Latest / Skin Anarchy / The Ukraine crisis & its impact on Russian Beauty Founders, featuring Maria Karr of Rumore

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The Ukraine crisis & its impact on Russian Beauty Founders, featuring Maria Karr of Rumore · Skin Anarchy

• 0:00
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• 0:59
  SPEAKER_02: I actually took Russian in fifth grade and I remember uh going to Moscow and just I've always been in love with, you know, just the hominess and the culture and how similar it is to Indian culture.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_02: So, anyways, without me ranting, I want to introduce you guys again to Maria Carr, who is the founder of Rumore Beauty.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_02: So welcome back, Maria.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_02: I'm so excited you're here.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_01: Hi, Ekta.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_01: Hi, everyone.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you so much for having me.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_01: I'm very glad to be here and uh be back on Skincare Anarchy again.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, no, absolutely.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_02: And I if I could have it, I'd have you on every day because I really, really talking to you and I love the brand.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_02: But I wanted to talk to you today, Maria.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_02: And I know we were talking before the um the recording started about how this whole political environment that we're all in right now, you know, uh obviously with all of the um craziness and the terrible things happening in Ukraine and then you know, Russia, and you're the founder of a brand that is just so amazing because you bring Russian beauty to us here in America.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_02: And I I mean, every brand that you represent is just so beautiful.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_02: So I would love to talk to you about this and how this has been for you as a founder, as a person just in the beauty industry, observing, you know, like what are some thoughts, initial thoughts you've had around this?
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_01: Um thank you so much for for doing for having this conversation, for having me on it.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, because yes, uh the past few weeks have been uh very challenging, especially emotionally, uh, because you know, Russia and Ukraine, there are so many cultural ties and there are so many roots that are intertwined, and they have been for centuries.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_01: So now it's uh it's really heartbreaking to see the tragedy that's um, you know, that that continues and that goes on and has been going on for uh two and a half weeks at this point.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but yeah, so you know, and I uh thankfully I don't have family uh in Ukraine and um you know my immediate family uh they all here.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_01: So, but you know, I still have friends.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_01: Um my friends have families in both countries.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_01: So it has been very uh very challenging emotionally.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, no, I can imagine, and I, you know, it's that's really why I wanted to have this conversation with you specifically, because I know that, you know, um being a business owner, you know, in the United States and then having multicultural roots is a very interesting journey, right?
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, it's like you have such it's like I don't know, I I'm not gonna like put words in your mouth, but it's it's really interesting in the sense of like what you see, you know, it's like you see your life here, but then you also know the culture of you know where you're originally from and your homeland.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_02: So in terms of business, I'm just you know, I'm I want to get your take on how that impacts you um when you see the world in this situation, because it's like, you know, it really what I'm trying to get at is this prejudice, like, you know, all of a sudden, like you people are so accepting, and then all of a sudden people pop up with all these like crazy ideas and stuff.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_02: Like, how does that feel when you look at that?
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, absolutely.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_01: And uh I I do feel that now this uh negative sentiment is growing.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_01: And luckily, uh, we've been so fortunate to have customers and partners and uh fans of the brand who have been so supportive.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_01: I remember even a couple of weeks back, we we had a couple of uh, well, not even a couple, but quite a few customers reaching out to us and saying how much they love us, how much they want to come back and purchase more and be a part of our community, despite the circumstances.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_01: And I think um, you know, these are people who who try to see uh beyond the news headlines, uh, who really try to uh think a bit deeper and look a bit further, because you know what we see in the news may not be as favorable these days.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_01: And then uh, you know, we we see some restaurants or some other Russian businesses who uh who have been less fortunate and who have been um attacked either verbally or physically.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_01: Uh but it's uh you know it's it's it's very unfortunate to see, and it's very easy to see it everywhere on social media in the news.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_01: But the thing is, you know, I read a story on the news somewhere that there was a uh restaurant that served Russian food, Russian cuisine, and they've been attacked verbally.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_01: However, the restaurant is owned by a family from Ukraine, and most of their staff is you is from Ukraine as well.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_01: So it's uh I think it's very important to really look deeper if you see that there is um Russian something, it doesn't necessarily mean that this is something that is related to the actions of the government that are happening right now.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and it's very important for people to differentiate between the actions of the government and the politics and the people on the other side, people who are hardworking, who are honest, who are kind, uh, who are key members within their communities and outside of it.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_01: And it's it's incredibly important to draw this distinction between the two because that's you know that that's crucial.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_01: And I think regardless, regardless of the uh political situation, people should just be people, you know, and be kind to one another and be supportive.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely, Maria.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_02: I could not you know agree with you more, and especially in an industry like beauty, and you know, that's where you you start to see this.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_02: I'm I hate hearing that about the restaurant business, though.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_02: I have been, you know, kind of following the news, and um I know some of the cases very similar to what you just described, and and that is the point that I think is really the key here, which is what you made that just because you think someone's accent sounds like they're, you know, um their family's from Russia or in the neighboring regions, like that doesn't mean that you just assume, and that's the prejudice.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_02: And I can't even believe, you know, I sometimes when I say these kind of things, I'm like, why am I even having to say this out loud?
