There’s certainly the risk of every conversation, every interaction, and ultimately every relationship being tracked and monetized, and eventually tied to the sale of something — whether it’s beauty, new shoes, or a new home. Already, what we look at online, what we write, and what we verbally say is being monitored to some degree. With our increased use of video conferencing for commercial purposes, our physical attributes are going to be scrutinized and mined in the same way. This is already happening on some level, so we have to continue to be mindful, and we as an industry have a responsibility to not abuse the trust and the privilege we have by having such an intimate relationship with our clients.
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 Dustin Cash and Charlene Valledor of LA-based incubator, SOS Beauty.
Dustin Cash is the founder of SOS Beauty, a Los Angeles-based brand incubation agency working with some of the newest and most exciting new brands in beauty. As an innovative product developer and go-to-market strategist, Dustin tailored the SOS business model to adapt to the ever-shifting landscape of the industry. He and his team specialize in working with passionate brand founders and investors to launch new prestige and luxury brands and product innovation.
Charlene Valledor is the President of SOS Beauty, a Los Angeles-based brand incubation agency working with some of the newest and most exciting new brands in beauty. As a veteran product developer and branding strategist, Charlene specializes in working closely with brand founders to develop innovative and meaningful product experiences that turn customers into passionate brand ambassadors and die-hard fans. Her background in science and passion for storytelling allows her to partner with the best product chemists in the industry to create true product innovation while weaving authentic and memorable brand messaging throughout every brand touchpoint.
Thank you for joining us! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?
Dustin: I actually got my start in this industry at the age of 18. While I was a freshman in college here in Los Angeles, studying visual communication, I started an event company and started doing a lot of events for a haircare brand called Alterna. In those days, they often held sales and education-based events all over the country, and I had done so many events with them, they eventually made me an offer to come in-house. I ended up staying with them for 10 years — wearing a lot of hats, from sales, education, marketing, and merchandising — almost everything but accounting. I’ve always been an entrepreneurial person, but that’s where I basically learned everything about running a beauty business. By the time I left that band, I had this really strong foundation of skills and a wide network of contacts in the industry. I challenged myself, took out a small business loan, and started my own body care line. I did absolutely everything myself. That process made me realize how hard it was to do this on your own. I thought, “if this is hard for me to do, with all my experience and my network, this must be impossible for everyone else.” At that point, I started consulting for other brands in LA, helping with everything from operations to product development. Very quickly, my consulting business started taking off, and I was drowning with inquiries. That’s when I started to realize that there was a need for this service — basically an agency that would help brand founders get their businesses off the ground.
Charlene: I’ve always wanted to work in beauty — ever since I was a child. I loved makeup, skincare, and was obsessed with marketing copy and packaging. I spent every penny I had at the MAC counter or the drugstore. I didn’t exactly know what my career options were, but I knew I wanted to be part of it. I got my degree in Biochemistry, and after graduation, while all of my college friends were starting medical or dentistry school, I basically hit the pavement and hand-delivered my resume to every beauty brand based in LA and Orange County. I got hired that fall at this small brand in the sales and marketing department. My next job was at a haircare company, doing project management and operations, which taught me how to actually manage a lot of moving pieces and problem solve.
When I went into my next interview for a product development job at a luxury cosmetics company, I basically said, “I can learn how to do anything, and I know how to make stuff happen.” I got that job, and I felt like I had found my perfect place. I was challenged daily, in the best way possible. I felt like I was using all the tools in my toolbox, and finally getting to build something. I knew how to manage a project and commercialize, and I knew what the sales and marketing teams needed to make a launch successful at the retail level, but now I finally had an opportunity to be creative — developing product concepts and bringing them to life. I didn’t just see it as making products, I saw it as creating new experiences for people.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?
Dustin: Getting industry recognition and getting two ICMAD awards for products that I created (OUAI Dry Shampoo Foam and Anti-Frizz Sheets) was one of the most exciting things to happen to me. Coming from a professional beauty background, I’ve always put a lot of importance on supporting fellow industry professionals. I believe that by supporting one another and fostering the spirit of collaboration, we make ourselves better leaders and better innovators and that together, we drive our industry in the right direction. It was such a humbling experience to have my work recognized by my peers. I felt extremely proud.
