The Glossy Beauty Podcast

When Stacy Panagakis took the helm as CEO of LimeCrime just over a year ago, at the same time it was acquired by Tengram Capital, she was thrilled by the untapped potential of the brand. Since stepping into the role, Panagakis has helped the brand expand its product offering into new categories, such as hair, as well as into new markets in the U.S. and beyond. On this week's episode of The Glossy Beauty Podcast, beauty editor Priya Rao sits down with Panagakis to discuss how LimeCrime is partnering with Ulta, how it's utilizing AR to transform education, and why it's putting partnerships and collaborations at the center of its marketing strategy.

On this episode of The Glossy Beauty Podcast, Drunk Elephant Founder and Chief Creative Officer, Tiffany Masterson sits down with beauty editor Priya Rao to discuss building a clean brand before that label existed, the challenges of fostering community on social media and what she would need to sell her company.

When Tom Seery started content and reviews site RealSelf in 2006, he wanted to create an honest and accessible resource for people seeking information on cosmetic aesthetics and plastic surgery by focusing on user generated content. Twelve years, 2 million reviews and a fresh round of funding later, Seery saud RealSelf is positioning itself as the Yelp of "modern beauty." On this episode of The Glossy Beauty Podcast, beauty editor Priya Rao sits down with Seery, the founder and CEO of RealSelf, to discuss his approach to experiential marketing, the casualization of injections and the plans for the company's latest round of funding.

When Rob Robillard, vp of integrated beauty at QVC and HSN, started his job eight years ago, he knew there was a lot of untapped potential for modernizing these legacy retail brands. In this week's episode of The Glossy Beauty Podcast, beauty editor Priya Rao sits down with Robillard to discuss some of the ways he's contributed to giving the brands new life, including relaunching Beauty Bash, introducing private-label brands and introducing a clean beauty standard.

The world of beauty is rapidly evolving due to the impact of popular indie brands, and the hair-care category is no exception. Niche hair-care brands are finding success by sticking with one focus, whether it's a hair texture, color and or style. The secret, according to DevaCurl CEO Robert Schaeffler is being small and nimble, which allows the brand to adapt to its customers in a way the larger players simply can't. On this week's episode of The Glossy Beauty Podcast, beauty editor Priya Rao sits down with Schaeffler to discuss the perks of being a niche brand, the benefits of experiential events, and the differences between influencers and brand ambassadors.

When Katherine Power co-founded fashion and lifestyle brand WhoWhatWear in 2012, she wanted to democratize fashion. Now she is taking on clean beauty with a new brand, Versed. Just this week, Versed launched in 1,400 doors around the country, with an assortment of 19 different products, all under $20. The brand is currently sold both in Target stores and on a direct-to-consumer brand site, which according to Power, will be focused on replenishment orders and education. On this week's episode of The Glossy Beauty Podcast, beauty editor Priya Rao sits down with Powers, the co-founder and CEO of WhoWhatWear and Versed, to discuss the impetus for launching the new beauty brand, the way consumer data played a role in its development and the reason Target is the perfect wholesale partner.

When Dino Ha first founded Memebox seven years ago, he wanted to find a way to bring K-beauty to new audiences, especially in the United States. But as time went on and his company grew, he realized that there was a disconnect between the brand's product offering and the consumers it was trying to reach, so he decided to do something about it. On this week's episode of The Glossy Beauty Podcast, Memebox founder and CEO Dino Ha sits down with Priya Rao to discuss why he is not afraid to evolve his business model, how he is tapping into pop culture to push discovery and why he decided to launch the first K-beauty line of color cosmetics.

The role of the analyst in any industry is to monitor how that industry is evolving and track the movement of some of its most major players. Larissa Jensen's industry of focus is beauty, and she has spent nearly 15 years following everything from the rise of social media and consumer empowerment, to the explosion of digitally native brands and what she calls "the Kardashian effect." Now, as executive director and beauty industry analyst at The NPD Group, Jensen has become the go-to resource for all prestige beauty insights and trends. In this week's episode of The Glossy Beauty Podcast, beauty editor Priya Rao sits down with Jensen to discuss some of the latest trends, like CBD and adaptogens, the rise of extreme transparency and the current drivers of the fragrance market.

When Charles Denton took over Erno Laszlo in 2011, the massive legacy brand was flailing. Now, eight years into his role of chairman and CEO, Denton has big plans for the brand, including new efforts in clean products and sustainability, and continued global expansion. In this week's episode of The Glossy Beauty Podcast, beauty editor Priya Rao and Denton discuss why failure is a good thing, how he differentiates American and Chinese consumers, and what his company is doing to earn an "environmental credit."

