Well with Arielle Lorre - 116: Beauty Tips, Brand Building & Life with Marianna Hewitt

Episode Date: June 23, 2021

In this episode I’m talking to influencer and co-founder of Summer Fridays, Marianna Hewitt, about life as a content creator and beauty brand builder. Even if you’re not in the industry, Marianna has amazing insight and experience with topics like how to avoid the comparison trap; creating and maintaining boundaries on social media; how to deal with negativity and criticism; keeping your personal life private and how to create an impactful nighttime routine. She also dishes on how to build a following; BTS of influencer trips; how to diversify across platforms; how she and her co-founder started Summer Fridays and of course she drops her skincare routine including a major hack you won’t want to miss.    www.blublox.com/BLONDE for 15% off plus free shipping worldwide www.helloned.com/BLONDE for 15% of your first one-time order or 20% off your first subscription plus free shipping www.talkspace.com with code BLONDE for $100 off your first month www.publicgoods.com/BLONDEFILES for $15 off your first order   Produced by Dear MediaSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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Hey, welcome to the Blond Files podcast. I'm your host, Ariel Lori, and I'm here to talk all things wellness. From how to achieve optimal health and well-being to the best beauty tips and everything in between, no topic is off limits. I know there is so much information out there, so I'm here to help you navigate it all and live your best life. Thanks for listening. Let's get into it.

Hi, everybody. Welcome to the show. Today, I am talking to Mariana Hewis. it. She is an influencer. She's like one of the OG influencers. She has been doing this for a long time and also the co-founder of Summer Fridays. And we are talking all about life as a content creator and as a beauty brand builder and also just a lot of like how to exist in the digital era right now. So even if you're not in the industry, Mariana has amazing insight and experience with topics like how to avoid the comparison trap, creating and maintaining boundaries on social media. She is,

super private. She really doesn't share her personal life on Instagram at all, which I really admire, and I tell her that in the episode, because it can be so hard, especially when you're rewarded for sharing the more personal things. And we get into all of that. And that's something that I think everybody can relate to now. We also talk about how to deal with negativity and criticism and how to create an impactful nighttime routine. We talk all about skincare hacks. Of course, she drops her skincare routine and she talks about how to build a following behind the scenes of influencer trips. I know everybody is curious what really happens, how to diversify across platforms and also, of course, how she started summer Fridays. So this is a really interesting episode, jam packed

with so much valuable information. I loved it. I think you guys will love it too. So enjoy Mariana Hewitt. Okay, welcome. Thank you so much for being here. I'm so, excited to be on. I love your podcast, so I'm really honored to be on. Thank you so much. And I love your podcast too. I'm curious how you're finding the whole podcasting process. It's way more work than I realized. I definitely didn't realize how much goes into it. I think I should have known being someone who has created content for so long. But now that I actually have my own, it's like anything I do too, as far as like being an influencer and a brand founder, you appreciate what your peers do so much more once you actually go through it. There's so much preparation and the edits and everything.

So now when I'm listening to podcasts, I know how much work went into it. And so it's a lot. But I love it because I feel like there's only so much you can say in Instagram stories or on a caption, but you can really dive deeper into someone's personality or questions and learn so much more. I just love this type of content. And so I'm so excited to have one now. Yeah. So I want to talk to you about how you became an influencer, because you were kind of one of the OGs, I feel like. So how did you get into it? Is it something that you always wanted to do? And what was it like then, especially compared to what it's like now? So growing up, I had a passion for sharing things. And like so many people, I'm obsessed with Oprah. And Oprah had her favorite things and still does. And I thought, like,

how can I share Marianna's favorite things? There are so many things in my life that I love, that I'm passionate about. And so I thought to share the things I want with an audience, I have to become a TV host. And so that was like the career path that I was on. And I was doing that. And then I found that at the same time, I was able to start a YouTube channel on the side.

And so I started a YouTube channel in 2012. And I didn't really know at the time that you could be a full-time influencer because there wasn't really people doing it as a full-time job. It really was a supplemental place for me in addition to the work that I was doing to share more content. create videos, but since I was working at the same time, I didn't really have time to fully dedicate to it. So I was doing that on the side for a few years. And at the same time, I started my Instagram around 2013 and my blog in 2014. And at the time I was working doing entertainment news,

and then I switched to fashion and beauty news. And when I switched to fashion and beauty, a lot of times when I was at work, I would post pictures of myself on my Instagram. And instead of it being like, what was the interview about or what was I doing? It was, how did you do your hair, how did you do your makeup, what is the outfit you're wearing? So I was influencing without really knowing I was an influencer at the time. And then at the time, it was very early days of like people doing sponsored content, which I don't even think it was called sponsored content at the time, but brands would message me. They would send me a product and then they would PayPal me like $50. I would post out my Instagram and then after 24 hours you could delete it.

They would PayPal you the money. And I started doing like a little bit of this and it started really adding up. And I was like, wow, I could maybe do this full time for a job. And then, you know, a few months later, I was able to get a manager, a blog manager at the time because like blog was like the most important thing and YouTube. And so it really was all of the things that I wanted to be when I grew up as far as like creating content, being on camera, sharing the things that I love. But instead of being a television host, the platform for me was the internet instead. And so by 2014, I was be able to, you know, become an influencer full time. and that's what I've been doing ever since.

How do you feel about it now? Because the word influencer has kind of become really stigmatized. And it's something that I kind of struggled with in the past year, where I feel like it just has such a negative connotation to it. And there are obviously like in any industry, there are people that are not good representatives of it, right? And I found myself feeling kind of like some shame around it. And people would be like, oh, so you're just an influencer?

Like, do you do anything else? So have you experienced that? And if so, how do you get past it? It's really different now than when I started. So in 2012, there's barely any YouTubers and no one's really like a full-time influencer. Like some people are bloggers. At this time, there's really like Ami Song, Nicole Guerrero's on YouTube, Michelle Fan on YouTube, Sincerely Jules.