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?
Dustin: In 2015, I met Deanna Kangas, Andrew Knox, and Jen Atkin. They were starting this new haircare brand and needed product development help, so they brought me on. That brand became OUAI Haircare, and it was a rocket ship. It was, and arguably still is, one of the hottest new hair care brands out on the market. I was there from the beginning, doing product development, but also just about everything else — from international registration to training our Australian retailers, to setting up the UPS account. That brand was almost an instant success, and I couldn’t make products fast enough. That’s when I started to see that, like Jen Atkin, these experts and professionals were using social media to promote their work and their talents, and starting to become celebrities themselves and building their audience, and there was power in that audience. It felt like we were at the forefront of this digital brand revolution. The marketing strategies were so different in that space, I had to adapt a lot of what I learned from Alterna, which was more of a traditional brand with traditional distribution, to this new digital celebrity/influencer world. I had to learn to pull these new levers to appeal to this new customer base, so that experience really changed my trajectory and catapulted our business.
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?
Dustin: Tamara Brown, who I’m still very good friends with today, was sort of a mentor of mine. She is extremely hard-working, smart, and strategic. Tamara is one of the few that have been able to adapt to the rapidly changing retail landscape without skipping a beat. She can change course when necessary without losing sight of the big picture.
Charlene: I learned a lot from Carisa Janes from my years at Hourglass. She taught me a lot about entrepreneurship, the importance of understanding quality, and having high expectations for your team and for yourself. She started her career as a product developer, so it was truly inspiring to see her build this incredible brand by staying true to her vision and always putting product innovation and performance first.
The beauty industry today has access to technology that was inconceivable only a short time ago. Can you tell us about the “cutting edge” technologies that you are working with or introducing? How do you think that will help people?
Charlene: The technology and the quality of our cameras and the level of detail they can produce, and with consistency has not only changed the way we see ourselves but also how we present ourselves to the world. We’re not far from being able to learn about a new launch, get a personalized consultation and tutorial, find your perfect shade, purchase, and share real-time feedback with other shoppers — seamlessly — all within the same platform. We’ve had to quickly adapt to this new reality because of COVID, and it’s really pushing the innovation in this space. Whereas you didn’t really know who you were talking to when you uploaded a video on YouTube or IG, now you are seeing your customers/followers /fans on IG live or on Zoom, face to face. More and more, the majority of our human interactions are going to occur across screens, so that real-time digital impression is going to be just as important to consider as the IRL impression, and that’s going to factor into our purchasing decisions. In the early 2000s, we used to talk about HD makeup, and complexion products had to perform well under artificial lighting do avoid the dreaded “flashback” from cameras.
Now we’re talking about makeup that has to do its job and make us look in good on the screens of our computers and mobile devices as well as in person. Our eyes process color and light differently than our screens do, so how do we make up for that gap? There is so much interesting technology that’s being developed that is going to help bridge that gap of perception and make the transition smoother.
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?
Charlene: There’s certainly the risk of every conversation, every interaction, and ultimately every relationship being tracked and monetized, and eventually tied to the sale of something — whether it’s beauty, new shoes, or a new home. Already, what we look at online, what we write, and what we verbally say is being monitored to some degree. With our increased use of video conferencing for commercial purposes, our physical attributes are going to be scrutinized and mined in the same way. This is already happening on some level, so we have to continue to be mindful, and we as an industry have a responsibility to not abuse the trust and the privilege we have by having such an intimate relationship with our clients.
Can you share 3 things that excite you about the “beauty-tech” industry?
Dustin:
- The advancement of analytical tools that further our understanding of the effects of our diet and lifestyle on our skin and hair. I’m fascinated by how much our diet affects our skin, and yet we know so little about what we are actually ingesting and how our body is reacting to all of these factors.
