Where Brains Meet Beauty

Hair industry veteran John Costanza knows his stuff. A marketer in his salad days, his first job in beauty was with Joico, going from salon to salon in his native Toronto to build relationships for the brand with the salon owners and stylists. His story is one with lots of twists and turns and a steady rise to the C-suite. While always anchoring his career decisions with his dedication to his family—a quality that was not always looked on favorably by the higher ups when John was starting out—he has developed the ability to stand back from the day-to-day speed bumps and crises that any business faces and focus on what’s really important in life, beyond shampoo and conditioner. In this episode he shares his path and some of the consequences he faced as he navigated through the waters of his various opportunities...and how he learned that balance is a crucial part of leadership. It’s fascinating and informative listening from a seasoned and compassionate pro. Make sure to catch the entire podcast. #wherebrainsm

Victoria Watts had a lot of skin concerns and none of the products she tried were addressing them. So in true entrepreneurial style, she decided to make her own, mixing, blending and formulating in her kitchen.That’s how Victorialand Beauty was born. She launched with products that truly improved her hyperpigmentation and the overall look of her skin, using natural botanicals and essential oils to get to a place where she could “go naked” without makeup. But just as the company was off and running, an even greater challenge appeared and changed everything about her business and her life. And a new mission evolved, to help her vision-impaired infant son learn to navigate the world. Hers is a story from the heart you won’t want to miss. Listen for a HiSmile promo code! https://us.hismileteeth.com #wherebrainsmeetbeauty @wherebrainsmeetbeautypodcast wherebrainsmeetbeauty.com

When Jodi sat down with ClaireBrzozowski, Base Beauty’s Coordinator for Paid Influencer Programs and Social Media, it was cool to hear what was behind some of the career decisions she has made. Switching from a major in psychology to one in communications and media arts, Claire was aware of the connections between the two disciplines, observing how much psychology goes into effective social media marketing. Even at her young age—or perhaps because of it—Claire can smell inauthenticity across cyberspace. It is fascinating to learn from someone who has essentially grown up with social media how she views it today and sees it evolving. Join us to hear Jodi's conversation with the Jersey girl who is the newest member of the Base Beauty team. #wherebrainsmeetbeauty @wherebrainsmeetbeautypodcast wherebrainsmeetbeauty.com

From a performer who did her own makeup to the Chanel beauty counter in San Francisco’s elegant I. Magnin, to running her own brow and facial salon in Maine and New York and developing her own skincare line, makeup artist Jessica Johnson has learned a lot in her 30 years in beauty. She emphasizes the “artist” in makeup artist, working with a living canvas (that moves and sweats and sometimes sags!). One of her goals has been to declutter and simplify the beauty experience and reclaim the glamour, the pampering and the one-on-one connection between a customer and her stylist. Tune in to hear how she’s doing it…and the wisdom she’s acquired along the way. Hers is an inspiring entrepreneurial journey. Catch this episode. #wherebrainsmeetbeauty @wherebrainsmeetbeautypodcast wherebrainsmeetbeauty.com  

When Cheryl Foland was working too hard and running too fast, living up to the Manhattan overachiever standard, she happened to mention to her colleagues in beauty marketing that she thought the company should focus on developing business on the West Coast. “Good idea,” they said, “You go.” So she did, reluctantly becoming bi-coastal for a while, having a crash-and-burn moment, then bouncing back to embrace the laid back California lifestyle fulltime. It not only saved her, it planted the seed for lilah b., her beauty line that’s all about paring down, using less and creating simpler beauty routines around multitasking products. Hers is an inspiring story of resilience and reinvention, California style. Plan to listen.   #wherebrainsmeetbeauty @wherebrainsmeetbeautypodcast wherebrainsmeetbeauty.com

Brand builder extraordinaire Allison Slater Ray, President of Memebox, has made an impact everywhere she’s been, from her start learning the ropes of marketing and media buying on the Chanel account at DDB to Sephora in its early days as a brand incubator to her marketing position at IT Cosmetics. But entrepreneurship—the desire to build something from the ground up—is in her DNA so she’s just taken the reins at Memebox, a startup group of Korean makeup and skincare brands that she’s looking to put on the map as she’s done for so many others. Listen as she shouts out to those who have helped her on her journey and dives into this new adventure. You’ll love 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-f

