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Welcome to Driving Performance by Adgile Media Group, sponsored by ShipBob. In this episode, we're joined by Sandra Velasquez and Amy Liu.
Sandra is the CEO and Founder of Nopalera. Nopalera is Mexican Botanicals for Bath & Body that celebrates and elevates Latin culture. The brand takes inspiration from the nopal (prickly pear cactus) - an ancient symbol of Mexican culture- for its resilience and versatility. Nopalera is leading the Brownspace Opportunity with its iconic culture-forward branding that speaks to the overlooked Latin clean beauty consumer.
Amy is the CEO and founder of Tower 28. Tower 28 is a clean beauty brand designed for sensitive skin and made for all. Created with a hint of nostalgia, products are bold, playful, and accessible. With the message that #ItsOkayToBeSensitive, Tower 28 is the first and only beauty brand to adhere to the National Eczema Association’s Ingredient Guidelines. That means 0% irritating ingredients and 100% safe for sensitive skin. It's also clean, vegan, and rigorously dermatologist-tested.
Tune in now to hear their insights on building, marketing, and creating successful brands.
To learn more about Adgile or schedule a call please visit adgile.co or email tshea@adgile.co for more info!
To learn more about our sponsor, ShipBob, please visit shipbob.com
Creators & Guests
What is Driving Performance Season 2?
Welcome to Driving Performance by Adgile Media Group, sponsored by ShipBob. Broadcasting live from the back of a box truck on the floor at Natural Products Expo East, we chat with founders and operators of your favorite CPG and consumer brands, sharing their inspiring stories and practical marketing advice. Join us for an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at what it takes to build a successful business and deliver real performance for your brand.
Tom Shea [00:00:14]:
Welcome to driving performance. I'm your host, Tom Shea, the co founder of Agile Media Group, and I am joined by two of the most badass female founders today, Sandra Velasquez and Amy Liu. Sandra is the founder of Nopalera, a Mexican botanicals for body and bath that celebrates and elevates Latina culture. The brand takes its inspiration from the nopal, the prickly pear cactus, an ancient symbol of Mexican culture for its resilience and versatility. Nopalara is leading the brown space opportunity with its iconic culture forward branding that speaks to the Overlook Latina clean beauty consumer. And Amy is the founder of Tower 28, a clean beauty brand designed for sensitive skin and made for all. Created with hints of nostalgia, products are bold, playful and accessible with a message that it's okay to be sensitive. Tower 28 is the first and only brand to adhere to the National Eczema Association ingredient guidelines. That means 0% irritating ingredients, 100% safe for the sensitive skin. So clean, vegan and rigorously dermatologist tested. Ladies, welcome to driving performance.
Sandra Velasquez [00:01:14]:
Thanks for having good to be here.
Tom Shea [00:01:16]:
So I start this off asking the same question of everyone because a lot of people are going to be listening on audio. What the hell is going on right now? How would you describe this to the audio listeners?
Amy Liu [00:01:25]:
We're parked in a truck in Chelsea.
Tom Shea [00:01:31]:
In the rain starting to steam up in the background. Yeah, not the best weather, but okay. So it's sort of like a New York City apartment, so at least it's on know. Sandra. Sandra, Amy, you guys know each other? Obviously. I sort of wanted to just start with how you guys know each other. And I know there's a story with the Clean Beauty Summer school the Tower 28 runs. But how'd you guys meet?
Sandra Velasquez [00:01:58]:
I think you should tell that story. You created this amazing opportunity.
Amy Liu [00:02:02]:
Tower 28 has an accelerator program, and it's called Clean Beauty Summer School. Clean Beauty summer school. We've done three sessions so far. This will be our fourth year. And the idea is that we take every year a class of ten BIPOC beauty founders, and we take them through a combination of courses. So we teach classes, give them mentors, and at the end of it, we do a pitch day. And Sandra was the winner of Clean Beauty Summer School's third season.
Tom Shea [00:02:27]:
Yeah. And what was that experience like for you, Sandra?
Sandra Velasquez [00:02:30]:
Well, I will say that I'm like an accelerator ho. So I've been in many accelerators, and Amy's is very special because it's founder driven. So the fact that Amy, who has all of this amazing industry experience and knows a lot of people in the beauty industry, pulled all of her amazing friends together, got them to teach classes, and that is what makes Clean beauty summer school radically different and so awesome compared to other accelerators that are run by people that are not in the trenches. Amy's in the trenches. She's on tour right now supporting her brand. Right? And so are her friends.
Amy Liu [00:03:02]:
And so 28 days, 28 spots, 28 stores.
Sandra Velasquez [00:03:07]:
Is it because it's Tower 28? Is that why you're on it? You got it. Oh, my God.
Tom Shea [00:03:11]:
I also didn't get it.
Sandra Velasquez [00:03:13]:
Okay, thank you. I just got that. But that's what makes Clean Beauty Summer School so amazing, because as founders, we want to hear the truth. Tell us what's really happening. Tell us how it really goes. I want to hear in the trenches all the failures. That's the stuff that's so valuable that we can learn from instead of just kind of like overview, high level, like legal 101, retail 101. No, tell us. Tell us what the buyer said.
Tom Shea [00:03:39]:
Operators not like, talking.
Sandra Velasquez [00:03:40]:
Tell us what software use. Tell us what you use. So that's why Clean Beauty Summer school is so awesome.
Tom Shea [00:03:45]:
Cool. And we're definitely going to dive into that a bit more. But I wanted to quickly start sort of laying the guidelines of how this show is going to play out. So obviously, we are in a truck. There's a few stops along this route, and I'm going to tell you what those stops are. Stop one is going to be the origin story. So how you guys came to be what developed you from early agent into being brand founders today. Stop two is going to be some brand specific questions that are unique, I think, specifically to your experiences building your respective organizations. Stop three is going to be brand intersection questions where we'll talk about the Clean Beauty Summer School once more. And then stop four is a segment we call the hot box.
Amy Liu [00:04:21]:
And I'll leave that. Is it going to get warmer?
Tom Shea [00:04:25]:
Starting to steam up already? And then stop five is quite literally the end and we'll wrap there. You guys ready to get into it?
Sandra Velasquez [00:04:33]:
Yeah.
Tom Shea [00:04:33]:
All right, stop one, and we'll start with Amy. Amy, you've had such an interesting origin story and you started your brand a little bit later in life, but it was formed by so many unique experiences that you had sort of in the industry, and it's a little bit different than yours, where I felt like, Sandra, you had.
Sandra Velasquez [00:04:52]:
Very few experiences.
Tom Shea [00:04:53]:
So let's start with Amy. Amy, can you take us back know, let's go all the way back to some of those conversations when you had gotten into, I think, freelance and you were raising kids and, you're know, just looking for something to start and how that all came together.
Amy Liu [00:05:09]:
So I'm still raising kids. I have three children. And like you mentioned, I've worked in the beauty industry for this is my 20th year working in the beauty industry. So it's pretty much the only career I've really had. Right. I have always wanted be an entrepreneur, though. And I kind of told myself this whole story about how I was going to work for other people and I was going to learn on someone else's dime, and one day I would do it. And I think the thing is, when you're working and having kids and building your life, it's hard to at some point make that decision and make that leap and say, like, okay, I'm just going to go do it. And frankly, I didn't know I could. Right. I think, at the time. So I raised money five years ago, we launched four years ago, and at the know, Glossier had raised money away. There were women who had done it, but I didn't see myself in that. I didn't think it was possible for me. I didn't have those kind of connections. I didn't know how it worked. It was really, I don't know, intimidating to me. But it was something I always wanted to do. So even longer than I've had career in beauty, I've had eczema. And one of the things I was always looking for as a person was for products that were not only clean, but also safe for sensitive skin. And the reason I wanted clean is because when you have an inflammatory issue like eczema, your skin barrier is compromised. So then you hear these things about how 70% of what you put on your skin goes into your bloodstream. And I was like, well, for me, if my skin's broken, totally, not only is it going in, but is it actually making my skin worse?
Tom Shea [00:06:40]:
Right.
Amy Liu [00:06:40]:
When I made the switch to clean beauty, I actually found a lot of those ingredients really sensitizing because it has essential oils in them. Which essential oils, I am not demonizing, but it depends on which essential oils and what your skin type is like. And then when I tried looking for products that were safe for sensitive skin, a lot of those products I really found were kind of either boring or clinical and definitely not necessarily clean.
Tom Shea [00:07:04]:
Right.
Amy Liu [00:07:04]:
So I really saw that there was a white space based on my own need. And frankly, I probably wouldn't have taken the leap except that I had a friend who sat me down and was like, Shit or get off the pot. You're getting older. If you don't do it now, you probably won't ever do it. Which I actually think was right.
Tom Shea [00:07:20]:
Yeah. And I love that story. So can you take us into it was one of your friends who was essentially called your bluff, and he was like, you tell the story, obviously you can tell better.
Amy Liu [00:07:33]:
So we went to business school together. His name is Charles. He became my lead. We went to business school together. We were not best friends. We were co presidents of the Entrepreneurship Venture Management Association. And we had always kind of stayed in touch professionally. So when he was doing something, he would tell me about it. He's like, do you want to come over? And very different. He had a SaaS company, and he started it right after business school. Where I went to go work for other people, right? I didn't know he had sold his company. And we went for coffee, and I was talking to him about what I wanted to do. And I was like, listen, I want something where I have upside. I want equity. I want, you know, a seat at the table. I want this. And he was, uh huh. You've been saying you've wanted to do this for so long long. Why don't you do it? I was like, I don't have money, and I don't have a partner, so I can't do it. I have to go work for someone. And he was like, well, if you have money, you can go hire people. I was like, still don't have money. La is expensive. We bought our first house when I was 39, and I had kids and everything else. I just felt like we couldn't do it. And he essentially gave me that lifeline where he was like, I'll give you half of whatever you think you need. And at the time, I said, I think I need 250,000 because I had written a business plan, actually, for another founder because I was consulting. And that was what she thought she needed, and that's what she was planning on raising. And he's like, if you think you need 250, you need 500. I'll give you 250 if you can raise the other 250 in 30 days.
Tom Shea [00:09:09]:
And then did you go back to that founder and be like, hey, by the way, I just got told we need to double.
Amy Liu [00:09:16]:
Actually, she ended up raising quite a bit more than that. She did. But that's kind of how it started. And frankly, like, the next 30 days, it was so good for me because I don't think I would have known how to go ask for money. But it was because I was given this. It almost gamified it, right? And he said, which I think is one of the best things he told me. He's like, don't take my word for it. Take this and go get advice. Like, go walk this around to friends. Because he gave me evaluation. He gave me terms. I didn't know anything about raising money. And because there was something to almost he was a lead investor, right? There were terms already. And I could walk them around, and people could be like, okay, I'm in, right? Or they would tell me, like, Go talk to somebody else or refer me. And I had coworkers who were like, we'll come in together, or my brother and I will. And all of a sudden, having this timeline, I think was actually really good for me, because I was like, I could say to people, I have a due date. Are you in or not?
