January 6, 2021 • 29 mins
Chances are you’ve heard of Who What Wear, the newsletter turned mega-successful digital platform and clothing brand. But you might not know the entrepreneur behind it, Katherine Power, who hasn’t stopped creating. Since starting Who What Wear in 2006, she founded the skincare brand Versed and the wine label Avaline in collaboration with Cameron Diaz—and now she’s launching the clean-luxury makeup line, Merit. This week, Katherine joins Bobbi to talk about her multi-industry journey, how the pandemic is changing the way she conducts business, and why when it comes to entrepreneurship, it’s about collaboration—not competition.
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Beyond the Beauty is a production of I Heart Radio.
I'm your host Bobby Brown. Who Where started as a
newsletter one of the early digital content sites. Everyone knew
it and it morphed into a brand that made incredible
(00:26):
clothes at Target. And from there, all of a sudden,
on the shelves versed this amazing skin Caroline started popping
up and who was behind it? Catherine Power. Last year
she launched a wine brand with Cameron Diaz, and now
I'm so excited she's starting a new makeup line. It's
called Merit. I cannot wait to get my hands on it.
(00:49):
Here's my conversation with Katherine Power. Hey Catherine, nice to
see you. Hi, Bobby is so good to see you too,
Thanks for having me. Yeah, so congratulations. Your new brand
is called Merit. Another cool brand, epic. Thank you, thank
you so much. Yes, this is probably my most personal brand. Um,
(01:10):
and I've been working on it for over four years.
I think that's why it took so long. I'm just
so involved in every single little detail because I truly
created it for myself. I mean, just like I did
with with Who What Where? So many years ago. Um,
you know, I just saw sort of a personal need,
and I'm sure you did too, um, you know, just
(01:31):
as I'm I'm a grown woman now and I'm used
to buying certain brands and have been for you know, decades.
And when I started to want you know, cleaner products
um from from luxury brands, I just wasn't satisfied with
you know, the colors and the formulations. And I think
(01:51):
more importantly, I didn't find a brand that I truly
connected to um emotionally, you know, and I don't. I
didn't feel the same way I felt when I would
buy a you know, a lipstick from one of my
favorite legacy brands many years ago. You know, you walk
out of the store and you have this great feeling
and you feel like you're you're part of a story,
(02:12):
You're part of a lifestyle, You're part of a brand,
and really saw, you know, an opportunity to sort of
reimagine luxury beauty by making it you know, clean and
really well edited and accessible. So we're priced about thirty
below traditional luxury brands. Okay, could you explain where you
got the name from the name Merritt really came from
(02:35):
this idea of wanting to bring true value. You know,
there are so many new makeup brands, um coming out
every day, and I think the consumer is just inundated
with excess at this point. And you know, merit is
really the antidote to the sort of fifty shade palette
dropping every week. UM. And I wanted it to represent
(02:58):
you know, cure tion and value and really, you know,
we only want to we only want to spot in
your makeup bag if we truly merited. So that's kind
of you know, merit means value. Okay, Well, everyone that's
listening probably knows your brands, so I want to talk
about you and how you got these brands. So first
(03:19):
of all, take me back, how did you land your
job at L and how long did you stay? So
I was at L probably just under two years. I
was working in the nightlife industry here in Los Angeles.
So it's working for a promoter and special event producer
named Brent bulth House, who people may know from the
Hills because there they were on the Hills for for
(03:41):
a bit of time. But um, basically it was my
job to create the guest list for big corporate events
and also weekly nightclubs. So I had deep connections to
publicist celebrities, models, really l a tastemakers at that time,
and I was kind of, you know, I was that
(04:02):
age myself. Um, I was in my early twenties, and
you know, at L and L Girl, because I worked
for both L Magazine and the Team magazine. The primary
job of the West Coast editor was to book the
covers and then also to kind of feed the New
York team with new things that were coming out on
the West Coast restaurants, stores, hotels. So because I was
(04:25):
so deeply connected into the community and into you know,
the people that they wanted to put on their covers,
it was actually a really easy transition, even though I
had never worked in magazines before. And really that was
just me saying, hey, I'm obsessed with reading these magazines. Specifically,
I loved the Team magazines. I thought they took a
(04:48):
much more approachable position and fashion, and I one day
just emailed everybody on the masthead of all of the
Team magazines until somebody responded to me. It was the
at the time, the West Coast editor of L Girl,
who was just about to leave. But this was before
you know, LinkedIn. You couldn't you know, you you really
(05:09):
couldn't find your way into these kind of companies. I
found out that the advertising, the people that sold advertising
at magazines, they did get out their email. So I
took the email formula and then I would look in
the magazines to see the sections that I liked, okay,
who edited the sections? And then I would apply that
email formula. And that's really how it happened. That is
(05:31):
very scrappy. So from L you had a meeting or
you ended up meeting a woman that was going to
be your partner. Is that where you guys met? So
talk about that? Yeah, Hillary Kerr. So Hillary is my
co founder and my first brand who What Where? And
Hillary was a fantastic editor and writer at L and
(05:55):
she had been in New York working for L and
she moved out to Los angele lists just as I
was starting. So, you know, the West Coast offices of
these major magazines are very tiny here in l A.