Like there's very, very few people to like look up to Crystal Lim is another one. And so at the time, it definitely wasn't seen as. a career. And so when I decided to pursue this full time, my parents were like, what? You went to college to like have a website? Like they weren't really understanding. And then in time, it started to become, you know, an actual career path. And back then, brands weren't really spending money on influencers. So you really had to convince them, even for gifting. People weren't really gifting that much. And it slowly started to become, you know, more reputable, I think, over time. Now I think it's really different because people aspire to be an influencer. So they start an Instagram account or blogger

YouTube in hopes of becoming a content creator, influencer, whatever you want to call it full time. And so I think what people don't realize starting now as an influencer is you have to work and create content for a really long time before you can make money off of it because you have to build your audience. I think thankfully now with like platforms like TikTok, you can grow really, really fast. And so maybe that timeline is a little bit shorter. But it takes a long time. And so you have to really truly want to be an influence. You have to truly like creating content, sharing with an audience, sharing your life and doing it every single day as a hobby without getting any kind of return on your investment for a little bit of time to build that trust in that audience and that

engagement. So in that way, it's really different now because it is also really competitive. And so at the time of when I started, there wasn't a lot of people. Now there are more people, but there's also more opportunities. So there's definitely space now for new influencers. I think you just have to have a thing. So you have to have some sort of niche. And if you don't have a niche, you need to have a really strong personality where people can come to you for something because they know they can't get it from somewhere else. And as far as like the word influencer, I don't shy away from it at all. I don't think it's negative. And I don't, I think people should be proud. I think you should be happy and proud of what you do because you are so many things. And I think people speaking about the jobs that

influencers are, make people realize you are a photographer, you're a model, you're a social media account manager, you're a publicist, you're a videographer and photographer and editor, you do so many things. And I think that's been an amazing learning tool for me of being a brand founder, because once you start a brand, you also have to wear so many hats. And so you are doing the job of a small magazine with just a team of maybe yourself and one other person. And I think people should take it seriously because an influencer can push as many sales as an ad in a magazine, if not more. And so the value that an influencer can bring to a brand is so invaluable, especially if you're working with the right person. And so I don't think people should shy away from the word. I think

it's something you should be proud of. And I think the more influencers talk about the jobs that they actually do, people will take it more seriously. Yeah. And I've told you before that I like that you do that. I think I was talking about specifically the podcast. Like I like that you detail all of the work that goes into it because I think it is so important. And I love that you said that it's like running a small magazine because people ask me about brand deals and like, what are they paying for? Especially, you know, there's so much money in influencing now. And like you said, an influencer can push more sales than traditional marketing probably could. And they are paying for everything. You're the creative director. You're the makeup artist a lot of times. You're doing so many different things. And I think

that a lot of people don't realize that because they see the finished product, you know, so they don't see everything that goes into it. There's so much that goes into it. And then I think the biggest thing, too, is there is no job security. So where people have, like, let's say like you're in a job where you have a salary, you have health benefits, you work Monday to Friday, you have weekends off, you have holidays off. As an influencer, there is no job security.

There are, you have to pay for your own health benefits on nights and weekends and on special occasions and vacations, your audience would like you to share more. So on those days when usually you would have time off, you're expected to show more. And especially through, you know, influencers who choose to share their pregnancies and their deliveries and all of that in this time that would be maternity leave. A lot of people expect more content during that time. So it is a really different job. There are so many great aspects to being an influencer, but there's also a really a lot of hard parts. And, you know, in the pandemic last year, I saw a lot of my friends who worked a lot, especially during like fashion weeks where they would travel.

They would work with brands during New York Fashion Week or Paris. They would go to events. And that's where a bulk of their work and income came from. And then because events were canceled and then fashion weeks and stuff like that too, their whole income for the whole year was basically wiped out. And they didn't have the opportunity to create the content and work that they usually do. So they have the pivot and find other ways to create jobs. And in that way, what are you going to do in those scenarios?

So it's difficult. And that's why I think if you see an influencer and they are supposed, posting sponsored content. This is how they fund creating all the other content for you that is free. That's the content they create every single day. And so I really encourage people to engage with people's sponsored content. If you see a feed post, like and comment, say something about the product. If you see a story that's sponsored, swipe up on the link because it really does support influencers. And if that's an influencer you love, it helps support all the other stuff that they create for you every day, just out of the genuine love of creating content. And it's all for our

audience. This episode is brought to you by Blue Blocks. They have been a sponsor for over the past year and you probably know I just love their products, including their blue light blocking glasses, their red lights, which I have in my bedroom, in which we actually talk about in this episode. And their sleep mask is also amazing. And I've done multiple episodes with experts, including Andy Mant, the co-founder of Blue Blocks, who discuss the effects that Blue Light has on our biology and why it's beneficial to take precautions and use light therapy products. So we know that blue light can cause eye strain, dry watery eyes, increased anxiety, insomnia. But we probably all work on our computers and our phones and we watch TV and we just live in a time when we are around artificial

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check out Blue Blocks today and get free shipping worldwide and 15% off with the code blonde. That's B-L-O-N-D-E. Or go to blueblocks.com slash blonde. That is B-L-U-B-L-O-X.com slash B-L-O-N-D-E. Or use the code, blonde, for 15% off. We're talking about some nighttime routine hacks in this episode and talking about how to really unwind at the end. of the day. And something that I have in my toolbox is Ned CBD. Now, you guys know that I'm sober,

and this is something I really researched and explored before taking. And Ned is really the only brand that I'm super comfortable with because of their ethos and the quality of their products. So CBD can help with things like anxiety, stress, insomnia, even nausea, and physical ailments. And I love Ned's full spectrum hemp oil. But they also have a sleep oil that is so, so helpful. for me. And then they also have a magnesium drink, which I share about on Instagram a lot. I drink it every night. It's called mellow. This is CBD-free, but it just helps to unwind and relax at the end of the day. It's part of my nightly routine. And Ned's CBD is amazing for a few reasons. It's gently and safely extracted. They don't use heat or high pressure. The products contain zero isolates or synthetic

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www.com slash blonde. That's H-E-L-L-O-N-E-D dot com slash B-L-O-N-D-E, or enter the code blonde, a checkout for 15% off your first one-time order or 20% off your first subscription order plus free shipping. So again, hello ned.com slash blonde for 15% off your first one-time order or 20% off your first subscription order plus free shipping. Hey guys, I'm Kinsey from the I Love You So Much podcast. On my show, we talk about everything lifestyle, business, finance, beauty, you name it.