After a seven-year career at Goldman Sachs, Nancy Twine decided to try to make a company out of the curly-hair products she'd made for herself for years. So she presented her products at a trade show, received her first round of purchase orders from companies like Urban Outfitters, and six months later, Sephora called. Now, six years after launching her clean hair-care brand, Briogeo, Twine is taking on new challenges, like expanding into new categories and finding offline ways to engage directly with her customer. On this week's episode of The Glossy Beauty Podcast, beauty editor Priya Rao sits down with Briogeo founder and CEO Nancy Twine to discuss how she's cultivating a diverse consumer base, educating her customer on product price points and making a play for wellness.

When Moj Mahdara took the role as Beautycon CEO, she wasn't particularly interested in beauty. To this day, she doesn't wear makeup herself. What she was attracted to was the unique community and fandom around Beautycon, and finding a way to take it to the next level. In the years since, Mahdara has continued to push the boundaries of Beautycon, expanding into new markets with Beautycon POP, moving into larger venues and continuing to find ways to make the event more inclusive and community-driven. For this week's episode of The Glossy Beauty Podcast, beauty editor Priya Rao sat down with Mahdara days before Beautycon NYC to discuss the not-so-average Beautycon attendee, the emerging competition in the space and the plan to scale through retail.

Before starting Hum Nutrition, Walter Faulstroh was a beauty junky with some frustrating skin problems. He had always had a passion for skin care, but no matter what he did, he couldn't seem to get rid of his breakouts. It wasn't until a nutritionist showed him the connection between health and beauty, that he finally found relief. Seven years ago, Faulstroh decided to share his personal discovery with the world with a DTC beauty supplement brand called Hum Nutrition that was quickly scooped up by Sephora. The brand now offers a wide range of products, which claim to address everything from dark circles to PMS to problematic skin. On this week's episode of The Glossy Beauty Podcast, beauty editor Priya Rao sits down with Walter Faulstroh, the founder and CEO of Hum Nutrition. The two discuss the costs and payoffs of clinical trials, the way his brand is making a newer beauty category more digestible, and the reason he decided to sell direct to consumer.

In the last few years, there has been a boom of investments in the world of beauty. Brands like Glossier continue to receive massive rounds of funding, and join the elite club of beauty brands that have received valuations of over $1 billion. According to Rich Gersten, a partner at Tengram Capital Partners who has been investing in beauty companies for over two decades, these success stories have created a flood of money and attention from private equity investors. In this week's episode of The Glossy Podcast, beauty editor Priya Rao sits down with Gersten to discuss what he looks for when investing, why being a clean brand is no longer a differentiator and whether massive valuations on the regular are the new norm.

When you look at Melanie Whelan's career path, it doesn't exactly point to SoulCycle. Prior to landing at Equinox and SoulCycle, Whelan held positions at Starwood Hotels and Resorts and Virgin USA. For Whelan, the through line of all of these companies was a core focus on hospitality and building meaningful relationships with customers. Now serving as the CEO of SoulCycle, Whelan sees the opportunity to expand the consumer-focused, experiential brand on a global scale. The company's first London studio is set to open later this year, in sync with the brand's expansion into events and new retail products. On this week's episode of The Glossy Beauty Podcast, beauty editor Priya Rao sits down with Whelan to discuss how to scale a boutique experience, how to move from a fitness to a lifestyle brand and why SoulCycle decided to make the move into wholesale with Nordstrom.

It is no secret that with the rise of direct-to-consumer companies and e-commerce shopping, legacy retailers are struggling to maintain massive flagship stores and retail footprints. While some retailers are closing their doors, others are searching for ways to reinvigorate their spaces to keep customers coming back. Earlier this year, Bloomingdale's unveiled a completely renovated flagship experience featuring a brand new beauty and fragrance floor. The new space features interactive technology, expanded beauty services, shop-in-shops and event programming. For Stacie Bortek, Bloomingdale's vp and divisional merchandise manager of beauty and fragrance, the updated experience is all about evolving to meet the needs of the modern beauty consumer. In this week's episode of The Glossy Beauty Podcast, beauty editor Priya Rao sits down with Borteck to discuss the major changes to the Bloomingdale's beauty and fragrance experience, the unique events the customer has come to expect and the way beauty is expanding throughout the company's flagship.