It's usually just one ad sales representative and there's no
real you know, culture or community there. So because she
(06:17):
was pretty much the only other person that worked for
L in the West Coast, we you know, met and
we headed off and became friends for about a year
prior and then you know, as I mentioned, I was
in my early twenties. I was spending all of my
time on the computer, and I was so frustrated that
I couldn't get the same kind of content I was
getting in a print magazine on the Internet. And at
(06:39):
that time, you know, e commerce retailers were just starting
to pop up, and I thought, you know, how cool
is it that you can be in you know, Kansas
or Chicago and by the same products now, because it
used to be you'd have to take a trip to
one of the big cities, you know, go to the
major department store there, you know, to get something that
you've seen in a magazine. And now, you know, it
(07:01):
was starting to become much more accessible. So I want
what year was this again? This was probably early early
two thousand six, late two thousand five, so this was
long before the iPhone. This was you know, Facebook had
just launched, It was exclusive to college students. I was
spending time on my Space and Friends Store, those were
the two social networks, and um, I just kind of
(07:25):
saw this opportunity to um, you know, bring magazine sensibilities
to the Internet, and you know, Hillary felt really strongly
about making it more accessible you know, at that point,
it was really just the high end fashion magazines, and
we sort of felt like, you know, they felt very exclusive,
they sort of spoke down to women, and you know,
we really wanted to create a very friendly and approachable
(07:48):
voice in fashion. And how long did you have the
website before you launch clothes? So we started who Were
in October of two thousand six, and we launch uched
our who What We're a parel collection in early twenty sixteen,
so it was really ten years later. And you know,
right when we launched to What We're in two thousand
(08:09):
and six, it was right about the same time that
Targets started doing the designer collaborations, and that was really
the only way that you could get you know, high
trend fashion at really affordable prices in the US. You know,
it was it was before fast Fashion, it was before
top Shop came over here. It was you know, H
(08:29):
and M was was here, but it was more like
basics than than trend forward. And so from day one,
Hillary and I said, wouldn't it be great to have
a product line at Target where we could bring really
you know, trend forward pieces and everyday kind of closet
staples to shoppers all over the country because you know,
Target is known for making style accessible and really that's
(08:51):
our whole mission. And who what were? It still exists today? Right?
It does? Yes, it is UH, an extremely popular UH
apparel line on on the Target floor. We sell our
accessories here through Nordstrom and Zappos, and we sell peril
and accessories in Europe through Zorlando and as self Ridges.
(09:12):
So I'm still going strong. It's gonna be fifteen years. Wow.
And I in my closet, I have a few of
the pieces and and the and they're not and they're
not new, but I like them so much, you know,
especially my black slim pants. Answer. Yeah, I mean yeah,
no matter what you ate the night before, the week before,
(09:34):
they always fit, no matter what. So thank you for those.
But I don't understand we're gonna there's a few other
brands before we talk really talk about Merritt. How are
you able to do all of this? I'm sorry that
is a huge undertaking, just having one giant successful brand. Well,
you know, I've had who out Where for fifteen years
and that has been like the most amazing business school
(09:56):
I could ever attend um And you know, I got
to a place where I had such a strong executive
team under me, and um, you know, we sort of
had proven ourselves in in consumer products with the launch
of the Hua We're collection, and you know, we knew
we wanted to get into beauty UM, but we weren't
(10:18):
sure what our first beauty brand was going to be.
So we went out and we you know, did some
research with our community. So you know who what We're
reaches about twenty million women per month, and we went
out and we said, you know what what are you missing?
You know when you're shopping for beauty? You know, where
are you shopping? How much are you spending? Really to
(10:40):
understand the behavior around beauty. We also went out to
our advertising partners, who are you know, the world's top retailers,
and we said, you know what are you guys missing
in your aisles? You know, what's the white space for
you when the consumer comes into shop? And we we
started to see a couple of patterns and the first
(11:00):
opportunity that came out of it was this idea that
you know, our community was shopping and discovering beauty products
at drug stores, so over sixty of them were still
buying everything, you know, at you know, anywhere from a
CBS to a Target to um, you know, a Boots
in the UK. But they wanted cleaner products UM. And
(11:24):
if if you looked at the drug store aisle at
the time, it really hadn't changed in about fifty years,
you know. There there weren't a lot of options. There
weren't a lot of clean you know, clean brands or
you know, UM certainly not anything being done in sustainability.
So that was something that consumer was starting to ask
for more and more. So we really developed this brand
(11:48):
UM with our community and that is the Verst Skincare
brand UM. And we launched first in about fifty Target
stores last May. UM and you know only last May,
yeah really yeah? And how many skews uh three? I
(12:09):
think it was. So it was a really ambitious launch,
you know, I think UM. You know, typically as a
new brand, you start directing consumer, you then go into retail.
Because of our strong relationships with the retailers and we've
we had such a successful partnership with Target, we decided
to launch with them for day one because what it
(12:30):
allowed us to do was to use our volume to
really drive down the costs of the formulas and drive
up the quality, so we're able to deliver more like
you know, prestige and luxury quality formulations, you know, under
twenty dollars of products. So that was a really great
way to launch Verset, to be able to pass on
(12:53):
that kind of quality to the consumer and a very cool,
chic packaging and brand. I mean, you know, I definitely
responded to it the second I saw it. Thank you.
Usually very modern and you know now now everyone looks
like that, but you were the first. Well thank you. Also,
(13:26):
you have just launched a wine brand, which the girls
in my office are saying how amazing it is with Cameron.
Oh cool. Yes, I just launched an organic and clean
wine brand called Aveline in July UM And you know,
we had planned this summer launch of our brand and
then COVID hit and we weren't sure, you know, what
to make of it. There was so much going on,
(13:47):
you know, this summer, from the stay at home orders
to the civil unrest, and we you know, waited for
a moment that we felt like was appropriate to bring
the brand out to life. But it turns out it's
a fantastic time to launch an alcohol brand, especially a
clean one. Yeah, I think for better or worse. You know,
(14:07):
alcohol consumption is up in the US, and you know,
we're really happy to offer a sort of better for
you solution. It's uh, you know, Abolne is made from
organic grapes. We have no added sugar, color concentrates, very
minimal intervention, and it's absolutely delicious. That's amazing, all right,
It's on my list. So about a month ago, I'm
(14:29):
someone that spends probably too much time on Instagram. I'm
a visual junkie, and about a month ago I find
this mood board, uh Instagram, and I'm like, what is this?
