Latest / Earn Your Leisure / How Carolyn Aronson Built a $500M Haircare Empire, and Changed The Game with It’s A 10 Haircare

Transcript

How Carolyn Aronson Built a $500M Haircare Empire, and Changed The Game with It’s A 10 Haircare · Earn Your Leisure

0:00
Speaker 1: An illegal alien from Guatemala charged with raping a child
0:03
Speaker 1: in Massachusetts. An MS thirteen gang member from Al Salvador
0:07
Speaker 1: accused of murdering a Texas man of Venezuelan charged with
0:11
Speaker 1: filming and selling child pornography in Michigan. These are just
0:15
Speaker 1: some of the heinous migrant criminals caught because of President
0:19
Speaker 1: Donald J.
0:20
Speaker 2: Trump's leadership.
0:21
Speaker 1: I'm Christy nom the United States Secretary of Homeland Security.
0:25
Speaker 1: Under President Trump, attempted illegal border crossings are at the
0:29
Speaker 1: lowest levels ever recorded, and over one hundred thousand illegal
0:33
Speaker 1: aliens have been arrested. If you are here illegally, your
0:37
Speaker 1: next you will be fined nearly one thousand dollars a day, imprisoned,
0:41
Speaker 1: and deported.
0:42
Speaker 2: You will never return.
0:44
Speaker 1: But if you register using our CBP home app and
0:47
Speaker 1: leave now, you could be allowed to return legally. Do
0:50
Speaker 1: what's right.
0:51
Speaker 2: Leave now.
0:53
Speaker 1: Under President Trump, America's laws, border and families will be protected.
0:57
Speaker 3: Sponsored by the United States Department of Homeland Security.
1:00
Speaker 4: All right, welcome back, guys. Yeah, yeah, yes, we have
1:03
Speaker 4: a great conversation ahead of us today. We have Carolyn Arison,
1:08
Speaker 4: CEO and founder of It's a ten Enterprises, So beauty hairline.
1:16
Speaker 4: You might be familiar with our guy Fat Joe and
1:20
Speaker 4: recently Nori cal It and Dan Else. Yeah, Kelsey for short,
1:25
Speaker 4: that's a big one. Then what was the model? Tyson?
1:28
Speaker 4: Tyson Beckford. But years and years in the beauty industry
1:33
Speaker 4: has built a beauty empire. And I don't know if
1:35
Speaker 4: this is correct or not, but I read with it
1:37
Speaker 4: said five hundred million dollars in annual sales and operations
1:40
Speaker 4: in over one hundred and seven countries.
1:42
Speaker 2: We're up to one hundred and twenty five countries, and yeah,
1:46
Speaker 2: I would say the sales are you know, at least
1:48
Speaker 2: that much. At least we are privately owned companies, so
1:53
Speaker 2: we don't report to anyone, but those are retail retail
1:57
Speaker 2: numbers is booming.
1:58
Speaker 4: Yeah, yes, can you gradually you name you were named
2:01
Speaker 4: Forbes fifty fifty over fifty, that's right.
2:03
Speaker 2: Yeah, that was a complete honor.
2:05
Speaker 4: Congratuats rewinded ten which aka Rwanda time. Yeah we know
2:11
Speaker 4: it's been coined by cal It, Faed Joe and now
2:16
Speaker 4: Norris involved with it. Kelsey, Travis, Kelcey and Tyson Beckford. Yeah,
2:21
Speaker 4: so that's like the just for men kind of thing.
2:26
Speaker 4: But right is a dive for your beer.
2:30
Speaker 2: Is it is hair and dye beard that's in a box.
2:34
Speaker 2: But it's very different than just for men. We've raised
2:37
Speaker 2: the bar within that category and really have brought a quality,
2:42
Speaker 2: professional Italian color to the masses. So you know, it's
2:47
Speaker 2: just it's the same concept but a little better high quality.
2:51
Speaker 5: Yes, of course, of course.
2:53
Speaker 4: And it's all open to us. I saw it in CVS.
2:56
Speaker 4: That's right, it's all.
2:57
Speaker 2: Over all of these beauty I'm going in Target, about
3:01
Speaker 2: to launch in Target.
3:02
Speaker 4: So yeah, picking up a lot of steams, a lot of.
3:04
Speaker 5: Things about beards. You know, we know a thing it
3:07
Speaker 5: two about.
3:08
Speaker 2: Them, just a little bit.
3:09
Speaker 4: Yeah. So first and fore, well, thank you for joining us.
3:12
Speaker 2: Appreciate it, our pleasure, my pleasure, Thank you for having
3:14
Speaker 2: me absolutely so.
3:15
Speaker 4: Yeah. So you've built this empire and one hundred and
3:19
Speaker 4: twenty smidd countries and over five hundred million dollars annual sales.
3:24
Speaker 4: But where does it start? Like, what's the origin story?
3:28
Speaker 4: Have you become an entrepreneur? Start in this country. I'm
3:30
Speaker 4: starting this company and in.
3:31
Speaker 2: This country because we're blessed to be able to do that, right,
3:34
Speaker 2: it's super important that we know we have those freedoms.
3:37
Speaker 2: So I really started as a hairdresser. I've been in
3:40
Speaker 2: the beauty industry for forty two years, and those annual
3:44
Speaker 2: sales are just It's a ten haircare sales. So I
3:48
Speaker 2: started It's a Ten Haircare eighteen years ago after I
3:52
Speaker 2: stood behind the chair for twenty years, and so really
3:54
Speaker 2: kind of migrated into manufacturing after being a hairdresser and
3:58
Speaker 2: a salon owner. My first company that completely failed, lost
4:03
Speaker 2: everything and took our last few dollars eighty thousand dollars,
4:08
Speaker 2: me and my partner forty thousand each, and started It's
4:11
Speaker 2: a Ten Haircare with just one bottle because that's all
4:13
Speaker 2: we could afford. And we started with the miracle leaving product,
4:17
Speaker 2: which now sells over eleven million bottles a year just
4:20
Speaker 2: in the United States. So that particular company really exploded,
4:27
Speaker 2: and in twenty seventeen, I bought my partner out, so
4:30
Speaker 2: I'm the only Latina owned professional haircare brand of my
4:34
Speaker 2: size in the world. And really it's just my years
4:38
Speaker 2: of passion for the beauty industry and really looking to
4:42
Speaker 2: raise the bar in many categories. I saw you introduce
4:45
Speaker 2: me as It's a ten enterprises, and that's really what's
4:48
Speaker 2: evolved out of all my years of experience is many
4:51
Speaker 2: beauty brands, rewind At ten being one of them, and
4:54
Speaker 2: super excited about that one, and so we're working on
4:58
Speaker 2: Rewind her ten. So going to just keep going and
5:01
Speaker 2: really bringing you know, great things to the consumer and
5:04
Speaker 2: to the professional hairdresser.
5:06
Speaker 6: So this is I mean, it's an incredible story. Right,
5:09
Speaker 6: you start as a product, and I want to talk
5:12
Speaker 6: about the product. The first one right to leave it
5:13
Speaker 6: the magical leave in because as you're creating that product,
5:18
Speaker 6: one of the toughest things to do in haircare, especially
5:21
Speaker 6: in beauty, is to market that to the masses.
5:23
Speaker 5: So how did you make this product? How did you
5:27
Speaker 5: know it was the product? And how did you get
5:29
Speaker 5: it into the right people's hands so that people can
5:31
Speaker 5: know about it?
5:32
Speaker 2: So, you know, I think my frustration behind the chair
5:36
Speaker 2: really looking to create something that will see simple, easy
5:39
Speaker 2: to use, multifunctional, not only could the hairdresser understand it,
5:43
Speaker 2: but the consumer could understand it was really what I
5:45
Speaker 2: sought out to do and in that process obviously getting
5:50
Speaker 2: it into hairdresser's hands. So we started off within the
5:53
Speaker 2: professional sector. Cosmo prof which is owned by Sally Beauty Holdings.
5:57
Speaker 2: It's professional distribution center only so to hair salons. So
6:01
Speaker 2: we started off with them with the one bottle only
6:04
Speaker 2: in California. God God bless California right now with what
6:08
Speaker 2: they're going through. I'm super supportive of them. We just
6:11
Speaker 2: donated a half million dollars in products because that's where
6:13
Speaker 2: we started, and we got it into hairdresser's hands, gave
6:16
Speaker 2: out free samples, and it just went like wildfire across
6:19
Speaker 2: the United States. So it was really about it says
6:22
Speaker 2: ten things on the back. The names are simple, the
6:25
Speaker 2: colors pop, they're very Latina brighten, you know, bubbly colors.
