April 15, 2021 • 30 mins
King and Lee realized that women over 40 were being overlooked by the beauty industry, and that there was a real need for affordable, hormone-defying products. Hear the lessons they learned while building a game-changing business.
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
Welcome to Made by Women by the Seneca Women Podcast
Network and I Heart Radio. At a moment when businesses
face some of the biggest challenges in recent history, we
bring you inspiring stories, practical insights, and shared learnings to
help you successfully navigate in today's environment. I'm Sharon Bowen,
(00:26):
and thanks so much for joining us today. You would
think that the beauty industry would have thought of everything
by now, but think again to Leslie and Laurie King,
co founders of Care Beauty, or shaking things up with
a skin care line that's taking a new approach to
aging and beauty. Care Beauty is spelled c A I
(00:49):
R E. Because, as Laura and so Less say, they're
putting the eye in Care, their independent beauty brand up
as what they just i as hormone defying products designed
specifically for women over forty. It's a market that's been
neglected for too long. Today I'll be talking with Celeste
(01:12):
and Laurie about their unexpected path to founding this company
and their struggles and successes along the way. Enjoy my
conversation with Lori King and Celesslie, co founders of Care Beauty.
Well welcome, Celeste and Laurie tell us about Care and
(01:34):
what sets it apart from other skin care brands. Well,
thank you Sharon for having us and for having as
share a lot about Care beauty and what this brand
means for us, for Celeste and I and we created
Care because we knew that there was a need for
skin care for women over forty who are experiencing, you know,
(01:58):
deteriorating skin um due to or drastically changing skin due
to hormone decline in menopause. And we have decided that
these women there are seven thousand of them that enter
menopause every day, whether it's the pre menopause phase all
the way to the post menopause space, that they don't
(02:20):
have special can care for them. That is age empowering.
The whole message out there is anti aging and most
of those products nine percent of them actually only work
on the surface of skin and hair. Beauty goes much
deeper than that deep beauty. That's great. Now I understand
(02:44):
that Kia specializes in something called defiance science. What does
that mean? We came up with the phrase defiance science
for two reasons. Number one, we're literally defying what happens
with hormone change and I think I need to explain
for a second what this means when you get older.
(03:07):
It actually starts at thirty, by the way, for men
and women, but for women it gets the idea of
hormone decline accelerates around forty. Specifically, it means that estrogen
and progesterone production itself declined, so you've got less estrogen
and progesterone running around your body, and it affects all
kinds of body processes, because that's what hormones do. Hormones
(03:28):
are like the green lights of the body, and they
turn on and turn off everything from hunger to desire,
your libido, to sleep, and and it also impacts directly
sell production. So when you have fewer hormones, you literally,
on a daily basis make your skin cells. And at
(03:49):
first in your thirties, it's not so noticeable because you've
only lost about one percent a year of your hormone production.
But around when you start to enter what called peri
menopause or pre menopause for a woman, the rate of
decline doubles every single year. So, as we all know
from math, when you keep losing two percent a year,
(04:11):
it's obviously a lot more serious than one, and then
when you get to what's you know, technical menopause, and
that's the year that you you stop your period. You actually,
for the first three years post menopause lose of your collagen,
carlonic acid, and a lasting production, and those are your
key skin building blocks. So all of a sudden, it's
(04:32):
like you got hit by freight train. And it's terribly
ridiculous that the skin care industry, knowing this, has deliberately
ignored it. So that's what we have gone after. We're
defying the skin aging that is caused by hormone decline,
and that's why we call it defiant science. It sounds
like I could have used you guys about twenty years ago,
(04:53):
but I'm using you now and living it. So but
before before we get too far ahead, though, um, I'd
like to start with your personal backgrounds. Laura, you started
a sandwich business and celest you help your school store
with a product. Did you always want to start your
own company? Was there something else in your path that
(05:16):
led you to where you are today? You know, it's
it's very interesting that an elementary school experience that actually
spark an entrepreneurial interest, and that's what this very dynamic
elementary school did for me in East Dart, New Jersey,
and because of that, I always had in the back
(05:37):
of my mind that I wanted to have my own business.
Even when I applied to UM get my m b A.
I applied for entrepreneurship and one of the things that
I needed was a big boost of confidence. And what
I mean by that is just sort of knowing that
I could do this, I could bring all my knowledge
(05:58):
forth and create a company on my own. So when
Celessa and I came together, yes, it was very much
a building of all of these ideas and sparks of
creativity and friends asking us for something better. That truly
brought us together. And I said, it's tine to do this,
(06:19):
and that confidence is now fully here and I'm embracing
it and loving it. And what about you, Celist. You know,
it's so funny that we had this parallel experience. And
I love the way that Laurie just said that her
elementary school embraced her. I moved from one school to
another in fifth grade and I went to this very
seventies sort of post hippie dippie. It was an open
(06:42):
planned school and I'll never forget that Mrs Sober in
the fifth grade, she was my champion before I knew
there was such a thing as a champion. And she
made me a school crossing guard, and she made me
the head of the school store, and she did all
these things. I never asked. I didn't even understand the
value of it. But I can tell you, Sharon, it
was a lot of fun. And for me, a shy
(07:04):
Asian American person who didn't know anybody, it was a
wonderful way to just meet people and and then to
have this moment where by accident we found or I
found this wacky gum eraser that became this this hysteria
um and everybody had to have and I became instantly popular. Well,
you know what, that was a wonderful thing. So yes,
(07:26):
maybe I do think that impacted the whole idea of
the value of of having your own business and what
that could bring to your life. I think, you know,
I've read someplace that your competence comes at a really
early age, and it sounds like you both were set
up to succeed, which is really great. Another really interesting
thing about buff of your backgrounds is that you had
(07:49):
experience in finance, Um, what would it like transitioning into
the beauty industry with that kind of background. You know,
it's very interesting because when I I started in finance
with pharmaceutical company and I needed to pay off my
business school loans. So I actually did a few things
(08:11):
that were entrepreneurial at the time. One of them was
starting a jewelry business. And I designed jewelry and sold
it at the big museums outside here in New York City,
and I sold it to all sorts of stores and
art galleries. So what that did for me was actually
helped me to name a business a brand it called.