And one by one every day there was one or
two like phenomenal cool pictures that a few of them
I sent to my you know, team, to say, look
at how cool this is, look at how cool that is.
(14:50):
And then I guess it is now morphed into the
Instagram for merit. So so tell me about this. Yeah, So,
we wanted to start of building the community around the
brand UM, but we're not ready to quite yet just
announce it UM. And so we put up a mood board,
(15:11):
a visual mood board on Instagram where we started curating
images that you know, resonated with me personally, and that
that I felt represent you know, the aesthetic of the
brand and kind of our DNA and so yeah, we
started developing a great little community on Instagram and then
revealed the the name of the brand just a couple
(15:33):
of weeks ago. Well, so tell me about the products,
because really that's what us, that's what a makeup brand is,
is really about the productor so merit is a brand
built around minimalist beauty, and you know, it's really for
women like myself who want to look like themselves but better,
(15:54):
you know. Throughout our research and we worked with about
four thousand different community members throughout the developed and of
merit But one of the quotes that came out of
it that I thought was so telling, as someone said,
I'd rather be complimented on my skin, not my makeup.
So it's this idea that we don't want to look
like we're wearing any makeup. We you know, we want
(16:16):
to look like ourselves, but better. We want to look natural.
We want to look polished and pulled together. And you know,
I had a hard time fitting in as a consumer
about four years ago when I started working on merit
Um because I wanted cleaner products, you know, I I
had always gravitated towards you know, the amazing legacy brands
(16:38):
like you know, Clinique and Bobby Brown and Landcombe and
Steela and all of these brands that you know, we're
known for a more natural look um. But when I
got pregnant with my son, I went to use my
normal lip products and I instantly became nauseous. And I
couldn't figure out why, you know, could they could be
scented unscented? And I at one point tried an organic
(17:04):
tinted lip bomb and somebody had sent it. It was
a it was a kind of a PR submission. It
ended up on my desk. I put it on. I
went into a meeting, and about thirty minutes into the meeting,
I realized, God, I'm not nauseous. That's so weird, because
now when I whenever I put anything on, I get sick.
And so I ran out after the meeting to our
beauty editors and I said, Okay, guys, what's you know,
(17:24):
what's the deal here? What do I need to know?
What's really in this? You know, what's what do I
need to know about? Clean? Like? How important is it
to me right now? And so I started to learn um.
And then of course I had my son, and you
realize you have this tiny newborn that you're putting your
face up against and you're kissing all over, and you think, Okay,
I've got to clean up my act a little bit
(17:45):
now that I know what what is actually in some
of this stuff. And when I went down and went
out to shop, I just again, I didn't feel like
I connected with any of the clean brands on the market,
you know, none of them them gave me that feeling
of being part of a brand, part of a lifestyle.
So I really wanted to create a brand um, you
(18:05):
know that was for women like me that provided a
sense of luxury and experience, but clean, really effective formulations
that lasted all day Because I work, you know, long hours.
Our formulations are made for daytime, so there's not a
lot of iridescent, strong bronzing, all of the things that
have become so popular on Instagram. That's definitely not us.
(18:29):
So yeah, merit was really made to reimagine luxury beauty
by making it clean, well edited, and accessible. So our
prices are about thirty percent below traditional luxury brands. And
and talk about the different products you just announced it
and within this week people are going to start, you know,
ordering it and getting it. Yes, So it all starts
(18:50):
with a product called the Minimalist, And the Minimalist is
not a foundation and not a concealer, but it will
replace both in your makeup bag. And it come from
this idea that I want to look like I'm wearing
no makeup, but I definitely need coverage in certain areas.
So it's this um sort of complexion stick that you
swipe on only on the areas that you need it.
(19:13):
So I've got redness around my mouth, my nose is
a little pink, I've got dark circles, I've got some
discoloration or a blemish. I tap that on. I leave
as much of my natural skin showing as possible, and
then I take our beautiful brush number one and I
basically blend the complexion stick product into the rest of
(19:33):
my skin, and you really can't see where the makeup
begins and the skin ends. We also have a beautiful
highlighter called day Glow, which is um, you know, a
very sort of translucent, dewey highlighter um. And that is
really because you know, I would try to buy a
highlighter and I would go into my conference room lighting
(19:54):
and I would see the iridescence or I would see
the glitter, and I just can't have that, you know,
in a meeting. So I just wanted to look dewey
and healthy, and that's what Dai Glow does. It's basically translucent,
though it comes into different hues, a rose goal and
kind of a white gold. Um. It's super hydrating, it
(20:15):
won't clog pores. In fact, if you want an all
over hydrating look, you can really apply it all over
your face. Um. And then we've got our blush, which
is flesh Bomb, and that is somewhere in between a
cream and a stain. So I love a cream blush,
but when I apply it, I just can't stand it
when it sits on top of the rest of my
(20:36):
makeup and doesn't sort of blend in. And so this
starts out as a cream and then as you rub
it in, it kind of turns to a stain, absorbing
right into your natural skin texture. Um. Yes, how many.
So the blush comes in five colors, the minimalist comes
in I think it's twenty one um, and the highlight
(21:00):
there comes into and so we were launching with seven
items basically, and it's all you need to do your
makeup in five minutes and nothing. You don't and did
you work with a makeup artist? Now, we worked with
our community and a product development expert. I have since
had many makeup artists and many different industry people test
(21:21):
all of the formulations and give feedback. Through the process,
we knew what we wanted and we wanted this specific
you know, color and consistency and feel um, and we're
able to get that. The complexion stick literally took about
three years. And talk to me about the packaging. Sure.