Tom Shea [00:10:15]:
It's like, when you're raising, you're, like, trying to create urgency.
Amy Liu [00:10:18]:
But I wasn't trying literally had urgency.
Sandra Velasquez [00:10:21]:
Use it or lose it.
Amy Liu [00:10:23]:
I really did have urgency. And essentially he was trying to roll over. I think it's called a 1031, right? When you sell a company, you can take equity and invest kind of like a house. You can do that. So he had urgency for his own reasons, and, yeah, I was able to raise the money, and here we are today. So I've raised twice. I've raised a million in total.
Tom Shea [00:10:43]:
Okay, awesome. And then you have a great story about pre tower 28 early day career of just breaking into the industry. I'd love if you could just talk about some of those early formal experiences of people weren't recruiting from your school. You went to USC for business school, right, and sort of how you forced your way into the industry.
Amy Liu [00:11:03]:
And I'd actually be interested to hear what sandra thinks about the beauty industry now, because I think it's changed a lot. But early days in my career, the beauty industry was really insular. The way I think fashion kind of is, too, where it's like, if you're not already in the industry, they don't really want you. And back in the day, even an MBA was like, not really. I don't know. That's not the way people recruited. It was very much like, you start at the bottom, and you kind of move up, and I don't know how you get a job to start in the beginning, because you know, someone or was it was not so easy to felt like it felt very hard. I went to business school in an effort to change my career. So I came out of college, and I was working at accenture and consulting, and I was like, I really don't want to do this. I want to go back and figure it out. So I went to USC. When I was at USC, I went to my career counselor and really want I read all these books, and I was like, what do I really want to do? I was doing what I called my quarter life crisis at the time, and I was like, what I really want to do is work in the beauty industry. But I didn't know how to do it. And so the schools didn't come and recruit from no one came to recruit at my school. There was no easy way to get there. And so I thought, okay, well, do you know who JUI is? JUI wong from olaplex?
Tom Shea [00:12:25]:
No, I don't.
Amy Liu [00:12:25]:
She's the CEO of olaplex. Do you know JUI?
Sandra Velasquez [00:12:27]:
Yeah.
Amy Liu [00:12:27]:
You brought her for julie's the greatest. So JUI actually was the first person who shout out to mentors, because I know we have a lot I interviewed with her when I was in business school, and she was at mirad, and she was like, listen, I'll give you an internship. But actually what you should do is you should go interview for, like, L'Oreal and estee lauder and get that on your resume. If you can't get it, come back here, and I'll give you an internship, but try to get a big name brand on your resume and get that experience. And I was so grateful for that because she gave me, like, confidence, too. Confidence and like a soft landing, because you're like, okay, well, now I can go try because I've got this in the bag.
Tom Shea [00:13:06]:
Let's just start throwing them.
Amy Liu [00:13:07]:
And I FedExed my resume. So this is all true story. I FedExed my resume to, like literally, I got all the addresses, and I FedExed my resume to all these different people. And then obviously nothing happens. No one calls me. I called, and I would talk to the assistant of the president or whoever it was, and I'm like, did you get the FedEx? And they were like, well, yes, because I wasn't writing to the HR team. I was writing to people I really shouldn't have been. And they would say, yes. And I was like, well, I'm coming to La. I'd really like to know Carol Hamilton, who was like, Somebody I really shouldn't have been traveling. And they would say, yeah, actually. Okay, so you're coming. And for whatever reason, they would make an appointment for me. And I was like, I'm going to be there. So I came to New York, and I was going up and down the different floors, interviewing. And I would show up, and they would say, yeah, you do have time on the calendar. So they would feel bad, but they would be like, carol Hamilton is definitely not going to talk to you, but let me see if I can find someone. And so I was doing that, and then finally someone said to me, I was in an interview, and they took a call, and they were, um, yes. She's like, Are you interviewing at other places here? I'm like, oh, I'm interviewing everywhere. Like, literally every single brand, everyone has.
Tom Shea [00:14:27]:
My resume in here.
Amy Liu [00:14:29]:
Well, because L'Oreal has, like, maybelline on one floor. Every single floor is a different brand. And they were like, Forget it. You can go home. We'll give you a job.
Tom Shea [00:14:41]:
Admired the scrappiness.
Amy Liu [00:14:43]:
But to your point, I think part of it was yeah, I think whether it was raising money or if you're talking about trying to break into the beauty industry in the first place, I think there's a bit of it where it's really intimidating. And part of what I'd like to be doing with Clean Beauty summer school is providing access and creating an opportunity to share that, because I think it can be both intimidating and also it's not super open. Now. You can do things like go to business school or they have recruiting programs where L'Oreal and Estee Lauder and those people do. But especially if you're talking about indie brands, we don't have that same level of I don't have a recruiting team who's going out there. And I've even found it for myself to recruit people. We really believe in diversity but part of it is a pipeline problem, too. Like, we need to give people the access and information.
Tom Shea [00:15:32]:
Yeah. And I wish it was more successful. I have a funny analog story of someone we hired, and it reminds me a lot of your story, where we were interviewing her, and she was like, yeah, my style is I will go into an advertising agency and say, I need to use the bathroom, or it's an emergency. Anyone sitting there like, okay, go ahead. And then she's in the office, and then she's just like, hi, nice to meet you. Can you show me to so and so? I have a meeting. And then we'll do some of those incredible scrappy stuff, because to your point, obviously, it's a much different context.
Amy Liu [00:16:03]:
I actually feel like it's so much harder now than it was even back then, because I think now LinkedIn. I'm sure when you post things, you get so much incoming. Right. When I was looking for a job, I felt like I was competing with maybe the people who were in the geographical area, the who's who that everybody knew each other, but now everyone in the whole world can interview for a job. It's very confusing.
Sandra Velasquez [00:16:29]:
Yeah.
Tom Shea [00:16:29]:
So, Sandra, I want to turn over to you. Now, while Amy has a very storied history in the industry, yours is one of the most unique. And I think you'll see it did probably prime you like this need to be a performer and set you up for some of this. But we start with Pistol era.
Sandra Velasquez [00:16:48]:
Yeah. So I used to be the lead singer of a band, so no beauty industry experience whatsoever. I would write songs. I've played all over New York. I've played Central Parks celebrate Brooklyn Town Hall. I thought I was put on earth to write songs.
Tom Shea [00:17:00]:
We got Breaking Bread, Sons of.
Sandra Velasquez [00:17:04]:
Like my music has been on lots of TV shows and stuff, but music is tough. I mean, all industries, I think, have changed. I used to sell compact discs at my concerts. Do you guys remember compact discs in plastic? I would sign, autograph them, take the cellophane off. Had no one in my family's, an entrepreneur, had no inclination that I would be running a beauty brand. If you had told me that 20 years, I'd be like, this psychic doesn't know what they're talking about. But music is tough. The income is like this. It's like you're, like, in the trenches, recording. Yeah. And then you go on tour, then you make money, and then you don't make money. So I always had a day job in New York, so I used to work for health insurance. And also just because you need to have, like, five jobs when you live here, you know, Tom, right?
Tom Shea [00:17:50]:
We'renting out this studio.
Sandra Velasquez [00:17:51]:
We already talked about apartment. Yeah. This is a nice couch. And so I used to work at Barnard College, so I was like a college administrator. So that was like you really have.
Amy Liu [00:18:04]:
Had lots of lives.
Sandra Velasquez [00:18:05]:
Yes. I mean, I'm pretty sick, so I used to take three trains every day to the Upper West Side. I've always lived in Brooklyn, and that was, like, my easy day job because then I needed my energy, my creative brain to make music and everything, and I was on the school schedule, right? Like, you have kids, so we know we have summers off and we had spring break, so that's when I would tour. So I did that for years, but then I fell into CPG by accident. That's a whole other story for another Ted Talk someday. And that's where I really gained a lot of experience in the trenches of that's where I learned margins and branding and marketing, just, like, understanding all of that. And CPG is super cutthroat. I mean, we're in front of Whole Foods right now. It's like, how many beverages, how many protein bars?
Amy Liu [00:18:50]:
Do you think the beauty industry is less cutthroat?
Sandra Velasquez [00:18:53]:
Well, I think it's nicer. Yeah. CPG is mostly male. It's a different vibe. It's very antiquated. That's a whole other thing. But anyway, long story short, I found myself unemployed at the age of 43. And I was like, great, I'm 43. I have a child. I have no savings. I have $86,000 of student loan debt. I have credit card debt. How did I get to this place? How is this my life net? This is kind of embarrassing. And if I'm going to change it, it's not going to be because I'm going to go work for another CPG brand. It's not going to be getting another college job that's not paying me enough to save to build a college fund for my child. So I was like, I'm going to have to build something. And it was a really scary moment, but I was, like, actually grateful for that moment because I would have never done it if I had not been.
Amy Liu [00:19:39]:
Doing this during COVID too.
Sandra Velasquez [00:19:41]:
I launched during COVID You launched during COVID When I had the idea, yeah. So I didn't have the idea during COVID I had the idea that it came to me in 2019. That's when I was unemployed, and I was standing there at my parents house, like, looking at their cactus plant in their front yard, like everyone has in California. And I was like, how come no one's built a beauty brand around this plant? And how come also there's no nice, beautiful, luxury Latina beauty brands? Because it's so eurocentric. It's like, it's Lositan and Givenchy and Chanel. Everything is like, we've always been taught to aspire to Western Europe. And if it's like Latino people associate that with value, right? It's like, why is lower cost lower price? And I'm like, it's time to change that. And as a musician, I always celebrate the culture. So Pistolera. I sang in Spanish. It was Latin rock. Right. So I just transferred the mission over to a product instead of music. Right. But I had no industry experience whatsoever. I was like, how do I get products made? How do I find ingredients? How do I do anything? So I got served an ad thank you, Facebook, because I was, like, searching for ingredients or like, manufacturers, and got served an ad for Formula Botanica, which is a Formulation school based in sure.
Tom Shea [00:20:54]:
Was on a truck.
Sandra Velasquez [00:20:57]:
And enrolled in Formulation school on my Amex and studied formulation for nine months and then called my designer. Luckily, I did have a great relationship with a designer back from when I worked at CPG. And I was like, Abby, you need to design my brand. Here's what it is. It's a hi and latina brand. It needs to be bold, colorful. It's going to be in Spanish, like, built a whole brand deck around it. I didn't have money to pay for branding either, so I was like, can we do a payment plan? And also, can we spread out over five months? And can I also pay you with my Amex? Everything was on a payment plan.
Amy Liu [00:21:27]:
You put everything on your credit card, which is so different from what I did, and I have so much respect for it. In the same way, though, I felt.
Sandra Velasquez [00:21:36]:
Like I didn't have a choice. I'm sure.
