Hot Smart Rich with Maggie Sellers Reum - Susan Yara on How She Sold Naturium To e.l.f For $355 Million, Her FTC Investigation, and Building Through Backlash

Episode Date: June 4, 2025

What happens when the internet turns on you, your marriage falls apart behind the scenes—and you still scale Naturium (your startup) into a $355M acquisition from e.l.f.? Susan Yara is telling her side of the story. In this episode of Hot Smart Rich, Maggie sits down with Susan Yara, the founder of Naturium, for one of the most honest and tactical conversations we’ve had on the show. Known for her credibility and candor in the beauty space, Susan opens up about the backlash over her undisclosed involvement in Naturium, being cleared by the FTC, and scaling a brand that became a case study in profitability, performance, and modern brand-building. But this isn’t just a founder story—it’s a personal one. Susan shares what it was like navigating a divorce while in the public eye, raising two kids as a single mom, and redefining her relationship with identity, ambition, and authenticity. From moments that nearly broke her to the business strategies that built her, this episode is a blueprint for long-game thinking in beauty and beyond. Naturium became one of the first creator-founded skincare brands to exit at scale—paving the way for brands like Rhode by Hailey Bieber to follow. As a pioneer in the masstige skincare category, Susan didn’t just ride the wave—she helped define it. Her story proves that credibility, community, and clarity still win in the age of algorithms and outrage. For anyone building in public, recovering from criticism, or wondering if you can be both honest and successful—this one’s for you. ⸻ Key Takeaways Controversy doesn’t cancel you—lack of clarity does. Susan opens up about the Naturium backlash, her FTC clearance, and how transparency helped rebuild trust with her audience and consumers. You can build while breaking down. She reflects on navigating a divorce during the brand’s biggest growth phase—and how personal transformation shaped her leadership. Masstige is the new frontier. Naturium’s success helped define the mid-tier, high-efficacy skincare category, making room for other creator brands like Rhode to follow. Retail still matters. Scaling with Target wasn’t just a channel strategy—it was a credibility builder. Susan breaks down how shelf space drove awareness and repeat sales. Quiet founders can lead loud growth. Susan never sought the CEO spotlight. But leaning into her strength as an operator—not just an influencer—helped Naturium stand out in a crowded space. Partnerships over Perfection. She unpacks her working relationship with Ben Bennett and how mutual trust helped them navigate mistakes, milestones, and media storms. Margins over vibes. Susan made Naturium profitable from day one—and explains why obsessing over contribution margin (not Instagram likes) is what scaled the business. ⸻ Use ⁠Opus Clip⁠ to turn long videos into shorts. ⸻ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ If you like what you hear, rate, review, and subscribe to Hot Smart Rich, the podcast supporting women who own their worth — in business, wealth, and life. ⁠⁠⁠Subscribe on YouTube⁠⁠⁠ ⸻ 💌 Own your worth — and build the life you want. Subscribe to the Hot Smart Rich newsletter, the no-BS guide to startup life, consumer brands, and becoming your hottest, smartest, richest self, written by Maggie Sellers. Join 250,000+ women building wealth, confidence, and community on their own terms. ⁠⁠⁠Subscr... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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So let's get into it. Susan Yara, are you ready to get hot, smart rich? Yeah, yeah. I feel like I'm already, you know, embodying it. You're also the first guest that I've done wearing shoes. How does that feel for you? Oh, well, that should we take our shoes off? Should we get comfy?

Should we get comfy? I'm so glad that you said that because I'm such like a comfy vibes person. But this is so much more cozy. Okay, I love this. I'm into it. So this is not the first. time that we've met. I know. Well, I guess in person. In real life, IRL. Do you want to explain how we met the first time? I used to have a talent agency called Glowlab, Glowlab Collective,

and one of my talent, you had reached out to one of my talent to get her a deal where she would essentially be an ambassador slash investor in a company you're working with. So you and I went back and forth negotiating and it fell through, unfortunately. Oh, for the best. best, but yes. Yeah, all for the best. Probably for you guys too. And since then, I no longer have that talent. I was going to ask. Okay. So you don't do that at all anymore. I do consult and I do work with any of the talent that I brought over to the digital department, which is the agency that now has that roster. I do work with them a little bit. I consult with them. And then, you know, obviously the talent that I brought over, I love and I adore them. So I still work with them too.

It's so funny too because I actually didn't. I was never a YouTube girlie growing up. Like it was just never my thing. I was like playing sports and just doing other stuff. And so when we first got connected, I just was like, wow, mad respect. This woman's like an incredible manager because that's the role that like I thought that you were in. Little did I know that you had this like huge audience yourself.

You had been building this like white space in makeup for so long. So one of the things that I've always been so fascinated about you with is like you're so equally as good on the camera and behind the camera. do you find it hard to like switch what hat you're wearing? You know, I think that people, I don't, obviously we can't assume that everybody who is a content creator is a good business person. Yeah. We've all met people who are creative and maybe they don't have that business mind.

But I actually think to be a successful content creator, especially on a platform like YouTube where you have to do long form content, you have to really plan things out, almost like you're creating a TV show. I think you have to be very business minded. So I feel like I've always had a very big business mind. It's something that I got from my mom. She was always starting little businesses here and there when I was little and I was always helping her. I used to be the manager of her video store, RIP to video stores.

And I learned just a lot about business and how to manage people. And then eventually I went into media, became a journalist. I was an on-camera news reporter in New York City, hated it. And then I went into publications. and I start working at Forbes Magazine, and they were just starting this whole world of the digital era. Like, it seemed like something strange and new, and it's funny to say it like that,

because nowadays everything is digital. But back then, it was all about print magazines. And so they hired me on to help start their video network and to be an online reporter. And that eventually led to me doing this at different publications. And then eventually I was like, you know, I could do this myself. I could go onto YouTube. I could start a network that's essentially,

for women with content that women want, especially women in their 20s, 30s and 40s, where we're getting really well-produced content around cosmetic procedures. Because believe it or not, people wouldn't even admit that they did Botox 10 years ago. I know. It's crazy to think how just how open people are about Botox these days.

But just a few years ago, you couldn't get anybody. It's interesting, like, people are so open about certain things, but I think you're actually the first person that I'm going to talk to you that's open about, like, honestly, every single thing in their life. I actually want to figure out, like, is there things that are off limits for you? But even your podcast is called, like, My Life Online. Would you say you're chronically online, first of all? Oh, I'm chronically online.

I feel like the people I get along with the most know what I'm referring to when I, like, quote something from TikTok or I refer to something that was in a video. It's just, it's what I do, and I'm always online. What do you think the biggest pros are of always being online? And what are the biggest cons? I think the biggest pros are obviously you're in tune with what's happening on a day-to-day basis in pop culture with social media. If you run a social media business in any aspect of it, you have to know what's happening and it's changing rapidly every single day, especially the algorithm, the way that the social media networks work, the way that things are trending. Obviously, the cons are that you're not as present, right?