My favorite part about the show is the amazing guest that we bring on. We have everyone ranging from like business experts to influencers, CEOs, creative masterminds. It's so much fun. If you guys want to find me on Instagram and it's just at Kenzie Elizabeth. I release new episodes every Thursday. So hope to see you there. You mentioned earlier the competition. How do you deal with competition and comparison?

I think it's something that we inevitably all fall into. And I think it's even tougher when you are in the industry because, you know, it is so saturated now compared to where it was probably when you started. Even when I started in 2016, I believe it was, beginning of 2016. It's completely different. So how do you, because you have a really cohesive feed. have a really cohesive brand, both your personal brand and summer Fridays. How do you stay creative and unique and not fall into that comparison and competition? So I think being really true to your brand, like, who are you? Like, what is your brand? And like, it's not just a brand as far as a company,

but it's a brand as far as your personal brand too. And so I'm just, I have this literally on the background of my computer, just as like a reminder for me of like when I'm creating content. So outwardly, what am I? I'm warm. I'm cloud. classic, I'm neutral, I'm minimal. So those are kind of the like keywords that remind me of like what the Mariana brand is. And then when it comes to summer Fridays, there's certain things that we are. And so when I'm creating content or doing things, it's like, does it fall into these categories? And like, of course those things can always change. But I always try to like come back to like the core of what I want to show of like who I am. And so I'm not like very personal or like

personality driven in my content. So instead of falling trapped to like, oh, well, this person is doing this, now I need to do this type of content. It's like, no, like, they're really good at this thing and I can respect that they're really good at it and I could admire it. But I would be uncomfortable trying to like copy somebody else when it's not really truly who I am in the content that I want to create. And I think comparison is really, really hard for me. And I think it's really hard for other influencers too, because your coworkers and competitors in like a weird way. And every day you can basically see the people who are like in your field or of work and everyone's like social stats are visible to see online. And so whether you're comparing

yourself with numbers or you're comparing the jobs that somebody else is getting over you or the opportunities that they're getting, it is hard because you want to be happy for your friends, but you also like want things for yourself at the same time. And so what I found is good for me is like to just be happy with what I have. And I know that that's easier said than done. But I just try to be really happy with instead of being like, oh, I wish I had more followers. it's like, I am so happy that I have this community online. I'm so happy that the followers I have are here. And that I'm going to engage with the people that I have because I'm happy for them

and hopefully more people will come. And I think comparison, something that was really hard for me was like when I was going on a lot of brand trips and I would go on a brand trip and like all the girls are like so beautiful and they have the best this and the best that or the photographer, like whatever it is. And I think that would be hard for me to be on a trip. And then I saw a girl recently who I was on a trip with who like I, I and admired and looked up to so much. I saw that she posted on brand trips. She would feel insecure

about how the other girls looked on the trips. I'm like, oh my gosh, I'm thinking this person's like so amazing, but she's thinking the same thing. It's like everybody's going through it. And it's a really difficult thing to do. And I think thankfully now I'm a little bit older. I'll be 35 this year. And as I've gotten older, I think I've gotten more confident without needing to compare myself to other people. But I think five, seven, ten years ago, it was definitely worse for me. And so I think it is definitely harder if you're younger. But I think with age, it's gotten a little bit better for me, but definitely something I still struggle with. We're around the same age. So I can relate to that. Just the whole attitude, I think that there's kind of a shift where the numbers don't matter so much.

And you do get more comfortable on your skin and you're able to see things a little bit differently, I think than when you're younger, but I can't remember who it was that I heard talking about feeling insecure on the brand trips, but that sounded familiar when you said that. And I remember reading that thinking, like, that would be my worst nightmare. Like my absolute worst nightmare would be going on one of those trips. I never really did those. I mean, if any brands are listening and want to invite me on a trip, probably no, no. But it just sounds like it would be so hard not to fall into that trap, I would imagine. Yeah, I think it's so natural to fall into that trap.

Like, I think I would love to say, of course, I would never compare myself to anyone, but like I have to actively like remember not to. But I think it's natural to do it. And then if anyone makes you feel bad on social or makes you feel like you're comparing yourself to them and you don't want to follow them, just mute them. Like you can mute their stories.

You can mute their posts. If they don't make you feel good, don't feel like you have to like look at people, like follow accounts that like make you do feel good and make you feel positive and make you feel, comfortable and confident and hopefully, you know, it will get better with time. That mute button is the best. I have muted so many people, including peers who, you know, I can't unfollow because that would be a little bit deliberate, but the mute button is great.

Well, some, like, even some accounts, it's like, I really want to watch their stories, but I don't like the feed or I really love feed posts and I don't like the stories. So it's a great feature. I love the feature. Yeah, we love the mute. So of all the different platforms right now, I'm curious your take on this. Well, first I want to know what your favorite platform is. And then I would love to hear what you think about diversifying. I mean, do you think that especially for somebody starting out,

if they should just pour their energy into one thing or if they should spread themselves across, like, say, Instagram and TikTok and YouTube and blogs and everything that's available? I would go with like what works. So I don't think there's like a platform for everybody. but wherever you're getting the most love or growing the most or you see the opportunity to make an income if you're trying to be a working influencer, that's where you should focus your time.