(08:32):
It was called to Beat or not to Beat. It
allowed me to understand my pan l top to bottom,
and um, I began to understand my consumers. So transitioning
into the beauty industry, when I interviewed with Elizabeth Arden,
it was a perfect bit because I got to work
with these amazing celebrities are a Loggerfeld and Elizabeth Taylor
(08:57):
and create these fragrances for them. But happens in brand
marketing is that you're actually running a mini business. You're
coordinating people, you have multiple different avenues, were getting things
done from financed operations to creative photography, etcetera. And so
(09:17):
for me it was a it was a challenging transition
because I had to stay up until well past midnight
to learn on the go brand marketing, but it was
also thrilling. It's great enough about you, Cels. I don't
have nearly as interesting a story for me. It happened
by accident, Sharon. I mean, I worked at Lehman Brothers
(09:40):
in Tokyo, and quite honestly, I hated it. I could
not deal with the investment banking hours, and I felt
very uncomfortable as a Chinese person in a Japanese culture
that was very challenging. And a woman was even worse.
If they think you're going to be a tea lady.
And I was so not happy. So I came back
to the US and I'm like, I got to change
(10:01):
my life, that this whole tea lady thing has got
to stop. So I my now brother in law, I said,
do you want to open an office for AMC movie theaters?
And I was like sure, And I had the best time.
I was going to movies all the time. I honestly
had very little work, had very little money, but very
little work, and I just sort of enjoyed life. And
(10:22):
because I had some time, a friend of mine from
from Penn calls me up and says, you always have
lots of crazy ideas and know how to tell stories.
Would you be willing to come up with some ideas
for for the body shop? And I worked on the
right away. This thing called Mama Toto was a mommy
daughter brand um for very early the body shop and
(10:43):
need Erotic And from there I fell in love with
beauty and the next thing I know, I started getting
calls from the beauty world to to come on, and
I said, okay at a certain point because frankly, they
were offering me three times as much money as AMC
and who can say no to that? And that's how
it happened. That's amazing. So take us back a little
bit then to the early days of care. How did
(11:06):
you both actually come together and where did the initial
idea come from? But you know, it's interesting because the
less and I have, you know, almost forty years of
experience across beauty consumer brands as well as directed consumer businesses,
and you know, we would occasionally see each other at
(11:28):
different beauty events after we were introduced by a mutual
warding friend that the Less went to undergrad with and
I went to get my MBA with him, so he
introduced us and we kept running into each other at
different events, and there was you know, the beauty industry
is actually quite small. So one day I see her
from across the room and I'm like, the last is
(11:49):
that you and we hit it off. I said what
are you doing? And next thing we know, she's consulting
at Cody where I was to executor's leadership team. I
was in global marketing working with Halle Berry and Lean
Dione and other celebrities, and I says, Less, can you
help me with some brand projects? And that was the
first time we actually worked together. And then I went
(12:11):
to a startup and I built this for an investor
um and I brought to the less end help me
with that brand in terms of naming and ideation and
taking and developing this skinkcare Patch brand into something that
was going to truly be dynamic and differentiate in the market.
(12:31):
And that's really how we came together to create Care.
And the way that this initial idea came about is that,
as I mentioned earlier, the Less and I've always exchanged
lots of ideas. Well. I'm someone that I'm always networking.
I'm always looking and thinking of that next opportunity, and
(12:51):
I constantly have met different scientists along the way. And
we actually met these amazing scientists. Says, lest you've got
to meet them, Let's have lunch. So we met lunched
in midtown similar to like Sharon, you and I had
the drinks at the end of the day and one
of those locations ket me going. But let's have lunch
(13:17):
was the key part, and we came together. We met
with these guys and we had this idea for these
women over forty said, they said, we can do this.
And we have a PhD, these pH d s on
our team, and we've created the science together that's proprietary
(13:38):
that we own, and that's really where the science began
and this story began and where this amazing brand can
It's a great path, it really is. We'll be back
with Seneca's Made by Women after this short break. We
(14:05):
know that you know, all entrepreneurs inevitably face challenges and
getting started. Can you tell us about some of the
obstacles you've faced in getting care started and how you
became them? Sure, I would say, and This is probably
true of so many burgeoning startups, is that you've got
(14:26):
to have money to start up. You can have all
the passion in the world and you can work as
hard as a dog, but you do have to have
some kind of money. And the good news for us
is we got lucky because Lorie finding Dr Joe and
Kevin was a bit of a miracle because they were
also willing to invest their own um your law, years
of experience and knowledge base and some of their innovation
(14:49):
ideas that they had had rolling around in their heads.
We all came together and we're able to activate that.
So that was the good news because otherwise it would
have been you know, five thousand, a million dollars just
to get product number one, even in one little jar.
But nonetheless, we got to that point on our own,
using our own heads and arms and effort. But you
(15:10):
still have to be able to produce product, and in
order to do so, you need some kind of funding.
And that has been a really interesting challenge. Even though
Lori and I both have these um these warton backgrounds
mean for me, it's a very long time ago. Uh.
