When you're reinforcing positivity kids around grades, they're athleticism or how attractive they are, it makes them vulnerable because their self-worth becomes in that, and all of those three things kind of change over time. Most kids don't play professional sports. Most people realize somewhere around 23 that, oh, grades mean nothing in real life. And if you're fighting for looking beautiful, it's a constant game of insecurity because all of us age.
So to your point, if you're complimenting kids on their energy, their ambitions, their kindness, their grit and the words coming out of their mouth. Hashtag. This is the Gary Vee Audio Experience. The International One is Good, really excited about today's podcast.
I think it's always fun to understand people's journeys, use it as a reference point. I know my journey resonates for some, but some can't connect because variables are different. Sometimes you need to have the person look like you or come from the places that you came from. And so on our forever journey of finding interesting people to have conversations with, we have a really good one here today that I think is going to work for a lot of this audience.
I'm going to let her introduce herself and give you a little bit of her background, and then I'm going to fire away with some really fun questions and try to tap in a little bit into what and why and how. And so, how are you? So great to be here, Gary. Thank you.
Of course. I'm Carissa fucking Bodner. And I'm the CEO of Thrive Combin. Do you go by KFP?
No, I just had to bring it because I'm on the Gary fucking V show today. No, my name is Carissa Bodner. I am the CEO of Thrive Cosmetics, and by the time this drops, it's going to be bigger than beauty, skin care. It's amazing.
Give it go deeper. What is Thrive? Just give everyone that context, and we'll go back to how we got there. I appreciate the prompt.
So very specifically, Thrive Cosmetics is spelled C-A-U-S-E-M-E-T-I-C-S, meaning that we are for cause. Since I founded Thrive Cosmetics, we've donated over $125 million in funds and products to over 500 charities around the world. Well. So that's why we put the cause in cosmetics.
But honestly, we are fucking up the industry. We are the biggest direct-to-consumer beauty brand in the US. We are profitable since day one. I started this out of a one-bedroom apartment.
And I'm only here because of the Thrive Cosmetics community, which includes our customers, customers for some formals. I didn't have employees for the first three years. Then our charities, like our charities, the people who are supporting cancer survivors, domestic abuse survivors, veterans. I just got off the phone with one of our partners, Raquel, who runs self-esteem rising just down the road.
It's all about making young women and young men feel beautiful and confident and just love themselves. And I'm so blessed. I'm only here because of those people. I would quit if I didn't have those giving partners telling me that we needed to exist.
So that's where I've cosmetics. We're vegan, cruelty-free. We create all of our formulas from scratch. I'm a cosmetic chemist.
I'm a bad bitch on the bench. That's chemistry for you. But I'm a philanthropist. And I'm so grateful for the opportunity to do what I do over the last nine years at Thrive Cosmetics.
We're launching our second brand bigger than beauty skin care, where we're going to be providing scholarships to women underrepresented communities to get dermatologist degrees and also aesthetician licenses. So take me back to the ingredients that got you here. So when you hear all of that, when you say it out loud. And if I asked you, when you hear all of that, where you're at now at this scale, what was happening in your childhood that got you here?
When I think about what you said, were you a science nerd? When I think about what you were said, were you just hungry and ambitious? When I hear what you said, did something happen in your family life? Or did your family have a great cause infrastructure?
Did something trigger that passion? Who were you at 5, 6, 7, 12? It's a great question, Gary. I happen to think that we may have been born with a little bit of this hustle.
Were you born with your hustle? Yeah, I think so. I mean, I think back to what I know about my grandparents and my grandparents. And then I think my circumstance, right?
I was born in the Soviet Union and I come to the US. And we were so poor. And it was so clear that we were immigrants and my mom was cheap. So very early on, I'm like, man, if I want stuff, right around 10 is when it was very clear to me that we weren't going to Toys R Us and I was getting something.
