Hot Smart Rich with Maggie Sellers Reum - Claudia Sulewski: How I Built A Sephora Beauty Empire (& Why I Might Reject Finneas' Last Name)

Episode Date: July 8, 2026

Claudia Sulewski, YouTuber, actress and Cyklar founder, joins Maggie Sellers Reum on Hot Smart Rich to reveal how she went from 2.4M subscribers to self-funding one $58 product and landing in Sephora! Claudia started posting online at 13 under ‘Beyond Beauty Star’, building one of the internet’s most loyal beauty audiences! Then turned that trust into Cyklar - a body care brand now stocked in Sephora. She opens up about the risk of putting her own money behind the brand, why she refused to make it “just another influencer beauty brand,” and the founder lessons behind TikTok Shop, product, community and scale. Plus, Claudia talks love, acting and building a life with Finneas - from him seeing every panic moment to the “cougar” joke, wedding planning, and why her name still matters… Get unselfish access to the insights that will help you own the room. Sign up now https://linkly.link/2jPXJ ⸻ (00:00:00) Intro (00:02:54) Starting YouTube at 13 (00:07:41) Building A Personal Brand (00:09:17) Boundaries With Online Fame (00:11:49) The Overnight Success Myth (00:13:19) From Creator To Founder (00:17:45) Not Another Influencer Brand (00:19:21) Risking One $58 Product (00:22:34) Founder-Led Content Strategy (00:24:58) Showing The Messy Parts (00:26:23) Fiverr Pro Ad (00:27:28) Ollie Ad (00:28:29) Building The Door Yourself (00:29:47) Getting Into Sephora (00:30:29) Designing For Body Care (00:33:18) TikTok Shop To Sephora (00:34:21) Celebrating With Finneas (00:35:21) Meeting Finneas On Raya (00:37:55) Mixing Love And Business (00:39:00) Unsexy Money Conversations (00:40:11) Money, Impact And Risk (00:41:31) Cyklar’s $70M Reality (00:43:07) Talking About Money (00:43:54) Pique Ad (00:44:46) Rella Ad (00:45:47) Betting On Herself (00:46:16) Cyklar’s Best Investment (00:47:58) Private Creator Zooms (00:50:02) Founder Brain Never Stops (00:50:39) Rapid Fire (00:50:41) Her Credit Card Spend (00:51:16) The Expensive Plates (00:51:39) Her Amex Points Strategy (00:52:45) Finneas Travelling Less (00:53:05) Actress, Creator Or Founder? (00:53:32) Favourite Beauty Brand (00:53:55) Oscar, Emmy Or Allure? (00:54:16) Coachella Or Sephora? (00:54:41) Sephora Demo Over Carpet (00:55:24) Best Red Carpet Moment (00:55:46) Song Or Product? (00:56:11) Her HSR Love Note (00:58:00) Working And Loving Hard (00:58:49) Changing Her Last Name (00:59:35) How To Support Claudia ⸻ Sponsors: Fiverr - If you are scaling a business, then you need to visit https://pro.fiverr.com Ollie: Use code HSR for 70% off at http://ollie.com/hsr Pique - https://piquelife.com/hsr for 15% off Rella - http://getrella.com use code HSR for 10% off your first 3 months or annual plan ⸻ Hot Smart Rich: Your Business & Culture GossipFor ambitious women wanting to own the room, gain power, and build wealth.Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hotsmartrich/Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@hotsmartrichMaggie Sellers Reum:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/maggiesellersreum/Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@maggiesellersreumLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sellersmaggie/Locker: https://www.wantlocker.com/users/maggiesellersShopMy: https://shopmy.us/maggiesellersAmazon Storefront: https://www.amazon.com/shop/maggiesellers Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Here we go. Someone's already claiming this is our year. Someone else said that last year too. A round of Jameson, Ginger, and Lime arrives at a table. Smooth enough for kickoff, smooth enough for extra time. New friends pulling up a stool. Debates about whether that was a handball. Cheers rising like a roar around the room.

Because match days are about the shared moments. How did Jameson to your match day lineup? Jameson, it's what you bring. Please enjoy our products responsibly. Kelly Clarkson with Wayfair. Ever order furniture online and wonder what if? Like, what if it doesn't hold up? That sofa was four days old. You should have ordered from Wayfair. With Wayfair, there's no what if. Just style you love and quality you can trust. Visit Wayfair.cair, every style, every home. Oh my God, I'm going to get emotional because my fiance. Phineas is such a huge supporter.

You have 2.4 million subscribers. I've seen a source online that Cycler is projected to make $70 million by the end of this year. So crazy. I moved to Los Angeles when I was 18 years old, making YouTube videos, and my first check from AdSense took it straight to Sephora. So talk to me about how it feels to have your brand cycler at Sephora. It is so, so crazy and I cry about it often. But my version of getting to celebrate it is renting home and telling Phineas. I love the smile you get when you get to talk about them. How did you guys meet? Oh my gosh. Okay, so I was 22, he was 21. Ooh, are you a cougar?

I'm a cougar. And he never lets me forget that. He's seen every part of it. So when I'm like, what am I doing? What am I doing? He's been so supportive. But I think as a woman today, it is really important to not be afraid to talk about money.

You cannot wait for someone to just open a door for you. You might need to build that door and open it yourself. But if you are trying to build a brand, it's really important to What would you call this season of your life? Big theme of working hard, big themes of love. We're planning a wedding. So are you changing your last name?

Big, huge. Let's talk about it. Hi, Angels. Did you know that subscribing to our channel is free? And it's the simplest way that you can support our show and help us grow. If you do this, we can bring you even more of the content and the guests that you love. All you have to do is just hit. the subscribe button below. So please, if you wouldn't mind, subscribe to the channel and thank you.