The fact of the matter is that they don't really
teach you what happens in the modern world in terms
(15:30):
of fundraising. What is a series A, what's a series B,
what's a seat, what's a safe note, what's a convertible note?
This whole world was a shocker to us. It's still
a little bit of a shocker to us. Um. One
of the things that we did to overcome our lack
of knowledge, other than calling up everybody we know and
asking dumb questions, is and they weren't dumb, they were
(15:50):
just but we would ask everybody the same questions to
see if we would get the same answers. And we
actually went and found an accelerator. This is Lorie's doing
because she is the ultimate networker, and there are these
amazing boot camps and accelerators all over the world that
who's sole purpose in life is to help people like
us or anybody at any age, to take their dream
(16:15):
and to turn it into reality. So we found a
great one. It's one of the oldest and most important
in New York City. It's called e r A and
it's modeled after the iconic what's called y Combinator and
that sin Silicon Valley, and they birth you know, Airbnb,
and had something to do with Uber, I think, so
you can get an idea and there's an there's actually
a methodology and it's a boot camp, and it teaches
(16:36):
you how to learn, how to find raise, how do
you talk to people, what do you need to know,
how do you structure things, how do you answer things,
what do you present to people? And how do you
do it? And so that was our biggest challenge, and
in all honesty, it continues to be a bit of
a challenge, but we're getting better at it every day.
You know, I often talk about that being a obstacle
(16:58):
for many women on trepreneurs and the access to capital,
credit loans. I am optimistic though, because I do see
lots of great programs like the e R a Accelerated
program Um and a number of initiatives you know, we
at Cynical Women have been involved with and that that
gives me a lot of hope about the future. So,
now that you've found successful care and you've been called
(17:22):
I think an indie brand, tell us a little bit
what does indie brand actually mean? Right? Well, in the
beauty industry, this terminology if you started a few years ago,
you know indie beauty brands and there's actually a segment
within there's a there's a Cosmetic Industry Association, a group
of women's called COSI Semetic Executive Women, and they actually
(17:45):
nurture what they call indie beauty brands. And these are
independently owned, operated, bounded businesses that have come up with
unconventional ideas, things that haven't been done before. You know,
part of our pilosophy is a clean philosophy, meaning that
our ingredients are green, they're vegan, they don't have bad
(18:08):
ingredients for you in them. That's a whole big piece
of it. We are as sustainable as possible. And then
we're carving out this segment for the sporty plus woman
that really is an untapped opportunity when most of the
market that sells skincare products sells them to you whether
you're in your twenties and early thirties all the way
(18:30):
up until your eight and they can't they can't step
back and carve out this segments say we've actually got
a product for you that works specifically for you because
your skin is aging differently due to the fact that
something's happening to you inside. And they're also not doing
it in a way that is genuine embracing and um
(18:51):
sort of you know, in a way that's not about fear.
They're all about a lot of them about anti aging
and fear. We are about positivity and embracing you. And
so once Less came up with the name care it's
spelled c A I R E. Well, we put the
eye in care for the individual in you. And that's
what we like to say, because we're embracing this woman's independent,
(19:15):
she's our own person. She's bursting with confidence, and we
want to build that type of community and know that
we're bringing her excellent, excellent science at a price you
truly can afford. Because as you age, women at the
age of fifty start plate towing in terms of their
(19:36):
income and they're at the top of their income earning years,
and yet products that say they can do things for
you are two hundred dollars three hundred dollars, Well, who
can do that if your income is starting to decline
and you've got so many other responsibilities to start to
think about. So our average price point is around fifty dollars,
(19:58):
and we want to offer that type of good value
to her. That's that's really remarkable. UM, I really love
the positivity to and and the the notion of you know,
the positive image uplifting women especially. But we also know,
you know, it's been a really difficult past year um,
(20:18):
with COVID and the pandemic and the economic downturn. So
were you able to or did you need to pivot
to meet these new challenges? Sharon, that's a great question.
You know it was actually it too, be honest, it
was a forced opportunity, shall we say. So all of
a sudden, it's it's the end of March. Um. Laura
(20:40):
and I had gone to a birthday party with a
with a friend and she's looking at me and she's like,
you know, the next month or two is going to
be really weird, because we're thinking at this point that
it's all gonna end around June, you know, maximum July four.
And she's like, you know, remember that cocktail party that
I sent you to go to? This women in the
r A thing. I'm like, yeah, yeah, yes, because I
think we should it apply. She goes, what else are
(21:02):
we doing? Why not? And because we had already started
the business and we were well on the road with product,
and so she sends me this link and I'm like, mm, hmm.
But you know, Laurie's very forceful and she's very compelling.
I was like, let's give it a go. Why not,
I'm like, and then you know, she didn't tell me
the part that there's a thousand applicants for like ten spaces.
She neglected to mention that key piece of information. So
(21:24):
I'm thinking it was like, okay, one in a hundred,
you know, let's see what happens. So we went for it.
I mean, the good news is they actually delayed the
application deadline from I believe it was like April four
to May five, but it gave us time to really it. Actually,
it was great because it forced us to hone in
on exactly what our initial message was going to be.
Who are cohort Is five into seventy woman? Um, you know,
(21:49):
we came up with the phrase defiance science at that point,
we came up with hormone, defying, age, empowerment, all of
these keywords that our signatures of our brand and will
continue to be signatures as we grow. We're developed at
that time, and we we went for it. We got accepted,
and believe me, it was a real boot camp. We
were like living and breathing seven days a week, twelve
(22:11):
hours a day or more this program because they introduce
you to like hundreds of mentors as well as potential
people that might want to invest in your business or
at least just help you get on the road. So
I would say that in our case, we were fortunate
that we were able to take what could have been
a very negative time and and turn it into a
positive time. And and I'm grateful for that, yes, very much,
(22:34):
So very much though. And you know, it's interesting because
it was all done on Zoom and we all of it.