- I love the enhanced and extremely customized shopping experiences that are being tested now in beauty retail. Before COVID even happened, we were lucky enough to see what was being tested in flagship stores in Asia, and it was just mind-blowing. The customer is essentially able to have this extremely rich shopping experience through her mobile device without speaking to a single store employee — these are technologies that are now crucial in our post-COVID world.
- The real-time interaction that is happening between brands and customers on Instagram, TikTok, and other social apps. We can see each other with better resolution and clarity, making the interactions more realistic than ever before. Real consultations and education moments are happening digitally, and the quality of the interactions are sometimes better than what you can ever hope for in person.
Can you share 3 things that concern you about the industry? If you had the ability to implement 3 ways to reform or improve the industry, what would you suggest?
Charlene: We have such power as an industry, so I’m very optimistic about our future. We haven’t even scratched the surface on what we could do if we really put our heads together as a community. The amount of investment that went into beauty in a time of unprecedented diversity and representation is proof that we have the power to really change our society’s narrative. I’m optimistic, but I do see areas that we need to work on.
- I’m concerned about the degree of editing that can occur in our digital lives. As our online interactions become our primary form of connectivity, we have to keep in mind that our perfect Zoom backgrounds are not a reflection of the entire home, for example. I would love us to be able to be more honest about our imperfections.
- The excessive packaging and shipping that a DTC world demands. We have to find a way to do better. There are ways in which we can minimize the number of single-item shipments that fly across the world to be delivered overnight — we just have to band together as an industry to make the changes. The convenience is great, but at what cost?
- The misinformation about ingredients. As a person with a science background, I want to encourage our community to learn the facts before we start fear-mongering and fighting the wrong enemy.
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.)
Dustin: Decompressing and taking time for yourself at the end of the day is essential! I love to steam and just breathe and meditate as often as I can. It’s what keeps me sane. I also think taking time to change your scenery is so important to maintain perspective. Take a break — even if it’s just a drive or a quick weekend trip — every month. See something new or try a new experience. It refreshes your mind. Lastly — and this one is so simple, but it’s worth mentioning — I find that I always feel better when I’m eating right. I joke that I’m 98% vegan, but I really try to stick to that as much as I can. I feel a tremendous difference in by energy and clarity of mind when I eat right.
Charlene: I love to massage my face with a gua sha stone, a roller, or even just my hands at night as I apply my face products. It helps me to relax my facial muscles and relieve the tension in my jaw and temples. I swear it also helps me to look less puffy and bloated in the morning, too. SLEEP is the other thing — there’s no better anti-aging treatment than a full night of sleep. I say this as someone who struggles with sleep, but there’s really no comparison — you can use all the most expensive products in the world, but if you don’t sleep, it’s no use.
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.
Dustin: The reason why I started SOS is rooted in how passionate I am about empowering people to follow their dreams. Inspiring and supporting entrepreneurs to start their businesses and make their mark on the world is my purpose. I believe in the power of positive thinking, and when someone achieves success, it not only helps them and their family, but it creates a halo effect in the communities around them.
Charlene: I want to inspire women to advocate for themselves and for each other. The idea of asking for what you need, let alone what you want, is still so difficult to swallow for women — including myself. We have power, and this entire industry is proof, so we need to claim our seats at the table, get what we want, and pass it along to the next woman in line. I want the next generation of women to not only feel worthy but to fully and wholeheartedly know that they are entitled to those seats because they are.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
Dustin: Wake up, dress up, and show up. My grandfather taught me that, and it has never left me. The simple act of just being present for the opportunities that arise is half the battle. I try to instill this in the team and demonstrate that no opportunity is too small — just show up, and never take anything for granted.
Charlene: Decide based on faith, not fear. I have to remind myself of this every day. I am a naturally risk-averse person, but you need to just trust that you will be able to handle anything that comes your way, and not let the possibility of failure cripple you.
Dustin Cash and Charlene Valledor of SOS Beauty: How Technology Will Be Changing Beauty Industry was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.