June 30, 2023 • 37 mins
On this episode of The Circuit, Emily Chang meets with Hailey Bieber to talk about how she started her skincare line Rhode and hopes to differentiate herself from other celebrity beauty brands. Bieber shares her experience with internet backlash and gossip, and how she hopes Rhode can evolve in the coming years.
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Thank you so much for having us.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
By the way, while you're getting in come sit interviews,
which I know is like kind of stressful time.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
I am actually like pretty fast with glam though, like
I just don't like sitting. I'm so antsy, like I
didn't like sitting in school.
Speaker 3 (00:15):
I'm Emily Chang and this is the circuit today. I'm
doing something I never thought I would as a business journalist,
heading to meet my next guest on a sound stage
in a very special bathroom.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
All right, quiet on set, and what's up you guys.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
It's Haley, and welcome to another episode of Who's in
My Bathroom.
Speaker 3 (00:34):
She's a trendsetter, magazine cover girl, and wife of one
of the world's most famous pop stars.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
But Hailey Bieber.
Speaker 3 (00:41):
Wants you to know there's so much more. She recently
launched her own beauty brand, wrote using a celeb to
entrepreneur playbook that involves going direct to her audience on
social media. I met Bieber on the set of her
YouTube show Who's in My Bathroom, where she interviews other
famous faces. I wanted to learn more about her content
to commerce stress, plus how she handles the highs and
(01:02):
lows of Internet stardom on the very platforms that helped
her start her business. Here's my conversation with Haley road
beeber Hello.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
Hello, how's it going? How are you?
Speaker 2 (01:17):
What are the must haves in the uh who's in
my bathroom glamor routine?
Speaker 1 (01:21):
The must haves in the glamor routine. I'm always so
big on the skin prep, so it has to be
really good, like hydrating, dewey, moisturizing skin prep, which obviously
we use road to prep the skin always, and also
hydrated lips because I feel like you're sitting in the
makeup chair like I'm sure you can relate when you're
(01:43):
like in your hair and make if you're sitting there
for so long and I feel like your lips get dry.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
Do you ever count the hours that you've spent.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
I would be embarrassed too, to be honest.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
So do you get nervous when you're doing these interviews?
Speaker 1 (01:56):
Sometimes? Sometimes I think for me, it's not even like
a nervousness. It's just more about like anticipation, anxiety, a
little bit about wanting to make the person feel comfortable,
especially if we don't know each other. It's usually easier
if I know the person ahead of time because you
know we've already met, we know a little bit about
each other.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
Gwneth Paltrow on the show, like did she make you
nervous or was that? Like? Did that feel like?
Speaker 1 (02:19):
She's so kind and so sweet that honestly she made
me feel really really comfortable and made it easy for me.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
So what's your prep routine? Like one interviewer to another.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
I just don't like to overdo it because I like
for it to flow very naturally. Most of the time.
I read like the questions that they've come up with
that to keep in mind, and then I never ask
any of them. I just go off and ask kind
of like my own things that come to mind as
we're sitting there. But I think it's always good to
know like what that person has been up to and
their interests and where they're from and start with that.
(02:52):
It's kind of like going on a date in what way,
like you just ask the person about them and get
to know them.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
I love it. The best interviewers, too, I feel, are
good listeners, being able to follow our conversations totally, not
just lead the conversation, which nobody wants to do. Right,
So you're going direct to your audience with this, and
you know, the internet's not always a nice place. It's
been kind of hard on you sometimes on your marriage.
(03:18):
How does it feel to own and be in control
of your own attention.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
It's a more comfortable experience for me that way. I
think it's really hard with the Internet as it is
about you know, there's narratives that exist for anybody who's
in the public eye, and there's narratives that exist for
me that really hurt my feelings and make me really upset.
But I think that I have had a lot more
comfort in being able to create my own content that
(03:43):
I have control over that feels good for me.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
How are you evolving how you use social media.
Speaker 1 (03:49):
I have a great relationship with my channel with youtuo
because I've found for YouTube to be a really embracing,
positive place. I have a love hate relationship with TikTok
because I found for it to be a very nasty,
negative place, but it is also a place where I
really like sharing content because I really like the beauty
community that's attached to TikTok, and I've felt very embraced
(04:11):
by that beauty community and other beauty creators and fellow
lovers of skincare and makeup and beauty. So that's why
that's my love side of TikTok, and my hate side
of it is a little bit like it's such a
negative place and when people are talking about negativity on
TikTok and when they're talking about you, you have a
face and a voice to the things that are being said,
(04:32):
so it feels a lot more of like a personal
attack on you when you see someone vocalizing it. So
that's been really hard for me, and I try to
stay away from that side of it as much as
I can. And Instagram has always been for me just
like somewhere where I like sharing my life and family
photos of my dogs and you know, I get to,
you know, control that content as well as much as possible,
(04:54):
and it's always been such a great tool. So I
think the overarching thing for me with all social media
is just it's a love hate relationship, and I think
there needs to be boundaries with it, as with anything
in life.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
Well, you've done so many of these get ready with
me is we've seen so much of you behind the scenes,
and like, how have you gotten comfortable with letting people
see you so vulnerable? And you're you're like, kind of
these are they?
Speaker 1 (05:15):
Right?
Speaker 2 (05:15):
Iron bathrobe?
Speaker 1 (05:16):
Like, Well, I've gotten more comfortable because I think it's
allowed people to get to know me more. And I
do think it has helped people to see more sides
of me without making assumptions. I think people make really
vast quick assumptions, and I think when they get to
see me in these different settings, they can at least
just digest it and be like, oh, okay, like that
seems like that's how she is and this is what
(05:37):
she does and that's her job. And I would just
rather let people in in a way that's comfortable for me.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
And do you feel like a push on social media
to be more and more authentic.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
I feel like a push to just do what I'm
comfortable with. In the beginning, it was a little bit
uncomfortable for me to put myself out there a little
bit more or let people in in these ways. I've
always seen the like positive response to it, where I've
had people come up to me and said, hey, I
really appreciated that you talked about this, or I really
liked that you did this, or when you talked about
you know, your health struggles, like it really like spoke
(06:10):
to me because I went through something like that. So
if it will help create more connection with people, then
I love.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
That we got to be on the set of Who's
in My Bathroom, which is so cool connect the dots
for us, like, how does Who's in My Bathroom connect
to Road, connect to the growing of this brand and
what you want to see out of it.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
So I think from the beginning, the content portion of
everything was really important. And at the same time that
I was developing the concept of ROAD, I had this
concept at the same time of starting a YouTube channel,
and I felt that YouTube was the right space for
me because I feel like from what I've noticed that
the audience that connects with someone through YouTube it's more
(06:53):
sincere in my opinion, and I felt like it was
an opportunity for me to just show people what I'm into,
what I'm passionate about, what I'm about, And I had
this idea of doing this kind of like sit down,
hang in a really obscure place like the bathroom. And
the concept really did come from like when you're having
a night out and you're like in the bathroom with
your drink and like fixing your makeup and you're like
(07:15):
chatting with your girls, like, oh my god, like my
ex is here, Like you just like have these like
conversations in the bathroom, and I feel like that's where
like women really connect a lot of the time. And
then also on top of that, I always tell people that,
like we can go to the met gala, like the
most crazy part of it is like happening in the bathroom.
And you always see those pictures of people from the
met gala bathroom, and it's because it's true, like everybody's
(07:37):
kind of like congregated in there and talking and chatting
and there's pictures happening. So all of those things that
I've experienced in real life was how I came up
with the concept of who's in my bathroom? And I
wanted us to be able to have like real conversations,
be able to talk about our passions and our businesses
and things that we love and get silly and drink
tequila and like get a little tipsy and just like
(07:58):
make mac and cheese and eat food and I and
I genuinely wanted to bring people on that like our friends,
our new friends are you know, people who I admire,
And it just kind of really turned into this thing
of like this connection point in community, and it's been
so so so much fun and such a good journey,
and all while doing that. On the other side of things,
we were weaving in conversations early early, early on about skincare,
(08:23):
about beauty, about you know, we were like using road
on camera before people even knew road. This road. It
didn't to the public, it didn't exist, but we were
feeding it in the whole entire time so that it
would just be this kind of natural evolution. And it
has continued to be this natural evolution. There's nothing better
than being able to kind of really have ownership over
your own platform and it be this this machine that's
(08:46):
kind of funneling all things in one space.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
Well you are multi platform in a multimedia world.