In case you missed it, you're allowed to be hot, smart, and rich. So let's get into it. Claudia Salusky, are you ready to get hot, smart rich? Oh my gosh, I'm so ready. I'm so excited that you're here. I was a little nervous for this one because you've been online for a very long time. But for someone that's just clicking into this that might not know who you are or maybe they do, what would you tell them that they're going to learn today to get them to stay? Well, I'm so excited to talk about so many things today. You know, as a little introduction to me and what I'm about, I'm wearing a few different hats in this era of my life. I'm a beauty founder for the body care company cycler.

I also grew up making YouTube videos. I'm an actress. I've started directing. And so, yeah, I'm just really enjoying all of these different cruxler. creative buckets and just, yeah, having so much fun with it. I want to go back to what initially drew you to beauty as a 13-year-old because you launched a YouTube channel under the alias beyond Beauty Star. Yes, I did.

What still keeps you in the beauty space as someone who's obviously now grown up on the internet and could do so many other things? Yeah. I mean, oh my gosh, I feel that I've just been working in beauty for so long, right? So jumping back to when I first started, I was 13 years old. And at that time, even dating back to before YouTube, I was a crafty kid. Like, that's the word I would describe myself. I was always that kid in class that was, like, laminating handmade bookmarks and, like,

selling them to my friends. And then I started making solid hand soaps and lip bombs and, like, creating just little things. So the little, like, company that I started in middle school was called Beyond Beauty, because my dad, he owns a construction company called Above and Beyond. and he was like brainstorming with me on what it should be called. And he was like, what about Beyond Beauty? And so when I started my YouTube channel, I was like, oh, Beyond Beauty Star. Were your parents always very supportive of you as a 13-year-old going online and doing these types of videos?

So they didn't know at first, which looking back now, like if my child were to do that, I would be upset. But I don't know. I think I always proceeded with caution and like careful. So I think six months in my mom like stumbled upon it on my laptop and she thought he was really cool. And it's it's I feel so grateful that they've always been so supportive. I think through this whole journey, they've kind of been like, wait, what are you doing? Wait, what? Wait, what? You're making money now. But I think what they very quickly realized early on was that I was taking this so seriously and I felt so passionate about it. And I think that ultimately I imagine as a parent is what you want. to see your kid experiencing. It's just passion in something, right? And so they allowed me to run with it and see where it could take me. And I'm so glad that they did. You did something so revolutionary at the time. You convinced your parents to let you drop out of physical school and go and do your high school through online courses. Yes. Which if you think about that concept of

selling your parents on the idea to drop you out of high school in person to go online. Crazy concept. So crazy. No, again, I look back at these things and I'm like, what would I have done in my parents' position? But I think it was, okay, so for starters, to take us back, I was two weeks into junior year of high school. I have the opportunity to go to New York for a couple weeks for Fashion Week. And I was like interviewing makeup artists behind the scenes and like doing things for Mabelian, New York. And coming back to school after missing so much in the beginning, I think I just, for me, I reached this point where I was like, okay, I really want to keep running with this.

There is something happening here. I don't want to miss out in any opportunities. And so I just started researching and looking up like different online high schools and different options and solutions. And so I created a PowerPoint for my parents and literally had like a slideshow of like, here's what I've been able to achieve. Here is where it could possibly go. And here's why I think I should just start studying at home online and give myself more time to create YouTube videos. So what we can absolutely guarantee today is that you are an amazing. amazing salesperson. You are a visionary because this was not something that people were doing.

And they were probably creating, they were not creating PowerPoints, 14 year old girls. They were probably like, I was yelling at my mom to take me to Starbucks or I wasn't going to be cool at school anymore. Okay. Looking back at what you've done today, what do you think that that 14 year old girl would say, how much of that PowerPoint came true and how much is even bigger than what you put on that first PowerPoint? I mean, at this point, I, like, baby mini Claudia, could have never imagined all the things that I'm getting to do today. Like, truly, I wake up every day feeling so grateful. My journal is sick of me. My journal is just like, I'm so grateful. I want to remain present and really just enjoy this season of life. There's no

better feeling than feeling like you're fulfilling your purpose, you know? Yeah, it is really hard to wrap my brain around. And it's very emotional to think back on that. because I went in with open arms not knowing what any of this could lead to, and it's just so exciting that it's been able to lead to so much. For your personal brand, how much of your time do you actually dedicate to thinking through your strategy? Like, what is the perception of you going to be? And how much of that just comes from those organic moments that you just put a camera down and you start filming? I've certainly taken the organic approach, I think, and partially that's just because I've grown up online. I started so young that, you know, oftentimes people ask me, like, how do you choose what you are willing to share and what you don't want to share and keep private and all those things?

And I think when you've been doing this for so long, you create these natural filters and sort of boundaries and barriers, right? And so with time, I've just learned so many lessons on like, okay, you know what? Maybe that was a little bit too much. You know what? I can share more here. And I'm really grateful for YouTube and that it always felt like my safe little corner of the Internet and how. having that community and that feedback in response so immediately, it allowed me to, like, test drive anything, right?

Talking about any sort of, like, going to therapy, talking about my dating life, talking about starting a business, all these different things. So I think my, like, YouTube upbringing for that kind of gradual organic growth and, like, coming to, in terms of, like, who I am today in my personal business. One of the things that I've seen creator struggle with is this evolution curve that they have because they started out doing one thing. And then their life should be evolving. Like it should get bigger. And I think where I've seen people struggle, myself included, so talking to an expert even selfishly, it's like, how have you been able to find that balance of like, I started doing this? Then my life became bigger. Then it's this big. And then it's like, how do you morph that into what are your boundaries and what is something you're still testing or you're willing to? to talk about. Yeah, I think, well, you make such a great point that the climate online today so different than what it was 15 years ago, 10 years ago, right? Like, I think because of short form content, primarily TikTok reels, anyone can explode and go viral for any reason, right? And what

