Latest / Skin Anarchy / Kristina Rodulfo, Beauty Director Women’s Health

Transcript

Kristina Rodulfo, Beauty Director Women’s Health · Skin Anarchy

• 0:03
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• 0:34
  SPEAKER_01: Hey guys, welcome back to another episode of Scooper Anarchy.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_01: This is your host, Etca, and today I'm excited to introduce you guys to the beauty director for Women's Health Magazine.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_01: She's joining us today to discuss her career background and just talk all things can care with us.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_01: So without further ado, I want to introduce you guys to Christina Rodolfo.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome, Christina.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you so much for coming onto the show.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_01: Can you start us off by doing a deep dive into your career background?
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_01: I know you have a lot of amazing highlights and things that you've accomplished.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_01: So tell us all about it.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so I'm I'm very lucky in that I knew what I wanted to be since I was 14 years old.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_02: And you could you could say even younger than that because I was in second grade and already writing poetry and I loved creative writing.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_02: So I knew that I wanted to have a career in writing, but I just didn't know exactly what that would look like.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_02: And so when I was in high school and writing for the school newspaper and, you know, getting introduced to journalism, I started realizing, oh, I'd love to be a journalist.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_02: I'd love to be a reporter.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_02: And I uh, you know, one field trip when I was at a summer writing camp, I went to Nylon magazine and I met the beauty editors there.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_02: And actually, I don't even know if they were beauty editors, um, but they were editors, period.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_02: And in my head, I thought that they were just the coolest people on earth and nothing like what I saw in the Double Wars Prada in this fictional magazine world.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_02: I'm like, they're so nice.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_02: Um that's amazing.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_02: I love them.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_02: And um, and they were just so open about I like I it was such a vivid memory of mine going into this conference room and seeing all all these people working at their computers and the fashion closet and seeing the photo shoot room.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_02: And it was just so enthralling to me, you know.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_02: And that's when I decided, okay, I want to be a reporter, I definitely want to work in a magazine, and I definitely want it to be like a fashion magazine.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_02: So originally, you know, I loved fashion and I, you know, Project Runway, America's Next Top Model, like all those shows.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_02: I was obsessed.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_02: All of like, like honestly, honestly, such a gold moment for for reality TV.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_02: But uh, but I was obsessed with all of those shows, and and I was obsessed with shows like Ugly Betty, which was about you know the magazine world as well.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, I remember Ugly Betty.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_01: I've never got into her, but yes, yes, yes, keep going.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and and so what what I mean, I remember watching Ugly Betty and thinking to myself, like, oh my gosh, she's me, because she was a girl with braces and I had braces, and I and then she she uh commuted back and forth from Queens to the city to work in a big magazine, and that was kind of my dream.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_02: So um, with all of that considered, I really wanted to get into fashion.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_02: And then I, you know, started out my career at a startup website that I got, you know, a year later I was laid off with a whole team because that's what happens sometimes with startups.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_02: And it was it was definitely an education into the digital media world.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_02: And from there I started, you know, freelancing and and working at uh websites like instile.com and I reached out to some people that I had interned with um when I was in college because I went to NYU and uh nice, yeah.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_01: Love NYU grad.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, you're so freaking cool.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_02: It's like everyone was way too cool for me when I was in school.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_02: But but when I I was like, oh, you launched an app and uh and uh it's already got like investment funding.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_02: Cool.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_02: I'm just trying to pass class.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_01: Um so I know, no, I know it's like with thanks.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_01: Animation, like for me, it's like animation, I'm underachieving.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_02: Like, but I but I you know when I was at NYU, I was able to really intern every single semester at places like you know, a weekly magazine like Time Out New York, um, that was a print magazine.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_02: And then I would intern at places like harpersbazaar.com and other like stylecaster.com.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_02: And I feel like, you know, really building up four years of experience basically while I was still in school full time really helped me kind of catapult into the editorial magazine and digital media world because I just had so much experience already working in you know in the real life like magazine world.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_02: So that that made me a really, you know, strong candidate when it came to applying to jobs.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_02: And eventually I landed at L.com.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_02: And uh that was a dream of mine from when I was 17 years old and an L subscriber.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_02: And I would, you know, pour over those pages and read every single line and look at the masthead and dream about my name being on there.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_02: So it was really surreal when I got eventually.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_02: It was it was surreal to be an intern there, and then it was even more surreal to become part of the staff there, you know.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_01: It was you know, I feel like L would host some of the most badass women and for uh editorial because I've spoken to um, you know, the my past guests, some of them have a lot of them have uh experience with L.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_01: And you guys all talk about it, like you're always like it's a great experience.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_01: You're a great experience.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so that's amazing.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_02: I think I think it was just a brand that I so strongly identified with because of the way that it really melded together style and substance, you know.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_02: It it was it's really one of those publications that and a lot of publications are like this now, but but from you know, when it was founded over 30 years ago, it was really one of those publications that uh that really set the standard when it comes to fashion and personal style and how that interacts with all the other parts of our lives, whether it's politics and culture and entertainment.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_02: And, you know, it it really didn't look at fashion as an isolated thing, but but from a more critical lens.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_02: And I feel like that that kind of lens really helped me grow as a reporter.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_02: And I was able to do such amazing projects while I worked over at L.com.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_02: And when I left there, uh I was there for a total of four years and I started out doing more general stuff, like I would do celebrity news, I would do a little bit of fashion, I would do a little bit of entertainment, and that was so much fun for me.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_02: My true passion was in beauty.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_02: And so when I eventually was became the senior beauty editor at L.com, I was really able to do such amazing things because, you know, with digital media transforming every single day, I pivoted so much.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_02: Like I became from a writer to being uh, you know, helping produce video series and helping you know, uh post them and all of those things.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_01: That's the one thing when I was reading your bio, I was like, you know, this is insane.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_01: You've yeah, exactly.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_01: You've transitioned from so many different roles.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_01: And I feel like someone like you must have such a well-rounded perspective when it comes to um really, I mean, beauty overall, right?
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_01: Because it's it's through all of these avenues that we get the information.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_01: So I I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt you, but I yeah, that was really something that stood out.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, how has that been?
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_01: Like in terms of just like now when you look back on it, like does that do you incorporate all that stuff like you know on your own, like in you know, but automatically is what I mean, or does it like you still have to compartmentalize?
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_02: No, I I think in order to be a reporter, a a journalist, a magazine editor, whatever you want to be, a creator these days, I think that you have to think really 360, you have to think from all angles and and working on websites, you know, before my current job right now as the beauty director at women's health, I work on both the print magazine, which is monthly, as well as the website.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_02: And I think juggling those two is very different from being focused only on digital, because when you're on digital, you you really are trained to think even more so about, you know, how can this be, how can the story be better with a photo shoot, with gifts, you know, with video, with, you know, is this a is this a continuing series that we want to do?
