758 Erin Piper: Founder of Saint Crewe

0:00Kara Goldin:I am unwilling to give up, but I will start over from scratch as many times as it takes to get where I want to be. You just want to make sure you will get knocked down, but just make sure you don't get knocked out. So your only choice should be, go focus on what you can control. Hi everyone and welcome to the Kara Goldin show. Join me each week for inspiring conversations with some of the world's greatest leaders. We'll talk with founders, entrepreneurs, CEOs, and really some of the most interesting people of our time. Can't wait to get started. Let's go. Hi, everyone, and welcome back to The Cara Golden Show.

0:45Kara Goldin:Today, I'm joined by Erin Piper, who is the founder of St. Crew, a new brand, a skincare brand, redefining what it means to care for young skin and the confidence behind it. Erin isn't your typical beauty product, beauty company founder. With over 15 years of experience working as a licensed therapist, supporting teens and young women, she's seen firsthand how skincare connects to self-esteem, self-expression, and the way we see ourselves. And when her own tween daughter started exploring skincare, Erin noticed how many harsh products were out there and looked for a product like Think Crew. So she developed it and a brand built on clinically tested, dermatologist approved, vegan, all of the things that are so, so key for brands, but really, really a focus for Gen Z and Gen Alpha in particular.

1:54Kara Goldin:So her approach blends psychology with science, and I cannot wait to dive into the backstory. I absolutely love the products, and I'm the young skin. I like to think that, right? But regardless of whether you are in the Gen Z or Gen Alpha, these products are amazing. I was saying that the gel moisturizer I was using this morning, and I am obsessed. I love it. So Erin, what a great job you've done on this. So thank you so much for coming on. Oh, thank you so much for having me. This is an honor. So thank you so much. And thank you for the kind words about the products. That's so kind. Makes me so happy.

2:37Thank you.

2:37Kara Goldin:Absolutely. So I'd love to start with hearing you define the brand Saint Crew and what inspired you. And you have a co-founder as well, correct? The CEO of the company? Yes, Laura Lucia Carruthers is my CEO, and she has been a huge part of helping me shape the brand. That's incredible. So what inspired you to launch a skincare brand rooted in psychology? I talked a little bit about it, but I'd love to hear it from you. I've been a social worker for a long time. And I would say that's sort of who I am, first and foremost. I don't have the typical beauty background. But I have a very long and storied background of working with teen girls and boys.

3:23And I know what they want. I know what shapes their confidence. I know how much their skin and how their skin is looking that day is tied to their confidence and how much focus they put on their looks. And they're also very sophisticated now. a lot more sophisticated than what I was when I was their age. I was using a bar of Dove soap or, you know, whatever I could find in the Walgreens aisle that week with my allowance, right? I wasn't putting too much thought in it. But they are very concerned about ingredients. They love their packaging the way it needs to be. And they're a very discerning consumer.

3:54And I've learned that. And I think that's wonderful. I think it's so amazing that they care about what they're putting on their skin. And so they've been such a great audience for me over the years. And then, you know, So that was part of my inspiration there, just my daily therapy sessions with these teenage girls talking about their skin. But at the same time, it was January. So almost two years ago, maybe two years this January. I walked into a Sephora on a Saturday morning. My daughter was with me and I was there to get a concealer. I wasn't getting her anything. This was sort of before I understood that girls her age were shopping for skin care.

4:30And my attitude at that point was kind of like, she doesn't need anything. She's good. You know, they were just here for me. And it was slammed in there. It was slammed. And there were girls just with baskets full of things and beautiful products, but maybe not for the young skin, things that were appropriate for the young skin. And so Conley, that's my daughter. She's 11 now. She was nine at the time. Conley came up to me with a retinol eye cream that she wanted me to buy her. And it was beautiful packaging and it it was a beautiful product. But again, we know now we know that retinol is not appropriate for an 11 year old, right?

5:06Especially around the eyes. I think I might have ended up buying it too, actually. It made a little pick me up. So I think I ended up getting her lip gloss. Maybe it was a Tower 28 lip gloss, which was a beautiful product. And she was thrilled. But I just started thinking, what is happening? You know, we this is this is really interesting. And I and I didn't know if I I was sort of pro or against the time because I walk a fine line with that age group and putting too much emphasis on their looks and just those sorts of things. You know, I tell them all, I'm like, can you just go climb a tree? Like, go outside, climb a tree.