Amy Liu [00:21:38]:
I know, but it's just a different mentally. You have to be able to digest it differently.
Sandra Velasquez [00:21:45]:
Totally. And because I've just had so much debt my whole life, I was like, what's another ten grand on my credit card? I mean, I already have $80,000 of student loan debt. I already have credit card debt. So then I just went into full work beast mode. I was like, I got three jobs. I started working for Van Lou and ice Cream. I started CPG consulting at night, and I was working for High Bar. So I was like, sales rep, like, in the trenches.
Tom Shea [00:22:10]:
High Bar?
Sandra Velasquez [00:22:11]:
Yeah, exactly. And so I had, like, one job to pay rent, one job to pay off debt, and like, one job to fund my brand. It's like, that's how I looked at it. And I was like, this is going to suck.
Amy Liu [00:22:20]:
And raising a child, and raising a.
Sandra Velasquez [00:22:21]:
Child, and raising a child. And that's just what I did. I was like, when you know it's going to be temporary, like, you can do anything because I knew I wasn't going to work three jobs and be Formulating at night forever.
Amy Liu [00:22:36]:
Skills to what you have to do.
Sandra Velasquez [00:22:38]:
Yeah. I was like, what other choice do I have? I have no other professional skills. I didn't go to business school. I was like, I can write songs, but that's not going to change my life anymore. So anyway, that's the story.
Tom Shea [00:22:48]:
And so there's a lot of family and culture built into the Noble era brand. Can you sort of take us through those roles and the influence that sort of inspired the brand and potentially the band as well.
Sandra Velasquez [00:23:02]:
Yeah. I feel very fortunate that my parents, who are Mexican, have always really been proud of who they are, and so they forced me to speak Spanish. Everything that they forced me to do as a child, like take piano lessons, speak Spanish. I've made that my career. Do you know what I mean? I have a brand that celebrates our culture. I played music for a living, so I feel like they passed down that confidence to me. I honestly can't take credit for it because I have a very strong, badass mother who came as an immigrant, as an adult, spoke no English, put herself through college, became an immigration lawyer, and now she's, like, an immigration expert always, like, oni Vicion. She's in the Women's Hall of Fame in San Diego. And she's still alive. So having, like, a super badass mother obviously has impacted my life. And now as a mother myself, I mean, Amy is a mom too. I feel like one of the biggest gifts we can give our child is self esteem and confidence.
Amy Liu [00:23:56]:
Oh, for sure. And I think it's more important role modeling it.
Sandra Velasquez [00:23:58]:
Role modeling it, too. Yeah.
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Check out Shipbob at Shipbob.com to unlock your fulfillment provider that acts as your personal chief supply chain officer. All right, so we're getting to stop two here, so we're going to get into some brand specific questions.
Tom Shea:
Sandra, we're going to start with you, I think. Got to talk. Shark Tank. Can't not talk.
Sandra Velasquez [00:24:54]:
Shark tank. So cool.
Tom Shea [00:24:56]:
And so I think when I thought of what the audience would be interested in is just really, like, the behind the scenes elements of it all. So I've learned a lot from you about how it's filmed for much longer than it actually it's shot sometimes a year in advance. Not everyone gets aired. So can you sort of just unpack what the experience was for you and also all those things that are non obvious to people who you're just tuning in on a daily basis?
Sandra Velasquez [00:25:20]:
Yeah. So everything you just said, I applied, I think, like, in February, I filmed in July, and then it aired. Oh, that's fast. In, like is it February? And then July, February, March, April, May, June, July.
Amy Liu [00:25:31]:
Yeah. I don't know. We have no frame.
Tom Shea [00:25:33]:
Of reference.
Amy Liu [00:25:34]:
I don't know, frame of reference.
Sandra Velasquez [00:25:35]:
And then it aired in the accelerated.
Tom Shea [00:25:37]:
The clean beauty school. It was a much quicker turnaround. Yeah. Sandra oh shota.
Sandra Velasquez [00:25:43]:
Shoda. Shoda.
Tom Shea [00:25:44]:
Shout out to shota for keeping that running like a whistle.
Sandra Velasquez [00:25:48]:
Yes. But I guess from end to end, right, from when I applied to when it actually airs like that, that's almost a year. Right. So it aired in January. I just got re aired a year's. Long time. Yeah.
Tom Shea [00:25:58]:
A brand can die in that time where it takes a year to go alive.
Sandra Velasquez [00:26:03]:
Yeah. So I think it's a once in a lifetime experience to be on Shark Tank. And honestly, it wasn't my original inspiration to be on the show. Another founder friend of mine was like, you should apply to Shark Tank. And I was like, her name is Mabel. She's from Luna magic. Another Latina founder. Yeah. Because she was on Shark Tank. She was like, you should apply to be on Shark Tank.
Amy Liu [00:26:22]:
People, I feel like now beauty brands.
Sandra Velasquez [00:26:24]:
It's true.
Amy Liu [00:26:25]:
Like Euphoria.
Sandra Velasquez [00:26:26]:
Christina yeah.
Tom Shea [00:26:28]:
Sometimes I'm like, did you really need investment or did you need content to monetize ads against?
Amy Liu [00:26:35]:
No Disrespect.
Tom Shea [00:26:36]:
Everyone I know said it's some of their best performing ads.
Amy Liu [00:26:38]:
I've had people tell me that we should go on Shark Tank. And I'm like, but I don't want a deal. Those deals don't seem I don't know.
Sandra Velasquez [00:26:45]:
Yeah. So I was in a radically different place as a founder and as a business when I applied.
Tom Shea [00:26:50]:
Right.
Sandra Velasquez [00:26:51]:
And then by the time I actually was filming, I was now in the middle of a fundraise. Like, lots of things had changed. So there's a couple of things about Shark Tank. Number one, it's like a part time job, right? There's so much preparation. Everything has to be vetted. My earrings, my tattoos. I take pictures of everything, like the speech. Everything is like rehearsing. You meet with producers every other week. It's a lot of work. And then you have to build your own display. And of course, that's get approved. So that's coming out of your pocket.
Tom Shea [00:27:22]:
Right.
Sandra Velasquez [00:27:23]:
And then it's a lot of, like, hurry up and wait. Then you're like, there. And then it's like you're in your green room. You don't know what time it is. And then you're actually in the tank, and it's dead quiet. And that's something that right now, it turns out.
Tom Shea [00:27:42]:
Asandra'S used to this ambient noise at all times because she lives in New York.
Sandra Velasquez [00:27:46]:
Well, because when you see the show, it's like, all cut up and it's like, dramatic and it feels fast, like violins and stuff, fast in real life. And so everyone has to overact to give that kind of energy. They interrupt each other on purpose because it has to come across like fiery.
Amy Liu [00:28:01]:
See? Long days for them, too.
Sandra Velasquez [00:28:02]:
It's super long. They're like entertainment show first. It is 100% a television show, number one, and they are very clear about that. And so that's why, Tom, they were like, don't say yes if you don't really mean yes. Because if you say yes and then we hear that you're like yanking Mark Cuban's chain in Diligence, we won't air your episode. I was like, okay, so then in that case, I'm just going to go in and be ready for it to go in either direction. So I had my thoughts prepared. Like, what happens if they say yes? What happens if they say no? You have to prepare for both. You have no idea. I mean Fiona from uniformly went on. She got a deal, a single digit equity deal. Normally they hate single equity digit, right? They don't like anything below sharks.
Tom Shea [00:28:43]:
Right? It's supposed to sort of be blood in the water.
Sandra Velasquez [00:28:46]:
Yeah. But obviously when people are like, you went on there for the exposure, I'm like, everybody goes on. Are you calling me out? Because that's a compliment.
Tom Shea [00:28:59]:
What happened?
Sandra Velasquez [00:29:00]:
And then I made the $300,000 in the two weeks after that in sales, which is what they would have given. They wanted 30% equity in two weeks? Yeah.
Tom Shea [00:29:08]:
All right, so take us through what happened with the sharks and then what happened immediately after.
Amy Liu [00:29:13]:
On your own?
Sandra Velasquez [00:29:14]:
Yes. Well, it was on our website and Amazon together, the combination.
Amy Liu [00:29:18]:
And presumably that's a lot more than you were normally doing.
Sandra Velasquez [00:29:20]:
Totally. Yeah. It was like, we prepared. Yeah, we prepared. Because I was like, I'm just going to go on there and make a good television show. Matter if I said yes or no. Totally. All they want is the television.
Amy Liu [00:29:34]:
How do you forecast for something like that, though?
Sandra Velasquez [00:29:36]:
I asked all the other founders right.
Tom Shea [00:29:38]:
Beforehand to prep, right?
Sandra Velasquez [00:29:39]:
Yes, because luckily there's a lot of beauty founders now who have been on there. I was like, okay, how many orders did you get?
Amy Liu [00:29:45]:
So important to have resources.
Sandra Velasquez [00:29:46]:
Yeah, how many orders did you get? And everyone was like, prepare to have 3000 of everything. Okay, that's kind of the medium, right? Like 3000 orders. And then our warehouse called and they were like, oh, no, you're going to get double that. Because we had a baby brand who was on there. Like, they sold baby clothes and they got 7000 orders. And so I was like, okay, let's prepare for the best scenario. So we doubled our POS, but it's scary because it's like the cash flow output. You have to buy that inventory in advance. And you're like, you still don't know if it's going to air. And Shark Tank is like, you don't.
Amy Liu [00:30:14]:
Know if it's going to air. Even if you film, they don't know.
Sandra Velasquez [00:30:17]:
Not everyone airs. So can you imagine going through, like, nine months of preparation? You're in the tank, you go through all that anxiety and does not air. So a lot of people's episodes don't air. It's like airplane. I don't know, but it's too much, whatever it is, my heart breaks for those people. And then they give you three weeks notice to the inventory question. Amy, it takes more than three weeks to get inventory made.
Amy Liu [00:30:43]:
It takes me a lot more.
Sandra Velasquez [00:30:44]:
Yeah, me too. Especially now with COVID and whatever. So you have to hope for the best and put out that cash flow to get that inventory. Have it in your warehouse ready to go in hopes that you get the email that your episode airs, and then you get an email three weeks in advance. And then I was like, okay. Then it was like, pre mortem. Now we're doing, like, pre mortem meetings at Nopalera so that everyone is prepared going into anything before you die. Post mortem. Like, how did he have the launch go? Like, the pre mortem meeting and yeah, the team killed it was at the cocktail party.
Tom Shea [00:31:20]:
The live Instagram live cocktail party.
Sandra Velasquez [00:31:23]:
Yeah. So we had the inventory, we had the assets, we kicked all the tires on the SMS apps and had everything on the website ready to go. And then it just went smoothly and yeah, we got 6000 orders.
Tom Shea [00:31:37]:
Damn.