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_02: How do we want it to look as somebody scrolling on their phones?
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_02: Because that's how most people are consuming content.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_02: It's, you know, will this look good on a tiny screen?
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_02: Right, right.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_02: It's true, yeah.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_02: So these are all the skills that I had to learn.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_02: And it's crazy when I think about it because when I when I started my career, Instagram was not a thing, right?
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_02: Like, and the way that it's completely transformed all of us in so many ways, but mainly in the way that we consume our news, you know.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_01: And and so I thought that I was gonna be a a reporter at a desk and kind of behind the scenes, and and I never really pictured myself being on camera or interviewing celebrities on camera or you know, I was gonna ask you because when you inter when you first started talking about your um your career history, you mentioned the reporter portion.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_01: I love that.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_01: I really love that because the whole idea of good reporting and you know, just this uh journalism background is I feel like so underplayed in the beauty editorial world, you know, and in terms of you know you know what I'm saying?
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_01: Like, so I really love that highlighting that.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_01: So I and I want to talk about that a little bit actually.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_01: If you can go into the journalism store, like what really interested you about journalism and what did you you know, we all have big dreams, right?
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_01: So imagine what we're gonna do as like whatever it is we want to do.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, tell us more about that.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_02: So what really fascinated me about being a journalist, I think, was just the way that it can connect people.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_02: You know, it's it's like I so many writers that I have admired have used writing and and telling stories and writing articles as a way to help people see the humanity in other people, you know, whether it's you know, somebody who is struggling or a a big CEO who seems like this this ominous figure that you would know nothing about, but then it humanizes them, you know.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_02: It I feel like there's such a power in in reading and being able to relate to it.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_02: So for me, it was just such an amazing way to get into the worlds that I was curious about.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_02: So whether it's fashion or whether it's, you know, I worked on a on a documentary at L called Beat, and it's um about how drag queens help shape the beauty industry.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_02: It was nominated for a Webby Award, and that was like, you know, one of my career highlights.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_02: And I think that what that really, you know, proved to me is just like how wonderful this avenue of reporting and journalism is to step into worlds that are not like the ones that I know.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_02: So I was like, I I was backstage with drag queens at you know, getting ready with them at at these like underground shows or going to Las Vegas and like in the God, that's so cool.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_02: I was I was in LA and at drag con um and with so many fans of these drag queens.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_02: And it was just such a world that I wasn't I wasn't completely familiar with, but you know, dived right into and and it opened my mind up to just the beauty of how makeup specifically can help transform your entire being, you know, like it can help you create a new, a new a new person, a new persona that is inside of you that you don't you didn't express before.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_02: And and I feel like seeing the seeing things like that, witnessing just the creativity, the the amazing passion that people have, and and getting to have the privilege of telling their stories is is what really has drawn me to being a reporter.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_02: And you're completely right in that a lot of people when they think about beauty editors, they kind of think about the glamorous part of it, right?
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_02: Where it's like you're uh exactly devil in the product movie.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_02: No hint.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, no, no hits.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_02: It's one of my it's one of one of my favorite movies because you know I'm obsessed with Emily Blunt, Ann Hathaway, Meryl Streep, all of them.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_02: But um, but I think that what what people miss sometimes when you see what a beauty editor does from the outside, you know, you're looking at my social media page, and it might appear that all I do is is play with makeup and facials and you know, go on fun stuff.
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_02: Go on fabulous trips.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, exactly.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_02: So, but most of what my job really is is honestly reporting.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm on the phone, I have dermatologists on speed dial.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_02: I'm constantly asking them about the latest studies on skincare and you know what's happening with with in the scientific world of beauty, because uh that's kind of what attracted me to beauty is just how multifaceted it is.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_02: It's not just about what you're putting on your face, it's also about the it's it's tied to so many, so many, so many factors, uh, including science and also, you know, our world today.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_01: And it's beauty is such a and you know, one thing I want to actually want to go back to your work with the um, you know, just you know, you were describing you got to have this beautiful new perspective um when you did your your piece with the um you know the direct queens and makeup and and I I want to talk about that because honestly, I think right now we're living in a world where people need to understand what American culture is, if you know what I mean.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_01: And I think pieces like this to me are so vital for that because um from a cultural standpoint, because when it comes to open-mindedness and when it comes to just you know wanting to be more open-minded as society as a society, I think you know, Americans and us as Americans, we have this this will in us, right?
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_01: We want to know more, we want to know more different perspectives.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_01: At least that's what I've encountered, you know, from the people I know.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and so I I I love that you you did that piece because it's it's like you know, you're you're putting us, you're giving people a peek into what it looks like from another person's eyes.
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_01: So I think from that journalism standpoint, um, you know, I want you to talk more about that in terms of just how it's helping define this, you know what I mean?
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_01: Like this beauty culture that we're living in.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_02: Completely.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_02: Well, yeah, since it was it was a documentary video, so I wasn't I wasn't on camera or anything like I done with other video series where it's more fun and interactive.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_02: This was very much just about the subjects speaking and telling their stories from their perspectives.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_02: So uh I was really just there on the other side of the camera asking all of the questions and really digging deep into the history of drag and how drag has evolved and how it's changed with the popularity of RuPaul's drag race and all of that.
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_02: So I think that the you know, the reporting aspect of that is just so incredibly fulfilling because people want to tell their stories.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_02: And with a an a giant, you know, legacy publication like L and the millions and millions of readers and viewers that and subscribers that they have on that on that channel and that that publication, I think it just it it really showed me the power that I had that I didn't realize, you know, when it came to when it came to doing stories and seeing how how many people it can actually reach and hopefully open people's minds and and also give give credit where credit is due because what a lot of what the what the documentary explored was the feelings of of many drag queens that they're kind of left out of the conversation when it comes to getting makeup campaigns and makeup deals when so much of drag is influential in makeup, you know, with exactly and I feel like that's that's repeating itself.
• 15:17
  SPEAKER_01: I feel like history is repeating itself, and that's why like I think that is so amazing that you did that because it's like, you know, we talk about things like black culture and we talk about African American heritage and we we we talk about these things, but we never um have this exclusive, like you know what I mean, like push where you really see all of the origins of like, you know, just different cultures, not just African-American, even my own, you know, Indian culture, um, all the Asian beauty.
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, those kind of things do not get highlighted like that.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_01: So that's why I think that's amazing that you went straight in and you said, This is I'm gonna show exactly what's going on, you know.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, so I mean, um, I anyways, I know this is super deviation.