5:44Don't worry about you, your makeup or your skincare, right? But here's the thing. And I think what really, really drove me was I have to say no to my kids, especially my daughter. I mean, I've said no to my son plenty too, but we just, as you know, I know you've got several children, different no's, right, depending on the kid. I have to say no to a lot. I have to say no to a cell phone. I have to say, no, you can't be on Instagram. I have to say, no, you can't be out past dark, blah, blah, even when a lot of other girls her age are able to do that. Unfortunately, growing up a child of a social worker is probably a little tougher because I am neurotic about internet safety and all of these things, right?

6:27So I'm probably a little harsher than most, but I say no a lot. And it has felt so good to create something that I can look at her and say, yes, you can do this. Go do this with your friends. Make your little videos. I mean, we don't post them, but make your little videos. Enjoy this. This is safe. This is, it works. It's effective. It's not just water in a bottle, pretty bottle sitting on a shelf. It's incredibly wonderful formulation that Laura Lucia and I are very proud of. And it has been so fun to be a part of that and to watch this grow. And it's not slowing down. So we can say all day that it's not appropriate for such young girls to be involved in skincare, right?

7:11We can say that and we can fight it. It's kind of like fighting technology. Or we can say, let's give them something that is appropriate to use and let's be a responsible company and a responsible brand. And so that's sort of how it started. That's the four morning is what put that idea in my head. And I just noodled on it for a little bit. And I started going to the ends of the internet. My dad always told me, just know the most about what you're trying to learn, know more than anyone else. And so I spent, you know, the next little bit trying to learn as much as I possibly could. Again, I'm a social worker.

7:49I don't have a beauty background. I actually was an internal auditor for a stent for Pricewaterhouse in New York. So I sort of done some different things. But beauty hasn't been one of them, except that I know I love beauty products and I'm a sucker for a pretty bottle. So I reached out to my best friend from high school. Her older sister was in the wellness space, Beauty and Moana space. Laura Lucia Carruthers. And she was on the original SkinCeuticals team way back in the day and had, you know, done a ton of product development and just a ton of consulting work in that space. And I said, would you consider, you know, helping me with this?

8:23And so she sort of joined me as a consultant and was, you know, helped me just shape the brand. And then she came on as CEO in March when we launched. So she is one smart cookie. We just hired a director of sales who's incredible, and we're building our team quickly and efficiently, but also carefully. And now it's just gone nuts and we're thrilled.

8:49Kara Goldin:I love it. Well, it's one thing to have an idea and see a hole in the market, but I love that you persevered, even though you didn't have the, you know, answers right away, but you just decided, I'm going to figure this out. I'm going to connect with people. Who do I know that might be able to answer this? I'm going to go to the internet and see what I can figure out. so inspiring. And I love that you did that. How did you come up with the name St. Crew? Okay, so I love this question. It makes me so happy. So St. is part of a family name. My mom's made the name of St. Clair. And I always loved the name St.

9:34Clair. And so I kept St. Crew is the last name of Sarah Crew. And Sarah Crew is the protagonist in a book called The Little Princess. I bet you are familiar with one of your kids. I bet you're one of your first and a date. Little Princess. And it was one of my favorite books as a child. And Sarah Crewe has embodied, because she goes through bumps and all these things, and she's a wealthy girl, and she loses her parents, and she's in an orphanage, and then she sort of has to cope, and she has to have grit, and she has to have resilience, and all of these things. And so that's what I teach in my practice.

10:08It's what I base my practice around, is grit, resilience, and coping. It's how I attempt to parent, It didn't always work out that way with the kids. I'm doing my best. That's still TBD, work in progress. But it's how we try to live. And so I thought it would be cool. I just love the way it sounded together. And so I put those two things together. We came up with St. Crew.

10:29Kara Goldin:So I've heard you talk a lot about Gen Z and Gen Alpha. Obviously, you've learned a lot about both generations just through your work as being a therapist. But what do you think is kind of the key things that maybe the differences between the two generations as it relates to skincare and beauty? Do you think that they're the same or are they a little bit different? An interesting question. Between Gen Z and Gen Alpha, you mean the differences? Mm-hmm. I think Gen Z is extremely discerning. It goes up to late 20s, right? So they're really, really knowledgeable in their skincare. And I think they're getting to the point where they're not just buying necessarily just a pretty product on the shelf.

11:18I think they really, really care about the formulations. Not that Gen Alpha doesn't. I think they do. But they are young. And I think that they are sort of starting to get into something that like, okay, this is really fun to do with my friends. And I want to think for them, it's super fun and it's more about the experience maybe. And I think that it's experience is important to Gen Z as well. But I think Gen Z needs to see more walk behind the talk, if that makes sense. And I think Gen Alpha is going to get there, but they're just getting started. So I think they're wanting to see a pretty picture.