And it takes up a lot of your time. And sometimes you can just get stuck in a rabbit hole that's not serving you at. at all. Do you feel like sometimes when you're around people that don't want to live their life like chronically online or being present that it's hard for you to like relate to them in a certain way? Yes and no. I think first off, I'm a zenial meaning. Oh, what is that? So I'm I'm an elder millennial and elder millennials basically are the people who grew up with a little bit of like the old school. We didn't have social media while we were in college. We barely had cell phones. We barely started texting in our early 20s. So like everything with that era was new. So like we,

we spent our childhood and our teen years living old school, like off the grid. And then we transitioned into the digital era in college. So it gives us a different perspective. And I think that because of it, I know how to just shut off too because I have kids as well. And they're young. They require a lot of attention. I try to really turn off and spend weekends with them, evenings with them, and not really be so online. And I think that because of that mentality, I can be around other people who aren't chronically online. Okay. So like when you think about what you want to share and what you don't want to share, have there ever been parts of your life where you're like, this is off limits? Yeah. Honestly, it's my children. Yeah. That's actually one of the things I was actually like

doing serious diligence on because you do talk about a lot, which we're going to get into today. But like, you do post with your kids, but like so rarely where it's like you know that they're there. Do you ever get mom shamed because you don't post with your kids that like you're not with your kids enough? In the beginning, not mom shamed for not being with my kids. I think people realize that I'm a present mom. And I think that's because in the past when I was first pregnant with my son, I really did actually start posting. I started a whole personal channel outside of mixed makeup. And I made that a focus because I found that I wasn't getting.

a lot of just straightforward information. I was in my journalist brain. I just wanted somebody to give me a top 10 list of what I should be buying for my baby. What should I take to the hospital? What should I, you know, just anything that I needed to know, I wanted it to be researched and have actual information behind it, not just somebody saying like, I got this today and I liked it and this is a hall for my kid stuff. I really wanted to have some information and real reviews behind stuff.

So I started posting about becoming a mom, and I think I connected with, a whole new audience when that happened. And then they were with me through a big portion of it. I actually recorded a weekly show where I posted being pregnant with my daughter. And then that was the end of it. But that's so necessary because, like, as someone who wants to be pregnant, like, I'm terrified of it. I literally have been talking to my partner about, like, maybe we should do surrogates.

Like, I don't know if I can handle that. Like, I have so many problems. So I think this is where, like, it's a blessing and a curse. Because even with me calling off my engagement, like, part of the Hot Smart Rich brand is about like embracing your full self and like doing everything in your power to just like have a life that you're so proud of sometimes that's business sometimes it's fun at sometimes it is relationships and it's so funny where it's a double-edged sword where it's like when you're so brave to be able to share that part of your life so many people will take that and be like she's using this as like

clickbait or to build a business like how do you think about your life in terms of like okay this is like what I'm living for me and this is what like is actually helping people and can be turned into a business and monetized um Well, okay, so that's a multi, multi-pronged question there. When I'm thinking about what I can and can't post, I think it's easy with, when it comes to my kids. There came a moment where I started realizing that my son would eventually get a little bit older. Yeah. His friends, the parents of those friends and stuff, they have access to social media. It just felt strange.

There was sometime in lockdown where social media seemed to change, the vibe. Totally. The vibe completely changed. It felt less friendly. It felt a little less. I don't even know how to explain it because I'd been online for so long at that point that this felt like a very big 180 in the way that being online felt. And it didn't feel safe to me to put my children online.

And it felt like suddenly this wasn't their decision. And so I just completely stopped doing that. Now my son doesn't want to be online at all. He just, whenever I even try to record him, he's like absolutely not. How old is he? He's eight. See, that's so smart that he even knows that, though, because so many kids I feel like are so interested in it. Like, I look at Alex Earle's siblings and I'm like, oh, these kids want to be like chronically online already so young that it's interesting that your son is already like, no, I actually don't want to be like that.

Do you know why that is? Well, he's very aware, I think, of social media because he's had an iPad for a while. And he thinks it's cool. Like he, I had this picture of him where he discovered, I had them packed up my YouTube plaques where, you know, it shows that I hit 100,000 subscribers. and I've got two of those because I have two channels. And then I hit a million subscribers and I got a gold plaque for that. And he found them and he was like, it clicked for him. He was like, oh my God, this is what my mom does.

And he actually took a picture with my YouTube plaques being, he was just like really proud of that. So I think kids are very aware of social media. Yeah. Maybe not the repercussions and how long it, how permanent it is, right? But I think they're aware of it for sure. So when you were saying that things changed during COVID from being online, How many years were you online before that happened? With my own personal, with my YouTube channel mixed makeup,

I had probably been online for about seven, eight years at that point. But I had been online for publications and media companies for since 2004. So a long time. Yeah. I've been online for a very, very long time, not as my own, like, as a media personality, basically. So was this the time when you said that you didn't feel safe, that you were canceled online? Yeah, yeah.

Can we talk about that? You know, I would even call it a cancellation. Okay, let's talk about this. When I think about people getting canceled, to me at the time, it felt very intense, right? Like, it felt like, oh my God, I've been squeaky clean online for years and I've never done anything wrong. I can't believe this is happening. And then, you know, when you look at people who get canceled for things that are just

awful, right? And then you look at my situation. Wait, so for anyone that's listening that doesn't know what happened, can you explain what happened? So when I, while we were in lockdown, because of everything that was happening with the pandemic and COVID, the contract manufacturer I was working with at the time for a completely different brand basically sent me an email and shut it all down. They were like, they were based in Korea and they were just like, we unfortunately, because of this virus that's going around, can't take on any new clients. So we're sorry, all the stuff that we've worked on the last few months, we're going to have to put a hold on this. And it really occurred to me that I needed to find somebody else to help me with this business.

And so I found my old business partner. And at the time he had just started Naturium. And as we got deeper into the lockdown, we were both kind of like, you know, why would we work on two separate brands? This is a weird time. At that point in lockdown, nobody had really, we didn't really know that there was going to be this boom with e-com. Right? Everybody just assumed like everything's going down. Like, you could actually get a house at a really good deal at that point.

It was crazy. People were, like, stocking up on toilet paper. Like, it was a wild time. So he was like, you know, Naturium's a new brand. It's a baby brand. You've already helped to shape it with your point of view, the way that you've, you know, like, talked about it with your viewers and everything. And the way you've even convinced me to switch things up because he had started it as a clean brand.