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_01: I know I'm just very, very interested in your I appreciate your interest.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you so much.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_01: It really sparked my interest.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_01: So everyone listening out there, I apologize.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_01: But um, let's go to skincare.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I know everybody wants to hear about skincare.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_01: So um, you know, you were talking earlier about dermatologists being on speed dial, and I love that.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_01: Um, can you talk a little bit more about just your interaction with um, you know, health professionals?
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, obviously, you work for uh women's health, and you know, that's such a it's such a big statement, right?
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_01: Just in saying women's health.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_01: So um, how do you approach skincare and what you love and how you recommend things?
• 16:32
  unknown: For sure.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, yeah.
• 16:35
  SPEAKER_02: So with women's health, we really pride ourselves on being a very science forward and research-based publication.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_02: You know, we we really dig deep when it comes to talking about everything, obviously, fitness and and health and wellness, but even with beauty, I really approach it from a wellness lens.
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_02: You know, everything has to come back to skin health.
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_02: And does this support your skin health?
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_02: Does this support your hair health?
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_02: Does this support your nail health?
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_02: You know, and you know, coming from fashion magazines in my past jobs, uh, it was very different.
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_02: It was very much trend forward, very much following what celebrities are doing, what the runways are doing, and and a lot more about what's happening in the moment as opposed to what I'm doing now, which is a lot more evergreen reporting.
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_02: It's it's more about the things that you always will care about, where it's like, I just want to know how to get rid of my acne.
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_02: I just want to know how to, you know, what what kind of sunscreen I should be using.
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_02: And and that's really who our reader is.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_02: And that's the kind of reader that I really report for currently.
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_02: So uh I would say that the way that we we do things and the way that we select products always comes from that that perspective where we're thinking, okay, is this all is this like we don't we don't really care about trends, you know, that's the best way to put it.
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_02: We don't care about, you know, well, everybody's talking about this this brand right now or this this product right now.
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_02: And so we have to like jump on it and have our take on it.
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_02: And that's not really what we do.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_02: What we do is like we we're here for the long game, you know, we're here really about about longevity and and consistency and and thinking very much about building a routine and empowering people to have the tools that they need to help build what works for them.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_02: So I'll never be overly prescriptive where it's like you have to use a vitamin C serum in your in your routine, or else like I it's very much like here is all the information, allow me to interpret all of the stuff that's out there about skin, because there's so much now, and and let me tell you what the experts are actually saying and what the science says, you know, that's really how I approach things.
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_01: I love that.
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_01: I love that.
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that's uh that's you know, your professionalism kicking in right there.
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_01: You know what I mean?
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_01: It's like we, as people who, you know, you go through a professional track of any kind and you want to really focus on, you know, the the nitty-gritty meat of meat and potatoes behind everything, right?
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_01: So it's like, um, I think doctors right now, well, I don't know if right now, but I know a few months ago or even earlier in 2020, a lot of dermatologists were kind of left out of the conversation around, you know, skincare.
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_01: And, you know, if they didn't have their own line, it was like, you know, they didn't really have this platform, right?
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_01: So like now I'm seeing that a lot more derms are being more vocal, and I love that.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_02: Like I love it, and I I love it too.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_02: And I honestly don't even know how they have the time of day to do this.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_02: It's uh it fascinates me.
• 19:32
  SPEAKER_02: I'm just like, how do you do that?
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_02: We actually did a whole story on this because um, and this was I I want to say this was in our November issue.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_02: I'm not sure actually.
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_02: I should I should know, but I don't know.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_02: So so um they all meld together.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_02: So, but we did a story on how derms are kind of the new influencers, right?
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_02: And and we asked a dermatologist, we were like, How do you like okay?
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_02: So you're seeing patients, you're working in the hospital, you you know, you might have a practice.
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_02: How do you even make time to create TikTok content, you know?
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_01: And trauma from medical school has left them this way.
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_02: And it's just like the why are you doing the most?
• 20:08
  SPEAKER_02: And so, so it's just like they were like, Oh, you have to block it out, like you you treat it like any other part of your job.
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_02: And they, you know, a lot of dermatologists really want to take back expertise because there's a lot of people out there who claim to be skincare experts who don't really have the same credentials as a medical doctor does, you know?
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_02: And um, and and a lot of times, and and and I love that dermatologists are being more active on social now and kind of you know dispelling that because I feel like a lot of times people forget how much deeper skincare is and and dermatology is than health, health.
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_02: Exactly.
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_02: It's health, it's health, and and it's not just about, you know, oh, I want to prevent wrinkles, it's it's also the work that dermatologists do is absolutely incredible.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_02: Uh I'm I'm thinking of, you know, Dr.
• 20:57
  SPEAKER_02: Do you know Daval Banusali?
• 20:59
  SPEAKER_02: Dr.
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so he's he's one of my favorite followers on Instagram because he he shows before and afters of in of really like intense patient, you know, uh cases.
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_02: And there was one that I saw of a patient of his who, you know, where I think they were cutting themselves or they had before and they wanted to get rid of those scars and kind of move on from that that hard period in their life.
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_02: And and he did some procedures to help get rid of those cutting scars and showed the incredible before and after.
• 21:29
  SPEAKER_02: And I was just like, I messaged him because I was like, thank you for sharing this because uh, you know, it's such a reminder of what dermatologists do beyond giving product recommendations.
• 21:39
  SPEAKER_02: There's so much, you know, knowledge there.
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_01: There's so much depth into their understanding, right?
• 21:45
  SPEAKER_01: It's like, you know, I think I think that's one thing that I I really wanted to ask you as well is like, how do we get all of those derms that are on Instagram right now and they're doing great?
• 21:54
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I can I can list, you know, you so many, right?
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_01: We both can.
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_01: Like they're everywhere and they have such unique.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_01: accounts, how do we really get them to come into this conversation that's like, you know, in print and it's, you know what I mean?
• 22:07
  SPEAKER_01: It's going to the masses and it's people are really because I feel like this work is like we appreciate it, right?
• 22:13
  SPEAKER_01: But like I don't know how many people like how to reach more people is my point.
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_02: I think I remember I, you know, correct me if I'm wrong, but I remember the last stat that I heard about that, you know, the average uh number or percentage of Americans that actually see a dermatologist is 4% or it hovers around there.
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_02: It's very low.
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_02: And you know, some of that comes, you know, from access.
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_02: Some people aren't in a big city like New York City or or LA where there's a dermatologist on every block, you know, and that's a very real thing.