Sandra Velasquez [00:31:37]:
Yeah, and then it continues. Right. And then it re aired two months later, which is unheard of.
Tom Shea [00:31:43]:
They even tell you that it's re airing?
Sandra Velasquez [00:31:45]:
They gave me one day notice.
Tom Shea [00:31:46]:
Yeah.
Amy Liu [00:31:47]:
Oh, wow.
Sandra Velasquez [00:31:48]:
They're always like, Please respond within 24 hours.
Amy Liu [00:31:51]:
And I'm like, okay, because do they need your approval?
Sandra Velasquez [00:31:53]:
I don't know why they need me to respond. I don't know why.
Tom Shea [00:31:56]:
He's probably doing it anyway. He probably signs.
Sandra Velasquez [00:31:59]:
Yeah, but so in the tank, I got two offers. One from Kevin O'Leary, Mr. Wonderful, and then Daniel Lubetsky came in to try to save me from Kevin O'Leary's sharky deal. And both of them wanted kevin was like, 30% of your company for $300,000. And then Daniel Lubesky was like, Well, I need 25% of your company. I'll give you $300,000. And I was like, thank you to both of you. However, no, because this is a brand about self worth. And can you like, I would just not be staying true to the brand values if I was just undercutting myself and underselling my brand. My ancestors are whispering in my ear. They're telling me to not devalue myself, so thank you, but goodbye. And that was a viral moment for us because it just galvanized the community. Yes. Thank God you said no. Everyone wants to stand in their worth. Every woman can relate to being underpaid and being undervalued. And so it really was a moment for the community to get yeah.
Tom Shea [00:32:57]:
So awesome. All right, so on the topic of Demystification, Amy, you have some of the only products, I think the only products that follow the Eczema board guidelines. And so I sort of want to talk about formulation and demystify that for people, because at least from where I'm sitting, it's something I know, like, next to zero about ingredient sourcing and how you're testing all this stuff and I don't know, for people who want to start a company, right, all that stuff seems so inaccessible. So I'd love for you to sort of break it down in the process.
Amy Liu [00:33:29]:
That goes into think for. So by the way, to clarify, the National Eczema Association was actually something I was following as a consumer to understand like, I don't know what kind of soap to buy and what kind of detergent to use and those types of things. We're the only beauty brand that 100% complies. So if you look at like Aveeno uses them, a lot of the brands you see in the drugstore that use it for like but most brands use it for one product in their whole line and so they'll do like one Eczema friendly product out of like 200. For us, we adhere to it for every single product that we make. So that's just a point of clarification in terms of if your question is how do you get products made? I think it's really dependent for every brand depending on what your value proposition is and what your unique selling proposition is. For us, my product philosophy is very much clean, safer, sensitive skin and performance. And so when I think about that, we follow I truly believe that I am not an expert in terms of I'm not a chemist, I'm not a doctor, a dermatologist. And so I really rely heavily on third party credibility. So we are clean at Sephora, we're clean at Credo, we're clean at Goop. And so we're taking their no no list because they're spending a lot of time and effort to figure out what that means. And this is a really murky time for clean because what does clean mean? There is no governing bodies. The industry is incredibly unregulated. And so I'm trying to make sure that we're not out there making promises that we don't have enough information around. To me, the idea of clean is like, it feels like an insurance policy to me. So it's like if I can make products in a way that I can avoid ingredients that might harm you, then why wouldn't I do that? Especially if I can do it without sacrificing performance and anything else. So then the second layer I add to that is we do it here by the National Eczema Association's no no list, which is a totally different list, has nothing to do with clean. It's just about irritation. And then third party, we do a lot of testing. So we start with a no no list. We're like, we won't use, we won't use, we won't use. Then we go into it and we formulate and we're like, okay, but we have to achieve these performance attributes. Then I get to the point where we like it and then we test it. So testing actually in the beauty industry is really unregulated because you don't have to do it right the FDA isn't going to come after you unless somebody calls it out or something like that.
Tom Shea [00:36:04]:
One thing is that because it's cosmetic, but cosmetics also go into your bloodstream. Right?
Amy Liu [00:36:09]:
I mean, your skin is your body's biggest organ. What you put on your skin does go into your bloodstream. It's just today, it's very much a self regulated industry. And so there is danger, there is liability. There's actually. Do you know what Mochra is? Mochra is a new things are changing. And I think it's a good thing. Beauty Counter did a great job of kind of alerting, I think, not only the consumer, but the government, of kind of how hard it is for consumers when these things aren't regulated. I think there are obviously Sephora, Credo, they're all doing a good job as retailers, too, to kind of help regulate these industries, too. But we do a lot more testing than the average beauty brand does. So, for instance, we do stability compatibility, which are most people, I think, try to do those. But on top of that, we do, like, irritation patch testing on humans. To get the NEA seal, you actually have to third party do irritation patch testing on humans to make sure that not only like, on a human, you're showing it's like they put it on every single day over a period of 30 days. And then it's not them feeling like it's not irritated. It's a dermatologist reviewing their skin interesting.
Tom Shea [00:37:18]:
Okay.
Amy Liu [00:37:19]:
And saying it's not irritated.
Tom Shea [00:37:22]:
Like those allergy shots for 30 days straight.
Amy Liu [00:37:25]:
Yeah, but there's somebody, like, actually looking at it and saying, like, oh, your skin's not irritated.
Tom Shea [00:37:30]:
Do you need people predisposed to.
Amy Liu [00:37:35]:
We go one step further. We have to recruit people who deem themselves people with sensitive skin.
Tom Shea [00:37:42]:
Totally.
Amy Liu [00:37:43]:
So it is it's difficult. And then we submit to the National Eczema Association along with the ingredients, along with the testing, and depending on the products. For instance, when we did our SPF product, we also had to do phototoxicity testing, which I was like, what is phototoxicity? And it's essentially like when the sun hits, this doesn't even if the product alone isn't going to create irritation when the sun hits it, does it? Then the combination of it create irritation.
Tom Shea [00:38:10]:
So involved.
Amy Liu [00:38:10]:
So we have to do all of this testing.
Sandra Velasquez [00:38:12]:
Not, by the way, it's expensive.
Tom Shea [00:38:13]:
Yeah.
Amy Liu [00:38:14]:
And it's expensive like anything worse, too.
Sandra Velasquez [00:38:18]:
Yes. Not as much, because we're not in the Eczema world, but yeah, there's so much more.
Amy Liu [00:38:22]:
It's just a very much part of our ethos.
Tom Shea [00:38:24]:
Right.
Amy Liu [00:38:26]:
And then claims testing. Right. So if you see us say something like, for anything around our eyes, like our mascara, we're doing ophthalmologist testing. We're doing a lot of those types of things, but it is it's a longer process. So it takes us twelve to 18 months to launch a product.
Tom Shea [00:38:42]:
Have you gotten obviously, it's not something we talked about. Have you ever gotten support from the Nationalism Association. You'd think they'd be all over.
Amy Liu [00:38:49]:
You pay them. You pay them well, we pay them for the seal to but they are great partners. I think we've done a great job of really trying to promote them as an organization. I will say about them, there's actually a lot of programs and seals out there that are you just sign a contract saying that you adhere right. Which maybe you do, maybe you don't. But the truth is, they're not checking. The National Eczema Association is legitimate. They have a very serious process, and they're not like I've tried to be like, well, can you speed this up if I give you more money? Because I just need it faster. Can you push it through your doctors? And they're like, no, this is our process. We're going to do it really slowly. I have to say, I really respect it.
Tom Shea [00:39:37]:
Yeah, that's awesome.
Sandra Velasquez [00:39:38]:
Do you have a compliance person internally? Because it's also so much work.
Amy Liu [00:39:41]:
Yes, we actually do it third party, but it's hard.
Sandra Velasquez [00:39:46]:
It's a lot of paperwork. It's a lot of paperwork.
Tom Shea [00:39:48]:
So many. Yeah. Like, all of those accreditations and approvals.
Amy Liu [00:39:51]:
One, it's all what are you left.
Tom Shea [00:39:53]:
With in terms of ingredients when you've gone through, like, 17 different things?
Amy Liu [00:39:58]:
I actually try to be really careful around this. I don't know how you feel, Sandra, but the clean thing is we definitely want to make sure that we have the right preservative system, that the product really works. All of that, I think, has been hard for the clean industry recently. Totally. But I think the other thing that comes up now is sustainability is really important, too. So we've also made this huge effort. We have what we call our Earth Sensitive Program, or pledge, I should say, and that 50% to 100% of every single product is made with recycled plastic. Now, in terms of the packaging oh, wow. Okay. Which has been a huge push for us. And even, like, our boxes we make out of FSC, which is the Forest Street Stewardship Council, to make sure that it's sustainable. And then I think the next thing that we're really going to start seeing in the industry is that a lot of the I love it.
Sandra Velasquez [00:40:54]:
I need some, too. I need a refresh.
Amy Liu [00:40:57]:
Thank you. But I think the next thing that we're going to see in terms of ingredients is that there's going to be more attention placed on not just the packaging, but on the ingredients, making sure that those are sustainably sourced, too.
Sandra Velasquez [00:41:08]:
Yeah, totally.
Tom Shea [00:41:09]:
Yeah. Can we get that zoom in on slowmo and post production?
Sandra Velasquez [00:41:15]:
So nice.
Amy Liu [00:41:16]:
I love I mean, I'm going to peel.
Tom Shea [00:41:20]:
Okay. It's all so fascinating. And, I mean, there's clearly so much more involved than I think I even knew, and I thought it was complicated to begin with, but let's get to another complicated topic and talk about fundraising. So, Sandra, you just raised $2.7 million from led by Latitude Ventures, right?
Sandra Velasquez [00:41:38]:
Yeah.
Tom Shea [00:41:39]:
And so I want to talk about a few different things. One, how that's come together and also what that comes with in terms of the high expectations for growth and the need to really get out there and play offense and how that's been an evolution for how you've traditionally built the business, because now you're playing almost in a completely different arena than you were in the early days.
Sandra Velasquez [00:41:57]:
Yeah. It's not me with my Amex making the products in my Brooklyn kitchen anymore. Thank God. Actually. Thank God. So the thing with fundraising, I also, like Amy was saying earlier, I had no idea how to fundraise. I was like, what is a term sheet? What does this mean? What does that mean? One of the many accelerators I was in, or Cohorts, was a True Beauty Ventures mentorship program with Rich and Christina, who I know you know, who are fantastic people. I still remain in a slack channel with them to this day, and I use them as mentors because I still have questions.
Amy Liu [00:42:24]:
I mean, I do, too.
Sandra Velasquez [00:42:26]:
Yeah. Even though I've raised and I have investors, I still lean on True Beauty Ventures for questions about just how it works. But I think one of my biggest learnings, honestly, was that money begets money. Once you have money, people want to give you more money. Which is also why life is unfair. Right. It's like why celebrities get things for free. It's like, they don't need things for free. They have money to pay for, but people want to give them stuff for free. And so really, experiencing that firsthand was really fascinating to me. I was like, wow, I can't believe I'm actually getting to experience this. Because in the beginning, when you have.