And I was like, this isn't a clean brand. This is a science-backed brand. This is a science-backed brand, clinically tested results. Like, this is what you need to be. focusing on with this. And so we were like, you know what, if there were ever a time to just last minute join forces, let's do it. Yeah. Because we had no idea what was going to happen. What was going to happen, right? So we joined up, but at that point, I didn't talk, I stopped talking about the brand online. Okay. Because now this is like, how many times do you post it about

the brand before? Maybe like three times. Okay. I know. Yeah. I know. But still three times. And, and I wasn't the owner at that point. Didn't even know I was going to. I was going to become the owner, right? And then, you know, this conversation start happening. I stopped talking about it. There's like a true gap. I remember saying there was this a, I want to say it was a beauty independent article where they like put a graph of like how many times I talked about the brand before I announced

my ownership of the brand. And you can see there's this three times I talk about the brand. And then there's this gap, like two months where I go silent about the brand online. And then I announce that I'm the owner. And I'm like, does anyone at all? all think about like what might have been happening at that point. It was that I'm in negotiations with my, my business partner, like to try to become an owner. It's a brand that's already started.

He's already put money into it. Now we've got to negotiate how this works out for me to come on as a co-owner. And even at that, we didn't expect to really talk about the, for me to talk about the brand because it was just a, it was a strange time, right? Yeah. I wanted to get my hands on the brand, really turn it into a brand that I had put all of my influence into and then announce it when it felt like a really good time. do that. And, you know, who knew when that was going to be? But I had signed the paperwork

in early June, and then there was a reporter from, I'm actually going to call it out, from Into the Gloss, and she's no longer there, I don't think. Everyone said she was like the nicest person. There were all these like people online who had, I can't remember what it was. My business partner had posted something that alluded to who the owners of the brand were. Okay. And he, I hadn't signed my paperwork yet. And he even gave me a hard time. He teased me. He's like, you better sign that paperwork because I'm posting this, you know, to like,

people are asking who are the owners? And he's like, I'm going to post something kind of ambiguous, and you better sign it. Like, he's teasing me. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And so he put something like the two owners are Asian for him, Asian-Hispanic for me, and then his like few employees that were working for him at the time. And I saw that post go up on social media.

I didn't even have access to the social media at that point because I was not an owner yet. And I said to him, you know what's funny? there aren't that many Asian-Hispanic people in the skincare industry. I wonder if anyone's going to notice that. And he's like, oh, that's so niche. Like, no one's going to work. No, people are creeps online.

Like, they connect dots that you would be like, how did you know that? Yeah. And in hours, a Reddit post goes up. And it's like conspiracy theory. Susan Yara is the owner of Naturnium, and she's been talking about this brand and not disclosing that she's the owner. And we were like, wow. And so here's where I'm like the person that probably messed up in the,

way that I handled it. And that is, I'm a very, I'm a very stubborn person. It made me mad. When's your birthday? A Leo. I'm August. Okay. I'm all fixed signs, by the way. My big three are like all fixed signs. Okay. I'm a Leo. I'm a Scorpio moon and I'm a Torres Rising. Yeah, you're so stubborn. Yeah. I'm so unbelievably stubborn. So instead of just being like, oh, you guys, like long story short, here's what happened, just clearing this up. Instead, I was like, oh, I'm going to egg them on. Oh, you like fed into the drama. Oh my God. That is like the complete opposite for me.

I'm so like whenever I feel like I've done something wrong, I immediately just get like panic. Like I need to solve the problem. But you were like, I'm gonna like feed into this. Yeah, I was like, this is so rude of them. Like, how dare they like try to,

try to accuse me to something that I've never, that I haven't done. But in reality, I should have, again, this is social media had changed, right? Everybody's kind of upset. We're in lockdown. There's a lot of injustices that are being,

you know, put in the forefront, yeah. And I really should have read the room a little bit better. I really should have. But I didn't. And so I just decided, you know what? I'm just going to, you know, I was talking to my business partner. He's like, you worked so hard for this moment. Like, don't let, don't let this become a thing that brings you down.

Instead, why don't you just announce it, announce you're the owner. We'll handle, like, we'll do some interviews and stuff. And you'll get to tell the story of how you and I met, how we became business. partners and it'll all be fine because this is how social media used to be and how things online was it fine absolutely not no so it was like a disaster as soon as you what so how did you announce it did you have like a PR plan or you just went on live and you were like people I love seeing people saying like she really like her PR agency really steered her wrong her like you know like all these things and I'm like what do you guys we're all in lockdown I'm not even in person with anybody I'm sitting

on my sofa with a six-month-old baby on my boob like I don't even we're We're like just all watching and feeling the same way that everyone else is feeling. We're in this lockdown. Anyway, so we're ignoring it, ignoring it. And then this one girl who was just the most upset. Like she was like the leader of the pack with this whole like cancel Susan situation. She went around to the media and she started saying, I've got this theory that Susan, that this like woman who's on YouTube has been pitching this brand to all of her viewers and not disclosing that she's the owner. And someone from Into the Gloss went ahead and bit.

They were like, oh, we'll look into this. So fast forward to June. And by the way, I'm hearing about this. Like friends are calling you being like if there's a story going around. Well, they had their own Facebook group where it was like all about canceling me. So I had like friends in that group that were like watching what they were posting and stuff. It was really strange. But how do you as like someone that has a six months old baby like feeding off of your body literally like handle the pressure of knowing that there is a group going around to cancel you and like take away your livelihood?

Well, in your mind, you're like, I haven't done anything wrong. So, like, if I truly did something wrong and meant to, like, hurt people, why to people, whatever, then maybe I'd be, like, really nervous. Yeah. But in some ways, I was not seeing it from their perspective, right? I was seeing it from my perspective, and I was like, what's going on here? Yeah. Right?

Like, this feels wild. And I'm not, I haven't even done anything. In my opinion, I was thinking in my head, like, I haven't even, like, done anything really, really bad. Like these people were like a pitchfork being like, we need to go and destroy her life. Yeah, exactly. Wait, why though? Yeah. So then, okay, so you basically have to launch your brand with all of this negative cloud over you.

There's reporters. But, okay, so let me take it back to the reporter. So this one reporter goes to the PR company that we're working with as a brand, right? And she says, she's worked with them plenty of time. She's a beauty reporter. And she says, hey, I want to do this roundup on serums. and I want to include one from Naturium. And I can't find who the owners are online.

It seems very strange. And so the first person she reaches out to on the team doesn't respond back because they know it's like a weird sensitive issue. I only signed the paperwork like a week before. And then she emails again. She's like, hey, just following up on this question, she emails another person on the team.

And that person writes back, oh, the owner is Susan Yara, but it's embargoed information. She doesn't get any more context from there. Doesn't know that I just signed my paperwork a week before. No. And again, I'm in the background kind of like, like egging people on. Whatever. They want to think this.