that does is it positions you as suddenly the person that said this, the person that had this moment, the person that, you know, became viral during this moment of their life, this second, right? And so I think what's really important and the thing I always recommend is you need to be consistent. If you are trying to have or build a personal brand, be consistent to give yourself enough of like a playing ground to try out different things. Sometimes I hear creators say like you should find your niche and pick it. I think it's okay to expand a little bit more, you know, because also when you think about like the algorithm now, sure, yes, your followers are seeing your content, but so much of it is being pushed out to know to people that don't follow you, right? And so I'm sort of on the side of like, try anything, anything that you want to dabble into, any different conversation starters. How are you going to know, like, what works until you try it? You know what I mean? So totally. Yeah. I am so curious. Did you ever have like a viral moment? Like was there one that just super charged your growth or was it all just very gradual small steps? It was pretty gradual. I would say in

the beginning there are certain videos that still to this day people will call out on the street and it'll be like your braces 101 video. I made an entire video just talking about like my experience getting braces. That just shows the amount of life I've lived online or I went through a huge phase of like dyeing my own hair at home. I went from like dyeing my hair purple to doing Ombray at home, full blonde, full black hair. So a lot of those videos, you know, garnered some attention. But honestly, I haven't had like a crazy viral moment, which I'm kind of grateful for. I think it allows for like an organic, you know, trajectory. And like a real community base of people who are there for you. And I'm so interested for someone like you who's gotten to two

4.44 million subscribers over 15 years building a super successful million dollar brand, multi-million dollar brand. What do you feel your reaction is when someone says, wow, now you're everywhere? What an overnight success. It doesn't bother me. It doesn't bother me. And it's because I know what it took, right? And at the end of the day, maybe it doesn't matter to me because it's not my goal. It's not, that's not what I'm working towards. is for someone to say, hey, good job five stars. You know what I mean? Like, I think ultimately I'm always thinking about my, in some ways, like my younger self and making her feel like, you know, the work that you put in and the risks that you took early on in your life were worth it.

And I'm also looking at like my future self. And what can I do to protect her and make her proud? You know, so she can look back, hopefully a mother. And, and, you know, get to say like, yes, you took those hours in your days. that, you know, you had before kids and you made them worth it and you worked hard and all those things. And so, yeah, I guess a comment like that, if anything, it's a reminder that like, okay, something is working.

I'm relevant. You know what I mean? And but beyond that, like, it's just, it's not where I place my value. I love that. Yeah. So you were creating content online for a number of years. You then go into acting. Yes.

What did you not get from those two mediums of art that led you to want to start your own company? Oh my gosh. Okay. So this is where we're like throwing on all the different hats, right? So when I first moved to Los Angeles, I was 18 years old. At that time, I was just making YouTube videos and I saved up enough money to be able to afford an apartment and live with a friend. And I came into this city sort of with open arms knowing like anything is on the table. Anything can happen. I'm down to try anything. So the first. year I started to do a little bit of hosting. I worked with Teen Vogue and I became their first ever YouTube host and I would interview celebrities on carpets. And then after that contract was up, it sort of gave me like the courage and balls and audacity to hit up my then manager at the time and be like, I don't know how this works, but I have always wanted to act. It, like, I spent all of my hours as a kid in my bedroom editing YouTube videos. And so I didn't, you know, do theater and school growing up.

But it's something that I always was intrigued by, you know. And so very quickly jumped into group classes and one-on-one scene work and all that stuff and just started auditioning. And so that kind of swirled into the picture. But I think ultimately now seeing all of these, you know, avenues that I like to play in, they all kind of check off different things. You know, there's a real sort of like surrender to the moment and your collaborators with acting. That's that's so fun and kind of the opposite of making YouTube videos and owning a business because there's such a lack of control in that, which is fun and it keeps me on my toes. And if I can, if I can act forever, I'd love to do that. But it's out of my

control as well. So that comes in when it comes in. And we're just auditioning and crossing our fingers. But I think, you know, if I'm if I'm looking at Cycler and what gave me sort of the inspiration to start a beauty business, that entrepreneurial spirit has always been inside of me from like the kid that was like making bookmarks and like selling hand soap at school to then creating, you know, a YouTube channel. And I think for me, it was something I always wanted to do. But I knew if I was going to do it, I needed to do it the right way and with great intention. And so it was around COVID time. And I was in a point in my life, in my 20s, where I was learning a lot about what it meant to take care of yourself. I think we were all forced to slow down. Right. And my love for body care has always paralleled my journey with self-care and just like listening to my body.

Right. And understanding that like my version of self-care is taking a few minutes alone before bed or maybe waking up a little bit earlier. than my fiance and giving myself like this moment of stillness and taking a bath and resetting like physically having water shower down on my body. And so that's really sort of the why in terms of the category body care. And, you know, from there, I mean, my gosh, it's we've we've taken so many steps and turns and pivots from the start of like the idea of cycler to where we are today. But I essentially came up with a pitch. and a vision for this brand and really wanted to create a body care company that focused heavily

on ingredients and high performing formulas that really are worth it and, you know, are going to provide actual results while also playing into like the luxury of how the formula feels and how the packaging looks and kind of like the intersection between the two, right? And so when I first started, I just started pitching to different incubators and different kinds of. companies that could help me turn this, you know, this idea to life. And so I self-funded my first launch. It was just one product. We started really, really small. And I just wanted to see how, you know, it was going to do in the response and the feedback from my my YouTube community, which was a great way to start a business, you know, that I feel very lucky and that I was able

to kind of get that immediate customer feedback. It's funny because I, at that exact time, was actually incubating a lot of celebrity brands. So, like, I was helping celebrities really identify, like, what does your audience trust you with? Like, what can we actually do to deliver a product that they are going to trust, not just, like, another celebrity brand? But then I think that there's been a little bit of a turn where people are like, oh, another celebrity beauty brand, right? And I'm so interested for you as someone who, like, obviously is extremely passionate about it. When you get lumped into that category of someone just rolling their eyes and being like a celebrity beauty brand, like, when you think about what you're building, is it in that category? And then if you're so like, no, why? Like, why are we so turned off by this word celebrity beauty brand? Right. I have two answers for that. The first one being, I knew from the get-go, I wanted this brand to really stand on its own. Right. And so if you go on the Instagram page, you're not seeing my face and my name on it. And that was really important because my, my,