We had one meeting in Central Park where we were
all socially distanced at the time, and we really, really,
you know, appreciated these these people investing their time with us,
and they continue to. It's it's like it's it's like
(22:55):
a family, and it's fantastic for us. And that has
been so beneficial to getting through COVID psychologically as well,
and that's why it has been on something of great fortune. Well,
we we did be our mentor. Laurie and I made
well I made the ribs, Laurie made the salads, and
we lured our mentor out and we got extra help. Yes,
(23:17):
we have two mentage a great guy and another woman,
so we have two mentors and it's it's been fantastic
to have that guidance and a good laughter or drink
with them every once in a while too. So it
is interesting I've heard that from other women entrepreneurs to that,
you know, that time of the pandemic gave them some
quiet time, sometime to refocus, sometime to engage people. Um,
(23:41):
because people weren't traveling and so people were willing to
do a zoom fifth team and at coffee break if
you will, UM, it was more efficient. That's very true.
And you do have to know how to take advantage
of this time. I mean sharing you know you know this. UM.
I did a ten day silent meditation for the pandemic
by chance, and that allowed me to have a centering
(24:04):
and focus during the pandemic and to keep diminished the
anxiety as much as possible, because, as you know, starting
a business is one of those activities in your life
that you can take on that can cause a very
high stress level. And so to be able to manage
that stress level and be very confident in approaching how
(24:28):
you build a business is a whole another ball game. Well,
you're taking us right to my next question, and you
started to answer it, which is, for those you know
who are out there in the audience we're thinking about
starting their own ventures, what have you learned that you
wish someone else had told you about before you start
(24:48):
at your own company. Well, you know, it's it's very interesting.
There are a few things, and I'll you know, there's
the surprises like ce less than I. You know, we're
a corporation and inc. We're in Delaware where a lot
of different corporations are. We're actually trying to figure out why.
(25:10):
So we go online to pay what's called a franchise tax,
and I'm like, we're not a franchise. We don't have
to pay this tax, right, this is me. So I
go online and I put the information in of what
our number is and it says your taxes due an
amount of forty six thousand, seven hundred dollars, And I
went to last what is going on? So what I'm
(25:33):
saying is there will be surprises when you start your
own company. Take a breath, don't panic, and so let's
pop me off the cliff and we got it down. Yeah,
do you remember? And we got it down to four
hundred dollars, which is the typical, but it just shows
(25:54):
that delawares trying to get all their money up front,
and you've got to keep your eyes open. But on
the more serious side, you know you you have to
prepare yourself mentally financially, it's very important to save and
have you know and budget, understand what you're going to
(26:17):
live off of. Start cutting down your expenses before you
leave a job, um and before you dive in the
start of business. And then once you've saved enough to
say to yourself, save a little bit more more and
stay in that job as long as you possibly can
before you dive in. The Other thing is, don't waste
(26:39):
money when it comes to building a website, when it
comes to resources, um, to get things started. You can
find unique routes to get people to help you. Be
very creative about building that around you and leveraging as
much as you can't other people. Uh, don't think that
(27:00):
you can't do it yourself. And as I said in
the beginning, that confidence that I got in fourth sixth
grade in this amazing elementary school, keep that in mind
for yourself. It is something no matter what you're going through,
no matter where that day is believe in yourself, believe
(27:24):
that you can do this, and believe in your dream
as less the staying earlier. I want to add one
little note to that. Listen, if you don't actually get started,
it's never gonna happen. You just gotta start too. That's
true too, That's very true. You're absolutely right, because there
are so many times where I've had ideas and someone
(27:46):
else has come out with it. You know, you just
have to go do it, or you and nothing had
an idea. Remember around um, you know when work out
working out became a thing with bar classes and and
you know, soul side goal on all this, and I
wanted to do a skincare brand for workouts, and we
talked and talked and talked, and you know what, our
idea was right because there are brands doing that, but
(28:08):
we didn't actually get started. You have to just jump
a little bit too. That's right, that's right. But I
guess also at the same time, the opportunity presents itself
when it should. Yes, yes, but thank you both so much.
This has been great, and I'm sure the audience really
appreciates all the great advice that you gave. I love
(28:29):
hearing about how you began and the great success that
you're having today. So congratulations and getting the company up
and running a great product. Thank you, Thank you, Sharon,
and thank you for bringing Santeca women forth and embracing women,
empowering women and creating something and not this off. We
(28:50):
really appreciate it. I'd like to thank Lorean Celes for
sharing their story about finding the excess with care Beauty.
Here are three things I took away from that conversation. First,
mentorship is critical to creating new entrepreneurs. So let's tell
(29:12):
how her fifth grade teacher encouraged her budding sense of
entrepreneurship but letting her run the school store. It's never
too early to show young women the value of owning
your own business. Second, you can practice the skills of
entrepreneurship in almost any job. Laura used to work in
(29:33):
brand marketing, and she approached it as if she was
running her own mini business. Try thinking about your job
as a testing ground for your future enterprise. Finally, you
don't have to know everything before you launch your business.
Laura and Seless found that asking questions was a key
(29:53):
factor in their success. Whatever they didn't know, they sought
out from those who did don't be a ray to
reach out to your network to get the answers you need.