Let them. You know, that kind of thing. So she goes back to these people and she's like, you guys were right. Like confirmed she is the owner. So she doesn't even write a story. She just goes back to the Facebook group and like the leader of the. Yeah, screenshots of it. Wow.

So there was no article on Into the Gloss that was like a, okay. No, she just on her own was like, but I like to think about the time of, of our lives at that moment. Yeah. And everybody was like... On edge. Everyone was on edge. And everyone was trying to do the right thing.

So I like to think that a lot of these people thought they were doing the right thing. Right. Right. So there was probably a lot of people in that Facebook community that weren't like pitchforks. We want to like cancel Susan Yara. So many people probably were like open to being swayed, right? So how do you start rebuilding trust with your community to now put Naturiam in like this amazing that I grew into?

Yeah. Well, actually, I can finally say this. You're going to get some scoop here. So I didn't get a chance to actually talk about what happened for the longest time because the FTC called me. And they were like, they were like, we've never received this many complaints about an influencer ever. In like the history of the FTC, they were like, we are going to have to do an investigation into this. You had an investigation from the FTC. I had an investigation.

Wait, please talk about this. Because I literally just talked about this on a podcast episode about Revolve and like these three influencers that were named in this case. Yeah. What happened? So they basically, it's very intrusive. They make you hand over every form of communication with anybody that might be even closely, like slightly involved with the brand. And so they, they, and they, you have to give all this information, prove that I just

signed my paperwork. I hadn't been like purposely trying to, to lie to people and not. Deceit people. It's like you have to prove all this stuff. The thing is, you would think it'd be very straightforward, but it's the government, right? You had a lawsuit versus the government. Essentially, yeah. And again, like, I wasn't that worried because I knew I hadn't done anything wrong.

Right. Besides being a jerk, right? Besides being, like, a person who decided to be stubborn and egg everybody on instead of just being forthright. Right. And, but the problem is they were like, if I was like, well, I got to discuss this online. Like, I'm a YouTuber, I'm an influencer. My community is going to expect me to explain to them what happened. And they're like, if you talk about it, then we have to open up.

everything to the public. And I was like, ooh, ooh, no, no thank you. Like, they've got my text messages. And I'm talking text messages, you can't erase anything. Like, you have to give them everything. So, your most personal, like, if you're telling your friends, like, oh, like about a BJ. Like, that is going to the FTC. Everything. They're reading everything. Like, it's, it doesn't matter if it's, like, mixed into these conversations about your business as well. Like, any conversation, you cannot pull any of it out. So you have to send it all over for a period of time that they ask for. So how long did this investigation go on for?

It took almost two years. And then it's closed now. Yeah, they were like, sure enough, they send an email to our attorney and they're like, oh, yeah, like basically they were like, there's nothing to see here. We're moving on. You know, like, thank you. That was it. But I had to wait for two years to get that answer.

And then at that point, it just felt like, all right, why even start bringing this up? Yeah. Like, I'm like, is it hard for you to talk about now where it like, it's so irrelevant to your life? But it's like, it's still a big part of the story. It's not hard to talk about. There was a moment. It definitely changed the way I felt about being online. Okay.

And it changed how, you know, like what I wanted to start, what I wanted to talk about. I feel like I used to be so completely open online and you could find anything about me. And if people asked me things, I would share everything. And it kind of closed me off because I felt like people who I had opened up to and really given my time to, a lot of these people were in my own private. Facebook group for Mixed Makeup. And in there, I was always accessible, right? Like if they had questions about products, we would make jokes, we would have fun. It was a really fun community.

And it just really put a damper on it. And I think it did that, unfortunately, for a lot of my community, too, where we all felt like this fun community and then it felt less fun. Right. You know? Have you been able to still do stuff with that community and, like, just in a different way? I think that I've had, I'll say, actually, overall, this was a small group of people that were upset with me.

Like the 80-20 rule. Like maybe even less than 20, right? Like I would say that if anything, what it really showed me, there were like two or three days there where I just closed off, cried for days, right? Like where I was like, oh my God, my career is over everything. I've worked for everything I've built. My team was so sad because they'd been there building it with me. Yeah.

You know? And even they had been like, you should just tell everybody what happened. Like just tell everyone the story. And I'm so stubborn. But you're like, I can't though because also because of the FTC. Wow. So what has made you decide to start talking about your divorce? divorce? People start noticing I wasn't wearing a ring. Okay, that happened to me too.

So they noticed that real quick. And I just felt like eventually if I start dating or if they don't see me with my kids or because it's surprising how many people know you in person. Right. Also, after you've been online for so long, I don't have this massive, massive following, but because I think I've been online for so long, people will recognize me or will have watched some of my videos or bought some of my products or something. And so they'll have questions, right? And so I just felt like this was a really important detail because everyone knew me as a married woman.

So if they saw me like out on a date or something, can you imagine? People are like, I mean, shoot, I know how Reddit works. Like, oh, we saw Susan like cheating on her husband or something. So I was like, I'm just going to shut this down as soon as possible. I've learned from my lessons of like keeping things to myself that are really important to put out there. So I just went ahead and announced it and just kept it at that. How did it feel?

Very, very final. But good. I think divorce, especially I was with my husband for 15 years. We were married for 13 years. Wow. So a very long time. Yeah. And I think what people don't realize is as a woman, I think that we take a long time to grieve that relationship before we even make that final decision.

We probably have tried to fix it or have talks or do whatever, even with ourselves, right? Like, what could I do to make this work before you finally? finally get to that point where you're like, I am so done. Yeah. So I think when I announced it, it felt very final to me. And there was almost like a relief. So you started Naturiam in 2021. 2020.

2020. So you were still married when you guys started it. And I guess like you have achieved truly like the hot, smart, rich lifestyle. Like you sold your business within three years of building it for $355 million. Yep. Has anybody else ever done that? K-18 built theirs in about three years. years all day. All around the same time, actually.

So as you have stepped into like this hot, smart, rich, financial freedom, power, did that change the dynamic of your relationship and your role in your marriage? I would say it probably played a factor, but before that I was already doing really well as a content creator. Okay. So I was already the breadwinner. Okay. And it was already in that direction. Right. Going in that direction. I think it's so interesting because money sometimes actually makes things so much more complicated. and sometimes it makes it easier. What do you think, like, now that you have sold your business, like your relationship with money is like as it stands today?

Yeah. I mean, obviously, it's easier. Things are easier, right? When you have money, you're not as stressed out about, you know, like little things. Like if my kids get sick, I know I can handle it. I have a lot of privilege now, right? Like I get to spend a lot of time working on myself. I get to go to the gym and work out with a trainer all the time.