• 22:43
  SPEAKER_02: But I I think that some people just don't think of of dermatology as a a priority, you know, when it comes to their skin because they think they can self-treat because they, you know, they maybe they follow an influencer who has really clear skin and already and then they ask, you know, what do you use?
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_02: And and but it's but it's completely individual, you know, and and I think well part of what I do in in my platform and like my responsibility is that I'm constantly I will never publish a story about skin without consulting a dermatologist first.
• 23:18
  SPEAKER_02: Like that is just not something that I do.
• 23:21
  SPEAKER_02: And I don't even feel comfortable publishing anything about skin without talking to a dermatologist first.
• 23:25
  SPEAKER_02: Even if it's the most the most simple question, you know, best sunscreen to use I I will always ask for an expert's advice because I'm not a medical doctor.
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_02: So I'm not out here giving you know skin care advice.
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_02: That's yeah and also would you ask if you know if you had an alcoholic friend who had liver disease would you you know to consult a you know guy a person that is of expertise and you know I don't know I'm just I'm no no I totally get it but it but even when it comes to acne I I think that as somebody who's really suffered from acne and this is really what kind of introduced me to beauty in the first place because I was a teenager who had really really bad acne and and the my first introduction to a skincare routine was proactive because uh Jessica Simpson told me to you know so I so I was like I was like oh my God Jessica Simpson like these like proactive ads with Jessica Simpson and like her these like zoom in on these like pictures of her and I was like oh my God I feel so seen like I'm gonna use this I'm gonna I'm gonna I was like I'm gonna use this three step routine which honestly like it it's basic stuff benzoyl peroxide toning you know it's like it's very basic stuff but that taught me what a skincare routine even was you know so yeah but I mean no no shade to proactive though do no shade then when we used it we used it when it was like the up and coming skincare.
• 24:45
  SPEAKER_01: Hello you know it was not like it was like the cutting edge because yeah nobody was really talking like proactive was you know what I mean they were like exactly exactly they were really pioneers when it came to understanding a three-step skincare routine and obviously we've evolved so much from then um in terms of the skincare industry but but part of you know again what I do is is I really try to give dermatologists and scientists and and experts in the field that I'm that I'm reporting about the the platform you know and the audience I love that and I and I I love I already knew you were doing that because I just you just you know what I mean but I wanted you to talk about because I really I really really think that everybody who has a platform right now especially in the editorial world I mean you know we have to like urge them to really highlight these people because the career behind going into you know something like dermatology a lot of people don't understand that most of these doctors are top scores you know like they're toppers in their class like they're some of the most you know intelligent minds in medicine and I think especially with skin health we know so little right now from the medical research research standpoint that to give them the platform is really our own way as society, you know, doing our best to be research based and to be fact-based in our approach in skin health so you know I think it's just I I love that you're you know behind that movement and I love that you're really in support of it because I see a lot of them you know for example Dr.
• 26:14
  SPEAKER_01: Aegean Chan she was on my show very very early on and it just I just sat there and listened to her you know what I'm saying like I was just like yeah yeah like tell me more like this amazing like well of knowledge.
• 26:26
  SPEAKER_01: So um you know I love that.
• 26:28
  SPEAKER_01: Um but you know moving on I I know that also there's a little bit of debate around now you know dermatologist founded skincare lines.
• 26:36
  SPEAKER_01: How do you feel about those?
• 26:37
  SPEAKER_02: Do you like them or how do you approach those I approach it like any other any other skincare brand and and it's it's crazy because right now I'm working on our annual beauty awards which publishes in May and to do that we at the end of December we at at the end of December 2020 we had a call out you know from all the brands asking for people to submit you know candidates for awards and in the skincare category alone between May 2020 to May 2021 there's like over a thousand launches and it's like it's so crazy.
• 27:12
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm like this is just one year of launches just in one category and that's not even counting all the other categories.
• 27:18
  SPEAKER_02: It's just skin.
• 27:19
  SPEAKER_02: And I was looking at all of the products that came our way to be considered and I was just like oh my God how can anyone ever really sift through all of this let alone try it.
• 27:30
  SPEAKER_02: So when an when a new brand comes whether it's dermatologist founded whether it's celebrity founded because I know people have a lot of feelings about that whether it's um you know an influencer started it or it's just an indie brand that's you know starting from the their bootstraps I I really I I consider them all the same basically so I I look a lot at their story you know because for me our the skincare market is so saturated that if you're launching you must you must have found something that you really believe in.
• 28:02
  SPEAKER_02: You know it's like it's like what what is compelling you to step into this completely competitive market like you must believe in something.
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_01: So I like you're not making products just to make them like there's some reason.
• 28:17
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah it's like there has to be a reason unless it's just a cash grab or you know but then even then it it how how can you guarantee success when it's again so competitive so if you if you're launching you have to have some sort of good story behind it because well that's what I am I'm a storyteller and so I'm always hunting for like okay what's the hook here?
• 28:36
  SPEAKER_02: What makes you different you know what is it your ingredient story?
• 28:39
  SPEAKER_02: Do you have a unique study that you did a clinical study that showed impressive you know an impressive connection to inflammation and aging like I'm thinking of the the brand hero um with the serum that they have oh yeah because I just met with the founders of that brand and and I was so fascinated because they're stem cell researchers and I was like okay oh my God yeah and and like they they found a a molecule a patented molecule that um actually you know combats inflammation in the body and it was and it was found while trying to I believe again correct me if I'm wrong um I believe um they were doing research on joint on joints and like arthritis and they've oh that makes you yeah because rheumatized arthritis arthritis is one of the biggest inflammation problems you know what I mean exactly exactly so they were they were doing research in that field and then decided to apply it to skincare and so something like that.
• 29:34
  SPEAKER_02: I'm like oh man this is brilliant like that's nuts.
• 29:38
  SPEAKER_02: I had no idea that's by the way if you're listening out there please come on to my show I would love to have that conversation.
• 29:44
  SPEAKER_02: And they're they're using a term called inflammaging which is you know inflammation aging and and talking about chronic inflammation in the skin and and stuff stuff like that is what really excites me.
• 29:54
  SPEAKER_02: I I met with another um skincare brand that was launching and it's called Selfmade.
• 30:00
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know if you've heard about it.
• 30:01
  SPEAKER_02: Nope at all.
• 30:02
  SPEAKER_02: So self-made it's it's brand new um like I don't think they're even really I feel like it was a soft launch but they have a serum um and it's not only a serum formulated to help again with the stress reaction on skin but it's also connected to a custom built mental health platform.