Amy Liu [00:43:00]:
No lead investor, such a herd mentality around these things, which is why people are cheap. To get that lead investor makes such a difference because it's like, someone has been like, first money in, I can do it. And then everybody else is like, Wait, I'll do it.
Sandra Velasquez [00:43:14]:
Yeah. They're like, Wait, is it too late.
Tom Shea [00:43:16]:
If I can go back in time? I almost regret focusing on anything except the lead, because the second you get the lead, everything's done. Like that day.
Sandra Velasquez [00:43:23]:
Yeah. I had to say no to people at the end who were texting me, like, Is it too late? I'm like, yes, it is too late. I need to close this around and move on with my life.
Amy Liu [00:43:29]:
And I think to be in a position where you're not like, I feel like when I was raising, I wanted it so badly that I was like, I'll take money. I felt like it was a one way conversation, like, whoever wanted to give me money and gratefully, I raised some great people, but I think I see a lot of founders who are, like, getting in bed with the wrong people. And then they're mad that those people on their cap table. And it's like you're choosing them as much as they're choosing you. It should be more about that than just the check.
Sandra Velasquez [00:43:57]:
Yes. And that is my advice always to founders who are like, what should I be looking for? I'm like, what else are they giving you besides the money? Because it can't just be the money. Do they have resources, they have connections, do they have relationships? Those are the things that you want from your investors too, right? Because once you raise money and they're on your cap table, you're married to them.
Amy Liu [00:44:15]:
Right. For me, not that my investors are not helpful, but a lot of them are just like my friends from past life and things like that. But it makes me motivated because I feel like, oh, I'm making money for people who really believed in me and care about me as opposed to being sharky investors or something.
Sandra Velasquez [00:44:35]:
Totally.
Tom Shea [00:44:36]:
Talk to us about Latin.
Sandra Velasquez [00:44:38]:
I mean, fortunately, we live in this moment in history where now we have venture funds comprised of Latino venture capitalists who want to fund other Latino founders. We live in a new era. This was not possible ten years ago, not even five years ago.
Tom Shea [00:44:52]:
99% white male, like, just a few years ago. And it's still, I think, a huge issue.
Amy Liu [00:44:57]:
Numbers of the percentage of women, what is it, like 1% or something of women have been able to raise. And then within that, women of color.
Sandra Velasquez [00:45:04]:
Is like, oh, I know, I can't believe I'm in the top 2% now of Latinas that have raised over a million dollars.
Amy Liu [00:45:09]:
Like you and Eva. I know Mod.
Tom Shea [00:45:11]:
I know she's on tomorrow.
Amy Liu [00:45:13]:
You know, Eva loved to work for me at Josie Mary. Tell her I said hi too. She just signed up to be a mentor for Clean Beauty Summer School.
Tom Shea [00:45:21]:
Yeah, here we go.
Sandra Velasquez [00:45:22]:
I want her to be my mentor. And I was like, Damn it. Okay. No, Michelle's school.
Tom Shea [00:45:27]:
She's in sephora too.
Amy Liu [00:45:29]:
I mean, that's like right now, but yeah.
Tom Shea [00:45:32]:
So, Latzi, tell us about that story, how that came together.
Sandra Velasquez [00:45:36]:
I think it was I was also, like, trying to who has money? How do I even meet people with money? Because again, it's like when you're on the outside, I was like, it's like, who are the venture capitalists? Who are these people? How do they have money? I mean, it was so fascinating to me. But again, once you meet one venture capitalist, you meet three, because people with money know other people with money. Just people without money know other people without money, like me. You know what I mean? I know a lot of poor know and venture capitalists know a lot of other venture capitalists. Once, you know, I was just like looking and looking and looking. And then actually it was my publicist who's also Latina, and I was know, karina, do you know anyone. I'm like, I'm in the trenches right now. I'm taking meetings with anybody that will take meetings with me. And she's like, oh, why don't you call Latitude Ventures? They invested in Kayla Agua Bonita, another Latina company.
Tom Shea [00:46:25]:
Kayla, shout out, shout out to.
Sandra Velasquez [00:46:30]:
So that's how I got connected, was that and so, like, looked them like I was too impatient to wait for them to introduce me, so I just went to their website. I applied on their website, and I got an email. So we had a meeting, and that conversation, these conversations of the courtship take forever. And then, of course, all the rich people go on vacation in the summer, and I was like, in the summer when I needed the money.
Amy Liu [00:46:50]:
That's what I heard.
Sandra Velasquez [00:46:53]:
But you just have to build off of the momentum. So I was talking to Unilever Ventures. I was talking to anybody, right? Like, big firms. And then Latitude finally was just like, okay, we want you to stop talking to other people. We want to lead the round, so let's do this. I was like, okay, when I see the money, then I will stop talking to other.
Amy Liu [00:47:17]:
Like, are we getting married?
Sandra Velasquez [00:47:18]:
I don't they once they decided they wanted to be the lead, then the rest the angels fell into place. Awesome. Yeah. Then there were, like, six angels.
Tom Shea [00:47:26]:
Cool. So we just talked about Eva and Mod and Sephora. So, Amy, I want to talk about Tower 28 expansion.
Sandra Velasquez [00:47:34]:
Sephora, I feel famous when I see Amy.
Tom Shea [00:47:38]:
I know. I walk in like, do you need help? I'm like, no, literally just checking on my friends.
Sandra Velasquez [00:47:47]:
I'm like, this is the one I.
Tom Shea [00:47:48]:
Use called Brandon Solo brand end cap. I think that's so awesome. So I think let's start early days getting into Sephora story and then sort of how it's progressed. And also just know the process of this end cap. I saw the viral video of you you released with your children. I mean oh, my God, that was so touching. Yeah, it was actually so beautiful.
Amy Liu [00:48:10]:
It was a real moment.
Sandra Velasquez [00:48:11]:
Yeah.
Amy Liu [00:48:13]:
I didn't know that why it went viral. The authenticity of it to recap. So we actually posted this on TikTok recently, and in two days, it's at 1.1 million views. Organically. Like, we didn't boost the kids get.
Tom Shea [00:48:25]:
In the father in the business now.
Sandra Velasquez [00:48:28]:
The kids, that's it.
Tom Shea [00:48:29]:
Putting them to work, baby.
Amy Liu [00:48:31]:
But yeah, so that was a real moment. So we launched into we've been at Sephora for four years. No, three and a half. We've been at Sephora for about three and a half years. We've been in store for three okay. And put on a multi branded end cap. So we've had half a shelf, then one shelf, then two shelves. This spring, we went into 88 stores around the country top markets epic. With our own branded end cap, which is a really exciting moment, but it's kind of like going from I'd like to say it's almost like going from living with roommates and then moving into your own apartment, which it's like great, but then you have to clean your apartment. You've got to pay the rent. Rent is probably the wrong word, but you have to pay to build it and maintain it, essentially. So it's a big deal. I think the thing that people actually don't know is we actually passed on getting an end cap earlier, and I think we're one of the only people that have done that. So we went from half a shelf to one shelf and they were like, do you want to go into your own end cap? And I was like, no, I don't. Not yet.
Tom Shea [00:49:34]:
And how's that process work, they ask you? Or do you have to like people jockeying?
Amy Liu [00:49:40]:
I think it depends on both. Right? So sometimes I think people are asking for more space. I would say people who want to grow faster and bigger, the way that they measure success is based on productivity. So if you think about it, it's like on a dollar per square foot basis, and then it's on a relative. So first it's dollar per square foot, and then it's an index relative to the other brands. So if I am like whatever my subset is, if I'm able to perform as well as them, because they're trying to figure out, like, if I give you the space, how much money can you move? Versus I give it to everybody else, right? How you're doing? And the other part of it is in the multi branded end cap, they pay to create the shelf and the graphic strip, and they're basically paying for it versus now I'm in my own thing and I have to pay for it. So the expenses are much, much higher.
Tom Shea [00:50:28]:
Right.
Amy Liu [00:50:29]:
So I think just for anyone listening out there, I think there is a part of it where I feel like one of the things I've done and the reason why I didn't have to raise again and earlier was because I was able to take that space and be really productive in it and almost be, like, bursting before going into this space. And now I'm able to go into this space and do well in that as well. But I think it's really hard to make that balance because as business owners, all of us, you're trying to figure out, like we were talking about earlier, when do you over invest and try to take that leap versus when do you just act like you're broke, if you will, and try to make what you're scrap and you're just like I just want to kill it in this one way first and then move on? It takes a lot of discipline to do that, I think. But in this particular instance, I'm really glad that we did.
Tom Shea [00:51:19]:
Yeah, that's so awesome. Obviously, you're supporting it in a lot of different. Ways, but do they try to tie anything to like, hey, you're like you need to support this in XYZ way?
Amy Liu [00:51:32]:
I actually have found Sephora to be an incredible partner for us.
Tom Shea [00:51:35]:
And you guys are exclusive there?
Amy Liu [00:51:36]:
We're exclusive, meaning we're at Sephora, but we have a carve out so we can do things like Credo and Goop and revolve. We just can't go to, I don't know, like an ulta or something. I always joke with my merchant that I'm a commitment kind of girl. I've been with my husband for, we've been together for a long time and I feel like one thing I learned in my career was like if I can just focus on something and I can do it really well, it takes as much effort to do that than it does. If you do a bunch of little things, it takes half ass so much work. Right. So if I can just make this work really well, it's great. But I would say Sephora definitely expects us to they expect support the business, but they don't necessarily tell us how to do it.
Tom Shea [00:52:22]:
Right.
Amy Liu [00:52:22]:
So they just want us to obviously do well and make sure that we're kind of earning that space.
Tom Shea [00:52:27]:
Right. They probably trust you at that point.
Sandra Velasquez [00:52:29]:
Right.
Tom Shea [00:52:29]:
Like you said, it is sort of like dating where yeah, they know it's a big moment. They know you as an operator and totally plan to you're probably going to find something better than probably what they would have dreamed up, right. Because you're this crappy.
Amy Liu [00:52:42]:
And I think if we weren't doing well, maybe they would be like, okay, do this, do this. I don't play. No, there is a playbook for sure. And there are certain things we haven't totally turned on yet. Right. So for instance, my kind of competitive subset has probably like 20 people in the field working and standing inside the store selling products. We have one person on our team right now and then addition to that we do Headcount, which is one of the sponsors, which it's like a third party version of it. So we're kind of tiptoeing into it and figuring out some of these things. But yes, you do have to support it. I'm on my 28 day store tour right now because we're going in and gratising people and training and obviously means it means something, I think, to and it means something to me too, to go into these stores and have them really hear my story directly and know that there's a put a face to the name and understand and be able to thank them for helping us really bring our products to life, to the consumer.