Get a spray tan that looks amazing a week later. Like, what is the secret? Yeah, I get my spray time whenever I want. I get lymphatic drainage every month. You know, I get to do a lot of these things where I'm focusing on myself. I feel like I'm on a big wellness journey. And it's partially because I get to focus on myself now, right? And I have the money to do that.

I was able to retire my parents. That was a big dream of mine, right? Get my mom a new car, do all these things. Get them to, you know, just live a peaceful life because they were part of the rat race too, right? They were doing the constant day-to-five jobs. where they barely, I feel like they barely made ends meet, and they were still doing this into their 60s, you know? Wow.

So it felt really good to be able to help them and to be able to tell my nieces and my nephew that they're good. They want to go to school, wherever they want to go, get good grades, I've got them. Do you feel like, though, that now that you have achieved financial success, like people's relationship with you has changed because you have money? Like, are you constantly, like, picking up the bill when you're going out for dinner with girlfriends?

And, like, that's something I see when I'm around certain people in my life. it's like they're just expected to do things versus it being like a treat for people or like you wanting to do it because it's out of the kindness of your heart. I've always had this abundance mentality even when I was broke where I was like I'm good with paying for everybody. I'm not going to like I'm not going to sit around thinking oh I only had I don't drink right. Okay. You don't forever?

Barely have like a drink. Maybe a drink and I'll babysit that drink at dinner or something. It's really just to be like make everybody else comfortable around me that they're not like, oh, God, she's not drinking, you know? Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I barely drink and, and, you know, when I go out to dinner with people and they are drinking, right, or like couples and they're both drinking and I'm here like one Prosecco in, you know, like, and like one plate of food, whereas everyone's like getting a bunch of stuff and everything. I've never been the person to be like, um, excuse me, I only, I only owe $40.

You guys owe $500 each, but I only owe $40. Like I've always been of the mentality that like, if someone needs something, help them. them. If somebody, if you're like, you know, you're going to go do something, but you can't take someone with you because someone can't come with you because they can't afford the ticket to the concert. Buy the ticket for them if you can do it. Because it's going to be so much more fun if we're doing this together and you figure it out anyway. And I've always felt that way. Like if I spend, if I'm spending money and I'm at this point where I need a certain amount of money, I'm going to personally figure out how to get that money. Yeah. Right. And it just kind of pushes me to

keep getting it. You have a true rich person mindset, which is like you're not thinking, and this is something I learned recently, is like, rich people think about how can I make more money and then make my money work for me, whereas poor people or poor-minded people think, like, I need to save the money and, like, control the money and have it so tight to my chest. What are the things that you're doing to make your money work for you now that you've achieved this financial success? I do want to take a step back. I grew up really poor. Yeah. Dirt poor. Okay. And I do think that there is a little bit of this mentality, right? Yeah. You are trying to figure out how to just survive, right? And there's a

cycle that I don't think people really consider if they didn't grow up poor, if they're not poor. You're in a cycle where everything seems to go against you, right? You don't have enough money to make rent this month, but now your child just got sick. So you're going to have to take them to the emergency room. There's extra fees around that. Your car suddenly breaks down. So now you have to pay for, you know, because you don't have a brand new car. You have a, you have a little hoopty ride, right? You're trying to just get around with that car. And that car gets you to work, too, by the way. So now your car breaks, or you got a flat tire, you need to replace the tire, that's going to be another $250, $300.

And then you park it, you know, like trying to figure out something. And then you suddenly get a parking ticket in Los Angeles that can cost you $200, right? And you're sitting here thinking, how in a matter of a week did I just like go in debt for like $1,000 extra dollars? And I can't even pay my rent yet, you know? And it turns into this really crazy cycle where I feel like you cannot get ahead when you are poor. Yeah.

And that just continues to happen. every single time that, every day of your life as a poor person. So, of course, they're thinking, I need to hold on whenever I have. Totally. They don't come into chunks of money. They owe money, you know? And life is always coming against them. How did you pull yourself out of that, though, coming from that family background?

I truly believe that it's a mentality that you're born with. Right. Like, I really, really think that success and knowing that you're going to go do something big, you're just that person. I have always, always thought that. I always knew that if I worked really hard, I focused and I knew what I wanted to achieve that I was going to achieve it. And I always thought that even as a poor little girl.

Like I, you know, I'd be in rooms where I probably didn't even belong. And I'd be like, first to speak up. You know, like, you're not getting me to shut up. Yeah. I'm going to like let you know what I'm thinking. And I've just always been that person. Do you think that that is what, like, when you look at your kids and now that they have a mom who has achieved this, like, do you think that they are going to have that same

hustle or that same grind for themselves? I hope so. You know what? This is my Roman Empire. You know this, right? Oh, really? I didn't know that. I think about this on a very regular basis. How do I raise children that are not brats, first off, right? Because they do have access to anything that they basically want, anything they need, right?

Whereas I used to have to watch my parents struggle through things. Their first languages weren't English either, right? My dad spoke Spanish, my mom spoke Korean. So as a five-year-old, as soon as I learned how to read and write, I was translating things for them. writing letters for them when they needed to send a letter to work or to the school. I was watching them really have to struggle through things, right? And it obviously created something in me that made me want to succeed to be able to take care of this and not be in that situation like them, right?

My kids don't see that. And I actually, there was this moment, I remember it was a couple years ago. My ex-husband was watching ESPN. And this athlete, they had just like won something, let's say, it was like, I don't think He was like Super Bowl, but it was a big moment for this athlete, and he's being interviewed, and he's talking about how his mom was a single mom, and she worked so hard. She worked three jobs to be able to get him through everything and be there and support him. And I said, you know, it's crazy to me, you know, like obviously, like amazing for that guy

and his mom that he's gotten where he is because of her help. But my kids didn't see my struggle. Right. They didn't see my growth, and they didn't see how hard I had to work to get where I am. and so they're not going to experience that gratitude. Right. You know? So I keep thinking about how do we do this?

Like how do we make it so that they can feel that gratitude, feel that, have a little bit of grit even, right? And I truly don't have the answer for it. Well, it's so funny. Not that I'm giving parental advice since I don't have children, but actually my boyfriend and I were talking with this yesterday at F1 because we were lucky to go enough in the J.P. Morgan box. And, you know, it's like their top, whatever clients world in the North America.

and there was these two girls that were beautiful wearing these gorgeous dresses. There may be like 16 and 18 and he looks at me and he's like with our kids, they will never be going to events like this ever because that gets in their heads that like that's the norm where it's like that is such a privilege and such like an opportunity to be able to do. But when your 16 year old woman is like child is dressing up wearing the most beautiful forward dress and going to these events, you just think that that's normal. And it's like that's so far from normal that I feel like just it's like just a

little things like that because I know some of like the richest people's children who have grinded it out and built a name for themselves. I don't know if you've watched Phoebe Gates, but she just built the burnouts and she's building Fia and, you know, Alex Cooper asked her, like, how have you remained so normal with like your parents? And she acknowledges her privilege and is like, but I'm still going to make a name for myself. And I think that there is a way to do it. It's just like incredibly difficult to figure out like what is the right steps of that. Right. Well, so some of the things that I have been doing with my kids, especially with my son, He's at an age.

