Day: April 17, 2020

The Future Of Beauty: “Facelift-like results without the risks or downtime of surgery” With Dr. Scott Gerrish

The beauty-tech industry is a very exciting space right now. If you thought the iPhone generations changed quickly then the pace of cosmetic laser advancements is very eye-opening. Technology that was relevant last year may now be just a great dust collector in the office. With continued advancements, we will see what is impossible become possible. Maybe, just maybe, someday technology will sideline facelifts for good.

I had the pleasure of interviewing Scott Gerrish.

An award-winning internist, Scott Gerrish, DO, provides noninvasive and minimally invasive medical cosmetic treatments to men and women at IYA Medical in Scottsdale, Arizona. Dr. Gerrish’s status as a key opinion leader in developing technology and treatment protocols gives him priority treatment and early access to the newest technology from large equipment manufacturers in the aesthetic industry.

Dr. Gerrish graduated from the Chicago Medical School at Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science in Illinois before completing his internal medicine residency at George Washington University in Washington DC.

An East Coast medical spa owner, international speaker, and medical director of the East Coast CoolSculpting University (CSU), Dr. Gerrish has 20 years of experience in the aesthetic industry, including working with laser companies to assist in the development of advanced laser technologies.

His work led to the adoption of Dr. Gerrish’s CoolSculpting protocol, and he is responsible for training over 4,000 medical professionals around the world on CoolSculpting practices and techniques. In addition, Dr. Gerrish developed the miraFresh protocol to dramatically increase the comfort and efficacy of the treatment and was among the first physicians in the United States to use the Juvéderm® dermal filler as a participant in the Juvéderm Phase IV trial.

Dr. Gerrish and his family made Scottsdale, Arizona, their home in 2019 to bring the services of his award-winning East Coast medical spa to the Phoenix metropolitan area.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dive in, our readers would love to learn a bit more about you. Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?

During my medicine residency at The George Washington University in the mid-1990s, there was the unique opportunity to work under a local cosmetic surgeon who just opened one of the first medical spas in the United States. While the laser technology back then was nowhere near what it is today, I fell in love with the integration of lasers and their applications in medicine/cosmetics. Upon completing my residency, I concentrated my entire medical practice on lasers, their applications, and their advancements in cosmetics.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?

In 2009 I had the opportunity to purchase the commercial building where my medical practice was located. It was an amazing opportunity but it came with one catch. The owner of the building also owned a salon that was operating within the building. The building and the salon came as a package deal. A physician owning a salon? It might sound a bit crazy, but I did it. Owning and managing the hair salon has been the most challenging task in my career. After several rollercoaster years, I finally downsized and streamlined the salon to a manageable level that properly complemented my cosmetic practice. In the process, I learned about highlights, lowlights, perms, keratin treatments and much more. But, in all seriousness, it’s nice to have a business that pays a mortgage vs rent.

Are you able to identify a “tipping point” in your career when you started to see success? Did you start doing anything different? Are there takeaways or lessons that others can learn from that?

There has been a number of critical tipping points throughout my journey but one specific event has been, by far, the most significant. While building my offices in Virginia, Maryland, and DC, I also began to utilize my mechanical engineering degree to consult with manufacturers to improve their laser technology and protocols. For reasons most strongly linked to humility, I kept my contributions quiet. It wasn’t until 5 years ago that I began to reveal my contributions, some of which were game-changers in the non-invasive cosmetic industry. It was at that point my practice began to grow at record levels. I have always deemed myself as being humble. I thought that marketing my accomplishments seemed like bragging. What I learned is that there is great value in sharing your accomplishments in a factual manner. And, when done correctly, it is 100% different than the promotional “look at me” statement.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person to whom you are grateful who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

There are several individuals who have heavily influenced my career and helped propel me to the success I enjoy today. I do however feel the greatest help I have received did not come from just one individual. The greatest help has come from the team members that surround me. Without their support, the whole practice would fail. While the magic happens in the treatment room with highly experienced practitioners, none of it would be possible without a strong, dedicated, hardworking support staff.

Ok super. Let’s now shift to the main part of our discussion. The beauty industry today has access to technology that was inconceivable only a short time ago. Can you tell us about the “cutting edge” (pardon the pun) technologies that you are working with or introducing? How do you think that will help people?

We are living in a very exciting time when it comes to current and evolving technology to combat and reverse the signs of aging. In the past, technology has been the limiting factor in obtaining consistent and substantial results. For instance, in order to lift and tighten the skin, we need to deliver heat into the deeper layers (or dermis) of the skin while not overheating the top layer (or epidermis). Until recently, technology was unable to effectively bypass the top skin layer and achieve deep collagen heating. That dilemma has changed with the introduction of the breakthrough technology of Profound RF, by Candela. This technology is incredibly exciting and now allows us to safely create substantial remodeling of the collagen that results in drastic lifting and tightening of the skin. We are now one giant step closer to facelift-like results without undergoing the associated risks or downtime of surgery.

Another very new and exciting technology that launched this year is electromagnetic muscle stimulation for strengthening and toning major muscle groups of the body. The latest and most powerful addition to this field is the CoolTone, by Allergan. CoolTone is FDA cleared for toning the muscles of the stomach, buttocks, and legs. While the cosmetic benefits of muscle toning is exciting, that’s just the tip of the iceberg. With increased muscle mass, we increase our metabolism and burn fat more effectively. With a stronger core, we see improvement in lower back pain. Additionally, it has been fun to watch our patients advance in athletics and exercise performance from the CoolTone’s induced muscle tone and strength.

Keeping “Black Mirror” and the “Law of Unintended Consequences” in mind, can you see any potential drawbacks about this technology that people should think more deeply about?

With advancing technology it is more important than ever to go to an experienced provider. While the vast majority of the newest technology has built-in safety parameters, inexperienced, careless, or rushed treatments can result in irreversible damage leading to permanent scarring. We all like sales, bargains, and getting “a deal.” When it comes to the one and only body we are given, I would only trust your treatments to the most experienced hands vs. the most budget-savvy price.

Can you share 3 things that most excite you about the “beauty-tech” industry?

The beauty-tech industry is a very exciting space right now. If you thought the iPhone generations changed quickly then the pace of cosmetic laser advancements is very eye-opening. Technology that was relevant last year may now be just a great dust collector in the office. With continued advancements, we will see what is impossible become possible. Maybe, just maybe, someday technology will sideline facelifts for good.

One of the most exciting developments in the recent introduction of regenerative medicine into cosmetics. Lasers and all energy-based devices work by creating a highly controlled injury within the skin. The positive changes we are trying to achieve rely on the body’s innate healing response. As we age, our ability to heal and repair is not as robust as in our youth. Utilizing regenerative techniques via growth factors and cytokines, we are boosting the body’s capabilities to repair and create significant changes that would otherwise be unobtainable.

Most importantly, the battle of fighting aging is won on a daily basis. That fact places a lot of weight on the daily skincare we use. The advancements in topical regimens have been amazing. From growth factors to peptides, to sunblocks and more, we can now fight aging with creams that create meaningful changes.

Can you share 3 things that most concern you about the industry? If you had the ability to implement 3 ways to reform or improve the industry, what would you suggest?