(21:43):
So if you know anything about our brand, versed Um,
you know we have a pretty impressive ethical platform. So
we have eliminated a tremendous amount of virgin material UM,
including plastic and paper. Sustainable. It is an incredibly important
part of our beauty brands and you know, merit is
(22:06):
no different. For example, the Minimalist is made with post
consumer recycled plastic UM. But we wanted you know, really
chic elevated components UM. You know, the first three products
that you use the Minimalist, the day glow, and the
flush bomb our blush, they can all be applied with
(22:28):
one hand. And that was really important to me too,
kind of these efficient components because I was doing my
makeup in the car on my way to work. Now
of course i'm home, but I still only have about
five minutes to do it. So we're using really beautiful colors.
And are you launching direct to consumer only or first?
(22:48):
We are launching directed consumer on January twelve. And you know,
I love to partner with the world class brick and
mortar retailers, so I'm sure I'll be announcing a great
part otnership really soon. Oh cool, No, it's it's okay.
First of all, I don't know what I should ask
you next, like what's next? What else could be? I'm
(23:09):
really excited to continue to work on the brands that
I have right now. You know, along a few of
them have been a long time into making. You know,
we were working on Abiline for two years before that
came out. So I'm just happy to have everything out
into the world and to continue to develop great products.
(23:37):
What do you what do you struggle with? Like what
what are you struggling with right now? Or nothing? Just
I think the you know, the besides the pandemic the
world is and I mean I think like you know,
the challenge, and this year has been no exception, is
keeping up with the changing consumer behavior. So a pandemic
(23:58):
can hit and can change our businesses overnight. A new
technology platform can launch and change our businesses overnight. So
to me, that's what keeps me up at night is
just you know, being able to continue to anticipate to
the best of our ability, the changing consumer behavior, and
then just being really ready to react when something comes
our way that we don't expect. M hm, yes, well
(24:22):
I'm probably by the time you know, uh, we're all
get vaccinated and things move on, there's going to be
so many, so many different things I think doing. You know,
how is it launching from home? You know, it's it's
not been bad, it's you know, I'm totally used to
this now. I can't even like, I almost can't remember
(24:42):
what it was like to go to the office every day.
And I was I was a big proponent of working
from the office. Um, I never thought this would be possible.
We're totally used to it. I think the only um
difficult part is trafficking around you know, formulations and component
samples and all of that stuff. Um, but it's been great.
I just wish I could be, you know, interacting with
(25:06):
with the consumer in real life. That's what I miss. Yeah,
and you know, I launched Jones Road, you know, definitely
during the pandemic. And I find it so so wonderful
to be able to sit in my kitchen, turn on
my zoom, talk to the Today Show, talked to Elvis Durant,
talked to the Instagram Live community, and then I close
(25:26):
it and I have lunch with my husband. Yeah. I
think it's such a wonderful thing. I hope that doesn't change.
I know it's it's um, it's been a difficult year,
but I think there are definitely some silver linings. And
I absolutely love Jones Road. I was so excited to
see you launching it. I have all of the products
that that you sent me and I absolutely love them.
(25:47):
I love the minty scent profile of the lip products. Um.
But what I think is really amazing because you know,
I launched my first brand. You know, I don't even
know how old you are, but were you know, over
thirty years ago. I was there, So okay, So I'm
just saying we never had relationships with other founders, with
(26:10):
other experts. I mean, if you saw another makeup artist
somewhere you would like give them the evil eye. And
now what I find the new generation, which you are
such a big part of, is so kind and so giving,
and so let me introduce you to that person. I mean,
you and I have had you know, zoom meetings to
talk about different things that we're doing, and you know what,
(26:31):
I just find it's such a wonderful change, and so
thank you for being a big you know part of that.
Of course. I mean, listen, I think beauty is like fashion.
No one wears one brand, you know, head to tell,
forehead to chin, top of the head, to the toes, right,
everybody mixes and matches. So to me, like I would
be thrilled to be in in a makeup bag with
(26:51):
Jones Road uh. And you know what, honestly, like anything
that's good, there's room for it totally. You know, think
about think about five of your favorite you know, sweaters
from different brands, like you wouldn't want to do without
them exactly. So, since since this is called beyond the beauty,
I always like to ask my guests the same question. Okay,
(27:12):
what does beauty mean to you? Beauty to me means
feeling good honestly. Um, And I've always thought about beauty
pretty holistically and now I guess that would mean wellness.
But you know, I think feeling great from the inside out.
So no matter how much great makeup I buy, or
you know, the hair color that that I get from
(27:33):
my top salon, unless I am feeling healthy on the inside,
I'm just not going to look right. So um, it's
a really holistic feeling to me, and I think it's um,
you know, psychological as well. Um, it's it's much more
than just skin deep, as they say. And a couple
(27:56):
of speed round questions. What is your favorite cocktail aveline
spritzer of course, of course, of course. My mind's a
shot of what's the last what's the last TV show
you binged? Oh? The last one that I binged was Tehran?
Have you seen Tehran? Have? Not so good? Highly recommended? Um,
(28:21):
But I binge on a regular basis. Vander Pump Rules,
which is my favorite show. I just watched old seasons
and it kind of like makes me feel safe. Okay,
I missed that I missed that one. Well, that's the
best show on television, so that one season one I
will check. What do you do when you're having a
(28:42):
really bad day, I go hug my son. How old
he's three? He's three? Yeah, such a great age. What's
his name, Sebastian? Sebastian? And what is the last thing
you did for fun? The last thing I did for
fun was probably go on a walk with Sebastian. Actually
(29:05):
we did that yesterday. And just I love to just
lay in bed and watch TV. Is that crazy? That's
so fun to me? So do I That's my favorite? Okay,
So well, I would love to continue this one time,
anytime when we're not recording, you know, any time. Got
my number, And I'm such a huge fan of yours. Honestly,
(29:27):
I if people don't know you now, they will know you.
