From Tech to Beauty: Scaling Without Owned Retail Locations

0:00Jana Kleemeier:We make sure we sell and formulate products that really work on your skin, transform it, make it plumper, smoother, glowier, but also are pleasurable to work.

0:10Andres Figueira:Has building a premium beauty brand been a challenge in the clean beauty space?

0:15Jana Kleemeier:From a consumer perspective, shifting their perspective that, yeah, clean and performance can be in one brand has been a little bit more of a challenge.

0:23Andres Figueira:Have you found the need to actually just educate your consumers about what your products have in them and how they work?

0:29Jana Kleemeier:We really rely on our clinicals and our science-backed ingredients and really like pushing the science messaging from the brand's perspective to really educate consumers.

0:45Andres Figueira:Hey, everybody. Thank you for tuning in. My name is Andres Figuera, and I'm going to be your host for the day. This show is brought to you by the Global Talent Company, helping fast-growing teams hire exceptional remote talent from Argentina, South Africa and beyond. We connect companies with world-class professionals who bring skill, reliability, and a global perspective to every role. And just for our listeners, we're offering an exclusive 10 % discount on your first hire. All you need to do is visit globaltalent.co, click start hiring, and mention the podcast listener discount when we reach out.

1:17Andres Figueira:And today, with me here, I am speaking with Jana Klemeyer, Director of Creative and Brand Marketing at True Botanicals, a company that creates luxurious, consciously crafted formulas that are clinically proven to work, powered by the most potent sustainably sourced plant actives. And with that said, Jana, it's a pleasure to have you here. How are you doing?

1:38Jana Kleemeier:That's so good. Thank you so much, Andres. Thanks so much for having me.

1:42Andres Figueira:No, no problem at all. I must admit, this is the first company I'm talking to that's about sourcing plant actives. So would you be able to give the audience a bit more context, Jana, and just tell us in your own words what True Botanicals is and what you guys do.

1:58Jana Kleemeier:I mean, you kind of nailed the nail on the head, but True Botanicals, how I like to describe it, it's a beautiful luxury skincare brand that's all about high performance and high pleasure. So when it comes to high performance, we make sure we sell and formulate products that really work on your skin, transform it, make it pumper, smoother, glowier, but also are pleasurable to work. I'm sure everyone can relate to having a cleanser or moisturizer that just kind of feels sticky or tacky or too thick or doesn't really, you don't enjoy the experience of it. But with True Botanicals, the sensoriality of it, the smell, the feeling just really is what sets it apart.

2:42Jana Kleemeier:Happy to go into plant actives, but that's the overview on True Botanical.

2:48Andres Figueira:Okay, I love that. And I do get what you're saying when it can feel a bit not as luxurious when you're placing the different skincare products that you might find around. And it's really nice that you're leaning into it because skincare, I feel it has become something really big as of like one or two years ago. And now it's everything I hear about. At least my girlfriend is very into skincare now. And I'm even a bit more into it than I was before. Amazing.

3:14Jana Kleemeier:COVID really put it on the map. COVID was the time where everyone was just at home looking at themselves on Zoom and just, yeah, looking inward. You didn't really go outside and put on makeup. So I think COVID was a time where skincare really rocketed and it's held on.

3:31Andres Figueira:Wow. I love that. I love that. And Jonna, how did you enter the skincare industry? Have you always been doing this or can you tell us a bit more about your journey?

3:40Jana Kleemeier:Yeah, my journey. So I have a marketing degree, communications marketing. And when I graduated college, I was always like eyes on consumer brands. I was like, I want to work for a consumer brand or like a tech brand, really brands that people know and have like emotional connections to. so I joined a PR agency and I worked on their consumer team so I led brands like GoPro and Fitbit and consumer tech brands and then from there I moved on to tech I was in San Francisco so I was like that's the natural fit do the tech thing for a little bit I worked at Snapchat and then I was like this feels so like tech bro-y I feel like I'm hitting a ceiling here not a lot of room for growth, but I love working on content and the pace of it and feeling like I can relate to the product.