my net within my audience can only reach so many people, right? And so I've, the goal has always been to build a brand that can that can exist with me. It can exist without me and it can stand on its own, right? And then also to answer your question, it comes down to just product. Are you creating a product that people are able to connect with and see themselves in and, and I think ultimately a good product will sort of outlast and outshine that debate about whether a celebrity or influencer brand, you know, is going to last or is going to work. You just have to create good product. So you've done a lot of things that I would say are contrarian, which I love being a good investor as being able to think contrarian and think correctly. One of them is keeping your

face off the branding when a lot of people adjacent to your life have done the opposite, right? And then the other one is starting with one product, which is called Crescent, a $58 body cream. Talk to me about how you think about risk reward profile and doing things that go maybe a little bit against the grain and is taking a huge risk. Because if that one product had flopped or not associating yourself enough to your brand had flopped, someone that's listening to this wants to take a big risk. And it's not what everyone else is doing. So how do you distill down almost like your framework or way of thinking through things to really find conviction in something that is a little bit more contrarian? I think if you're going to tackle anything or approach anything with risk, especially starting a business and creating a product, you have to remain nimble and flexible and really treat your business as like a ball of clay. With that first product, I learned so many lessons.

Right, in just how long it took to create that product to then ultimately decide, wait, you know what, I want to pivot. I want to take in the things that people are loving and the things that people, you know, are asking, you know, could this change or, hey, how about this? I think chasing perfectionism as a founder will kill your business. Like, because through every single stage of product development, like you're putting out small fires. And you kind of have to like pick and choose your battles and decide like what is worth actually holding production and holding a launch versus, you know what, we can fix this in a later run. And so I think it's just really important to be flexible to feedback because ultimately you're making this for your customer. You're figuring out what your customer is, who they are, what they like, what they don't like. And, you know, otherwise you're in the wrong business.

It's so interesting hearing you say that because I did read something once where you said, my use. YouTube was like for me and my brand cycler is for the customer. Is that still how you think of it today? Definitely. You know, when I think about my YouTube channel at this point now, and I've actually have always said this, is that it feels like a digital memory book, you know, like a photo, the video version of a photo album. It is so indulgent to get to look back and see, you know, the last seven years of my

relationship and like all the different stages that we were in or get to see family vacations that I've vlogged with my family. There's something like really pure and wholesome about that and that approach with YouTube. But with Cycler, like the customer for Cycler is everyone. I want everyone to feel like they can find themselves, you know, in the different fragrance blends and the formulas. And that just requires a whole different mindset and a whole different strategy. Well, it's so funny because I spoke at Greycroft, which is like the who's who of investors, founders, creators, creators, celebrities. And a lot of founders were coming up to me that are, a little bit more, let's say, like, archaic in the way that they've approached content in the past.

And I gave some advice on stage that I said, you really do have to think about your content for your brand like a reality TV show. People want founder-led content. They want to be able to see who is behind the brand. Yeah. As an expert in that, where do you think that you've done really well with founder-led content at Cycler? And where do you feel like you maybe haven't taken the risks that you could to take it to the next level? I think. What I'm always striving to do more of is education. You know, we put so much time and effort into our formulas and what goes in them, right? The active ingredients, the ingredients that are going to provide, you know, whatever results we're chasing with a specific product. And so I'm always asking myself if I am, I guess, educating at least my own consumer enough on that or specifically how to use a product. product. You know, I think with our perfume oils, there's one on the table. There are these little guys. So cute. And they've been so much fun to create. And part of the story with those oils is that

they are layerable and they're supposed to be mixed and matched. And they can stand on their own, of course. And I think that's how they've mainly been enjoyed by our customers. But reminding myself, like, you know, there are different ways to speak to these products. Because I think you're right, people do want to see the founder behind a brand and they want to hear the story and the wise and all those things. And that's very important. But then also creating that clear, distinct line because I do want this brand to have its own identity and its own vibe. And getting to sort of just like grow with the brand. Like I look at it as this like parallel journey where we're kind of like in our own lanes, but we're riding it together. Well, it's so interesting

because I think, honestly, I can speak very vulnerably. I, for so long, why I called the company Hot Smart Rich, was because I felt like if I looked a certain way or my voice has this inflection at the end, which everyone hates on YouTube, like, I couldn't be taken seriously. And so my whole content journey has been me trying to take off the mask of having to prove how smart I am because that is like the deep-rooted childhood wound that I have

where it's like I know that I'm one of the smartest people in the room, but like people for whatever reason don't see that upon meeting me. And so every single content decision that I've made has been like, will people see how smart I am? Am I proving these people right or wrong? And I think a lot of the time people don't often think about all of the things that are working against influencer brands or celebrity brands because there is an assumption made where it's like, oh, she's just putting her name on it. She can't be that involved. And I think I'm so interested in how you think about really showing the like, wow, I had to make a really tough packaging decision because the top didn't match the bottle. And, whoa, we just blew $50,000 on the wrong production run.

Like, are you afraid to show those sides of things? Because you also know that you have this fan base that looks as you as like, oh, maybe she's just the influencer that's a part of this brand. I think it's so important to show those things and talk about those things. Also, as a reminder, to show that there are people behind this brand, too, right? I think when a brand reaches a certain level of success, it sort of like takes a life of its own, right? And I think it's important to remind our customers that there are people behind this brand. We're making mistakes.

We're adjusting. We're pivoting. We're learning lessons as we go. And so to get to be able to do a version of that on my own platforms, I think is awesome and so important. Right. And so whether that's sprinkled in to like a vlog of mine or an Instagram story or TikTok or something, I think it is important to show those, you know, little like mishaps and those little small fires. Totally. I just asked all of you guys this one question. What is the one thing holding you and your team back from using AI properly? The answers were fascinating because everyone was basically circling the same problem, the same one that I had. They don't know where to start. People said things like, we don't know the right prompts. We don't know how to set up an AI agent. Our systems don't talk to each other. I think every company today needs someone thinking about this properly. How can AI save time or increase output? How can it make your business smarter with it replacing the human judgment that actually makes the work really good and unique?

