In Episode 17 of Earned (our last episode of 2020!), Conor sits down with Julia Straus, CEO of popular British activewear brand Sweaty Betty, and former CEO of probiotic-powered skincare line Tula. Tune in to learn the early influencer marketing strategies that helped power Tula's success, how Sweaty Betty stands out among the competition, and best practices for approaching the influencer space (and driving conversion!) as an apparel brand.

In our fifteenth episode of Earned, Conor sits down with Toto Haba, SVP of global marketing & communications at Benefit Cosmetics. Check it out to learn what a typical day in Toto's role looks like, how he thinks the influencer space has evolved, and why Benefit Cosmetics is focusing on rising Gen Z content creators!

In Episode 13 of Earned, Conor sits down with Michael McNeil, VP of Integrated Marketing at Huda Beauty. We learn how Michael, who majored in political science and pre-med at LMU, took a hard left turn after college to get his “PhD in beauty” by joining a then-small cosmetics brand known as Anastasia Beverly Hills. We dive into how Michael and ABH “invented what beauty marketing looks like today,” and learn Michael’s philosophy behind fostering a community of genuine, long-term brand fans. Michael emphasizes the power of embracing your competitors and communicating to consumers in “the language they already speak.” We also hear about Michael’s experience transitioning to (and powering growth for) Huda Beauty, working with brand founder and mega-influencer Huda Kattan, and creating a global brand—with influencers at the forefront. 

In Episode 11 of Earned, Conor chats with David Benayoun and Adam Bohbot, co-founders of fast-growing, carbon neutral jewelry brand Ana Luisa. In the episode, Adam and David reveal their fateful meeting sharing a cab to a nightclub in Shanghai while both attending business school at EMLYON. After pursuing different career paths post-graduation, we learn why the two decided to leverage their complementary skill sets and create Ana Luisa in 2018. They then give insight into Ana Luisa’s unique weekly product drop strategy, and divulge their product co-creation process with influencers—a pillar of the brand’s DNA. We learn more about how the brand’s YouTube strategy powered hyper growth, the inventory planning challenges that resulted, and why Adam and David prioritize influencer partners’ “value fit” over follower count. 

In Episode 9 of Earned, Conor chats with Aurelian Lis, CEO of influencer-favorite skincare brand Dermalogica. Aurelian shares the post-COVID pivots that Dermalogica has made, including the brand’s new Clean Touch Certification program. Aurelian talks about why he believes product along with service leads to consumer loyalty, and finally, we discuss the brand’s education-focused approach to influencer marketing.

For Episode 7 of Earned, Conor sits down with Jamie Starr, Global Director of Sports Marketing at The North Face. Jamie starts off by sharing where his love of the outdoors originated, growing up in Crested Butte, a small, close-knit community in Colorado’s Rocky Mountains. We learn more about Jamie’s role at The North Face, and how the brand is staying connected with, and supportive of, its team of athlete ambassadors in the face of a pandemic and cultural revolution. To end the episode, Jamie emphasizes how The North Face is using its platform to fight for racial justice and promote more diversity in mountain sports.

In Earned’s first remote episode, Conor (virtually) sits down with Sarah Lee and Christine Chang, co-founders of cult-favorite skincare brand Glow Recipe. We dive into Sarah and Christine’s unique backgrounds, as they unpack what they learned growing up across different countries and cultures. Christine and Sarah detail their close-knit co-founder dynamic, and share their 360-degree approach to brand marketing, their personalized and authentic influencer outreach strategy, and their journey to building the Real Glow Gang, a passionate and highly engaged community of skincare—and Glow Recipe—enthusiasts.

In episode 3 of Earned, Conor sits down with Evelyn Wang, CMO of cult-favorite masstige cosmetics brand Milani. We dive into Evelyn’s unexpected path to the beauty industry, beginning with a degree in Psychoanalytic Thought from a Toronto university, to a business degree at USC (with her sights set on the entertainment industry), before an internship at L'Oréal Paris eventually led her to senior leadership positions at major beauty corporations like Estée Lauder and Johnson & Johnson. Evelyn unpacks the transition from working at these large, publicly traded companies, to leading the marketing departments of smaller, independent brands like Wet n Wild, and, since 2018, Milani. We find out her core marketing philosophies, including the importance of a compelling brand story and the necessity of details, plus her thoughts on the influencer marketing space and Milani’s personalized approach to working with content creators. 

In Episode 1 of Earned, Tribe Dynamics co-founder Conor Begley sits down with Ashton Wall, director of performance marketing at ColourPop, one of today’s hottest beauty brands in earned media. Ashton shares how she landed her “dream job” at ColourPop, revealing her career role models and ride-or-die marketing philosophies. Conor and Ashton also dive into the evolution of brand-consumer relationships in the social media era and the importance of social listening, before Ashton divulges a few of the strategies that rocketed ColourPop to stardom.