He's eight years old where he now wants to buy things, right? He asks, can we have this? Can I buy this Lego? Can we go to Target tomorrow? That kind of thing, right? And I talked to him a lot about how Mommy is working, right? They see me travel a lot for work and they get upset that I have to leave. So I always point out to them, I'm leaving to work.

Yeah. And why do you, why do I work? Right. And then I try to teach in the value of money because I used to say these things all the time too. We're never going to take them to F1. Guess who's been to F1 twice now? Your son. My son.

Yeah. Yeah. It's so hard. a dress from forward. Yeah. You know, like he's gone to F1. Yeah. He's gone to some really amazing places.

He's, he's traveled the world at this point because why would we keep them from doing that if we had the ability to do it? It's about teaching them, though, that this is a privilege, that, you know, this took hard work. Right. It took money. There are things that you have to do. And by the way, have you seen that quote from Ben Affleck where I think it was Ben Affleck. He was like, his son wanted these like $1,000 sneakers or something.

And, uh, and he was like, he was like, Like absolutely not. Why would you need $1,000 sneakers? And his son was like, well, we've got the money. It goes, I've got the money. You don't have the money. You're broke. Yeah.

You know? And so I think talking to your kids about how they can make money. Yeah. I say to my son all the time, let's discuss ways that you can earn some money. If you want, there was this like robot he saw, you know, in Selfridges. See, this is my son, right? Like he's at Selfridges in London during the holidays, right? And he's like, ooh, there's this robot that it's like a transformer robot that costs almost $2,000.

And he's like, oh, I want that. I'm like, well, this is almost $2,000. How are you going to earn the money for this? And so I haven't bought it for him yet. He's going to earn that money. I love that. And then he can get that robot if he wants it. I love that.

Kay, you talk a lot about building with hard work. Can we just talk about how you built Naturium and sold it within three years for $355 million? Well, first off, I tell everybody it wasn't in three years. My YouTube channel is 11 years old at this point. Right. So I really feel like I built the, the, the, groundwork for Naturium with my YouTube channel by focusing on skincare education, being, you know, upfront with people about cosmetic treatments and having experts on to talk about these things.

And I feel like people really got to understand skincare and really trust, in my opinion about skin care. So I think by the time Naturium launched, even with the drama that was happening in the background, I'm telling you, there were so many more people that were so excited about the announcement of this brand that, you know, I think that it just, It had already, it was something that people wanted. Yes. What do you think the biggest double standard is that you've faced as a creator founded brand?

I think the assumption is that because you're a creator, you can't be a business person. Right. And there's no doubt that I had so much help from my business partner. He's a genius. He's an icon in the beauty industry. People don't realize that. You should probably try to get Ben Bennett on your podcast because he is the, definition of hot, smart, and rich.

Okay, I love it. Had he sold a brand before he had sold this one with you? Not a specific brand. He had an incubator before that called Hatch Beauty that he sold his part in. And then he learned a lot of lessons from that. And one of those lessons was he should build brands for himself and sell those. Yeah. And it was genius.

And this is the first one that he sold through his incubation house. Exactly. Okay. And why did you guys decide to go with Elf? They were the best fit. Okay. We, you know, people don't realize this when you are trying to sell your company, or even when you're trying to get a big investment.

Yeah. You almost go through like a dating series. Yeah. And it takes months and months and months. You know this because you've been on that side of getting investments and deals. But the, you know, when we start going through the process, I actually, I tell this story to a lot of people. I had told my ex-business partner, like a year before we even sold, I was like, Elf is going to be the company that buys us. I don't know why.

I just knew it. Like I just, I could see where they were going. I felt like their, their principles and the way that they treat their employees and the way that they view things. They're not, they don't really even consider themselves a beauty company. They just see themselves as this publicly traded company and they're trying to do things better. Right. Like they actually have more women on their board than any other, you know, publicly traded company. They really try to help their employees.

They give them equity in the company. Wow. Well, stock in the company. Yeah, equity. And, you know, like they just really. take that into account and they try to make this a big family as much as they can as a company that's growing bigger and bigger. And I felt like they really understood what we were trying to do with excessively priced products. All of our products for Nurturium, the big thing for me was

how can a person be consistent with their skincare routine if they can't afford their monthly routine? It's so amazing to hear that because just like after this interview, understanding where you came from. It's like you didn't just be like, I want to build a LaMere. Like for people that you didn't grow up, it's like it's built for like the person. that was in your life from a childhood. It's like the brand, yes, was around for three years before it sold, but to your point, 11 years before that, but actually the roots of it sounds like it started

from when you were in your childhood. My childhood. And I'll tell you, this is a story I shared a lot in the beginning of Nutarium. When I first became like a beauty editor, I was at Forbes magazine, I was really covering just lifestyle in general, but beauty was a part of that beat. And I started receiving all the really expensive luxury products in PR.

And I started taking some of that home to my mom, because I was so excited about it. I'm like, Mom, you have to try this cream. It's worth hundreds of dollars, this serum. And then I would come back a few months later, and it would all be sitting on top of her dresser unused. And when I would ask her, why aren't you using these products? I didn't even pay for them.

Why wouldn't you use them? And she's like, you told me they're expensive, and I don't want to waste them. And I think to this day, people do think this way when it comes to luxury products, right? Even with purses, if you think about, like, there are people who are like, I only take this bag out when it's like a special occasion or something, right?

It's like, why aren't you using that bag? It's actually me with candles. So like when someone buys me a really nice, like dip tea candle or what's the one that someone just bought me this morning, Lueve. And I'm like, I will never use this because I don't want to waste and it's so crazy. Or like, when am I going to be able to afford another Lueva candle? I just have to keep this one on my drawer. It's like so true.

Yeah, this is exactly how people think. But when it comes to skincare, in order to see, in order to see results with your skincare, you have to use those products at as many days a week as you can. can, usually it's, it's really you're going to see results if you use it every single night or every single morning. Whatever it is that that product requires you to use it at whatever consistency, right? And you have to use it for at least six weeks before you see a beginning of the change, right? You have to see, you have to really consistently use it.

You'll start to see changes. And then three months later, if you consistently use it, that's when you'll really see what was supposed to happen. But most people, when they spend too much money on their products, they won't do that. What's the average price point of Naturiam? On average, like $24. Yeah, it's amazing. And it sold at like Target, Alta, online, anywhere else?