So I vividly remember Sega Genesis. When that came out and I wanted it, and I could tell in my mom's face that I was now a big boy and she wasn't going to buy that for me, I think some of the hustle was instilled in parenting and other parts of it was based on my DNA and upbringing. So let me ask you the most important question about what you just said. Were you listening to Biggie when you bought your Sega Genesis?
I wish I was, because then I'd be younger. But since I'm older, Biggie wasn't on the scene just yet. It was more KRS1 and stuff like that. Okay, okay, okay, okay, we can do that, yeah.
But to your point, things like sports, merit, things like hip hop, coming up the game, those things always resonated with me because they were so close to my realities. But what about for you? So you're going to buy the Jets, right? Yeah, I'm going to buy Amazon.
Is that your plan? Yeah. That's a big one. Yeah, I was telling your team.
I was on your team, yeah. No, no. When you shoot for the moon, you can end up on the top of the mountain and I think people limit, you know, I think it's one thing. Like for me, I've always actually believed that.
I have a lot of friends that I meet, acquaintances, business associates who are like, Gary, I'm going to do this. I'm going to buy Tesla, somebody said the other day. And I just looked at him. Probably the third time I've been around this person, I said, I just feel that it wasn't true.
It was like hyperbole. And I said, hey, do you really think that? And it was like, you took a beat. And he's like, no.
And I'm like, hey, I've heard you say it three times now. I've always felt that you didn't believe that to be true. Yeah. I'm like, you don't need to have a big goal, just to have a big goal.
Totally. But try to create the biggest goal that you actually think is obtainable. Totally. And like go forward.
And I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm going to go back to Amazon and Facebook and Mattel and buy a country. And if I can sense it, they believe it. I'm like, that's huge because then they're going to actually try to do it. Totally.
I think about that a lot with goal sending. Totally. Yeah. I mean, I had people that thought it was crazy that I was going to come on this podcast.
I'm like, Gary Vee doesn't even know. Like Gary Vee doesn't even know. We're going to be like, I mean, totally. I mean, we're already working together.
No, I mean, it's like, so if you don't believe, then no one's going to believe. Like literally when I, so it's crazy, this building that we're filming and I actually used to work for the largest company here, Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. And I was at 575 when L'Oreal bought the company that I worked for, Clarisonic back so many years ago, I didn't even know what L'Oreal was. I didn't know what L'Oreal was. I didn't know to dream this big Gary.
I grew up on a dirt road. I also, so speaking of immigrants, my grandmother immigrated just down the street through Ellis Island and came over from Germany. Like, I have a bad bitch energy in my DNA. Like, I'm not going to fucking waste what grandma Ruth and grandma Jackie did for me.
Like, my grandma Jackie was like, she's an icon. She was an alcoholic. She was a smoker. And in her 50s quit drinking, quit smoking completely cold turkey, went back to school to become a drug and alcohol counselor.
Like, if you have that bad bitch energy on your DNA, how can you not honor them? I love that. Like, my grandma did not struggle for me to not just shoot for the moon and buy Amazon. You know what I mean?
Like, so that's- So what was happening on the dirt road? Like, really, I want to get there. No, I have an 89. Yeah.
School, sports, siblings. Give me a picture. So I was born different, right? Like, I was born different.
I had this incessant need to create. I grew up on a dirt road, was walking door to door to my neighbors because a lemonade stand, spoiler alert, when you grew up on a dirt road and everybody's on 5 or 10 acres, like you don't yield that much profit. You have three potential customers. Totally, totally.
Totally. So the hustle was not happening there. So what I wound up doing actually was creating in my parents' kitchen. So I was making lipsticks.
I was literally- Now, statute of limitations has passed since I was literally stealing from Port Susan Middle School. The toilet seat covers Gary Vee. So next time you're on the cover of a magazine, I got you. I will get you my toilet seat covers to absorb the oil so that you would bomb as fuck on your cover.
So I got some setting powder for you now. But like, literally, like, I was born with this deep passion for living and thriving. I will say, though, I lost it. I was super depressed when I was in late middle school high school.