• 30:20
  SPEAKER_02: And this is what yeah this is and it's called the you know I I believe it's called the comfort serum and um I think that it was like when I met with the founder I was just so fascinated because you know she was talking about her mental health journey on her own, you know, from being really burnt out and working a lot and then kind of traveling the world and and you know doing doing it has such a huge role to play in our skin health.
• 30:44
  SPEAKER_02: I mean it does you know like when we're stressed out we break out you know when we yeah that's oh my gosh amazing please continue yeah no no but it was fascinating because you know this is pre-launch but it was she was explaining to me the founder was explaining to me how yes that connection between your skin and your mental health and I've I've reported on this too so I was I was very familiar with it but it was just fascinating to see a skincare brand actually you know put a stake in the ground and be like we're gonna connect these two together and then it's not just gonna be a skincare experience it's also going to be a self-care experience where for real like you'll have 21 it's called it I believe it's like 21 days of self-care and it's like uh a yeah basically an all my gosh online journey Christina this is reminding me of I'm not even joking dude I was talking to somebody and told them that they need to do a collab with the Calm app because of that exact you know what I mean like it's like 21 days to perfect skin like or like you know not not perfect skin but you know what I mean like it would be so cool to have like a meditation component with oh my gosh yeah that's no that's exactly what what self-made the brand is you know and and I loved meeting with the founder you know her name's Stephanie she's she's you know Chinese and Vietnamese and I again as an Asian American woman myself I always like to meet with founders who are women of color who are Asian women who you know it that is really important to me so these are kind of the things that I consider when I'm when I'm thinking about a brand I'm like what makes you different what makes your perspective different from all the thousands of things that are out there because I'm honestly I'm skeptical I'm jaded and I've really seen and tried it all so it's very it takes a it really takes a lot to impress me and that those are just some examples of of innovations that get me excited.
• 32:31
  SPEAKER_01: Well I think I mean dare I say I think you're also one of those people that really enjoys a fresh perspective right I mean that that goes with your career background.
• 32:39
  SPEAKER_01: I mean I love that and I think more people need to be like that honestly but yeah I totally get you um you know that's that sounds amazing I actually want to learn more about this I'm actually gonna go research it because yeah I think mental health you know especially that's what I mean you know what I mean Christina like this is what I mean why we don't know anything right now about skin health dermatology is a budding budding field in terms of research there's not enough information out there yet in terms of publications so me in the meantime we should be you know really looking towards these like connections and this like multi-system approach like we would in any organ right if you if you go to a doctor and get treated for some sort of cardiac problem they're going to look at everything they're gonna look at your hepatic system your GI system your cardiac obviously your cardiac system your lungs everything's gonna be involved why aren't we doing the same thing for skin?
• 33:28
  SPEAKER_01: It's our largest organ.
• 33:29
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah that's I I love that um you know but uh thank you for introducing me to that um I didn't know anything about this and I thought that nobody was you know doing anything with mental health and skin so yeah I I really think that that's probably we're probably gonna be seeing more of that uh just because people are talking so much more about it especially these days where you know a pandemic is happening you're at home you're people are suffering it's it's really hard right now just to be completely honest and and I've definitely had my moments in the past year of being home all day after having a really social life as a beauty editor you know of of of having to really shift everything in in my perspective and my priorities and and I and mental health is is such a priority to me now.
• 34:15
  SPEAKER_02: And I've definitely even seen such a difference in my skin from just taking better care of myself holistically you know now that I have you know I'm very privileged privileged to have the time to cook my own food and go to therapy and and all of those things combined have honestly helped me with my acne more than any spot treatment can.
• 34:36
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah yeah I love that I mean that elaborate more on that please because I think that that self-care thing really needs to be talked about more like we're all like yeah we're home we're stressed out but listen this is the time to you know really invest in your own health in a lot of ways right like eating better and and living better.
• 34:55
  SPEAKER_01: Like I mean we I don't know I think people have just focused so much on COVID that we forget that this is in a lot of ways we've been given this time to just reset in a way you know what I mean if we can and I think skincare really plays a big role in that in terms of self-care.
• 35:12
  SPEAKER_02: It definitely does it definitely does but I'm actually very simple when it comes to my skincare routine because I I'm very selective of what products I try out just because I've had a lot of as a human guinea pig I've had a lot of bad experiences trying out trendy skincare lines or you know trying to keep up with with what the conversation was happening online.
• 35:33
  SPEAKER_02: And then next thing you know I have like a flare up of dermatitis all over my nose, all over my chin and my dermatologist is like did I not tell you that you cannot do this so so my I've kept my skincare routine so so simple but but I you know I use it as almost like punctuation marks for the day.
• 35:51
  SPEAKER_02: In the beginning of the day it's morning I do my morning skincare routine and that's like signaling to my body okay I'm ready to go it's the work day and then at night when I'm winding down I literally use an LED red light mask and it's it's not the one that you have to like stay still for it can it just like velcro around my it's from Omnilux it velcro's around my head so I can kind of move around with it.
• 36:13
  SPEAKER_02: But um I use this red LED light mask and it and it goes for 10 minutes and those 10 minutes I actually journal at the same time.
• 36:20
  SPEAKER_02: So it's very much like a holistic experience that happens and or in the morning sometimes I'll I'll do my new face you know microcurrent and I'll do that while I'm listening to an inspirational podcast or some good music that's like getting me zenned out.
• 36:36
  SPEAKER_02: So it's it's very much a a process that I indulge in.
• 36:39
  SPEAKER_01: It's like a it's like a routine now right it's like a nice routine.
• 36:43
  SPEAKER_01: I mean I I love that I love that you side journaling and masking I've been you know I I think one of the coolest things would be like if they had a skincare journal.
• 36:52
  SPEAKER_01: You remember when they had the yoga I don't know if you ever saw this journal there was like a yoga journal and um you you could like open it it was very guided I would actually love to see that for self-care like skincare.
• 37:03
  SPEAKER_01: You know what I mean?
• 37:04
  SPEAKER_02: No I actually I I I actually pulled my followers one time because I I was thinking about this a lot I was like do people keep track of their skincare because I as after I had a really bad breakout and I didn't know what the hell I did I was like all right I'm gonna be really diligent and in my notes app I would just put my AM routine my PM routine I would write down any makeup that I tried any or put on my face just in case I would get reaction and then I would take pictures and people actually told me like a like a large percentage of people I would say it was around 90% of people that follow me who answered said that they don't track their skincare at all and I'm like how do you know if it's working if you're not tracking it's there's this app now um I interviewed the the founder a a while ago the do app I think she that was uh that was her goal yeah because it's literally like you write or you record every product you have you know what I mean and then it keeps track of like you know have you run out of it have you been using it like it's really cool.