For me personally, I spend most of my time on Instagram because I can put the video content I used to have on YouTube on Instagram now. I can post my daily stories, which is kind of like a daily vlog, which I don't need to put on YouTube now. If I do need to have a longer form video,

I can put it there. But I think if you're a new influencer and you're trying to grow really fast, TikTok is, the place to be because there is so much opportunity to go viral there and to grow very, very quickly. And then because you can link your Instagram and YouTube account to there, you can cross promote people to other apps. So there's a girl on there. She always posts her outfits on TikTok. And then people will say, well, where is it from? And she said,

oh, all the links are in my Instagram story. So instead of giving them all the information on TikTok, she's driving them now to her Instagram. So she's using it to cross promote. And I have seen so many people who have, there's one girl, Michaela on there, she does makeup a year ago at the beginning of the pandemic. She was working at Alta. Now she's like one of the biggest makeup influencers on TikTok and like left her job working at Alta and is doing this full time, has millions of followers. And it's all because she kept going viral on the for you page. And so I think the opportunity to grow there is so fast. And I don't think you can grow that quickly on Instagram. I just, it's just not possible anymore. Like you just grow a lot slower. So I think

going where you're getting some love and can go viral the fastest. is really helpful, but also just create the content that's most meaningful for you and that you're comfortable with. And so I say, go on TikTok. But for me, I'm not really great at like short form video content on that platform. So I don't really post on there because I already have an audience on Instagram. So I can only focus on so many things. And so for me, I focus most on Instagram. I don't really have time for YouTube anymore. I post on TikTok occasionally. and then blog is like, I barely ever post on there, but I still have it. And then I think for diversifying, I do think it's important because, you know,

last year when TikTok was possibly going to be banned and it was going to be shut down and all the TikTokers were like, oh my gosh, what are going to do? We have this audience and this app might be over. That's when you saw a lot of them start YouTube channels and also, you know, really focus on Instagram because you never want a platform to go away. So I think having your one main platform is important, but you also should have like a secondary one just in case you never know what happens. Like I don't think Instagram is going anywhere, but if it did, what else do you have? I remember when it kept shutting down, like not last year,

but the year before the pandemic and everybody was freaking out. Yeah. It was like, what's going to happen? The thing with TikTok, this is what gets me. I mean, I'm, I feel like you. I'm not great at short form video. I do recipe videos and like what I eat in a day type things. but when I put a lot of effort into a video on TikTok, it just, like, is a dud. And then if I do a 10 second super random, you know, I did one recently that was like spraying the inside of a measuring cup before you scoop out nut butter, like the most random mundane thing. And of course, that goes like more viral than anything else, which is interesting. But I think the appeal of TikTok is that like anything can go viral.

So it makes it very, very attractive. also very addictive. Yeah, I think so too. And I think on TikTok, it's not, TikTok is not Reels. So like, Reels still is like very Instagrammy where it's like more you curated and edited and filtered and pretty where TikTok is like they, it like almost does better if it's not edited. It's very raw. It's filmed within the app. Like don't overdo it. And I think that's what goes better on there. Like I put up one video like January of last year. It went viral. It's like 12 million views. I still get comments and views on it every single day. And I literally filmed how to like edit something in a picture. It was such a fast video and like that one hit. And so you don't, you really don't ever know.

But TikTok, for the people that it's amazing for, it's really amazing. Yeah. Yeah. I've seen some people like even influencers in the wellness space who had, you know, a pretty like a good size, you know, maybe around 100K following who started a TikTok during the pandemic. And then they blew up there, you know, a million plus followers. And some of them. converted that audience on Instagram as well, and some of them didn't. But it's very interesting. So I would love to hear about summer Fridays and hear everything about how that came to be and the process of formulating products and all of that. So in 2016, Lauren, who is my partner and I, we came up with the idea for a skincare line.

And she was very early pregnant with her now toddler, Evan. And she was cleaning out a lot of her skincare products. And she was finding that she was, you know, at the time there was a lot of clean beauty brands, but there wasn't a ton at the time. And they were almost like too natural. So they were not effective. And then the brands that we were finding that were clean or natural, the branding and marketing and didn't really speak to who we were as consumers. And at this time, I'd been an influencer for so long and worked with so many brands and had a love for beauty and products. And so we took Lauren's need of needing to clean out her skincare routine and looking for clean and effective product. and my love of product and said, like, why don't we create something that has clean ingredients

in packaging and marketing that speaks to who we are, but are still really truly effective at the same time. And it shouldn't compromise on any of those things. And so Summer Fridays was born. And we worked on the brand for two years before we launched in 2018. And in 2018, we launched in Sephora. We launched with one product, our best-selling jet lag mask. And it's been really incredible since then, we're now available at over a thousand stores globally between Sephora, Mecca and Australia, Netaporte, Revolve, Cult Beauty, Space NK, Sephora Middle East, Sephora, Europe. It's like, I'm sure I'm forgetting somebody, but it's been such an incredible journey because we had no idea it would turn into what it has today. We had really high hopes. We felt

really confident, but it definitely grew a lot faster than we had anticipated. And it gives us so much passion and purpose. And to create a tangible physical good that you can sell that makes people feel more confident in their skin is truly like the best feeling. There's one product we have called Soft Reset. And a woman wrote to me and said, I had really bad, you know, KP bumps on the back of my arms. I was getting married. I felt really unconfident. And I used it on the back of my arms, it cleared them up. And on my wedding day in my dress, I felt more confident in my skin. And that's like the best feeling. Like it makes my eyes water just thinking like you can create a product that makes somebody feel better on like the most special day of their lives. Like it's not

just a product and a brand. It's really something that makes people feel good. And messages like that are so touching and it makes all the work that we do so worth it to know that it affected someone's life in such a positive way. And you think, oh, it might just be a skincare product. But it really is so much more. It is the most fulfilling, best, hard, tough, joyful thing I've ever done in my life. What were some of the biggest challenges or obstacles that you faced in the beginning? Everything. So I think, you know, Lauren always says, like, ignorance is bliss. Because had we known everything was or would be as hard as it was, you know,