I was bullied a lot. I mean, trauma. Like trauma that I'm not necessarily ready to talk about yet. But like, what's so crazy is that with Thrive Cosmetics, like I had no idea.
When I started Thrive Cosmetics, I wanted to give back to women that were going through cancer. And I wanted to make them feel beautiful because I, as a makeup artist, and I'll get to that in a second, had been so fucking blessed to see the transformation in a woman's self-esteem no matter what they were going through. And men. I mean, I've done a ton of men's makeup.
So it's like, what was so powerful was that I had this vision to help people that were going through cancer because I had lost my friend of cancer when I was just 23 years old. She was 24. Christy. And it was, I wanted to create something that was about more than just selling makeup and skincare.
I got it. I wanted to take, I wanted to get back. So from the very beginning. How long ago was that?
Nine years ago. Yeah. I mean, you were, I think one of the great things that's going on in the world is the conversation is more complex today. And youngsters like yourself are growing up.
I mean, it wasn't even a thing when I was in high school or college where companies would talk about doing something with purpose attached to it. Yeah. Right. It wasn't, it wasn't a norm.
It wasn't an expectation. It wasn't an option. Yeah. So the fact that you have this tragic event, you have this crazy thirst of an entrepreneurial spirit.
The fact that you could take those two passions together is like a supernova. Totally. I'm so grateful. Like that's the thing is like, I'm not supposed to be here.
Like, that's, that's what people need to know that you can grow up on a dirt road. You can go to community college. And if you have a community and a passion and a vision, like I, I was not, people think I'm an influencer now. My first Instagram was thrive cosmetics.
Like we didn't even have a profile. My friend Kaisa had to tell me to put a profile photo in there. Like I didn't have a profile photo. And it was this community, the thrive cosmetics community that put me on and built this company from my one bedroom apartment and now giving over a hundred and twenty five million dollars.
Like that's the thrive cosmetics community. Take a, take us back because we've got the big headlines that I want to make sure. Well, I'm basic. Just so you know where I'm going with this.
Three people. A. 50. Inspired by your grandma.
B. 15. Inspired by you listening right now. And this is the singular podcast that changes the course of their life.
That's how I think about these things. I know that to be true. So one of the things I like to do is like get one level deeper in like little nuances that are harder to sometimes find. So let me go there.
Yep. Okay. So you have this, you know, very creative kid, fire in the belly early on. Have this period of time where you've lost your way.
Yep. Trauma, du du du du du. Suicidal. Like I was a suicidal kid.
We can go there. Let's fucking go. Listen, you're in control. Yeah.
That's worth. Yeah. That much pain in your stomach. Yes.
Because of trauma. I get it. And so what was so crazy is to grow up with this bright light inside of you. Yes.
And also be misunderstood. Like I was like an alien in my family. Like my parents loved me, but they also didn't know what to do with me. Like this kid that's got so much energy and just wants to create it.
And it's talking to everybody. And I'm like, hey, like walking into Gary Vee's office. Just being like, hey, what's up, man? Like let's talk.
And so, you know, my parents put me in a lot of situations. Like they made me work for everything I got. Huge. Nothing was given to me.
So that's why I'm here. Of course. Like if I would have had to, like if I would have just had things given to me, I wouldn't be here. Hard to be hungry if you're fed.
Totally. You have siblings? Yeah. Hold her sister.
What's your relationship with her? She's awesome. Always were good or had ups and downs. I mean, I'm very, very, very, very, very different.
I mean, I love my sister. I love my parents. And you know, but literally everywhere I went, I mean, my grandma Ruth, she would tell me how lucky I was to be alive. How like how I needed to work for everything because she worked so hard to raise my dad.
I mean, my dad was raised like food stamps, poverty. My mom struggled a lot. Like I had. But the grandma's a big factor in your life.
Yeah. Totally. Yeah, I lost my grandma. That was part of that trauma.
