The Glossy Beauty Podcast

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.