maybe you would let that fear stop you. But because we didn't know the difficulties, we just kept, like, trekking on and, like, moving forward. And I think at the beginning, the hardest thing to do is just to start. So if you have an idea and you want to do something, sometimes it's just like ripping the Band-Aid off and like just beginning because once you do, you'll be inspired or motivated. Like once we got our first, you know, formulas back and we were working on jet lag masks and we found a formula that we were like loved and we were so obsessed with, it pushed us to keep going on to the next step and figuring out the next thing. And so at the beginning really like the hardest things are is just to start. And then

from there, it's like Google really is your best resource. And I know people hate this answer because they're like, okay, but what more specific? But it's like there are so many great free resources. So whatever it is that you want to do, like Google really is your best resource. So if you want to start a podcast, you want to be an influencer, or you want to start a brand, you really can find that information online. And then not only that, but there are so many free resources on podcasts that you can listen to a founder of basically anything that it is that you want to do and go listen to all the interviews that you did and you're going to find really good chunks of information. And that's what I've been able to do.

So maybe a podcast is an hour long, but I learned one free thing from there that helped me in my business. And that was really helpful for me in the beginning of like just trying to figure it out along the way. You guys have seen me share about public goods over on Instagram. They are the one-stop shop for affordable, sustainable, and healthy household products from home to personal care to pantry staples all in one place. And I always call it the Air One of the internet because everything is such high quality.

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How did you learn about formulating products? I mean, did your friend have any background in skincare or did you guys just learn as you went? We just learned as we went, but like any, you know, product that you start or business that you start, you end up hiring people that are smarter than you that know better than you. And so when we were looking for labs to work with, it was really important that we found a lab who could really educate and teach us along the way, who knew better than we did, who could teach us about ingredients and products. So we come from a place of being educated consumers and product junkies. So we know what we wanted to do, how we want it to feel, how we want it to perform. And then we really lean on people who know better than us who have been

doing this for decades. And so we work with really amazing product formulators and manufacturers. and now we have a product development person who works with us. So when we dream up a product, we say we want it to do this, this, and this, we want it to feel like this, we love these ingredients, and then it's really collaborative. So, you know, even though we haven't done this before as a job, we're working with people who have been doing it for so many decades, that they have so much experience that they complement the products that we want to create and they know better than us as far as like what ingredients it'll take to get to like where

we're trying to go. So I have to ask what your favorite product is. Oh, that's so hard. So my favorite product of all time is our jet lag mask, which is our first product that we launched with. And it is so incredible. It is a moisturizer. It's a mask. It's an eye cream. It does everything. We recently just upgraded the formula. It's better than ever. It's back available now. And it is just so, so good. And because it was our first born, it's a favorite for always. Well, people are going to freak out because that was one of the main questions that I got from everybody. What happened to the mask? Everyone was freaking out.

I know. People have been missing it. And so now it's back. It's better than ever. It's such an amazing formula. It's more soothing. We took out some of the ingredients like synthetic fragrance that could be potential skin irritants. And so if you haven't tried it before, give it a try now. And if you loved it before, it's even better. Okay, so now you know that you have to drop your whole skincare routine. Okay, so my skincare routine morning I do. So it's basically all summer Fridays now. And if it's not summer Fridays, it's definitely like a step that we're working on in our routines for the future. Morning, I do summer Fridays super amino gel cleanser followed by CCME serum, which is a hyperpigmentation and dark spot. It's also really great for just like giving you like an extra glow during the day. It's a really gentle vitamin C.

so a lot of people that, you know, can't use vitamin Cs, this works great for their skin. And then I follow up with Cloud Dew, which is an oil-free gel cream moisturizer. It's like a lighter weight moisturizer. So it layers really well with sunscreen, which I wear after that. Then after sunscreen, I do makeup. At night, I do super amino gel cleanser again. And then I'll use soft reset, which is our AHA exfoliating solution toner. And then on alternating nights, I'll use either soft reset or Shawnee Darden Retinal Reform, which is really great.

after that I'll use jet lag mask, which is a heavier moisturizer overnight mask that I use in the evening. And then I use our lip butter bomb morning and night. I love face oils. I love facial tools. At home, I use like a guasha or I'll use new face, which I really like. I'm obsessed with, I have this saluma LED light panel. I don't know if you have one.

It is incredible. So I love, love LED. And there's a wrinkle setting or a acne setting. And you can keep it on for a half an hour. and I swear when I do it on my face, my skin just looks so, so good. It's definitely pricey, but you can use it for so many different areas of your body for pain, so many things. So it's worth the investment and it's incredible.

Can you spell that? C-E-L-U-M-A. Oh, yeah. Okay. Yes, I am familiar with that because my old facelist that I used to go to had like a bigger one. It's the one that bends, right? It's kind of soft. Yes.

Yeah, she had one, and then she told me to get one, and I never did. but you just influenced me. So I'm definitely going to do that. The best thing to do, too, is, like, I use a red light in my bedroom at night to just kind of, like, chill out. And the red setting is the wrinkle setting. So what I'll do is I'll put it on next to my bed. I put the panel on over my head. I turn it on, which also forces me to get off of my phone.

And then I turn it on for 30 minutes. And at some point, that 30 minutes, I fall asleep. I'll wake up in the middle of the night and then just, like, move it to, like, the floor next to my bed. And that way I actually just do it. But it kind of, like, it's so warm. and like calming. It helps you fall asleep at night too. And so it's a good like evening skincare thing to do. That is amazing. That's like some really good multitasking right there. And I also do the red light thing. I have the blue blocks red light bulb that I have next to my bedside. And it really helps to fall asleep faster.