Sandra Velasquez [00:53:46]:
Yeah, I think the in person stuff is something that people like new founders don't really understand how analog it is. You have to physically show up to a brick and mortar store totally. And tell your story over and over and over.
Tom Shea [00:54:00]:
Like Noah from Ruby was on yesterday. I mean, demos every single week, and every single team on his every single person on his team does it every exactly.
Sandra Velasquez [00:54:07]:
Like, I learned that from CPG, right?
Tom Shea [00:54:09]:
You learn so much.
Sandra Velasquez [00:54:10]:
It's so analog. It's not like you get into the store and then magic just happens.
Amy Liu [00:54:14]:
And it's also not a one way relationship. Right. Because part of it is, yes, I'm downloading, but at the same time, I'm like, tell me what's happening, because I'm like, do people actually understand in a very literal way now that we have an actual end cap? It's like, okay, well, can you even see the packaging? Is it hard to figure out your shade?
Tom Shea [00:54:35]:
So stop. Three sort of brand intersection questions, things that I sort of as I was preparing, thinking you guys would either have sort of one question that you could both answer, and you might have different takes. You might have similar takes on it, but I think it'd be interesting to hear your perspective. Looks great.
Sandra Velasquez [00:54:48]:
Thank you. Yeah.
Tom Shea [00:54:50]:
Thank you, Masandra. I want to talk and I want your perspective, and then I'll get Amy's, obviously, as the creator of it, but I want to talk about Tower 20 Eight's Clean Beauty School and what that experience was like going through that program. Obviously, you've been part of other accelerators. So talking about the uniqueness of it in the context of building your business.
Sandra Velasquez [00:55:08]:
I think hearing from other founders who are five steps ahead of you is like, the most valuable thing that any founder could ever ask for. So I think I said that earlier that's what makes Clean Beauty Summer School so unique compared to other accelerators is that it's other founders. It's founders, leading founders. And what a beautiful thing, because I feel like we're in this moment of generosity right now. To your point, we're talking earlier. It used to be so hard. Like, how do I climb the castle wall? And people like Amy are creating these spaces where we get to commune with each other and really learn and just accelerate. Right. So instead of it taking me ten years to find out these answers, I can learn in a day.
Amy Liu [00:55:42]:
Totally learning curve.
Tom Shea [00:55:43]:
Yeah, absolutely.
Amy Liu [00:55:43]:
And I genuinely believe in collaboration over competition. I remember when I was working at L'Oreal back in the day, even within the brands, if you were going in the elevator, you had to put, like, a sheet over the product when you were going up and down the elevator because you couldn't see what you were doing. And it was very much like you never share things. And I don't know, I sort of believe that it's all about execution. Ideas are kind of a dime.
Tom Shea [00:56:10]:
So many people on this show that are building public people, and the benefits of it, I think, really outweigh the detriments.
Amy Liu [00:56:17]:
Totally. I look at food, I look at a lot of other industries. I look within our own industry. I learned about Agile because another beauty founder was doing it.
Sandra Velasquez [00:56:29]:
And I also found out about because I found out from Alamade, from Clean.
Tom Shea [00:56:32]:
Beauty Summer School, and we had a founder made truck in our order. I know we got our Tower 28 one.
Amy Liu [00:56:40]:
I might need more than one of these because I have two children here and a team I know. Oh, yeah.
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Tom Shea:
So Amy, could you tell us about the origin story, like the genesis of the Clean Beauty School? How to get started, what was the motivation for starting it? How is that sort of all come together in the end?
Amy Liu [00:57:46]:
Yeah, well, so I guess I'll take you back to 2019 when really clean. That was back when the kind of Black Lives Matter hit a fever pitch, right? And I think everybody was like posting a black square. And I was kind of like, people were like, don't be performative. And I was like, I don't want to be performative, but I don't know what else I can do. Right? And I think that's the hardest thing is when you feel like you want to make a difference, but you don't know how to. It's very disempowering. And I think in my life, I've also been never an influencer. I've never had a platform of any influence, but I have been a worker bee for a long time, and because of that, I actually do have pretty deep connections in the beauty industry. So one day I got an email, true story to our hey at Tower 28 Beauty, and I was the one checking it at the time, and it said, I don't know if you're going to be giving out money because Blossier had given out grants, right? And they were like, if you're giving out money, can I be a recipient of the grant? And it was from a BIPOC beauty founder, and I wrote her back and I was like, Veronically, I just applied for a loan, so I'm not in a position to give anyone any grants. However, I would love to get on a call with you and see if there's anything I can do to help you. And I think I talked to her for maybe 45 minutes. And afterwards she wrote me the nicest email saying how much it meant to her and how helpful it was. And I just thought, well, what can I do to scale this? And I literally thought of Clean Beauty Summer School. I texted a bunch of friends and I was like, Would you do this with me? And then all of a sudden it was COVID. And so we were kind of in a different world anyway. And so I was like, okay, well, what if it was virtual and we did this? And basically that's what it was. All these friends of mine said, yes, absolutely we would do it. And then I asked Sephora if they would help out by being part of the judging. And then somebody else said, okay, well, I think I can get New Voices to give $10,000. It just was in the best way. It was this avalanche of ideas that kind of came in. And actually, I don't even think I've told you yet, but this year we're even taking it a step further. So we actually open up applications in April. I'm friends with Katie Kitchens, who's the founder of Fun. And so one thing we're doing this year is we're curating a box of Clean Beauty Summer School products. So it could be anyone. It could be you, it could be people who've been in the program previously, mentors, teachers, but they're curating a box, like a 5000 piece box. And so the winner of Clean Beauty Summer School this year will get not only the suite of prizes that they've had in the past, but in addition to that, a 5000 piece PO, which is like, pretty incredible, right? To get scale, whether you're just trying to do it so you can get economies of scale or whatever it is.
Tom Shea [01:00:33]:
It'S so incredible to me that there's so much embedded in this. There's a reciprocity, but there's also like you're not even that far along at this point, and yet you've created a platform for people to pay some of the help you've got forward in such a meaningful way and no flare. The third year of what it's been, four seasons so far, this will be the fourth year. This will be the fourth year.
Sandra Velasquez [01:00:55]:
And I just want to shout out to, like, it's about the network, you know what I mean? It's like I met new voices. Now I'm in the New Voices family because of Amy, because I won the grant and they were the people who provided the money for that. Right now. I'm in the new Voices family. So now I get to ask them, hey, I'm looking for a new soap manufacturer. Like, I'm looking for this. And they help me with it just continues to grow. It's like tree roots, you know what I mean?
Amy Liu [01:01:16]:
And I think it's like they're not competitive too, right? There's no version of this. I get a lot out of it personally, but in the very beginning, I had people say, like, oh, I'll be part of the program if I can get equity in the winners company. I was like, no, this is not what we're doing. I have no skin in the game in that sense, nor do I ever want to. It's really just with best of intentions. But there's also so many other amazing accelerator programs that I'm lucky enough to even just be a part of. So I'm part of the Sephora accelerate program. I teach and I mentor there. I'm part of the Credo one. I mean, I just think there's so much of this in the industry that I think is really positive.
Tom Shea [01:01:57]:
Yeah. And how proud of you over your.
Amy Liu [01:01:59]:
Recent I mean, look at this and look at us now.
Sandra Velasquez [01:02:01]:
I know.
Amy Liu [01:02:01]:
Here we are. It's the best part of being in the beauty industry to me is like, I've kind of grown up in this industry, right. And so then I get to, like you said, I walk into Sephora, I walk into Credo, and I'm like, these are my friends.
Tom Shea [01:02:13]:
It's literally just the yeah.
Amy Liu [01:02:15]:
And I am so happy for other people when I see them crushing it.
Tom Shea [01:02:20]:
Totally. I ain't rich till my whole team rich. That's the quote.
Amy Liu [01:02:23]:
Yeah.
Tom Shea [01:02:24]:
So I want to talk a little bit about being a performer. And so when I was in business school, I had a professor, professor Bunch, that where did you go to business school? UChicago.
Sandra Velasquez [01:02:36]:
Yeah.
Tom Shea [01:02:36]:
And he talked about being a performer as one of the most important traits of so, yeah, it was the first time I had heard it, too, and I've never really felt that way. But the more I think about it, the more I think he's right, where it's confidence on stage, it's being quick on your feet when things go wrong. And so, Sandra, you're a literal performer, but actually you were a musician on stages for many, many years, and then obviously look at things like Shark Tank and just handling yourself with confidence.
Amy Liu [01:03:10]:
You probably have no anxiety.
Sandra Velasquez [01:03:13]:
I do, but I just recognize what it is, and I know that once I get the first line of the song right, it's fine. Right.
Tom Shea [01:03:20]:
And then, Amy, while maybe not as obvious or explicit, you clearly have it because you can see how you were going about your early career and breaking into these places and sort of this performance of, like, I'm going to get in here and I'm going to do some creative stuff to really have them take me seriously. And then obviously there's that bit about the popsicles and the tour and all that stuff. So I'd love to just sort of try to thread the needle between the importance of being a performer, whatever that means to you, and its value in the context of entrepreneurship.
Amy Liu [01:03:53]:
It's really interesting that you think that about me as being a good performer, because I think it's something that I've really struggled with. Oh, sorry. Again, not on my stomach. No, it's something I've really struggled with. I think I was a very good number. Like, I wrote all the speeches for katie and for josie when I worked for kate somerville, and josie marin when I worked for them. I was really good at being behind the scenes and kind of propping up somebody else. And I think one of the things that was the most difficult for me was kind of coming into this on my own and making it about me. I don't actually tell this story very much, but I kind of launched tower 28 twice, almost in some sense, meaning that when I was pitching, and it really was a completely different thing. It wasn't about my story at all. And the original concept was really just about like, it didn't have to do with sensitive skin, even though I was formulating that way because I wanted it. It was more like it was just not about me.
Tom Shea [01:04:48]:
Right.
Amy Liu [01:04:49]:
And I think I found it hard to put myself in it because I just didn't think anyone would care. And probably in a different way, even, because the brand is kind of beachy in origin and the way that it looks visually. And I really thought that people would think it was a really big disconnect from if they saw my face, mostly because I'm asian. I've grown up in my parents were immigrants from taiwan. I was born in america. I was raised predominantly in southern california. I live on the west side. I live near the beach. My husband's a surfer, but I don't know that we look like that in the traditional way. Like, I don't have blonde hair and blue eyes and those types of things. So it is interesting because I do think your point is right. I think that performance aspect of it, meaning for me, it's like the ability to sell your vision and your story and your products is incredibly important as an entrepreneur. But it's not something it was easy for me as soon as I understood why I was doing it and what the story was, because it's true. But I'm not a natural performer in a bigger way. I like this, though. I like podcasts, but you almost never see me doing a get ready with me.