There's no such thing as a bad question. Made by
women is brought to you by the Seneca Women Podcast
Network and I Heart Radio, with support from founding partner
(30:14):
PNG
Welcome to Made by Women by the Seneca Women Podcast
Network and I Heart Radio. At a moment when businesses
face some of the biggest challenges in recent history, we
bring you inspiring stories, practical insights, and shared learnings to
help you successfully navigate in today's environment. I'm Sharon Bowen,
(00:26):
and thanks so much for joining us today. You would
think that the beauty industry would have thought of everything
by now, but think again to Leslie and Laurie King,
co founders of Care Beauty, or shaking things up with
a skin care line that's taking a new approach to
aging and beauty. Care Beauty is spelled c A I
(00:49):
R E. Because, as Laura and so Less say, they're
putting the eye in Care, their independent beauty brand up
as what they just i as hormone defying products designed
specifically for women over forty. It's a market that's been
neglected for too long. Today I'll be talking with Celeste
(01:12):
and Laurie about their unexpected path to founding this company
and their struggles and successes along the way. Enjoy my
conversation with Lori King and Celesslie, co founders of Care Beauty.
Well welcome, Celeste and Laurie tell us about Care and
(01:34):
what sets it apart from other skin care brands. Well,
thank you Sharon for having us and for having as
share a lot about Care beauty and what this brand
means for us, for Celeste and I and we created
Care because we knew that there was a need for
skin care for women over forty who are experiencing, you know,
(01:58):
deteriorating skin um due to or drastically changing skin due
to hormone decline in menopause. And we have decided that
these women there are seven thousand of them that enter
menopause every day, whether it's the pre menopause phase all
the way to the post menopause space, that they don't
(02:20):
have special can care for them. That is age empowering.
The whole message out there is anti aging and most
of those products nine percent of them actually only work
on the surface of skin and hair. Beauty goes much
deeper than that deep beauty. That's great. Now I understand
(02:44):
that Kia specializes in something called defiance science. What does
that mean? We came up with the phrase defiance science
for two reasons. Number one, we're literally defying what happens
with hormone change and I think I need to explain
for a second what this means when you get older.
(03:07):
It actually starts at thirty, by the way, for men
and women, but for women it gets the idea of
hormone decline accelerates around forty. Specifically, it means that estrogen
and progesterone production itself declined, so you've got less estrogen
and progesterone running around your body, and it affects all
kinds of body processes, because that's what hormones do. Hormones
(03:28):
are like the green lights of the body, and they
turn on and turn off everything from hunger to desire,
your libido, to sleep, and and it also impacts directly
sell production. So when you have fewer hormones, you literally,
on a daily basis make your skin cells. And at
(03:49):
first in your thirties, it's not so noticeable because you've
only lost about one percent a year of your hormone production.
But around when you start to enter what called peri
menopause or pre menopause for a woman, the rate of
decline doubles every single year. So, as we all know
from math, when you keep losing two percent a year,
(04:11):
it's obviously a lot more serious than one, and then
when you get to what's you know, technical menopause, and
that's the year that you you stop your period. You actually,
for the first three years post menopause lose of your collagen,
carlonic acid, and a lasting production, and those are your
key skin building blocks. So all of a sudden, it's
(04:32):
like you got hit by freight train. And it's terribly
ridiculous that the skin care industry, knowing this, has deliberately
ignored it. So that's what we have gone after. We're
defying the skin aging that is caused by hormone decline,
and that's why we call it defiant science. It sounds
like I could have used you guys about twenty years ago,
(04:53):
but I'm using you now and living it. So but
before before we get too far ahead, though, um, I'd
like to start with your personal backgrounds. Laura, you started
a sandwich business and celest you help your school store
with a product. Did you always want to start your
own company? Was there something else in your path that
(05:16):
led you to where you are today? You know, it's
it's very interesting that an elementary school experience that actually
spark an entrepreneurial interest, and that's what this very dynamic
elementary school did for me in East Dart, New Jersey,
and because of that, I always had in the back
(05:37):
of my mind that I wanted to have my own business.
Even when I applied to UM get my m b A.
I applied for entrepreneurship and one of the things that
I needed was a big boost of confidence. And what
I mean by that is just sort of knowing that
I could do this, I could bring all my knowledge
(05:58):
forth and create a company on my own. So when
Celessa and I came together, yes, it was very much
a building of all of these ideas and sparks of
creativity and friends asking us for something better. That truly
brought us together. And I said, it's tine to do this,
(06:19):
and that confidence is now fully here and I'm embracing
it and loving it. And what about you, Celist. You know,
it's so funny that we had this parallel experience. And
I love the way that Laurie just said that her
elementary school embraced her. I moved from one school to
another in fifth grade and I went to this very
seventies sort of post hippie dippie. It was an open
(06:42):
planned school and I'll never forget that Mrs Sober in
the fifth grade, she was my champion before I knew
there was such a thing as a champion. And she
made me a school crossing guard, and she made me
the head of the school store, and she did all
these things. I never asked. I didn't even understand the
value of it. But I can tell you, Sharon, it
was a lot of fun. And for me, a shy
(07:04):
Asian American person who didn't know anybody, it was a
wonderful way to just meet people and and then to
have this moment where by accident we found or I
found this wacky gum eraser that became this this hysteria
um and everybody had to have and I became instantly popular. Well,
you know what, that was a wonderful thing. So yes,
(07:26):
maybe I do think that impacted the whole idea of
the value of of having your own business and what
that could bring to your life. I think, you know,
I've read someplace that your competence comes at a really
early age, and it sounds like you both were set
up to succeed, which is really great. Another really interesting
thing about buff of your backgrounds is that you had
(07:49):
experience in finance, Um, what would it like transitioning into
the beauty industry with that kind of background. You know,
it's very interesting because when I I started in finance
with pharmaceutical company and I needed to pay off my
business school loans. So I actually did a few things
(08:11):
that were entrepreneurial at the time. One of them was
starting a jewelry business. And I designed jewelry and sold
it at the big museums outside here in New York City,
and I sold it to all sorts of stores and
art galleries. So what that did for me was actually
helped me to name a business a brand it called.