The seeds of a business are often sown through a frustrating search for a product or a solution to a problem. Such is the case with Heather Reier, Founder and CEO of Cake Beauty. Well before natural, vegan, cruelty-free beauty was a “thing,” as Heather sought healthy skincare products, the ones she found smelled terrible, had awful packaging and were totally unappealing. She hit the kitchen, started mixing and created a line of natural, nourishing skincare and haircare products that are as fragrant and effective as they are girly and fun. Listen to Heather’s WBMB podcast to hear how she launched, grew, sold and currently runs Cake, and share all the entrepreneurial lessons she has learned along the way. #wherebrainsmeetbeauty@wherebrainsmeetbeautypodcastwherebrainsmeetbeauty.com

Gabrielle Ophals, co-founder of Haven Spa, doesn’t want to step on anyone’s dreams. As someone who took over a tiny spa on Bleecker Street in New York over 20 years ago and has been moving, tending and growing it ever since, she believes in reaching for the stars. She just thinks some aspiring entrepreneurs get caught up in “it-would-be-cool-to-run-my-own-business” thinking without really considering what’s involved. She believes in following your bliss while keeping your eyes open and having a great team of professionals at the ready, from accountants to plumbers. Lots of wise stuff here. Be sure to listen!   #wherebrainsmeetbeauty @wherebrainsmeetbeautypodcast wherebrainsmeetbeauty.com

When Sue Nabi left her position as worldwide president of L’Oreal and Lancôme to start her Orveda Skincare line, one key question kept popping into her head, a question she had never really thought about in the C suite of one of the world’s largest beauty companies: do millions of Instagram likes actually translate into sales? As she grows Orveda, she’s looking for the answer. She knows one thing: people in business are becoming number obsessed. She looks for meaning in those numbers…how many products have been sold…how many products are people buying again…and, most importantly, what customers like (or don’t like) about the products they are buying. Sue is constantly applying her corporate experience to her own business but in a much more personal way, remembering one especially crucial lesson from her early days as a brand manager peddling L’Oreal products door to door: keep listening and your customers will tell you what they want. Sue shares other wisdom from her dazzling career in beauty in our full WBMB

If there’s one overarching message or pattern from our incredible array of WBMB guests—and one piece of advice for our listeners—it’s that you never know where your path will lead and you don’t have to panic if where you are at the moment is not your goal. Our guest Bart Kaczanowicz, founder and influencer-in-chief of the skincare blog OMGBart.com is a perfect example of this “you never know” approach to work and to life. Born in Poland, studying in California, translating in Brooklyn and with other way stations en route, it took Bart years to discover his passion and talent for curating skincare products.Today his wildly popular blog is trusted by brands and fans for his authentic, no BS evaluations of high-end products. In this episode, Bart shares his story of finding, then following his bliss. Make sure to join us to hear all the details in his own words.   #wherebrainsmeetbeauty @wherebrainsmeetbeautypodcast wherebrainsmeetbeauty.com

Base Beauty’s Social Media Manager, Becca spent 16 years of her early life in the high-intensity, ultra-disciplined world of competitive gymnastics. After all those 360s, she made a 180-turn away from that world which became a little too narrow for her expansive interests and easily-bored personality. More twists and turns eventually brought her to us, via a resumé of gigs that are as cool as they are quirky and are perfectly aligned with how valuable she is to the Base Beauty home team. Anyone on a winding path, destination unknown, will connect with Becca’s story…and the delightful way she tells it. Give a listen.  #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

Julie Wald, Founder, CEO and Chief Wellness Officer of Namaste New York, manages the challenges of running her business…and her life. She speaks about how you approach the inevitable highs and lows—especially the lows which can take the wind out of your sails in a flash, in any business or any situation. Julie has a wise acronym that she could one day make into a cross-stitched sampler (if she ever had the time): AFGO—Another F*cking Growth Opportunity. Listen to our full conversation and learn about how Julie keeps her mind and body aligned (mostly) and gracefully navigates the inevitable speed bumps, always reminding herself that each one is an AFGO.     #wherebrainsmeetbeauty @wherebrainsmeetbeautypodcast wherebrainsmeetbeauty.com