Speaker 1 (08:52):
And it continues and it's been really fun. You know,
we're doing what's in my kitchen, which is just kind
of like recipes and cooking, and like I really really
loved to cook, and I've definitely been getting more and
more into my little recipes and stuff. It's really just
because I like sharing things with people. I don't like
to gatekeep things. I want to share the things that
I find to be delicious with the world. I want
to share things that I find to be great skincare
(09:13):
hacks with the world, so you know, that's really what
we're doing.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
I appreciate you sharing corse learning new.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
Tips every day.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
That's one I was like, oh, I've never seen.
Speaker 1 (09:23):
That, and then I saw that on TikTok, where I'm
just like, That's what I mean about this community of life.
There's so much to learn, there's so much to connect over,
and I think that's what makes it really fun.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
Before you started a company, what was your impression of
Silicon Valley and what it takes to be a founder?
Speaker 1 (09:38):
Honestly, I didn't really know. I don't really feel like
you know what it takes and what it's like and
how it is until you're actually in the process. I
felt like I went into it very honest about what
I didn't know, and I feel like I'm still honest
about what I don't know. And that's why there are
so many people that are experts in their fields around
all of this. So I kind of just always went
(10:01):
into it asking a million and one questions. But I
feel like I'm I'm a fast learner and I really
love to absorb information, so that was kind of my
biggest thing from the beginning is just asking all the
questions and really trying to absorb the information and then
also just living through it and kind of learning as
I go.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
Elon Musk has said starting a company is like staring
into the abyss and eating glass. Hm, how did it
feel for you?
Speaker 1 (10:26):
I think anything that you take a leap of faith
with is scary, and I think that you never really
know how it's gonna be received until it's out there
in the world, and that's a huge risk to take.
But I felt really confident in in our brand and
like what the idea was behind it, and because it's
my baby and I'm just like in it every single
(10:48):
day and i am so passionate about it and I'm
so involved with it. My hand is so involved in
everything that I trust for it to be out in
the world. And maybe that makes me sound like a
little bit of a control break, but that's because with
this I am, like, I really am just passionate about
being involved in every aspect of it because I really
want people to know and to feel like it's me
(11:08):
and it's a representation of me, and I also just
want the products to be awesome.
Speaker 2 (11:13):
Yeah, So no, eating glass moments.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
That's like a very like broad thing, you know, eating glass.
I mean, it's definitely yeah. I get there's there's pains
to it. There's a lot of growing pains, there's a
lot of learning pains, and we're still learning every single day.
So I get the eating glass thing for sure.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
What kind of market research did you do? Like, did
you try everything from Walgreens to Chanelle? And where did
you see something missing?
Speaker 1 (11:37):
That's exactly where I started. Actually it was during the pandemic.
And I am someone who, like I'll say, is a
skincare and beauty junkie. I kind of always have been
since I was a little kid. I remember always loving
going in my mom's bathroom and trying all her stuff
and her creams and her makeup and everything. And then
also my mom's mom, my grandma, she always loved like creams, skincare.
(12:00):
She had this crazy obsession with it my whole life.
So I felt like I was always trying their stuff,
and they were always showing me and telling me about
things that they really like. That always kind of stuck
with me. And when the pandemic hit, I was like, alright,
this is the time that I really wanna nail down
my idea and nail down what it is I wanna do.
And I started with exactly what you're talking about, which
(12:22):
was trying everything that was on the market. I was
like online shopping every single day, like I'm gonna try
all the best sellers at Sephora. I'm gonna try all
the best sellers from this place, like I'm gonna just
get everything. And I would literally get deliveries of like
hordes of skincare and beauty stuff, and I was just
trying everything, what works, what doesn't, what's popular, what's not,
(12:44):
And that kind of really helped me hone down, which
was already my philosophy that like less is more. I
found that the more simple that I kept it, the
easier it was to maintain that routine, and the better
it was for my skin. So that was really how
I got there.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
Initially there was a super long waiting list. Was scarcity
part of the plan or part of the strategy? People
want what they can't have?
Speaker 1 (13:07):
Or no? I I almost wish that it it was,
cause then maybe that would be a better explanation for
why we did as much demand planning as we could
for what we were projecting. Was going to be the
feedback and the popularity, but it just completely far exceeded
everyone's planning and expectations, which is such an amazing thing.
(13:30):
But I wanted everybody to get their hands on it
as soon as they could. But it's just when you're
up against supply chain issues, and there's so many brands
have been struggling with supply chain for especially since you know,
COVID happened. But you know, I think now we finally
are in a place where we really know the metrics
and we understand what the numbers are, and it just
(13:52):
takes time to gather all of that information. So I
am very grateful that people have been patient and like
stuck it out and waited. My goal with the brand
is always to do the best that we can and
get it to people as fast as we can. You know,
people from all over the world have been asking for
it and asking for it, and I'm like, if I
could snap my fingers tomorrow and get it everywhere at
one time, I totally would. It's just it takes time
(14:13):
and planning.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
So let's talk about the growth plan, because you are
expanding globally, what's the ambition there? Where do you want
to be what about new products.
Speaker 1 (14:22):
I want to be everywhere possible. Like I said before,
it just takes strategy and planning, and you know, I
wanted to go into different territories in different places and
to be able to have the inventory we need to
do that and to have the plans in place to
be able to do that. So with Canada, that was
what we felt like was the next best territory to
(14:44):
enter into. Uh, not only because it is right here
right you know, basically the neighbor to the US, but
also because my husband's Canadian. So I really felt like
Canada needed to go next. And then our plan is
to then go into the UK and we're kind of
just taking it one place at a time and seeing
what naturally is the next place and naturally is the
(15:04):
next step.
Speaker 2 (15:05):
You've said that people approached you to do a skincare
line without giving you any real control, like why not
take the easy route, not eating glass routes.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
I care so much about my vision for the brand,
and I think what's been so nice for me and
the most fun part is that I'm able to really
bring my vision to life without so many people giving
me so many different inputs and telling me, well, we
think it should be this way. I have such an
amazing team who really wants to help execute my vision.
(15:35):
And I think sometimes when you go work with an incubator,
work with a brand that's already established, it's like they
just want you to do what their vision is, and
I just don't find that to be very innovative, at
least not for me.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
There's a lot of folks who think celebrities don't get
into the details of their brands, Like, what are you
doing here on a day to day basis? Sounds like
you're pretty deep in the details.
Speaker 1 (15:56):
I'm very, very deep in the details. I'm the creative
director of the brand. So all of the packaging, all
of the concepts for the photo shoots, the concepts for
our mailers, for the color ways, to the everything that
you could imagine that has to do with the creative
direction of the entire brand is like, that's my job here.
(16:18):
And also the formulation is my Also the other thing
that I'm the most involved in, so testing the products,
talking about what I want to be the next product,
you know, figuring out our timeline and the pipeline for
what we want to come and when we want it
to come and kind of going back and forth about
new iterations. When we were developing, like for example, our
barrier restore cream, we had seventeen different versions of it
(16:42):
because I was like, mm, I think this needs to
be a little bit different, and then the viscosity of it,
and then this thing, and then this thing, and then
it like at the end, we got there after like
the seventeenth try. And that stuff takes a long time
because it's like you gotta test it, send it back,
like tell the lab. The lab has to tweak it,
they have to read like it takes time to get
it right. The two biggest things actually are the aesthetic
(17:02):
and what it makes you feel, and then the actual
product itself that you're using. I wanted it to be
so so so effective and like really feel luxurious and
great and really work and be great for the skin.
So it's like those two pillars in the brand are
the two pillars that I am like the most involved in.
And then all the decisions that are being made I
(17:25):
involve myself in because, like I said, like maybe that's
because I'm a little bit of a control freak with it,
and I just I really just want to know and
learn and be in the loop of everything, because it's
just this brand is like so important.
Speaker 2 (17:36):
To me, So are you and justin like digging into
spreadsheets late at night.
Speaker 1 (17:40):
Him not so much, but maybe me a little bit more.
He Yeah, he's definitely. Also. I run things back him
all the time and he gives his input and I
appreciate that for sure.
Speaker 2 (17:52):
I know you're funding the most of this with your
own money.
Speaker 1 (17:54):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:55):
Are you planning to take on new investment or raise
new funding.
Speaker 1 (17:58):
I think if the time comes where that makes sense
and it's necessary, then I will and I would, But
for right now it has not been the case and
it hasn't been needed. We're just trying to take it slow.
I mean, my goal is to retain as much of
the company as I possibly can as we expand and
as we grow, And that was my goal from the beginning,
and that's why I put the most money in, cause
I really cared about the ownership aspect. And that's another
(18:21):
reason why when you have incubators come along, if people
don't want to give you the ownership that I think
that I wanted, do you feel like you're taking a risk?
