Female Disruptors: Bex Gold of Brite Hair Bar None On The Three Things You Need To Shake Up Your Industry
An Interview With Candice Georgiadis
I should listen to other people more! I seem to have mashed all the advice into “keep your eyes open, head down, be strong, be observant, and keep moving in a positive direction. What you do everyday impacts others.”
As a part of our series about women who are shaking things up in their industry, I had the pleasure of interviewing Bex Gold.
Prior to starting The Department Of Brands, Bex Gold founded cleaning products specialist Cinderella, which was subsequently acquired by a manufacturer. The experience left her with a passion for creating products, particularly in the beauty category, that are not harmful to us or the environment. Based in New Zealand, Bex continues to work hard and determine additional beauty products that consumers may feel are missing from the lineup.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your “backstory”? What led you to this particular career path?
I have a background in communications, marketing, research, and forecasting. Selling products into mass retail is a way to make the world a little bit better with each purchase. Partnering with ethical suppliers and selecting vegan ingredients and making them available through everyday shopping channels is a great way to make a difference.
My first brand was a green, ethical home cleaning range that was the first range in Australia to launch with plant based surfactants. I was personally motivated to create this product after seeing the impact of traditional products; at the time I was living in a property in a rainforest and was horrified that traditional cleaning products were killing the plants.
I sold that business (for a song) to my manufacturing partner when a long term relationship ended. While I was in London resetting my life I saw the buzz and excitement of high street brands. I wanted to bring that sense of excitement to supermarkets. I saw that there was an opportunity to do something different in the hair color category. Traditional box color in mass retail is full of toxic ingredients and typically has an over photoshopped woman on the front of the box.
Can you tell our readers what it is about the work you’re doing that’s disruptive?
We’ve brought clean color and disruptive packing to mass retail!
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
For my very first manufacturing run ever I made two errors — I didn’t know that labels could be applied off a roll so I hand applied labels to 12,000 bottles! The labels didn’t even have a peel off sheet on the back and came off in segments. This was a rookie mistake, but I had no budget to reprint!
Those same 12,000 bottles were hand filled from 20L containers (that I’ve since found you can apply a tap to those big drums) I hand poured them over a sink after the first fill run (unlabelled due to my packaging mistake) went up in flames in a factory fire the morning they were to be delivered.
I had secured retailer orders for Christmas, so I took the offer for the 20L containers and hand filled 12,000 bottles. I looked pretty buff after lifting and pouring so many containers!
We all need a little help along the journey. Who have been some of your mentors? Can you share a story about how they made an impact?
I try to learn daily — if you aren’t learning daily you aren’t moving forward. I try to draw from every single interaction no matter how big or small.
I have a supportive family but the support of my suppliers that have stood alongside me since day one is always epically valued. We’ve ridden the ups and downs of mass retail together and people have gone above and beyond to meet insane manufacturing deadlines.
The support that I get everyday from people who work alongside me and the customers that buy the products reminds me to be grateful and invest energy into the people and things that matter.
In today’s parlance, being disruptive is usually a positive adjective. But is disrupting always good? When do we say the converse, that a system or structure has ‘withstood the test of time’? Can you articulate to our readers when disrupting an industry is positive, and when disrupting an industry is ‘not so positive’? Can you share some examples of what you mean?
Single use sachets are an example of disruption gone bad. Mass retail is a balance of price, convenience, and innovation. The supply chains aren’t set up to be as kind to the environment as they could be. We try to work with the limitations that we have by using easily recyclable plastic and infinitely recyclable aluminium bottles that are easy to recycle at curbside.
Can you share 3 of the best words of advice you’ve gotten along your journey? Please give a story or example for each.
I should listen to other people more! I seem to have mashed all the advice into “keep your eyes open, head down, be strong, be observant, and keep moving in a positive direction. What you do everyday impacts others.”
We are sure you aren’t done. How are you going to shake things up next?
I would like to make sure that others are given some of the opportunities that I have had. Microfinance is one way that I feel I can make a difference.
In your opinion, what are the biggest challenges faced by ‘women disruptors’ that aren’t typically faced by their male counterparts?
I’m fortunate that I don’t feel encumbered by this — you can’t get caught up in the incorrect or negative thoughts of others — be you!
Do you have a book/podcast/talk that’s had a deep impact on your thinking? Can you share a story with us?
I read news from all over the world all day — the ideas and insights are constantly fed into my narrative. A random anecdote that I was talking about with a friend yesterday was from an old children’s program Fraggle Rock! The Doozers, who have their constructions eaten by the Fraggles everyday are happy with this relationship as without a purpose in life — which is to build — they have no direction. We all need purpose and direction — that thing that gets us up and moving everyday.
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. 🙂
Don’t be overwhelmed. Doing a little bit can make a big difference.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
Keep moving forward. Life isn’t always perfect. I try to learn from my mistakes, put my head down, and keep going. If you stay in the memories of some of those gut retching events (and I’ve had perhaps too many) and dwell on them you will stay there.
How can our readers follow you online?
@britehair
@bar.none.co
@kyn.supply
This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for joining us!
Female Disruptors: Bex Gold of Brite Hair Bar None On The Three Things You Need To Shake Up Your… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.