The noninvasive to the minimally invasive cosmetic field has exploded over the last 2 decades. As the field continues to grow and expand, entrepreneurs and medical professionals are opening new medical spas to benefit from the high demand. While most practitioners become highly qualified, there are those few that are delivering treatments that are not qualified to safely and effectively deliver these services. Even more concerning is the shift in the business of medicine. Early in my training, medicine was a service that was delivered based on medical need. With the evolution of the Medspa industry, we are now seeing some practices determine the need for these services being dictated by business or commercial influences vs medical appropriateness. It is very important for patients to fully vet their practitioners.

As the cosmetic industry grows at rapid rates, the manufacturers are feverishly designing and selling new technology. Over the years there have been a number of devices that have been very disappointing in either safety and/or effectiveness. As the expression goes, one rotten apple spoils it for the bunch. Flawed or overhyped technology can create consumer doubt and compromise the integrity of the industry. In order to protect the standard of care, we will continually need to rely on the FDA, state medical boards, and fellow physicians to meticulously evaluate and self-regulate the growth and direction of the industry.

You are an expert about beauty. Can you share 5 ideas that anyone can use “to feel beautiful”? (Please share a story or example for each.)

That is an excellent question and I would first like to call out the differences between feeling beautiful and looking beautiful. Looking beautiful is in the eye of the beholder but feeling beautiful comes from within ourselves. Early in my career, I concentrated all my efforts on addressing the physical aspects of beauty. As my career progressed I gained invaluable insight from a number of patients that truly looked beautiful but honestly didn’t feel beautiful. It was at that point I began to link ‘feeling good’ with ‘feeling beautiful’. So here are my top 5 ways to feel beautiful/good and it might not be what you would expect from a cosmetic physician:

Nutrition is the sole pathway for fueling our bodies. Not only will healthy eating slow down the aging/disease process through decreased systemic inflammation but the right foods will improve the look and health of the skin in addition to increasing energy, mood and the feeling of wellbeing.

Exercise is very important in maintaining our cardiovascular health, physique, muscle tone, balance, flexibility, and much more. Beyond those major benefits, exercising increases endorphins and neurotransmitters like serotonin and norepinephrine. These neurotransmitters are the body’s natural chemicals to make you feel good.

Additionally, meditation slows the aging process by significantly increasing melatonin and DHEA and decreases the stress hormone cortisol. Like exercise, meditation also increases dopamine and serotonin. Meditation is a wonderful practice to calm our mind and connect to ourselves and restore confidence to meet the challenges in life.

Feeling beautiful is not just limited to our bodies, the clothes we wear have a significant impact on the way we feel about ourselves. Picture yourself in a tee-shirt and sweatpants. What are you doing? How do you feel? Now picture yourself in a business suit or formal dress. Notice the difference in how you feel? How we dress impacts not only our mood and confidence but also how we look and feel about ourselves.

Lastly, with aging, we all see changes in our appearance that we don’t like or that reminds us of our parents. Whether it’s a jowl, a wrinkle, or just an overall tired look. With today’s armament of technology we now have the capability to reverse those signs of aging to help feel and look our best. To complement these results, an effective physician-grade skincare regimen can take one’s skin tone and complexion to the next level.

You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂

Over the last 25 years, I have seen tens of thousands of patients. The one thing I am most grateful for is the physician-patient relationship. Once that door closes, the defenses drop and the flood gates open. Conversations that would not be had with best friends or spouses are now being discussed with me. Overall these years and conversations, the one thing that truly stands out is that we all struggle with feeling beautiful. If you self-reflect, we are harder on ourselves than we would be to our worst enemy. Why do we beat ourselves up? Why are we never enough? Why do we not feel beautiful when we are? If I could create a movement, it would be to give people the tools to feel and be beautiful.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

My favorite life lesson quote comes from Dr. Brene Brown and the following is in her own words:

“You can choose courage, or you can choose comfort, but you cannot choose both. They are mutually exclusive. Anything great that has ever been attempted is a result of people choosing courage over comfort. In our self-gratifying minds, we may wish for a life of relative ease and comfort. But nothing of significance has ever been attempted or accomplished this way. Courage, on the other hand, gives us the vision to see what others cannot see, to pursue what others would not dare to go after. Courage combined with faith relieves us of the fear of taking risks and gives us the guts to attempt great things.”

How can our readers follow you online?

Readers can follow me at www.iyamedical.com or www.drgerrish.com

Thank you so much for joining us. This was very inspirational.

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The Future Of Beauty: “Facelift-like results without the risks or downtime of surgery” With Dr Scot was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

KAYAK CTO Giorgos Zacharia: “Success in the future is reserved for companies that bring their products and services to the devices and platforms where users are spending the most time”

Success in the future is reserved for companies that bring their products and services to the devices and platforms where users are spending the most time, and leverage machine learning to provide smarter, more personalized results for even more complex actions. Airport wait times are an example of an intricate problem that might only be solved by machine learning coming to mobile.

Research shows that voice search continues to grow on a daily basis. We will continue to see more integrations for advanced actions and functionalities, like the ability to complete transactions for hotels hands-free. In 2017, we were the first travel company to offer this via Alexa and continue to lead the category with our advances in search.

I had the pleasure of interviewing Giorgos Zacharia, he serves as Chief Technology Officer of KAYAK and served as its Chief Scientist since February 2009. Zacharia has extensive experience in machine learning and data mining and is also a Co-founder of three machine learning-driven startups, Open Ratings, Inc., Stocknomics Ltd., and Emporics Capital Management LLC. He received a Ph.D. in computer science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and holds a master of science from the MIT Media Laboratory, where he was a Telecom Italia Fellow in the Software Agents Group, a Bachelor of Science in mathematics and a Bachelor of Science in computer science with a minor in Economics from MIT.

Thank you so much for joining us Giorgos! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?

I am a math nerd with five medals in International Math and Physics Olympiads, who got excited by machine learning startups and ended up in travel technology almost by accident. I came to MIT to study Mathematics and Computer Science. I did my master’s research in applied AI for eCommerce marketplaces at the MIT Media Lab in the late 1990s, and ended up founding Open Ratings as Chief Scientist and CTO based on that research. My role at KAYAK was a great next step because I could use my machine learning background to solve travel problems, which was and still is a fun challenge.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started your career?

How I joined KAYAK is an interesting story. After selling Open Ratings to Dun & Bradstreet, I focused on finishing my MIT Ph.D. and started two machine learning-driven hedge funds. In 2008, one of my former engineers introduced me to the co-founder/CTO of KAYAK, Paul English, because KAYAK had a machine learning problem they were trying to tackle for a few months. Norwest Airlines prices kept showing up on KAYAK inaccurately, and KAYAK was looking for an intelligent solution to correct them. I explained how I would use machine learning to address the challenge and I also pitched an idea that today is among our most popular features — Hacker Fares — the idea of combining tickets from different airlines (vs. a single ticket for the same trip) to save travelers time and money. Paul offered me a job as Chief Scientist right then and there.

What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?

As a global tech company, we have maintained a start-up culture — enabling employees from all over the world with varying backgrounds, interests and experiences, to work together to make an impact in a fast-paced, dynamic environment. We welcome ideas from all areas of the company. Just last year, following an employee SWAT week, a team of KAYAK employees leveraged augmented reality to help travelers recognize whether or not their luggage would fit in the overhead bins. The tool is now a permanent feature on the KAYAK mobile app.