Sandra Velasquez [01:06:06]:
Is this on? Because I'm like, yes, I will leave emmy noodles truck. Oh, shout out to kevin. I have been a performer since I was a child, so my parents forced me to take piano. So I've been doing piano recitals, but I was always nervous, but I just kept going. And I honestly think that the greatest gift of being a performer is that it strengthened my rejection and resilience muscle, because anyone that's a performer hears more no's than yeses. I was my own tour manager for many years, so how many emails did I write? Like, do you have a date? I want to come on, play in your club? Like, ignore no. And then you get, like, one yes. And you build a whole tour around that. So honestly, it's the resilience of performing that even if you don't feel great, like, you still have to go give a show. I think that that is the thing that I really gained from being a performer and raising money. It's all this performance. You're dying. You're like, I will take any but.
Amy Liu [01:07:03]:
It is all the time. It's like, you have to sell your vision to your team. You've got to sell it to your yeah. And then why am I doing this? Right? What do I care about cool.
Tom Shea [01:07:15]:
So I sort of wanted to bring it back to family. You guys both have children. I really just want to ask how important is to you guys that they see you guys building your businesses? Because I think it's so unique and so special. It's not definitely not easy, but I think there's so much value there, and there's so many good lessons being imparted, and they're probably so inspired by what you guys are doing. So you talk about building in front of your children.
Amy Liu [01:07:42]:
Yeah, I mean, for me, I think you definitely have to see it to be it in so many different ways. And I think one I have three kids. I have two daughters and one son. I think most times people think I'm talking about my daughters, which I do think it's really important for them to see the dynamics of, like, having, I think, at some point, my relationship with my husband, because I took some time off, and I was consulting, and he was working full time. I think it became very gendered the way our roles were, where it was like, okay, well, dad goes to work in a very traditional way. He goes to an office and comes back, and I was consulting while they were in school, so they saw me drop them off, and then they saw me pick them up.
Sandra Velasquez [01:08:18]:
Right? Yeah. What'd you do all day.
Amy Liu [01:08:20]:
Yeah, well, and then they saw me cooking dinner and cleaning. So very gendered in a traditional way. And I think it's really important for them to see not only me doing this, but just trying and doing something for myself and having an identity that is outside of just being, like, a mom and a wife, which are very important roles. But this was something I wanted for me too, for my son. I think of it as like, I don't know, this is how I want him to see women too. Like, that women can do these things just as much as I think that for my daughters.
Tom Shea [01:08:53]:
Yeah.
Sandra Velasquez [01:08:54]:
I mean, I know now that I'm older, I'm 46 years old that everything who I am has so much to do with how I saw my mom being just herself. It's not even about what you do for a living. It's like, how you exist in the world. And she is just a go getter, and so I am a go getter, and that was modeled to me. But you don't really understand that until you're older. Right. So I don't think that my daughter right now, at the age of 15, can fully I think she thinks it's cool, like, what I should probably she likes the free samples. Can you get more SOS from Amy?
Tom Shea [01:09:21]:
You're with Amy today?
Sandra Velasquez [01:09:22]:
Yeah, she's like, you know her. She's on my for you page. I get that a lot. But she'll know when she's older, she'll look back and she'll be like, wow, my mom was a badass. But now it's normal because however your parents are when you're growing up, it's normal. It was normal to me that my mother was on television. It was normal to me that she was, like, marching with people in the street, but not everyone's mom was doing that. So I think later is really when the true, it'll really be clear to her. So I just know it's important for me to continue to model that.
Tom Shea [01:09:52]:
I think something I sort of want to talk about is I kicked off the show with those two of the most badass female founders. It's harder than average, I think, for people to be female founders. It's the access to capital, like the white male dominated industry. And something I think, even personally, I think about a lot is just like allyship. And I think there more and more I think literally every day there's more people that want to be part of the solution. And I guess my question is, how do people be part of the solution? What does that entail? And how do we sort of correct that narrative for the people that do want to be part of the solution?
Sandra Velasquez [01:10:30]:
That's what Amy's doing. She created Clean Beauty Summer School. She's creating these networks, and that is so valuable. More people like that. Share your network, share your network, share your knowledge. Sometimes it's more valuable than money. Yeah, it's the access.
Amy Liu [01:10:48]:
I mean, one thing that we gratefully did in the beginning because of COVID and everything, too, is our program is virtual. And I think one of the real benefits of that is that you get people from all geographies where it used to be. I mean, I think about how much harder my business would be to start if I was not in La. The access to even influencers, to talent, just in general, is much more know. Some of our biggest contract manufacturers are in La. Too, so just the access is really different. Like, if you live in, I don't know, Indiana or something, I don't know. It has to be a lot harder. I think the other very simple thing that people do is to vote with their I mean, I think all of us do that, but I think it's really important. Right. I know, one of my friendly founders in the industry is Deepika, who has lived tinted, and she says this all the time, but it's like, thank you for supporting, but also, like, put your money where your mouth is. Right.
Tom Shea [01:11:48]:
Don't ask me for free samples.
Sandra Velasquez [01:11:50]:
Go.
Amy Liu [01:11:50]:
Well, I don't think that's what she means either, but I do think there is something to and I do it too, even though even with beauty, I know a lot of these founders, and they're happy to give me things for free. I shop, I go to Sephora, and I'm like, I buy because it's important to me to continue to support.
Sandra Velasquez [01:12:07]:
Yeah. And people I think I love your products. Thank you. When you're in major retailers like Sephora or Ulta or Credo or Target, you need that sell through data. So it's not just about supporting. People don't really understand what that means.
Tom Shea [01:12:22]:
Totally. I didn't know what it meant. Now I intentionally did. I'm like, oh, yeah, I need some velocity.
Sandra Velasquez [01:12:28]:
Exactly. Yeah. Because the margins are tough in beauty, too. I mean, coming from CPG, when I entered into the beauty space, I was like, oh, shit. What? They take a 60 margin. That's like robbery. Because grocery takes, like, 40, 30 yes. High margins. So it's expensive to be in these retailers. I think a lot of people don't understand that either.
Amy Liu [01:12:49]:
I think all of us do what we can. Right. Again, I am now in a position where I can put together a program like this, but if I didn't have that access in the beginning, I wouldn't be able to.
Tom Shea [01:12:59]:
Totally.
Amy Liu [01:13:00]:
But I think at a very basic level, it is write a review. Write a please write your glowing review.
Sandra Velasquez [01:13:07]:
Please put it on the website.
Amy Liu [01:13:08]:
I know.
Tom Shea [01:13:10]:
Okay, so I want to talk about a couple of new products launching. And so can you give the audience a sneak peek into what's next for no, Polara, and Tower 28?
Sandra Velasquez [01:13:22]:
Yes. Well, as much as I would love for everyone to switch to bar products, people still love body wash and they love lotion. So we are launching a cactus shower gel and a cactus body cream.
Amy Liu [01:13:32]:
What's the scent?
Sandra Velasquez [01:13:33]:
Custom scent. Yeah. So kind of like Nopel era 2.0, because all of our scents have been very natural up until this point. Like, very essential, oil based, very subtle. And now some of the feedback we got from Sephora was, like, having that custom scent that ties back to the brand story. So we created a custom scent.
Tom Shea [01:13:49]:
Awesome.
Amy Liu [01:13:50]:
That's exciting.
Sandra Velasquez [01:13:50]:
Yeah. So that's the next thing.
Tom Shea [01:13:52]:
Awesome.
Sandra Velasquez [01:13:53]:
Cool.
Amy Liu [01:13:53]:
How about you? We are expanding on our skincare line, so we currently have our SOS family of products that has our SOS daily facial spray is actually crazy. It is the number two toner at all of Sephora, which it's funny because it's not really a toner, it's more of a treatment spray. But that's how they class it, and it's done really well, which is even more wild because it sits inside of the makeup section. So that's not where you expect to find skincare products. But expanding upon that, one of the things I really wanted to do is on a really basic level, you need to clean your skin. Tony. This is more of a it's basically hypochlorous acid. So it helps to not only calm your skin, but also help keep it clean from an antibacterial perspective. And so the next thing we're doing is we're launching a moisturizer. And the moisturizer I'm really excited about because I've gone as somebody who's really suffered from skincare issues. I've gone to the dermatologist and all these different places and the number one thing everybody always says is like, do less. Just step back and let your skin heal itself. And so this is what we're calling like an intentionally basic product. So it's a beautiful formula made with ceramides and hyaluronic acid, but it's not an active so it's not about, like, retinol and vitamin C and all these types of things, which are great, but I wanted something where I could bring those in on my own, as opposed to bombarding my skin with it when my skin wasn't ready for it. So the same way that when you go to the dermatologist, sometimes they'll say like, oh, just use Cetaphil for a while.
Tom Shea [01:15:25]:
Right?
Amy Liu [01:15:25]:
I don't want to use Cetaphil. I want something that's a little more elevated than that. And so that's what this is.
Sandra Velasquez [01:15:31]:
I can't wait.
Amy Liu [01:15:32]:
Honestly.
Tom Shea [01:15:33]:
Cap to good use.
Sandra Velasquez [01:15:34]:
I can.
Amy Liu [01:15:34]:
Honestly.
Sandra Velasquez [01:15:35]:
I'm always looking for just like a simple a simple cream.
Amy Liu [01:15:39]:
It's like an elevated basics. Like this is a true moisturizer. So it brings water. I mean, at a really basic level, a moisturizer is supposed to bring hydration to your skin and then lock it in. And that's what it does.
Sandra Velasquez [01:15:50]:
Everything's so complicated now. Everything is like peptide this and niacinamide that. You can't find a white shirt anymore.
Amy Liu [01:15:58]:
Yeah, that's what it is. Literally. It's so funny you said that because we were like, what do we talk about? It's like your basic white shirt or your favorite pair of jeans.
Sandra Velasquez [01:16:06]:
Why does everything have to have holes and stuff on it?
Amy Liu [01:16:10]:
Sometimes just do a little bit well real quick.
Tom Shea [01:16:14]:
SOS spray break as we get now.
Amy Liu [01:16:18]:
That I know it does well.
Sandra Velasquez [01:16:22]:
It'S.
Tom Shea [01:16:22]:
Converted me for sure. I feel great. Me and Justin Bieber. Best friends now.
Amy Liu [01:16:27]:
Yeah, I mean, Haley Bieber did.
Tom Shea [01:16:31]:
All right, so we're at our second last stop. It's called the Hot Box, and aptly named given what's going on in here right now. But the Hot Boxes are sort of our rendition on the hot seat. So it's going to be a this or that style question game like A or B. And the goal is sort of without thinking, you guys say which one you have a preference for at the same time. So we're going to go. Amy first.
Sandra Velasquez [01:16:54]:
Are we shouting each other?
Amy Liu [01:16:55]:
Are we winning? We win a prize. We say the same thing.
Tom Shea [01:16:59]:
No prizes, you get out of the box. All right, so we're going to get into it.
