The DIBS Playbook: Building a Viral Beauty Brand with Co-Founder Courtney Shields

What this episode covers

Courtney Shields is a mom, highly influential content creator, and the Co-Founder of DIBS Beauty, celebrated for building a deeply loyal community of more than 2 million women through her authentic, unfiltered voice. Since 2014, she has created space for honest conversations around both triumphs and challenges, empowering women to feel confident in real life, not just curated moments. That same philosophy lives at the core of DIBS Beauty, a brand designed to simplify beauty routines through effortless, high-performing, multi-functional products made for busy lives. After originally having her co-founder on the podcast in 2022, the brand has since achieved explosive growth, secured a major strategic investment to fuel expansion, sold out hero products repeatedly, and successfully launched into nationwide brick-and-mortar retail with Ulta Beauty. Under Courtney’s creative leadership, DIBS has become known for cult-favorite staples that make looking put-together feel easy and intuitive. Through social media, in-person meetups, and candid storytelling around motherhood, wellness, and life behind the scenes, Courtney continues to show up as both a founder and a friend. Everything she builds online and in beauty centers on helping women feel supported, radiant, and fully themselves. In this episode, Courtney also discusses: Building and nurturing her community over the past decade The wild journey of building a startup over the past four years Why stick products are genius—safe and simple Quick, effortless routines for feeling your best How DIBS built a 58,000+ waitlist for their cult-favorite DUO Brush How keeping product names simple drives clarity and conversion Why in-person connections create stronger, more loyal brands We hope you enjoy this episode and gain valuable insights into Courtney's journey and the growth of DIBS Beauty. Don't forget to subscribe to the Glam & Grow podcast for more in-depth conversations with the most incredible brands, founders, and more. Be sure to check out DIBS Beauty at www.dibsbeauty.com and on Instagram at @dibsbeauty Rated #1 Best Beauty Business Podcast on FeedPost This episode is brought to you by Wavebreak Leading direct-to-consumer brands hire Wavebreak to turn email marketing into a top revenue driver. Most eCommerce brands don’t email right... and it costs them. At Wavebreak, our eCommerce email marketing agency helps qualified brands recapture 7+ figures of lost revenue each year. From abandoned cart emails to Black Friday campaigns, our best-in-class team manage the entire process: strategy, design, copywriting, coding, and testing. All aimed at driving growth, profit, brand recognition, and most importantly, ROI. Curious if Wavebreak is right for you? Reach out at Wavebreak.co