Earned: Unlocking the Power of the Creator Economy

In Episode 13 of Earned, Conor sits down with Michael McNeil, VP of Integrated Marketing at Huda Beauty. We learn how Michael, who majored in political science and pre-med at LMU, took a hard left turn after college to get his "PhD in beauty" by joining a then-small cosmetics brand known as Anastasia Beverly Hills. Michael, who eventually became Director of Marketing at ABH, shares insight into the early days at the brand, and divulges the key to its explosive growth: building and nurturing a digital community. We dive into how Michael and ABH "invented what beauty marketing looks like today," and learn Michael's philosophy behind fostering a community of genuine, long-term brand fans. Michael emphasizes the power of embracing your competitors and communicating to consumers in "the language they already speak." We also hear about Michael's experience transitioning to (and powering growth for) Huda Beauty, working with brand founder and mega-influencer Huda Kattan, and creating a global brand—with influencers at the forefront. Finally, Michael lends his advice on how brands can productively address negativity and controversy, and put their communities first.

In Episode 12 of Earned, Conor sits down with Riccardo Pozzoli, esteemed entrepreneur, investor, and influencer himself, as well as co-founder of the mega-popular fashion blog The Blonde Salad. We learn why Riccardo decided to create The Blonde Salad with Chiara Ferragni at a time before the blogosphere and social media—and of course, influencers—were in style. We hear how the pair grew the site into the powerhouse platform and their learnings from the experience, and Riccardo shares why he eventually left the company in 2017 to pursue his own entrepreneurial endeavors. Riccardo dives into his business philosophies and why he favors the "long-term" strategy, and also divulges his approach to working with brands as an influencer himself. Riccardo then lends advice to brands on how to maximize their influencer strategy, and reveals the key characteristics he looks for in leaders when deciding whether to invest in a company.

In Episode 11 of Earned, Conor chats with David Benayoun and Adam Bohbot, co-founders of fast-growing, carbon neutral jewelry brand Ana Luisa. In the episode, Adam and David reveal their fateful meeting sharing a cab to a nightclub in Shanghai while both attending business school at EMLYON. After pursuing different career paths post-graduation (Adam entered the VC world before joining an influencer marketing software company, while David dove into e-commerce and jewelry design and manufacturing), we learn why the two decided to leverage their complementary skill sets and create Ana Luisa in 2018. Adam and David discuss the challenges of entering a market they did not grow up in, and share their experience taking outside investments. They then give insight into Ana Luisa's unique weekly product drop strategy, and divulge their product co-creation process with influencers—a pillar of the brand's DNA. We learn more about how the brand's YouTube strategy powered hyper growth, the inventory planning challenges that resulted, and why Adam and David prioritize influencer partners' "value fit" over follower count.

In Earned's 10th episode, Conor sits down with Joe Cloyes, co-founder and CEO of sustainable superfood skincare brand Youth To The People. Inspired by his grandmother, who started her own skincare line as a mother of seven in 1963, Joe and his cousin Greg Gonzalez founded Youth To The People in 2015, and the brand has seen explosive growth since. We dive into YTTP's impressive growth trajectory and explore the roles that social media, and later a Sephora partnership, played in accelerating the brand's expansion. We also learn about the challenges of rapid growth, and hear why the brand decided to take on multiple rounds on investments. Joe shares how COVID-19 has shifted the brand's focus to be "completely digital," and talks about how YTTP uses its growing social platform to share its voice on all things from skincare to social justice. Finally, we learn how the brand builds long-term relationships with content creators.

In Episode 9 of Earned, Conor chats with Aurelian Lis, CEO of influencer-favorite skincare brand Dermalogica. Aurelian shares the post-COVID pivots that Dermalogica has made, including the brand's new Clean Touch Certification program. We also learn more about Aurelian's early days as COO of Commerce at dELiA*s Corp, before he walks us through his journey of building and selling his own customized skincare brand, PRESCRIBEDsolutions. Aurelian then shares his learnings from his time as General Manager of Benefit Cosmetics Americas, and emphasizes the importance of finding and maintaining your "edge" as a brand— especially in the social media era. We then dive into Aurelian's experience at Dermalogica, and he explains his "iterate relentlessly" philosophy. Aurelian talks about why he believes product along with service leads to consumer loyalty, and finally, we discuss the brand's education-focused approach to influencer marketing.

Savannah Sachs, CEO of rapidly growing, probiotic-powered skincare line Tula, joins Conor for our eighth episode of Earned. After earning her MBA from Harvard Business School, Savannah stumbled into the beauty industry by joining—and fueling explosive growth for—subscription box Birchbox. She shares some of her learnings from her time at the brand, before explaining how Tula's differentiated brand positioning ("at the intersection of beauty and wellness") eventually attracted her to the CEO role. We dive into Savannah's leadership philosophy, and she reveals why cultivating a "happy, high-performing team" is the key to business success—and her first priority at Tula. We also learn how Tula adapted its marketing and retail strategies in response to COVID-19 to power record sales in April and May. Savannah gives generous insight into Tula's influencer program, and emphasizes the importance of "high-touch" relationships between brand teams and their influencer partners.