6:29
Speaker 2: And it was really just bringing something to the industry
6:33
Speaker 2: that I really felt it needed and really getting it
6:36
Speaker 2: into hairdresser's hands because that's how brands are built, through
6:40
Speaker 2: passion and through that organic really brands that last forever,
6:44
Speaker 2: Like i mean, we're eighteen years into this now, so
6:48
Speaker 2: ones that really have legs. I'm a strong believer in
6:51
Speaker 2: starting slow and steady helped that mountain and so that's,
6:55
Speaker 2: you know, that's how we started another name.
6:57
Speaker 6: It's a tens when we think ten ten out ten.
7:00
Speaker 6: Perfection of course is that where the origins we don't
7:03
Speaker 6: put this product out.
7:04
Speaker 5: It's perfection.
7:05
Speaker 2: And not only that, I actually work with chemics to
7:08
Speaker 2: develop the formulas excuse me. And it was that process
7:12
Speaker 2: when I would say to them, Hey, you know what,
7:14
Speaker 2: this is only a six, send it back, do this?
7:17
Speaker 2: Do that add more slip? I wanted to do this
7:20
Speaker 2: and I kind of created these hybrid products that really
7:23
Speaker 2: became very, very loved throughout society. So that's really where
7:29
Speaker 2: it came from. Striving for that ten always, but sometimes
7:33
Speaker 2: it's a process and realizing that you know what, you
7:36
Speaker 2: have to work towards that little by little.
7:39
Speaker 4: So when you started, did you have a relationship with
7:42
Speaker 4: the chemist, with the manufacturers, with the wholesales, or is
7:46
Speaker 4: from your expertise in the beauty industry already or you
7:49
Speaker 4: just kind of went and figured it out on your own.
7:52
Speaker 2: Yeah, we figured it out little by little. We made
7:54
Speaker 2: some connections. California is a big hub for a lot
7:58
Speaker 2: of the manufacturing as well, and the beauty industry. A
8:00
Speaker 2: lot of it starts there. But we had made some
8:03
Speaker 2: connections through some other brands and people, the chemists behind them,
8:07
Speaker 2: so we just started working with them, and you know,
8:11
Speaker 2: I got in deep and got my hands dirty and
8:13
Speaker 2: really worked heavy with the chemists to really create unique products.
8:17
Speaker 4: How'd you market it?
8:18
Speaker 2: You know, as I mentioned, a big part of it
8:21
Speaker 2: obviously was pop of color, unique concept. It's a ten
8:26
Speaker 2: does ten things, multifunctional, kind of very eye catching from
8:30
Speaker 2: the beginning. But really the marketing in the beginning was
8:33
Speaker 2: mass sampling, and that was unusual for then. You know,
8:37
Speaker 2: they had done it years ago, but they'd gotten away
8:39
Speaker 2: from it. So we were literally giving off full sized
8:42
Speaker 2: bottles left and right, millions some are probably one of
8:45
Speaker 2: the largest sampling campaigns in the history of the beauty world.
8:48
Speaker 2: At one point we gave them so we were giving
8:51
Speaker 2: the hairdressers, and then as we grew and scaled, we
8:54
Speaker 2: gave two million bottles to Ulta stores across the United States.
8:58
Speaker 2: So we really kind of to this day, when we
9:01
Speaker 2: launch in a new country, we give out little two
9:03
Speaker 2: around sample bottles and people get hooked once they use it.
9:06
Speaker 2: It's one of those products. It's I call it a
9:09
Speaker 2: golden formula within the industry. It is that life changing
9:13
Speaker 2: to people. So and that's how we're able eighteen years later,
9:16
Speaker 2: even being knocked off so many times, we've been able
9:19
Speaker 2: to really keep our market share, it's quality, it's a tad,
9:23
Speaker 2: it's a t.
9:25
Speaker 6: So that's part of it that it's a competitive industry.
9:28
Speaker 6: But you said something very important earlier. You said that
9:31
Speaker 6: you're one of very few latinos in the space. And
9:34
Speaker 6: so when you're starting this, who are you looking to
9:38
Speaker 6: to say, like, hey, I can get advice from this
9:40
Speaker 6: person or are you relying on your peers and pretty
9:43
Speaker 6: much your customers as a test base to figure out
9:45
Speaker 6: how you're going to build this?
9:46
Speaker 2: You know, I think part of it is my years
9:49
Speaker 2: of experience. You know, I touched thousands of heads and
9:52
Speaker 2: use thousands of products, so I kind of have a
9:55
Speaker 2: feeling for really what is what I should bring to
9:58
Speaker 2: market and how. But really it is my peers. You know,
10:02
Speaker 2: you have other hairdressers testing them, you have you know,
10:06
Speaker 2: consumers testing them. It is a whole process, and you know,
10:10
Speaker 2: sometimes it's not always perfect. There's times when you know,
10:14
Speaker 2: what I put a product out and doesn't do so good,
10:16
Speaker 2: you know, and maybe maybe I bring it back to
10:18
Speaker 2: market later. I just remarket it marketing is really important
10:22
Speaker 2: as well, and I think keeping things very simple and
10:27
Speaker 2: easy for people to understand is where I kind of
10:30
Speaker 2: came in the back door. You know, at the time
10:33
Speaker 2: when I launched the company in two thousand and six,
10:36
Speaker 2: as you mentioned, the market was oversaturated. It was very competitive.
10:40
Speaker 2: I mean I was up against the Lorel P and G.
10:42
Speaker 2: These are multimillion dollar marketing budgets and we were like
10:46
Speaker 2: the little train that came from behind and just like
10:48
Speaker 2: I think again, I think I can and really kind
10:50
Speaker 2: of that came in the back door through the mass
10:52
Speaker 2: sampling campaigns.
10:54
Speaker 4: So you have the mass sampling campaigns is going good.
10:57
Speaker 4: But is that you said your first attempt you actually
10:59
Speaker 4: ended up foot failing, right.
11:01
Speaker 6: So this episode is brought to you by P and
11:05
Speaker 6: C Bank. A lot of people think podcasts about work
11:08
Speaker 6: are boring, and sure they definitely can be, But understanding
11:12
Speaker 6: a professionals routine shows us how they achieve their success
11:15
Speaker 6: little by little, day after day. It's like banking with
11:19
Speaker 6: P and C Bank. It might seem boring to safe
11:22
Speaker 6: plan and make calculated decisions with your bank, but keeping
11:25
Speaker 6: your money boring is what helps you live or more
11:28
Speaker 6: happily fulfilled life. P and C Bank brilliantly boring since
11:32
Speaker 6: eighteen sixty five. Brilliantly boring since eighteen sixty five is
11:36
Speaker 6: a service mark of the PNC Financial Service Group, Inc.
11:40
Speaker 6: P and C Bank National Association member FDIC.
11:46
Speaker 5: Erness What's Up?
11:47
Speaker 6: You ever walk into a small business and everything just
11:50
Speaker 6: works like The checkout is fast, the receipts are digital,
11:53
Speaker 6: tipping is a breeze, and you're out the door before
11:56
Speaker 6: the line even builds odds are they're using.
12:00
Speaker 5: We love supporting.
12:01
Speaker 6: Businesses that run on Square because it just feels seamless.
12:04
Speaker 6: Whether it's a local coffee shop, a vendor at a
12:07
Speaker 6: pop up market, or even one of our merch partners.
12:10
Speaker 6: Square makes it easy for them to take payments, manage inventory,
12:14
Speaker 6: and run their business with confidence, all from one simple system.
12:18
Speaker 6: If you're a business owner or even just thinking about
12:21
Speaker 6: launching something soon, Square is hands down one of the
12:24
Speaker 6: best tools out there to help you start, run, and grow.
12:28
Speaker 6: It's not just about payments, it's about giving you time
12:31
Speaker 6: back so you can focus on what matters most Ready.
12:34
Speaker 6: To see how Square can transform your business, visit Square
12:37
Speaker 6: dot com backslash, go backslash eyl to learn more. That's
12:42
Speaker 6: Square dot com backslash, go backslash eyl. Don't wait, don't hesitate,
12:47
Speaker 6: let's Square handle the back end so you can keep
12:50
Speaker 6: pushing your vision forward.
12:53
Speaker 1: An illegal alien from Guatemala charged with raping a child
12:57
Speaker 1: in Massachusetts. An MS thirteen gang from Al Salvador accused
13:02
Speaker 1: of murdering a Texas man of Venezuelan charged with filming
13:06
Speaker 1: and selling child pornography in Michigan. These are just some
13:10
Speaker 1: of the heinous migrant criminals caught because of President Donald J.
13:13
Speaker 2: Trump's leadership.
13:15
Speaker 1: I'm Christy nom the United States Secretary of Homeland Security.
