The New Era of Beauty with Corey Weiss & Nicole Collins

Jennifer Norman:
Hello beautiful humans. Welcome to the Human Beauty Movement podcast, your source for hope, healing, happiness and humanity. My name is Jennifer Norman. I'm the founder of the Human Beauty Movement and your host. This podcast is here to guide you on your journey of self, love, empowerment, soul alignment and joy. With each episode, I invite beautiful humans from all corners of the globe to join me for open conversations about their life lessons and the important work that they are doing to help heal humankind. Take a moment now to subscribe to this podcast so you don't miss an episode. I'm so glad you're here joining me for today's show.

Jennifer Norman:
Hello beautiful humans and welcome to today's episode. We are going to dive into the fascinating world of beauty, consumer behavior and the deep emotions behind why we buy the products that we love. I believe that beauty is so much more than just skin deep because it is so intertwined with our emotions. The essence of personal beauty taps into loves and fears, what we appreciate, how we see ourselves, and how we want to present ourselves in the world. I'm thrilled to introduce two game changers in the beauty retail space, Corey Weiss and Nicole Collins. Corey is a digital and social media strategist with a remarkable ability to harness insights and deliver cutting edge marketing solutions. He's worked with some of the world's biggest names, Disney, Yahoo, Ipsy and Fox, crafting seamless digital experiences that captivate people across every platform. Joining him is Nicole Collins, a visionary entrepreneur who has a proven track record of launching startup businesses to success.

Jennifer Norman:
Known for her creativity in brand building, influencer marketing and social commerce, Nicole has earned a stellar reputation in the industry, not just for her expertise, but for being an incredible partner and person. Together, they've teamed up to launch 213Deli, an innovative SMS beauty service that they believe will change the way people shop for beauty products. In today's conversation, we'll explore the evolution of the beauty industry. We'll talk a bit about the psychology behind beauty and the emotional connections that drive consumer behavior. You'll hear from Corey and Nicole, two of the most forward thinking leaders in the beauty industry about how they've created experiences that resonate deeply. So get ready to uncover how emotions, psychology and digital strategy intersect in the beauty industry and discover the shape of beauty retail to come. Welcome to the show, Corey and Nicole.

Corey Weiss:
Thank you.

Nicole Collins:
Thank you Jennifer. It's great to be here.

Jennifer Norman:
Now you have known each other for quite some time. You met at Ipsy and so for those not familiar, you may want to describe what Ipsy is and what drew you into the space and how your journey has evolved over the years.

Corey Weiss:
Yeah, I can jump in there. So I had the good fortune of working with Michelle Phan in the late aughts and got brought into Ipsy when it was just an idea before launch. But Ipsy became the world's largest beauty subscription service as well as the largest beauty community. It also happens to be the place where I had the good fortune of meeting a lot of great people, including Nicole, who quickly became a personal and professional friend. And we kind of went through the trenches together of figuring out the direct to consumer subscription space which ultimately led to our latest incarnation of 213Deli.

Jennifer Norman:
Now, Nicole, I met you too when you were at Ipsy and I was working on the brand side. And I can say from the very first meeting, no one doesn't love Nicole. Everybody loves Nicole. Nicole is just the most amazing person and she, she just has ability to weave through and find solutions and figure out this creativity that is going to really help these wonderful programs come alive. What would you say your experience was like when you were at Ipsy back in the day?

Nicole Collins:
You're really sweet, Jennifer. I'd say people either love me or they hate me and there's no in between. So I'm glad that you're on that side.

Jennifer Norman:
I'm on the love side.

Nicole Collins:
I'm a really, really passionate person in general. I'm an Aries and I was extremely passionate about what Ipsy was doing in 2012 when the business got off the ground. It revolutionary. We called social media new media then and we were doing storytelling by putting product into the hands of consumers and then supporting that with new media, which is mostly YouTube in 2012 and of course evolved to Instagram and other things. And we were talking directly to consumers, which was new in 2012. Before that you spoke at consumers via website, television commercials, glossy magazine ad and editorial, et cetera. And so Michelle Phan was a real visionary and an incredible storyteller and had an ability to connect with consumers via YouTube. And there were other people, mostly women at that time, but some young men as well, doing the same thing.

Nicole Collins:
And I thought it was wildly interesting. I've always been interested in consumer behavior. I love beauty products. I love beauty brands. I love the stories behind them and the packaging and the way that they look and the way that they make me look, mostly the way that they make me feel. And I've said many, many times, nobody in the world needs any of these beauty products, but they sure do make you feel a little bit taller, thinner, Faster, smarter, better. And then you move through the world with your best forward. So it just.