I do. Yeah. I think anybody who decides to put
their own money and their time into something and put
their belief behind it and really put their like passion
into it. I mean, there's no guarantees in any of this.
(18:42):
M people could have got their hands on the product
and been like, hey, it's just not for me and
I really don't like it and it not turned out
to be what it is now, and that would have
been a hard pill to swallow. But you know, that
would have just meant that it wasn't meant to be.
But I think that this is something for me that
feels really like my thing. This feels like very very
meant to be for me, and it's the thing I'm
(19:05):
the most passionate about in my career at this time.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
Who are your beauty business role models? Who are the
people that you admire.
Speaker 1 (19:14):
I think there's a l uh a lot of people
that have gone and done this before me. I think
I have a lot of people in my life and
friends of mine that have even developed their own brands
and businesses that I'm just like so impressed by. And
I think what's nice about that is there's people to
be able to run things by and have those conversations
with and to be honest. I admire any woman who
(19:36):
takes the leap of faith to launch their own business,
any single person that has done this, especially women. I
feel like there's just so much respect and admiration. I
feel very embraced by like the beauty industry. I feel
very embraced by other founders in the beauty industry, and
I think that that community has been so important for
me and continues to be important for me in this space.
Speaker 2 (19:58):
How are you thinking about an EG exit strategy? Like
long term, do you want to go public? Do you
want to sell a big steake like Kylie Jenner?
Speaker 1 (20:05):
I think right now, I'm not even necessarily thinking about it,
because I mean, of course, like I have my goals
for the brand. I have goals that we want to
reach right now and focus on, like what's our next
Petside Live treatment coming out? And like where are we
launching next? Yeah, Like, I just think it's not even
really like at the forefront of my mind. It's kind
of like looming in the background of like, yes, eventually,
(20:27):
I think that's probably the goal, but I just don't
even know what that looks like yet.
Speaker 2 (20:32):
Internet's always talking. There's people think you might be expanding
into clothes is that for real.
Speaker 1 (20:38):
I love clothes, I love my style, I love fashion.
I don't think that that is something that is at
like the front right now for me. But I did
do this collaboration with Wardrobe NYC. That's Christine Centenaria's brand,
and she's an amazing, very very talented stylist and she's
the editor of Vogue Australia. We did this collaboration together
and I did find that it did kind of awaken
(21:01):
that passion in me once again. And I think it's
not off the table. I think that would just be
a separate venture than this.
Speaker 2 (21:07):
What about mood board, your trademarked mood I.
Speaker 1 (21:09):
Did trademark board. I did trademark that for clothes because
I just kind of I like the idea that this
this word mood board, Like I'm such a big person
that likes to mood board things. I mood board my
hair and makeup inspiration, and I mood board inspiration for
the road campaign shoots. I mood board inspiration for my fashion.
So I kind of just liked this idea of like
(21:30):
calling something mood board, and yeah, I just I wanted
to nail that down and have it on the back burner.
It may never come to life. It may be for
something else. Who knows, but I just kind of wanted to.
I had had that name in my mind for a
long time.
Speaker 2 (21:44):
So we'll stay tuned.
Speaker 1 (21:45):
May stay tuned. Perhaps mood Board will come to see
the light of day. Okay, I mean you know this.
Speaker 2 (21:50):
There are a lot of celebrity beauty brands out there.
Some people think it's almost a cliche.
Speaker 1 (21:54):
Yeah, what's going to make your stand out? I hope
what's making my standout is kind of our approach of
one of everything good, Like we really aren't focused on
oversaturation overwhelming people. I think one of my biggest things
that I noticed with being a consumer of skincare and
beauty was like if I went on a website and
it felt like I don't even know what to choose
(22:16):
at this point, Like what's right for me? What's not?
Should I just try everything? Should I not? Like I
don't like the feeling of being overwhelmed, because it makes
me just want to give up. I want people's experience
to be that they go on the website, they come
to our page, whatever it is. However, they've come across
us and found our products that they feel like this
is simple to the point, and it's effective, and it
(22:38):
looks nice in your bathroom. It's you know, it's appealing,
like you get your hands on it and you feel
like you're a part of something. So I feel like
our approach is just always going to be that one
of everything good and really not trying to overwhelm the
consumer and just these curated, edited essentials, And that's why
our drops are always very much one at a time
(23:01):
type of thing. And I think there's probably some people
that you know, maybe would like for it to be faster, more,
to come quicker, but I think that it's always worth
it to wait and to get the product perfect and
to let people's attention be focused on one thing at
a time. I can't focus on too many things at
once because it's just too overwhelming for me. So I
(23:23):
want to make the experience not overwhelming for a customer.
Speaker 2 (23:27):
There have been a number of celebrity beauty ban brands
or brands that bet on celebrities that haven't worked out. Yeah,
and I wonder if you, you know, just being connected
to a famous face, it seems isn't enough. And that's
like this is from the point of view of consumers. Yeah,
do you worry at all that you miss the wave?
The wave of celebrity beauty brands when the economy was
(23:48):
going well and people felt like they had a lot
of disposable income to try new things.
Speaker 1 (23:53):
I don't feel like that's the case. I do feel
like people had a fatigue of celebrity beauty brands. That
is a tongue twister. I felt like when I announced
the brand, of course, there was people that were like, Oh,
here we go, here's another one, and I'm like, I
get that, I understand. I'm also coming from the point
of view where I'm like, trust me, I know, but
(24:14):
this is my approach and it is different to other people.
That's going to speak to people and they're going to
want to be a part of that or they're not.
And to the people that don't want to be part
of that, that's okay too. I understand both sides. But
you know, I really wanted the brand to just stand
on its own and speak for itself. And my goal
from the beginning was that this brand, if you took
me out of it, would stand on its own regardless
(24:37):
of me. And I know that a lot of people
know that it's my brand, and it is my brand,
but my hope would be that as we continue to
expand and we grow, that like maybe someone doesn't know
that it's my brand and they get their hands on
it and they're like, I just love this product, I
love this cream, I love this lip treatment, and you
could kind of just not have to want it or
(24:58):
like it or buy it because it's associated to me,
but just because the products are speaking for themselves. And
I do feel like I see that happening.
Speaker 2 (25:04):
I'm so curious what you bring to this from your
modeling career, because you worked as a model for the
Legacy fashion houses. What did you learn about what it
takes to build a brand that.
Speaker 1 (25:13):
Last I've learned so much about like creativity from that
side of things. My favorite thing to shoot in the
modeling side of things has always been these really creative,
interesting editorials, like these stories that were like bringing to life.
And I feel like that was the biggest thing that
I brought over was this kind of like editorial approach
to the imagery and an editorial approach to the packaging
(25:38):
and the bottles, Like I wanted to take the world
of that and mix it with skincare and kind of
like open people up to this world of like chic cool,
minimal great imagery that kind of stands out and feels
different to other brands.
Speaker 2 (25:56):
So your fashion and makeup tips can either spark like
the next big trend or you get some serious backlash.
And I'm curious if you're ever surprised how the world reacts.
Speaker 1 (26:06):
I think that that's the Internet, and I think that's
unfortunately the world we live in today. I think that
the Internet is a beautiful place to build community, and
that's why I spoke before about the beauty community, Like
I felt very embraced by that, and I love the
way that people come together in that community. But I
also have experienced a very negative side. I think that
(26:29):
it obviously makes me sad because I feel very misunderstood
and I feel like there sometimes there's nothing you can
do to try to get people to understand you and
know you. But I think that the bad side and
the negative side of the Internet doesn't outweigh the good
side and the positive side. And I'm about bringing people
together and spreading positivity and spreading love, and like that's
(26:52):
what I'm just going to continue to focus on, regardless
of the negative side.
Speaker 2 (26:57):
The brownie glazed liptip for example, that got back. How
do you respond to that?
Speaker 1 (27:02):
I think for me, you know, it would never be
my intention to make anyone feel disrespected or to feel
like I appropriated anyone or anything. And I do acknowledge
and I do understand that it's very important to you know,
point people in the direction of where something comes from
and to highlight that and to show where the credit
(27:24):
comes from. And I really understood where everyone was coming
from for that.
Speaker 2 (27:28):
How does it feel to be someone that so many
people have opinions about, whether fair or not right m M.