13:19
Speaker 1: Under President Trump, attempted illegal border crossings are at the
13:22
Speaker 1: lowest levels ever recorded, and over one hundred thousand illegal
13:26
Speaker 1: aliens have been arrested. If you are here illegally, your
13:30
Speaker 1: next you will be fine nearly one thousand dollars a day,
13:34
Speaker 1: imprisoned and deported, you will never return. But if you
13:38
Speaker 1: register using our CBP home app and leave now, you
13:42
Speaker 1: could be allowed to return legally. Do what's right.
13:45
Speaker 2: Leave now.
13:46
Speaker 1: Under President Trump, America's laws, border and families.
13:50
Speaker 2: Will be protected.
13:51
Speaker 3: Sponsored by the United States Department of Homeland Security.
13:55
Speaker 4: How did that actually go from having a success to
13:57
Speaker 4: actually not working out?
13:59
Speaker 2: That's great question because as we all know, right our
14:02
Speaker 2: failures are opportunities to grow and learn. So when we
14:06
Speaker 2: first started, as you mentioned, we basically kind of just
14:10
Speaker 2: were diving in headfirst and learning as we went, and
14:13
Speaker 2: we really did everything to Ola Carte. You know, we
14:17
Speaker 2: had a separate chemist and a separate ingredient company, a
14:19
Speaker 2: separate label company, a separate sprayer company, a separate bottle company,
14:23
Speaker 2: and to create the cohesive product on the shelf and
14:26
Speaker 2: have all those vendors come together simultaneously was difficult. We
14:31
Speaker 2: had a lot of QC issues, and so we learned,
14:34
Speaker 2: I think, to really work with more one stop shops
14:38
Speaker 2: and really finding vendors and people to help you bring
14:40
Speaker 2: your vision to life that maybe have a few different
14:45
Speaker 2: services under one roof, and that helps a lot. You know,
14:48
Speaker 2: you need to streamline your manufacturing. So when you can
14:52
Speaker 2: actually go into a house, let's say it's a bottling
14:55
Speaker 2: house that has all the caps, it has all the
14:57
Speaker 2: design teams, it has all the labeling companies right where
15:01
Speaker 2: in these cohesive teams now that are out there, It's
15:04
Speaker 2: like why go to a plumbing store or go to
15:07
Speaker 2: an electrical store when you can go to home depot.
15:10
Speaker 2: So understanding that sometimes working smarter and not always harder,
15:15
Speaker 2: and I know that's a very cliche phrase. We all
15:18
Speaker 2: work very hard, but there is there are ways that
15:21
Speaker 2: you can make your time more proficient and really learn
15:26
Speaker 2: the ropes and how to really truly manufacture in a
15:29
Speaker 2: very efficient way.
15:30
Speaker 6: Yeah, we've been, you know, standing by that line, right
15:33
Speaker 6: you you gotta work smart. You said a lot of
15:35
Speaker 6: things just now in terms of somebody was trying to
15:37
Speaker 6: start about building that team, making it simple. One of
15:40
Speaker 6: the things we always stress is in order to have
15:42
Speaker 6: a business that's going to be successful and scalule, you
15:44
Speaker 6: have to start with low overhead. Right, So in this
15:47
Speaker 6: business in the early stages, I know you said you
15:50
Speaker 6: brought out your partner, but like, how cash intensive was
15:52
Speaker 6: it or wasn't it when you're starting to build this
15:55
Speaker 6: and get in the bottles and getting manufacturing and finding
15:58
Speaker 6: the simplest way to do it.
15:59
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's a great question because I think we're definitely
16:02
Speaker 2: one for the textbooks. I think Harvard needs to do
16:05
Speaker 2: a study on us. We actually had very little money,
16:13
Speaker 2: as I mentioned, so it's just me and my partner working. Originally,
16:18
Speaker 2: I kind of ran the inside, designed everything and made
16:22
Speaker 2: sure everything was flowing, and he was outside sales, and
16:25
Speaker 2: so we grew very slow, but steady, and as we grew,
16:31
Speaker 2: we just would hire only what we needed and sometimes
16:36
Speaker 2: outside consultants. So ten ninety nine's and to this day
16:42
Speaker 2: we run very kind of leaning me. I think we
16:45
Speaker 2: have twenty five employees, and I think companies my side
16:51
Speaker 2: usually have one hundred at least.
16:52
Speaker 5: I'm just thinking about the sales. Twenty five people.
16:54
Speaker 2: Yeah, we have twenty five employees. Yeah, so we may
16:59
Speaker 2: even have twenty seven, now, you know what I mean.
17:01
Speaker 2: We're growing big, hard and strong, are so? But yeah,
17:05
Speaker 2: I think that it's it's really important, you know. I
17:08
Speaker 2: have the mindset that growing slow and study is the
17:13
Speaker 2: way to long term success. I think part of the
17:15
Speaker 2: problem today and the mindset of people and entrepreneurs is
17:19
Speaker 2: that they need to explode and they need to do
17:22
Speaker 2: everything at once. And I'm not really a believer in that.
17:26
Speaker 6: You know.
17:27
Speaker 2: It's you know how they always say you're an overnight success,
17:29
Speaker 2: But it took me eighteen years, and that's really where
17:32
Speaker 2: we're at. It's actually forty two years. It's a lifetime
17:36
Speaker 2: of living and breathing one thing, the beauty industry, and
17:41
Speaker 2: staying consistent and persistent, and so you know, to me,
17:46
Speaker 2: that's the key to success. They say that the fastest
17:50
Speaker 2: way to the top is slow and steady.
17:53
Speaker 4: So you so you start, you have some trouble, you
17:58
Speaker 4: get back on track, you figure how to you know,
18:00
Speaker 4: consolidate things. When do you really start to hit your stride, Like,
18:03
Speaker 4: at what point do you start to really take off?
18:06
Speaker 2: You know, it's probably two years into it we really
18:08
Speaker 2: started seeing so it failed year one. The other company
18:12
Speaker 2: really failed within probably the first yeah, eighteen months to
18:16
Speaker 2: twenty four months. We kind of migrated that company into
18:20
Speaker 2: our new one, but we had we had to shut
18:22
Speaker 2: down the old one and literally start a whole new
18:24
Speaker 2: brand in a new company. So but you know, we
18:27
Speaker 2: tried to kind of take some of the inventory and
18:31
Speaker 2: you know, work through it and do some things to
18:33
Speaker 2: help subsidize our new company a little bit. But we
18:36
Speaker 2: also had built some of those relationships and so we
18:39
Speaker 2: kind of you know, worked with some of the relationships
18:44
Speaker 2: in a way that helped us work through into the
18:47
Speaker 2: new company. So listen, everything is is is that whole
18:51
Speaker 2: relationship base. So much of every industry, right, it's all about.
18:56
Speaker 4: That that working and what made it go to the
19:01
Speaker 4: more It was.
19:04
Speaker 2: Probably a combination of things. It was a magical recipe.
19:08
Speaker 2: It really was. And it was a timings thing where
19:12
Speaker 2: the distributor that we were working with, I just saw sorio.
19:15
Speaker 2: So they were willing to give us a shot one
19:17
Speaker 2: little bottle. Right, They were like, hey, we need, you know,
19:20
Speaker 2: some new brands. Let's let's give it a try. And
19:22
Speaker 2: it took off like wildfire. I mean, that's the miraculous
19:25
Speaker 2: part of it. It truly is a miracle that has
19:29
Speaker 2: just really you know, blossomed into this massive for a
19:32
Speaker 2: wide brand.
19:33
Speaker 6: So after you get the first product, this is always
19:37
Speaker 6: tough in business knowing when to scale and create more.
19:41
Speaker 6: I mean, I got the list here, I can run
19:43
Speaker 6: them most So you got it's a ten herecare, it's
19:45
Speaker 6: a ten tools extentions, how are you realizing and analyzing? Okay,
19:52
Speaker 6: it's time to add an extension to this empire. It's
19:54
Speaker 6: time to add an extentid to this empire. And now
19:56
Speaker 6: you look and it's like, well, we really have an.
19:58
Speaker 2: Empire, right, you know. I think part of it is
20:03
Speaker 2: your gut, but also it's financial literacy. It's absolutely key
20:07
Speaker 2: to success. Knowing when to spend, how to spend, how
20:10
Speaker 2: to manage it, and how to manage growth. I think
20:13
Speaker 2: that tends to be the downfall a lot of entrepreneurs.