(08:32):
It was called to Beat or not to Beat. It
allowed me to understand my pan l top to bottom,
and um, I began to understand my consumers. So transitioning
into the beauty industry, when I interviewed with Elizabeth Arden,
it was a perfect bit because I got to work
with these amazing celebrities are a Loggerfeld and Elizabeth Taylor
(08:57):
and create these fragrances for them. But happens in brand
marketing is that you're actually running a mini business. You're
coordinating people, you have multiple different avenues, were getting things
done from financed operations to creative photography, etcetera. And so
(09:17):
for me it was a it was a challenging transition
because I had to stay up until well past midnight
to learn on the go brand marketing, but it was
also thrilling. It's great enough about you, Cels. I don't
have nearly as interesting a story for me. It happened
by accident, Sharon. I mean, I worked at Lehman Brothers
(09:40):
in Tokyo, and quite honestly, I hated it. I could
not deal with the investment banking hours, and I felt
very uncomfortable as a Chinese person in a Japanese culture
that was very challenging. And a woman was even worse.
If they think you're going to be a tea lady.
And I was so not happy. So I came back
to the US and I'm like, I got to change
(10:01):
my life, that this whole tea lady thing has got
to stop. So I my now brother in law, I said,
do you want to open an office for AMC movie theaters?
And I was like sure, And I had the best time.
I was going to movies all the time. I honestly
had very little work, had very little money, but very
little work, and I just sort of enjoyed life. And
(10:22):
because I had some time, a friend of mine from
from Penn calls me up and says, you always have
lots of crazy ideas and know how to tell stories.
Would you be willing to come up with some ideas
for for the body shop? And I worked on the
right away. This thing called Mama Toto was a mommy
daughter brand um for very early the body shop and
(10:43):
need Erotic And from there I fell in love with
beauty and the next thing I know, I started getting
calls from the beauty world to to come on, and
I said, okay at a certain point because frankly, they
were offering me three times as much money as AMC
and who can say no to that? And that's how
it happened. That's amazing. So take us back a little
bit then to the early days of care. How did
(11:06):
you both actually come together and where did the initial
idea come from? But you know, it's interesting because the
less and I have, you know, almost forty years of
experience across beauty consumer brands as well as directed consumer businesses,
and you know, we would occasionally see each other at
(11:28):
different beauty events after we were introduced by a mutual
warding friend that the Less went to undergrad with and
I went to get my MBA with him, so he
introduced us and we kept running into each other at
different events, and there was you know, the beauty industry
is actually quite small. So one day I see her
from across the room and I'm like, the last is
(11:49):
that you and we hit it off. I said what
are you doing? And next thing we know, she's consulting
at Cody where I was to executor's leadership team. I
was in global marketing working with Halle Berry and Lean
Dione and other celebrities, and I says, Less, can you
help me with some brand projects? And that was the
first time we actually worked together. And then I went
(12:11):
to a startup and I built this for an investor
um and I brought to the less end help me
with that brand in terms of naming and ideation and
taking and developing this skinkcare Patch brand into something that
was going to truly be dynamic and differentiate in the market.
(12:31):
And that's really how we came together to create Care.
And the way that this initial idea came about is that,
as I mentioned earlier, the Less and I've always exchanged
lots of ideas. Well. I'm someone that I'm always networking.
I'm always looking and thinking of that next opportunity, and
(12:51):
I constantly have met different scientists along the way. And
we actually met these amazing scientists. Says, lest you've got
to meet them, Let's have lunch. So we met lunched
in midtown similar to like Sharon, you and I had
the drinks at the end of the day and one
of those locations ket me going. But let's have lunch
(13:17):
was the key part, and we came together. We met
with these guys and we had this idea for these
women over forty said, they said, we can do this.
And we have a PhD, these pH d s on
our team, and we've created the science together that's proprietary
(13:38):
that we own, and that's really where the science began
and this story began and where this amazing brand can
It's a great path, it really is. We'll be back
with Seneca's Made by Women after this short break. We
(14:05):
know that you know, all entrepreneurs inevitably face challenges and
getting started. Can you tell us about some of the
obstacles you've faced in getting care started and how you
became them? Sure, I would say, and This is probably
true of so many burgeoning startups, is that you've got
(14:26):
to have money to start up. You can have all
the passion in the world and you can work as
hard as a dog, but you do have to have
some kind of money. And the good news for us
is we got lucky because Lorie finding Dr Joe and
Kevin was a bit of a miracle because they were
also willing to invest their own um your law, years
of experience and knowledge base and some of their innovation
(14:49):
ideas that they had had rolling around in their heads.
We all came together and we're able to activate that.
So that was the good news because otherwise it would
have been you know, five thousand, a million dollars just
to get product number one, even in one little jar.
But nonetheless, we got to that point on our own,
using our own heads and arms and effort. But you
(15:10):
still have to be able to produce product, and in
order to do so, you need some kind of funding.
And that has been a really interesting challenge. Even though
Lori and I both have these um these warton backgrounds
mean for me, it's a very long time ago. Uh.