Amazon. Globally, we're in Space and K in the UK, boots in the UK, shoppers drug mart in Canada. Love. We're also in Australia online. Where else? And Italy, actually. Okay, that's amazing.

You keep saying ex-business partner. Are you and Ben no longer business partners? No, because when we sold the company, he took a step out. So he's totally out of the business now. Yeah, completely out of the business. He was an investor. He was my mentor, my biggest champion. Wow.

He's got way more businesses to still work on. And so what has your role adapted or evolved to now that you've been acquired? So my role is as the founder, I still work on innovation. That's a really big part, helping to figure out what products we should be creating next, how to market them and talk about them. Education. I do a lot of the marketing side when it comes to appearances. and really working with consumers and influencers on getting them excited about the brand.

Yeah. So I'd say that's my primary role right now. What is it like working in such a large conglomerate as Elf, like managing all of your other responsibilities, like creating content and like your YouTube channel and now a podcast and like being an amazing mom? Elf is amazing to work with. Okay. If there is ever a company to sell your brand to, it would be Elf.

It really is the best. They didn't lock me into this crazy contract where I like can't do anything else the rest of my life. and, you know, like, I'm going to have to stay with them for years and years and years. They made it really straightforward and put a lot of trust into me. And they, I mean, part of, they knew that being a content creator is a big part of what I do and benefits the brand, right? Totally. And so, so they were like, keep going.

Just keep going. Keep doing what you do. And we'll be happy with that. Do you have a specific period of time? Like, are you like to talk? What if you haven't earned out? I can walk out anytime now. I can give a 30-day notice that I'm telling.

telling you, they're great. They're great. But you just love building this brand. Like, that's what I think so many founders listening to this don't think about. And even creators, they think, like, how can I start a brand to sell it and then, like, go and do something else? But I think people can spot authenticity. And it's, like, so evident when you're building something for an exit. And then your plan is to exit out of that. Whereas, like, you, like, would you want to be doing anything else other than building interim? I cannot imagine not being part of an auditorium. And I actually, I had said this to a lot of the people that we were talking. to when we were trying to sell the company. First off, we sold the company because in some ways

you kind of have to, right? You get so big. We were growing so rapidly. I tell people this all the time. One of the hardest things of being a startup brand is finding cash. Yeah. Right? Like trying to keep it going. It's amazing that we're so in demand, but then you have to have the money to be able to continue with that growth. Yeah. Or you get stuck, and it might cause you to have to shut down. So you're in this constant cycle doing this. So to sell it to a big company like that, it takes, a lot of the pressure off and then I get to focus on the things that I do the best when it comes to the brand right and that is the marketing the innovation in that three-year period where you were like okay we're growing like insane so many founders

listening to this like have a business they have something in their hands and they're like I can't move product like what do you think you would tell that person that's listening that's like I don't have these crazy budgets what can you be doing that's going to move product I think everyone should be on social media and we We were just talking about another guest that you want to have on or that you're going to have on tomorrow. Yeah. You know, I think people underestimate that you can get on social media and start new. And these days, because of the way the algorithm works, you don't have to, having a big following doesn't even seem to matter anymore.

No. It's really about how do you connect with audience and how do you get into the algorithm and the for you page. And if you can do that and figure out how to connect, you can sell your products. Did you guys start selling on TikTok shop? You know what? It was so strange to me. We had a big issue getting all of our products onto the platform. And so we only recently got onto TikTok shop.

So we were late to the game when it came to that. But also was amazing. Like for people that are listening that don't know how it works, like an acquirer really wants to be able to open up different distribution channels and make sure that you're not everywhere and that's where you're at. So it's like it's actually an amazing opportunity for you guys to be able to go into TikTok shop now. And that's actually, so Ben used to call it,

leave a little meat on the bones. Love it. for the buyer, right? Like you can't, because we had the opportunity to open up more distribution, be bigger and globally. Again, it would have costed us more money. Yeah. We would have been working harder and maybe not smarter, right?

But you also are keeping you in the back of your mind, well, what would a big company come in and do if you're doing all of it yourself, right? So you do have to actually give them an opportunity where they can do it and do it better, right? Where they're excited also to help you grow. That's crazy. Okay, so now that you're like, okay, I have Natarium, it has its home, I have all the budgets in the world. I'm like a free single woman. Like what is next for you? Free single woman. Like I said, I'm on this wellness journey. I've been really learning how to co-parent. It's not as easy as people think. It's harder on the kids, I think. Do you guys have that? I've heard a lot of people doing

this where when they divorce, they actually get like a family home where the mom and dad actually rotate and the kids stay the same? I have a friend who did that. She's actually a beauty brand founder, Divya. I don't know how that is. She started, she was a co-founder of Wander Beauty. Oh, love, they just sold, right? Yeah, they did. Yeah.

They have the best eye patches. Actually, this is the eye patch that Haley Bieber uses, and I swear to God when I wear them, incredible. Yeah, and she says that that's like her hero, her hero product. Anyway, but she did that when she got a divorce. She and her ex-husband kept one home,

and they just rotated. I think that would take a lot of coordination. I think that, I don't know. I think you have to have to have. have a different kind of relationship with your ex also to be able to do that. My ex and I are in a decent place. I wouldn't say that we're in this place where we want to be besties, right? And so she had a situation where she's like, she's besties with her ex.

Do you think that with dating new people that there's like, once they hear about you being online and like you talking with things, is there like, oh my gosh, I don't want that to be me? I have yet to experience that. Okay. First off, like I kind of started with apps, right? Okay. And I was like, screw it. Why not?

What apps, Ryan? Like, no, I didn't actually do Raya. I did hinge and I actually even checked out Field. Wait, how have I never not heard of Fields? Field is like a hookup app. It was like really wild. I just was curious. I'm like, this is interesting.

And you realize, like, you don't have to put much about you. Like, as a woman, you don't really have to try. I don't think you have to try very hard. I agree. Yeah. And so you just like, like, go put yourself out there. And I think my mentality was, you know, I wasn't necessarily looking for like a forever.

Yeah. Are you looking for forever now? I don't know. I think I'm more open-minded to whatever happens happens. Do you think that you'll get married again? I don't know. I don't know. Marriage is hard.

Marriage is hard. I'm not going to say no, but it would have to be the right person. It would have to feel so good in my gut and in my bones to just be like, you know what? Yeah. I'm going to marry this person. Okay. Because otherwise, I don't know why you get married, honestly. I know.

I'm like about, like, it's so crazy because for me, I, I still want to be. married and I think I've like found the person that it's like worth it for. But I know it's not going to be all easy, right? Like there's so much that is the work and you always hear that. But I do think that if you do find someone and this is like what I keep coming back to is like that you want to be a witness to your life, not necessarily like the rules of marriage, but just like someone that you want there and you feel like you can work through the really hard things with them. Like that is what makes it worth it. Will you get a pre-nep when you get married? Yeah. Did you have a pre-nat? Nope. That makes it hard.