20:16
Speaker 2: They aren't quite sure how to actually manage that growth
20:21
Speaker 2: and and not get themselves into much debt, not to
20:25
Speaker 2: expand too quickly. And I mean that's that's a major
20:29
Speaker 2: part of it, because so many people want to hurry
20:32
Speaker 2: up and just move into the next categories and expand
20:36
Speaker 2: when actually they haven't solidified the last one. So it's
20:39
Speaker 2: really really important to get those legs under your initial
20:43
Speaker 2: acquisitions and your brands. And we just made our first acquisition.
20:46
Speaker 2: That's why I say acquisition, and so yeah, I mean
20:50
Speaker 2: it's as I mentioned, you know, it took it took years,
20:53
Speaker 2: and we were completely self funded the whole time, so
20:57
Speaker 2: as money would come in, we would reinvest. And that's
21:00
Speaker 2: really unusual. I mean a lot of companies bring a
21:03
Speaker 2: venture to grow, and it's it's very common in today's
21:08
Speaker 2: world obviously to borrow money. We didn't do a lot
21:12
Speaker 2: of that. We let the company grow itself. And I'm
21:16
Speaker 2: old school when it comes to finances. I'm kind of
21:18
Speaker 2: like that Latina Susie Orman as far as how I
21:21
Speaker 2: how I manage my money if I can't afford it,
21:24
Speaker 2: I don't do it and I don't buy it, and
21:26
Speaker 2: I live that way to this day even as someone
21:29
Speaker 2: as a wealthy person.
21:31
Speaker 4: So what role has like beauty influencers played. Do you
21:36
Speaker 4: guys utilize that at all? Because that's something that's become really.
21:38
Speaker 2: Big And listen, you know, for an eighteen year old
21:43
Speaker 2: brand to literally migrate through the times and still remain
21:47
Speaker 2: relevant and you know, have our demographic go down seven
21:52
Speaker 2: years over the last few years because we are engaging
21:56
Speaker 2: in the social media and the influencers in the ways
21:59
Speaker 2: of today. I mean, when I started this company, we
22:02
Speaker 2: were doing magazine's you know, I mean, technology wasn't even there.
22:06
Speaker 2: So that's the president of the company, Jeff Aronson, who's
22:10
Speaker 2: absolutely brilliant, who was also behind the marketing of Rewinded
22:13
Speaker 2: ten putting the guys faces on the boxes. Got your husband,
22:17
Speaker 2: that's my husband, yes, and so yeah, I mean that's
22:21
Speaker 2: really keeping up with the times is such an important
22:24
Speaker 2: part of any brand, and not only with technology in
22:28
Speaker 2: what you're actually creating, So you know, the newness of
22:32
Speaker 2: the products and keeping up with the styles and everything
22:35
Speaker 2: is such a major part of it. And that's how
22:36
Speaker 2: I think where a lot of brands get challenged time.
22:40
Speaker 4: Did you accept that right away? Because that's difficult. Like
22:42
Speaker 4: Blockbuster went out of business because they didn't realize what
22:45
Speaker 4: was happening, right, So a lot of companies don't actually
22:47
Speaker 4: understand things until it's too late. So this whole beauty
22:51
Speaker 4: influencer thing, I would assume people kind of didn't fully
22:54
Speaker 4: understand it at first. So did you realize right away
22:57
Speaker 4: or was it did it take time to appreciate social media?
23:01
Speaker 2: Great question. So in twenty seventeen, when I became sole
23:05
Speaker 2: owner of the company, and I had so much vision
23:08
Speaker 2: about how I was going to literally become the driver
23:12
Speaker 2: of the brand bus and literally take control of my
23:16
Speaker 2: distribution for the first time every really in the history
23:19
Speaker 2: since it's been incepted, you know. So I had all
23:23
Speaker 2: these ideas, I want to expand distribution and change the company.
23:28
Speaker 2: But I also knew that we really needed to come
23:31
Speaker 2: into the ages right And that's where Jeff came in
23:35
Speaker 2: and he said a couple of things, because we negotiated
23:38
Speaker 2: him becoming on you know and working with it a
23:41
Speaker 2: ten and he said, I'll do it under one condition
23:44
Speaker 2: that you come from behind the curtain, Ez and you
23:46
Speaker 2: become the face of the brand because social media is
23:50
Speaker 2: the way of the future and we need to also
23:52
Speaker 2: build e commerce, and he's a genius at all of that.
23:55
Speaker 2: And I love technology. I always have. I've always been
23:58
Speaker 2: a Mac person and the newness and technology, so I
24:03
Speaker 2: was very receptive to it, but also was a little
24:05
Speaker 2: bit afraid because it's expensive. When I first owned the company,
24:11
Speaker 2: we had a website that said hi, we're it's a
24:14
Speaker 2: ten and had pictures of our products. Because we were
24:16
Speaker 2: professional only, we had distributors. You couldn't buy from us directly.
24:20
Speaker 2: The first thing he did was create a website and
24:22
Speaker 2: we started marketing directly to consumer. And I mean that's
24:27
Speaker 2: literally grown thousands of percent over the last few years.
24:31
Speaker 2: It is a major part of our business, and obviously
24:33
Speaker 2: using the technology to cultivate that business is now a
24:37
Speaker 2: way of life for us, and it's exciting. We're getting
24:40
Speaker 2: more and more involved in it all the time, and yeah,
24:43
Speaker 2: I love it.
24:45
Speaker 5: That's incredible.
24:45
Speaker 6: So I mean that speaks a lot to having a
24:49
Speaker 6: strong team. And when you have a lean team, like
24:52
Speaker 6: you said, twenty five maybe twenty seven, now, you kind
24:55
Speaker 6: of have to get it right right. You've got to
24:57
Speaker 6: get it right when you're running that then what teams?
25:00
Speaker 6: So what's that process like of bringing people on and
25:03
Speaker 6: realizing it's a good fitter not for you, right, because
25:06
Speaker 6: at some points, as you said, as you start scaling more,
25:10
Speaker 6: you have less time for yourself, so you have to
25:12
Speaker 6: put people in positions of.
25:13
Speaker 5: Power, give up a little bit of control.
25:15
Speaker 2: Delicate, it's really super important.
25:18
Speaker 5: It's a delicate balance.
25:19
Speaker 2: Yes, yes, And you know, I think as we talked
25:21
Speaker 2: about networking, all of my years within this industry, I've
25:26
Speaker 2: had a lot of experience meeting all types of people
25:29
Speaker 2: within the industry, and I can remember literally like thinking
25:31
Speaker 2: to myself, Oh my god, I wish I could hire
25:33
Speaker 2: a person like that, or I wish I could have
25:35
Speaker 2: that CFO, or I wish I could have that person
25:38
Speaker 2: of marketing retail, you know, senior VP executive. And little
25:42
Speaker 2: by little we've been able to actually hire them and
25:46
Speaker 2: work with them, and it's been a dream come true
25:48
Speaker 2: because your team is everything. They help me bring my
25:52
Speaker 2: visions to life, and they're the experts at it, and
25:55
Speaker 2: I learned from them and they learned from me. And
25:58
Speaker 2: it's like this great tangle when you have those experiences
26:02
Speaker 2: and you start feeling does this person fit or not,
26:05
Speaker 2: you know, pretty quick, usually within ninety days, you know,
26:09
Speaker 2: And so you know, that's really how we've been able
26:12
Speaker 2: to grow our team and build the people that work
26:15
Speaker 2: with us, so they you know, we're type team. So
26:18
Speaker 2: you got it?
26:18
Speaker 3: You do?
26:18
Speaker 2: You have to kind of fit in the family and
26:20
Speaker 2: fit fit in the mentality because we all wear a
26:25
Speaker 2: lot of hats. We're not a typical corporate company. We're
26:30
Speaker 2: extremely entrepreneurial. We turn on a dime. It's a lot
26:34
Speaker 2: of excitement and a lot of work, but when we're
26:37
Speaker 2: doing it, we're all really passionate about it, and we're
26:40
Speaker 2: all really involved in building the brands and creating what
26:43
Speaker 2: it is you see on shelf.
26:45
Speaker 4: So the products, was it ever made for one specific demographic?
26:49
Speaker 4: Obviously as a lattina? Was that the idea to kind
26:52
Speaker 4: of make it for every single person? Is that even possible?
26:57
Speaker 4: Like what was who is the products?
26:59
Speaker 2: Actually great question because you know, back in two thousand
27:04
Speaker 2: and five when I was formulating these products, there was
27:07
Speaker 2: a black haircare ale and there was a Caucasian hair
27:10
Speaker 2: care asle and really the products were able to kind
27:13
Speaker 2: of sit on both shelves, and so in the beginning
27:17
Speaker 2: we had a lot of organic passion from a lot
27:20
Speaker 2: of stars that we couldn't afford to pay. We never
27:23
Speaker 2: did pay them, but everyone from like Christina Applegate to
27:26
Speaker 2: Gabrielle Union was literally publicly speaking on magazines, on Twitter,
27:31
Speaker 2: on their social media about our brand, completely unsolicited. And
27:35
Speaker 2: it was an honor because I believe it within my culture.