If you're starting your day with lemon water or a turmeric latte, or practicing meditative breathing, you're practicing Ayurveda. Although the concept of Ayurveda is relatively new to most Americans, aspects of it have become commonplace among those pursuing healthier lifestyles. Uma Oils hopes to capitalize on these entry points, using them to introduce consumers to the larger world of Ayurveda and its practices. Uma Oils has been around for less than three years, but in that time, it has successfully launched retail partnerships that are integrated into experiences, such as in Equinox classes and through spa treatments at Four Seasons hotels, and launched in several new product categories. On this week's episode of The Glossy Beauty Podcast, Glossy beauty editor Priya Rao sits down with Holecek to discuss how she carefully designed the retail strategy for Uma Oils, why she's not interested in influencers and why she's making the move toward more nuanced products like naval oils.

For over three decades, Rose-Marie Swift was one of the most sought-after editorial makeup artists in the world. But then, her health started to change. Once she started to dig into the industry, and the ingredients that were in the products that she was using everyday, Swift decided she needed to make a change, and that she was going to do it herself. Thus, RMS Beauty was born. Since it's launch in 2009, RMS Beauty has released lines for face, eyes, lips, skincare and more, and can be found in roughly 1600 retail doors. But as the company continues to grow and create new products, Swift has little interest in following down the paths of other growing brands, because she is much more interested in doing her own thing. On this week's episode of The Glossy Beauty Podcast, RMS Beauty's founder and CEO, Rose-Marie Swift, sit's down with Priya Rao to discuss greenwashing, the myth of fast beauty and why you won't see an RMS Beauty store anytime soon.

When Sarah Lee and Christine Chang joined forces to start Glow Recipe in 2014, they wanted to find their own way to introduce the US consumer to Korean beauty. Now, fast-forward five years, Glow Recipe features 30 different brands, Chang and Lee have created their own private label products and their brand is preparing for international expansion. "I think a lot of brands are discovering Glow Recipe's skincare, and they don't realize that we're K-beauty inspired, or a K-beauty brand" said Chang. "They just discover us as a fun skincare brand that they see on social, or they heard about us through Sephora. Because of that approach, I think we've grown to a place where we're reaching a very diverse customer base. K-beauty, for us, is always something that will be a part of the approach in that holistic, enjoyable approach to skincare, but we've kind of expanded past being defined as a K-beauty brand." On this week's episode of The Glossy Beauty Podcast, beauty editor Priya Rao sits down with Sarah Lee and Christine Chang, the co-founders and co-CEOs of Glow Recipe, to discuss creating their own products, their plans for expansion into Germany and beyond, and how they turned an LA mattress store into an influencer activation.

If you asked her 10 years ago, Hillary Peterson would tell you she was not all that interested in beauty. With a background in marketing, and an interest in beauty that didn't extend much further than her own personal skincare, Peterson never thought she would become the founder and CEO of her own natural skincare company. However, following a thyroid cancer diagnosis in her 30's, she became much more interested in living her healthiest lifestyle, specifically with the products she was consuming. It was from this interest that Peterson created True Botanicals. The company, which features a wide range of products from facial serums to shampoo and conditioner, touts a MADE SAFE certification, and uses independent clinical trials to test efficacy of each product. True Botanicals has also started to expand its retail strategy, opening it's flagship store in California at the end of 2018, and hopes to continue that expansion through a mix of temporary and permanent retail settings. On this week's episode of The Glossy Beauty Podcast, beauty editor Priya Rao sits down with Hillary Peterson, the founder and CEO of True Botanicals, to discuss starting a new business in a crowded market, leveraging a direct connection with your customers and how she hopes to expand their retail strategy.

Before Alex Friedman decided to dive into the world of feminine hygiene and sexual wellness, she was a businesswoman and a mom with a problem to solve. Everywhere she looked, people were talking about ingredients -- in food, in beauty products and even in diapers. But when she looked at the side of the box of tampons she had been using all of her life, the possible ingredients included a list of words she didn't recognize, and that scared her. She reached out to her friend and future business partner, Jordana Kier, and they decided that something needed to be done. "We were horrified," said Friedman. "So we decided to start a business to bring ingredients transparency to the tampon industry. Over the course of 3 years in business, what we learned was that every life stage is the same, from your first period, to when you start having sex, to thinking about fertility, to pregnancy, postpartum, menopause and beyond.It's all stigma, no ingredients transparency, and not enough conversation." On this week's episode of The Glossy Beauty Podcast, beauty editor Priya Rao sits down with Lola co-founder and co-CEO, Alex Friedman, to talk candidly about sexual wellness and feminine hygiene products, the importance of ingredients transparency and how education has played a vital role in building the brand.