So if anybody is listening, they're having trouble falling asleep. They are a sponsor of the podcast. But I'm not just saying it because they're a sponsor. I mean, it really is like one of those little hacks that really changed the game for me. me. I do all the nighttime things. I like have the nighttime setting on my phone. I dim my lights. I try not to use the phone before bed. I'm like watching TV with my blue light glasses. I've got the red light in the bedroom. So I do all of the things. I try to like hack myself to get the best sleep. How do you set boundaries around having a digital career? Well, it's hard. So right now, one of the boundaries that I have is on either Saturday or Sunday, I do 24 hours no social media. So I block it out in my calendar. So like, depending what I'm doing on the weekend, like let's say on Sunday, I know that I want to post stuff or do something that day, then I make it for Saturday. So it helps me because I'm actually really present that day of whatever it is that I'm doing. So instead of like checking Instagram when I'm at a stoplight or waiting for my coffee, I'm actually just like talking to the person that I'm with or like present and whatever it is that I'm doing. And this is another tip, like not everyone can do, but because it's my job, I have two phones. So I have like a social media work phone and I have a personal phone. And on my personal phone, I don't have Instagram. So that day when I

I do like the day of no social media, my social media phone is at home and my Instagram app and everything is on there. So it's not even an option for me to check Instagram while I'm out on my personal phone. I think that's a boundary for me because I've lived my life online for the last 10 years and because Instagram is my work, like any other job, you would take nights and weekends off. And because we do this as a living, at some point in time, you have to have some time away from work and to be so connected. And I found like, the first time I did it, when I got back online the next day, I was like, oh, I didn't miss anything. Like, all the posts are still here. If I missed a post like you posted on your feed,

I could just go to your profile and see what you posted if I want to see something. And it's not so bad. And I feel better and more refreshed after that. Because if not, it was like, before that, I'd basically seen Instagram every single day since 2013. Like, there was never a day where I didn't check the app. And so I felt like that was important boundary for me. And then another boundary is like choosing what to share and not share on social. And, And there's been things that have happened in my life where I think about sharing them. But I know if you open yourself up to something, then people just want more. And then that's like the new like bar that has been set.

And people expect that to be the minimum of what you share. And so if you start sharing a little bit, then they want you to share a little bit more and a little bit more. And because social is my job, there has to be some boundary of like what is my personal life and what is work. So I've been really mindful about like the extent to which I share online. And maybe one day I'll share more, but for now, that's important to me to have some sort of separation of like home and work, I guess. And I feel like it's good for myself. I feel like it's good for the people in my life. I feel like what I don't want is like my personal life to feel like I have to be on all the time, where I feel like I have to be on at dinner and nights and weekends and holidays.

I want to have that personal time for myself where I don't feel like I have to share every aspect of my life. And so I hope that I can give valuable or entertaining or inspiring or motivational content. through what I do share without having to share it all. That's something that I really admire about you and I really respect because I think that, you know, kind of oversharing is rewarded on social media and it is really hard to set that boundary and like I'm in a relationship with someone who's super private. So it's just not really an option. Like the boundary was kind of set for me.

But it is like the line between personal and private like it just doesn't exist. for a lot of people and everyone is entitled, obviously, to do what they want, but it makes it, it's just kind of insidious. It's hard because I think, like, I'm sure you see it. It's like when you post stuff about your wedding or your husband or whatever, it's like, then that stuff gets the most likes and comments or listens or downloads. So it's hard because it's almost like instabate. Like you want, you're like, oh, well, this is performing really well.

So I want to give people more of what's performing well. But I also think it's performing well because you don't share it all the time. So because you don't do it so frequently when you, you do do it, people actually want to engage with it more because if you start doing it every single day, then it's just like, it's expected. And then it doesn't become as engaging as like sharing it like less frequently. And so, you know, it's really personal for people. And that's the thing what you said too about your marriage is like when you're a person who is an influencer, you choose to live your life on social, that was not, that's not like a package deal of like everybody

in your life. Like that was what you chose to do. And so if people in your life don't want that, you have to respect that like they don't want to do those things too. And I think my like, the people in my life actually like it because then they don't feel like, oh, I'm meeting with Mary and I have to get ready or like, oh, are we going to take pictures? Like they just know like if we're going to hang out, we're just hanging out. Like I don't, I'm not with you to like take pictures off or like my Instagram. And so I think it's less pressure on the people in my life. Yeah, I totally agree. Because yeah, my friends are pretty much the same way. I mean, none of them are for the most part. none of them are influencers and don't really like have social media. And so they just, you know,

like when I'm with them, I can be present. And like you were saying, it's so nice to be able to be with the people in your life and not feel like you have to be on. You know, I rarely, occasionally I'll post like what I'm eating if I'm at dinner with Chuck or something. But like it's not turning into an opportunity for content usually. Last thing I want to ask you before we do a couple of listener questions is how do you deal with negativity online? It's really hard. It's really, really hard, and I don't think it gets any easier. And there can be a picture that I post and there's 100 nice comments and there's one mean comment and it will get to me.

And even if you try to not look at it or you try not to look at your private messages, you somehow still see them because you're on your phone. And sometimes it ruins my whole day. And I don't know any way to deal with it except for I can say, oh, it doesn't matter or this person doesn't matter. they don't even follow you or it's a fake profile or like, oh, it's not true or whatever, but it's really hurtful. And I think people online that are, you know, commenting mean and hurtful things to other people, you have to realize this is a real person on the other end.

And to the person who's being mean, it might just be like this profile of this person, but it's a real person with real feelings. And these really affect people. And I have not found a way to deal with it, except for I just, you know, try to like take it with a grain of salt and be like, oh, well, it's just one person, but it's hard and it's hurtful. And I think, you know, I'm older now. So, you know, with age comes like, you know, a little more confidence and security and not really like minding about it. But I think if you're a young influencer and you're seeing these really hurtful comments, it could be so hard on your mental health and how you feel. I was watching this interview the other day with Charlie DeMilia. She was on like her sister's

YouTube show. And she was saying she wants to try new things, but she was nervous about trying them because she was nervous about how people would write negative comments about if she tried to do something outside of TikTok. And it's like you shouldn't discourage people from doing things because of like the way that you want to like judge them online. And so I think that's a really hard part of now the younger people growing up on social is trying to navigate, you know, haters online and negativity.