27:40
Speaker 2: You know, we have everything. We have Afro Ladina, we
27:43
Speaker 2: have we have almost you know, blonde hair, blue eye.
27:46
Speaker 2: I mean, we are the melting the Puerto Rican Island
27:48
Speaker 2: is the melting pot. And so that mentality really you know,
27:54
Speaker 2: I when I stood behind the chair, I always did
27:56
Speaker 2: every type of hair. It was one of the only
27:58
Speaker 2: hairdressers in the salon that did everything from black hair
28:02
Speaker 2: to Jewish hair, to Arab hair to white hair. I
28:06
Speaker 2: was willing to embrace it all. And so maybe that
28:09
Speaker 2: really helped in what it was that I created, because
28:11
Speaker 2: we were inclusive long before that word was even the buzzword.
28:15
Speaker 2: So it goes across, it goes across. And what I've
28:19
Speaker 2: done is color coded collections for hair issues. So we
28:24
Speaker 2: have a coothly collection, we have a scalp collection, we
28:28
Speaker 2: have you know, all these different color coded collections. That
28:31
Speaker 2: really are targeted. Each one has a leave in so
28:34
Speaker 2: that's a foundation, but they're targeted to solve hair problems.
28:38
Speaker 2: Because we are a melting pot. We are becoming more
28:41
Speaker 2: and more mixed. So maybe you have a few different
28:43
Speaker 2: problems and you need you know, products from each one.
28:47
Speaker 6: I mean, yeah, that makes a lot of sense. Yeah,
28:50
Speaker 6: so you go from here. But we also have cosmetics,
28:53
Speaker 6: and so I mean, this is a huge industry. We've
28:56
Speaker 6: watched entrepreneurs become billionaires in a space every where you go.
29:00
Speaker 6: This is one of those demographics and SKUs that always
29:04
Speaker 6: gets younger, right, Like I have a thirteen year old
29:07
Speaker 6: she wants to go to Alta, she wants to go
29:09
Speaker 6: to so Florida. She's buying cosmetics. It always gets younger.
29:14
Speaker 6: What was that venture like getting into that space?
29:16
Speaker 2: You know, Listen, I've been using cosmetics since I was
29:20
Speaker 2: seven years old, and so it just made sense to me.
29:23
Speaker 2: I mean, the whole it's a tent, is a head
29:25
Speaker 2: to toe experience. So cosmetics was just a natural fit
29:29
Speaker 2: to me. And once again, simple, easy to use, multifunctional
29:33
Speaker 2: products that you don't need YouTube teditorials or a million
29:36
Speaker 2: brushes or to be an expert to actually use. The
29:39
Speaker 2: applicators are right in there, so it definitely is more
29:42
Speaker 2: consumer friendly, but really mid price range and just something
29:46
Speaker 2: that I think it's really easy for people to understand
29:49
Speaker 2: and use.
29:50
Speaker 4: So you're expanding, so you're in one hundred and twenty
29:52
Speaker 4: five countries. How does that work? How were you able
29:55
Speaker 4: to go to so many countries? What was the process
29:59
Speaker 4: of that?
30:00
Speaker 2: You know, it's interesting as we expand we started actually
30:04
Speaker 2: is right around COVID, so that was a tough time
30:05
Speaker 2: to start launching internationally and a lot of it was
30:08
Speaker 2: done through Zoom. But you know, it's interesting as we
30:12
Speaker 2: started approaching countries and distributors and once again relationships we had,
30:18
Speaker 2: you know, obviously people who are experts and expanding beauty
30:21
Speaker 2: brands internationally, so we partnered with them.
30:23
Speaker 4: To do it.
30:25
Speaker 2: But as that happened, the products actually were already recognized,
30:34
Speaker 2: which was really great. The products were you know, people
30:38
Speaker 2: had been bringing in their suitcases into the countries for years.
30:41
Speaker 2: Most brands go internationally within a few years of them expanding,
30:46
Speaker 2: and our particular brand didn't do that until we were
30:49
Speaker 2: almost twelve years old, so that was unusual. So we
30:53
Speaker 2: are finding as we expand, and as we go around
30:55
Speaker 2: the world, there are just more and more countries that
30:59
Speaker 2: are just really glad we're finally there.
31:02
Speaker 5: I want to talk about Rewinded ten.
31:04
Speaker 6: Yeah, it's been a great marketing plan and talking about
31:07
Speaker 6: having the face of celebrity on it, using it as
31:10
Speaker 6: part of the marketing strategy. Why in this moment did
31:14
Speaker 6: you feel like it was necessary to come to market
31:16
Speaker 6: with this right now?
31:18
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, that's a great question, because Joe's been
31:20
Speaker 2: bugging me for probably like six or seven years to
31:22
Speaker 2: do it, and you know what, I just I wasn't ready,
31:25
Speaker 2: But also I wasn't so sure the market was ready.
31:28
Speaker 2: And so I really feel that with the barbering world exploding,
31:32
Speaker 2: with the men's care world exploding, which is a phenomenal thing,
31:38
Speaker 2: I'm so glad that men are actually partaking in skincare
31:42
Speaker 2: and you know, hair care and even just overall healthcare
31:47
Speaker 2: right on a whole other level, I just felt like,
31:50
Speaker 2: you know what, it was time, and it was just
31:53
Speaker 2: a really I knew I could raise the bar I
31:56
Speaker 2: knew that wasn't easy. I knew what it needed. You know,
31:58
Speaker 2: the Beijings of the world were so I just knew
32:02
Speaker 2: that really with the partnership with Joe, with with Jeff's
32:06
Speaker 2: amazing marketing concept behind it, and us being able to
32:09
Speaker 2: bring that to life. You know, not one of those
32:11
Speaker 2: guys were caught a check. And it's Joe's relationships, but
32:14
Speaker 2: it's also the marketing concept and programs that just had
32:19
Speaker 2: put behind it that really people were excited about and
32:22
Speaker 2: we're willing to get on board with without getting a check.
32:25
Speaker 2: So between the three of us, it was this great
32:28
Speaker 2: trifecta that I thought, you know what this is, this
32:30
Speaker 2: is the perfect time to do it. So I flew
32:32
Speaker 2: over Italy many times and really wanted to create amazing formulas.
32:37
Speaker 2: They have natural ingredients, we have stain wipes in the box.
32:41
Speaker 2: I mean, we just thought of all the things that
32:43
Speaker 2: that were needed and should have been provided from day one.
32:47
Speaker 6: You know.
32:48
Speaker 4: So they didn't get paid so in some level of
32:50
Speaker 4: equity that they get in Amasoma, sure, I.
32:53
Speaker 2: Mean they're getting a cut of everything that happens.
32:55
Speaker 4: But isn't it interest to sell absolutely the more to
32:59
Speaker 4: sell them to get paid.
33:01
Speaker 2: Absolutely, that's right. So they're out there promoting I mean
33:04
Speaker 2: we're talking literally hundreds and hundreds of millions of impressions
33:08
Speaker 2: when they do their posts, so they go to CBS.
33:11
Speaker 2: Tyson's all over it and he's up in CBS all
33:13
Speaker 2: the time. He's great.
33:15
Speaker 6: How have the say, I mean, it's been I feel
33:17
Speaker 6: like maybe eighteen months, maybe less than that, since I
33:20
Speaker 6: feel like, yes, how has the first eighteen months been?
33:23
Speaker 2: Oh, it's exploded. I mean, as you mentioned, there are
33:27
Speaker 2: other brands that are running like scared a little bit.
33:30
Speaker 2: I think they're definitely a little worried. You know, it's
33:36
Speaker 2: it has just been really everything handsome, and I think
33:39
Speaker 2: it's just going to continue to grow because people are
33:42
Speaker 2: using it and realizing like, wow, this is superior product.
33:45
Speaker 2: I actually use it, and the color is what it
33:47
Speaker 2: says on the box. You know, half the time you
33:49
Speaker 2: pick up other boxes and you aren't sure what you're
33:51
Speaker 2: going to get. So just for a lot of reasons,
33:54
Speaker 2: you know.
33:55
Speaker 4: So who so fad Joe was the one that recruited everybody.