For Episode 7 of Earned, Conor sits down with Jamie Starr, Global Director of Sports Marketing at The North Face. Jamie starts off by sharing where his love of the outdoors originated, growing up in Crested Butte, a small, close-knit community in Colorado's Rocky Mountains. Though he seemed destined to become a professional skier, Jamie wanted to pursue higher education at the University of Colorado—where he eventually earned his J.D. Jamie then reveals why he transitioned from attorney to digital brand consultant, back when the media landscape was changing rapidly and the blogosphere and social networks were starting to take off. We learn more about Jamie's role at The North Face, and how the brand is staying connected with, and supportive of, its team of athlete ambassadors in the face of a pandemic and cultural revolution. To end the episode, Jamie emphasizes how The North Face is using its platform to fight for racial justice and promote more diversity in mountain sports.

In our sixth Earned episode and second virtual interview, Conor chats with Divya Gugnani, co-founder and CEO of Wander Beauty, a digitally native beauty brand launched in 2015. Divya earned a B.S. at Cornell and an M.B.A. at Harvard, but claims her "hardest degree" was from the French Culinary Institute—though these reflect just a few of the serial entrepreneur's many impressive endeavors. We dive into Divya's "accidental" journey to entrepreneurship and the valuable lessons she's learned along the way, before hearing how a chance encounter with Lindsay Ellingson (Wander Beauty's co-founder and creative director) at a party led to the brand's conception. Divya reveals how COVID-19 has forced a shake-up in the Wander Beauty's "on-the-go" messaging and marketing strategies, and emphasizes the importance of listening to your community in difficult times. And of course, we also get to hear Wander Beauty's approach to building long-lasting influencer relationships.

In Earned's first remote episode, Conor (virtually) sits down with Sarah Lee and Christine Chang, co-founders of cult-favorite skincare brand Glow Recipe. We dive into Sarah and Christine's unique backgrounds, as they unpack what they learned growing up across different countries and cultures. We then learn about their time working together at L'Oréal Korea, and what it was like to transition from the big corporation "bubble" into a two-man band at Glow Recipe. Christine and Sarah detail their close-knit co-founder dynamic, and reveal why they decided to pivot Glow Recipe from a curation business to an in-house skincare line of fruit-powered products in 2017. The founders also share their 360-degree approach to brand marketing, their personalized and authentic influencer outreach strategy, and their journey to building the Real Glow Gang, a passionate and highly engaged community of skincare—and Glow Recipe—enthusiasts.

In Earned Episode 4, Conor interviews Mehdi Mehdi, chief digital officer at Selena Gomez's highly anticipated beauty line Rare Beauty, and former VP of Digital at NYX Professional Makeup. We learn that Mehdi, who spent most of his childhood in Beirut, attributes much of who he is—and where he is—today to what he learned growing up in Lebanon. After moving back to the States to study political science, Mehdi explains how he eventually found his way into the beauty world, and walks us through the early days of NYX—revealing how he helped turn a small name brand (at the time) into a social media powerhouse and influencer marketing trailblazer. Mehdi talks about the importance of understanding your consumer's perspective and leveraging your influencer community, and shares his most-used marketing strategies, including a thoughtful approach to building long-term influencer relationships.

In episode 3 of Earned, by Tribe Dynamics, Conor sits down with Evelyn Wang, CMO of cult-favorite masstige cosmetics brand Milani. We dive into Evelyn's unexpected path to the beauty industry, beginning with a degree in Psychoanalytic Thought from a Toronto university, to a business degree at USC (with her sights set on the entertainment industry), before an internship at L'Oréal Paris eventually led her to senior leadership positions at major beauty corporations like Estée Lauder and Johnson & Johnson. Evelyn unpacks the transition from working at these large, publicly traded companies, to leading the marketing departments of smaller, independent brands like Wet n Wild, and, since 2018, Milani. We find out her core marketing philosophies, including the importance of a compelling brand story and the necessity of details, plus her thoughts on the influencer marketing space and Milani's personalized approach to working with content creators.

In Episode 2 of Earned, Tribe Dynamics co-founder Conor Begley chats with Jordynn Wynn, co-founder of rising hair extensions brand Insert Name Here (yes, that's the name!) and marketing director at ColourPop. Raised in a small Montana town, Jordynn reveals how she wound up becoming the first official hire at ColourPop at age 21, and pulls back the curtain on the brand's humble beginnings. Jordynn also shares why she, alongside former Pepperdine classmate and ColourPop colleague Sharon Pak and entrepreneur Kevin Gould, decided to enter the hair space and found wig, ponytail, and extensions brand Insert Name Here. We unpack how Jordynn's learnings from ColourPop inform INH's marketing strategy, and discuss the active role social media influencers have played in the hair brand's initial success.

Welcome to Earned, an influencer marketing podcast by Tribe Dynamics! In this insightful first episode of our new show, our co-founder Conor Begley sits down with Ashton Wall, director of performance marketing at ColourPop—one of today's most popular beauty brands in earned media. Ashton talks about her background (which includes both a business degree from Santa Clara University and a product development degree from FIDM) and takes us on the journey that led her to landing her "dream job" at ColourPop. We dive into her career role models (including her former boss, Tracy DiNunzio, founder of Tradesy) and favorite marketing philosophies ("magic happens in real time"), before Ashton reveals some of the key strategies behind ColourPop's coveted success, online and off. We also cover the evolution of brand-consumer relationships in the social media era, with advice from Ashton to young professionals looking to build careers in marketing. And keep listening for Ashton's answers to Conor's rapid fire questions, like her favorite book, the shows she's binge-watching, and her *interesting* celebrity crush.