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_02: Because, you know, this takes me back.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_02: This whole idea of what we're talking about takes me back all the way to 9-11.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_02: And I remember um months after 9-11 happened, I mean, even years after I had I grew up, you know, in college seeing Indian families that had nothing to do with the Middle East, you know, India is not in the Middle East and they were being constantly, you know, discriminated against.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_02: There's so much misunderstanding in the communities um, you know, throughout the United States.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_02: And it was a struggle, you know.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_02: A lot of innocent people were really caught up in fire that they never, I mean, it's something they never even thought about.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_02: They're not even from that area, you know, they just look like it because of the color of their skin.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_02: And here we have the same situation, especially with the accent, right?
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_02: Because Russian accent is it's easy to see, but it's also very similar to the Ukraine accent and then the neighboring countries.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_02: So I want to actually ask you about that because what are some of the countries that are also uh represented in that region of the world that we don't really hear about a lot, and that what people should be mindful of when they hear someone that may sound like they're Russian?
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, no, that's a great question.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_01: And I mean, uh as many of uh our listeners probably know, um, you know, Soviet Union had uh many countries under its umbrella for for most of the 20th century.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_01: So people within those countries they they speak their own language, but then they also speak Russian.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_01: And depending on the area where you live, some areas are you know have more of a Russian population than the uh population of those countries.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_01: So it's and you know, throughout the like throughout that period of time, there are so many connections between those countries culturally, um, economically, between the people.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it's it's very like these days, it's I in like from what I know, from my personal experience, it's very hard to find a person who is 100% pure Russian or 100% pure something else, because it's like we we we are all interconnected in a way.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_01: Let's say uh my one of my grandmothers, uh, she was Ukrainian, so I'm 25% Ukrainian.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, I do consider myself Russian because I I was born in Russia, I was raised in Russia, and I came to the US um you know when I was 19.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_01: But there are so many families that are half and half or are a certain percent Russian and something else.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, there are countries like Belarus, even um, you know, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, um Armenia, Georgia, uh, Estonia, Lithuania.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_01: There, there are many other countries that were part of the Soviet Union, and they still have lots of people there who speak Russian, and our cultural, our cultural ties still remain.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_01: In some countries it's more prominent, in some it's a bit less.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, but you know, there are communities and people are all interconnected.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_01: So it's very hard to separate.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_01: It's like, okay, you are Russian or you are, I don't know, a person from another country, because we all we all have something in us that connects us to other cultures.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, because that's you know, historically, uh, that's how it's been set up.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_01: So we we still have those ties.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_02: I love that.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_02: And thank you so much for listing off a lot of the countries that were part of the Soviet Union, because that's the that is the key here is that people need to understand that it's like, you know, we say that in America we're a melting pot, right?
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_02: Of all these different cultures and and you know, skin colors and races, but so is the rest of the world, you know, and that's where I think there's so much confusion, confusion in American society is that we believe that we're the only place in the world that's so, you know, fusion-oriented, where we accept other races and cultures and religions.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_02: And but that's just not true.
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_02: There have been multiple, you know, geographical regions, both in history and at present time, that are exactly like that.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_02: India's like that.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_02: I know that um, you know, my time when I when I was telling you, like, you know, when I was learning about Russian history, learning about, you know, the language and stuff at that time, same feeling about that area, you know, like uh of Europe and in general.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_02: Like I know so many people, for example, um, you know, let's let's take it completely into like northern Europe that might be, for example, uh, you know, Danish, but then they also speak Norwegian, they speak Swedish, they speak uh, you know, like obviously English and then French.