You're going to be one of those you know icons icon.
So thank you so much for spending time with me.
All Right, well, thanks so much and good luck with everyone.
For more podcasts from I Heart Radio, visit the I
Heart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to
(29:50):
your favorite shows.
Beyond the Beauty is a production of I Heart Radio.
I'm your host Bobby Brown. Who Where started as a
newsletter one of the early digital content sites. Everyone knew
it and it morphed into a brand that made incredible
(00:26):
clothes at Target. And from there, all of a sudden,
on the shelves versed this amazing skin Caroline started popping
up and who was behind it? Catherine Power. Last year
she launched a wine brand with Cameron Diaz, and now
I'm so excited she's starting a new makeup line. It's
called Merit. I cannot wait to get my hands on it.
(00:49):
Here's my conversation with Katherine Power. Hey Catherine, nice to
see you. Hi, Bobby is so good to see you too,
Thanks for having me. Yeah, so congratulations. Your new brand
is called Merit. Another cool brand, epic. Thank you, thank
you so much. Yes, this is probably my most personal brand. Um,
(01:10):
and I've been working on it for over four years.
I think that's why it took so long. I'm just
so involved in every single little detail because I truly
created it for myself. I mean, just like I did
with with Who What Where? So many years ago. Um,
you know, I just saw sort of a personal need,
and I'm sure you did too, um, you know, just
(01:31):
as I'm I'm a grown woman now and I'm used
to buying certain brands and have been for you know, decades.
And when I started to want you know, cleaner products
um from from luxury brands, I just wasn't satisfied with
you know, the colors and the formulations. And I think
(01:51):
more importantly, I didn't find a brand that I truly
connected to um emotionally, you know, and I don't. I
didn't feel the same way I felt when I would
buy a you know, a lipstick from one of my
favorite legacy brands many years ago. You know, you walk
out of the store and you have this great feeling
and you feel like you're you're part of a story,
(02:12):
You're part of a lifestyle, You're part of a brand,
and really saw, you know, an opportunity to sort of
reimagine luxury beauty by making it you know, clean and
really well edited and accessible. So we're priced about thirty
below traditional luxury brands. Okay, could you explain where you
got the name from the name Merritt really came from
(02:35):
this idea of wanting to bring true value. You know,
there are so many new makeup brands, um coming out
every day, and I think the consumer is just inundated
with excess at this point. And you know, merit is
really the antidote to the sort of fifty shade palette
dropping every week. UM. And I wanted it to represent
(02:58):
you know, cure tion and value and really, you know,
we only want to we only want to spot in
your makeup bag if we truly merited. So that's kind
of you know, merit means value. Okay, Well, everyone that's
listening probably knows your brands, so I want to talk
about you and how you got these brands. So first
(03:19):
of all, take me back, how did you land your
job at L and how long did you stay? So
I was at L probably just under two years. I
was working in the nightlife industry here in Los Angeles.
So it's working for a promoter and special event producer
named Brent bulth House, who people may know from the
Hills because there they were on the Hills for for
(03:41):
a bit of time. But um, basically it was my
job to create the guest list for big corporate events
and also weekly nightclubs. So I had deep connections to
publicist celebrities, models, really l a tastemakers at that time,
and I was kind of, you know, I was that
(04:02):
age myself. Um, I was in my early twenties, and
you know, at L and L Girl, because I worked
for both L Magazine and the Team magazine. The primary
job of the West Coast editor was to book the
covers and then also to kind of feed the New
York team with new things that were coming out on
the West Coast restaurants, stores, hotels. So because I was
(04:25):
so deeply connected into the community and into you know,
the people that they wanted to put on their covers,
it was actually a really easy transition, even though I
had never worked in magazines before. And really that was
just me saying, hey, I'm obsessed with reading these magazines. Specifically,
I loved the Team magazines. I thought they took a
(04:48):
much more approachable position and fashion, and I one day
just emailed everybody on the masthead of all of the
Team magazines until somebody responded to me. It was the
at the time, the West Coast editor of L Girl,
who was just about to leave. But this was before
you know, LinkedIn. You couldn't you know, you you really
(05:09):
couldn't find your way into these kind of companies. I
found out that the advertising, the people that sold advertising
at magazines, they did get out their email. So I
took the email formula and then I would look in
the magazines to see the sections that I liked, okay,
who edited the sections? And then I would apply that
email formula. And that's really how it happened. That is
(05:31):
very scrappy. So from L you had a meeting or
you ended up meeting a woman that was going to
be your partner. Is that where you guys met? So
talk about that? Yeah, Hillary Kerr. So Hillary is my
co founder and my first brand who What Where? And
Hillary was a fantastic editor and writer at L and
(05:55):
she had been in New York working for L and
she moved out to Los angele lists just as I
was starting. So, you know, the West Coast offices of
these major magazines are very tiny here in l A.