Speaker 1 (27:34):
I think it can be hard sometimes, but I also
think that you can't expect to exist in this place
and not have that, So I think sometimes it's just
a harsh reality check for me. And yes, I also
think it boils down to, you know, having to learn
how to navigate it and be able to shut all
(27:56):
that stuff out. And for me, it's like the internet
is not real life to me, Like my real life
with the people that I love is my real life.
And sometimes it's hard to just stay there and stay
focused on that when things online can feel loud and disruptive.
So that's kind of just the journey that I'm on.
Speaker 2 (28:14):
Yeah, I feel like I've seen you leaning into it
a little more or almost accepting it a little more.
Like I heard you talk about this with Gwyneth Paltrow
on your show, the Nepotism thing. You stepped out in
a NEPO baby T shirt. Yeah, explain that.
Speaker 1 (28:27):
The NEPO baby T shirt was just meant to be
my little comment on the whole discourse that had been
going around. And you know, my point to having worn
the T shirt was not to poke fun at it
or you know, kind of be like, yeah, I'm a
NEPO baby and ha haa type of a thing. Was
more so to be like, this is what everyone is saying,
(28:48):
and I want you to know that this is my
way of responding to it, in my way of acknowledging
it in a way that is so overly literal that
it's like, I'm just gonna call myself a NEPO baby
because I am one, and I embrace that I am.
But I thought what was funny about that is like,
to me, the way the Internet is is like nothing's
ever enough. So it's like I do that and it's
(29:09):
like half of people find it funny and they get
the humor behind it, and they got it, and then
half the people are like, well, you're not even really
a nepo baby like that much. And I'm like, so
you're gonna sit there and call me anppole baby all
day long, But then I acknowledge it, and then I'm
not enough of a nepo baby. So it's like, there
is never any like winning with the Internet. And that's
what I've always time and time again realized. So that
(29:32):
was just meant to be like a fun response to
everything that was being said.
Speaker 2 (29:36):
I got it. I will say that thank you. I'm
probably too old to understand why this is an issue,
but here we go. There's some ongoing drama between you
and other celebrity and eyebrows and you reach out to
her saying you've been getting death threats? How do you
tune out that kind of noise?
Speaker 1 (29:53):
What I will say is, I don't think that this
is about me Hayley Bieber and Selena Gomez. This is
not about this pitting between two women and division between
two women. It's about the vile, disgusting hatred that can
come from completely made up and twisted and perpetuated narratives
(30:18):
that can be really dangerous, and I think that it's
an opportunity to really stand for bringing people together and
not being okay with the kind of division that it costs.
Because I'm not okay with the kind of division that
it caused. I don't like this whole idea of team
this person and team this person. I'm just not about that.
I want to be able to bring people together. And
(30:40):
I think that that was a really important moment for
people to see that you can do that, and you
can bring people together and it doesn't have to be
about this divisive nature.
Speaker 2 (30:51):
It's such a frustrating old narrative, like two women being
pitted against each other over on me because of a guy.
Speaker 1 (30:56):
It's awful. I hate it. I've hated it since the beginning,
and I think that kind of goes back to a
little bit of just being misunderstood when it's like time
and time again, I don't know why I keep having
to say and we keep having to say that there
is no issue and there is no problem, like mm,
it's so disappointing that people still behave this way because
of them, like over a man. It's yep, it's the
(31:19):
world we live in.
Speaker 2 (31:20):
Unfortunately, the backlash can be so swift and fierce and relentless.
And now you've got this business, right, Like, how do
you think about that? And how you know when public
opinions weighs MM, what does it mean for the brand?
What does it mean for the business?
Speaker 1 (31:33):
Yeah, I definitely my head goes there because, like I've
said so many times, like this is my br this
brand is so important to me, And of course I
don't want silly, made up drama to affect m what
I'm focused in working on MM. And I think at
the end of the day, you kind of just have
to keep it pushing and just keep moving forward. It
(31:54):
doesn't mean that the work falls to the side because
of noise and because things are being said, because there's
always gonna be noise, and there's always gonna be things
that are said, and if it's not that, it's gonna
be something else. So it's kind of about just knowing
just how to navigate it as it comes, because it
wasn't the first time and it won't be the last time,
and just staying focused on what's important.
Speaker 2 (32:14):
Have you evolved how you use your own social media
at all since you've become a founder? Do you feel
like the stakes are higher in a way.
Speaker 1 (32:21):
It's not about the stakes being higher, but I think,
you know, the conversation is different. You know, we're talking
about different things. I'm promoting my own brand. I think
sometimes the content is a little bit different. Maybe it's
more beauty focused now, which is really actually fun for
me and exciting for me because it's the thing that
I like, love m talking about and and showing and
doing the most. But I think that also just over
(32:44):
the last couple of years, I think that you learn
what you're comfortable with sharing and what you're not. And
you know, maybe I'm not wanting to show my life
twenty four seven, or I probably have reeled it in
a bit more than I maybe would've been the past,
just because of privacy. But other than that, I kind
of am just like I post what I like, and
I share what I enjoy, and I share what I
(33:05):
like and from makeup tips to outfits to different things,
like I just share what I like with people.
Speaker 2 (33:10):
Yeah, And so I mean I feel like good social
media is about authenticity, right, Like, how do you think
about that? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (33:15):
And I think sometimes it's hard to be as authentic
as possible through a screen. But That's why I keep
saying I just share what I like, and I share
what I think is fun and cool and exciting.
Speaker 2 (33:25):
What's the biggest lesson you've learned from starting a business.
Speaker 1 (33:28):
The biggest lesson I've learned is that there's going to
be mishaps and mistakes. And the problem for me is
that I'm a perfectionist. So when issues come up or
problems arise, or there's hiccups, I'm like, like, how do
we stop it and fix it? And it's like, it
actually is just part of the learning process so that
you can grow and evolve into the best brand possible
(33:48):
and become a better brand through the learning. And sometimes
the learning is really hard, especially if you're like a
perfectionist people pleaser. So I think that's the biggest thing
I've had to learn is like, just take them as
they come and take it as a lesson on how
to do better moving forward.
Speaker 2 (34:04):
People please, sir. I feel like I hear a lot
of women say that a lot. Do you feel like
that's one of your flaws or just part of your character.
Speaker 1 (34:12):
I think it's something that I struggle with. Yeah, for sure,
I don't necessarily think it's a flaw I think it's
something that it's like it comes from the the The
base of where I think that comes from is I
just care so much. I care so deeply about people.
I care about my f like I'm a people please
pleaser with my friends, with like e with every aspect
of my life. It's just like it's because I really just.
Speaker 2 (34:33):
Care with everything that you're doing, and there's so much
more than road. The YouTube shows the you know, the
fashion and makeup tips, the you know, content to commerce
cycle that we're seeing. Are we seeing you try to
separate the Haley from the Beaver and the Baldwin at all?
Speaker 1 (34:47):
I think that it's hard to say that you can
separate it because it's like, this is my life. That
is the family I come from, and that is my husband.
There is no denying that, and I don't wanna try
to run away from that. I'd like to just embrace
that and then say this is where I come from
and this is who I'm married to, but this is
who I am. So I think there's a space that
(35:09):
within all of that for people to understand take any
last name out of it, like who exactly is Haley?
And I think my journey with the YouTube channel and
you know, the who's in my bathroom in those different
things and kind of the vlog style videos I put
out is really just to for people to be able
to connect to who Haley is without the last names,
without the headlines, without the gossip, without all that other stuff,
(35:32):
and just form their own connection to me personally as
much as that's possible through right social media.
Speaker 2 (35:40):
So ten years from now, what do you want people
to be talking about?
Speaker 1 (35:43):
It's a good question. I know what. I don't want
that to talk about anymore. I definitely see like kids
in the picture and you know, kind of just on
that maybe journey of motherhood and into this like different
space of life. Obviously, I hope Road is, you know,
doing its thing, and you know, maybe we'll have evolved
into some other really you know, baby categories, whatever it
(36:05):
may be. I think I always want Road to be
a reflection of my life and where I'm mad and
what's going on with me in that time. So I
feel like if I see that being motherhood in a
different space than I feel like the brand in some
ways will definitely reflect that as well.
Speaker 3 (36:22):
Thanks so much for listening to this episode of the Circuit.
Speaker 2 (36:25):
I'm Emily Chang.
Speaker 3 (36:26):
You can follow me on Twitter and Instagram at Emily
Chang TV. You can watch full episodes of the Circuit
at Bloomberg dot com and check out our other Bloomberg
podcasts on Apple Podcasts, the iHeartMedia app, or wherever you
listen to shows and let us know what you think
by leaving us a review. I'm your host and executive producer.