Nicole Collins:
They give you that little kick of confidence that help you be your best. And I was very passionate about that back in 2012. And during my time at Ipsy, and I continue to be today, I was.

Jennifer Norman:
Always amazed at how vulnerable YouTube videos of the makeovers, the befores and afters. And you're right, Michelle was a true visionary. She was a leading edge in her time. Most popular person on YouTube for years and years and years. And it was just astonishing because before that, you never let anybody see a pimple. You never let. I mean, it was just like you. You would not walk out of the house without a full face of makeup.

Jennifer Norman:
Many women. And to just take everything off and then show people the process at that time, it was like unheard of. And it was extraordinary. And the amount of talent and it was truly inspiring for a whole generation of makeup artists that are now YouTubers and TikTokers and Instagrammers that have been able to make professional living out of this, let alone a hobby for some.

Nicole Collins:
Absolutely. Quite literally changed the world and most definitely changed the beauty industry and how products are marketed, how they come to market, et cetera.

Jennifer Norman:
I would love to talk about beauty standards, thinking about that whole aspect of the evolution of beauty. Corey, because you were one of the founding members as well at ipsy. I'm just curious, like, what have you seen, especially from like a male perspective, of how women were maybe like a decade or so ago, to what's going on in the world today?

Corey Weiss:
Yeah, well, I think part of why Nicole and I gravitate to one another and work well together is realizing how the industry is continuously evolving and what we did in 2011, 2012, you can't do today and be successful. That you have to evolve with the time. And for me, part of my success, to your point, being a male in beauty, is that I came in as an outlier. I had never put a stitch of makeup on my face. And this was a whole new world and a world that I was immediately enamored with, to Nicole's point, on how it made people feel and gave people confidence, and also to your point where it made it permissible to be vulnerable and people gravitated to other people like themselves that showed their vulnerability and were honest and authentic, that they also had issues, whether it was they were acne prone or they were shy or they needed to find things that work for them. But one thing that we've noticed over the years is, first of all, as Nicole mentioned, Michelle Phan was referred to as a YouTuber. And one thing that's happened since a decade ago was that there's this proliferation of platforms now, and now they're influencers or creators, because there are multiple platforms and each platform serves a different purpose. So what we were doing on YouTube is very different than what we were doing on Instagram, which is very different, which is being done on TikTok today.

Corey Weiss:
And then I also think one of the biggest influences most recently on the industry was the pandemic. And when we went into quarantine, self care became very prominent, and there no longer was a stigma on taking care of ourselves from the inside out, whether it was our mental health, our physical health, and, of course, how we look. And when we launched Ipsy in 2011, everybody wanted color cosmetics. It was all about the face. And now it's expanded to hair care, body care, skincare, which is also more inclusive of males as well. So I've learned quite a bit. I always say I wish I had learned what I've learned in the last 10 years, decades ago. But, yes, it's an evolving ecosystem and certainly a fun one.

Nicole Collins:
I'll add to that, when I was growing up reading glossy magazines, almost all of the models were tall, thin and blonde. And that is not the case any longer. When you look at the marketing being done and the images that beauty brands are putting out, almost rarely now do you stumble on a tall, thin, blonde. There are people who look like people, and the United States is a very unique place in that it truly is a melting pot in the world. And there are people from all over planet Earth living here and creating families with one another. So you see a real diversity in looks. Right. And one thing that I love that's happened in the last 10 years, specifically, is that now you see men and women of all different looks and hair textures and skin tones, et cetera, modeling for all different types of brands.

Nicole Collins:
And so hopefully the next generation never grows up saying, well, I didn't see anyone who looked like me, and that there's a greater sense of self confidence in that, in seeing people who look like them wherever they want to see that.

Jennifer Norman:
There's also almost been this realization that the person who we are inside can be expressed in a way that doesn't have to fit in per se to what those previous norms were. And we saw how damaging that was, the skyrocketing of eating disorders and mental health issues. From that perspective, of course, we have a whole new set of mental health issues that stem from Social media and loneliness and whatnot. And we can talk about that in a moment. But it's interesting how there has been this understanding and appreciation of all types of faces, all types of bodies, all types of beauty, and all types of expression, regardless of gender, sexual preference, etc. And that's a really interesting thing that has come into the beauty space that we probably would not have predicted before Michelle Phan and before Ipsy certainly. But there seems to be almost like this unusual backlash or this backstepping now where now that Ozempic is around and so much plastic surgery. Like, I'm curious what you think about that as far as an influence in the beauty industry.