4:33Jana Kleemeier:But from Snapchat is really when I entered the beauty world and I started working at Kendo Brands, which is owned by LVMH, and it's a sister brand to Sephora. And that's where I really hit my stride and felt like I connected with other like-minded people, really hardworking women. And I looked at leadership and I was like, this is, I want to be you versus before I was kind of like, I don't want to be any of you. You know, I'm like, I like the companies I work for or the brands that I represent, but I'm like, this is doesn't feel right. But really in the beauty world, it's very fun. You have to be very creative.

5:09Jana Kleemeier:So I worked at Kendo Brands, which represents like Fenty Beauty, Marc Jacobs Beauty, Ula Henriksen. And then from there, I worked there for a few years and then I moved to True Botanicals. So into scheme care.

5:20Andres Figueira:that's amazing like i'm i'm surprised that i recognize so many brands that you've worked with because i've talked to other people and i i hear their journey but i don't recognize as many but you've been around that is so cool that you worked in snapchat and then passed on to beauty and all these like mother umbrella brands that that have these these smaller names are so recognizable that's crazy and then you feel that with beauty is where you were able to actually maximize your your creative expression in the campaigns that you did and how you were able to, what's it called, to be with your colleagues.

5:54Andres Figueira:Because when you mentioned the tech bro-y environment, I do get that. So I understand why you might have felt that it would be best to just leave that environment. A hundred percent.

6:04Jana Kleemeier:Yeah, I just, I mean, for me, it's, everyone's different with their approach to work. Some people can, you know, just heads down, do their work. I feel like I really me to connect with the people in the workplace. And not that I didn't at Snapchat, but I was just kind of like, it's a different culture. And as a woman and yeah, just like the lack of representation, I felt like versus in the beauty space, I felt like it was very inclusive. You know, no idea was a bad idea. It didn't feel like a bros club. I felt like I can't speak to every beauty company, but really, I've been really lucky at the places I've worked and felt like empowered to, you know, have a seat.

6:46Andres Figueira:No, I understand. I understand. That's amazing. And, John, going back then to True Botanicals, I feel that True Botanicals represents like a clean beauty space and it just promotes sustainability and making clean beauty products that don't hurt anybody and that they are very, what's it called, they can be made in the long run and not produce any collateral issues with the environment or anything like that. So has building a premium beauty brand been a challenge in the clean beauty space?

7:18Jana Kleemeier:I wouldn't say it's been a challenge. I think it's been a big white space because I think a lot of the premium or luxury brands aren't clean. And I think, but, but also there, what is clean? Like what do, what does it even mean? And I think there's a lot of ambiguity and a lot of greenwashing in the space. And so I feel actually really proud that I work for a company that doesn't just say clean, but when we mean it like very deep within the brand, everything we do, being clean is at the heart of what we do. And I could go on and on, but I wouldn't say it's been a challenge. But I think maybe what is challenging from the consumer perspective is shifting that like clean doesn't just mean clean and performance can be synonymous.

8:06Jana Kleemeier:because I think there's been a misconception that clean means it doesn't work or it's made with like ineffective ingredients. But we, our founder really sought out to challenge that. She has a whole cancer, a very inspirational cancer story. She was diagnosed and her doctors, you know, went to her and was like, you know, watch out for these ingredients. And so she was flipping what she ate, what she put in her body, what she put on her body and found when it came to skincare, you know, there were products that were formulated without a list of ingredients, but when it came to putting it on or seeing results, she really found that there wasn't anything that fit her.

8:46Jana Kleemeier:And so she sought to really challenge the industry. And so for that, I really applaud her. And it's been amazing to work for a brand that really challenges that and works. But I think from a consumer perspective, yeah, shifting their perspective that, yeah, clean and performance can be in one brand has been a little bit more of a challenge.