It's usually just one ad sales representative and there's no
real you know, culture or community there. So because she
(06:17):
was pretty much the only other person that worked for
L in the West Coast, we you know, met and
we headed off and became friends for about a year
prior and then you know, as I mentioned, I was
in my early twenties. I was spending all of my
time on the computer, and I was so frustrated that
I couldn't get the same kind of content I was
getting in a print magazine on the Internet. And at
(06:39):
that time, you know, e commerce retailers were just starting
to pop up, and I thought, you know, how cool
is it that you can be in you know, Kansas
or Chicago and by the same products now, because it
used to be you'd have to take a trip to
one of the big cities, you know, go to the
major department store there, you know, to get something that
you've seen in a magazine. And now, you know, it
(07:01):
was starting to become much more accessible. So I want
what year was this again? This was probably early early
two thousand six, late two thousand five, so this was
long before the iPhone. This was you know, Facebook had
just launched, It was exclusive to college students. I was
spending time on my Space and Friends Store, those were
the two social networks, and um, I just kind of
(07:25):
saw this opportunity to um, you know, bring magazine sensibilities
to the Internet, and you know, Hillary felt really strongly
about making it more accessible you know, at that point,
it was really just the high end fashion magazines, and
we sort of felt like, you know, they felt very exclusive,
they sort of spoke down to women, and you know,
we really wanted to create a very friendly and approachable
(07:48):
voice in fashion. And how long did you have the
website before you launch clothes? So we started who Were
in October of two thousand six, and we launch uched
our who What We're a parel collection in early twenty sixteen,
so it was really ten years later. And you know,
right when we launched to What We're in two thousand
(08:09):
and six, it was right about the same time that
Targets started doing the designer collaborations, and that was really
the only way that you could get you know, high
trend fashion at really affordable prices in the US. You know,
it was it was before fast Fashion, it was before
top Shop came over here. It was you know, H
(08:29):
and M was was here, but it was more like
basics than than trend forward. And so from day one,
Hillary and I said, wouldn't it be great to have
a product line at Target where we could bring really
you know, trend forward pieces and everyday kind of closet
staples to shoppers all over the country because you know,
Target is known for making style accessible and really that's
(08:51):
our whole mission. And who what were? It still exists today? Right?
It does? Yes, it is UH, an extremely popular UH
apparel line on on the Target floor. We sell our
accessories here through Nordstrom and Zappos, and we sell peril
and accessories in Europe through Zorlando and as self Ridges.
(09:12):
So I'm still going strong. It's gonna be fifteen years. Wow.
And I in my closet, I have a few of
the pieces and and the and they're not and they're
not new, but I like them so much, you know,
especially my black slim pants. Answer. Yeah, I mean yeah,
no matter what you ate the night before, the week before,
(09:34):
they always fit, no matter what. So thank you for those.
But I don't understand we're gonna there's a few other
brands before we talk really talk about Merritt. How are
you able to do all of this? I'm sorry that
is a huge undertaking, just having one giant successful brand. Well,
you know, I've had who out Where for fifteen years
and that has been like the most amazing business school
(09:56):
I could ever attend um And you know, I got
to a place where I had such a strong executive
team under me, and um, you know, we sort of
had proven ourselves in in consumer products with the launch
of the Hua We're collection, and you know, we knew
we wanted to get into beauty UM, but we weren't
(10:18):
sure what our first beauty brand was going to be.
So we went out and we you know, did some
research with our community. So you know who what We're
reaches about twenty million women per month, and we went
out and we said, you know what what are you missing?
You know when you're shopping for beauty? You know, where
are you shopping? How much are you spending? Really to
(10:40):
understand the behavior around beauty. We also went out to
our advertising partners, who are you know, the world's top retailers,
and we said, you know what are you guys missing
in your aisles? You know, what's the white space for
you when the consumer comes into shop? And we we
started to see a couple of patterns and the first
(11:00):
opportunity that came out of it was this idea that
you know, our community was shopping and discovering beauty products
at drug stores, so over sixty of them were still
buying everything, you know, at you know, anywhere from a
CBS to a Target to um, you know, a Boots
in the UK. But they wanted cleaner products UM. And
(11:24):
if if you looked at the drug store aisle at
the time, it really hadn't changed in about fifty years,
you know. There there weren't a lot of options. There
weren't a lot of clean you know, clean brands or
you know, UM certainly not anything being done in sustainability.
So that was something that consumer was starting to ask
for more and more. So we really developed this brand
(11:48):
UM with our community and that is the Verst Skincare
brand UM. And we launched first in about fifty Target
stores last May. UM and you know only last May,
yeah really yeah? And how many skews uh three? I
(12:09):
think it was. So it was a really ambitious launch,
you know, I think UM. You know, typically as a
new brand, you start directing consumer, you then go into retail.
Because of our strong relationships with the retailers and we've
we had such a successful partnership with Target, we decided
to launch with them for day one because what it
(12:30):
allowed us to do was to use our volume to
really drive down the costs of the formulas and drive
up the quality, so we're able to deliver more like
you know, prestige and luxury quality formulations, you know, under
twenty dollars of products. So that was a really great
way to launch Verset, to be able to pass on
(12:53):
that kind of quality to the consumer and a very cool,
chic packaging and brand. I mean, you know, I definitely
responded to it the second I saw it. Thank you.
Usually very modern and you know now now everyone looks
like that, but you were the first. Well thank you. Also,
(13:26):
you have just launched a wine brand, which the girls
in my office are saying how amazing it is with Cameron.
Oh cool. Yes, I just launched an organic and clean
wine brand called Aveline in July UM And you know,
we had planned this summer launch of our brand and
then COVID hit and we weren't sure, you know, what
to make of it. There was so much going on,
(13:47):
you know, this summer, from the stay at home orders
to the civil unrest, and we you know, waited for
a moment that we felt like was appropriate to bring
the brand out to life. But it turns out it's
a fantastic time to launch an alcohol brand, especially a
clean one. Yeah, I think for better or worse. You know,
(14:07):
alcohol consumption is up in the US, and you know,
we're really happy to offer a sort of better for
you solution. It's uh, you know, Abolne is made from
organic grapes. We have no added sugar, color concentrates, very
minimal intervention, and it's absolutely delicious. That's amazing, all right,
It's on my list. So about a month ago, I'm
(14:29):
someone that spends probably too much time on Instagram. I'm
a visual junkie, and about a month ago I find
this mood board, uh Instagram, and I'm like, what is this?
And one by one every day there was one or
two like phenomenal cool pictures that a few of them
I sent to my you know, team, to say, look
at how cool this is, look at how cool that is.