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A lot of people have an idea right now. They don't execute on it. What did it take for you to finally be like, I'm going to go and do this? Oh my gosh. The best piece of advice I can give in what I feel that I've really learned with building a brand is like, you cannot wait for someone to just open a door for you. You might need to build that door and open it yourself, right? And so I didn't know what I was doing at all. And I, in some ways, I think that blind confidence is what I needed at the time to just get my, like, build a door and

step into it, right? Because if I had known now what it takes to run a company, a company, and keep it alive and keep innovating every single week. Like, I don't know if I would have started back then because it is a lot of work. And so I think there was like a bit of blind confidence and feeling like, you know what, this is something that I've been itching at. And I really feel like I'm onto something and I feel passionate about this. But you're just going to regret the things that you don't do and you don't try. Talk to me about how it feels to have your brand at Sephora.

It is so, so crazy and I cry about it often. A funny or like a cute little story that I can share is my first check that I got from YouTube. This was back when I was like 14 years old. My first check from AdSense took it straight to Savora. We went there. I think it was like maybe $200. Bought a bunch of products to then go home and film a hall. So Sephora has always been like my destination for beauty, makeup hair, all these things, right?

And so from the get-go day one of ideating cycler, I always hoped and dreamt that it would get to be in Sephora. So it is a dream, dream, dream, dream come true. And they are a dream retailer to be collaborating with. Okay. As a Sephora connoisseur, how would you describe the body care aisle from like color cosmetics? So I feel like everyone gets color cosmetics. Yeah. But can you break down the difference between these two aisles?

Okay. this is all right it's where my brain is going is so hilarious because I'm just like less shelf space. These products are bigger. We're often like right now we're having to navigate, you know, new launches going into our N caps and where we're fitting them and how, you know, we're adding certain info cards to then slide them out and have room for other cards. And so I am just thinking about the fact that color cosmetic businesses have physically smaller components so they can fit more on the show. shelves and we really have to, the real estate is precious with a body care brand. So if I'm looking visually at the two different aisles, one has a lot of space and freedom to really get crafty. Well, you know, the other, these products are big. You know, these tubs, these bottles, we got to get

crafty. Are you attracting the 13-year-old girl that's obsessed with color cosmetics and skincare the same way that, like, body care is? Or is it just like a different consumer? I'm having so much fun. with color and packaging with cycler. You know, we like to kind of stay in like the jewel tone, moody colors with accents of gold, which kind of plays into this like 70s vibe that we're trying to like always kind of have running through like the veins of cycler. And, you know, I think that was done for so many reasons. I wanted the brand to feel fun and sexy, but like approachably sexy, you know.

And that was something that I learned after my first. launch was craving color and craving this visual story that helped to tell the story that I felt my first fragrance was starting to tell and then my future fragrances, right? And so thinking about like our products on shelves and who's walking up, I'm so grateful and so excited that we decided to, you know, play with color because it definitely, it's fun. It's fun to look at it on shelves and see those bright colors. Do they get a tracts a younger consumer? Maybe a little bit old or if anything because the colors are a bit moodyer but ultimately I really see the customer as everyone and so I think finding kind of like that middle point of like fun playful while still

also feeling chic and luxurious and you know picturing like you know an adult anyone of any age having it proudly in their shower or on their bathroom sink well at least 200,000 people have it on their bathroom sink because you've sold that many products just through TikTok shop, which is crazy. So crazy. Do you think that Sephora and TikTok shop complement each other or do they compete a little bit? I think ultimately, like as a brand, it's all about brand exposure, right? And so I just think about like what are the platforms that are able to, that help support the growth of the brand, right? And so we were on TikTok shop before we launched in Sephora.

And I think TikTok shop did such a great job. And it was such a great vehicle to create that brand awareness that helped, you know, build that momentum and that excitement for people to go into Sephora locations and smell the fragrances that they're hearing about TikTok shop. So I think there is so much support happening everywhere that's like not just in the numbers, but just the storytelling of the brand. So you launched in Sephora February 2026. Mm-hmm. You also signed with WME in this month. Yes. Can you talk to me a little bit about how you celebrate milestones like that?

Do you celebrate milestones like that? Oh my God, I'm going to get emotional because this is such a cute answer that I just thought of in my head, which is the first first thing I tell is my fiancé. Like, he is such a huge supporter of what I do. And I'm such a huge supporter of his. And he's seen every part of it. Like he's been in bed with me as I'm like, what am I doing? What am I doing? This was the craziest risk I ever took, you know, to then getting to celebrate these insane moments.

And it's like my version of getting to celebrate it is getting to call him or, you know, running home and telling him. So with that story specifically, like I got in the car and I told him. You're on me so mad to myself. Like that is the exact answer I would get. Like when you find your person, I feel like everything starts to make sense. And I think there's a lot of women that listen to this show that are searching for that. So let's talk about you in Phineas for a second. I love it.

I love the smile you go and you get to talk about them. Okay, let's start with the basics. How did you guys mean? Oh, my gosh. Okay. So that, let's see. We've been dating for over seven and a half years. So this was a long time ago.

I was 22. He was 21. We technically. Oh, are you a cougar? I'm a coo. For half of the year, I'm like two years older than him. And then for the second half, I'm like one year. I'm like, thank God.