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_02: And I mean, I almost every European friend I have that's from like, you know, the Netherlands or Sweden or, you know, Denmark or Germany, they speak like six languages.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_02: So it's like, you know, you just you see it all over Europe.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_02: And I think that's where I think people really need to hone in, especially in the beauty communities, because we are supposed to represent an industry that is inclusive, right?
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_02: And we can't be inclusive if we don't know um where like what we represent, you know, globally.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_02: So for example, if you're a consumer, you're shopping Room or Beauty.
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, you're you know, Maria, you brought over some brands that you discovered in Moscow, but you're also representing a community of people that are blended, you know, they're blended, that's a mixed society.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_02: They their culture is blended with so many different countries.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_02: So that's where I really want consumers to focus on and let's avoid doing what we all have already done, the mistake we've already made before.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_02: Let's not make that mistake again, right?
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, but and I think that's the best way to do that is to educate um our consumers.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_02: And and I think as a beauty industry, especially the publications out there.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_02: Like I know recently um you guys were in like you were in a few really great publications, right, Maria?
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, we were very fortunate to uh to tell the Russian beauty story in Forbes that was literally uh three like three and a half weeks ago.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_01: So, and then there were a couple of others that followed as well.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_02: I love that.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_02: And I and I think that that's where like you know, you really start seeing the difference of this industry versus so many others, and that like it's really a group of people that are accepting.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_02: And I think if we like m amplify that, I think it will bleed into the consumer community.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_02: And you know, we it you can really make a difference at this point.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah, I I love this.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_02: I I love that we're having this discussion because of that reason.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_02: Because I would love to see, you know, your brand thrive, all the brands you represent thrive.
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, that's another thing I wanted to ask you about is um have you been in touch with the founders like of some of the small the niche brands that you represent?
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, absolutely.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_01: I was just about to speak to that as well because this conversation is so relevant.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, what we talked about um in the previous um question, I think it really ties into this as well.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_01: Because I um I I over the past couple of weeks I spoke with all of our brand founders and uh brand partners uh in Russia, and it's uh, you know, like yes, the companies are based in Russia, they're Russian beauty companies, but then those companies have employees who are from other regions.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, they have employees who are from Ukraine, we still have families in Ukraine.
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_01: So it's it's really like as you said before, it's a melting pot.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_01: Like one of the founders, uh, she was sharing that uh her husband is Ukrainian, so her children, and they have three children, so they are half Russian, half Ukrainian, and it's really hard to it's it's really hard to differentiate.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, it's really hard for people to even grasp what's happening because it's like, what how do you explain it to your children?
• 14:53
  SPEAKER_01: Like how how is it even possible?
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_01: So for for many people, um it's it's been it's been really heartbreaking on multiple levels, on uh personal levels, on professional levels, um economically as well.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, but you know, the brands, they they are going strong, they are still uh producing, uh, they're still um sticking to the plan as much as possible and trying to trying to deliver the goods because you know it's it's it's beauty products.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_01: It has literally nothing to do with politics.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_01: It's uh it's something that really uh it's it's part of the culture rather than the um government actions and the politics and whatnot.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_02: Right, right.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_02: No, I I I think that's a yeah, that's a valid point.
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_02: And I also think that, you know, um I'm so glad to hear, first of all, that the brands are doing okay because that was one of my concerns when I was thinking about you and I was like, you know, I wonder what Maria's hearing back, you know, from all those the smaller brands that she represents, because you know, that must be such a crazy environment to live in right now, and it must just be so so you know, just surreal, right?
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, I think as normal people, we we don't all just know what to do when you wake up in a war, you know, or warlike situation.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_02: It's like it changes your whole life, right?
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_02: And and I can't imagine going through that like emotionally, mentally, especially if as a business owner, you know, and when when you haven't done anything wrong and you're seeing that your, you know, your your finances are being affect affected, your reputation gets affected, all by prejudice.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_02: So it's just it's it's a really crazy time, and it's a very, very interesting, like unique situation for anyone to be in, much less somebody who's trying to run a business.
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_02: So, you know, it I'm glad that you you told that that they're doing okay.
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_01: Well, happy to hear absolutely, and thank you.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you for for your support and for you know um shining some light into the prejudice that does exist, unfortunately.
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, for us, uh, we we are an American company, you know.