Jennifer Norman:
Do you think that. That it's almost like a feeling like, okay, well that's not aspirational or that's not ideal. And what do you think is going on there with this newfound opinion of changing and morphing bodies and faces?

Nicole Collins:
As you said, there's light and dark to everything. We live on a duality planet. Right. So not everything is inherently great or inherently bad. The thing about social media is that there's lots of filters and there's lots of people. You can present yourself in any way that you want, including inauthentic ways. And there are plenty of people that are inauthentic and presenting things that aren't normal, natural or realistic. And also I think the pandemic and people being alone really, it damaged people in a lot of ways and we're still kind of recovering from that.

Nicole Collins:
I can't help but think about that song we used to sing at every school in America when you were a little kid. The more we get together, the better off we'll be. So it would be great if people got off their phones and got together and hung out more. But I think it's all a fad. I think the Ozempic thing is a fad and it'll go away and people will realize how unhealthy it is and plastic surgery as well. I still think we're making positive steps towards being our more authentic selves and having more self confidence. And I do believe, generally speaking, that there is a raising of the global consciousness going on.

Corey Weiss:
Yeah, I think also there's trends, as Nicole said, and there's also a trend now of biohacking and longevity. Like that's a hot topic right now. Everybody's talking about longevity and biohacking. Taking diet supplements and things like Ozempic is not really longevity. I think people in the ultimate is how can they look the youngest as long as possible.

Jennifer Norman:
Yeah.

Corey Weiss:
And that's by taking care of yourself in a holistic manner. It what you put in your mind, what you put in your body and the life that you live. And hopefully that leads ultimately to good. But it is very interesting to see how these trends happen and how people glom on to certain trends. And right now we're hearing a lot about biohacking and longevity and beauty plays into that, certainly with the way we take care of our body and skin and hopefully have it last a life.

Jennifer Norman:
Yeah. And you can certainly talk about this because you teach spin, you're very much into the wellness community. You're very much into health, very much into wellness. And you are also in beauty. And so I'm just curious, from your perspective, like, how do you see the future of beauty and wellness coming together and what are the things that you tell your daughter?

Corey Weiss:
I mean, I can say I, being a male, see the pressures placed on women. I see that we are flooded daily with visuals of what this ideal look is. And I think by instilling confidence in people, they feel comfortable with themselves. They feel comfortable in their own skin, which is an interesting play on words that I think when you do feel comfortable and confident, then the makeup and the outside world is secondary. And I think that's really what's important. And to Nicole's point, that we're in this together and we should make each other feel good, we should support one another. And as a fitness instructor, I take a mind body approach. It's not just working out your body, but also your mind and feeling good about one another.

Nicole Collins:
Yeah. I also think that the sexiest or most attractive thing about any, any person is true self confidence. And the other thing I think now that I'm a mother, is that everything in life, you have to teach your kids. My yoga instructor used to say, you have to teach your kids. I can, I can tell you all these things and if you don't tell your kids, then don't even listen. So I think it starts when they're really, really little practice of gratitude and trying to live joy and express joy and share happiness and all of those things. And the other thing I'll say as a grown up business executive, is that when I have worked with people like Corey, who's a genuinely happy human being, he shows up at work and he's kind and he's fun because he's a happy person. And then that's an enjoyable person to work with.

Nicole Collins:
Right. And then when you show up at work and there are people who are genuinely Miserable. It's quite obvious there too. And that's what creates toxic work culture. So I think, again, that's why Corey and I gravitated to one another when we worked together all those years ago and why we started a business together most recently.

Jennifer Norman:
Yeah, when I was young and I was just trying to figure myself out. And I'm sure that a lot of of young people can relate. It's like you're trying to figure out your place in the world and how you fit in, but you're also trying to find your own self. And the two get so conflated with each other, and so you look for cues of inspiration. But it's also, by the same token, a looking at yourself and saying, well, where am I deficient? And so that's where I think what you were saying before is so true. Is that beauty? Nobody really needs it, but it is either. It could be a very valuable lesson. It could be, is this something that is really expressing the genuine you, or is it something that you are utilizing to get validation to try to fit in or to please somebody else? And it can be a little bit of both.

Jennifer Norman:
It could be more. One more than the other. I can say that when I was growing up, it was validation. And that's what left me feeling extremely empty and feeling like I just need to have all this stuff. I need to buy the latest. I need to have the brands, I need to have the latest shades. And I think that the media and a lot of the brands probably capitalized a whole heck of a lot on those feelings of depletion that people had and maybe even encouraged it because it was capitalism. Frankly, I'm curious if you still feel like that might be happening in brands or is there a change?