Which tips would you recommend to your colleagues in your industry to help them to thrive and not “burn out”? Can you share a story about that?

Maintain a good work-life balance. At KAYAK, we believe employees are more productive when they’re happy and have fulfilling lives outside of the office. We actively encourage people to take time off to travel. While work-family balance can be difficult to achieve, we encourage our teams by offering flexible schedules and supporting them to prioritize being present for family time.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story?

Paul English has been instrumental in helping me optimize my hiring criteria. Prior to meeting and working with him, I made hiring decisions primarily based on intellectual and technical skills, as well as overall entrepreneurial intensity.

Paul focuses on hiring “people accelerators” — team members who make their colleagues even more productive through their personalities and their own diverse intellectual curiosity and experiences.

Now, I combine both priorities in my hiring and team crafting approach, and that helps build high performing, collaborative, and overall more fun teams to be around.

Let’s jump to the core of our discussion. Can you share with our readers about the innovations that you are bringing to the travel and hospitality industries?

Our goal is to make travel planning easier on the platforms where people are spending time. One way we’re doing that is through investing in AI innovation Since 2016, we’ve laid the groundwork for voice by introducing the ability to search for flights, hotels, and cars, to explore destinations they can go to within a budget, and to track flights — all using just your voice. Today, KAYAK is available on Alexa, Google Assistant, Apple TV, Slack and Facebook Messenger.

AR is another area we have been exploring with the introduction of our AR bag measurement tool last September which leverages augmented reality to let travelers know whether or not their carry-on luggage, will fit in the overhead bins.

We’re also exploring the vacation and home rentals space. Earlier this month, we introduced KAYAK Premium — select accommodations and experiences that are well-reviewed, offering thoughtful and modern design, unique amenities and perks. In the future, our app will help personalize, connect and automate the KAYAK Premium experience, including seamless check-in and check-out, saved room preferences, recommended dining and delivery options, and amenity selection.

Which “pain point” are you trying to address by introducing this innovation?

We see a new category of accommodations emerging — rooms that have the consistency of a hotel with the advantages of a rental, KAYAK Premium is our first move into this space. We want to make accommodations — and ultimately all travel experiences — that are well-reviewed, and offer thoughtful and modern design elements and amenities that travelers prefer, easier to find by curating and badging them as Premium.

Can you share a few examples of how travel and hospitality companies will be adjusting over the next five years to the new ways that consumers like to travel?

Success in the future is reserved for companies that bring their products and services to the devices and platforms where users are spending the most time, and leverage machine learning to provide smarter, more personalized results for even more complex actions. Airport wait times are an example of an intricate problem that might only be solved by machine learning coming to mobile.

Research shows that voice search continues to grow on a daily basis. We will continue to see more integrations for advanced actions and functionalities, like the ability to complete transactions for hotels hands-free. In 2017, we were the first travel company to offer this via Alexa and continue to lead the category with our advances in search.

You are a “travel insider.” How would you describe your “perfect vacation experience?”

A perfect vacation is a super active one, with family or friends with children of similar ages as mine. I’m from Cyprus and my wife is from Bulgaria, so we always make it a point to visit one of the two countries every summer. I love combining cultural experiences with relaxing beach time. We typically spend half our time visiting archaeological sites or immersing ourselves in cultural tourism. The last few years, we’ve scheduled stopovers to other European countries — it’s a great way to get in some additional sightseeing without breaking the bank.

You are a person of great influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be?

I would start a movement to eliminate the major barriers associated with travel. Travel enhances human connection, open-mindedness and understanding — if more people were able to travel and experience the world, I think we would see a lot of positive change.

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KAYAK CTO Giorgos Zacharia: “Success in the future is reserved for companies that bring their… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

My advice: Be you. Be determined. Success is not one suit for all, it will come in different ways and at different times. Some faster some slower, as long as you’re headed in the right direction — it will come.

I had the pleasure of interviewing Katerina Yoffe Larden, CEO + Founder of Hey Honey — an award-winning line of cruelty-free skincare products developed with the best dermatologists in the industry with just two founding ingredients — honey and bee propolis extracts — for both men + women all skincare types.

Coming from a professional background of marketing and advertising, Katerina and her husband owned a digital agency where they worked with a variety of amazing brands. She learned so many things about so many different industries, and it was life-changing and inspired her to create a launch of a company of her own.

As a busy working Mom, Katerina found it difficult to stick to skincare regimes that required a strict order of multiple steps with a seemingly endless list of products. Her real-life is hectic and ever-changing, just like her skin, so she found a need to launch a line of natural beauty products that are guaranteed to fit any lifestyle, NOT the other way around. Born on the foundation that skincare doesn’t have to be arduous to be effective, Katerina launched Hey Honey in 2014 with a mission to deliver a skincare line that proves healthy, glowing skin can be achieved through simplicity, with a motto “Real Life. Real Skincare”

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dive in, I would love to learn a bit more about you. Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?

Thank you for allowing me to share my story with you! I was always a busy woman. For as long as I can remember, I’ve always worked for myself. I was in the online advertising industry, working seven days a week around the clock. Then I got married, had kids and became even busier. After my husband and I had the opportunity to sell our previous company, we decided to move our family to the states. It was an exciting time in my life and one of the first times I slowed down and stopped running from one place to another to plan our move. While I was packing up our belongings, I noticed how many expired high-end skincare products I had on my shelve that I hadn’t used more two times. This felt exactly like me joining an expensive gym, paying the premium, and not showing up. Frustrated, I started to wonder why I hadn’t used those skincare products more than a handful of times. Was it my busy lifestyle? Or did those products require too many steps? I then realized I wanted my skincare routine to fit into my lifestyle, not the other way around. I wanted it to be easy, fast-acting and I wanted to love it. I became obsessed and started thinking about how I could make that change and create products that would fill all those needs — and that is how Hey Honey was born.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?

When I moved to the States, I realized that business culture varies from place to place, even though the world is so connected. Learning the business culture in a new country was like starting over from scratch, even though I had so much experience. Launching a company in a new country was and continues to be an interesting experience! +Really everything new we do is an interesting experience. I love our industry and that it keeps me on my toes because it is always changing in so many ways.

Are you able to identify a “tipping point” in your career when you started to see success? Did you start doing anything different? Are there takeaways or lessons that others can learn from that?

Starting a new business in a new country and learning a new language, without previous experience in the beauty industry, was all very challenging. Wanting to do things my way and sometimes against the stream was also a challenge. It is important that I look around and learn from successful brands and entrepreneurs that were thriving. But it was also important to remember that every individual and brand is different, you bring your personality to everything you do and follow your heart. In the first year of business, I felt that I was making products for myself and my family, even when people said that a certain product would not work because it was not “trending”, we still moved on with it.

The tipping point of success in my career was in late 2014 when Hey Honey launched its first program with IPSY. We chose to launch with a Peel Off Mask, that was considered to be “not trendy or “vintage”. However, the success that immediately came with the product launch and the buzzing social presence was the first realization that I am no longer making products for myself, I am actually touching others with my creation. People value and connect with the Hey Honey brand message — we are able to deliver products that do exactly what we wanted from day one. When we started receiving reviews that validating our brand message, I knew this was our turning point.