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_01: I came to the US when I was 19, so technically I had very little, if anything, to do with politics in Russia, you know.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so I spent my entire adult life here, stateside, and I started a company to really introduce a slice of my uh my culture, my roots uh to fellow Americans here in the US.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_01: And um, you know, when when the war started, we we made a conscious decision to pause our marketing efforts uh because we we realized that it was uh a very sensitive situation and uh we didn't want to be tone-deaf, we didn't want to come across as people who don't care because we do.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_01: So we uh we paused everything uh for about a week or so, and then at the end of last week, um I shared my uh my personal statement with our community, um, talking about you know the the whole idea behind Room War Beauty, how it does tie more into culture than anything else uh that's happening, how you know many Russian people, myself included, we grew up with that uh fear of war, with that concept of war being literally embedded in our DNA because the memories of World War II that Russia has been affected by very much, it was still very fresh and still very raw when I was growing up in the 90s.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_01: So um, you know, and we also announced that we will be supporting uh children affected by the war, um, affected by the current situation in Ukraine by donating 20% to save the children.
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_01: And um, you know, since uh since then we started to resume our activities uh on the marketing side slowly, uh, because again, we didn't want to come across as insensitive or tone-deaf.
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, but still I feel like it may take a little bit of time for us to get fully back on track and we will be monitoring and just seeing what their response is and how the conversation and the sentiment shifts here in the US.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but I do hope that people do look beyond the headlines, do look beyond the stereotypes and the prejudice, and they actually um, you know, think more about people versus the government of the countries where they may be born in or where they may come from.
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, oh my gosh.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_02: And I love that pledge that you've taken on.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_02: I really love that.
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_02: And, you know, it's reminding me of something I literally was thinking about the other day is that, you know, if we really want to approach this idea of, you know, making sure that we are representing and supporting each other equally, then we have to go down to the roots, which is education.
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_02: You know, if you want to help create a new generation of, you know, thinkers and minds, then we have to invest in children, obviously, but also invest in their education and accessibility that they have to knowledge, you know.
• 19:49
  SPEAKER_02: And I just love that you you're doing this.
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_02: Huge kudos to you.
• 19:53
  SPEAKER_02: I've you know, you're just such a wonderful person, Maria, and it doesn't surprise me at all that you're doing everything you can from your end.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_02: And I really hope the people listening out there, like I hope you guys, you know, just just I I if there's one thing I could say, and this would be my advice, like the closest friend I ever had or anyone I really love, it would be if you just stop for a second and think about like an individual, right?
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_02: And you start thinking about well, what what do I feel about this person?
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_02: That can solve so many problems because it puts you in the present moment.
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_02: It stops you from thinking about this preconceived notion you have about a culture or race or or the or you know, triggers that come up, right?
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_02: If you see somebody of a certain type, like you can stop all of that by really thinking about one individual or one example of something that's good about that topic.
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_02: And I would love for everyone listening, just you know, make Maria like your little, you know, your mental head be like when I think about Russian entrepreneurs or Ukrainian entrepreneurs or anyone who represents, you know, being part of the Soviet Union at one point, think of this amazing person that I really like.
• 20:59
  SPEAKER_02: You know what I mean?
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_02: Like, I like this person.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_02: Let me put that in my mental, you know, uh kind of drawer and pull that out when I'm thinking, rather than the hate and the the crap that's you know propagated on media, you know, like so not social media, but you know what I mean, the news and stuff like that.
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_02: It's important to do that.
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_02: We have to re kind of program ourselves, you know, into thinking on a more cultural individual level rather than generalizing things.
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_02: That's really what I'm trying to say.
• 21:27
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah.
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 21:29
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 21:29
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you so much, Ekta.
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_01: It's you know, I I do appreciate your support.
• 21:33
  SPEAKER_01: And yes, I mean, we uh unfortunately, you know, politics when when political uh situations are happening, when wars are taking place, uh, it's the ordinary people, regular people who who suffer at the end of the day.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_01: And it's uh it's regular businesses, like you've mentioned, you know, after 9 11, there were regular small business owners who have been suffering because of something they they did not commit.
• 21:59
  SPEAKER_01: It's something that They had nothing to do with.
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_01: And I do hope that we learn from the history, we learn to accept people for who they are and not where they come from, not what language they speak, uh, you know, whatever other criteria may exist in the society, and really think beyond that and and think about the person and you know, the relationships that you have, the, you know, the value that they they may bring to the society, and you know, it's it's it's really it gets down to the personal level because politics is politics and governments are governments.
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, but I think people should just uh be who they are.
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_01: And I mean, frankly speaking, um, you know, within the Russian-speaking community in the US, like we have so many, we have so many friends and so many close ties, and it's just impossible to think that, oh, you know, like they are from this country, they're from that country.