Nicole Collins:
I definitely think there is a change. There are a lot more brands today than there were when you and I were kids, Jennifer. And as a result of that, there are more brands founded by women and founded by women of color, and a lot of those women founded those brands. Deepika of Live Tinted comes to mind. And Amy of Tower 28. Women who founded brands because they had specific needs. Deepika didn't feel that she saw herself. Amy suffered from skin issues, et cetera.

Nicole Collins:
And so they created these brands for people like them, and they speak very authentically about that. And those aren't the only two. There's loads and loads. And so I think that having a greater share of voice and having more people tell more differentiated stories really makes a difference. And again, it's back to the vulnerability. I'll Tell you that I had skin issues and that's why I launched this product. Black Girl Sunscreen comes to mind. If you have dark skin, you need different sunscreens. You can't just put zinc on.

Nicole Collins:
So I think it's really magical that all of those things are happening. I love that social media made it easier for people to launch brands because you didn't need millions of dollars for glossy magazine advertising, et cetera. So baby steps in the right direction and I think it's all great.

Corey Weiss:
Yeah. I was responsible at Ipsy for recruiting all of our influencers. I built the influencer program, I built our studio and people would, influencers would come to me frequently and they'd be inspired by Michelle Phan and they would try to be like Michelle Phan. And I always, always told them, don't try to be Michelle Phan, be inspired by Michelle Phan. But what makes you you, what makes you unique. And I think people, it's permissible now to be your genuine self. And like Nicole said, you're going to find other people like you. The mission of the company when we launched it years ago was to inspire individuals around the world to express their unique beauty.

Corey Weiss:
And it was all about identifying what made you unique and not trying to replicate someone else or be an off brand version of someone else, but the best version of yourself. And I think these are the messages of beauty that are relevant to anything and why I really enjoy working in this space.

Jennifer Norman:
Amazing. I feel like that message needs to be screamed a bit louder. I really do. And what a great mentor. Oh my goodness, I mean those are such beautiful words. And there couldn't be any greater amount of advice for young people is like, be inspired by it. But do you. It's definitely something that can help you resonate and vibrate much more positively in the world.

Jennifer Norman:
Because there are so many people that look at social media and then they feel bad afterwards. The research is there, they feel worse about themselves after having been on social media. And a lot of these kids, I think that they said that the average is like four or five hours per day on screens, on just their phones and then let alone TVs and things like that. So it gets up to sometimes eight hours a day and it is quite a crisis. And so the encouragement from The Human Beauty Movement and from what I'm hearing here from both of you is like you really need to do that work of self care to know who you are, to feel confident, to feel that you can really put forth your best energy rather than trying to be somebody else rather than comparing yourself to somebody else, rather than feeling like you can't live up to whatever somebody else did. And so that message is a really important one coming from two profound individuals in the beauty space. So thank you. Thank you for that.

Jennifer Norman:
I'd love to shift gears and talk about innovation in beauty because certainly we talked about the evolution of standards influencers and such, but in terms of products themselves, moving from makeup to self care and body, are there some other kinds of innovations that you've seen that you're really excited about?

Nicole Collins:
So much. I'll say, number one, one good thing that happened during the pandemic is that consumers became even more educated. I feel like consumers have been steadily getting more and more educated about the ingredients in products and how they should work and which ones are right for them, et cetera. During 2020, people had more time on their hands and they became very educated. And brands can respond to that. There are incredible ingredient stories out there and incredible ingredients. I'd say the biggest leap for me since my career in beauty 20 years ago is clean. And I know there's lots of argument over what's clean and what's not clean and whatever the fact of the matter is there are so many more truly clean and sustainable ingredients available and so many more brands today making really beautiful, clean and sustainable and healthy skincare, body care, perfume, all of it. So I love that.

Nicole Collins:
That is really spectacular for me as a middle aged woman. I'm most excited about innovation in home tools, which a lot of people got their hands on when they couldn't go to the spa during 2020. So red light devices, and I know it sounds crazy, but like those little things that sort of electrocute your face a little bit in a way that doesn't hurt too bad, it stimulates collagen, growth, et cetera.

Jennifer Norman:
I have one.

Nicole Collins:
We all do. We all do.

Jennifer Norman:
They're fun. There's something very satisfying about the zapping, I have to say.