My advice: Be you. Be determined. Success is not one suit for all, it will come in different ways and at different times. Some faster some slower, as long as you’re headed in the right direction — it will come.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person to whom you are grateful who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

In 2014, we were working out of our basement with limited products. Then came Allison Slater Ray, who offered Hey Honey its first IPSY program. We had so many questions — what is IPSY? How will it benefit Hey Honey? How will we manufacture such a high volume of samples? I thought she was so brave☺ But we accepted the opportunity with both hands and thank Allison, to this day, for the special opportunity. Fortunately, enough, there have been many great people along the way that have been sincere and helpful in us finding our success.

We are of course grateful for our customers — their kind reviews and support have helped us became a stronger, confident and more knowledgeable brand We value our customer feedback and are always listening! One customer at a time helps me keep going in the right direction.

I am also grateful to have been working alongside my husband for 20 years, we help each other get to where we need to be daily.

Let’s now shift to the main part of our discussion. The beauty industry today has access to technology that was inconceivable only a short time ago. Can you tell us about the “cutting edge” (pardon the pun) technologies that you are working with or introducing? How do you think that will help people?

Our cutting-edge technology is happening mainly in the lab. Working with two time-honored ingredients, honey, and propolis and being able to preserve the natural properties of each ingredient to their maximum — this is where we are utilizing technology. Delivering results with our clean beauty promise is another way we use technology as well.

Keeping “Black Mirror” and the “Law of Unintended Consequences” in mind, can you see any potential drawbacks about this technology that people should think more deeply about?

I think that one place that will have a potential drawback is the way brands collaborate with influencers. Our tagline is “Real-Life, Real Skincare.” It is extremely challenging to stay real and at the same time deliver an impactful message to the mass. The problem is that consumers are often get lost between reality and life (as it seems) on Instagram. As an example, virtual 3D influencers are a creative way to exercise social (you can’t appreciate the creative side of it ), but it’s not reality and the potential drawback is when people can’t separate facts from entertainment.

Can you share 3 things that most excite you about the “beauty-tech” industry?

• Personalization — Being able to deliver personalization by product innovation.
• We are working hard to create products that self-adjust to ever-changing skin conditions. In other words, if you buy the same product as your friend, it will work different on you compared to them
• Technology creating new opportunities that every brand can utilize. Such as AI, which analyzes big data of skin conditions driven by geographical conditions, environment, environmental effects, can definitely see how technology creates new unconventional retail channels that will present brands with new opportunities.

Can you share 3 things that most concern you about the industry? If you had the ability to implement 3 ways to reform or improve the industry, what would you suggest?

• More reality! fewer filters.
• More regularity over trendy claims and what is considered good/bad ingredients.
• More giveback as an industry. We are fortunate in our industry and need to share.

Since you’re a beauty expert, can you share 5 ideas that anyone can use “to feel beautiful”? (Please share an example for each.

• Sleep eat and drink water — A cliché, but as many cliché’s — this is so true. This is the basis of healthy skin
• Positivity — Thinking positive will actually make you look better:)
• Be real, and there will be no stress in being something you’re not.
• Be kind — kind is beautiful and always trending

If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂

Every business, regardless of size and industry, should be committed to at least one social cause in any way they can. Whether it’s donating a percentage of sales in products or services, adding a logo next on websites, etc. we can make a huge difference.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? And can you share how it is relevant to you in your life?

My Dad once told me “In some business decisions, you will need to choose if you sleep well or eat well, choose to sleep well.”

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Katerina Yoffe Larden of Hey Honey: “Bind is beautiful and always trending” was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

The Future Of Beauty: “Use a Selfie To Create Hyper-Customized Skin Care Products” With Navneet Kaur of Yours

I believe the tipping point for me was when I started scaling myself with the help of a team. The only way to scale yourself is to hire people to support your weaknesses. People are the biggest assets in any company, and instead of being insecure, you should hire those who are smarter than yourself, and invest in training them to lead. A lesson that others can learn from my experience is to invest in training yourself to be a good interviewer and work on your pitch to get potential employees excited.

As a part of our series about how technology will be changing the beauty industry over the next five years, I had the pleasure of interviewing Navneet Kaur

Navneet Kaur is the founder and CEO of a skincare start-up Yours. Inspired to reimagine skincare, she set out to help people feel happy and confident in their own skin with clean, sustainable products.

Backed by her experience developing beauty brands within a conglomerate, and then scaling Uber across Asia, Navneet leverages technology and her learnings to simplify skincare at scale. Yours uses computer vision and machine learning to personalize skincare according to the individual’s skin needs, lifestyle, and environment.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dive in, our readers would love to learn a bit more about you. Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?

My love for skincare was kindled in my first job as a Brand Manager for a skincare brand. But after 3.5 years in the space, I still didn’t feel like my personal values resonated with the product development process, which was product-first rather than customer-first. So, in 2014 I shifted gears and joined Uber India (and later APAC) as part of the core team with a passion to create a new layer of transportation across Asia, where I then spent the next four years.

It was around this time two years ago that I struggled to find the right skincare products for my husband (also my co-founder). It was a frustrating experience because it involved guesswork, a lot of time going through reviews and blogs, and buying skincare products that cost serious money. All this while using his skin as a testing ground!

I spoke to many of my friends and somehow they all related to that experience. That sparked some thoughts in my head — what if there was a better solution to all this? What if companies did all the hard work of mapping customers to the right products? What if customer-product fit took precedence over product-market fit?

This pushed me to build Yours with one objective: to simplify skincare. I didn’t want anyone to ever go through that arduous experience of having to find the right skincare for themselves. From the outset, I was determined that product efficacy would remain paramount at Yours without compromising on being clean and sustainable. We started with personalized skincare formulated based on the user’s skin, lifestyle, and environment.

Although we’re only a few months into full operations, it’s been extremely fulfilling and humbling to receive people’s messages saying how they’re absolutely loving their personalized regimen, how the products have helped reduce their wrinkles, acne or eczema, and how they’re falling in love with their skin all over again.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?

The most interesting phase of my career was when I decided to quit my well-paying and comfortable job two years ago to pursue an idea all by myself. Imagine waking up and deciding “I’m going to make skincare for people, and make sure everyone gets the products that are right for them”. Yep, it was pretty crazy!

I was already familiar with several aspects of the skincare industry, but there were some things I had no idea about — for example, legal knowledge and raising capital. If you’re starting a company, having baseline legal knowledge comes in handy. And when it came to fundraising I had no clue how and where to start. I remember scribbling on my notebook “What do VCs do? Should I reach out to VCs directly? How should I structure the fund-raise?”.

Things got rather interesting when I started pitching Yours to VCs. I was trying to explain the pain points of skincare to men, and I received a lot of blank faces, confusion, and even yawns. A couple of months in, I knew I had to change my pitching strategy — one that involved asking them questions that created ‘aha moments’. I also carried samples of good and bad formulations to let them experience the differences sensorially. Lastly, I got their wives, girlfriends and sisters to try the products. And six months later, I was writing the press release announcing the seed round that included names like Sequoia and Jay-Z.

Are you able to identify a “tipping point” in your career when you started to see success? Did you start doing anything different? Are there takeaways or lessons that others can learn from that?