But unfortunately, like, I don't think it gets much easier. It's crazy. I cannot imagine. I'm the same way as you. I mean, sometimes I can kind of let it roll off my back. But sometimes if somebody gets me on a day where, you know, I'm not feeling great about things anyway or whatever, like we all have good days and bad days, it really, really can fuck with you. And I think the thing that gets me the most is not so much what they say, but the fact that people can do this and can get away with it because they're not held accountable and they can be totally anonymous. So it kind of makes me more angry that people are acting like this than what they're actually saying about me. I don't know if you've had that experience. But even on TikTok, I mean, TikTok is savage. Yeah, they're really brutal on TikTok. So it's definitely like harder on that platform.

I think on Instagram, at least it's like linked to a profile. So you can go look at the person. But then on YouTube, it's like even more anonymous. So it's hard. So I think like the best way, honestly, to deal with it is if you can not look at the comments. But then you also want to see the good comments. So I have no answer here. Okay.

So we have a lot of listener questions. We already covered the big one, which is your OG Summer Friday product. Did you need capital to start Summer Fridays? So we were self-funded for Summer Fridays, but we did raise money in 2000. Oh my gosh, 2019 now. So we raised money with an amazing group. They're really incredible. And when we were going through the raising money process, we met with,

with any and everyone. And so if you are someone who has a business and you're thinking about, you know, getting capital, date everybody, meet everybody. It is like a dating process because you end up like marrying this person in the end. They own a part of your company. And you really need to know who you are going to be in this relationship with. And so when you're looking to raise capital, one thing is the financial portion of it. But the other part is like, what can they do for your business besides the money portion? Because if there's a lot of people who end up wanting to invest, and they all have the same amount of money, who is adding more value to your business,

who can be more helpful. And for us, we ended up going with the group that was founded by two women. They're incredible. And one of them had worked in beauty before. And so for us, when we had a really small team, her input was so invaluable to us because she almost acted like an interim like president

where it was like every time we had a question or needed to know something or needed a contact, she either had the answer for us or she could find the answer out for us. And that was just as important as the money portion. Do you have any advice to make it in your 30s? This person feels like so many influencers now are so young, like 18 to 21. You can definitely make it now in your 30s. I see so many people, especially on TikTok, like regardless of their age, you know, starting out. I think

there are a lot of people that are younger that are doing it because they have more flexibility to do it. So think like if you're in high school or college, you have a little more flexibility before you have, you know, life gets in the way. But a really good thing that worked for me. when I was, you know, having a full-time job as doing this was I was working my normal job Monday to Friday. And then on weekends, I would create content. And I would create enough content on the weekends that I would bank that and post that all week. So I wasn't worried about having to create content during the week when I had another job. And then I basically just kept doing that for like as long as I could. And when you're taking evergreen content or shooting a lot on these like shoot days,

you know that you always have something to post. You're never like worried about posting something. And by creating evergreen content, you can either repurpose or repost it at a later date. and then it's kind of good forever. So even if you don't have time to post it for four weeks, you know that this recipe or outfit or whatever it is is still relevant later on. And so I think that's the best way if you're trying to manage, like having life and family and trying to be an influencer at the same time. That's great advice.

What is the most slept on beauty secret or routine that nobody talks about? I think, you know, it's not even that it's slept on, but it's like finding the routine that works for you. and I think the best way to find that is go and get a facial or go to a dermatologist, someone that you trust, and have them look at the skincare routine that you're doing morning and night, all the products that you're using, and see what they think about the products that you're using and find a really, really good routine that works for you. And so in the morning, if it's cleanser, vitamin C serum, moisturizer, find those steps

that work for you. And then maybe if you're flexible with your vitamin Cs, you'll try a bunch of different vitamin Cs from different companies. But I think working with a professional one time is really helpful just to get like a baseline of what you should be using and should be doing. And that's what I did. So in 2013, I started seeing Shawnee Darden, who does facial skin on Los Angeles. And we went through my whole morning and nighttime skincare routine. She set up a whole new routine for me, which is like certain steps to do. And then within those steps, I could try different products. But then at least I knew the exact steps I should be doing morning and night. And that was really helpful. And then now has like been kind of

how I based my skincare routine for the last, you know, eight years. Yeah, that's also very good advice. And I kind of did the same thing because I found that I was just buying so many products based on what other people were using. And from what I was reading about and advertisements and everything without really understanding what was good for my skin. So that is really good advice. I think for people who are struggling with that.

Okay, tell us about your tan. Is it natural or do you use self-tanner? Well, right now it's natural because I saw my mom for Mother's Day. We were in Miami, which was so nice. It was the first time I'd seen her since January of last year. And I'm always like pretty covered up with like sunscreen and hat and all those kind of things. But I still got like a little bit of sun while I was outside. But I do love self tanners. So I really like the Isle of Paradise tanning drops. I usually mix that with like my cloud dew moisturizer. And I like that I can kind of like use as little or as much as I want to adjust. you know, how much tan that I want from my body. I really like the tan lux drops or I also like Civans, Luxun Filtered, gradual like body lotion. Those are both really nice, but I love a self-tanner. I love the Luxon filter too. I actually just started using it and I'll kind of do a similar thing that I would do with an oil where like I'll just mix like one dallop of the tanner with a new moisturizer and it's so good and it doesn't smell and it doesn't get on your sheets or your clothes.