(14:50):
And then I guess it is now morphed into the
Instagram for merit. So so tell me about this. Yeah, So,
we wanted to start of building the community around the
brand UM, but we're not ready to quite yet just
announce it UM. And so we put up a mood board,
(15:11):
a visual mood board on Instagram where we started curating
images that you know, resonated with me personally, and that
that I felt represent you know, the aesthetic of the
brand and kind of our DNA and so yeah, we
started developing a great little community on Instagram and then
revealed the the name of the brand just a couple
(15:33):
of weeks ago. Well, so tell me about the products,
because really that's what us, that's what a makeup brand is,
is really about the productor so merit is a brand
built around minimalist beauty, and you know, it's really for
women like myself who want to look like themselves but better,
(15:54):
you know. Throughout our research and we worked with about
four thousand different community members throughout the developed and of
merit But one of the quotes that came out of
it that I thought was so telling, as someone said,
I'd rather be complimented on my skin, not my makeup.
So it's this idea that we don't want to look
like we're wearing any makeup. We you know, we want
(16:16):
to look like ourselves, but better. We want to look natural.
We want to look polished and pulled together. And you know,
I had a hard time fitting in as a consumer
about four years ago when I started working on merit
Um because I wanted cleaner products, you know, I I
had always gravitated towards you know, the amazing legacy brands
(16:38):
like you know, Clinique and Bobby Brown and Landcombe and
Steela and all of these brands that you know, we're
known for a more natural look um. But when I
got pregnant with my son, I went to use my
normal lip products and I instantly became nauseous. And I
couldn't figure out why, you know, could they could be
scented unscented? And I at one point tried an organic
(17:04):
tinted lip bomb and somebody had sent it. It was
a it was a kind of a PR submission. It
ended up on my desk. I put it on. I
went into a meeting, and about thirty minutes into the meeting,
I realized, God, I'm not nauseous. That's so weird, because
now when I whenever I put anything on, I get sick.
And so I ran out after the meeting to our
beauty editors and I said, Okay, guys, what's you know,
(17:24):
what's the deal here? What do I need to know?
What's really in this? You know, what's what do I
need to know about? Clean? Like? How important is it
to me right now? And so I started to learn um.
And then of course I had my son, and you
realize you have this tiny newborn that you're putting your
face up against and you're kissing all over, and you think, Okay,
I've got to clean up my act a little bit
(17:45):
now that I know what what is actually in some
of this stuff. And when I went down and went
out to shop, I just again, I didn't feel like
I connected with any of the clean brands on the market,
you know, none of them them gave me that feeling
of being part of a brand, part of a lifestyle.
So I really wanted to create a brand um, you
(18:05):
know that was for women like me that provided a
sense of luxury and experience, but clean, really effective formulations
that lasted all day Because I work, you know, long hours.
Our formulations are made for daytime, so there's not a
lot of iridescent, strong bronzing, all of the things that
have become so popular on Instagram. That's definitely not us.
(18:29):
So yeah, merit was really made to reimagine luxury beauty
by making it clean, well edited, and accessible. So our
prices are about thirty percent below traditional luxury brands. And
and talk about the different products you just announced it
and within this week people are going to start, you know,
ordering it and getting it. Yes, So it all starts
(18:50):
with a product called the Minimalist, And the Minimalist is
not a foundation and not a concealer, but it will
replace both in your makeup bag. And it come from
this idea that I want to look like I'm wearing
no makeup, but I definitely need coverage in certain areas.
So it's this um sort of complexion stick that you
swipe on only on the areas that you need it.
(19:13):
So I've got redness around my mouth, my nose is
a little pink, I've got dark circles, I've got some
discoloration or a blemish. I tap that on. I leave
as much of my natural skin showing as possible, and
then I take our beautiful brush number one and I
basically blend the complexion stick product into the rest of
(19:33):
my skin, and you really can't see where the makeup
begins and the skin ends. We also have a beautiful
highlighter called day Glow, which is um, you know, a
very sort of translucent, dewey highlighter um. And that is
really because you know, I would try to buy a
highlighter and I would go into my conference room lighting
(19:54):
and I would see the iridescence or I would see
the glitter, and I just can't have that, you know,
in a meeting. So I just wanted to look dewey
and healthy, and that's what Dai Glow does. It's basically translucent,
though it comes into different hues, a rose goal and
kind of a white gold. Um. It's super hydrating, it
(20:15):
won't clog pores. In fact, if you want an all
over hydrating look, you can really apply it all over
your face. Um. And then we've got our blush, which
is flesh Bomb, and that is somewhere in between a
cream and a stain. So I love a cream blush,
but when I apply it, I just can't stand it
when it sits on top of the rest of my
(20:36):
makeup and doesn't sort of blend in. And so this
starts out as a cream and then as you rub
it in, it kind of turns to a stain, absorbing
right into your natural skin texture. Um. Yes, how many.
So the blush comes in five colors, the minimalist comes
in I think it's twenty one um, and the highlight
(21:00):
there comes into and so we were launching with seven
items basically, and it's all you need to do your
makeup in five minutes and nothing. You don't and did
you work with a makeup artist? Now, we worked with
our community and a product development expert. I have since
had many makeup artists and many different industry people test
(21:21):
all of the formulations and give feedback. Through the process,
we knew what we wanted and we wanted this specific
you know, color and consistency and feel um, and we're
able to get that. The complexion stick literally took about
three years. And talk to me about the packaging. Sure.
(21:43):
So if you know anything about our brand, versed Um,
you know we have a pretty impressive ethical platform. So
we have eliminated a tremendous amount of virgin material UM,
including plastic and paper. Sustainable. It is an incredibly important
part of our beauty brands and you know, merit is
(22:06):
no different. For example, the Minimalist is made with post
consumer recycled plastic UM. But we wanted you know, really
chic elevated components UM. You know, the first three products
that you use the Minimalist, the day glow, and the
flush bomb our blush, they can all be applied with
(22:28):
one hand. And that was really important to me too,
kind of these efficient components because I was doing my
makeup in the car on my way to work. Now
of course i'm home, but I still only have about
five minutes to do it. So we're using really beautiful colors.