I believe the tipping point for me was when I started scaling myself with the help of a team. The only way to scale yourself is to hire people to support their weaknesses. People are the biggest assets in any company, and instead of being insecure, you should hire those who are smarter than yourself, and invest in training them to lead. A lesson that others can learn from my experience is to invest in training yourself to be a good interviewer and work on your pitch to get potential employees excited.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person to whom you are grateful who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

One person who has had my back with everything I decided to do is my husband, Shivam Sharma. Not only did he inspire me to start Yours, but he has also consistently been my support system for years now, and I draw a lot of energy and strength from him. As a solo female founder for the first year, it would have been a very lonely journey had he not been silently helping me on the side. He was new to the beauty industry but his approach to bringing the brand to life was so customer-centric that people started resonating with our story, and we got a lot of love as a brand. He would come up with fun ideas like creating a Spotify playlist for skincare! He joined Yours as my co-founder in September with the same passion for our mission. At first, we noticed that some investors had reservations about investing in a husband-wife duo, but we stayed true to our values and we knew it could actually be our secret weapon for a start-up.

Ok super. Let’s now shift to the main part of our discussion. The beauty industry today has access to technology that was inconceivable only a short time ago. Can you tell us about the “cutting edge” (pardon the pun) technologies that you are working with or introducing? How do you think that will help people?

Personalized experiences are the lay of the land in the online world, but that same level of personalization and adaptable efficiency is rarely found in the offline world, especially in the beauty industry. Over the past year or so I’ve been working with my team to refine the proprietary personalization model that is so integral to Yours.

How this works is that users complete an online skin assessment by uploading a selfie and answering questions about their skin, lifestyle, and environment. We use computer vision algorithms to extract data from the selfie before combining this data with inputs from the questionnaire. The complete data set is then fed into a proprietary personalization model that decodes skin needs. Finally, active ingredients from our ever-evolving ingredient dataset are mapped to create a personalized skincare regimen for each user comprising day cream, night cream, face serum and eye serum (and many more products coming soon).

By removing trial-and-error from everyday skincare regimens and ensuring that skincare isn’t one-size-fits-all, we’re reducing the opportunity costs associated with valuable time and money spent on ineffective products. We’re also further automating this essential area of modern life with our skincare subscription service, your Autopilot, which takes care of product refills and reformulations according to each user’s ever-evolving lifestyle, environment, and needs.

What we’re fundamentally looking at is the future of beauty that’s simplified and sustainable, a future where decision fatigue and frustration never enters the conversation about skincare.

Keeping “Black Mirror” and the “Law of Unintended Consequences” in mind, can you see any potential drawbacks about this technology that people should think more deeply about?

Ah, that’s by far one of the most interesting questions I’ve ever come across. Oddly enough, I have thought about the extreme side of it, more so because I see hints of it already. In the interest of transparency, we display all the ingredients that go into each formulation, but I dread the day when people will try to make their own skincare products just by reading ingredients and then mixing and matching ingredients of their choice. The most critical part about mixing ingredients is understanding the right percentage of actives to use because this requires proper safety, stability, compatibility, and many other tests.

I see this as a micro-trend already where people buy concentrates of active ingredients (like acids) and try to mix them together, without realizing how these actives will react with each other impact their skin in the long run. People forget that chemists who formulate skincare products have an educational background in biochemistry, plus years of experience and expertise that lets them know exactly which ingredients can be volatile and harmful when mixed together.

Can you share 3 things that most excite you about the “beauty-tech” industry?

If you look across industries where technology was introduced to core functions — manufacturing, taxis, travel, food delivery, you name it — technology has fundamentally changed the ways those industries operate. Beauty is an industry that’s at the brink of transformation as well. Although it’s hard to pick just three, I’m most excited about:

1. Personal assistant — Getting relevant beauty or skin tips any time of the day just by giving voice commands to your phone is truly amazing.
2. Computer vision — Given how advanced computer vision is today, and how most of us have access to high-resolution cameras right in our phones, users can expect to see unique features like early detection of pigmentation, wrinkles, or even signs of skin cancer. On the other hand, people can play around with more accurate makeup that would be perfect for their skin.
3. Personalization — Technology-enabling personalization at scale, for every individual, will make beauty truly inclusive. Imagine landing on a website where everything is personalized for you. The way I think about personalized using technology is that companies should do the hard work to offer the right product to a user, and not the other way around. Not only does this reduce the burden on the consumer, but it also reduces potential waste. #techforgood

Can you share 3 things that most concern you about the industry? If you had the ability to implement 3 ways to reform or improve the industry, what would you suggest?

The beauty industry has been growing for decades, and while there has been a lot of innovation, some of its core processes need reforms:

1. Transparency: Much to my surprise, there is often very little to no transparency in manufacturer supply chains, and often, ingredients are being sourced online from suppliers they have never even met! Moreover, a lot of ingredients are not being tested for safety and efficacy. Improvements in this regard would include companies being transparent about their sourcing practices, supply-chains, and whether or not these ingredients are safe and non-toxic, for both skin and the environment.
2. Sustainability: Environmentally sustainable products as well as packaging. All-natural products are not always the best (like essential oils), and they are also harmful to the environment when the industry overuses resources without replenishing them. The amount of single-use plastic used in the industry is terrifying, and the onus is on us to do our bit to actively work towards fixing this situation. This translates into being mindful of environmental sustainability at every step of the process, from developing a product to packaging and even marketing.
3. Cruelty-free: When it comes to product formulations, no animal testing and being vegan should be a norm and not a choice. This should involve companies actively working to recommend policies to relevant agencies to make ‘cruelty-free’ compulsory.

You are an expert about beauty. Can you share 5 ideas that anyone can use “to feel beautiful”? (Please share a story or example for each.)

I think feeling “beautiful” is more emotional and internal than something external. Being happy and comfortable in your own skin is a good starting point, so for me, skincare is a form of self-care.

The top 5 “me-time” things I’d recommend are:

1. Exercise in any way you like. A big part of how we feel is how comfortable we are with ourselves — plus working out helps release powerful endorphins that bring an overall feeling of euphoria. Invest some time every week to do something you like — dancing, yoga, swimming, anything. Look at it as me-time that you are investing in yourself, and you will feel beautiful when you see that post-workout glow on your face 🙂
2. Meditate. Stress is one of the biggest culprits behind our skin concerns, and 84% of our customers mark their stress level as high. Just five minutes of meditation every day can go a long way to make you feel good about yourself.
3. Pamper yourself with a nice skincare routine on Sundays. Make it a routine so that your mind associates it with happiness instead of it feeling like a task.
4. Water is the cheapest anti-aging ingredient but we see 79% of our users drink fewer than 7 glasses of water a day! Keep a bottle of water by your bedside and on your work desk to stay hydrated, and you’ll see a difference in how your skin looks within days.
5. Keep that self-doubt away and put on a mask while enjoying a nice cup of tea and some happy music.

You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂

Transparency — one of our core values is the most important one for me. I fundamentally believe that if companies are transparent and honest with their customers, it helps build long-term relationships. Being transparent also means owning your mistakes.