Nicole Collins:
Yes, yes. Listen. People used to say, if it doesn't sting my face, I don't feel like it's working. That's kind of what the tool is doing. And then the other thing is, again, because you have a greater diversity of founders and products and brands, there are cooler when you get to color, cooler shade ranges, more exciting things. If you want to wear lime green eyeliner, and that's your deal, Go, run, have fun. Do that.

Nicole Collins:
If you're more of a natural girl, there's that for you too. But I love that there are all of those things available.

Corey Weiss:
To add to, not just the ingredients, innovations, but also about two things I find is, one, the narrative. Right. It's the storytelling around the brand. A lot of brands include the same thing, whether it's hyaluronic acid or whatever the hero ingredient might be. But it's the storytelling around it and why, the origination of the brand, the origination of how the founder got into it. And I think that's also what helps people identify. If the products are at parity, it helps people identify with a brand one over another. And then I'd also be remiss if not to say technology. We, Nicole and I have been about innovation and disruption.

Corey Weiss:
As I said earlier, doing the same thing over and over again and expecting change is insanity. So Nicole and I have made and along with our third partner, Jules Camposano, have made it our mission to change the way beauty lovers discover and purchase beauty products. We did it initially with Ipsy through the subscription model, and that model's become fatigued. I think particularly with subscription, everybody, there are a lot of lookalike companies out there and people had more subscriptions than they needed. They had more beauty products than they needed. So we made, we're very intentional to create a platform that you buy the products that you want, you buy the products that you need, and we are going to introduce you to the latest and greatest, the best of beauty, and you decide which products you want. And if you don't purchase, at least you discovered about a great new brand and a great new product.

Jennifer Norman:
Yeah, I want to dive a little bit deeper into that because I'm a sustainability girl and I know that a lot of subscription boxes came under tremendous fire because of the waste. And I remember a while ago when you were still at Ipsy, Nicole, that there's this massive aftermarket. It's like, oh, I got all this stuff in my box. I don't want it. Do you want it? I'll sell it to you or we'll do a trade. And you're like, it makes no sense. Like, why are people shipping. They're paying for shipping to send something to somebody else.

Jennifer Norman:
But yeah it was like, how can I make sure that we're not making all this stuff, giving it to people that don't want or don't need it, and then ending up just creating all of this waste. You probably have more information about that which caused you and created an impetus for your new business. Can you say more about what you've seen in terms of sustainability in beauty?

Nicole Collins:
Again, back to the general raising of global consciousness. People are more aware of and more concerned about taking care of themselves and Mother Earth now. And lots of influencers also talked about the waste in the PR packages and things like that. But more than anything, I do think that there was a bit of a correction again during COVID around this. Just mass consumption for the sake of consumption. It's not cool. It's just not cool at all. And then also what is exactly right for me, it is fun to play with stuff and you can go to Sephora and stick your or Ulta and stick your fingers in all the different products and have fun for a couple of hours, but you don't need them at home.

Nicole Collins:
So I think that consumers are more intentional about their purchases. Also people care about about how much money they're spending and with a subscription model it was really fun for a really long time. And then after a while you've over subscribed and you've got more than you need. So I think people are just being more intentional all around. And again, what's fun about 213 Deli is that you're receiving a visual image, right. And some words via text message every week and hopefully it tickles your fancy and hopefully it makes you smile and hopefully it piques your interest and you buy what you want to. And if you're not interested, no big deal.

Jennifer Norman:
That's amazing. Let's talk about 213 a little bit more because I'm sure from an entrepreneurial perspective people are like, well, how long does it take to put together a business and a business plan, and what were some of the consumer insights that actually went into launching 213 Deli? And then by the way, I'm very intrigued and I want to find out about it more myself and sign up and all of that. Tell us about what that whole plan was or the inkling of the idea, when did it start and how did you get to where you are today where you've just celebrated your first year?

Corey Weiss:
Yeah. So the idea for 213 Deli actually came about several years ago. Most people in the digital media space are aware of Gary Vee. And Gary Vee launched a platform several years ago called WineText where every day he was texting you with a different wine offer and if you wanted it, you responded how many bottles of the wine you wanted. And this made a lot of sense and it certainly made a lot of sense for the beauty industry. And it was actually an idea that at a former company they didn't have interest in taking a chance of changing the way people discovered and purchased products in this instance through SMS commerce. And this is where kind of got the band back together. And Nicole and I came together and we didn't need that validation.