11:53So that's why it's so important to have both. That's why the formulations have to be just as good as the outside and the outside has to be just as good as the inside. right I mean as a mom and as a founder the inside is what's most important to me these formulations are something that I'm incredibly proud of because I can't look another mother in the eye and say this is safe to put on your your kit when I don't know that and I know that because we're clinically tested so I wouldn't be able to sleep at night right so it's my responsibility as a founder and a mom for it to be what I say it is especially for gen alpha who may not be doing their own research.

12:29Gen Z probably is, but maybe they all aren't. So it's important for them to do what they may not be doing. They have a lot of similarities, but I think it's just normal life development and where they are. Gen Z is kind of getting a little bit more comfortable with who they are and caring about what they put on their body. Gen Alpha is kind of like, oh, this looks great. This is fun. Let's get started in it.

12:52Kara Goldin:When you are thinking about your consumer is your consumer gen z and gen alpha or is it also the millennial the gen x i mean because prize consumer you know who are surprised yes our consumer is gen z older gen alpha for sure my surprise consumer is moms they love the cleansing balm every moms are you know over my cleansing balm you don't have to double cleanse it's so nice it's such an experience i use it every night. I look forward to using it every night. So what I'm hearing is these moms are going in and actually stealing their, their tween girls things because it's so light and lovely and luxurious feeling.

13:36And again, I have mature skin. I'm wanting to use something that's going to get rid of this line and this line and this line. Right. And we are not an anti-aging line. Again, it wouldn't be appropriate. So I'm using something a little stronger, right. And most of my routine, but the balm is just incredible. And the moms are loving the balm. So Gen Z mainly we are definitely loving our Dinellfa customers as well.

14:00Kara Goldin:When you thought about ingredients, was there something that, you know, as a consumer, as a parent that you really wanted to avoid when you were thinking about formulation? Was there something that, you know, just... Like harsh actives and just things that were gonna, that were gonna, you know, contact dermatitis and those sorts of things. Laura Lucia was so great because she has a teenage daughter. She has a 16-year-old and an 18-year-old. And her 16-year-old is allergic to everything under the skin, not under the sun, not in a dangerous way, but is, you know, rash and redness and things like that.

14:36And so she wasn't really able to ever use stuff that her friends were using. And this has been, she loves this. It works great. So really just all the normal, harsh stuff that you see. And those things aren't wrong. Vitamin C, I mean, I use vitamin C for D. I love it. Those things aren't wrong. They're just not appropriate for our target demographic. So we're just avoiding, you know, those actives that the grownups need, but the kids don't.

15:04Kara Goldin:Yeah, definitely. And we all did for Credo Clean, so Sephora Clean. So we formulated these with an incredibly high-end formulation house manufacturer, and we are super proud of those formulations. That's great. So many teens and young adults and adults are using social media to kind of learn about brands. And sometimes they're influenced by different trends on social media, maybe TikTok, maybe Instagram. But what are your thoughts on being a brand and sort of how you can make people aware of your product and as it relates to social media? That's a good question because, you know, this is a it's a tough market.

15:57It's a saturated market. Right. And I think when I was first developed, when Laura Lush and I were first developing this, what I saw missing was a high end formulation for our target demographic that had elevated packaging. To me, it all looked baby. It looked babyish. And if it was maybe higher end, it had ingredients that weren't appropriate. And then if it was more targeted towards our demographic, they were sort of more mass and sort of looked baby. So I think what this group wants is something that's sophisticated. It doesn't feel baby. You know, a 22-year-old doesn't really want to use the same thing that their 10-year-old sister is using.

16:40They want to use something that looks a little more elevated. So that's what we tried to provide. And I think in the Instagram and our social media, we talk a lot about ingredients. We talk a lot about our clinical testing. and so I think those things really do sort of set us apart in our message and you know how you know the the clinical psychology behind skincare and that sort of thing and I think me being a social worker does help I think it makes you know people sort of are like okay like maybe she's not full of it maybe it's not just another beauty founder with another brand that's saying all these things You know, we have testing.

17:23We walk the walk. I think we have a little bit of bang behind our buck. And I think that does stand out, which is great.

17:30Kara Goldin:I love it. So what has been the most surprising aspect of founding a company? So I would imagine that being a social worker for so many years, it's not like you don't have professional experience, right? But you're now developing products and a company that is, I mean, this is totally new to you. It is. And the buck stops with you, right? With the founding team. And what has been maybe the most surprising, maybe the most hard? That's a good question. I think there's a lot of things. How much, I don't know. how much I thought that I would sort of know and I got this. I laugh because I always vote myself as having the best self-awareness of anyone I know.