The fact of the matter is that they don't really
teach you what happens in the modern world in terms
(15:30):
of fundraising. What is a series A, what's a series B,
what's a seat, what's a safe note, what's a convertible note?
This whole world was a shocker to us. It's still
a little bit of a shocker to us. Um. One
of the things that we did to overcome our lack
of knowledge, other than calling up everybody we know and
asking dumb questions, is and they weren't dumb, they were
(15:50):
just but we would ask everybody the same questions to
see if we would get the same answers. And we
actually went and found an accelerator. This is Lorie's doing
because she is the ultimate networker, and there are these
amazing boot camps and accelerators all over the world that
who's sole purpose in life is to help people like
us or anybody at any age, to take their dream
(16:15):
and to turn it into reality. So we found a
great one. It's one of the oldest and most important
in New York City. It's called e r A and
it's modeled after the iconic what's called y Combinator and
that sin Silicon Valley, and they birth you know, Airbnb,
and had something to do with Uber, I think, so
you can get an idea and there's an there's actually
a methodology and it's a boot camp, and it teaches
(16:36):
you how to learn, how to find raise, how do
you talk to people, what do you need to know,
how do you structure things, how do you answer things,
what do you present to people? And how do you
do it? And so that was our biggest challenge, and
in all honesty, it continues to be a bit of
a challenge, but we're getting better at it every day.
You know, I often talk about that being a obstacle
(16:58):
for many women on trepreneurs and the access to capital,
credit loans. I am optimistic though, because I do see
lots of great programs like the e R a Accelerated
program Um and a number of initiatives you know, we
at Cynical Women have been involved with and that that
gives me a lot of hope about the future. So,
now that you've found successful care and you've been called
(17:22):
I think an indie brand, tell us a little bit
what does indie brand actually mean? Right? Well, in the
beauty industry, this terminology if you started a few years ago,
you know indie beauty brands and there's actually a segment
within there's a there's a Cosmetic Industry Association, a group
of women's called COSI Semetic Executive Women, and they actually
(17:45):
nurture what they call indie beauty brands. And these are
independently owned, operated, bounded businesses that have come up with
unconventional ideas, things that haven't been done before. You know,
part of our pilosophy is a clean philosophy, meaning that
our ingredients are green, they're vegan, they don't have bad
(18:08):
ingredients for you in them. That's a whole big piece
of it. We are as sustainable as possible. And then
we're carving out this segment for the sporty plus woman
that really is an untapped opportunity when most of the
market that sells skincare products sells them to you whether
you're in your twenties and early thirties all the way
(18:30):
up until your eight and they can't they can't step
back and carve out this segments say we've actually got
a product for you that works specifically for you because
your skin is aging differently due to the fact that
something's happening to you inside. And they're also not doing
it in a way that is genuine embracing and um
(18:51):
sort of you know, in a way that's not about fear.
They're all about a lot of them about anti aging
and fear. We are about positivity and embracing you. And
so once Less came up with the name care it's
spelled c A I R E. Well, we put the
eye in care for the individual in you. And that's
what we like to say, because we're embracing this woman's independent,
(19:15):
she's our own person. She's bursting with confidence, and we
want to build that type of community and know that
we're bringing her excellent, excellent science at a price you
truly can afford. Because as you age, women at the
age of fifty start plate towing in terms of their
(19:36):
income and they're at the top of their income earning years,
and yet products that say they can do things for
you are two hundred dollars three hundred dollars, Well, who
can do that if your income is starting to decline
and you've got so many other responsibilities to start to
think about. So our average price point is around fifty dollars,
(19:58):
and we want to offer that type of good value
to her. That's that's really remarkable. UM, I really love
the positivity to and and the the notion of you know,
the positive image uplifting women especially. But we also know,
you know, it's been a really difficult past year um,
(20:18):
with COVID and the pandemic and the economic downturn. So
were you able to or did you need to pivot
to meet these new challenges? Sharon, that's a great question.
You know it was actually it too, be honest, it
was a forced opportunity, shall we say. So all of
a sudden, it's it's the end of March. Um. Laura
(20:40):
and I had gone to a birthday party with a
with a friend and she's looking at me and she's like,
you know, the next month or two is going to
be really weird, because we're thinking at this point that
it's all gonna end around June, you know, maximum July four.
And she's like, you know, remember that cocktail party that
I sent you to go to? This women in the
r A thing. I'm like, yeah, yeah, yes, because I
think we should it apply. She goes, what else are
(21:02):
we doing? Why not? And because we had already started
the business and we were well on the road with product,
and so she sends me this link and I'm like, mm, hmm.
But you know, Laurie's very forceful and she's very compelling.
I was like, let's give it a go. Why not,
I'm like, and then you know, she didn't tell me
the part that there's a thousand applicants for like ten spaces.
She neglected to mention that key piece of information. So
(21:24):
I'm thinking it was like, okay, one in a hundred,
you know, let's see what happens. So we went for it.
I mean, the good news is they actually delayed the
application deadline from I believe it was like April four
to May five, but it gave us time to really it. Actually,
it was great because it forced us to hone in
on exactly what our initial message was going to be.
Who are cohort Is five into seventy woman? Um, you know,
(21:49):
we came up with the phrase defiance science at that point,
we came up with hormone, defying, age, empowerment, all of
these keywords that our signatures of our brand and will
continue to be signatures as we grow. We're developed at
that time, and we we went for it. We got accepted,
and believe me, it was a real boot camp. We
were like living and breathing seven days a week, twelve
(22:11):
hours a day or more this program because they introduce
you to like hundreds of mentors as well as potential
people that might want to invest in your business or
at least just help you get on the road. So
I would say that in our case, we were fortunate
that we were able to take what could have been
a very negative time and and turn it into a
positive time. And and I'm grateful for that, yes, very much,
(22:34):
So very much though. And you know, it's interesting because
it was all done on Zoom and we all of it.