Divya Gugnani was motivated to launch Wander Beauty when she realized there were no beauty brands speaking directly to her -- a woman who loves beauty and maintains a fast-paced lifestyle. Now, three years into the business, Gugnani and her team are taking a strategic approach to scaling the company by implementing technology like chatbots and text communications, and pairing that with a strategic distribution that brings them directly to their customer, wherever she is. On this week's episode of The Glossy Beauty Podcast, Glossy's beauty editor, Priya Rao, sits down with Wander Beauty's Divya Gugnani to discuss how Wander Beauty is learning about its core customer, how it's using that information to further connect with her and what's on the horizon for the brand.

Flamingo, a DTC company focused on women's grooming needs, was the first brand to emerge out of Harry's Labs, in October of 2018. Since Harry's launched in 2013, it's seen a lot of success with female customers, at one point boasting over 1 million female subscribers. It finally decided to take advantage of the built-in fanbase of women and create a brand specifically for them. Allie Melnick, who's worked at Harry's since its launch and now serves as gm for Flamingo, saw saw the opportunity to connect with female customers by serving them with both a suite of products specifically designed for how they use them and honest, approachable education surrounding hair removal. On this week's episode of The Glossy Beauty Podcast, beauty editor Priya Rao sits down with Allie Melnick to discuss how Flamingo is humanizing hair removal, educating consumers and evolving.

In 1992, Laura Slatkin had no interest in home fragrance. She had spent 12 years building a successful career for herself working on Wall Street, where she met her husband. After they were married, her brother-in-law had an interior design business that was booming and was looking for partners to help him expand, when Slatkin and her husband signed on. Together, the three went on to create Slatkin & Co., which launched in Saks Fifth Avenue and was one of the first luxury home fragrance brands on the market. In 2005, Slatkin & Co. was acquired by Limited Brands, leaving Laura in a position to choose her own destiny. Saddled with a non-compete clause, she spent the next three years helping high-end designer brands develop fragrances on their own. These projects were successful for the most part, but Slatkin felt like there was a missing piece of the puzzle. It was with that notion that Nest Fragrances was born. Since its inception, the brand has expanded its offering of home fragrances and moved into new categories such as fine fragrance and, most recently, personal care. As the brand continues to grow, Slatkin hopes to turn her luxurious, yet approachable brand into an all-around lifestyle for her customers. On this week's episode of The Glossy Beauty Podcast, Glossy beauty editor Priya Rao sits down with Laura Slatkin, founder and executive chairman of Nest Fragrances, to talk about the brand's beginnings, its expansion into new categories and its plan to turn fragrances into a lifestyle.

Josie Maran has a long history with beauty. From the time she was just 12 years old, Maran was working as a professional model. Six years into her career, which included spending hours in the makeup chair on most days, she noticed the routine was taking a toll on her skin. Raised in a family that emphasized the importance of a sustainable and natural lifestyle, she decided to seek out makeup that met that criteria. So, in 2004, she decided to fill that hole in the market. On this week's episode of The Glossy Beauty Podcast, beauty editor Priya Rao sits down with model, actress and founder of her namesake beauty brand, Josie Maran, to discuss how her early career informed her work in beauty, what challenges she faced when starting her brand, and where she sees Josie Maran Cosmetics going next.

About 10 years ago, Vicky Tsai chose happiness. After years of working in corporate, she slowly realized that she didn't know what she wanted to do with her career. She had also been struggling with an increasingly bad case of dermatitis that shook her confidence in her appearance and in herself. So one day, she decided to quit her job and travel the world in search of something to believe in. Somewhere along the way she found herself in Kyoto, in more ways than one. After returning to the United States, Tsai looked everywhere for the products that had saved her skin with no luck. Determined to share these secrets with the world, she sold her engagement ring to buy 10,000 blotting papers, and from there Tatcha was born. In this episode of The Glossy Beauty Podcast, beauty editor Priya Rao sits down with Tsai, founder and chief treasure hunter for Tatcha, to discuss the difficulty of introducing foreign beauty concepts to the US market, skincare as self-care and why you can't rush amazing products.

When Frederic Fekkai was a young man, he had no intention of entering the beauty space. In fact, he didn't even know it existed. Shortly after this discovery, Fekkai quit law school, moved to Paris and threw himself into the world of beauty. He began to work fashion shows and photoshoots, and establish meaningful connections with some of the top players in the industry. Over the course of the next four decades, Fekkai would go on to establish and sell his own namesake company, buy and rebrand Côté Bastide to Bastide, and, most recently, buy back Frederic Fekkai. On this week's episode of The Glossy Beauty Podcast, beauty editor Priya Rao talks to Fekkai live at the Glossy Beauty x Wellness Summit about how he got his start in the industry, what it was like to build and sell his namesake company, and why he says up-and-coming brands should stop ripping off Chanel.

