Where Brains Meet Beauty

This week Jodi talks to Nannette de Gaspé Beaubien, founder of skincare line Nannette de Gaspé. She pioneered the dry mask, which, despite its $100+ price tag, became an instant cult favorite. Though she’s brainy, beautiful and brimming with enthusiasm, the last part wasn’t always the case. It’s not like she hated her life, but until her 40s, she was doing what she felt was expected of her. “I lived on the terms of everyone else,” she says. “But what I realized was I wasn’t necessarily doing things in a way that made me happy.” In this episode, hear how a self-described type-A personality learned to let go of expectations and start living life on her terms. Plus, get her predictions on the future of indie beauty and what small brands need to thrive. #wherebrainsmeetbeauty @wherebrainsmeetbeautypodcast <!-- /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Rom

Not all networking needs to happen at industry events or LinkedIn. Lauren Katz, Senior Creative Strategist at Moroccanoil, found her first job through her cousin’s wife - Jodi Katz. She promptly became Base Beauty’s first employee, and Base Beauty the first step in her beauty career. If you’re a new grad or about to become one, this is an informative episode on how to score that first job, how to use it to get your next one and why there are things you learn at 20 that will still be relevant to your career at 40. #wherebrainsmeetbeauty @wherebrainsmeetbeautypodcast <!-- /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times Ne

Marcia Kilgore has held many founder titles: Founder, Bliss Beauty; Fitflops; Soap and Glory. And most recently, Founder, Beauty Pie. With this string of hits behind her, you have to wonder - what’s her secret to success? In this episode, she actually lays it all out by telling us what the meaning of life is for her. Don’t worry - this won’t be 30 minutes of new-agey platitudes. These are real-life tactics from the ultimate entrepreneur that’ll turn your mind upside down. #wherebrainsmeetbeauty @wherebrainsmeetbeautypodcast <!-- /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;

Angie Irish was an esthetician unhappy with the efficacy of natural skin care. So she decided to start her own line. But financing this new biz didn’t involve high-powered VCs or even a loan from her family. Instead, she sold her car, her washer/dryer set and “pretty much anything I owned with a motor” - talk about bootstrapping. Five years later, her line OZ Naturals brings in close to 8 figures in yearly sales. Hear why she took the leap and everything that happened after on this week’s episode.   #wherebrainsmeetbeauty @wherebrainsmeetbeautypodcast <!-- /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso

Erin Williams had her heart set on Broadway, not the beauty industry. But for all her efforts, performing wasn’t panning out, and her day job as a makeup artist was. It eventually lead to the launch of her skincare brand, Erin’s Faces, and the two experiences couldn’t have been more different.  “With theater, it was like I was army rolling through the dirt, let’s get this done. With this [Erin’s Faces], I feel like I haven’t willed it . . . I feel like I’m being led on a path.” A path she shares opened up once she got in touch her “why”, the deeper purpose that motivates her. Find out how she got there on this episode. #wherebrainsmeetbeauty @wherebrainsmeetbeautypodcast <!-- /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font:min

Laura Gerchik, General Manager of Biologique Recherche, explains why the company doesn’t jump on every new marketing trend or churn out an endless parade of new products. Steady in their approach, confident in their product, she thinks “What we need to think about is that consumers are so much more educated today.” The same could be said about her life - she came to the studio with notes on hand. So consider this episode an argument for knowing when you’ve got a good thing going - and when to just stick with it. #wherebrainsmeetbeauty @wherebrainsmeetbeautypodcast <!-- /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New

An entrepreneur since the age of 10, Stacey Levine has been working with family one way or another for decades. The former retailer and current co-founder of Glo Science smile brightening tools shares how she’s navigated the professional with the familial, from her mother, husband and two adult sons. She also offers candid advice on how to dissolve and gracefully move past business partnerships when they’re just not working anymore - a must listen whether you’re working for Mom or working for The Man. #wherebrainsmeetbeauty @wherebrainsmeetbeautypodcast <!-- /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; m

Call him a 21st century renaissance man: Laszlo Moharita, Global Director of Beauty Products at Johnson & Johnson, describes himself as a “squared up engineer who also likes to paint.” This yin-yang quality is more likely than not how he’s found himself in charge of creating everyday objects so well designed, we all take them for granted. Lotion pumps, dental floss, perfume bottles - Laszlo is the brain behind the most minute details of these items, from how much lotion comes out of the bottle to which way the box opens. If you’ve ever wondered exactly how the products in your bathroom get made, this episode will reveal the surprising process behind it all. #wherebrainsmeetbeauty @wherebrainsmeetbeautypodcast <!-- /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-

As a former management consultant and now CEO of personal care device brand FOREO, Paul Peros, like many Gen X’ers, spent the early part of his career working long hours. Like most of his peers, working late equated to working harder. “Unfortunately for us, I think we’ve been a part of the culture of all-nighters and things like that,” he observed. Fast forward to 2018, where he now heads a company made up of employees mostly under 30 - and they’ve changed his perspective on what constitutes hard work. “I see in Gen Z a selectiveness, a pragmatic approach to work and life that I wish we had back in the days ourselves.” As in no more all-night work binges. Hear what he’s learned from his junior staff in this episode. @wherebrainsmeetbeautypodcast basebeauty.com/podcast