So he's 28 right now and I'm 30. And he never lets me forget that. So we technically met on Raya, the dating app. But sort of like the cuter backstory is that two of my very close friends had like two years leading up to matching. They had worked with him a few times because they both work in music. And he is a music producer. And every so often, like every. five months I'd hear from one of those two friends. I just had a session with this guy,

and I just kept thinking of you the whole time. Like, I feel like you guys would really get along. But I don't know if he's single. He's always out of town. Like, I don't know if it's worth it. He's always out of town. And so in my head for like two years, I would hear the name Phineas, because who else is named Phineas? So like, noted, okay? But there's something about he's always out of town that made me think, like, oh, he lives in Europe. He's like some. I don't know. I never thought to look him up. I never thought to inquire about this. Two years later, I'm out to breakfast with one of those friends. We're complaining about men in Los Angeles. And I'm like, you know what? I haven't been on this happen a lot. Like, let's just go through. And the third person I landed on

was him. And I was like, is this the guy that you've been telling me about for two years? And my friend nearly did like a coffee spit take. She was like, I'm calling it. You're falling in love with him. He's falling in love with you. This is it. Like, we're done. Like, this is it. And she fully called it. We immediately matched. He gave me his number. I was hesitant because I'm like, modern love. We're meeting on a dating app. I hate that. This is our story. But we, a week later, I hit him up because I was going to see a movie with those two friends and just like, I was like, do you want to come to this movie in a few hours? And that was our first date. And then from then on, I mean, everything moved so quickly. So that's my long-winded how we know.

did you guys first start mixing business with your relationship? Well, he's been such a good sport about being in content that you could almost say it happened very quickly. And I think in some ways it's because we fell for each other so hard and so fast and so honestly. There were no games. Like, we just were so straightforward with each other. I think when you know, you just kind of know. There's no reason to like hold off on sending a text message or making them jealous or anything. We just were like, wow, yep, I love you. And so kind of later into our relationship, we've been able to work together a little bit more. Last year, I directed two of his music videos, one for just his personal project, Phineas, and one for the favors. And that was a

dream, dream, dream to get to do. And I'm just so grateful that he trusts me creatively. So many women want that. And I talk very openly about it with my husband. When we do so much collaboration together, but one of the unsexy parts of what we do is like before we start anything, we have a conversation that's super uncomfortable. And we're like, here's what it's going to look like. Here's the splits of stuff. Like, here's how we're going to negotiate this. And it's, I think a lot of people were really confused by that at the beginning. It's like, you guys are in love. You're married. Yeah. But I'm like, every single thing once you have a more complex life needs to be talked about up front. Yeah. When you're even thinking about like directing his music video, do you have uncomfortable conversations? You're like, I want to get paid for this. or like, I want to be given executive producer credits or like, how do you have those types of conversations when it can be so unsexy, but it actually protects both people in the end? I think it's important to approach any of those conversations the same way that you would approach

any argument in your relationship, which is honest communication, being vulnerable and just addressing things as quickly as possible, right? So in the case of those music videos, I was so excited by the idea of just getting to flex that muscle and get to do that that I was like, you don't, I technically got paid for those, but I was like, I don't care what it is. Like, I just want the experience. I want to get to do this. And so it was more so creating an idea and then having to negotiate, okay, how much budget do we have to be able to execute this idea? And that was more important to me than how much money I was receiving. Do you think that money motivates you or is it impact or something else?

Ooh. I think it's like a blend of everything because you can't just let impact or like creative fulfillment be the only thing that, you know, is sort of like your drive because you have to be smart with your fine. and you have to understand what is worth pursuing and what is not and what are we doing for fun here and what are we doing that's going to help keep the lights on and keep the bills paid. And so I think it needs to be a blend of all of those things, right? And so that's why any of these risks that, you know, you're taking, for example, starting cycler, it was so scary because I was understanding that like this is a financial risk that I'm putting money into and so much time into. But, the purpose and the like it's like it's a mixture of all the things you just kind of have to pick in shoes on like you know what you feel is the right call to make at any given time i'm so happy you said that and i a thousand percent agree because i think we live in a capitalist society you need money to be able to live a certain life and i'm so interested now as someone who like self-finance this business you own your business this is not just a brand deal i've seen a source online that

Cycler is projected to make $70 million by the end of this year. How does a number that big make you feel when you self-financed one product? It is very, very wild. So that number were estimated to make that this year by the end of this year. And is that total since you started or just for this year? That's for this year. Revenue for this year, right? For this year, which is, yeah, It is very hard to wrap your brain around. But ultimately, it speaks to, I guess, what is so, so important, which is behind every brand, you need to have a well-oiled machine and an operation team, right? And so to me, it's a reminder that, like, we really figured it out. We figured out our cash flow and our supply chain.

And yeah, it definitely, it is a huge responsibility, but it is obviously so exciting because I think, you know, my gold cyclers to continue to expand and grow it into different markets. And all of those things require, you know, a very strong, solid foundation, right? And money. Yes. Like to make money, you have to spend money. And I think a lot of the time people hear, cyclers going to make $70 million this year. And you think, wow, is Claudia making that? And you're like, no, that's going back into running the business that it needs to have to build a globally recognized brand.

Yeah. How comfortable are you talking about money? Like, what was the money environment you grew up in? I'm pretty comfortable talking about money with, like, my closest friends. But I, it's tricky because I think you always want to be sensitive to everyone's situation. You know, I think I've, I definitely grew up watching money. being like a pain point between my parents. Like my parents worked so, so, so hard to provide a life for us that was comfortable.

And I think as a woman today, it is really important to not be afraid to talk about money, to ask about money, to hear from friends what they are doing with their money, if they have any that they can invest. I need a matcha. So we're going to take a little break and make a little break. and make one with our show sponsor, Peak. They have my favorite sun goddess matcha. I use this all the time, especially when I'm traveling,

but also because it's just the best ingredients. It's ceremonial-grade organic, made from the highest-quality tea leaves, and the added oxidants don't hurt either. Now we're going to add a little bit of hot water first. I'm an iced matcha girl, but I'm also a latte girl, and to be able to do this the best at home,

I use Peak Carrara Marine Collagen, which turns my matcha into a latte. Today we're going to do two scoops because it's that good. Source from Japan with biotin and coconut cream to support radiant skin, stronger hair, nails, joint health, and happy aging within. If you want to try my recipe at home yourself, visit peaklife.com slash HSR. And for a limited time, get 15% off peak for life with my link.