Founder of the eponymous fragrance line and his floral design company in Los Angeles, Eric Buterbaugh sat with host Jodi Katz as part of our Podcast-in-Residence program at Saks Fifth Avenue’s flagship store in New York. In front of a wonderful audience, Eric traced his path toward his passions which can be summed up with F words: fashion, fragrance and flowers. We could also add flamboyant, a word reflected in Eric’s sparkling personality. Eric turned his lifelong love of beautiful smells into a business, putting those beautiful smells in bottles and vases.   #wherebrainsmeetbeauty @wherebrainsmeetbeautypodcast wherebrainsmeetbeauty.com

    You never quite know where that BIG IDEA is going to come from. When I asked our guest, Jacqueline Gutierrez, Founder of Beauty Backer, how she developed her concept for the beauty-centric crowdfunding platform, she mentioned several inspirations, among them her inventor’s mindset which she first recognized as a teenager. Then when she was all grown up and trying to launch her own beauty business, she experienced the founder’s perpetual stumbling block: lack of early-stage money. That’s when her let’s-solve-this attitude took over and the rest is soon to be history as she launches Beauty Backer in just a few weeks. Her passion and drive are infectious, and I loved connecting with right before she becomes a star. Make sure you tune in to my full conversation with this amazing woman who just might change the game for beauty start-ups. #wherebrainsmeetbeauty @wherebrainsmeetbeautypodcast <!-- /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bot

While our guest, Kristen Wiley, was working full-time at an SEO and content marketing agency, she was pursuing her influencer interest on the side, blogging on food and crafts. As the agency started getting requests for influencer marketing from clients, they turned to Kristen who was the only one within the relatively small firm with influencer experience…or really any professional social media experience. So they gave her a budget and told her to run with it. As she did, she noticed a pattern that turned into an opportunity: while the platforms were mostly catering to the larger influencers, it was actually the smaller influencers who were having the biggest impact. But how to reach them effectively was a challenge. This disconnect between brands and bloggers planted the seed for Statusphere, the micro influencer agency Kristen started to get the right brand to the right influencer. Join us to hear her full story on how she filled this essential marketing need.   #wherebrainsmeetbeauty @wherebrainsmeetbeaut

When our guest, Jane Larkworthy, brand consultant and Beauty Editor-at-Large for The Cut, was a young intern and then a full-time member of the beauty staff at Glamour magazine, she dared to inquire of her new boss if she could try her hand at writing. It didn’t go well. This unenlightened woman cut Jane down with a stinging response that echoed in her head for years and kept her from sticking her toe in the writing pool again for ages. Cut to much later when Jane was hired as the first Beauty Director at the brand new Jane magazine with the following mandate: “Write in your own voice. Write in the first person. I want our readers to get to know who you are.” After she recovered from the whiplash of these oh-so different approaches to nurturing (or not nurturing) a writer, she vowed to be that talent scout, that door opener, that mentor for others. She sums it up, “If you have a boss who breeds competition versus a boss who says, ‘If you fail, it’s okay. Do it again because I know you can do it,” that makes a

For Amy Shecter, CEO of Glamsquad, the handshake is full of meaning. She has observed throughout her career—working with major brands such as Lady Foot Locker, Diesel, Donna Karan, Cole Haan and Tory Burch—how much is revealed in the way someone shakes hands…and how it’s something that boys are raised to know about but girls are not. She observes, “How you shake a hand indicates how you feel about yourself and how you feel about the job.” She believes that when someone has a firm handshake, stands tall and looks you in the eye, they project confidence. As she grows Glamsquad, the on-demand hair, make-up and nail beauty service and product line, she’s always mentoring, teaching and helping her team to develop the skills and experience they need to move into leadership positions. While she loves her current role, she always has her eye on the bigger picture of helping people—including herself—to thrive professionally while being fulfilled personal, embracing the lessons of a handshake all along the way. Join us

Our first WBMB guest who has a college degree in scent, Erika Shumate acknowledges that she was probably destined to become a perfumer. As a child she was always fascinated by and sensitive to smells and science, reminiscing that “I was the kid in 7th and 8th grade to go to the state science fair and try to get the blue ribbon. I was always doing experiments in my basement.” Loving how perfumery combines science and art, she started her fragrance brand to embrace both. She combined these passions with her business acumen, first putting in a few years working for a startup to learn about growing a business, watching the company go from 10 employees to 50 and seeing all the related challenges. How she used that experience to start Pinrose is a delightful and helpful story for any business, whether it’s starting, growing or humming along. Listen to the full episode. #wherebrainsmeetbeauty @wherebrainsmeetbeautypodcast wherebrainsmeetbeauty.com