Our senior producer is Lauren Ellis. Our associate producer is
(36:47):
Lizzie Phillip. Our editor is Sebastian Escobar. Thanks so much
for listening.
Thank you so much for having us.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
By the way, while you're getting in come sit interviews,
which I know is like kind of stressful time.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
I am actually like pretty fast with glam though, like
I just don't like sitting. I'm so antsy, like I
didn't like sitting in school.
Speaker 3 (00:15):
I'm Emily Chang and this is the circuit today. I'm
doing something I never thought I would as a business journalist,
heading to meet my next guest on a sound stage
in a very special bathroom.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
All right, quiet on set, and what's up you guys.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
It's Haley, and welcome to another episode of Who's in
My Bathroom.
Speaker 3 (00:34):
She's a trendsetter, magazine cover girl, and wife of one
of the world's most famous pop stars.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
But Hailey Bieber.
Speaker 3 (00:41):
Wants you to know there's so much more. She recently
launched her own beauty brand, wrote using a celeb to
entrepreneur playbook that involves going direct to her audience on
social media. I met Bieber on the set of her
YouTube show Who's in My Bathroom, where she interviews other
famous faces. I wanted to learn more about her content
to commerce stress, plus how she handles the highs and
(01:02):
lows of Internet stardom on the very platforms that helped
her start her business. Here's my conversation with Haley road
beeber Hello.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
Hello, how's it going? How are you?
Speaker 2 (01:17):
What are the must haves in the uh who's in
my bathroom glamor routine?
Speaker 1 (01:21):
The must haves in the glamor routine. I'm always so
big on the skin prep, so it has to be
really good, like hydrating, dewey, moisturizing skin prep, which obviously
we use road to prep the skin always, and also
hydrated lips because I feel like you're sitting in the
makeup chair like I'm sure you can relate when you're
(01:43):
like in your hair and make if you're sitting there
for so long and I feel like your lips get dry.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
Do you ever count the hours that you've spent.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
I would be embarrassed too, to be honest.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
So do you get nervous when you're doing these interviews?
Speaker 1 (01:56):
Sometimes? Sometimes I think for me, it's not even like
a nervousness. It's just more about like anticipation, anxiety, a
little bit about wanting to make the person feel comfortable,
especially if we don't know each other. It's usually easier
if I know the person ahead of time because you
know we've already met, we know a little bit about
each other.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
Gwneth Paltrow on the show, like did she make you
nervous or was that? Like? Did that feel like?
Speaker 1 (02:19):
She's so kind and so sweet that honestly she made
me feel really really comfortable and made it easy for me.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
So what's your prep routine? Like one interviewer to another.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
I just don't like to overdo it because I like
for it to flow very naturally. Most of the time.
I read like the questions that they've come up with
that to keep in mind, and then I never ask
any of them. I just go off and ask kind
of like my own things that come to mind as
we're sitting there. But I think it's always good to
know like what that person has been up to and
their interests and where they're from and start with that.
(02:52):
It's kind of like going on a date in what way,
like you just ask the person about them and get
to know them.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
I love it. The best interviewers, too, I feel, are
good listeners, being able to follow our conversations totally, not
just lead the conversation, which nobody wants to do. Right,
So you're going direct to your audience with this, and
you know, the internet's not always a nice place. It's
been kind of hard on you sometimes on your marriage.
(03:18):
How does it feel to own and be in control
of your own attention.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
It's a more comfortable experience for me that way. I
think it's really hard with the Internet as it is
about you know, there's narratives that exist for anybody who's
in the public eye, and there's narratives that exist for
me that really hurt my feelings and make me really upset.
But I think that I have had a lot more
comfort in being able to create my own content that
(03:43):
I have control over that feels good for me.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
How are you evolving how you use social media.
Speaker 1 (03:49):
I have a great relationship with my channel with youtuo
because I've found for YouTube to be a really embracing,
positive place. I have a love hate relationship with TikTok
because I found for it to be a very nasty,
negative place, but it is also a place where I
really like sharing content because I really like the beauty
community that's attached to TikTok, and I've felt very embraced
(04:11):
by that beauty community and other beauty creators and fellow
lovers of skincare and makeup and beauty. So that's why
that's my love side of TikTok, and my hate side
of it is a little bit like it's such a
negative place and when people are talking about negativity on
TikTok and when they're talking about you, you have a
face and a voice to the things that are being said,
(04:32):
so it feels a lot more of like a personal
attack on you when you see someone vocalizing it. So
that's been really hard for me, and I try to
stay away from that side of it as much as
I can. And Instagram has always been for me just
like somewhere where I like sharing my life and family
photos of my dogs and you know, I get to,
you know, control that content as well as much as possible,
(04:54):
and it's always been such a great tool. So I
think the overarching thing for me with all social media
is just it's a love hate relationship, and I think
there needs to be boundaries with it, as with anything
in life.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
Well, you've done so many of these get ready with
me is we've seen so much of you behind the scenes,
and like, how have you gotten comfortable with letting people
see you so vulnerable? And you're you're like, kind of
these are they?
Speaker 1 (05:15):
Right?
Speaker 2 (05:15):
Iron bathrobe?
Speaker 1 (05:16):
Like, Well, I've gotten more comfortable because I think it's
allowed people to get to know me more. And I
do think it has helped people to see more sides
of me without making assumptions. I think people make really
vast quick assumptions, and I think when they get to
see me in these different settings, they can at least
just digest it and be like, oh, okay, like that
seems like that's how she is and this is what
(05:37):
she does and that's her job. And I would just
rather let people in in a way that's comfortable for me.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
And do you feel like a push on social media
to be more and more authentic.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
I feel like a push to just do what I'm
comfortable with. In the beginning, it was a little bit
uncomfortable for me to put myself out there a little
bit more or let people in in these ways. I've
always seen the like positive response to it, where I've
had people come up to me and said, hey, I
really appreciated that you talked about this, or I really
liked that you did this, or when you talked about
you know, your health struggles, like it really like spoke
(06:10):
to me because I went through something like that. So
if it will help create more connection with people, then
I love.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
That we got to be on the set of Who's
in My Bathroom, which is so cool connect the dots
for us, like, how does Who's in My Bathroom connect
to Road, connect to the growing of this brand and
what you want to see out of it.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
So I think from the beginning, the content portion of
everything was really important. And at the same time that
I was developing the concept of ROAD, I had this
concept at the same time of starting a YouTube channel,
and I felt that YouTube was the right space for
me because I feel like from what I've noticed that
the audience that connects with someone through YouTube it's more
(06:53):
sincere in my opinion, and I felt like it was
an opportunity for me to just show people what I'm into,
what I'm passionate about, what I'm about, And I had
this idea of doing this kind of like sit down,
hang in a really obscure place like the bathroom. And
the concept really did come from like when you're having
a night out and you're like in the bathroom with
your drink and like fixing your makeup and you're like
(07:15):
chatting with your girls, like, oh my god, like my
ex is here, Like you just like have these like
conversations in the bathroom, and I feel like that's where
like women really connect a lot of the time. And
then also on top of that, I always tell people that,
like we can go to the met gala, like the
most crazy part of it is like happening in the bathroom.
And you always see those pictures of people from the
met gala bathroom, and it's because it's true, like everybody's
(07:37):
kind of like congregated in there and talking and chatting
and there's pictures happening. So all of those things that
I've experienced in real life was how I came up
with the concept of who's in my bathroom? And I
wanted us to be able to have like real conversations,
be able to talk about our passions and our businesses
and things that we love and get silly and drink
tequila and like get a little tipsy and just like
(07:58):
make mac and cheese and eat food and I and
I genuinely wanted to bring people on that like our friends,
our new friends are you know, people who I admire,
And it just kind of really turned into this thing
of like this connection point in community, and it's been
so so so much fun and such a good journey,
and all while doing that. On the other side of things,
we were weaving in conversations early early, early on about skincare,
(08:23):
about beauty, about you know, we were like using road
on camera before people even knew road. This road. It
didn't to the public, it didn't exist, but we were
feeding it in the whole entire time so that it
would just be this kind of natural evolution. And it
has continued to be this natural evolution. There's nothing better
than being able to kind of really have ownership over
your own platform and it be this this machine that's
(08:46):
kind of funneling all things in one space.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
Well you are multi platform in a multimedia world.
