E 813: How to Scale a Beauty Brand from DTC to Retail—with Anthony Standifer
Scaling Emerging Beauty
Summary In this episode of Scaling Emerging Beauty, I sit down with Anthony Standifer—co-founder of MSeed Group and a 25-year beauty industry veteran. We get into the real talk around what it takes to scale from direct-to-consumer to retail—and how to stay profitable while doing it. We discuss: - How to stand out in crowded beauty categories through niche positioning - Why building emotional connections with your customers is key to scaling - What early-stage brands need to know about innovation cadence and product development - The truth about manufacturing partnerships—and why it...
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E 812: Financial Strategy for Beauty Brands: Cash Flow, Retail Growth, and Smart Funding
Scaling Emerging Beauty
Summary In this episode of Scaling Emerging Beauty, I’m joined by Matt Putra, fractional CFO and founder of Eightx, a financial advisory firm helping CPG and beauty brands scale responsibly. If you’ve ever felt unsure about forecasting cash flow, managing inventory costs, or figuring out how to fund retail growth—this is your episode. Matt shares his proven frameworks for financial planning, with a focus on what beauty brands need to know when transitioning from DTC to retail. He breaks down complex financial concepts in a way that’s clear, actionable, and rooted in real-world...
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E 811: Winning Beauty Customers with Storytelling, Site Experience, and Loyalty
Scaling Emerging Beauty
In this episode of Scaling Emerging Beauty, I’m joined by Sarah Gallagher—founder of e-commerce agency Gamma Waves and a marketing strategist behind powerhouse brands like Supergoop. Sarah has helped both emerging and established brands scale through digital optimization, brand storytelling, and smart consumer engagement strategies. We explore: ✅ What makes a beauty brand story stick—and why clarity matters more than complexity ✅ How to optimize your website to boost conversion (spoiler: it’s not just about design) ✅ The keys to customer retention and how to increase lifetime...
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E 810: Trademark Essentials for Emerging Brands with Lauren Bercuson of Storylock Legal
Scaling Emerging Beauty
Trademark protection isn’t just for big brands — it’s essential for emerging founders too. In this episode of Scaling Emerging Beauty, Monique sits down with Lauren Bercuson, founder of Storylock Legal, to break down the basics of trademarks, common mistakes founders make, and how protecting your brand early can save you major time and money later. Lauren shares her experience helping CPG and beauty founders secure their brand names, logos, and even colors, while explaining the risks of skipping this crucial step. Whether you’re launching your first product or prepping for retail...
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E 809: Scaling Smarter: DTC Profitability and Website Simplicity with Ben Sharf of Platter
Scaling Emerging Beauty
Direct-to-consumer (DTC) brands have more tools than ever — but scaling profitably online? That’s still a huge challenge. In this episode of Scaling Emerging Beauty, Monique sits down with Ben Sharf, founder of Platter, to talk about why profitability and simplicity are the new superpowers for growing your DTC business. Ben shares insights from building Platter, a tech-enabled service that’s simplified Shopify storefronts for brands like Everyman Jack and Mrs. Meyer's. He breaks down what early-stage brands often miss when it comes to building effective e-commerce sites — and how...
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E 808: What Your Price Says About Your Brand
Scaling Emerging Beauty
Your price is part of your story. In the final part of the pricing series, we explore how pricing ties into your brand’s perception, positioning, and customer expectations. Your packaging, claims, and storytelling all need to back up your price — especially if you're playing in premium or prestige spaces. In this episode, you’ll learn: How price communicates brand value before anyone tries your product Examples of what different price points say about your brand Why consumers feel your price before they rationalize it Tips to align your packaging, claims, and price with your...
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E 807: How Adam Callinan Built an 8-Figure Brand Without a Big Team — and Why Profitability is the New Superpower
Scaling Emerging Beauty
Is it possible to build a multi-million-dollar brand without investors — or even a full-time team? Adam Callinan, founder of Bottlekeeper and now CEO of Pentane, proves it can be done. In this episode of Scaling Emerging Beauty, Monique sits down with Adam to discuss how he scaled Bottlekeeper to over $8M in annual revenue without taking on outside funding or massive headcount. Adam shares the systems he built to keep the business profitable, lessons from Shark Tank, and why today’s founders need to obsess over cash flow and omnichannel growth. We’ll dive into: ✅ How to scale your...
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E 806: COGs & Margins - The Math Behind Profitable Pricing
Scaling Emerging Beauty
You can't scale your brand if you don’t understand your numbers. In part three of the pricing series, we’re talking all about COGS (Cost of Goods Sold) and margin — what they are, why they matter, and how to reverse-engineer your retail price to protect your profits. This is the financial foundation you must have before stepping into retail. In this episode, you’ll learn: What’s included in your true COGS (hint: it's more than ingredients) How to calculate margin and why it’s non-negotiable for growth What “retail math” looks like in real scenarios Why margin...
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E 805: Building a $10M+ Brand from Scratch with Brooks Powell of Cheers
Scaling Emerging Beauty
What if you could launch your brand, scale it to 8 figures in revenue, and land 32,000 retail doors — all without a traditional background in business? In this episode of Scaling Emerging Beauty, Monique sits down with Brooks Powell, Founder and CEO of Cheers, a category-creating brand in the after-alcohol wellness space. Brooks shares how he turned a neuroscience research paper into a multimillion-dollar brand starting straight out of college, with no formal business training. We cover everything from Cheers' explosive Shark Tank moment, surviving the iOS privacy changes that wrecked...
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E 804: Why Your Price Might Change Depending on the Retailer
Scaling Emerging Beauty
Pricing doesn’t exist in a vacuum — it shifts based on where you’re selling. In part two of the pricing series, we explore how your price needs to align with your retailer’s expectations. From mass to specialty to club stores, we’ll talk strategy, margins, and what happens when your price doesn’t match the store environment. In this episode, you’ll learn: How pricing varies across mass, drug, natural, and specialty retailers Why retail channel strategy matters for pricing Retail margin expectations and how they affect your bottom line When (and if) it makes sense to vary...
info_outlineReena Goodwin, founder and CEO of Facteur PR, discusses the role of public relations (PR) in helping early-stage beauty brands enhance their marketing strategies.
PR is the activity of influencing public perception about a brand through various communication channels, such as journalists, influencers, and social media.
Good PR can create tension and impact consumer decision-making. It is important for brands to leverage PR exposure by using it as content across different platforms.
DIY PR strategies include building relationships with journalists, reading news publications, and hosting interactive media and influencer events.
When outsourcing PR, brands should consider factors such as media relationships, results, resources, and personalized experience.
Good PR involves focusing on the customer experience, adding value, and avoiding directly mentioning competitors. PR is a long game that requires patience and can pay off in the long run.
Links
Reena Goodwin
https://www.linkedin.com/in/reena-goodwin-6919411/
Facteur PR
https://www.instagram.com/facteurpr/
Scaling Emerging Beauty & Monique
https://www.instagram.com/moniquehbenoit/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/moniquehbenoit/
https://www.instagram.com/scalingemergingbeauty
https://scalingemergingbeauty.com/
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