Everyone keeps asking me how I've grown HSR's Instagram so fast. with such an engaged community, and it has nothing to do with me. It's possible for a few reasons. Number one, this community. Number two, my HSR team. I have very little to do with it because I don't want to be the type of founder who's approving captions and bottlenecking the team. Number three, because the HSR team has a secret project management tool that helps them plan, manage, and approve all social content. It's called Rella, and it's now one of our sponsors. Rella was started by an HsR Angel founder, Natalie, Shadow Nassar. Natalie, hello. And it's been such an honor to watch Natalie build this and see how helpful her

platform is for social teams, trying to grow, plan, give feedback, and approve content quickly. Rela makes it so easy to stay organized and move fast. It is a no-brainer for any HsR angel trying to grow their own social channel. So head to getrella.com and use code Hsr for 10% off your first three months or annual plan. So many women think about money so scarcity-wise and And I think the biggest risk that I've ever taken is, like, putting everything I had into my business because I believed in betting on myself. And, like, I don't think that was the best personal finance advice. Like, you know, I actually have some of the networks that initially told me no for my show were like, you should do personal finance. And I said, I am the worst personal finance expert because I put everything I had into staying in America on an E2 visa and like betting everything that I had on myself. But I think a lot of the time, we think these things just happen. But to build a brand to what you've built for $70 million, it takes money. It takes investment. It takes hiring people. You're investing back into your community. You're investing into people. What is the best investment you've made for Cycler? Product, people, branding. I mean, people, 100%, you need to surround yourself with others that are

experts in what they do and that are experts in what you're not, right? Like really understanding your strengths and your weaknesses as a founder so important. I think also I often like to say this, but like from the outside, anyone that's starting a brand, if you're feeling any sort of pressure to like go flashy with events and traditional marketing and all these things, like there are so many better ways to sort of invest that money into your business that are not that, right? And so I often like to say that, like, the, I think one of the most important decisions we made very, very early on was like, we're going to put a lot of time and money and attention into just getting product into people's hands. Right. And so our PR list is large.

Wait, I'm so offended. I'm not on it. I'm just kidding. Are you not on it? I'm just joking. Who's getting fired? Yeah. Production.

I'm kidding. We're getting your ad. I have your eye list. I'm just kidding. No, but I think it's so important to say that because people often overlook these things. And there was actually a question I was going to ask you and I skipped on it. But I really want to ask it because I know so many founders are going to relate to this. When you see a competitor like Sol de Janeiro do something with like Sophia Ritchie Grange and Jake Shane and like, is there a part of you inside that's like, damn it?

Like I wish that I could do that. And if so, what are those other things that you do that like helps build this brand? That's a $70 million brand that you don't need to do those things. Right. That's such a good question. I love seeing when other brands, like, collaborate with other celebrities. Like, I think Road has done it to such an unbelievably successful degree. Like, so good.

So good. And I think for us personally, I still, you know, even though we're growing quickly, I still really view Cycler as sort of this indie brand. And so much of what we were doing in the beginning, we're still doing today and we haven't really changed that much. We're just consistent. And so sort of like to parallel, you know, maybe our version of that, for example, I love building community and putting time and attention into TikTok shop creators.

So for example, with every single product launch, like I'm getting on a Zoom and having like a private little like seminar conversation with TikTok shop creators. to help them educate on like, here's what the, here's the new product. Here's how I like to talk about it. Here are the different ways that you can start your TikTok to kind of hook in the viewer. And sort of like putting time and attention into creators has really been very successful for us. And I think also jumping back to like PR and gifting so, so important to focus on all of those different levels, from like micro influencers to, you know, traditional celebrities if we can get them onto our PR lists, but like really putting your

time and attention into all sizes of different creators. So important. When you're walking around events now as just Claudia, like not the vendor, are you just constantly thinking of things for your brand? Oh my gosh. Absolutely. I, for me, like anything that is interactive, anything that is physical, tactile, it's so fun to now get to be in the space and be able to appreciate like those smaller details that a brand will put in to an event that I would have otherwise looked over. You know, anything that's branded, anything that's personalized, anything that feels just like an extra added experience for the person that's attending. So it is really fun to be able to pick up on those things and like take little nuts and be like, that was really cute.

That is adorable. Okay. Claudia Suluski, I can talk to you forever. We have to do some rapid fire. Okay. What is the last thing you put on your credit card? Yesterday I was shopping for like nice plates. I think they're called Lennox. Like there's my, I grew up with these plates that my mom, I was on the phone with my mom and I was like, I want to get nice plates. We just moved back into our home. We did a renovation. So like everything I'm putting on my credit card right now is just like a home item. Okay, love. The next question was going to be what's the most last expensive thing, but would it be the plates? It was certainly the plates. Yes. Does it break your heart a little when you have to spend something that's a lot of money on home stuff now that you're,

in your 30s or is that like right of passage? I for me like Phineas and I love to host so I can very easily be like plates hosting worth it because they're going to be used so much it's almost like the cost per wear argument about clothing I'm like these plates are going to be on our dining table serving up food for our friends and families for the rest of our life so I love how you just tied that together um I just started asking people this credit card have somehow become a data symbol, but I really want to understand what's your credit card and why did you get it? Like, was it for the points? Like, gosh.

What do you use? I have an Amex. Okay. Platinum. Okay. I think. And I think it has good points on it. Like, I'll use it for flights or sometimes it's connected to my, like, Amazon and I'll use the points there.

I am, like, not very savvy with, like, credit card points. I think I could be a little bit better. about that. And also, like, being loyal to an airline need to get better. Same. The tricky thing is oftentimes, like, a work trip, I'll have flights booked for me. And so I'm not choosing. You kind of have to have an account with every airline to, like, slowly garner those points. But then it's just like, it's a sad reality that my husband is, like, the top echelon of every single airline. I'm like, you're always away. Yep. Like, it's horrible. Exactly. We can't compete. Um, wait, this just came to me. does Finney still travel as much as he used to when your friends were always like, he's always gone.