It was a cluster of trauma if I'm being honest. Got it. So there was a series of things that happened. Yeah.
Yeah. When do you feel like you started to get your head up from it? It was my favorite story. It was future business leaders of America and Decca.
So I was a kid with no direction. So I was this kid that was like beautiful, bright, so vivacious and so passionate about life. And then due to trauma was like suicidal depressed. And I never attempted anything but it was serious.
Yeah, you were starting a good place. You're not in a good place. Then somebody talked to me about future business leaders of America. And I thought, okay, like I grew up in this small town that was super entrepreneurial.
What town? And those, like I was surrounded by entrepreneurs. My parents were not entrepreneurs. My dad was a teacher, principal, administrator.
My mom had a bunch of different jobs. So like, but I was surrounded. If you wanted money, like you had to be an entrepreneur in this community of Stanwood. And so I got involved in this group called future business leader of America.
Are you familiar? Oh, we got to go. Like it's epic. So it literally transformed my life.
So it's a extracurricular activity that is throughout the U.S. and you compete. And so you're basically, I mean, this is like, I mean, this is like, yeah. Literally you said that I just wanted to beat up 14 year olds and high school business.
Exactly. Exactly. Okay. Then you need to get involved in deck.
Because that's an international competition. So I got involved in both titles. So then let me tell you about my monopoly board that I raised $25,000 when I was 16 years old. I was getting true in C's.
Like skipping school. My parents are like, what the hell is going on? You're going to kick out of school. I was like, just you wait.
Just you wait. And then I, so I made this monopoly board by literally going door to door to all of the local businesses saying, I got a great marketing opportunity for you. You're going to pay me $400 and you'll get part place. But we named it after them.
So I did that all throughout the town. And it was like 40, 50 people or companies that I got on there. And that paid for my costs. That was the first product I made.
I was 16 years old. The commercial product. You get 400 times 40 when you get 16. Like when you do that, was that the first affirmation of that?
Like that's high scale for a 16 year old. When you're going through that, were you getting such a high off of getting yeses from small businesses? Was that like? When you're going from getting shoved into lockers being told that you're a slut, all these things, to then being on the front page of the newspaper doesn't matter.
I was in a small town. It's still in this room. Yeah. And what's so epic, Gary, is that $25,000 because that paid for the cost of goods.
Like I'm not going to walk you through the full P&L of that first product that I made that monopoly board. It was called Twin City Awfully. That funded. So then the sales of that.
So everything was profit from there. Of course. It was $20 to $25 depending on if it was wholesale or sold directly. Of course all those businesses bought some boards to sell on their own business.
Totally. Totally. Yeah. And people autographing them.
They're asking me to autograph them back then. So cool. And it was like, but they believed in me when I didn't even believe in myself. So that execution got you going.
Totally. It transformed my self-esteem. And then that just propelled me. I got an internship at Nordstrom.
And the person Matt Dyser, who was my mentor, he was a really. Big shout out, Matt Dyser. Woo hoo. He's like, you're going to be the CEO of Nordstrom.
He told me that when I was 17 years old. He saw it. I was like, okay. Yeah, I'll be the CEO of Nordstrom.
I didn't know that I didn't know to dream that big for myself. Like, Gary, what's so crazy is that I lived in New York. It's so crazy that I worked in New York to me because literally I turned down career opportunities in Seattle, Washington, because I was too scared to drive there. Like, that's like, I wasn't just like, I didn't like hashtag wake up like this, but now literally this morning I woke up with let's go by Lil' John in my head.
Like, that's like literally what's going through my head now. But I didn't believe, I didn't know to dream this big. Yeah. I mean, most people don't.
Even like, one thing that's weird about me is I've had some 4th, 5th, 6th grade classmates who I haven't talked to in years reach out in the last decade and I'm like, oh my God, like, you really did say you wanted to buy the Jets in 5th grade, but at the time, I probably thought that was like a million. Like, I didn't even know what that meant. Like, you're young going through your stuff. Like, there are things today that are clear to me that weren't clear seven years ago, 10 years ago, 15 years ago, we're all still going.