What you see is what you get. 🙂

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

One life lesson that has always stuck with me is “turn your insecurity into curiosity”. When I started building Yours, I had a limited understanding of the ingredients — enough to make a purchase for myself but not enough to make a skincare company. But I didn’t let it be a roadblock and went deep into learning about ingredients and the sourcing process and got senior skincare experts and scientists on board. We heavily indexed the R&D of our products using the best of Swiss ingredients (that were once not so affordable). These ingredients are 100% clean, have gone through stringent efficacy tests, and have a transparent supply chain with an EWG rating between 1–3. I also worked for months to refine our recommendation algorithm. After more than a year of hard work, our products are out there in the hands and homes of our customers and it’s the most fulfilling experience to read their reviews and how Yours is now an integral part of their routine.

How can our readers follow you online?

I’m always up for a good conversation and I love to share my learning and experiences on my social handles:

LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/knavneet)

Twitter (https://twitter.com/navneet_ka)

And if your skin is asking for more details about Yours, follow us on Instagram (instagram.com/lovefromyours) for sneak peeks, updates, and new product launches 🙂

Thank you so much for joining us. This was very inspirational.

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The Future Of Beauty: “Use a Selfie To Create Hyper-Customized Skin Care Products” With Navneet… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Be you and love your own unique features and attributes! It’s tempting in this social media world to try to compete or to look like someone else, and it’s a major pitfall in the medical aesthetics world. It would be very sad to live in a world where everyone looked exactly the same — the same cheeks, lips, bodies.

As a part of our series about how technology will be changing the beauty industry over the next five years, I had the pleasure of interviewing Amber Edwards, President, Sinclair Pharma North America.

Amber Edwards is the President for Sinclair Pharma (North America), a global aesthetics company with a portfolio of aesthetics technologies that focus on collagen stimulation. The solutions provide clinically effective, high quality, long-lasting, natural-looking, minimally invasive treatments.

Amber has spent more than twenty years in pharmaceuticals and medical devices, leading commercial efforts for some of the most well-known brands in the market. She is currently spearheading the growth of Silhouette InstaLift in the US.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dive in, our readers would love to learn a bit more about you. Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?

My backstory is rooted in a passion for all thing’s wellness, with a firm belief that if we take care of ourselves — mentally and physically — we are ultimately able to take better care of others. I first found my love for wellness in college as a fitness instructor, something that has been a constant in my life for 27 years. Through working as a fitness instructor, I was inspired by people striving to be the best versions of themselves which ultimately led me to a career in pharmaceuticals and medical aesthetics. The evolution of medical aesthetics has really rounded it all out for me — feeling great and looking like your best self is all linked.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?

Well, that is a very broad question! My favorite story is from more than 15 years ago, and one that to this day is a reminder of what it really means to have compassion and to go above and beyond. When I was a junior product manager, I was flying cross-country for a job interview, wearing a tank top, capri pants, and flip flops, and my luggage didn’t make it with me. It was after 10 pm and no stores open, and I was in a panic trying to decide if I should postpone my interviews or show up inappropriately dressed. In the middle of the night, there was a knock on my hotel room door…the front desk receptionist had driven about 45 minutes to her home, packed up a suitcase of her own business clothes, and brought them back so that I would have options to choose from. Now we were nowhere near the same size, but we made do and I went to the interviews. I ended up telling everyone the story which no doubt made me a memorable candidate! I still can’t believe someone would do that for a complete stranger and anytime I’m in that city for business I think about her.

Are you able to identify a “tipping point” in your career when you started to see success? Did you start doing anything different? Are there takeaways or lessons that others can learn from that?

I’m not sure it’s a tipping point, but rather a willingness to spend the time to broaden my experiences by accepting challenges and responsibilities that may not have been linked to promotion. I’ve always been ambitious and eager to keep progressing but have learned the hard way that promotion or advancing too quickly can actually be detrimental if you aren’t really prepared for it. Society can be so driven by titles, but there is so much to be said for taking the time to get a breadth of experience and to take some lateral moves in order to set yourself up for success when the right opportunity does come along. This is one of the biggest pieces of advice I offer people starting their careers — enjoy and embrace the learning journey, not just the title destination.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person to whom you are grateful who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

I can’t name just one — I’ve been incredibly lucky to have had a few people in my career who have been willing to take a chance on me. David Pyott, the former CEO of Allergan, established a culture of what was known as “autonomy and accountability.” Regardless of level or title, you had the autonomy to speak up, disagree, take a calculated risk — but you also had to assume complete accountability for the outcome. This mantra is something that has stuck with me and that I have tried to instill in my own teams as my career has progressed.

Ok super. Let’s now shift to the main part of our discussion. The beauty industry today has access to technology that was inconceivable only a short time ago. Can you tell us about the “cutting edge” (pardon the pun) technologies that you are working with or introducing? How do you think that will help people?

At Sinclair, we are striving to be a leader in shaping a more natural and overall healthier perception of beauty. We hope to officially move this market past the overfilled, overstretched, over-lifted trends that have given the category a bad reputation. In market research, we constantly hear consumers say their biggest fear in getting a cosmetic treatment is that they will look completely different and unnatural, and there are plenty of bad examples! Our current product, Silhouette InstaLift, and the products in our pipeline are all very subtle and use your body’s own ability to create more collagen in order to provide a very gradual and naturally refreshed look. I tell my friends and family that if you can tell someone has had work done, it was not done well. The goal is to look like you’ve just had a holiday, looking refreshed and rejuvenated

Keeping “Black Mirror” and the “Law of Unintended Consequences” in mind, can you see any potential drawbacks about this technology that people should think more deeply about?

A watch-out in the industry is a tendency to try to look like someone else rather than just rejuvenating and enhancing natural features. It would definitely feel like Black Mirror if everyone looked exactly the same! We are striving to bring technologies to the market that preserve natural beauty.

Can you share 3 things that most excite you about the “beauty-tech” industry?

1. Personalization — the industry is getting smarter and smarter, creating truly customized products and experiences for consumers. There will soon be no such thing as a “cookie-cutter” approach to beauty. The makeup industry led the way here but medical technologies are following closely behind
2. Commitment to Science — there is tremendous investment going into the overall science of aging, which is so exciting because it extends beyond beauty. The work underway in gene therapies, understanding why and how we age, is leading to new ideas about how we can live longer, and of course, look fantastic all the way!
3. Minimally invasive options continue to progress and are providing more opportunities to rejuvenate without the need for general anesthesia, long downtimes and other challenges that come with surgical interventions. Treatments are getting more effective and more efficient, and ultimately more accessible to broader populations.

Can you share 3 things that most concern you about the industry? If you had the ability to implement 3 ways to reform or improve the industry, what would you suggest?

1 — I already mentioned, but can’t say enough, the concern about consumers trying to look like someone else, whatever influencer they idolize or some beauty ideal that is unrealistic. I’d like for every campaign to emphasize the individuality and the beauty of loving yourself!

2 — There is a trend across the medical aesthetics industry to target younger populations, and it worries me. It is a slippery slope, once you start getting treated, the tendency is to want more and more. I know I am in the minority among my peers in this, but I worry about contributing to insecurities or doing anything to make young women feel like they aren’t enough as is. I believe the industry has a responsibility to find the delicate balance between encouraging women to invest in their well-being and natural beauty, without preying on insecurities.

3 — A very real concern is the plethora of unlicensed, unqualified providers getting access to medical treatments and claiming to be “experts” without the credentials. The FDA and medical associations are doing what they can to educate consumers about the importance of choosing board-certified, legitimate professionals, but it continues to be an issue.