33:58
Speaker 2: Yeah, pretty much. Yeah, there's some of them. There's an
34:02
Speaker 2: MMA plant. My husband's partnering with UFC, so he's in
34:05
Speaker 2: the MMA world. So we do have wonder Boy, who's
34:09
Speaker 2: Worldwide Champion MMA so with UFC. So we do have
34:13
Speaker 2: some other sports people you know, But yeah, I mean
34:16
Speaker 2: a lot of it is Joe's contacts, relationships and listen,
34:19
Speaker 2: if he doesn't know them, he calls them up, you
34:23
Speaker 2: DM them and I'll be like, hey, you want to
34:25
Speaker 2: get out of box? You know, And a lot of
34:26
Speaker 2: people are obviously very responsive. He's well known so and
34:30
Speaker 2: he's he's growing and exploding. I'm so happy for him
34:33
Speaker 2: about what's going on in his life as well. He's
34:35
Speaker 2: stayed relevant for twenty five years. How do you do
34:38
Speaker 2: that in today's society, right, you know, especially as a rapper,
34:41
Speaker 2: especially as a haircare brand. Haircare brands to me are
34:43
Speaker 2: like bars. They come and go in restaurants. A lot
34:46
Speaker 2: of haircare brands come and go. So how do you
34:49
Speaker 2: stay relevant and successful after twenty you know years?
34:52
Speaker 4: It's nice. I'm sure you got approach to sell your
34:54
Speaker 4: company that was never thought for you, right number.
35:00
Speaker 2: And have to have multiple bees and if it's not
35:03
Speaker 2: going there, I'm really cool doing what I do. Yeah,
35:06
Speaker 2: I mean, it have to be an insane amount of money.
35:09
Speaker 2: So I love what I do and I love creating
35:11
Speaker 2: and I love to continue to expand We're launching two
35:15
Speaker 2: new brands this year as well as we made the acquisition. So, yeah,
35:20
Speaker 2: we just launched Cloud, a retail brand that's going in
35:22
Speaker 2: CBS and Walmarts. Listen, I've spent a lifetime building these
35:27
Speaker 2: relationships and doing what I love, and it would take
35:31
Speaker 2: so much money to have me stop. I don't even
35:34
Speaker 2: know if I would really want to, you know, I mean,
35:37
Speaker 2: I don't know.
35:38
Speaker 4: I love what I do.
35:39
Speaker 6: So let's talk about the acquisition, because if I read
35:43
Speaker 6: it correctly, this is about here growth now it is
35:45
Speaker 6: which is I mean, you're talking about full service now right. First,
35:49
Speaker 6: it's to leave in as the miracle product.
35:52
Speaker 4: Right.
35:52
Speaker 6: Then we're getting cosmetics, and we're getting extensions and now
35:56
Speaker 6: hair growth, which is something that obviously is a concert
36:00
Speaker 6: for a lot of men. It is not speaking for myself,
36:03
Speaker 6: but talk about that. What was that process like? Was
36:08
Speaker 6: this the first acquisition? Is it something that you guys
36:10
Speaker 6: are looking to do in the future as well?
36:12
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean it is my first acquisition. You know,
36:14
Speaker 2: I've been approached plenty of times over the years by
36:17
Speaker 2: people and wanting me to buy their companies, and you know,
36:21
Speaker 2: nothing ever really felt right, but this one really felt right.
36:25
Speaker 2: This is a brand out of Canada that had been
36:27
Speaker 2: in business many many years by accident. They were in
36:30
Speaker 2: forty countries and it was kind of run very small,
36:35
Speaker 2: but was a worldwide brand. Wasn't really strong in America.
36:38
Speaker 2: But they actually have clinicals, so it works. We have
36:43
Speaker 2: proof it works, not of natural ingredients and amino acids.
36:47
Speaker 2: And you know, anytime something really works, people can pick
36:52
Speaker 2: up a bottle and feel the results instantly. It's a winner.
36:56
Speaker 2: So I knew that it was something I really wanted
36:58
Speaker 2: to acquire and so yeah, I mean, we were able
37:02
Speaker 2: to make it happen. And so what we have done
37:05
Speaker 2: is totally repackaged it, kind of even renamed parts of it.
37:09
Speaker 2: And so we have the one brand called Fast and
37:11
Speaker 2: it's all about growing hair faster, longer, stronger. So that's
37:15
Speaker 2: really for maybe the you know, gen z and the
37:18
Speaker 2: younger clientele who really wants to be able to grow
37:23
Speaker 2: their hair very long. And that's across all cultures. That's
37:26
Speaker 2: a problem with all cultures that they can't necessarily grow
37:30
Speaker 2: their hair as fast as long as they want. But
37:31
Speaker 2: then there's a rise which we are launching at the
37:35
Speaker 2: end of this year. Fastest launching an April and a
37:38
Speaker 2: Rise at the end of the year and that's about
37:40
Speaker 2: truly growing back hair for men for women. It's currently
37:45
Speaker 2: sold all over the world. A lot of it is
37:48
Speaker 2: sold in like pharmaceutical type environments. So we change the packaging.
37:52
Speaker 2: We raised the bar, made it much more high end
37:54
Speaker 2: and called it a rise, So I know that's going
37:57
Speaker 2: to do amazing as well.
37:58
Speaker 6: How important is pricing when obviously you've created these products,
38:02
Speaker 6: you're looking at the price that are closet to make,
38:04
Speaker 6: where it's the price of close to sell.
38:06
Speaker 5: There's a fine bounced between.
38:07
Speaker 2: To me, it's very important. You know, I'm a self
38:10
Speaker 2: made person. I was never someone who's always rolling money,
38:13
Speaker 2: and I think it's more important to really be able
38:17
Speaker 2: for the masses to afford things. So we're definitely more masstige,
38:22
Speaker 2: a little bit prestigious, with more of affordable mass price,
38:27
Speaker 2: not totally you know masks and not eight or ten
38:30
Speaker 2: dollars a bottle, but in the twenties. So it's definitely
38:33
Speaker 2: more more reasonably priced where a lot of people can
38:37
Speaker 2: find a way to afford it, even if they are
38:39
Speaker 2: on budgets, and they do, I mean when they find
38:41
Speaker 2: something that works. Now, I've gotten handwritten letters from people
38:45
Speaker 2: like I'm in college and I am back in cheese
38:47
Speaker 2: this week so I could get my haircut, you know.
38:49
Speaker 2: And that's the mentality of people today, men and women.
38:52
Speaker 2: They're willing to make the stretch to actually have the
38:55
Speaker 2: products that they really want to need.
38:58
Speaker 4: So what was the process that you are you buying
39:01
Speaker 4: out your partner? Wow?
39:03
Speaker 2: A long one, a really long one. At that time
39:07
Speaker 2: we had kind of thought about selling and that didn't
39:11
Speaker 2: work out, and so we knew it was time to
39:13
Speaker 2: kind of depart ways. And so it was an interesting one.
39:17
Speaker 2: Definitely going to write a book about it. It's going
39:19
Speaker 2: to be coming out because it wasn't for the weary.
39:23
Speaker 2: It definitely was was a interesting process. But really I
39:28
Speaker 2: stuck to my guns. I knew what I created. I
39:32
Speaker 2: knew that I did create it, and I had to
39:35
Speaker 2: fight for it at times, even to own my own
39:37
Speaker 2: formulas and so some court battles, but I want them
39:41
Speaker 2: and really made some history within the industry. So that's
39:46
Speaker 2: one bit of advice I would give to somebody, is
39:48
Speaker 2: fight for what's yours and what you believe in. So
39:51
Speaker 2: many people get discouraged and walk away from what they've
39:53
Speaker 2: truly created, and I don't recommend doing that.
39:57
Speaker 6: So you said, this is a privately owned company. Yes,
40:02
Speaker 6: are there ever thoughts or maybe down the road that
40:04
Speaker 6: potentially the public could own it or maybe taking it.
40:08
Speaker 5: To the market.
40:09
Speaker 2: You know, I've thought about those things. A lot of
40:11
Speaker 2: interesting things have happened in my industry. There's been some specs.
40:15
Speaker 2: I mean, I don't know if you've looked into the
40:17
Speaker 2: Oloplex situation and what happened there and I went public
40:21
Speaker 2: and there respects involved in everything. So yeah, you know what,
40:25
Speaker 2: I've thought about everything, kind of like where it's at.
40:32
Speaker 4: What're some of the biggest hurdles that you feel, even
40:35
Speaker 4: as a female entrepreneur, Like were there obstacles that you
40:39
Speaker 4: had to overcome?
40:40
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean I'm in a man's industry, believing it around,
40:43
Speaker 2: the beauty industry is run by men. Yeah, of course.
40:48
Speaker 2: You know, it's taken years for me, you know, fifty
40:50
Speaker 2: over fifty. I'm in my fifties, so I'm fifty eight
40:53
Speaker 2: years old. It's taken me years to be actually taken
40:57
Speaker 2: seriously and recognized. So I always say my forties I
41:02
Speaker 2: was justified, but my fifties is a whole other level.