Speaker 1 (08:52):
And it continues and it's been really fun. You know,
we're doing what's in my kitchen, which is just kind
of like recipes and cooking, and like I really really
loved to cook, and I've definitely been getting more and
more into my little recipes and stuff. It's really just
because I like sharing things with people. I don't like
to gatekeep things. I want to share the things that
I find to be delicious with the world. I want
to share things that I find to be great skincare
(09:13):
hacks with the world, so you know, that's really what
we're doing.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
I appreciate you sharing corse learning new.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
Tips every day.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
That's one I was like, oh, I've never seen.
Speaker 1 (09:23):
That, and then I saw that on TikTok, where I'm
just like, That's what I mean about this community of life.
There's so much to learn, there's so much to connect over,
and I think that's what makes it really fun.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
Before you started a company, what was your impression of
Silicon Valley and what it takes to be a founder?
Speaker 1 (09:38):
Honestly, I didn't really know. I don't really feel like
you know what it takes and what it's like and
how it is until you're actually in the process. I
felt like I went into it very honest about what
I didn't know, and I feel like I'm still honest
about what I don't know. And that's why there are
so many people that are experts in their fields around
all of this. So I kind of just always went
(10:01):
into it asking a million and one questions. But I
feel like I'm I'm a fast learner and I really
love to absorb information, so that was kind of my
biggest thing from the beginning is just asking all the
questions and really trying to absorb the information and then
also just living through it and kind of learning as
I go.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
Elon Musk has said starting a company is like staring
into the abyss and eating glass. Hm, how did it
feel for you?
Speaker 1 (10:26):
I think anything that you take a leap of faith
with is scary, and I think that you never really
know how it's gonna be received until it's out there
in the world, and that's a huge risk to take.
But I felt really confident in in our brand and
like what the idea was behind it, and because it's
my baby and I'm just like in it every single
(10:48):
day and i am so passionate about it and I'm
so involved with it. My hand is so involved in
everything that I trust for it to be out in
the world. And maybe that makes me sound like a
little bit of a control break, but that's because with
this I am, like, I really am just passionate about
being involved in every aspect of it because I really
want people to know and to feel like it's me
(11:08):
and it's a representation of me, and I also just
want the products to be awesome.
Speaker 2 (11:13):
Yeah, So no, eating glass moments.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
That's like a very like broad thing, you know, eating glass.
I mean, it's definitely yeah. I get there's there's pains
to it. There's a lot of growing pains, there's a
lot of learning pains, and we're still learning every single day.
So I get the eating glass thing for sure.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
What kind of market research did you do? Like, did
you try everything from Walgreens to Chanelle? And where did
you see something missing?
Speaker 1 (11:37):
That's exactly where I started. Actually it was during the pandemic.
And I am someone who, like I'll say, is a
skincare and beauty junkie. I kind of always have been
since I was a little kid. I remember always loving
going in my mom's bathroom and trying all her stuff
and her creams and her makeup and everything. And then
also my mom's mom, my grandma, she always loved like creams, skincare.
(12:00):
She had this crazy obsession with it my whole life.
So I felt like I was always trying their stuff,
and they were always showing me and telling me about
things that they really like. That always kind of stuck
with me. And when the pandemic hit, I was like, alright,
this is the time that I really wanna nail down
my idea and nail down what it is I wanna do.
And I started with exactly what you're talking about, which
(12:22):
was trying everything that was on the market. I was
like online shopping every single day, like I'm gonna try
all the best sellers at Sephora. I'm gonna try all
the best sellers from this place, like I'm gonna just
get everything. And I would literally get deliveries of like
hordes of skincare and beauty stuff, and I was just
trying everything, what works, what doesn't, what's popular, what's not,
(12:44):
And that kind of really helped me hone down, which
was already my philosophy that like less is more. I
found that the more simple that I kept it, the
easier it was to maintain that routine, and the better
it was for my skin. So that was really how
I got there.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
Initially there was a super long waiting list. Was scarcity
part of the plan or part of the strategy? People
want what they can't have?
Speaker 1 (13:07):
Or no? I I almost wish that it it was,
cause then maybe that would be a better explanation for
why we did as much demand planning as we could
for what we were projecting. Was going to be the
feedback and the popularity, but it just completely far exceeded
everyone's planning and expectations, which is such an amazing thing.
(13:30):
But I wanted everybody to get their hands on it
as soon as they could. But it's just when you're
up against supply chain issues, and there's so many brands
have been struggling with supply chain for especially since you know,
COVID happened. But you know, I think now we finally
are in a place where we really know the metrics
and we understand what the numbers are, and it just
(13:52):
takes time to gather all of that information. So I
am very grateful that people have been patient and like
stuck it out and waited. My goal with the brand
is always to do the best that we can and
get it to people as fast as we can. You know,
people from all over the world have been asking for
it and asking for it, and I'm like, if I
could snap my fingers tomorrow and get it everywhere at
one time, I totally would. It's just it takes time
(14:13):
and planning.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
So let's talk about the growth plan, because you are
expanding globally, what's the ambition there? Where do you want
to be what about new products.
Speaker 1 (14:22):
I want to be everywhere possible. Like I said before,
it just takes strategy and planning, and you know, I
wanted to go into different territories in different places and
to be able to have the inventory we need to
do that and to have the plans in place to
be able to do that. So with Canada, that was
what we felt like was the next best territory to
(14:44):
enter into. Uh, not only because it is right here
right you know, basically the neighbor to the US, but
also because my husband's Canadian. So I really felt like
Canada needed to go next. And then our plan is
to then go into the UK and we're kind of
just taking it one place at a time and seeing
what naturally is the next place and naturally is the
(15:04):
next step.
Speaker 2 (15:05):
You've said that people approached you to do a skincare
line without giving you any real control, like why not
take the easy route, not eating glass routes.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
I care so much about my vision for the brand,
and I think what's been so nice for me and
the most fun part is that I'm able to really
bring my vision to life without so many people giving
me so many different inputs and telling me, well, we
think it should be this way. I have such an
amazing team who really wants to help execute my vision.
(15:35):
And I think sometimes when you go work with an incubator,
work with a brand that's already established, it's like they
just want you to do what their vision is, and
I just don't find that to be very innovative, at
least not for me.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
There's a lot of folks who think celebrities don't get
into the details of their brands, Like, what are you
doing here on a day to day basis? Sounds like
you're pretty deep in the details.
Speaker 1 (15:56):
I'm very, very deep in the details. I'm the creative
director of the brand. So all of the packaging, all
of the concepts for the photo shoots, the concepts for
our mailers, for the color ways, to the everything that
you could imagine that has to do with the creative
direction of the entire brand is like, that's my job here.
(16:18):
And also the formulation is my Also the other thing
that I'm the most involved in, so testing the products,
talking about what I want to be the next product,
you know, figuring out our timeline and the pipeline for
what we want to come and when we want it
to come and kind of going back and forth about
new iterations. When we were developing, like for example, our
barrier restore cream, we had seventeen different versions of it
(16:42):
because I was like, mm, I think this needs to
be a little bit different, and then the viscosity of it,
and then this thing, and then this thing, and then
it like at the end, we got there after like
the seventeenth try. And that stuff takes a long time
because it's like you gotta test it, send it back,
like tell the lab. The lab has to tweak it,
they have to read like it takes time to get
it right. The two biggest things actually are the aesthetic
(17:02):
and what it makes you feel, and then the actual
product itself that you're using. I wanted it to be
so so so effective and like really feel luxurious and
great and really work and be great for the skin.
So it's like those two pillars in the brand are
the two pillars that I am like the most involved in.
And then all the decisions that are being made I
(17:25):
involve myself in because, like I said, like maybe that's
because I'm a little bit of a control freak with it,
and I just I really just want to know and
learn and be in the loop of everything, because it's
just this brand is like so important.
Speaker 2 (17:36):
To me, So are you and justin like digging into
spreadsheets late at night.
Speaker 1 (17:40):
Him not so much, but maybe me a little bit more.
He Yeah, he's definitely. Also. I run things back him
all the time and he gives his input and I
appreciate that for sure.
Speaker 2 (17:52):
I know you're funding the most of this with your
own money.
Speaker 1 (17:54):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:55):
Are you planning to take on new investment or raise
new funding.
Speaker 1 (17:58):
I think if the time comes where that makes sense
and it's necessary, then I will and I would, But
for right now it has not been the case and
it hasn't been needed. We're just trying to take it slow.
I mean, my goal is to retain as much of
the company as I possibly can as we expand and
as we grow, And that was my goal from the beginning,
and that's why I put the most money in, cause
I really cared about the ownership aspect. And that's another
(18:21):
reason why when you have incubators come along, if people
don't want to give you the ownership that I think
that I wanted, do you feel like you're taking a risk?