You're so young. There's going to be clapping. I'm Jesus aged. I get it.
It's my Jesus. You know, I just learned. Yeah. Some of the stuff people don't like.
I'm so grateful though. You know, mentally and emotionally, not very far. Financially far. Am I invited to the party?
Well, it depends on what happens between now and then. I'm sorry. You were going to say something about that. No, I'm having so much fun.
Um, but I really, but I want to get to your point. I'm like, get back on track on one thing. I'm trying to think about the building blocks. I love that story because again, now that 15 year old is going to think about organizations at school or at the YMCA or something they've heard of and like, consider it now because they're like, I want to do it because I'm like, like, I love that kind of shit.
So what happens next? You're in words from your learning. You have a mentor that's fucking sees that you're fucking on fire kid. I went through that.
And you latch on to those people. That's why everyone who's listening, if you can compliment a kid, totally, especially one that you're not ready to. For this. Yeah.
For this. No, for this. The mouth. Like, like you own, you own who you are.
You know, it's so fun. You just said that. Uh, on the podcast, she like showed her face. It's funny.
I talk a lot about when you're reinforcing positivity kids around grades, their athleticism or how attractive they are. It makes them vulnerable because their self-worth becomes in that and all of those three things kind of change over time. Like most kids don't play professional sports. Totally.
Most people realize somewhere around 23 that grades mean nothing in real life. And if you're fighting for, like, looking beautiful as a man or woman, it's a constant game of insecurity because all of us age, like, you know, it's just, you know, it's really hard. So to your point, if you're complimenting kids on their energy, their ambitions, their kindness, their grit and the words coming out of their mouth. So go ahead.
What happens? Nordstrom's you're feeling on fire. What happens next? Almost quitting school.
Almost quitting community college every day. Like, literally I graduated because Matt Dyser was like, you have to graduate from college. You're just punching your ticket. And he was trying to talk me into an MBA and I was like, I literally can't.
Like, I was, I was, I, so I went to Bellevue community college because I didn't get into any other college. I barely applied. But I just did not. How'd your dad deal with you being a poor student?
No. Didn't like it. Didn't like it. I love my dad.
I get it. That was his passion. And imagine my dad growing up on food stamps on a dirt house. I grew up on a dirt road.
That's a come up from a fucking dirt house that you grew up. That was his way out. I get it. Totally.
And he's sitting here and you're, he's like, I had to pay my entire way through college. I'm, I'm here to support you. Like all these things. But yeah, when I was, I was in, I went to Bellevue community college, shout out to Bellevue community college.
I think this is really important to underscore because especially in the zeit guys right now, all these people are obsessed with what school they're getting into. And I am here to tell you that you can go to Bellevue community college and build one of the largest beauty companies to ever exist. Yeah. I mean, actually, I would say as someone who's a little bit older, it's way better than it used to be.
There are kids that actually believe you when you say that or believe me. Whereas when I was 18 or 22, it was unheard of. Yeah. There was zero people.
Yeah. At 18 in America, 30 years ago, that thought things could be okay if you didn't go to college. Now you have a group of kids that are definitely in belief that there's entrepreneurship, creativity, creators, and there's many other options. The problem is sometimes it's used the other way and they're like fuck college, but they don't realize that means you have to eat so much shit.
You gotta crawl before you fall. You gotta crawl before you fall. The dream is free and the hustle is sold separately. And that is the thing.
Again, I've been doing this for nine years and I love that for us. I love that I didn't sell the company. I love that I'm here to just build, build, build, give, give because quitting is actually harder for me than trying. I literally can't quit these people.
If you look at my eyeshadow right now, I have Raquel on me. I've got Betty on me. We literally name our products after inspiring people. And I can't quit these people.
You also like it. Totally. When you said crawl before you bought it, I haven't heard that. My brain went to literally.