Corey Weiss:
We knew we needed to take a chance and we knew that based on both instinct and information that this would be successful and be a very convenient, frictionless way for people, people to purchase products. So it was a few years in the making. But once Nicole and I and Jules Camposano got together and decided this was something we wanted to pursue, there wasn't any analysis paralysis. We decided to dive in and make this happen. And you fly and build the plane at the same time. I think if you wait to build the perfect plane, you're never going to take off. So we made a decision to launch the company and we would learn along the way and we've learned quite a bit in our first year and I think people are be really pleased what they see in year two.

Nicole Collins:
Yeah, I'll add to that. I left Ipsy in 2017 when my shares fully vested along with Michelle Phan. And she and I then started a business taking American beauty brands to China with two Chinese business partners. One of those partners was former Alibaba. And when I was in China with her, I met a lot of her colleagues who had also left Alibaba to become entrepreneurs. And it's no surprise, no secret, that China's the king of social commerce. And I learned so much about social commerce and there were so many cool WhatsApp or various text to buy options in China and apps and all kinds of cool stuff. And I became really excited about social commerce in many ways.

Nicole Collins:
Ipsy was a social commerce company in the United States. I left that business after a year because my partners and I were not aligned on our execution strategy. And from a business point of view, I knew that it wouldn't work. And then I worked for several social commerce apps in the United States and what I learned is that no one's downloading an app. No one downloaded TikTok until 2020 when there was nothing else to do, and then they all started lip syncing. So thank God that's over.

Jennifer Norman:
Or is it...

Nicole Collins:
People are hungry to discover in new and fun and exciting ways. But it's got to be easy, it's got to be convenient and it's got to be fun. And so when Corey said, hey, what about text message? I thought, yes, yes, of course. It's so simple, it's so easy. And there are certain things that are highly consumable. Wine, food, fitness and beauty in my opinion. If you're fanatic about those things, you want to consume content around it and products around it on a very regular basis. And because beauty is no longer just makeup or just skincare, there's so many cool stories to tell.

Nicole Collins:
So we're really excited about the convenience factor of it and how easy it is. And frankly, the big goal now moving ahead is getting into personalization. So you'll tell us how often to text you which products, categories, shades, etc. And it'll really become very specific just for you.

Jennifer Norman:
Got it. So next now, as far as the actuals of the product, how often do you typically send out your texts and what kind of products seem to do the best?

Nicole Collins:
Yeah. So right now, anyone can go to 213deli.com, give us your phone number. It's free. You can use the invite code 213Deli. And then once a week on Thursdays at noon Pacific, we'll send a text message about a fantastic, can't live without, truly great beauty product. I have been in beauty merchandise nearly 20 years. I've tried it all. I'm a real junkie. I really genuinely love brands and products.

Nicole Collins:
And so once a week on Thursdays, we send out a text message. There's a visual and a pretty verbose text about why it's cool. And if you want to buy, you quite literally text back 1, 2, or 3. We sell up to 3 units. If you're not interested that week, you pass. What does well? We've seen huge success in all categories.

Nicole Collins:
It's kind of more about who's having the most fun. Right. Fleur is having a lot of fun on social right now, creating some really cool, natural, clean fragrances. And our consumer loves that brand. They love Saltair. They love Thrive Cosmetics. I think, I guess what's more successful is kind of who's having fun and who's engaging the consumer. And then they're excited to engage with them via 213 Deli as well.

Jennifer Norman:
Do you find that people do research after they get their texts, or do they kind of already know about it or they're sold from the text and they just, it's like an immediate thing? Once you send it, you're finding people are hitting 1, 2, or 3?

Nicole Collins:
It's an impulse buy, for sure. It piques your interest. The visual is stimulating, the text is verbose, but not too verbose. And there's a pretty immediate response. With Thrive Cosmetics. We quite literally sold out instantly.

Jennifer Norman:
Wow.

Nicole Collins:
So that was completely immediate. And we've had several other brands we helped Vacation launch their Orange Gelee. I don't know if you remember but they kind of revived and brought back Bain de Soleil's Orange Gelee in a more updated way. It's a gorgeous product. It's so fun. It was so cool. Oh of course we all remember the original.

Jennifer Norman:
If you're of a certain age...

Nicole Collins:
And so that sold out really quickly as well. But yeah, 213 Deli is very much an impulse concept. The price is, it's impulse pricing. So hopefully you see it. Likely you've heard of it or it's something really intriguing. We had really quick sellout and huge success recently with a Skin Gym Cryo Chill Face Mask. And it's a mask that you put either in the fridge or the freezer and you put it over your entire face to help de puff.

Nicole Collins:
You can do lymphatic drainage afterwards, et cetera. That was really really successful and people loved that.