41:07
Speaker 2: You know, I'm actually being recognized and it's taken a lifetime,
41:11
Speaker 2: you know, half a lifetime. I'm going to be over
41:13
Speaker 2: one hundred and one, you know, go so so yeah, no,
41:16
Speaker 2: it's you have to really. Yeah, I think that we
41:20
Speaker 2: need more women CEOs in the beauty industry and more
41:24
Speaker 2: women coming up from the bottom and working their way
41:26
Speaker 2: up to top positions, because we are really the mass
41:30
Speaker 2: consumer of this industry. So I would love to see
41:34
Speaker 2: more women in sea level positions within it.
41:37
Speaker 6: Is there such thing as work life balance for you?
41:39
Speaker 6: I know obviously you said that your husband's working inside
41:42
Speaker 6: the business.
41:43
Speaker 5: That might help.
41:44
Speaker 6: But even when we were speaking prior to it was like,
41:46
Speaker 6: what is leisure? We're not even sure what that means
41:49
Speaker 6: because the work feels I mean, you do what you love,
41:52
Speaker 6: but you are working in it, and even when you're
41:54
Speaker 6: not working in it, you're thinking about it. Yeah, and
41:56
Speaker 6: when you're away from it, you can't wait to get
41:58
Speaker 6: back to it. Is there such it is work like balance?
42:01
Speaker 2: Yeah? You know that's I asked you what is earned
42:03
Speaker 2: your leisure meeting.
42:04
Speaker 4: I'm not so sure what that means.
42:06
Speaker 2: Because you know, my my balance is is work. I
42:11
Speaker 2: love to work, and so yes, you do have to
42:16
Speaker 2: have some balance obviously, you know and I love spending
42:19
Speaker 2: time with my loved ones and and spending time with
42:22
Speaker 2: my quality family and friends. But I'm my happy place
42:26
Speaker 2: is work. It really is. I love what I do,
42:30
Speaker 2: and I love the game. I'm addicted to the game.
42:33
Speaker 2: So I'm not so sure there's ever really going to
42:37
Speaker 2: be a balance for me what what most people would
42:39
Speaker 2: consider balance, because you know, what I like to do
42:43
Speaker 2: is different. So I'm happy doing what I like.
42:47
Speaker 4: How you feel just being in a beauty industry target
42:51
Speaker 4: recently they said that they're cutting back on diversity. I
42:57
Speaker 4: forget the exact language, but just product products that but
43:01
Speaker 4: just the products as well, right, So I mean one thing,
43:05
Speaker 4: the d the de I thing is one thing from
43:08
Speaker 4: a corporate employee standpoint, but now they're actually rolling back
43:14
Speaker 4: on products as well.
43:15
Speaker 2: So I have a hard time believing that because the
43:17
Speaker 2: consumer is going to predict that they can say they're
43:20
Speaker 2: going to do that. And by the way, I never
43:24
Speaker 2: rode that wave. I've been a minority owned business, female
43:28
Speaker 2: double minority Puerto Rican woman perto Rican owned business since inception.
43:36
Speaker 2: I recently only got certified as a minority owned business,
43:40
Speaker 2: and oh my god, what I had to go through.
43:42
Speaker 2: I had to get like birth certificates from my Abuela
43:45
Speaker 2: Miamilita was like digging in. So you know, I never
43:52
Speaker 2: really leaned on that to build my empire. But what
43:59
Speaker 2: I've created has been consumed by diverse people. So they
44:04
Speaker 2: can say and do what they're going to say and do.
44:07
Speaker 2: But the consumer is really going to predict what kind
44:10
Speaker 2: of products they need, what kind of products they're going
44:12
Speaker 2: to buy. Our coly collection is now launching a tight
44:16
Speaker 2: sector to it, raising the bar. High quality products for
44:21
Speaker 2: all hair types is what the world needs. And as
44:24
Speaker 2: I continue to create them, no matter who claims some
44:28
Speaker 2: you know, big corporation who claims they're gonna, you know,
44:32
Speaker 2: bring them or not. The consumer dictates what they want
44:37
Speaker 2: and need, and so when they hit the shelf, they sell,
44:40
Speaker 2: and that's what it's all about.
44:42
Speaker 6: Yeah, when you're on the shelf, obviously there's obviously competition.
44:45
Speaker 6: You talked about creating the formulas for a lot of
44:48
Speaker 6: the products.
44:50
Speaker 5: How do you protect it?
44:51
Speaker 6: Is there a patent that you have to go after
44:54
Speaker 6: in the beauty industry, Like what is that process? We
44:56
Speaker 6: know like a lot of times when you name a
44:58
Speaker 6: product that you trade, but this is a little bit different.
45:01
Speaker 6: So how do you protect the brand from from dupes?
45:04
Speaker 2: Yeah, and super important to do from day one because
45:08
Speaker 2: you know, when we started this company, I think we
45:10
Speaker 2: knew we would be successful, but we never thought we'd
45:13
Speaker 2: be this successful where people are literally trying to steal
45:16
Speaker 2: your formulas like your Coca cola, you know, So how
45:20
Speaker 2: do you protect that? And the process is a legal process, yes, trademarking.
45:26
Speaker 2: You cannot actually patent formulas within the beauty industry very rarely.
45:31
Speaker 2: You may be able to patent a process, but there's
45:36
Speaker 2: so many common ingredients within these formulas it's really kind
45:40
Speaker 2: of hard to pat in exact formulas. And so it
45:44
Speaker 2: is there's a lot of legal you know te's you
45:47
Speaker 2: got to cross eyes, you got to dot making sure
45:49
Speaker 2: you have very solidified contracts with your fillers, with your
45:53
Speaker 2: manufacturers so they're not, you know, trying to kind of
45:57
Speaker 2: steal your your your ideas, what you've created, and then
46:02
Speaker 2: really making sure that you're fully trademarked trade dressed. How
46:06
Speaker 2: does your bottle look on shelf? That's trade dress. So
46:10
Speaker 2: not only are you trademarking your names, but you're actually
46:14
Speaker 2: trade dressing your actual look, of which I had to
46:18
Speaker 2: do in China. China stole my name, so I went
46:20
Speaker 2: into hire attorneys in China and I had to you know,
46:24
Speaker 2: trademark my trade dress so they couldn't actually have a
46:27
Speaker 2: bottle looking like me. So there's a lot. You know,
46:31
Speaker 2: we created the ten bullet points on the back of
46:33
Speaker 2: a bottle. Every single brand has knocked us off with
46:36
Speaker 2: that concept at one point or another. Thank goodness, no
46:39
Speaker 2: one's been able to really take our market share for
46:41
Speaker 2: our miracle leaving with the ten bullets. But you know,
46:45
Speaker 2: you get knocked off a lot, And truthfully, I believe
46:49
Speaker 2: in just staying consistent and persistent, not listening to the
46:54
Speaker 2: noise a lot, not worrying about too much what other
46:56
Speaker 2: people are doing, and stick to what you know what
46:59
Speaker 2: you're doing.
47:00
Speaker 4: So you're in luxury charting and real estate as well.
47:03
Speaker 4: You expand it, So what's your philosophy when it comes
47:07
Speaker 4: to that, and how have those businesses worked out for you?
47:11
Speaker 2: They're good. You know, as you expand your empire, you
47:14
Speaker 2: realize you got to do something with that money, right,
47:16
Speaker 2: so everything becomes a business. Everything the buildings you buy
47:21
Speaker 2: to put your businesses in, that's a business. They rent
47:24
Speaker 2: them back from you and then start buying off the
47:26
Speaker 2: land around it, start becoming a commercial real estate entrepreneur.
47:31
Speaker 2: I've always been in real estate anyway, since I was
47:34
Speaker 2: in my twenties. It actually helped fund some of my
47:36
Speaker 2: first companies. I was buy homes and flip them, buy
47:39
Speaker 2: homes and flip them. So residential real estate as well,
47:43
Speaker 2: I'm into. And then as far as you know, owning
47:48
Speaker 2: a play, owning a vote, I mean, everything's a business.
47:51
Speaker 2: Everything can be charted, everything can be rented, and ultimately, yes,
47:56
Speaker 2: that's part of leisure. Those are the leisure things in life. Yes,
47:59
Speaker 2: I fly around product, but it's a self funded business.
48:03
Speaker 2: Yes I have a boat, but it's chartered. It becomes
48:06
Speaker 2: part of my business. My business uses my boat, that
48:10
Speaker 2: becomes part of the business. Everything becomes a business in life.
48:15
Speaker 6: So that I mean it's interesting because definitely is business savvy.