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_01: It doesn't really matter, you know, we share so much in common.
• 22:59
  SPEAKER_01: There are so many ties.
• 23:01
  SPEAKER_01: And I have friends from Ukraine, I have friends from Belarus, I have friends from Kazakhstan, like literally everywhere.
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_01: And at the end of the day, it doesn't matter if the people are good and kind and hard work, hardworking and caring, and you know, they're really doing their best to live their lives and to make it happen in America.
• 23:19
  SPEAKER_01: I think that's what really matters at the end of the day.
• 23:21
  SPEAKER_02: 100%.
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_02: I 100% agree.
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_02: And that is actually like the main point.
• 23:27
  SPEAKER_02: And I love that that you said hard working, because that's really so important to recognize immigrants, families, no matter where they're from, if they came to the United States, it was to gain something based off of hard work.
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_02: It doesn't matter where you're from, you could be Russian, Ukrainian, you know, Indian, Chinese, whatever.
• 23:47
  SPEAKER_02: But if you came here and you've survived and you've made it, that in itself represents hard work.
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_02: And we all have to appreciate that about each other.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_02: You know, if we can't all agree on things like color of skin or cultures or all this, then we have to find some way to find common ground.
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_02: And I think when you can evaluate a brand or a person or something based on their hard work, that's a very good way to judge something.
• 24:13
  SPEAKER_02: You know what I mean?
• 24:13
  SPEAKER_02: So it's it's a it's I agree with you, Maria.
• 24:15
  SPEAKER_02: I agree with everything you said.
• 24:16
  SPEAKER_02: And again, you know, I want to mention uh say everyone out there, please go check out rumor beauty.
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_02: It really is so amazing how many brands you will discover that are just beautiful.
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_02: I've always appreciated Russian beauty.
• 24:30
  SPEAKER_02: I know Forbes uh said, Maria, that you know, Russian beauty is gonna be the new truth, like, you know, wave, but it's like I I remember on LinkedIn, I commented, I was like, Russian beauty has always been the new wave.
• 24:41
  SPEAKER_02: You know what I mean?
• 24:42
  SPEAKER_02: I I I've always loved the rituals, like skin health rituals of uh women from that you know area of the world.
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_02: And I've always I told you this, like when we first talked, I was like, I have such love in my heart for um Russian women, Ukrainian women, because they're very one, hardworking and they're two very like to the point.
• 25:00
  SPEAKER_02: You know what I mean?
• 25:01
  SPEAKER_02: Like that's the that's what I get.
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_02: It's like it's blunt answers, real, like you know, real life advice is what I've always gotten.
• 25:07
  SPEAKER_02: It's never been like BS, you know.
• 25:09
  SPEAKER_02: So I have just an immense appreciation um for all of my friends that are from that area.
• 25:14
  SPEAKER_02: And I, you know, so thank you.
• 25:16
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you for coming on to the show.
• 25:17
  SPEAKER_02: This was so wonderful.
• 25:18
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, thank you so much for having me, Ekta, and thank you for having this conversation.
• 25:22
  SPEAKER_01: I think it's uh, you know, it's very important.
• 25:24
  SPEAKER_01: And the question of tolerance and friendships and just being kind to one another, this never it like it never goes out of style.
• 25:32
  SPEAKER_01: And it's uh it's probably one of the most conversations uh that we can have in the beauty industry, regardless of the country of origin or the color of the skin or religion or whatever it may be.
• 25:42
  SPEAKER_01: I think, you know, we as a beauty community, as a beauty industry, we really need to, we need to stay together and um and and and be welcoming and supportive of one another.
• 25:52
  SPEAKER_01: So I do appreciate your support so much.
• 25:55
  SPEAKER_02: Of course, Maria and everyone listening, I hope you will leave some comments, some feedback, keep this conversation going.
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_02: If you're a brand or a brand, yeah, but if you're an editor or a you know, somebody in publication, reach out to Maria, you know, or any other brands you know of that are from, you know, Ukraine or they're they have this background because the more we can amplify this message and the more we can really show consumers that hey, it's okay, everything's okay, the easier it's gonna be for everybody.
• 26:23
  SPEAKER_02: So I really urge the um you know media uh sector of beauty to really kind of um you know show their support and love even more than we already are trying to do.
• 26:33
  SPEAKER_02: So again, thank you, Maria, and I will be back next time, guys.
• 26:37
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you.
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_02: Hey guys, so I hope you love that episode.
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