I didn't want to interrupt you, but my brain went to crawl. Period. I can't take credit because it's Kanye West. So crawl.
If you love it so much, you'll just crawl. You'll just fucking crawl. Totally. To me, that is the vulnerability of so many entrepreneurs.
They're so focused on bawling that they want to get out of crawling as fast as possible, thus rendering them never to be bawling. Totally. You're saying, Betty, but I'm also sitting here, but you love it too. Totally.
It doesn't feel like work. I literally tell my team, I'm like, let's go in the motherfucking lab. It's not COVID anymore. I can go back on the bench and create for it.
My team's all over me. I don't want to run out of time. You're in Nordstrom's. When do you get into?
Yeah. I'll give you the Twitter version. I'll try. Nordstrom Sephora at the same time.
Worked as a makeup artist. Worked on the sales floor $11 an hour. Nordstrom, I was just hustling. I was working 50, 60 hours because if I wanted something, that's how I was able to pay cash.
You work in retail. Totally. Which was incredible. Literally, if it all goes away, I'll go back to Sephora.
I love Sephora. I don't want to sell our products at Sephora, but I love Sephora. It was a great experience for me. So I worked at Sephora, always wanted to be in product development.
Thank God. I didn't know that Clarisonic was right down the road from Bellevue Community College because I would have quit. I literally would have quit Gary because I was like, I'm going to do product development. I'm going to do product development.
Instead of doing my homework at nighttime for college, I was literally getting a D in the most basic rocks for Docs classes, environmental science and nutrition because I was studying formulations at nighttime reading the cosmetic ingredient dictionary. That's my life. Yeah. Totally.
I literally got. You know how hard it is to get a D? And look at some of these grades in high school. I literally got a D in food survey.
Do you understand what food survey is? Yes. We would just sit and put food in the microwave. Let me give you some other D.
Drivers Ed. D. Drivers Ed. This is insane shit.
I got a D in health. Yeah. Same. And all we had to do was say out loud what I got a D in sophomore year.
Speech. D. Good for you. Good for you.
Think about how insane that is. I literally might actually genuinely get paid to do that now. One of the most successful public speakers in the world right now and I got a D in fucking speech. I get it.
You were doing your passion and just trying to get by because Matty D said you just need it as a backup. Totally like fucking I will do that. Yeah. Totally.
I went to night school. I was with her with 50 years old. And then I so I worked for whatever job I could get at Clarison. My first title was was marketing assistant.
And I was like, okay, I'll take this marketing assistant. And tell everybody what Clarison is. Clarison. It was I mean, it was like Monica was on care for your face.
Yeah. L'Oreal bought it. And then they shut it down, which is why I won't sell my brand. L'Oreal.
L'Oreal. L'Oreal. Cara Hamilton. I love you.
But like, no, like I'm doing that. I literally cannot quit these people who have like our customers are our greatest investors are giving partners. Let me completely switch the vibe from the youngsters on the come up to the people much further along right here in the spot. Can you so emphatically say I'm not going to quit Betty?
Yeah, not quite Betty. I hear you. No bullshit here. This is actually a fun question because I deal with this.
Are you scared to ever get an offer that is so insane that it's going to put your back against the book? Do you realize when you're so emphatic publicly that I'm never going to sell that it eliminates options that may matter to you when you're 43, 57, 60, like how do you think about that? I, you know, of course. Yeah.
I mean, how big of an offer you think I've turned down for this company? A billion dollar value. More comments that I can literally. Yeah.
Yeah, fuck up some comments. Yeah. I'm extremely in that prime spot right now. So the first nine years of cosmetics were not as good as they are right now.
No shit. Yeah. You're in a great, like you're in a fun spot right now. Like the building up is the best.
Like when you're that person. Yeah. The life cycles that you're still to go through may create scenarios where you may want the options. And like, I always think about like when I'm, I basically tell my whole company, if I ever sell Vayner, you have to quit the next day because no matter what I say, it won't be the same company.