Jennifer Norman:
Oh my God, that sounds incredible for menopausal people like me! Yes! 100 sleep with it!

Corey Weiss:
The other thing I wanted to add, just what makes it really fun and impulsive and why people buy from us and opposed to other platforms or opportunities is that every purchase includes a gift with purchase. And as, for instance, when we did the drop with Vacation and you were one of the first to get their new sunscreen, we had an After Sun Cooling Gel that came as your gift with purchase.

Nicole Collins:
And free shipping.

Corey Weiss:
And free shipping. So shipping is always free. So we make it really easy to say yes, it's a hot buzzy brand. Nicole is the master at securing these partnerships. It's a juicy offer in that you're getting a gift of purchase and then free shipping on top of it and it ships out really quickly. So it's same day shipping and people on the west coast are often getting it the next day and east coast within a couple days. So quick. We really are our offer can't be beat and we're really competitive in getting the product in consumers hands as quickly as possible.

Jennifer Norman:
So for those who are not SoCal based you have to tell everybody why the name 213 Deli.

Corey Weiss:
So Nicole, myself and our third partner Jules, we all live in Los Angeles. Nicole and I are the rare Los Angeleno natives. So 213 is the original area code of Los Angeles and a deli is a place that anyone can go to order something the way they want and leave happy. And then lastly people will notice that our brand is yellow. The yellow is a nod to LA sunshine and it's the color of happiness.

Jennifer Norman:
It absolutely is. It almost gave an east coast, west coast vibe because coming from New York myself, I was like, the New York deli, you know, it gave me like the New York, LA, sort of a retro vibe that was of course, very sunshiney and happy because yellow is such a powerful color, and it's the color of confidence for sure. Nicole, I know that we were talking before the cast about being a woman in business, and I know that you guys are actually thinking about raising some capital very, very soon for your endeavor. And women have been having a hard time, especially in terms of capital raise. Corey, you may have had a different experience, but women are having a more difficult time. So I'm curious for the women who are likely listening to this podcast, what has been your experience as a business entrepreneur, as a leader in the beauty industry? Like, what have been some of the challenges, what have been some of the triumphs that you've had along the way?

Nicole Collins:
I mean, I'll say definitely there's a lot of girl on girl hate at work. It's still happening and it, it's heartbreaking. I always say rich white men help other rich white men get rich and they keep on doing it. So hey ladies, let's start straightening each other's crowns instead of knocking them off. There's that. It's definitely happened. I'm older and more mature now and can handle myself in a more sophisticated way. And I have to also think about what role I may have played in those situations when I was younger.

Nicole Collins:
But I will also say again, there are more female entrepreneurs now than there were before. There are more female, very successful entrepreneurs with very successful exits. Ali Webb comes to mind. And she comes to mind because I've heard her speak a number of times and talk about how when she was raising money about a blow dry bar and all these men, many of whom were bald, had no idea what she was talking about. And the first person who gave her money went home from work and said to his wife, oh, this woman came in talking about some place where you get your hair blow dried. And the wife was like, blow dry bar? All my girlfriends and I go twice a week, you have to give her money. And that's how she got her first fundraise.

Nicole Collins:
So anyway, the point is more women are getting more money now. More women are entrepreneurs. More women have more money to give and are talking about giving and giving back. And again, back to Amy Liu and her Summer School and supporting other female founders. So there is, it's happening and I'm excited about it. But I'm also happy to take money from a man and explain to him why my background uniquely qualifies me to successfully run this business along with my male business partner and my other female business partner.

Jennifer Norman:
Beautiful.

Corey Weiss:
Yeah, yeah. Everything starts at home. It's what we were saying that if you have a loving, supportive home, when you send your children, son or daughter out in the world, they'll be more successful when you can't be with them. So you have to provide them with the tools so when they're out in the world, they can be successful on their own. And fortunately that's what was instilled in me from my parents and my mother and my grandmother and, and in turn my wife and I make an effort that we provide our children with the tools to be successful. And those tools are academic tools, personal tools, professional tools to have a well rounded child that when they go out in the world and look, they're the world. It's a crazy world we live in now. Nobody's immune from the chaos in the world.

Corey Weiss:
So it's more important than ever to help our children be able to take care of themselves on their own. But it really, I think having role models is really important. Role models in the home and role models outside the home, which is usually in the form of teachers, coaches and things of that, of that sort.