48:19
Speaker 6: It fits right in with a lot of things we
48:21
Speaker 6: talk about. Are you learning these things at you, Bill, right,
48:24
Speaker 6: because obviously you're an expert in the field of beauty here,
48:27
Speaker 6: but these things are like tax strategies now are.
48:31
Speaker 2: Level tax strategies is a major part of life. It
48:34
Speaker 2: should be for everyone, for sure. I can remember doing
48:36
Speaker 2: it when I had my first little business, which was
48:39
Speaker 2: a four foot square behind a chair. I was an
48:41
Speaker 2: independent contractor, did all my own taxes, got my four
48:45
Speaker 2: one K my roth Ira completely self bought and funded,
48:49
Speaker 2: got my own insurance. I had to do my own
48:51
Speaker 2: schedule seeing I did my own taxes. So that foundation, that,
48:56
Speaker 2: that financial literacy is a foundation of everything I do today.
49:01
Speaker 2: It's just got a lot more zeros after it. So ultimately,
49:05
Speaker 2: once you learn how to manage your businesses, that it
49:09
Speaker 2: just rolls into other businesses. And yes, how do you
49:12
Speaker 2: learn how to be a yacht owner? I'm the kind
49:15
Speaker 2: of person my husband jokes and he says, you're the
49:17
Speaker 2: world's greatest bonge. I love to learn. It's a big
49:22
Speaker 2: part of my enthusiasm about life. So when I have
49:25
Speaker 2: a boat, I learn about the engines. I learn about
49:28
Speaker 2: what it takes to run it. I understand that it's
49:30
Speaker 2: got one hundred and seventy two thousand pounds to throw
49:32
Speaker 2: three role storce engines. I mean, I'm kind of the
49:36
Speaker 2: kid that gets under the hood. I like, I don't
49:38
Speaker 2: just like hire people to manage things. I like to know,
49:41
Speaker 2: and so that helps me manage my businesses. When I
49:45
Speaker 2: really understand what truly operates them and makes them home.
49:49
Speaker 2: And so I just kind of go from there.
49:53
Speaker 4: So when you talk about legacy, what's your what's your
49:56
Speaker 4: idea for the company? You know, ten, fifteen, twenty years
50:00
Speaker 4: out of line? Right, even when you may not be
50:02
Speaker 4: running it, Have you thought about that as far as
50:06
Speaker 4: like a legacy brand and how you want it to
50:09
Speaker 4: be run when you're no longer running it, and your
50:12
Speaker 4: vision for the future when it comes to your brain.
50:14
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know what, I just never say never is
50:18
Speaker 2: one thing I've learned in life. Never say never. I
50:21
Speaker 2: have We have five kids. Who knows if one of
50:24
Speaker 2: them will want to go into it. My guess is
50:25
Speaker 2: no or any they don't have sign no no, I
50:29
Speaker 2: mean right now, so far none of them really want
50:32
Speaker 2: to go into it. We'll see, you know. We have
50:36
Speaker 2: aged twenty three to three, are actually twenty four sheet
50:39
Speaker 2: just from twenty four to three, so who knows, you know,
50:42
Speaker 2: they're still kind of young and making their way. But
50:45
Speaker 2: really I think my older kids no, you know, And
50:49
Speaker 2: but my legacy is really I think might want my
50:54
Speaker 2: legacy not to necessarily be about dollars. It's about how
51:00
Speaker 2: I contributed to the world. That I want is what
51:03
Speaker 2: I want my legacy to be. I believe that giving
51:06
Speaker 2: back as a major part of business. I use my
51:10
Speaker 2: business to get back in many ways. It's really no
51:14
Speaker 2: business is a business without purpose. So that's what my
51:19
Speaker 2: legacy is about. How I can use my businesses to
51:22
Speaker 2: make people look and feel more beautiful, and then through
51:26
Speaker 2: that vehicle, obviously, to make some changes in the world.
51:30
Speaker 6: You talked about expansion one hundred and twenty countries. Is
51:33
Speaker 6: there a region that you're looking to get into in
51:36
Speaker 6: the next five years that you're like, wait, if we
51:38
Speaker 6: could just get here, that would be amazing.
51:41
Speaker 2: Well, over the last two years, I've been able to
51:44
Speaker 2: hit most of them. There's not too many countries left. Actually,
51:47
Speaker 2: we just had Cosmoproft Miami, and I opened up most
51:51
Speaker 2: of Canada. There that's always been this kind of gray
51:54
Speaker 2: area I couldn't quite get synk my teeth into. I
51:57
Speaker 2: think that's coming up, So that's all launching excited about that. Australia,
52:02
Speaker 2: that's what I've been really wanted to go into for
52:04
Speaker 2: a lot of years, and it's been it's been tough,
52:07
Speaker 2: you know. It's these massive, vast companies, I mean, countries
52:11
Speaker 2: that have companies that are really kind of in the
52:13
Speaker 2: big cities, but the outskirts aren't so catered to, so
52:16
Speaker 2: it's really hard to kind of do the entire country
52:19
Speaker 2: and get the distribution spansion all over the countries. So
52:23
Speaker 2: those are two Central and South America have been always
52:27
Speaker 2: on my bucket list, and I've been opening them. I've
52:29
Speaker 2: literally been flying around the world opening them, especially lately.
52:33
Speaker 2: I did three three countries in three days just you know,
52:36
Speaker 2: a month ago I did I opened Vietnam and Taiwan,
52:40
Speaker 2: and yeah, Japan is definitely a tough one, and that
52:45
Speaker 2: would be probably one of the holy girls for me
52:47
Speaker 2: to get in Japan because listen, they have exquisite, exquisite
52:51
Speaker 2: tastes and exquisite beauty care. So they tend to stick
52:56
Speaker 2: to their own brands because they are really amazing brands,
53:00
Speaker 2: and they aren't as easily impressed by American brands. You know,
53:03
Speaker 2: when you go in Vietnam and Taiwan, they're so excited
53:05
Speaker 2: to have an American brand, you know. So yeah, it's
53:08
Speaker 2: a different world there. That would definitely be one I
53:10
Speaker 2: would love to expand it to and go to beautiful country.
53:14
Speaker 5: Absolutely sure.
53:16
Speaker 4: Well, thank you, thank you, for taking the time and
53:18
Speaker 4: sit down with us having a conversation. Main thing that
53:21
Speaker 4: you would like to leave the audience with before we
53:23
Speaker 4: head out.
53:25
Speaker 2: I would just say that, you know, we live in
53:29
Speaker 2: an amazing country with with tremendous potential and possibilities, and
53:35
Speaker 2: I know a lot's going on it in it the
53:37
Speaker 2: last few years, it's kind of been crazy. But as
53:41
Speaker 2: a Latina, as a woman and in a sector that
53:45
Speaker 2: is run by men, I would just encourage you know,
53:49
Speaker 2: every woman really to follow your dreams and to know
53:54
Speaker 2: that you two can do it. I'm living proof of it.
53:57
Speaker 5: That's a fan.
53:58
Speaker 6: Why when you can remind the times right? I think
54:02
Speaker 6: entrepreneurial boxes. Do you know maybe you know toed some
54:05
Speaker 6: guys with bids that may want to try out the product.
54:09
Speaker 4: That's right, It's just fair. Thank you guys for rocking us.
54:12
Speaker 4: To see you next week.
54:13
Speaker 2: Thank you.
54:14
Speaker 1: An illegal alien from Guatemala charged with raping a child
54:17
Speaker 1: in Massachusetts. An MS thirteen gang member from Al Salvador
54:21
Speaker 1: accused of murdering a Texas man of Venezuelan charged with
54:26
Speaker 1: filming and selling child pornography in Michigan. These are just
54:29
Speaker 1: some of the heinous migrant criminals caught because of President
54:33
Speaker 1: Donald J.
54:34
Speaker 2: Trump's leadership. I'm Christy Noman, the.
54:36
Speaker 1: United States Secretary of Homeland Security. Under President Trump, attempted
54:41
Speaker 1: illegal border crossings are at the lowest levels ever recorded,
54:45
Speaker 1: and over one hundred thousand illegal aliens have been arrested.
54:48
Speaker 1: If you are here illegally, your next you will be
54:52
Speaker 1: fine nearly one thousand dollars a day, imprisoned, and deported.
54:56
Speaker 2: You will never return.
54:58
Speaker 1: But if you register using our DBP home app and
55:01
Speaker 1: leave now, you could be allowed to return legally. Do
55:04
Speaker 1: what's right.
55:05
Speaker 2: Leave now.
55:07
Speaker 1: Under President Trump, America's laws, border and families.
55:11
Speaker 2: Will be protected.
55:11
Speaker 3: Sponsored by the United States Department of Homeland Security.