You are an expert about beauty. Can you share 5 ideas that anyone can use “to feel beautiful”? (Please share a story or example for each.)

1. Make your own well-being a priority. It is easy to feel guilty about spending time or money on yourself, but if it’s toward something that preserves your health or state of mind, everyone around you benefits.
2. Embrace getting older! I call it “positive aging.” It shouldn’t be something negative and you can’t avoid it, so might as well embrace it. Feel great about the experiences and maturity you have gained while maintaining your sense of self.
3. Be you and love your own unique features and attributes! It’s tempting in this social media world to try to compete or to look like someone else, and it’s a major pitfall in the medical aesthetics world. It would be very sad to live in a world where everyone looked exactly the same — the same cheeks, lips, bodies. The beauty of medical aesthetics today and the direction we are going with Silhouette InstaLift, is that you can very naturally enhance or maintain your own unique look.
4. Exercise is absolutely key, and doesn’t have to cost a thing, just move. When you exercise you are releasing endorphins, you get that healthy glow, you increase blood flow and of course burn some fat and tone up those muscles all at the same time.
5. Take sleep seriously! It isn’t nice to have, it’s a must. Sleep regenerates body, mind, and soul, and is fundamental to keeping skin, not to mention attitude, refreshed.

You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂

I’d like to see a movement to put phones away when spending time with people we care about. It’s so disturbing to see families and friends out to dinner together but all looking at their phones instead of interacting, and I’m guilty as well! I know some people who have instituted strict “no phones” rules for meals and I love it.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

“The best way to predict your future is to create it,” Abraham Lincoln. This approach to life has been integral to my success. So many people spend months, even years, complaining about a job, a relationship, or what they wish they could do. My motto is to go for it! Life is too short to wait, and there is nothing worse than a life of regret for what we didn’t pursue.

How can our readers follow you online?

Twitter: @Amber_4STEAM

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amberedwards

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The Future Of Beauty, With Sinclair Pharma President Amber Edwards was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Dreamers: “They told me It was impossible and I did it anyway” With Ana Flores of #WeAllGrow Latina Network

…I quickly understood that I had to be my own biggest advocate and stubbornly believe in my vision. I had to find and create my own community of other women and Latinas that were also invested in their vision. We would become each other’s cheerleaders and mentors as we would uncover the path and together pave the road to a new industry that would eventually garner respect and value.

As a part of our series about “dreamers who ignored the naysayers and did what others said was impossible”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Ana Flores.

Ana Flores is the founder and CEO of #WeAllGrow Latina Network, the first and largest network of Latina digital influencers with a mission to elevate the voices and stories of Latinas through the power of community. The company’s annual #WeAllGrow Summit was named by Forbes.com as one of “19 Conferences Every Creative Should Attend in 2018” and again on the 2019 list.

Thank you so much for joining us! Our readers would love to ‘get to know you’ a bit better. Can you tell us your ‘backstory’?

I’ve always lived my life navigating between two cultures, two languages and crossing borders. I was born in Houston, TX to parents from El Salvador. They were young and living in the U.S. for my dad’s job. Thanks to their divorce, my mom moved back to El Salvador with my sister and me.

I called this tiny yet beautiful country my home until I was 18th. During that time, I would spend summers and some holidays with my dad and his new blended family in Houston. The contrasts I would experience between both cultures and having to fully assimilate to both, and yet to none, are really what helped shape my outlook in life, as well as my resiliency and adaptability.

As soon as I graduated high school from the American School in El Salvador, I left the many comforts of the privileged life I had, even in the midst of a horrible civil war, to go to college in Florida and learn to take care of myself.

I studied TV Production and landed my dream job at Univision Network in Miami as soon as I graduated. It was the late 90’s and the Hispanic media and music industry in the U.S. was in its infancy, which meant opportunities abounded for those of us who knew that this was the place to be if you wanted to be part of the eventual boom. My media career took me to Mexico City where I worked at MTV Latin America as part of the first in-house production team and eventually to L.A. to be part of the team that relaunched mun2 (now NBC Universo), a channel for Latino youth.

My then-husband and I had only been in L.A. for two years when we had our daughter. I quit my job at mun2 to attempt to be a stay-at-home mom, but faith had it that the recession would hit us just a few months after I received my last check. My husband lost all his clients and we were faced with a horrible economic crisis with a baby at home and no family in L.A. to rely on for any type of support.

As hard as it was, I recognized that I had to keep creating and building. It was then that I was fully introduced into the world of mom bloggers that was booming in 2008. Not only did I find the parenting resources I needed, but also an online community that became my support system.

However, as much as I searched for blogs by Latina moms and resources for parents raising bilingual kids like I was, I couldn’t find them. That’s when I recognized that I could fill that void. I had always been a content creator and digital was a new medium that was completely accessible, and I could do it on my own and during nap times. So, I called my best friend from college who now had a few regional Emmys and journalism awards under her belt but had also quit working after becoming a mom and got her excited about launching a blog. We partnered to launch SpanglishBaby, the first blog with stories, expert resources, and community for parents raising bilingual and bicultural kids.

That blog, which we started during our worst financial times but with a very clear vision, led us to the most incredible brand partnerships, opportunities, awards, and even a book, Bilingual is Better, that was featured on the TODAY Show.

Almost two years after launching SpanglishBaby, I founded what is now #WeAllGrow Latina Network in 2010 as Latina Bloggers Connect. It was the very first network connecting Latina bloggers with brands years before influencer marketing became recognized as an industry. At the core, my intention was to foster a community of fellow Latina bloggers where we could first and foremost find each other since the blogging/digital creator industry was so new. We needed a way to connect to teach each other what we were individually learning about things like SEO, HTML, design, pitching to brands, contributing with media platforms, growing audiences, plugins, Twitter best practices, etc. Back then there were only a handful of communities for digital creators and none addressing the needs of Latinas directly. We were blogging in culture, some in Spanish and others in both English and Spanish. In order to keep serving the audiences we had nurtured, we needed to monetize our content. In order to monetize, we needed direct access to brands looking to reach Hispanic audiences and we had to do it in the most professional way.

All of this led to our motto of “When one grows, we all grow.” I knew this was a new frontier for us with limitless potential for growth. But since there was no one ahead of us treading the path, we had to do it and continuously pass along the learnings, resources and connections.

Five years later, I decided it was time to host our first conference in Los Angeles and thus #WeAllGrow Summit was born. I had made most of my brand and peer connections by attending and speaking at conferences like BlogHer, Mom 2.0, Alt Summit and others. Though I was always accepted and respected, I was usually the token Latina and one of a handful there. It definitely served to my advantage because as the token Latina I was receiving many brand and media opportunities. I utilized those connections to open up space where they could find hundreds of Latina influencers to partner with. The influencers already trusted us because for many we had been the first network to offer them paid opportunities and real online connections. Brands like Neutrogena, Dove, Disney, and YouTube also trusted us because we had been working on campaigns together for the last 5 years.

#WeAllGrow has now matured into a social impact company fueling the most relevant community of Latina influencers, entrepreneurs and creatives with a mission to elevate the voices and stories of Latinas via the power of community.

Are you working on any new or exciting projects now? How do you think that will help people?