• 38:05
  SPEAKER_01: So I I mean I think they're getting there.
• 38:08
  SPEAKER_01: You know there people are making things that are like pieces of this but I would love it if it was like in like a written form.
• 38:13
  SPEAKER_01: I love writing you know what I mean like sitting down and writing stuff out.
• 38:16
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah cool.
• 38:18
  SPEAKER_01: I actually want to I want to go a little bit further and ask you I know it's very generic but um what are your favorite products right now?
• 38:24
  SPEAKER_01: I know you listed a lot of amazing brands already but um you know if you were to pick your favorites of I don't know let's say 2020 you know would do you have some or I mean just things that you think are great.
• 38:36
  SPEAKER_02: Oh my gosh where does one even begin um yeah so a lot it's a little bit um I guess the first thing that comes to mind is is Tatcha's new Dewey Serum.
• 38:49
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah I am obsessed with it.
• 38:51
  SPEAKER_02: I got a very baby sample baby lab sample several months ago and I I used all like 10 milliliters that I had because I was like so obsessed with it.
• 39:01
  SPEAKER_02: I just love the way that it I use it as the my moisturizer step in the morning before I do sunscreen.
• 39:06
  SPEAKER_02: So I just love how it's it just really does plump up my skin and feels so silky and smooth.
• 39:14
  SPEAKER_02: And I just notice like it looks like my skin has natural highlighter on whenever it hits the light and that's that's like my vibe.
• 39:21
  SPEAKER_02: And my skin has been so dry lately because of winter and indoor apartment like heating so I feel like this dewy serum has saved me.
• 39:32
  SPEAKER_02: And it's just so rich and and you know I'm such a big fan of all the things that Tatcha does so I'm not surprised that this was such a hit.
• 39:40
  SPEAKER_02: Yes absolutely yeah so uh another thing that I really like is the hold on let me grab it it's the peach I'm in my little closet okay so my peach and lily glass skin veil mist yeah um okay it's a mist oh it's the mist not the serum it's the mist the newer product and I I love it because it it's really helpful for rehydrating my skin when again if for for whatever reason my skin has been crazy dry lately and I'm just like it cannot drink enough.
• 40:14
  SPEAKER_02: So so this mist is has been such a savior for me in the middle of the day when I you know starting to feel a little bit dry and um I'm guessing it's a bit it's probably because of my prescription products you know like I'm using some retinoids and that can be a little bit flaky and drying on the skin.
• 40:30
  SPEAKER_01: So so that's I didn't know they came out with a mist I know their serum is like a holy grail serum it's it is it is yeah and so I actually use this mist sometimes over makeup.
• 40:41
  SPEAKER_02: So I if I if I decide to wear makeup which is rare these days but I I'm usually I used to be like such a matte skin girl because my skin was quite oily especially in the the center of my face.
• 40:51
  SPEAKER_02: So I loved a full coverage matte foundation and I don't wear that as much these days but if I put on makeup and I feel like I've I've caked a little bit too much or it looks a little bit too one dimensional, I will spray this over it and I'm suddenly refreshed.
• 41:05
  SPEAKER_02: I look dewy and alive.
• 41:07
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm a big Oh I love that I love that you know actually I want to ask you because I recently interviewed this awesome awesome brand Fresh Chemistry and the idea was that um their products are basically they come in this um non-active form in terms of like they're not already mixed in like the active components aren't mixed in yet so I wanted to ask you um actually about the whole process um that you feel should go behind skincare.
• 41:31
  SPEAKER_01: I know we all have like our favorites you know like I love something like this where I can like you know do the little chemistry thing and like I love stuff like that.
• 41:38
  SPEAKER_01: So um do you have stuff that you look for like in terms of just like the overall aesthetic of a cool line I mean um in what draws you in with that kind of stuff?
• 41:48
  SPEAKER_02: What draws me in?
• 41:49
  SPEAKER_02: I, you know, I hate to say it but packaging is a factor.
• 41:53
  SPEAKER_02: It definitely is um it skincare is an experience and I think that a lot of times the number of times that I've seen a brand that has a good you know a good formula and a you know that actually works but then they just like fall behind when it comes to the packaging or the name of the brand or just the look and feel of it is something is off I'm just like they could have done this so much better.
• 42:16
  SPEAKER_02: And and they would go so much further, you know and and so for me packaging is a big deal because we live in a very visual world especially now it's all about that virtual first life and I feel like images and visuals they speak to me and so that's important to me.
• 42:33
  SPEAKER_02: And as a opposed as for it what I look for in the actual formula I just really want it to be no frills.
• 42:42
  SPEAKER_02: You know the more the more the less I don't know the less weird selling points I I don't know how to explain it but the the less like random like ingredients added to the the inky list just to make a claim that this ingredient isn't there the better you know so uh so I I'm so much more inclined to like uh a less fancy maybe a drugstore product but I know that it works.
• 43:07
  SPEAKER_02: I know that all my dermatologist friends are using it like that's the stuff that I'm really drawn to like if if my if a dermatologist uses it then I am pretty much going to be obsessed with it because you know we have a series on women's healthmag.com it's called Derm Diaries and and what we do is we literally ask dermatologists what their actual skincare routine is because you know they spend all day prescribing routines to people and I'm like what is in your drawer and I start to see the same things over and over again whether it's obviously skin suiticals, CE Frulic or it's the Cera V Daily Moisturizing Lotion or it's the isDIN you know SPF 50 ageless sunscreen which is my the sunscreen that I use I I start to see these patterns and I'm just like well they know better than me.
• 43:53
  SPEAKER_02: So if this that that's a lot of the ways that I get introduced to skincare products is through dermatologists, through you know skincare I Educators that I follow on Instagram as well.
• 44:03
  SPEAKER_02: And what else do I look for?
• 44:05
  SPEAKER_02: I look for, you know, sensorial experience.
• 44:08
  SPEAKER_02: I actually don't really like fragrance at all.
• 44:10
  SPEAKER_02: I know that people have a lot of feelings about fragrance, but for me, it's literally just smelling it.
• 44:14
  SPEAKER_02: Like I don't love a product that has too strong of a smell because I already wear fragrance on my own.
• 44:20
  SPEAKER_02: So I kind of don't want them to compete with each other.
• 44:23
  SPEAKER_02: And then also for me, I don't want to go to bed smelling like a cake, you know, like a like a like a like a dessert and like pudding and I don't even know bananas.
• 44:35
  SPEAKER_02: Like it just yeah.
• 44:37
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm just like, I don't think that was necessary, was it?
• 44:40
  SPEAKER_02: So the simpler, the simpler and the more targeted the product, the better.