9:10Andres Figueira:Okay. No, I understand what you mean, because I do feel that people can assimilate the clean cleanliness with it being of less quality or not being as effective. And in this journey, then have you found the need to actually just educate your consumers about what your products have in them and how they work? Or have they actually just been very, what's it called, just very trusting in True Botanicals and just knowing that what you provide is something that will serve them as they need?

9:42Jana Kleemeier:We say to try True Botanicals is to love it. So I think people who actually, you know, stick to our serum for four weeks really see the results and so they trust it. But I think, you know, getting people to enter has been, we really rely on our clinicals and our science-backed ingredients and really like pushing the science messaging from the brand's perspective to really educate consumers. And so that's been super successful. And then also just word of mouth. You know, people will see other, like our consumer skin and be like, what are you using? And then that in itself is just word of mouth, really just working for us.

10:20Jana Kleemeier:But I think once you try it, you fall in love.

10:23Andres Figueira:Okay. Now, word of mouth is like the best reputation. When you see somebody with beautiful skin glowing and you're like, what did you do? And then it's, oh, True Botanicals right here.

10:32Jana Kleemeier:Exactly. Exactly.

10:34Andres Figueira:That's the best type of advertising.

10:35Jana Kleemeier:And it doesn't hurt to have celebrities, you know, running that.

10:39Andres Figueira:Oh, I love that. I love that. Okay. And in terms of demographics and the type of customer that you usually serve, Jonna, Do you have a certain or average person that usually buys your products or do you feel that it's a mix of everybody all ages?

10:57Jana Kleemeier:I would say it's more U.S. based. We do distribute in Canada and at Cult Beauty in the U.K., but I would say we have a big appetite in the U.S. We are a Mill Valley brand. So especially in Northern California, we have like a cult following over here. but I would say when it comes to age range I would say we're like core millennial skewing some gen x boomer but I would say like 35 to 45 is probably the heart of our demo we'll skew a little bit younger you know new and expecting moms are really out there looking to flip their skincare because when you get pregnant you're like oh can't use retinol can't use this and so So we're really proud to be like all of our ingredients are pregnancy safe.

11:46Jana Kleemeier:And so this is your opportunity to change your routine and shop True Botanicals. So I think the new and expecting mom is also like a big demo that we've been really speaking and capturing her heart. But yeah, I would say coasts and then 35 to 45.

12:05Andres Figueira:OK, I love that. I love that. So it actually is a lot of different people and that's super cool. And in terms of how they can acquire your products, do you guys have a physical store or is it just online?

12:16Jana Kleemeier:We did actually right before COVID hit. We had one in San Francisco, a beautiful flagship. But now we are able to try our products in Nordstrom stores, all stores at Nordstrom. We're able to shop at Air One if you want to grab a smoothie and shop some True Botanicals. We're in Credo Beauty. We're obviously on Amazon. were available at, I'm sure I'm missing a few, Cult Beauty I mentioned in the UK.

12:48Andres Figueira:Okay. And so then you don't have just like a, you don't have your own store, but you're in these other, what's it called? I know they have several brands. Retailers. Retailers. That's the word. That's the word. Thank you so much. And in terms then, you're in UK, Canada, is there any plans for further expansion or do you want to leave into the markets that you're in right now and just make sure you own those.

13:11Jana Kleemeier:Yeah. Would love to expand. I have friends in East Asia, and they're like, bring True Botanicals here. It would do so well. You know, they're all about skin care. But I think right now we're really planning on deepening our roots in the U.S. locally and really activating here. Maybe I'll see a pop-up in the future. Who knows? But I think right now we're really trying to sink our teeth here.

13:37Andres Figueira:Okay. Okay. If you ever want to do a pop-up in Argentina, I'll be right there. Oh, my God. Because I'm going to side-isk. And I know True Botanicals would be a hit here, too.

13:46Jana Kleemeier:I love it. How is the, like, what's the appetite like for skincare in Argentina?