Kate Oldham has spent most of her life working at Saks. Her first job with the company, a sales associate at their flagship store, was supposed to be a short term way to make money while she searched for a more formal job in marketing. However, she quickly fell in love with the company, applied for their training program, and would spend the next two decades working her way up. As she moved up the company food chain, she began to work more in the beauty and cosmetic categories, eventually landing her current role as the senior vice president and general merchandising manager of beauty and jewelry. Throughout her time she has watched these categories grow and evolve, but nothing, according to Oldham, has had as much impact as social media. In this week's episode of The Glossy Beauty Podcast, beauty editor Priya Rao talks to Oldham about the ever-changing beauty category, re-designing the Saks beauty floor and why Saks is betting big on hair.

When Jill Scalamandre first started her career, she wasn't interested in beauty. She had spent some time after college working in a fashion house in Paris and was trying to figure out her next steps when someone suggested she give the beauty industry a try. She accepted an opportunity with Revlon and quickly fell in love with the industry. In the decades since, Jill has built a long, successful career in beauty. In her current role of president of BareMinerals, Buxom and global development for Shiseido makeup, she has overseen the relaunch of the Shiseido and BareMinerals brands, and revamped BareMinerals' brick-and-mortar retail strategy. In this episode of The Glossy Beauty Podcast, beauty editor Priya Rao sits down with Scalamandre to discuss the challenges of overseeing such different brands, the benefits of working with influencers and the future of technology in beauty. Below are excerpts from the conversation, edited for clarity.

Zak Normandin is a problem solver. Back in 2009, he founded Little Duck Organics because he was having a hard time finding healthy snacks for his kids. After selling off a majority of that company, he set out on a new mission: to create a fast, easy way to deliver beverages that are good for consumers and, at the same time, shake up an industry that has been untouched for almost 100 years. In 2015, Normandin co-founded Dirty Lemon. From its text-to-order model to its uniquely flavored, health-boosting products, Dirty Lemon is on a mission to do things its own way. On this week's episode of The Glossy Beauty Podcast, Glossy beauty editor Priya Rao sits down with Normandin to talk about how the brand launched on Instagram, why the products can only be ordered through text message and what challenges come with making wellness trends into beverages.

From the time Carol Hamilton was a little girl, she knew that she had a passion for beauty. What started as a love for lipstick would eventually blossom into a long, successful career in beauty. Now serving as the group president of acquisitions for L'Oréal, Carol has seen the industry from every angle and through massive evolution. In this week's episode of The Glossy Beauty Podcast, beauty editor Priya Rao sat down with Hamilton to discuss what she looks for in the brands she acquires, how she stays ahead of the rapid changes in the industry and why authenticity is key when connecting with younger audiences.

When Peach & Lily founder and CEO Alicia Yoon moved to the United States from Korea to attend college, she would often share her love for Korean-based beauty via products and facials. Still, she often found it difficult to find those products in the U.S. Then, in 2012, Yoon had her "a-ha moment. "Seven years later, Peach & Lily is largely credited with bringing Korean beauty in the U.S., both curating and creating products that feature a unique cast of ingredients and uses. On this week's episode of The Glossy Beauty Podcast, Yoon discussed why partnering with larger companies expanded the Korean beauty footprint, why good skin-care products take time and how Korean consumers are driving innovation.

Since former Allure editor in chief Linda Wells landed at Revlon as chief creative officer in February 2017, she has had a busy last 21 months. Not only has she renovated all of the consumer touchpoints, like packaging and the digital and social presences of the heritage company’s portfolio of brands, such as Elizabeth Arden, Almay and Revlon, she also launched Flesh Beauty. In this week’s episode of the Glossy Beauty Podcast, Wells discussed how the industry has become “unrecognizable” because of social media, the shift in power in beauty and how incubation is the future for big beauty companies.

We're only a few short days away from the release of our first episode of The Glossy Beauty Podcast! Here, we're giving you a sneak peak to some of our conversations that we will be sharing this season. We hope you enjoy, and don't forget to check out our premiere episode with Miranda Kerr on Thursday, November 8th!

In the first ever episode of the Glossy Beauty Podcast, Kerr talks about self-funding her business, her dedication to bringing organic products to the world, and achieving an 800% growth since Kora Organics' launch.