• 44:45
  SPEAKER_02: You know, I I think that that's just really what I look for because my skin is quite finicky and temperamental.
• 44:52
  SPEAKER_02: And when I try too hard with getting, you know, all the fancy ingredients and products in there, then that's when things go awry.
• 45:00
  SPEAKER_01: It totally makes sense.
• 45:01
  SPEAKER_01: I completely agree with you.
• 45:02
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm I'm the same way.
• 45:03
  SPEAKER_01: I just, you know, it's I ask because it's so interesting what brings us into, you know what I mean?
• 45:09
  SPEAKER_01: Like using something on the daily.
• 45:10
  SPEAKER_01: And yeah, um, I know a lot of my friends love the packaging, like you mentioned, and you know, it's just something they love putting on their vanity and it's beautiful.
• 45:17
  SPEAKER_01: But yeah, I'm the same way you are.
• 45:19
  SPEAKER_01: Shame.
• 45:19
  SPEAKER_01: Listen, no shame.
• 45:20
  SPEAKER_02: People it you gotta do, you gotta do what you can to stand out in the market.
• 45:24
  SPEAKER_02: And I think that that's definitely a selling point.
• 45:26
  SPEAKER_02: Like, and even when it comes to retailers, if they want to stalk you, the way that they can even judge if you're on brand for them, you know, is is your is your look and your feel and your your more importantly, your mission.
• 45:37
  SPEAKER_02: So so that really that all of those things speak to me.
• 45:40
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I I love that.
• 45:42
  SPEAKER_01: And I want to actually, I want to um shift gears a little bit because this is, I think, a very important topic.
• 45:46
  SPEAKER_01: It's very close to my heart as a woman of color.
• 45:49
  SPEAKER_01: Um, how do you feel about representation in the skincare industry for us as women of color?
• 45:54
  SPEAKER_01: Do you feel like it's adequate right now?
• 45:56
  SPEAKER_01: Do you think that it needs to be, you know, revamped?
• 45:58
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, what are your thoughts around it?
• 46:00
  SPEAKER_02: I think that there's always improvement that needs to be done.
• 46:03
  SPEAKER_02: I think that thankfully there's there's been such an interest in Asian beauty brands, you know, whether it's Korean or from or Japanese or, you know, so many, so many are are out there and and really killing it right now.
• 46:18
  SPEAKER_02: But I think that as always, there should be a lot more, a lot more diversity, a lot more people who are not just the you know, in camp in skincare campaigns or hired for the shoot, but also the formulators behind the the scientists, the dermatologists, the CEOs, the presidents, because I I can't tell you the number of times I meet with a brand and it's a white man.
• 46:45
  unknown: Yeah.
• 46:46
  SPEAKER_02: It's just the the number, the number of times I I step into a meeting and I'm just like, okay, another another skincare brand by a white man targeting women and you know, like wanting to get into the skincare business, you know, because it's lucrative.
• 47:01
  SPEAKER_02: Uh I feel like I can I can see right through that a lot of times.
• 47:04
  SPEAKER_02: And um I mean, no shade to like all the to white to white men, yeah, brand fowlers, but but it but it's kind of like I I love when I could see some something different who has a different perspective because no matter what you do, if you are someone who is a woman of color specifically, your your lived experience will inform your product that you make.
• 47:26
  SPEAKER_02: And that's already inherently intriguing to me because I I can relate on a level.
• 47:31
  SPEAKER_02: I know what it's like to feel like the way I look and the way that I've I was born isn't considered, you know, quote unquote beautiful, or that's how I used to feel before I was a lot more enlightened because I I wanted to have lighter skin.
• 47:48
  SPEAKER_01: I wanted to have uh you know, I wanted I'm so glad you're bringing this up.
• 47:52
  SPEAKER_01: Please talk about this.
• 47:53
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 47:54
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 47:54
  SPEAKER_02: I I mean, I'm I'm Filipino American and colorism is a really, really bad issue that's deeply rooted in the country.
• 48:03
  SPEAKER_02: And um a lot of it is rooted in our 400 plus years of colonialism and you know, want it wanting to, you know, be the proximity to whiteness is is what was considered beautiful.
• 48:17
  SPEAKER_02: And to this to this day, that is kind of what is celebrated, whether it's uh, you know, celebrities who who gets to be a celebrity there, who gets to be considered beautiful in a skincare campaign.
• 48:29
  SPEAKER_02: When I go to the Philippines, there's there's skin whitening aisles, you know, and and when I was maybe at 14 years old or so, I would say my my aunt gave me like a six-month supply of this papaya soap that was skin lightning.
• 48:43
  SPEAKER_02: And I felt like that's what I had to do.
• 48:46
  SPEAKER_02: That I had I every time I showered, I used this skin lightning soap because I thought that that's what would make me beautiful.
• 48:52
  SPEAKER_02: And people were scared of the sun.
• 48:54
  SPEAKER_02: People, and we were like, we're island people, like why are we scared of the sun?
• 48:58
  SPEAKER_02: And and and we would, you know, I would see people walking in the streets there with umbrellas.
• 49:03
  SPEAKER_02: I would hear the comments from like aunties and you know, like of of wanting to make sure that you don't get too dark, and and it's all it's so it's just so rooted again in colonialism and and this like Western influence on the country, um, because everybody thinks that the whiter you are, the more beautiful you are.
• 49:23
  SPEAKER_02: And and and it took a lot of time for me to really like unpack that and and to be so much, you know, to be proud of my skin color.
• 49:33
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, exactly.
• 49:34
  SPEAKER_01: I I love that you I got this really excited when you brought this up because it's exactly where I was going.
• 49:39
  SPEAKER_01: Um I really think that this is a problem.
• 49:41
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, as an Indian woman, I can honestly, Indian American woman, I can say that same here.
• 49:45
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it's something that we all have dealt with, I think, um in a way.
• 49:50
  SPEAKER_01: And and it's like now that I look at the skincare when I look at the skincare industry, you know what offends me more is actually things that say brightening.
• 49:59
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not gonna lie to you.
• 50:00
  SPEAKER_01: And and and it's like, you know, because when I think of brightening, honestly, Christina, it's a trigger word for me to think about skin lightening.
• 50:07
  SPEAKER_01: And it and you know, because when I think of bright, I think of like, you know, you know, our perception is different, right?
• 50:14
  SPEAKER_01: Like we all think differently.
• 50:16
  SPEAKER_01: But yeah, for me, I don't like that word.
• 50:18
  SPEAKER_01: And I think it's because there's so much the um, you know, subconscious trauma for a lot of women of color um with this exact same problem, regardless of where we're from.