Nicole Collins:
I'd love to add to that. I got really lucky a couple of years ago and a friend, a professional friend, alerted me to the fact that there were some USC girls, I'm a Trojan, fight on Trojans, who had started the business of cosmetics club at USC because they wanted careers in beauty and were young and didn't have experience or network. And so I reached out to them and I said, hey, I didn't have any experience or network when I started either and it was really hard for me. And now I'm old and well networked and have plenty of experience, so can I be supportive? And so for the past couple of years I've been helping line up speakers for their panels and then also getting them, helping to find them internships and jobs and volunteer opportunities in the industry that are also networking opportunities. They worked with CEW at their recent west coast event and Beauty Industry West at their recent recent awards event and others. And it has been so rewarding to work with these young people, mostly women. And plenty of them have asked me for advice and what I've said is that the Zs have, for right or wrong, a bad reputation of being entitled and not wanting to work. And so I've always said to young people, the internship that you get, show up first and leave last, and ask how you can be helpful, not just to the person that you're reporting to, but anyone in any direction, and see what you can learn from any of that. If your internship is in the marketing department, but the product development department needs a little bit of help, help out. You never know. You might find a passion there that you didn't realize you had.

Nicole Collins:
But the biggest thing is, I feel like in my generation, the story was, you can be whatever you want to be if you work harder than everybody else. And now it's been like, oh, you don't have to work so hard. Don't kill yourself. I disagree. In the beginning of your career, work really hard and be really polite and do your best and build a network and make friends and then keep in touch with all of those people. Yesterday, Corey and I spoke to someone and she said, oh, I've lost touch with some of these colleagues. And actually a very... When I was there...I said, let me cut you off and say, be nice to the intern, because when you turn around in a couple of years, she's going to be the VP of marketing.

Corey Weiss:
You know, relationships are key. And to, one thing about Nicole and I, and for any of your listeners, is we definitely believe in paying it forward and helping others. Don't always be asking, but be quick to give as well. And a mentor once taught me that the stages of one's career is learning, earning, returning. That early in your career you're learning, middle of your career, you're earning, and eventually you have to return and give it back. And while we definitely want to be earning, we definitely put an emphasis on returning and helping others grow professionally.

Jennifer Norman:
That's amazing. Mentorship is just worth its weight beyond gold. I remember very specifically when as a young person, I was very shy and I still...I swear I'm an introvert. People don't believe me, but yes, I am introverted and I'm very shy. And so it was always something that made me very nervous, to ask people for help or for mentoring.

Jennifer Norman:
But there was this one gal who, we were hired around the same time, went straight into the CEO's office and said, hi, my name is so and so, will you be my mentor? And he said yes. I mean, what could they say? No? I mean, and what's the worst that they could say no? But he said yes. That was the skyrocketing moment of her career because instantly told that CEO, this is a person that is fearless. This is a person that is not afraid to stand up for herself or believe in herself, but also knows that she's going to learn from the best and wants to cut through and wade through all of the other politicking. But let's definitely give her some credit for fearlessness. And so I definitely encourage any young person who might be listening to this or any older person that might be in a position of leadership to identify those that really look like they've got that spark, that motivation, that positivity, because those are going to be the future leaders and they're going to be the ones that are going to make the most dramatic positive change for your industry or any other industry that they go into. And so that is a beautiful thing, is to be able to have enough courage and conviction in yourself to be able to ask for help, advice and not be afraid at all. For sure.

Jennifer Norman:
So in the show notes, I'm going to put together your information for 213 Deli as well as for the Cosmetics Club at USC, which I think is an amazing opportunity. For those who are in brands, how do they get in touch with 213 Deli if they're interested in perhaps doing a partnership?

Nicole Collins:
Hi@213deli.com. hi@213deli.com - hit us up. You can also find me on LinkedIn. I'm a big LinkedIn nerd. I'm super active. Nicole Collins yeah, and on social as well. But those are the two best ways everyone.

Jennifer Norman:
Corey Weiss, Nicole Collins, thank you so much for spending time on The Human Beauty Movement Podcast today. It was such a pleasure, and I just enjoy and appreciate you two so very much. Thank you.

Nicole Collins:
Thank you Jennifer. This was such a pleasure for us as well. We really appreciate you having us.

Jennifer Norman:
Absolutely.

Corey Weiss:
Thank you.

Jennifer Norman:
Thank you for listening to The Human Beauty Movement Podcast. Be sure to follow, rate and review us wherever you stream podcasts. The Human Beauty Movement is a community based platform that cultivates the beauty of humankind. Check out our workshops, find us on social media and share our inspiration with all the beautiful humans in your life. Learn more at thehumanbeautymovement.com. Thank you so much for being a beautiful human.