, Like
Speaker 3: how many people told you no?
Speaker 2: They still tell Yeah, we are getting a lot of notes.
Speaker 2: And you know that's that interesting.
Speaker 3: Because people would look at you and they would say
Speaker 3: iconic journalists, amazing, amazing journalists, like I mean, you guys
Speaker 3: are amazing national broadcast. Like we're sitting in iHeartRadio in
Speaker 3: New York City right now, and so many people would
Speaker 3: kill to be in your shoes right now. And yet
Speaker 3: the world is going to keep testing you, and they're
Speaker 3: going to keep telling you that you're not good enough,
Speaker 3: and especially in your industry, it's like they're always it's
Speaker 3: it's almost like this gross like, oh, you know, let's
Speaker 3: keep them on their toes. And again, I say this
Speaker 3: with no authority. I've never been in your job, but
Speaker 3: I've observed.
Speaker 4: It, and I just feel like you both are so
Speaker 4: great at what you do and such good people that
Speaker 4: anybody who tells you that you can't do it is
Speaker 4: hopefully just allowing you to redirect to become the even
Speaker 4: bigger stars that you already are.
Speaker 2: I love them that you have. When people were telling you, no,
Speaker 2: it sounds like something I would say.
Speaker 3: So your hereators being motivators.
Speaker 2: Well that, but you had some expletives in the one.
Speaker 3: You just oh yeah, yeah, yeah, I know, I know,
Speaker 3: I know. Shout out to my church in Stanwood. I'm sorry,
Speaker 3: I uh no, I definitely have gotten outreach about my
Speaker 3: uh no. I mean I grew up in the church,
Speaker 3: which was such an amazing way to grow up. Twice
Speaker 3: a week I was in the church.
Speaker 2: We were in the same boat. Yes, tell me, tell
Speaker 2: me Catholic you were up.
Speaker 1: I went to the Church of Christ growing up. Sunday
Speaker 1: Sunday night and then Wednesday night, and we did Wednesdays
Speaker 1: and Sundays.
Speaker 3: Yeah yeah, same, same. Yeah. So you can imagine when
Speaker 3: I introduced myself as the Carrissa Effan Bodner on on
Speaker 3: the Gary V Show, I got some you know, they
Speaker 3: were They're like, this will be a part of your testimony,
Speaker 3: you know, and I you know, But the thing is is,
Speaker 3: like I think that church was such a great building
Speaker 3: block for me. I was just at this, I was
Speaker 3: just at this urch and Compton, and I was sitting
Speaker 3: there with Grace, one of our team members, and I
Speaker 3: was like, I feel at home because I used to
Speaker 3: clean these churches. And that was I was in this
Speaker 3: singing group called Legacy through my church in Stanwood and
Speaker 3: we would travel around Washington and Oregon and clean these churches.
Speaker 3: We would perform for them really haphazardly, like disease are
Speaker 3: not good performances. This is not American idol. This is like,
Speaker 3: you know, real bad. But we would serve and we
Speaker 3: would we would cook for them or we would and
Speaker 3: that was it. Just whether I was at a soup
Speaker 3: kitchen or I was at a church. It created such
Speaker 3: a heart for service that I really thank my parents
Speaker 3: for exposing me to that. And I think that that's
Speaker 3: a lot of like the do do onto others as
Speaker 3: you would do unto them, I think is just is
Speaker 3: so there's so many. I mean, there's some great lines
Speaker 3: in the Bible.
Speaker 2: Golden Rule absolutely, and I mean that's what's your favorite
Speaker 2: Bible verse? I mean, I think you just said it.