• 50:27
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it's it's a multi, you know, cultural thing that's going on.
• 50:33
  SPEAKER_01: So you know, I I don't know.
• 50:36
  SPEAKER_01: I just think that it's it's it's a thing that we need to talk about more, right?
• 50:39
  SPEAKER_01: It's like I don't ever see articles about it, I don't ever see documentaries about it.
• 50:43
  SPEAKER_01: And it I know people who've died because of this.
• 50:47
  SPEAKER_01: Like I knew a girl, you know, growing, yeah.
• 50:49
  SPEAKER_01: I knew a girl growing up, and she was, you know, I I was born in India and she was still there and she was a very good friend of mine, and she had acid thrown on her face because when she tried skin, yeah, when she's tried skin lightning products, it left behind reactions.
• 51:02
  SPEAKER_01: And she almost um, you know, she had a lot of patchiness, right?
• 51:05
  SPEAKER_01: In terms of discoloration.
• 51:06
  SPEAKER_01: And um, she was going home one day and someone literally threw acid on her face, and now she lives with that every single day, and she doesn't have that, you know, privilege of being in America where you can get dermatologists to fix that for you or help you with that, you know what I mean?
• 51:19
  SPEAKER_01: The healing of that, but and you know, so this is a real problem, is my point.
• 51:24
  SPEAKER_01: It's a thing that women deal with every single day.
• 51:28
  SPEAKER_01: And I would love to, yeah.
• 51:30
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, the only way to subvert that kind of deeply rooted white supremacy in the beauty industry, honestly, like if we're gonna be real talking about it, is is is to have more people who look like you and look like me in positions of power and and and to keep bringing up other people, you know, Asian women, Latino women, black women, like just like bringing those people and empowering them to lead the industry.
• 51:56
  SPEAKER_02: I think that that's is so desperately needed so that we can shift that narrative that that you know, whiter or lighter or more Eurocentric is better.
• 52:05
  SPEAKER_02: And you see it even in when it comes to you know plastic surgery trends or when it comes to dermatological procedure trends.
• 52:14
  SPEAKER_02: Like so much of it is rooted in that in those like deep, deep, deep belief in in like white supremacy.
• 52:21
  SPEAKER_01: And right, and honestly, filters are the features, and you know what I mean?
• 52:25
  SPEAKER_02: Like, yeah, and even you know, I did a report on this for women's health um in September where I I talked about the psychological effect of filters um that we use on social media, uh filters and FaceTune and and photo editing and like AR and all of it, and kind of how how damaging it is to our self-esteem and and our confidence and our perceptions of self.
• 52:48
  SPEAKER_02: Honestly, I talked to I talked to a lot of psychologists and and plastic surgeons and dermatologists about this, and you know it's an issue, it's an issue that that people I think don't talk enough about.
• 52:59
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I totally agree.
• 53:00
  SPEAKER_01: I totally agree.
• 53:01
  SPEAKER_01: I love that you did a piece on that.
• 53:02
  SPEAKER_01: You I really love your work.
• 53:04
  SPEAKER_01: Like you I want to commend you on doing these amazing pieces, seriously, dude.
• 53:08
  SPEAKER_01: Like, we need more people doing this, seriously.
• 53:11
  SPEAKER_01: And everyone listening out there, please like take inspiration from from uh Christina's uh work because this is this is the exact kind of reporting and and work we need, I think.
• 53:20
  SPEAKER_01: I mean it's we know it, right?
• 53:21
  SPEAKER_01: We've lived it as women of color.
• 53:23
  SPEAKER_01: We've lived all these like situations and we've seen you know all sorts of scenarios, and I think bringing light to that right now is more important than ever, you know.
• 53:30
  SPEAKER_01: And what I worry about, honestly, is like the the generation right after us because they're looking at us, and I think they need some like drastic, you know what I mean, like representation of what the world should be like.
• 53:42
  SPEAKER_01: Like, you know what I mean?
• 53:43
  SPEAKER_01: Like, and I and I think about that, and and these kind of topics I think are what need to be brought up to help this generation understand that there are some really serious problems about you know that involve beauty, you know what I mean?
• 53:57
  SPEAKER_01: And beauty isn't just all like frills and and feathers and happiness everywhere, it's there's there's a self-confidence component here, you know what I mean?
• 54:05
  SPEAKER_01: And it everyone deserves to have that self-confidence component be at its max capacity to benefit them.
• 54:10
  SPEAKER_01: You know what I'm trying to say?
• 54:11
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and and that's being hindered if we don't talk about things like skin lightening, if we don't talk about things like um Asian features and you know, African-American features and features need to be discussed, just like you know, skin color needs to be discussed.
• 54:25
  SPEAKER_02: So I'm gonna stop ranting, but no, I could go on and on and on about this, you know.
• 54:29
  SPEAKER_02: It's like I I it's just I feel so strongly about it, and that's why I I like working in the beauty industry and I like being a reporter, is because it it gives me a voice in this space to to talk about these issues.
• 54:42
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I love that.
• 54:43
  SPEAKER_01: I love that.
• 54:44
  SPEAKER_01: Well, Christina, thank you so much.
• 54:45
  SPEAKER_01: You're so cool to talk to, and I'm going to definitely beg you to come back on because I would love for us to just pick a topic and sit down and talk.
• 54:53
  SPEAKER_01: Because honestly, I don't like you said, you know, perspectives, I don't get unique perspectives every day.
• 54:58
  SPEAKER_01: So I I truly appreciate your time.
• 55:01
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you so much for having me.
• 55:02
  SPEAKER_02: I feel like we we had such an amazing conversation and and I hope that everybody enjoyed listening.
• 55:07
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, absolutely.
• 55:08
  SPEAKER_01: And everybody out there, please uh give Christina a follow.
• 55:11
  SPEAKER_01: Christina, can you shout out your Instagram handle so everyone can go and check your page out?
• 55:16
  SPEAKER_02: Sure thing.
• 55:17
  SPEAKER_02: It's it's at Christina Rodolfo.
• 55:19
  SPEAKER_02: I'm happy to field all of your DMs about beauty products all day.
• 55:24
  SPEAKER_02: So so yes, I definitely slide in the DMs and ask me all of your questions.
• 55:29
  SPEAKER_01: Awesome, awesome.
• 55:30
  SPEAKER_01: And everybody, please leave us feedback on the cover art.
• 55:33
  SPEAKER_01: I will pass along all of your questions to Christina.
• 55:35
  SPEAKER_01: Um, thank you for listening.
• 55:37
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• 55:42
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• 55:45
  SPEAKER_01: So thank you so much.
• 55:47
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• 57:02
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