Absolutely! We’ve recognized that the one cause where we can truly make an impact with our community is pay equity, specifically Latina Equal Pay. Last year we partnered with The Riveter to co-host a series of events at their L.A., Austin, and Dallas locations on Latina Equal Pay Day. We invited powerful Latinas to share their experiences, tips, and resources to advance pay equity and all events were sold out. We were surprised to learn that most of the attendees were not aware of just how large the pay gap is and that Latinas are the most affected by it.

They were all ignited and ready to arm themselves with knowledge and skills to advocate and negotiate for themselves and their colleagues for the wages they deserve.

We also learned that most were not aware that there are bills sitting at the legislative level that can impact the wage gap, such as the Paycheck Fairness Act.

So, for 2020, we’re going bigger and taking on equal pay for Latinas as our main advocacy project. We’re creating more events and content throughout the year to inform and empower Latinas with the negotiation tips and to understand their own value. We will create a cohort that will commit to putting the knowledge to use and report back on their progress. Our goal is to be able to showcase stories of success so we can make real progress towards equal pay one Latina at a time.

In your opinion, what do you think makes your company or organization stand out from the crowd?

Our largest project every year is #WeAllGrow Summit and this year we’re doubling the number of attendees because for the past few years we would sell out within hours. The message was clear that Latinas are craving spaces where they feel seen, heard and valued and #WeAllGrow Summit is just that meeting place. As much as a risk that it is for us as a self-funded company to more than double our capacity, we’re going for it because we know our community is asking for it.

Ok, thank you for that. I’d like to jump to the main focus of this interview. Has there ever been a time that someone told you something was impossible, but you did it anyway? Can you share the story with us? What was your idea? What was the reaction of the naysayers? And how did you overcome that?

I feel that even more difficult than having someone tell you your idea or business is impossible is launching something that almost no one around you understands or sees any sort of value in. When I launched SpanglishBaby and Latina Bloggers Connect/#WeAllGrow Latina, I knew it in my gut and my whole body that I was onto something with so much potential that the possibilities for growth were unlimited and really depended on my own sense of value. Yet, blogging was still so new and being labeled as a “mom blogger” in many ways diminished our worth. In 2010 the influencer marketing industry didn’t really exist yet and saying that I was building a business connecting Latina bloggers with brands seemed so foreign and unimportant to most.

When I first received the inspiration for SpanglishBaby, I called two male friends and previous colleagues who were the only ones I knew who were creating content online for their corporate jobs. Both were in important decision-making positions and were struggling to get the budgets and appreciation to grow the online divisions of the media companies they worked with. I needed guidance and I knew they would be the only ones who would understand me. Armed with a recent, and likely the first, New York Times article about the explosion of mom blogs centered around the 2008 BlogHer conference, I called each one individually. I felt completely deflated after the calls. They didn’t outright tell me my idea and vision were impossible, they just didn’t get it and, maybe worse, they saw it as something nice for me to practically pass my time as a new mom but that I wouldn’t be able to monetize and scale.

I proved them wrong within two years.

In the end, how we’re all the naysayers proven wrong? 🙂

I quickly understood that I had to be my own biggest advocate and stubbornly believe in my vision. I had to find and create my own community of other women and Latinas that were also invested in their vision. We would become each other’s cheerleaders and mentors as we would uncover the path and together pave the road to a new industry that would eventually garner respect and value.

Within less than 5 years and with absolutely no investment funds, I had scaled the company to over one million in revenue and doubled it the next year. This is even a bigger deal when you know that only 1% of Latina-owned companies ever hit the 1-million-dollar revenue mark. And I did it.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

That would have to be Jennifer James, founder of the Mom Bloggers Club and Mom Bloggers for Social Good. She was one of the first mom bloggers I found and followed obsessively. And by “follow” in those years, I meant reading everything she posted on her blogs and connecting via Twitter. I could tell she had the same vision of creating content to build and unite a community and she was doing it successfully. She was also one of the first ones to offer bloggers paid campaigns with brands and other opportunities.

One day I received an email from the founder of Blogalicious, the first conference for women bloggers of color. Stacey Ferguson, now my good friend, reached out to invite me to be a speaker at the conference’s second annual event and I was being placed on a panel with Jennifer James. I could barely believe it and felt completely unworthy because I had barely made my first few hundred dollars with SpanglishBaby.

That invitation armed me with the guts to reach out to Jennifer James, now as a co-panelist, to ask her for a meetup at the upcoming BlogHer conference in NYC. She was a rockstar there but made the time to sit with me for lunch in between all the huge brand events I wasn’t invited to yet.

The most important thing that happened during that lunch was Jennifer looking at me straight in the eye and asking me who was going to do for Latina bloggers what she had done for African American and mom bloggers at large. And then followed up by saying that someone had to be me.

I already had the vision for Latina Bloggers Connect and that conversation with her solidified it and put me into action. I had an advocate. I had someone who believed in me that had already blazed the trail and was willing to share her knowledge with me.

Within two months I launched Latina Bloggers Connect. That same month, I was on the cover of Hispanic Business as “The New Face of Social Media.”

It must not have been easy to ignore all the naysayers. Did you have any experiences growing up that have contributed to building your resiliency? Can you share the story with us?

I truly believe that the fact that I had to grow up navigating two cultures, two languages, two families across different borders in completely different realities built a lifelong resiliency in me because I was always having to adapt, and I knew nothing is permanent.

Based on your experience, can you share 5 strategies that people can use to harness the sense of tenacity and do what naysayers think is impossible? (Please share a story or an example for each)

1. Believe in your vision way before you have any evidence of success.
2. Develop your own sense of value and be unapologetic about it.
3. Be your own biggest advocate.
4. Embrace failure as an opportunity.
5. Share what you learn and open doors for others along the way.

What is your favorite quote or personal philosophy that relates to the concept of resilience?

It’s actually a very common quote but one that I always keep top of mind and soothes me every time the path gets rough: “The darkest hour is just before dawn.”

No matter how tough it might get and how dark things might seem, I’ve learned to just hold on because it’s part of a natural cycle and if I just let the moment flow through me in full presence and acceptance, I can become an observer and learn from it to be ready for the moment of dawn with a new perspective and elevated consciousness.

You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good for the greatest number of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.

I stand strong in our current mission of elevating the voices and stories of Latinas and creating a more equitable playing field for us because there’s still a lot of work to be done.

Imagine what could happen if we had opportunities in proportion to the impact we have on this country’s economy and culture?

Imagine what could happen if we all rise as one?

I want to see more spaces where all women of color feel seen and understood.

If you have access to the purse strings, fund those communities and leaders. If you have access to a stage or boardroom, invite us in.

If you can use your voice and influence to amplify our stories, do it. If you’re unsure how but know it’s the right thing to do, talk to us.

Latinas are at the forefront of shaping culture and driving the country’s economy.

Creating more visibility and an equitable playing field for Latinas must be a business priority for all. It’s also a social justice imperative.

Can our readers follow you on social media?

Please do!

My personal accounts are all on @laflowers and #WeAllGrow is @weallgrowlatina.

I also invite all to join our online community at amigas.weallgrowlatina.com.

Thank you for these great stories. We wish you only continued success!

Thanks for the opportunity!

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Dreamers: “They told me It was impossible and I did it anyway” With Ana Flores of #WeAllGrow Latina was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.