And are you launching direct to consumer only or first?
(22:48):
We are launching directed consumer on January twelve. And you know,
I love to partner with the world class brick and
mortar retailers, so I'm sure I'll be announcing a great
part otnership really soon. Oh cool, No, it's it's okay.
First of all, I don't know what I should ask
you next, like what's next? What else could be? I'm
(23:09):
really excited to continue to work on the brands that
I have right now. You know, along a few of
them have been a long time into making. You know,
we were working on Abiline for two years before that
came out. So I'm just happy to have everything out
into the world and to continue to develop great products.
(23:37):
What do you what do you struggle with? Like what
what are you struggling with right now? Or nothing? Just
I think the you know, the besides the pandemic the
world is and I mean I think like you know,
the challenge, and this year has been no exception, is
keeping up with the changing consumer behavior. So a pandemic
(23:58):
can hit and can change our businesses overnight. A new
technology platform can launch and change our businesses overnight. So
to me, that's what keeps me up at night is
just you know, being able to continue to anticipate to
the best of our ability, the changing consumer behavior, and
then just being really ready to react when something comes
our way that we don't expect. M hm, yes, well
(24:22):
I'm probably by the time you know, uh, we're all
get vaccinated and things move on, there's going to be
so many, so many different things I think doing. You know,
how is it launching from home? You know, it's it's
not been bad, it's you know, I'm totally used to
this now. I can't even like, I almost can't remember
(24:42):
what it was like to go to the office every day.
And I was I was a big proponent of working
from the office. Um, I never thought this would be possible.
We're totally used to it. I think the only um
difficult part is trafficking around you know, formulations and component
samples and all of that stuff. Um, but it's been great.
I just wish I could be, you know, interacting with
(25:06):
with the consumer in real life. That's what I miss. Yeah,
and you know, I launched Jones Road, you know, definitely
during the pandemic. And I find it so so wonderful
to be able to sit in my kitchen, turn on
my zoom, talk to the Today Show, talked to Elvis Durant,
talked to the Instagram Live community, and then I close
(25:26):
it and I have lunch with my husband. Yeah. I
think it's such a wonderful thing. I hope that doesn't change.
I know it's it's um, it's been a difficult year,
but I think there are definitely some silver linings. And
I absolutely love Jones Road. I was so excited to
see you launching it. I have all of the products
that that you sent me and I absolutely love them.
(25:47):
I love the minty scent profile of the lip products. Um.
But what I think is really amazing because you know,
I launched my first brand. You know, I don't even
know how old you are, but were you know, over
thirty years ago. I was there, So okay, So I'm
just saying we never had relationships with other founders, with
(26:10):
other experts. I mean, if you saw another makeup artist
somewhere you would like give them the evil eye. And
now what I find the new generation, which you are
such a big part of, is so kind and so giving,
and so let me introduce you to that person. I mean,
you and I have had you know, zoom meetings to
talk about different things that we're doing, and you know what,
(26:31):
I just find it's such a wonderful change, and so
thank you for being a big you know part of that.
Of course. I mean, listen, I think beauty is like fashion.
No one wears one brand, you know, head to tell,
forehead to chin, top of the head, to the toes, right,
everybody mixes and matches. So to me, like I would
be thrilled to be in in a makeup bag with
(26:51):
Jones Road uh. And you know what, honestly, like anything
that's good, there's room for it totally. You know, think
about think about five of your favorite you know, sweaters
from different brands, like you wouldn't want to do without
them exactly. So, since since this is called beyond the beauty,
I always like to ask my guests the same question. Okay,
(27:12):
what does beauty mean to you? Beauty to me means
feeling good honestly. Um, And I've always thought about beauty
pretty holistically and now I guess that would mean wellness.
But you know, I think feeling great from the inside out.
So no matter how much great makeup I buy, or
you know, the hair color that that I get from
(27:33):
my top salon, unless I am feeling healthy on the inside,
I'm just not going to look right. So um, it's
a really holistic feeling to me, and I think it's um,
you know, psychological as well. Um, it's it's much more
than just skin deep, as they say. And a couple
(27:56):
of speed round questions. What is your favorite cocktail aveline
spritzer of course, of course, of course. My mind's a
shot of what's the last what's the last TV show
you binged? Oh? The last one that I binged was Tehran?
Have you seen Tehran? Have? Not so good? Highly recommended? Um,
(28:21):
But I binge on a regular basis. Vander Pump Rules,
which is my favorite show. I just watched old seasons
and it kind of like makes me feel safe. Okay,
I missed that I missed that one. Well, that's the
best show on television, so that one season one I
will check. What do you do when you're having a
(28:42):
really bad day, I go hug my son. How old
he's three? He's three? Yeah, such a great age. What's
his name, Sebastian? Sebastian? And what is the last thing
you did for fun? The last thing I did for
fun was probably go on a walk with Sebastian. Actually
(29:05):
we did that yesterday. And just I love to just
lay in bed and watch TV. Is that crazy? That's
so fun to me? So do I That's my favorite? Okay,
So well, I would love to continue this one time,
anytime when we're not recording, you know, any time. Got
my number, And I'm such a huge fan of yours. Honestly,
(29:27):
I if people don't know you now, they will know you.
You're going to be one of those you know icons icon.
So thank you so much for spending time with me.
All Right, well, thanks so much and good luck with everyone.
For more podcasts from I Heart Radio, visit the I
Heart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to
(29:50):
your favorite shows.
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