Sandra Velasquez [01:17:05]:
Ready? Okay.
Tom Shea [01:17:05]:
All right. So cold plunger. Hot tub.
AD BREAK
We sold 6 million our first year and did $80 million in sales last year. That's what the COO of Adventure challenge, a longtime customer of Shipbobs, shared with Shipbob the other day. The pace of growth for Adventure Challenge has been insane, but it wasn't all positive. It started with a failed crowdfunding project. Then investors assured them that their business would fail. They raised $0 in outside capital, and it somehow only took a few years to hit $80 million in sales. They started off fulfilling all orders themselves. They'd have U Hauls packed with thousands of products, making endless trips from their storage unit to the post office. It was not scalable. It was definitely hurting their growth. It definitely wasn't fun. That's when Shipbob started their partnership with Adventure challenge. By being able to focus on growing the business and product development, sales took off like a rocket ship. While Adventure Challenge initially focused on D to C sales, their popularity started driving other conversations. They started to stock several hundred smaller boutiques across the country. Then Francesca's, then Kohl's. And while they're based in California and most of their customers are in the US. The word of mouth and viral videos on TikTok and Instagram started driving demand around the world. So then they started filling orders out of Canada and then the UK. And now Australia. From a failed kickstarter and getting $0 in outside investment on day one to over $80 million in revenue, adventure Challenge has defied the ODS and build a global powerhouse brand alongside their partnership with Shipbob. Who's there to help you completely unlock your brand's growth? Read the entire story shipbob.com. Adventurechallenge.
Amy Liu [01:18:39]:
Hot tub?
Sandra Velasquez [01:18:40]:
Hot tub.
Tom Shea [01:18:40]:
Beach house or ski house?
Amy Liu [01:18:41]:
Beach.
Sandra Velasquez [01:18:42]:
Beach.
Tom Shea [01:18:43]:
Coffee or tea?
Amy Liu [01:18:44]:
Coffee.
Sandra Velasquez [01:18:44]:
Neither.
Tom Shea [01:18:45]:
Sunrise or sunset?
Amy Liu [01:18:46]:
Sunrise.
Sandra Velasquez [01:18:47]:
Sunset.
Tom Shea [01:18:48]:
D to C or D? Two c letter T or number two?
Sandra Velasquez [01:18:54]:
The letter?
Amy Liu [01:18:54]:
Yeah, I think the first D letter.
Sandra Velasquez [01:18:57]:
T letter C. Okay.
Tom Shea [01:18:59]:
Neat or messy?
Amy Liu [01:19:01]:
I aspire to be neat.
Tom Shea [01:19:04]:
Same corgi or golden retriever?
Sandra Velasquez [01:19:07]:
Corgi.
Amy Liu [01:19:08]:
So cute.
Tom Shea [01:19:09]:
Winter or summer?
Amy Liu [01:19:10]:
Summer.
Sandra Velasquez [01:19:10]:
Summer.
Tom Shea [01:19:11]:
Tennis or golf?
Amy Liu [01:19:13]:
Neither.
Sandra Velasquez [01:19:13]:
Neither.
Tom Shea [01:19:14]:
Pineapple pizza or candy corn?
Amy Liu [01:19:16]:
Candy corn.
Sandra Velasquez [01:19:17]:
Pineapple pizza.
Tom Shea [01:19:18]:
There we go. Live music or DJ?
Sandra Velasquez [01:19:21]:
Who are you talking to here? Live music.
Amy Liu [01:19:23]:
DJ.
Tom Shea [01:19:25]:
Live in space or live underwater water?
Sandra Velasquez [01:19:29]:
I'm a mermaid.
Tom Shea [01:19:30]:
Fight one horse sized duck or a thousand duck sized horses?
Amy Liu [01:19:34]:
Wait, what?
Tom Shea [01:19:38]:
Fight one horse sized duck or a thousand duck sized horses?
Amy Liu [01:19:44]:
And I'm trying to win.
Tom Shea [01:19:45]:
Yeah, you're trying to fight them.
Amy Liu [01:19:47]:
I would say the latter. The thousand duck sized horses? I don't know. That just seems it's really scary to think of a horse size.
Tom Shea [01:19:57]:
Intimidating. Sweet snacks or salty snacks?
Amy Liu [01:20:00]:
Salty.
Sandra Velasquez [01:20:00]:
Together? Both.
Tom Shea [01:20:01]:
Wow. Call, text or audio notes?
Sandra Velasquez [01:20:04]:
Text, audio notes.
Tom Shea [01:20:06]:
Reading or writing?
Amy Liu [01:20:08]:
Writing.
Sandra Velasquez [01:20:09]:
Writing.
Tom Shea [01:20:10]:
Work. Remote or work on site?
Amy Liu [01:20:12]:
On site. Sorry, guys.
Sandra Velasquez [01:20:14]:
Remote.
Tom Shea [01:20:15]:
Do you do laundry or do the dishes?
Amy Liu [01:20:17]:
I mean dishes.
Sandra Velasquez [01:20:18]:
Neither.
Tom Shea [01:20:20]:
Twitter, LinkedIn. Instagram or TikTok.
Amy Liu [01:20:22]:
Instagram.
Sandra Velasquez [01:20:23]:
Instagram.
Tom Shea [01:20:24]:
Dancing or people watching?
Amy Liu [01:20:26]:
Dancing.
Sandra Velasquez [01:20:26]:
Dancing, always. Yeah.
Tom Shea [01:20:27]:
Cocktails or beers?
Sandra Velasquez [01:20:29]:
Cocktails.
Tom Shea [01:20:30]:
Feel too hot or feel too cold?
Amy Liu [01:20:32]:
You like which one you prefer?
Tom Shea [01:20:34]:
Well, they both suck, but yeah.
Amy Liu [01:20:36]:
The lesser of the two evils, I guess. I would rather feel too hot.
Sandra Velasquez [01:20:40]:
Yeah, feel too hot.
Tom Shea [01:20:41]:
You get one animal to protect you against a horde of zombies. Gorilla or grizzly bear?
Amy Liu [01:20:46]:
Grizzly bear.
Sandra Velasquez [01:20:47]:
Grizzly bear.
Tom Shea [01:20:48]:
Give up bread for life or cheese for life?
Amy Liu [01:20:51]:
Cheese.
Sandra Velasquez [01:20:55]:
I don't know. I like them both. Okay, I give up. Cheese.
Amy Liu [01:20:58]:
I would have a hard time, too.
Tom Shea [01:20:59]:
Air guitar or air drums?
Sandra Velasquez [01:21:02]:
So cheesy. I mean, you're a musician. I know. I'm like, stop doing both.
Amy Liu [01:21:09]:
I am drum, literally. I'm not the type of person to do this.
Tom Shea [01:21:14]:
Start early or leave late?
Amy Liu [01:21:17]:
I would like to be someone who started early, but yeah, start early.
Sandra Velasquez [01:21:22]:
We're founders. We do both. Yeah, I was going to say, but start early.
Tom Shea [01:21:27]:
Fiction or nonfiction?
Amy Liu [01:21:29]:
I would like to be someone who reads more fiction, but realistic, I read a lot of nonfiction.
Sandra Velasquez [01:21:34]:
I only read business books.
Tom Shea [01:21:35]:
Where you want to travel next? Europe or Asia?
Sandra Velasquez [01:21:38]:
Asia.
Amy Liu [01:21:39]:
Asia.
Tom Shea [01:21:40]:
All right. Rich and famous or rich and unknown?
Amy Liu [01:21:42]:
Rich and unknown.
Sandra Velasquez [01:21:43]:
Rich and unknown.
Tom Shea [01:21:44]:
Yeah. Don't call, playlists or podcasts?
Amy Liu [01:21:47]:
Podcasts.
Sandra Velasquez [01:21:48]:
Podcasts.
Tom Shea [01:21:48]:
Pancakes or waffles?
Amy Liu [01:21:50]:
Pancakes.
Sandra Velasquez [01:21:50]:
Pancakes.
Tom Shea [01:21:51]:
Speak to animals or speak ten languages?
Amy Liu [01:21:53]:
Ten languages.
Sandra Velasquez [01:21:54]:
Ten languages.
Tom Shea [01:21:56]:
Speak to animals. If we could talk that dog, that.
Sandra Velasquez [01:21:57]:
Would have been no, I want to travel.
Tom Shea [01:21:59]:
And Netflix or YouTube?
Amy Liu [01:22:01]:
Netflix.
Sandra Velasquez [01:22:02]:
Netflix.
Tom Shea [01:22:02]:
Telepathy or teleportation?
Amy Liu [01:22:07]:
Both are pretty cool.
Sandra Velasquez [01:22:08]:
Telepathy.
Amy Liu [01:22:09]:
Yeah.
Sandra Velasquez [01:22:09]:
I'm like, what are you thinking, Buyer?
Tom Shea [01:22:11]:
Trucks or billboards?
Sandra Velasquez [01:22:12]:
Don't fuck this one up.
Amy Liu [01:22:15]:
I think the answer is trucks.
Tom Shea [01:22:18]:
Receive good news first or bad news first?
Amy Liu [01:22:21]:
Bad news.
Sandra Velasquez [01:22:21]:
Bad news.
Tom Shea [01:22:22]:
All right, well, the bad news is we were at Stop Five. And so, guys, honestly, I want to thank you guys for coming on. You guys are so kick ass. And I also want to give a quick opportunity for you guys to plug yourself. So where can people buy your products? Where can they learn more about yourselves? And then we'll wrap.
Amy Liu [01:22:39]:
Yeah. So we're at all Sephoras, us and Canada. Sephora at Kohl's, credo, Revolve and Goop.
Sandra Velasquez [01:22:47]:
Awesome. And Nopaletta is at Credo Nordstrom free people and 400 boutiques across the country. And then our website, Nobile.
Amy Liu [01:22:55]:
Oh, I should have said that, too. Tower 28 beauty. Just to be mad if I didn't say that.
Tom Shea [01:22:58]:
And then when are the new products that we talked about? When are they launching for the fans?
Sandra Velasquez [01:23:02]:
The fall.
Tom Shea [01:23:03]:
Fall.
Amy Liu [01:23:03]:
June 19.
Tom Shea [01:23:04]:
June 19. Awesome.
Amy Liu [01:23:06]:
And then oh, also our handles. Right? So at Tower 28 Beauty on both, really? On TikTok and instagram. And then my own handle is at Amylou L-I-U underscore T 28.
Sandra Velasquez [01:23:18]:
And same thing. Nopelletta. Dot co on instagram. Same handle on TikTok. And I'm at Official SLV personally on Instagram.
Tom Shea [01:23:25]:
All right, guys. Well, let's go check out some of those places where those products are sold.
Sandra Velasquez [01:23:29]:
Yeah, sounds great.
Amy Liu [01:23:30]:
Thanks for having me.