We'll just leave it at you. Okay. Let's do some rapid fire to finish up. Okay. Who would you switch beauty closets with? Beauty closets with. Ooh. Hmm. I have a pretty good one.

Who would I... I know. This is a hard one. It would have to be a makeup girl because... Like, are you more a skincare girly? I'm a skincare girlie, so I have mostly skincare. But I spend my money on makeup and hair care. and all that stuff.

So it'd be somebody like that. Probably like Michaela or somebody who has like access to all of it. Yeah. Hers must be insane. Insane. She probably gets access to every product she wants. Okay. I was going to ask us on later,

but it's a good one based on what we just said. What is the best and most favorite beauty brand of yours that isn't yours? Ooh. Let's see. That isn't mine. There's more like I see products come out from brands that I'm like, genius. I wish I would have done that.

Genius. I thought I wish I would have started that. Let's see. You know, I really love all the little indie brands. I feel like indie brands are really changing, especially the skincare industry and the way that we think about products. So I'd say it's probably some of these like indie brands. I wish I would have been part of them. Yeah.

Not necessarily been the person that started them, but maybe been part of it. Are you investing now? I am investing, yeah. Okay, what's like the type of company that gets you excited? It's really hard to get me excited I've found. Don't you believe that when you have so much experience and you know how hard it is, you just become like, this is never going to work, this is literally like, you become, your naivity goes away and it's so much harder to get behind things.

Yeah. You know what I find is actually the hardest is when people just want to pick my brain. I just want to pick your brain and then, and it's not that I, listen, I'll get people my brain, like they want to pick my brain, take me out to some coffee and ask me some questions. And inevitably, I almost always think their idea has flaws. Big flaws. And I hate having to tell them that, but I'm going to tell them that if they want to pick my brain. Have you made an investment since you sold your company?

I've made a couple. Okay. And what was like different? Because I think so many people are listening to this are going to be like, I'm that person that like, if I email Susan, like I have that idea. Like what was it about those, the through line with those people that was like, I'm going to invest in their company? I think it's that, first off, there's got to be a certain amount of power. passion from the founder or founders, right, where you just believe that they're going to, they're going to do this no matter what, nothing will stop them. I really believe, like what they call now online, like having DeLulu, being DeLulu. I don't think it's being del Lulu.

I think it's that they just, I told you this from the beginning. I just always knew what I put my mind to, I was going to achieve it. Yeah. I didn't know how quickly or whatever, but I always knew that I would put my mind to it. I would work hard and I would achieve whatever I set my goals to. and you know when you meet those kinds of people. Yeah. So I think that that's number one.

The first thing. Yeah. And sometimes when I meet those kinds of people, I don't need to hear anything else. You're just like, okay, I'm going to wire it to you. But obviously, to be smart. Yeah. I have people behind me who are like. To be hot, smart, rich.

Yeah. You have people that also watch out for you. Yeah. You know, I'll run it by like my financial advisors, my portfolio manager. And we'll discuss what we think should and shouldn't be done. Okay. And yeah, so I think that, like, once we look at their financials, their deck, everything, and see that they've got a really solid idea and the personality to really have the stamina.

Yeah. Because that's the big one. Stamina, yeah. So I think then that can sell me. But I really, like, if you guys are like, oh, God, we've got an investor here. Trust me, I'm very, very picky. I actually feel like the next era for you is going to be a Shark Tank judge. Really?

I really see that for you. Like, I think you have the personality, obviously, for being on camera. but you also have the chops. Like you actually know what it's going to take. So I actually am putting this into the world. I am manifesting slash predicting that Susan Yara will be a shark on shark tank. Miami or L.A.? Miami.

Oh, I love Miami. What about the humidity, Susan? It doesn't matter. It's only for a certain period of time. It's like three months out of the year. You love it. I love Miami. People think that I moved to Miami because I was like selling my company.

You guys, my company was so big that I didn't get saved by the taxes here. Like we played like United States taxes. Yeah. I think people are like, oh, she just moved there for tax benefits and whatever. Okay, fine, I get like some slight ones. I moved here because I love Miami. I love the way that the way the culture feels here. My dream was to find a mom group where we were supporting each other.

Do you have that? Oh my God. I have that here. The moms are amazing. I feel like I could call them if I really need them for anything. Our kids hang out on the weekends. There's good schools here. It's great schools.

There are bad schools too, but there are great schools here too. I feel like it's just a little bit more down to earth here. Yeah. And I say that knowing that, like, it's very vapid here too. Yeah. But it's different. Who is your favorite comfort creator? Favorite comfort creator? Like who do you just search in your search bar when you're like,

I need to feel good right now? Valeria is one for me, actually. I love Valeria. Her content always makes me laugh. I think it's, I really just let I really let the four you page do its job. Really? I do. You don't have a comfort creator.

I have two. Paige Lorenz, love watching her vlogs and Valeria. Yeah. I think those two are really good ones. But yeah, I think I let the For You page do its job. And I have so many friends. I feel like I open up my phone and I already have everything sent to me. I love it.

Okay, this one fed perfectly into this. IG, TikTok, or YouTube. You can only go on one for the rest of your life. YouTube. Really? Yeah. Okay. Because I feel like YouTube.

But is that for creating or consuming? Okay. For consuming? TikTok. Okay. Yeah. But you have a huge Instagram profile. Like, do you love Instagram?

I love Instagram. I love, so I feel like Instagram is where I have a community, just like YouTube, right? But especially on Instagram where I want to like reach them quickly and directly. Like I always know if I put a piece of content on TikTok, who knows what's going to happen there. But if I posted on IG, you know. I just know I'm going to get the comments from the like same people. All these things are going to like it's going to be the people that I know. Yeah.

So I don't know. I think as a content creator, I like to be on Instagram. I like to be on YouTube because I feel like YouTube is where you get to really be creative. Yeah. But TikTok personally, for just consumption. Yeah. Okay. Last one.

Favorite designer brand? Ooh, I'm going to see, I would say Louave, but they just lost their creative director. I know. So I don't know if that's going to be the truth. I probably think that, like if ever, if I ever really want a bag and I want to flurge, it's Otega. Yeah, I agree. I agree. The HsR community was so excited that you were coming on. You are the first founder that has had an exit in our podcast spot. I'm so honored, Susan, that you did this. Thank you. You're even better in person than you are online. Thank you. And that's saying a lot

because you're pretty dope online. And I love watching your videos. Thank you so much. Where can people find you? I'm at Susan Yura. Basically everywhere in my YouTube channel is Mixed makeup. Thank you so much for coming on. Thank you. Bye guys. Bye you guys.