It's a really good product. Tell us about a time you saw a an opportunity and took it and maybe a time when you missed one. So an opportunity and took it, I would think it was, you know, when we started summer Fridays. And so we wanted to start it. And instead of waiting for the perfect time or perfect this or you need this or you need that, we just did it. And, you know, it was finding someone to make a formula for us. And then that led us to packaging and naming and branding. And so like one thing kind of led to another in that process. And I think if you're thinking about doing anything and it was same like when I started, you know, on Instagram and as an influencer back then, it was like, instead of waiting for the perfect time,

I saw a couple other people doing it and saw like, oh, I learned how to do all these things in school. This is what I do for a job. Like, I want to start this too. So if you see an opportunity like that, like just don't keep waiting to start something. Like there's never going to be a perfect time. So just do it. So if you're thinking about, oh, I want to start a TikTok account, but I need to wait to do like this. Like, no, just like you have a phone, start one, open up, like post a video and see what happens. So I think with any opportunity in my life, I've just done. it when I thought about doing it instead of like waiting too long and for the perfect time to do it. So I think, you know, anything that has come my way from like work, you know,

as an influencer or summer Fridays was because we just took the opportunity when we, when we came up with the idea instead of like waiting too long. And then an opportunity that I've missed, I probably should have got on TikTok earlier. Like I was on TikTok passively. I downloaded it in October of 2019 and really didn't post like my first video until like January of 2020. and the people that were really very, very, very early on, like I should have just got out of my own head of like not create like that. I was like, oh, this content's not for me. I think if I would have like done it back early then and I could have gone viral

before like all these people were on it, I maybe could have like grown more of a audience on my other platforms. And so I think the people that were early adopters of it have been killing it. Okay. Now I have one last question myself. And if you don't want to talk about this, that's fine. But I would love to hear. How you're liking TM.

Oh, I love it. So transcendental meditation. So like many people in the beginning of the pandemic, I was trying to find like ways to like better myself and self-care and do all this things. I downloaded like every meditation app that I could find. And I just felt like nothing was really working for me. And I was like, everyone talks about how amazing meditation is.

But like, why is this not working for me? And I kept trying apps. I kept trying to do stuff. And finally, towards the end of the year, I had heard about Transcendental Meditation like a bunch of different times before. And then someone posted something about it and it like got it brought back up to me.

And I was like, let me just check online and they had a course available. You know like that awkward time between Christmas and New Year's where you like don't really know what to do with yourself. So this week of time. And so I ended up taking the course and they could do it virtually.

And so I took the class that week. And at first they're like, 20 minutes twice a day, I'm like, I can barely meditate for five minutes. I was like, how will I ever do 20 minutes? And now it's almost like I know exactly when 20 minutes is about to be up. Like I can feel it. I don't even know how to explain it. It's not like, I think people are like, oh, meditation's so amazing. It's like this magical thing. It wasn't like instant magic. But what I've noticed is the days that I do it, I feel so much better throughout the day. And the days that I miss or something happens and I don't do it, I feel like a little bit

more frazzled throughout the day. And so it's almost like if I don't do it, I feel worse. But if I do it, like I feel the way that I want to feel. And it was the first time where I really felt like meditation was working for me. And I think it's made me more present in so many things that I'm doing in my life. And I've done it now since December. And I've been so consistent. I'm so proud of myself because it's the longest I've ever stuck with like making meditation a daily habit in my life. And I've gotten other people started doing on it. And I think it's like one of those things where like, it's like working out or doing anything. It's like, of course, the first time isn't going to be like the best, most amazing thing. But like it's like any other muscle that you, you work over and over again,

the more you do it, the better it gets. And I definitely feel like it's gotten better in the last six months. And I hope it just keeps like, you know, helping me and getting better with time. Yeah, it is like a muscle. And I think I always say that the hardest part is the discipline to sit down and do it because once you're doing it, it's fine. But I think initially it sounds very intimidating. People are like 20 minutes twice a day. Like no phone, no app, no guided meditation, nothing. I mean, I know personally, I was like that, I cannot do that. But yeah, it does kind of start to come naturally. I mean, there are still times for me when I struggle with it. And actually, when I saw you start doing it and post about it and show your completed meditations on your app or whatever, I was like,

okay, this is inspiring me. I need to get back into it because I go through phases where I'll stop doing the afternoon one because I'm like, I'm too busy even though the one in the afternoon or at the end of the day is really the one that kind of like solidifies the effect for me. Yeah. And I also think too, like a really good thing that I've done is I put it as an appointment in my calendar. So I already have the time blocked off in my day. So I have it at eight o'clock and three o'clock, which we're recording at that time today. So I miss this. So I'll do it afterwards. But I, I always have it scheduled. So then at least I know.

And if I need to move it around, I do. But at least I have the time blocked out. And then it'll alert me 10 minutes before. So I know that it's coming. But I feel like making it an appointment is really, really helpful. You know, sometimes life gets in the way. And, you know, in the time of quarantine, it was so much easier to do it twice a day because I didn't have anywhere to be.

And then now as things open back up again, it's a little bit more difficult. So I hope to keep the practice moving forward. But at least doing like once a day is important. But like anything, whether it's working out or meditating or journaling or whatever, adding it to your calendar is really, really helpful because you wouldn't hopefully cancel a meeting on someone else last minute. So try not to cancel a meeting with yourself. That's great advice to end on. And I am also going to do my second meditation after that.

So where can everybody find you? Yeah. Well, thank you so much for having me. You can follow me on Instagram. It's Mariana underscore Hewitt and my podcast, Life with Mariana. I've got new episodes every Tuesday. Summer Fridays is available basically everywhere or just go to summerf Fridays.com and thank you for having me. I hope you enjoyed that episode. If you liked it and if you like the show in general, please take a second to rate, review, and subscribe. It goes a long way and it's actually the best way to support the show. Also, if you want to see more about each episode, you can head over to the Blonde Files podcast on Instagram. I'm always posting about each episode there or over on my personal page at Ariel Lori.