Totally. When you dig yourself in that hole, I always think about the mindset of that. That's truly burning the boat. Yeah, totally.
And I love it. I love it. I didn't, I didn't start this journey. Since 2014.
I know all the numbers in my head, all the numbers in my head and yeah, I'm the industry baby like Lil Nas X. So I, I am the industry baby. I started when I was 25. Like, and now I'm the industry.
Like that's, but that's, it's we are the industry. It's not me. And, but what was so, so first of all, I reserve the right to change my mind at any time. Love.
But I am here to tell you that Curtis Abadner has turned down the offers that she would have thought when she was 10 years old, 13 years old, 15 years old, 25 years old. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
If I sell, I'm quitting. If I sell it's because I'm quitting because I don't think I can do it anymore. That's the thing. Like, I mean, some of the people, what was, because I'm going to run out of time.
What was the, what was the, if I asked you, why were you able to get this big from a marketing product strategy standpoint, what do you think of the one or two bullet points that you saw in the last nine years that the competitive set did it maniacal focus, maniacal focus on formulation and giving back? Like, I, I've never wavered in that. It's not a trend. Right.
We are not a trend. Yeah. Like literally that's who we are. The amount of people that have, have said that this is a marketing trend or whatever, like literally, we develop our formula from scratch.
You cannot, the amount of time shout out to Lori Alfred buying Thrive Cosmetics products to try and reformulate them at the lab that I motherfucking worked at. We block those orders. We're a hundred percent DSC. I got turned out.
And also, so maniacal focus. You can drown an opportunity. We know that. And excellence in product and customer service.
We're not perfect. Also, just knowing that we're not perfect and being willing to evolve and like, I mean, bigger than beauty skincare is a 40 percent reduction in the, in the plastic that we have from Thrive Cosmetics because we've heard loud and clear, we need to be more sustainable. Like I am only here because of our customers. See, you learn that at retail.
I mean, you listen. Every day. But I want to jump in here. I apologize because I want people to hear this going retail is a monster win because at Sephora and Nordstrom's, you learn very quickly that if you listen to them, you will sell them shit.
But we don't sell it retail. I know you don't. Yeah. But you're listening to your customers.
Yes. I know. No, I know that you don't sell retail, but you sell product to consumers. That's the thing with the beauty industry.
They listen to Sephora. No disrespect to Sephora. Love them Nordstrom. They should not be driving your product pipeline.
Your customer should. You should. And that is that's the issue with all the other beauty brands. Of course, because for Lori Ellen Prok and for all the biggest brands in the world, that's their distribution.
Yeah. The retailer has the leverage. Totally. Your DTC.
Nobody has leverage. Totally. And you do it forever. Yeah.
Talk to me. Take a beat here because we're wrapping up. What didn't we touch on that you want to touch on for the audience? That you can literally be anything you want to be at any age.
Like I was 25 years old, and so many people were like, who's running your company? Like I'm the only C-level executive service I've ever had. Like you can be whoever you want to be. Still to stay?
Yeah. I'm going to hire you. You're scared to give somebody a C-suite item? No, no, no, no, no, because I couldn't afford employees.
So literally. Yeah. But Gary, you can throw bodies at a problem. But I care about a company culture.
And it's been an ebb and flow. And I have a VP layer now, and I'm working on building out the C-suite. But like you can be whoever you want to be. You're never too young or too old to be who you or too old to be who you wanted to be.
Like, do you know Train with Joan on Instagram? She's 77. Didn't move her body until she was 70. She was overweight.
Couldn't move her body. She runs 10 miles per hour. Unlimited stories. Yeah.
Unlimited. So to me, that's my inspiration. It's Train with Joan. I want to be Train with Joan.
So it's like for me, I never want to stop grinding. And I am so, so driven by this beautiful community of charities that we get to support and our customers. Because again, I am only here because of them. I get it.
I mean, thank you so much, Garrity.