As a model and YouTuber with over 1 million subscribers, it would seem Cassandra Bankson leads a charmed life. But just a few short years ago, she was the scourge of her peers, mercilessly bullied for extreme cystic acne that covered 90% of her face and upper body. Years were spent enduring stares and taunts of Worthless! Disease! Filthy! Outside of school, her afternoons were spent cycling through endless doctors appointments and medications in what would prove to be a futile attempt at a cure. Acne ruled her life, until she listened to her gut - literally - and revealed her most vulnerable self to the world. Hear how she survived the bullies, healed her skin and created one of YouTube’s most watched channels. basebeauty.com/podcast @wherebarainsmeetbeautypodcast  

“Networking”. It’s a word that can conjure up ideas of aggressive, winner-take-all, shameless self-promotion, yet it’s supposed to be the most effective way to find new work and useful connections. In this episode, guest Caroline Fabrigas, CEO of Scent Marketing and Co-CEO of Scent Invent, offers up a new definition of networking, one she says is more about “Putting out a hand instead of taking one.” Plus, she shares her tips on where to draw the line between work and family when you work with your spouse - at home, to boot. *We’re happy to share this episode has been sponsored by BabbleBoxx, the leader in influencer marketing services. BabbleBoxx creates a competition free, theme based sampling program, that places your products in the hands of social media influencers, who are guaranteed to post, Pin, Snap, Tweet and share your message. @wherebrainsmeetbeautypodcast basebeauty.com/podcast

Margarita Arriagada was a high-powered retail exec who tried to dial back her career not once, but three times. After four decades of logging serious air miles and being what she calls, “A weekend mom, a weekend wife, a weekend daughter and sister”, she spontaneously called it quits on the corner office. Hear how she knew it was time to step out of the org chart and into new, very different kind of life. @wherebrainsmeetbeautypodcast #wherebrainsmeetbeauty

Like a lot of teenagers, Marisa Vara Arredondo had acne – really bad acne. But unlike a lot of them, she let that experience inform all of her career choices. As the founder and CEO of Phace Bioactive, she’s been laying the foundation for the first pH optimized skincare line since college, but not in the ways you’d think. She never became an aesthetician or dermatologist, and didn’t major in chemistry, either. Instead she went to Stanford, got an MBA, spent 12 years on Wall Street, then finally did what she always wanted to do – give acne sufferers some long-overdue relief. @wherebrainsmeetbeautypodcast #wherebrainsmeetbeautypodcast basebeauty.com/podcast  

This week Jodi sits down with makeup artist (her makeup artist!), Amanda Thesen, who tells us how the career of your dreams may be one you never even thought to have. Hear how she went from stage actor to bartending to a surprise turn as a makeup artist, and how “failing” was a vital part of getting there. @wherebrainsmeetbeautypodcast basebeauty.com/podcast

Never in a million years (his words) did Joseph Quartana picture himself working in fashion or fragrance, but he went on to do both, and to serious acclaim. With no background in fashion, he founded Seven New York, which became one of the most influential retail destinations in the early aughts, stocking designers that would become today’s major names, like Raf Simons, Haider Ackermann, Peter Pilotto. After shuttering that business, he created another hit with Parfums Quartana, an idea that came to him after watching, of all things, Breaking Bad. Could his success be attributed his outlier status? You’d better hear it straight from him. Hint: Make sure you listen all the way to the end of the episode, where he recounts a can’t-make-this-stuff-up tale of experiencing two life-changing moments in a single 24-hour period. @wherebrainsmeetbeautypodcast basebeauty.com/podcast

WHERE BRAINS MEET BEAUTY™ brings the unique, personal stories of our industry's most interesting people to a wide audience. It also shares the stories of the original WHERE BRAINS MEET BEAUTY - the team at Base Beauty Creative Agency. Give a listen to Jodi's episode with Carey Segal. She's an important part of the agency and podcast marketing. She works with us in between dance and acting auditions. Plus she's not our only hyphenated-multi-talented team member... @wherebrainsmeetbeautypodcast basebeauty.com/podcast

Matt Stillman went from TV exec to skincare guru, a pretty big career change by any account. “I've been a full time weirdo my whole life.” he observed. “And sort of followed a winding path to something that looks like a career.” In this episode, he connects the dots between creating hit shows to creating paleo skincare, and how staying true to his “weird” has helped him put it all together. @wherebrainsmeetbeautypodcast basebeauty.com/podcast

As president of Supergoop! Skin and Suncare, Amanda Baldwin learned early on that communication is everything - in business and life. “Nobody knows what you’re thinking,” she said. “So you better just say it straight.” Hear how she’s taken talking - and more importantly listening - to a whole new level in this episode. @wherebrainsmeetbeauty @basebeautycreativeagency basebeauty.com/podcast

Oribe Co-founder Daniel Kaner proves that nice guys do finish first. In this episode, learn how cultivating gratitude and serenity can generate big payouts - at work and at home. basebeauty.com/podcast @wherebrainsmeetbeautypodcast

Janell Hickman is a veteran editor who knows all too well the feeling of digital overwhelm. While her livelihood is creating content, she’s also an expert on staying sane in a world where that content seems infinite. @wherebrainsmeetbeautypodcast @basebeautycreativeagency basebeauty.com/podcast