Speaker 2: I can't think of one that's better, because that is
Speaker 2: the ultimate, you know, that is the Golden Rule. And
Speaker 2: I do try to think like that, So so I
Speaker 2: am here. I also believe having that moral foundation is
Speaker 2: a huge part of a building block to having a
Speaker 2: happier life, because yes, we all make mistakes, but it's
Speaker 2: it is about forgiveness. And and I we have the
Speaker 2: same exact experience growing up, I mean not exact, but similar,
Speaker 2: So I we totally agree with everything you're saying. I
Speaker 2: am I know that, I know that you talked a
Speaker 2: little bit about well, we were talking about Sephora. I
Speaker 2: guess TJ was talking about Sephora. Yeah, and we said
Speaker 2: your products aren't available in stores. It's all through your
Speaker 2: direct marketing. And you know your website you own, you know,
Speaker 2: you have full control over it in that sense, which
Speaker 2: is pretty remarkable. You were told no by retailers now
Speaker 2: and I'm sure now you're telling them no, which has
Speaker 2: got to be a really fun thing. That amazing about
Speaker 2: face or that full one eighty right there. But what
Speaker 2: are your plans as we wrap this upcause it's been
Speaker 2: so incredibly inspiring to talk to you, But what are
Speaker 2: your plans? I know you've probably gotten offers to sell
Speaker 2: Thrive Cosmetic to be in Sephora.
Speaker 3: Attorney Zero's baby like Mariah Carey says last Man on
Speaker 3: the Earth. Still couldn't hit this, Still couldn't hit this.
Speaker 3: I don't want your money.
Speaker 1: Okay, you're probably gonna hear from the church again.
Speaker 3: Do we know Mariah Carey obsess but that that song
Speaker 3: is to me? I got it? Yeah, No, I mean
Speaker 3: that's how I feel. That's because they'll tell you if
Speaker 3: you don't sell to us, we'll destroy you. And by
Speaker 3: the way they try, they try, but we're still here.
Speaker 3: We're still here. And for me, I want this company's
Speaker 3: impact to outlive me. And whether it's done tomorrow or
Speaker 3: one hundred years from now, I would not trade this
Speaker 3: journey for anything. There's not enough. Zero's not enough zero's
Speaker 3: And from a you know, yes, we are sold exclusively
Speaker 3: on Thrivecosmetics dot com and I am really really grateful
Speaker 3: for the community, the millions of customers that we have there.
Speaker 3: And I also know that there's a piece of I
Speaker 3: R L in real life life that is missing. And
Speaker 3: so we are working on building our own storefront that's
Speaker 3: going to be attached to our new innovation center in
Speaker 3: Los Angeles, which I'm really excited about. And we are
Speaker 3: in serious discussions with multiple retailers, which is really exciting
Speaker 3: to me, But to stay really focused on what's going
Speaker 3: to make us different, because if we're going to partner
Speaker 3: with somebody, I'm looking for a long term partnership. I
Speaker 3: am looking for somebody who believes in the vision beyond
Speaker 3: just selling makeup and skincare. They need to be in
Speaker 3: the game with us of philanthropy and purpose. So how
Speaker 3: are you going to match that? Because we already did
Speaker 3: one hundred and fifty million? What are you going to do?
Speaker 3: Like that's how the negotiations are, and how are you
Speaker 3: going to help amplify these amazing charities? Like any time
Speaker 3: I get the great privilege of doing media, I want
Speaker 3: to be shining a spotlight on bottomless closet or beauty
Speaker 3: to the streets or Strength United. How are the retailers
Speaker 3: going to help with that? I don't know, We'll see.
Speaker 2: I love it. And you know what you are you
Speaker 2: You are a badass and you are an inspiration and
Speaker 2: I am so honored to have known you then and
Speaker 2: to know you now.
Speaker 3: Day one You're a day one well.
Speaker 2: Carissa Bodner. I hope if anyone didn't know the story
Speaker 2: of Thrive Cosmetics, they do now, and they'll feel even
Speaker 2: better about wearing all of your incredible products because they
Speaker 2: know it's not just about the makeup. It's so much
Speaker 2: more than that. So thank you for all you've done,
Speaker 2: and thank you for coming into iHeart Studios and doing
Speaker 2: this in person.
Speaker 3: I'm so honored. I'm like, I'm not even gonna act natural,
Speaker 3: like this is so cool, this is so surreal, Like
Speaker 3: I'm sitting with Amy and TJ? What is my life?
Speaker 3: Thank you for having me. You guys are iconic and
Speaker 3: I'm really grateful that I got to spend time with
Speaker 3: you today.
Speaker 2: Thank you, Carissa, and you know where you can find
Speaker 2: us on Instagram, Amy and TJ Podcast. You know I'm
Speaker 2: terrible of this. I can't open and I can't close.
Speaker 2: I know I did. I always do. Never We'll see y'all.
Speaker 2: Ban the Kitten, the patent