I do. Yeah. I think anybody who decides to put
their own money and their time into something and put
their belief behind it and really put their like passion
into it. I mean, there's no guarantees in any of this.
(18:42):
M people could have got their hands on the product
and been like, hey, it's just not for me and
I really don't like it and it not turned out
to be what it is now, and that would have
been a hard pill to swallow. But you know, that
would have just meant that it wasn't meant to be.
But I think that this is something for me that
feels really like my thing. This feels like very very
meant to be for me, and it's the thing I'm
(19:05):
the most passionate about in my career at this time.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
Who are your beauty business role models? Who are the
people that you admire.
Speaker 1 (19:14):
I think there's a l uh a lot of people
that have gone and done this before me. I think
I have a lot of people in my life and
friends of mine that have even developed their own brands
and businesses that I'm just like so impressed by. And
I think what's nice about that is there's people to
be able to run things by and have those conversations
with and to be honest. I admire any woman who
(19:36):
takes the leap of faith to launch their own business,
any single person that has done this, especially women. I
feel like there's just so much respect and admiration. I
feel very embraced by like the beauty industry. I feel
very embraced by other founders in the beauty industry, and
I think that that community has been so important for
me and continues to be important for me in this space.
Speaker 2 (19:58):
How are you thinking about an EG exit strategy? Like
long term, do you want to go public? Do you
want to sell a big steake like Kylie Jenner?
Speaker 1 (20:05):
I think right now, I'm not even necessarily thinking about it,
because I mean, of course, like I have my goals
for the brand. I have goals that we want to
reach right now and focus on, like what's our next
Petside Live treatment coming out? And like where are we
launching next? Yeah, Like, I just think it's not even
really like at the forefront of my mind. It's kind
of like looming in the background of like, yes, eventually,
(20:27):
I think that's probably the goal, but I just don't
even know what that looks like yet.
Speaker 2 (20:32):
Internet's always talking. There's people think you might be expanding
into clothes is that for real.
Speaker 1 (20:38):
I love clothes, I love my style, I love fashion.
I don't think that that is something that is at
like the front right now for me. But I did
do this collaboration with Wardrobe NYC. That's Christine Centenaria's brand,
and she's an amazing, very very talented stylist and she's
the editor of Vogue Australia. We did this collaboration together
and I did find that it did kind of awaken
(21:01):
that passion in me once again. And I think it's
not off the table. I think that would just be
a separate venture than this.
Speaker 2 (21:07):
What about mood board, your trademarked mood I.
Speaker 1 (21:09):
Did trademark board. I did trademark that for clothes because
I just kind of I like the idea that this
this word mood board, Like I'm such a big person
that likes to mood board things. I mood board my
hair and makeup inspiration, and I mood board inspiration for
the road campaign shoots. I mood board inspiration for my fashion.
So I kind of just liked this idea of like
(21:30):
calling something mood board, and yeah, I just I wanted
to nail that down and have it on the back burner.
It may never come to life. It may be for
something else. Who knows, but I just kind of wanted to.
I had had that name in my mind for a
long time.
Speaker 2 (21:44):
So we'll stay tuned.
Speaker 1 (21:45):
May stay tuned. Perhaps mood Board will come to see
the light of day. Okay, I mean you know this.
Speaker 2 (21:50):
There are a lot of celebrity beauty brands out there.
Some people think it's almost a cliche.
Speaker 1 (21:54):
Yeah, what's going to make your stand out? I hope
what's making my standout is kind of our approach of
one of everything good, Like we really aren't focused on
oversaturation overwhelming people. I think one of my biggest things
that I noticed with being a consumer of skincare and
beauty was like if I went on a website and
it felt like I don't even know what to choose
(22:16):
at this point, Like what's right for me? What's not?
Should I just try everything? Should I not? Like I
don't like the feeling of being overwhelmed, because it makes
me just want to give up. I want people's experience
to be that they go on the website, they come
to our page, whatever it is. However, they've come across
us and found our products that they feel like this
is simple to the point, and it's effective, and it
(22:38):
looks nice in your bathroom. It's you know, it's appealing,
like you get your hands on it and you feel
like you're a part of something. So I feel like
our approach is just always going to be that one
of everything good and really not trying to overwhelm the
consumer and just these curated, edited essentials, And that's why
our drops are always very much one at a time
(23:01):
type of thing. And I think there's probably some people
that you know, maybe would like for it to be faster, more,
to come quicker, but I think that it's always worth
it to wait and to get the product perfect and
to let people's attention be focused on one thing at
a time. I can't focus on too many things at
once because it's just too overwhelming for me. So I
(23:23):
want to make the experience not overwhelming for a customer.
Speaker 2 (23:27):
There have been a number of celebrity beauty ban brands
or brands that bet on celebrities that haven't worked out. Yeah,
and I wonder if you, you know, just being connected
to a famous face, it seems isn't enough. And that's
like this is from the point of view of consumers. Yeah,
do you worry at all that you miss the wave?
The wave of celebrity beauty brands when the economy was
(23:48):
going well and people felt like they had a lot
of disposable income to try new things.
Speaker 1 (23:53):
I don't feel like that's the case. I do feel
like people had a fatigue of celebrity beauty brands. That
is a tongue twister. I felt like when I announced
the brand, of course, there was people that were like, Oh,
here we go, here's another one, and I'm like, I
get that, I understand. I'm also coming from the point
of view where I'm like, trust me, I know, but
(24:14):
this is my approach and it is different to other people.
That's going to speak to people and they're going to
want to be a part of that or they're not.
And to the people that don't want to be part
of that, that's okay too. I understand both sides. But
you know, I really wanted the brand to just stand
on its own and speak for itself. And my goal
from the beginning was that this brand, if you took
me out of it, would stand on its own regardless
(24:37):
of me. And I know that a lot of people
know that it's my brand, and it is my brand,
but my hope would be that as we continue to
expand and we grow, that like maybe someone doesn't know
that it's my brand and they get their hands on
it and they're like, I just love this product, I
love this cream, I love this lip treatment, and you
could kind of just not have to want it or
(24:58):
like it or buy it because it's associated to me,
but just because the products are speaking for themselves. And
I do feel like I see that happening.
Speaker 2 (25:04):
I'm so curious what you bring to this from your
modeling career, because you worked as a model for the
Legacy fashion houses. What did you learn about what it
takes to build a brand that.
Speaker 1 (25:13):
Last I've learned so much about like creativity from that
side of things. My favorite thing to shoot in the
modeling side of things has always been these really creative,
interesting editorials, like these stories that were like bringing to life.
And I feel like that was the biggest thing that
I brought over was this kind of like editorial approach
to the imagery and an editorial approach to the packaging
(25:38):
and the bottles, Like I wanted to take the world
of that and mix it with skincare and kind of
like open people up to this world of like chic cool,
minimal great imagery that kind of stands out and feels
different to other brands.
Speaker 2 (25:56):
So your fashion and makeup tips can either spark like
the next big trend or you get some serious backlash.
And I'm curious if you're ever surprised how the world reacts.
Speaker 1 (26:06):
I think that that's the Internet, and I think that's
unfortunately the world we live in today. I think that
the Internet is a beautiful place to build community, and
that's why I spoke before about the beauty community, Like
I felt very embraced by that, and I love the
way that people come together in that community. But I
also have experienced a very negative side. I think that
(26:29):
it obviously makes me sad because I feel very misunderstood
and I feel like there sometimes there's nothing you can
do to try to get people to understand you and
know you. But I think that the bad side and
the negative side of the Internet doesn't outweigh the good
side and the positive side. And I'm about bringing people
together and spreading positivity and spreading love, and like that's
(26:52):
what I'm just going to continue to focus on, regardless
of the negative side.
Speaker 2 (26:57):
The brownie glazed liptip for example, that got back. How
do you respond to that?
Speaker 1 (27:02):
I think for me, you know, it would never be
my intention to make anyone feel disrespected or to feel
like I appropriated anyone or anything. And I do acknowledge
and I do understand that it's very important to you know,
point people in the direction of where something comes from
and to highlight that and to show where the credit
(27:24):
comes from. And I really understood where everyone was coming
from for that.
Speaker 2 (27:28):
How does it feel to be someone that so many
people have opinions about, whether fair or not right m M.
Speaker 1 (27:34):
I think it can be hard sometimes, but I also
think that you can't expect to exist in this place
and not have that, So I think sometimes it's just
a harsh reality check for me. And yes, I also
think it boils down to, you know, having to learn
how to navigate it and be able to shut all
(27:56):
that stuff out. And for me, it's like the internet
is not real life to me, Like my real life
with the people that I love is my real life.