He's not as much, not as much. So he used to tour with his sister and perform on stage with her. And he no longer has to tour with her. And so he just tours for his own music, which at this point now he likes to keep it kind of at a lower volume, which I love. Yeah. Yeah. This is really hard for you. You can only pick one for the rest of your life.

Acting, creator, founder. Your face. Brutal. Brutal. Oh, my gosh. Founder. Founder. Oh, I love that.

100%. You can always act in like a short-forms film for Cycler one day. Exactly. Exactly. Okay. What is your favorite beauty brand that isn't yours? Ooh. Okay.

I am really loving MPH. That foundation. I'm wearing it right now. Love it. I do love the underpainting technique, too. Let's just say you can only pick one for the rest of your life. an Oscar, an Emmy, or an Allure Beauty Award? Oh, my gosh.

Well, we have received an Allure Beauty Award. Okay, so now it's been an Oscar and Emmy. I will have the audacity to say Oscar. As you should. Don't even say audacity. Like, you're just going an Oscar. Okay. You can only pick one for the rest of your life.

Coachella or Sephora. Ooh. I have to say Coachella. I'm sorry. I'm such a fan of music. I truly like going back to the desert, there's something about like something within my body where I'm like, I'm back home. Which do you prefer? Walking your red carpet or doing an in-store demo at Sephora? Instored demo at Sephora. Walking a carpet is weird and stressful and scary because you're just thinking about like shifting, okay, and they're like over the shoulder and then someone yells this way. You know what always happens? Phineas and I? Never dare to look in the same camera at the same time. Every photo I'm looking here, he's looking here. Like, we're, because they're just shouting, right?

So never do we have a photo where we're looking at the same. But is that intentional? No. But at this point, it feels intentional because they're like, over here, guys, over here. What's the best carpet you've walked? I think getting to walk any of those, like, big, crazy, Oscar Grammys, those are crazy. but there's something really fun about them, too. It's very pinch me.

So getting to, like, support my fiancé and be his guest at those things is really crazy. I'm obsessed. What would you rather have a song written about you or a product? Oh, my God. Ooh, what would the product be? I could never make up these questions. Just so everyone knows, I did. This is not clad.

This is not chat, not Claude. Ooh. I think I'm going to say song because it's so romantic. And also, I'm making the products. Like, let that be, leave that to the... You're the inventor. I'm the inventor. We can, we can, I can be the muse on the side, you know?

Oh, I love that. She can do it all. She's hot, smart, rich people. Okay, two more. These ones are more serious. Okay. I have a very toxic brain. every day I do these HsR love notes. It's like almost an affirmation to kind of retrain my brain to think

positively. If you could only tell yourself one thing for the rest of your life to get through anything, what would it be? Hmm. What's your HsR love note? I'm enough. Is that, is that vague? No, that's amazing. I think I'd say that because so much of my childhood and in my 20s, Like I was such a people pleaser and just always so worried about everyone's feelings around me and just making sure that like I was never the reason for any sort of, I don't know, friction or anything in the room, right? And I think growing up is like recognizing that we are all enough. We are all, you know, a full human being. You don't need another person to fill up your other half. And like, yeah.

I resonate so much with that. I actually spent thousands of dollars on therapy for my therapist one day to say, you have to change. Am I, am I, am I, am I, am I, too, I am. And I remember when he said that, like, I just started bawling because similar to you, I'm just like asking my whole life, am I going to, am I this? Yeah. And then as soon as you just re-switch that, everything opens up for you.

Can I tell you just corny little thing? Literally on my way here in the car, I was, of course, a little bit nervous. And I was out loud saying to myself, like, I am excited. I am grateful. I am lucky. I am like I have something to say. I have like I love saying affirmations physically out loud to myself if I'm like on the way to anything that makes me a little bit nervous. So wait, I'm so happy you said that also just like you did not seem nervous at all. You smashed it. Okay. Okay. What would you call this season of your life? Um, okay. It's like this season of, um, like working hard and loving hard. Like big theme of working hard, big themes of love. We're planning a wedding, right? So I just, I am like a puddle of just, yeah, feeling so in love and excited for that new chapter of my life. And also like understanding don't have kids yet, not saying, that we can't continue to work once we have kids, but like understanding how much time I have to be able to really hone in on, you know, all my dreams. And so we're working hard, we're letting hard. Love. Big. So are you changing your last name? Big. Huge. Let's talk about it.

Let's talk about it. Oh my gosh. This has been like a topic of discussion for all my friends in I. I think what I'm going to do is I think I'm in like my public. name will probably stay Claudia Saluwski. It has a good flow to it. I've built in a personal brand. But I think legally I'll change it to Claudia Sluski O'Connell. I don't have a middle name. So we're just going to shift the last name into the middle name spot, basically, right? It was meant for you. Chloe Soski-OcConnell has a ring to it. I love it. I thought I did. I did Margaret Sellers Rame. And beautiful. Yeah, but call me Maggie because I hate him to tell me Margaret. I'm obsessed. Claudia Sluski, where can people find you and how can HsR help be right now?

Oh my gosh. Well, you can find me, of course, on just at Claudia Saluski on any. The YouTuber me wants to like, I know. You can't do it now. I give you permission. So you can follow me anywhere. It's just my name, Claudia Saluski. And the best way to support is just try out cycler, you know.

The first product that I always love to recommend to any new customers is our Sensorial Body Wash. It's so special. Yeah, it's the big bottle. It has a multi-oil complex in a glycerin, and it just leaves like the most slippy, hydrating layer on your skin that once you step out, like, it just does so much more than just wash your body. It's so special. And that fragrance, sacred santaol is addicting. Oh, I can't wait to try this. Yeah. Claudia Zuluski, thank you so much for coming on Hot Smart Rich. We absolutely loved you. And congratulations on everything. It's absolutely. incredible. Oh, thank you so much. This was so much fun. I did want to end.