We had one meeting in Central Park where we were
all socially distanced at the time, and we really, really,
you know, appreciated these these people investing their time with us,
and they continue to. It's it's like it's it's like
(22:55):
a family, and it's fantastic for us. And that has
been so beneficial to getting through COVID psychologically as well,
and that's why it has been on something of great fortune. Well,
we we did be our mentor. Laurie and I made
well I made the ribs, Laurie made the salads, and
we lured our mentor out and we got extra help. Yes,
(23:17):
we have two mentage a great guy and another woman,
so we have two mentors and it's it's been fantastic
to have that guidance and a good laughter or drink
with them every once in a while too. So it
is interesting I've heard that from other women entrepreneurs to that,
you know, that time of the pandemic gave them some
quiet time, sometime to refocus, sometime to engage people. Um,
(23:41):
because people weren't traveling and so people were willing to
do a zoom fifth team and at coffee break if
you will, UM, it was more efficient. That's very true.
And you do have to know how to take advantage
of this time. I mean sharing you know you know this. UM.
I did a ten day silent meditation for the pandemic
by chance, and that allowed me to have a centering
(24:04):
and focus during the pandemic and to keep diminished the
anxiety as much as possible, because, as you know, starting
a business is one of those activities in your life
that you can take on that can cause a very
high stress level. And so to be able to manage
that stress level and be very confident in approaching how
(24:28):
you build a business is a whole another ball game. Well,
you're taking us right to my next question, and you
started to answer it, which is, for those you know
who are out there in the audience we're thinking about
starting their own ventures, what have you learned that you
wish someone else had told you about before you start
(24:48):
at your own company. Well, you know, it's it's very interesting.
There are a few things, and I'll you know, there's
the surprises like ce less than I. You know, we're
a corporation and inc. We're in Delaware where a lot
of different corporations are. We're actually trying to figure out why.
(25:10):
So we go online to pay what's called a franchise tax,
and I'm like, we're not a franchise. We don't have
to pay this tax, right, this is me. So I
go online and I put the information in of what
our number is and it says your taxes due an
amount of forty six thousand, seven hundred dollars, And I
went to last what is going on? So what I'm
(25:33):
saying is there will be surprises when you start your
own company. Take a breath, don't panic, and so let's
pop me off the cliff and we got it down. Yeah,
do you remember? And we got it down to four
hundred dollars, which is the typical, but it just shows
(25:54):
that delawares trying to get all their money up front,
and you've got to keep your eyes open. But on
the more serious side, you know you you have to
prepare yourself mentally financially, it's very important to save and
have you know and budget, understand what you're going to
(26:17):
live off of. Start cutting down your expenses before you
leave a job, um and before you dive in the
start of business. And then once you've saved enough to
say to yourself, save a little bit more more and
stay in that job as long as you possibly can
before you dive in. The Other thing is, don't waste
(26:39):
money when it comes to building a website, when it
comes to resources, um, to get things started. You can
find unique routes to get people to help you. Be
very creative about building that around you and leveraging as
much as you can't other people. Uh, don't think that
(27:00):
you can't do it yourself. And as I said in
the beginning, that confidence that I got in fourth sixth
grade in this amazing elementary school, keep that in mind
for yourself. It is something no matter what you're going through,
no matter where that day is believe in yourself, believe
(27:24):
that you can do this, and believe in your dream
as less the staying earlier. I want to add one
little note to that. Listen, if you don't actually get started,
it's never gonna happen. You just gotta start too. That's
true too, That's very true. You're absolutely right, because there
are so many times where I've had ideas and someone
(27:46):
else has come out with it. You know, you just
have to go do it, or you and nothing had
an idea. Remember around um, you know when work out
working out became a thing with bar classes and and
you know, soul side goal on all this, and I
wanted to do a skincare brand for workouts, and we
talked and talked and talked, and you know what, our
idea was right because there are brands doing that, but
(28:08):
we didn't actually get started. You have to just jump
a little bit too. That's right, that's right. But I
guess also at the same time, the opportunity presents itself
when it should. Yes, yes, but thank you both so much.
This has been great, and I'm sure the audience really
appreciates all the great advice that you gave. I love
(28:29):
hearing about how you began and the great success that
you're having today. So congratulations and getting the company up
and running a great product. Thank you, Thank you, Sharon,
and thank you for bringing Santeca women forth and embracing women,
empowering women and creating something and not this off. We
(28:50):
really appreciate it. I'd like to thank Lorean Celes for
sharing their story about finding the excess with care Beauty.
Here are three things I took away from that conversation. First,
mentorship is critical to creating new entrepreneurs. So let's tell
(29:12):
how her fifth grade teacher encouraged her budding sense of
entrepreneurship but letting her run the school store. It's never
too early to show young women the value of owning
your own business. Second, you can practice the skills of
entrepreneurship in almost any job. Laura used to work in
(29:33):
brand marketing, and she approached it as if she was
running her own mini business. Try thinking about your job
as a testing ground for your future enterprise. Finally, you
don't have to know everything before you launch your business.
Laura and Seless found that asking questions was a key
(29:53):
factor in their success. Whatever they didn't know, they sought
out from those who did don't be a ray to
reach out to your network to get the answers you need.
There's no such thing as a bad question. Made by
women is brought to you by the Seneca Women Podcast
Network and I Heart Radio, with support from founding partner
(30:14):
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