And sometimes it's hard to just stay there and stay
focused on that when things online can feel loud and disruptive.
So that's kind of just the journey that I'm on.
Speaker 2 (28:14):
Yeah, I feel like I've seen you leaning into it
a little more or almost accepting it a little more.
Like I heard you talk about this with Gwyneth Paltrow
on your show, the Nepotism thing. You stepped out in
a NEPO baby T shirt. Yeah, explain that.
Speaker 1 (28:27):
The NEPO baby T shirt was just meant to be
my little comment on the whole discourse that had been
going around. And you know, my point to having worn
the T shirt was not to poke fun at it
or you know, kind of be like, yeah, I'm a
NEPO baby and ha haa type of a thing. Was
more so to be like, this is what everyone is saying,
(28:48):
and I want you to know that this is my
way of responding to it, in my way of acknowledging
it in a way that is so overly literal that
it's like, I'm just gonna call myself a NEPO baby
because I am one, and I embrace that I am.
But I thought what was funny about that is like,
to me, the way the Internet is is like nothing's
ever enough. So it's like I do that and it's
(29:09):
like half of people find it funny and they get
the humor behind it, and they got it, and then
half the people are like, well, you're not even really
a nepo baby like that much. And I'm like, so
you're gonna sit there and call me anppole baby all
day long, But then I acknowledge it, and then I'm
not enough of a nepo baby. So it's like, there
is never any like winning with the Internet. And that's
what I've always time and time again realized. So that
(29:32):
was just meant to be like a fun response to
everything that was being said.
Speaker 2 (29:36):
I got it. I will say that thank you. I'm
probably too old to understand why this is an issue,
but here we go. There's some ongoing drama between you
and other celebrity and eyebrows and you reach out to
her saying you've been getting death threats? How do you
tune out that kind of noise?
Speaker 1 (29:53):
What I will say is, I don't think that this
is about me Hayley Bieber and Selena Gomez. This is
not about this pitting between two women and division between
two women. It's about the vile, disgusting hatred that can
come from completely made up and twisted and perpetuated narratives
(30:18):
that can be really dangerous, and I think that it's
an opportunity to really stand for bringing people together and
not being okay with the kind of division that it costs.
Because I'm not okay with the kind of division that
it caused. I don't like this whole idea of team
this person and team this person. I'm just not about that.
I want to be able to bring people together. And
(30:40):
I think that that was a really important moment for
people to see that you can do that, and you
can bring people together and it doesn't have to be
about this divisive nature.
Speaker 2 (30:51):
It's such a frustrating old narrative, like two women being
pitted against each other over on me because of a guy.
Speaker 1 (30:56):
It's awful. I hate it. I've hated it since the beginning,
and I think that kind of goes back to a
little bit of just being misunderstood when it's like time
and time again, I don't know why I keep having
to say and we keep having to say that there
is no issue and there is no problem, like mm,
it's so disappointing that people still behave this way because
of them, like over a man. It's yep, it's the
(31:19):
world we live in.
Speaker 2 (31:20):
Unfortunately, the backlash can be so swift and fierce and relentless.
And now you've got this business, right, Like, how do
you think about that? And how you know when public
opinions weighs MM, what does it mean for the brand?
What does it mean for the business?
Speaker 1 (31:33):
Yeah, I definitely my head goes there because, like I've
said so many times, like this is my br this
brand is so important to me, And of course I
don't want silly, made up drama to affect m what
I'm focused in working on MM. And I think at
the end of the day, you kind of just have
to keep it pushing and just keep moving forward. It
(31:54):
doesn't mean that the work falls to the side because
of noise and because things are being said, because there's
always gonna be noise, and there's always gonna be things
that are said, and if it's not that, it's gonna
be something else. So it's kind of about just knowing
just how to navigate it as it comes, because it
wasn't the first time and it won't be the last time,
and just staying focused on what's important.
Speaker 2 (32:14):
Have you evolved how you use your own social media
at all since you've become a founder? Do you feel
like the stakes are higher in a way.
Speaker 1 (32:21):
It's not about the stakes being higher, but I think,
you know, the conversation is different. You know, we're talking
about different things. I'm promoting my own brand. I think
sometimes the content is a little bit different. Maybe it's
more beauty focused now, which is really actually fun for
me and exciting for me because it's the thing that
I like, love m talking about and and showing and
doing the most. But I think that also just over
(32:44):
the last couple of years, I think that you learn
what you're comfortable with sharing and what you're not. And
you know, maybe I'm not wanting to show my life
twenty four seven, or I probably have reeled it in
a bit more than I maybe would've been the past,
just because of privacy. But other than that, I kind
of am just like I post what I like, and
I share what I enjoy, and I share what I
(33:05):
like and from makeup tips to outfits to different things,
like I just share what I like with people.
Speaker 2 (33:10):
Yeah, And so I mean I feel like good social
media is about authenticity, right, Like, how do you think
about that? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (33:15):
And I think sometimes it's hard to be as authentic
as possible through a screen. But That's why I keep
saying I just share what I like, and I share
what I think is fun and cool and exciting.
Speaker 2 (33:25):
What's the biggest lesson you've learned from starting a business.
Speaker 1 (33:28):
The biggest lesson I've learned is that there's going to
be mishaps and mistakes. And the problem for me is
that I'm a perfectionist. So when issues come up or
problems arise, or there's hiccups, I'm like, like, how do
we stop it and fix it? And it's like, it
actually is just part of the learning process so that
you can grow and evolve into the best brand possible
(33:48):
and become a better brand through the learning. And sometimes
the learning is really hard, especially if you're like a
perfectionist people pleaser. So I think that's the biggest thing
I've had to learn is like, just take them as
they come and take it as a lesson on how
to do better moving forward.
Speaker 2 (34:04):
People please, sir. I feel like I hear a lot
of women say that a lot. Do you feel like
that's one of your flaws or just part of your character.
Speaker 1 (34:12):
I think it's something that I struggle with. Yeah, for sure,
I don't necessarily think it's a flaw I think it's
something that it's like it comes from the the The
base of where I think that comes from is I
just care so much. I care so deeply about people.
I care about my f like I'm a people please
pleaser with my friends, with like e with every aspect
of my life. It's just like it's because I really just.
Speaker 2 (34:33):
Care with everything that you're doing, and there's so much
more than road. The YouTube shows the you know, the
fashion and makeup tips, the you know, content to commerce
cycle that we're seeing. Are we seeing you try to
separate the Haley from the Beaver and the Baldwin at all?
Speaker 1 (34:47):
I think that it's hard to say that you can
separate it because it's like, this is my life. That
is the family I come from, and that is my husband.
There is no denying that, and I don't wanna try
to run away from that. I'd like to just embrace
that and then say this is where I come from
and this is who I'm married to, but this is
who I am. So I think there's a space that
(35:09):
within all of that for people to understand take any
last name out of it, like who exactly is Haley?
And I think my journey with the YouTube channel and
you know, the who's in my bathroom in those different
things and kind of the vlog style videos I put
out is really just to for people to be able
to connect to who Haley is without the last names,
without the headlines, without the gossip, without all that other stuff,
(35:32):
and just form their own connection to me personally as
much as that's possible through right social media.
Speaker 2 (35:40):
So ten years from now, what do you want people
to be talking about?
Speaker 1 (35:43):
It's a good question. I know what. I don't want
that to talk about anymore. I definitely see like kids
in the picture and you know, kind of just on
that maybe journey of motherhood and into this like different
space of life. Obviously, I hope Road is, you know,
doing its thing, and you know, maybe we'll have evolved
into some other really you know, baby categories, whatever it
(36:05):
may be. I think I always want Road to be
a reflection of my life and where I'm mad and
what's going on with me in that time. So I
feel like if I see that being motherhood in a
different space than I feel like the brand in some
ways will definitely reflect that as well.
Speaker 3 (36:22):
Thanks so much for listening to this episode of the Circuit.
Speaker 2 (36:25):
I'm Emily Chang.
Speaker 3 (36:26):
You can follow me on Twitter and Instagram at Emily
Chang TV. You can watch full episodes of the Circuit
at Bloomberg dot com and check out our other Bloomberg
podcasts on Apple Podcasts, the iHeartMedia app, or wherever you
listen to shows and let us know what you think
by leaving us a review. I'm your host and executive producer.
Our senior producer is Lauren Ellis. Our associate producer is
(36:47):
Lizzie Phillip. Our editor is Sebastian Escobar. Thanks so much
for listening.
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