18:27Trust me, I get the irony of you're probably not supposed to vote for how good your own self-awareness is. But mine's good. And the reason I know that is because, you know, I come from a very entrepreneurial family. And my dad always told me, you know, like, you know what you don't know is the best thing you can that's the best business I could give you is know what you don't know I don't have an ego here um I don't I'm rarely the smartest person in the room because I don't want to be the smartest person in the room because if I am I'm not learning anything I have no issue with finding with going to ask someone who knows and so I think the most surprising part of this was okay wow like there is a lot to learn this takes a whole lot more time than you thought.

19:10This takes a whole lot more money than you thought. I mean, Laura Lucia will laugh back in the day. I told her, I think it'll take this much time and this much money. And I mean, she was sweet enough not to laugh in my face. Right. And I think, and I think thinking how much I can do myself. I think it's really important to understand when it's time to delegate and when it's time to say, nope, you're actually not an expert here. the expert here is this gal and I learned that really quickly and I think it's the most important lesson I've learned and that's why I have Laura Lucia that's why we are very quick to ask questions of others you know there's a lot of room for for successful women and and successful founders and I think that you don't have to pull somebody down for another person to go up but but learning to ask questions.

20:04And I think realizing what I didn't know and realizing how much I underestimated the time, the time commitment and how truly much work it was. And Laura Lucia was kind enough to not burst my bubble from the very beginning. And she doesn't have to anymore because I really quickly found out. And I have small kids, so it's been a juggle, you know, but we're in it now.

20:29Kara Goldin:we're in it you're you're in it I love it well I I think I love your philosophy I always uh said that in in building a team I mean it takes a lot of confidence actually to do this well but to hire people who know more than you do and uh and I've given that talk to many people who worked for me over the years when they're hiring people that they believe are going to help them do stuff. My first question is, what are you going to learn from them? Like, just name two things that you're going to learn from them that you don't know a lot about. Because if they are just taking a load off of what you're doing, then that's not going to be very interesting for very long.

21:25Kara Goldin:I mean, they'll get that pretty quickly, but what are you going to learn from them? And I think that that's a really important piece of it. And they can be any age, right? I mean, I learned more about social media and not all social media, but things like TikTok. We have a 23-year-old marketing coordinator who teaches me about social media all the time. She's hilarious. Yeah. And so I think that that's really, really key. And not everybody thinks that way or is able to do that, go out and hire people that are better than them. So I think it's such a key trait for sure. So when you were developing, I guess, the products and initially getting it out there into some retailers, but then also launching it online, I'm sure you started to hear from consumers who were purchasing the product and trying the product, how you've changed their life in some way.

22:31Kara Goldin:whether it's parents or whether it's people trying the products. I always call them love letters. And they're so important to read the consumer love letters. But I'd love to hear from you like one that you remember that really affected you. I think one was I got somehow someone tracked down an email, my email. And it was really cute. It was they had had a rough day and sort of were overlooked at school. And so look and got home and their mom had gotten them some St. Crew products as a treat. And they got to use them that night and how much fun it was to have that routine and take a minute to focus on themselves.

23:16And then they got to be the ones to be like, look what my mom got. And then share with their friends. And, you know, I laugh because my 15 year old niece will constantly say, it's not that deep. And in a way it's not, right? It's lotion in a bottle on a shelf. So I don't want to make it sound like it is truly life changing because I can't. We're not I'm not. Life changing things come from other inside the four walls of your own house. Right. And your family and your support system. But it's really it was really fun to get that because I have a sixth grade daughter and she's had moments. She's had tough times at school.

23:51So to hear from a little girl and say, look, this actually made my day better. and she felt special because she was able to introduce it to her friends. I think that was fun. I mean, that just kind of warmed my heart as a mom and as a social worker, right? Because there's a lot that's going to change your life and it's not skincare. However, to have it make your day a little bit better, I mean, to hear that it did, like, does it get much better than having someone look at you and say, you kind of made my day today? You know, like, that's really cool.

24:21Kara Goldin:I love that. So you had some big news around a new retail partnership. Can you share about that? That is very exciting. So exciting. We launched on Revolve today. So that is huge. And we are thrilled. And we just are so excited to work with them. I mean, so much and such a huge step for the brand. And Laura Lucia and I just could not be more excited about working with them. We're thrilled. That's very exciting. How many SKUs do you have now? So we have four products. We also have the headband. We have a really cute Christmas kit that's coming out. We have precious, it's a precious makeup bag with all four products and the headband in it.

25:05And then we're also having a Holiday Heroes box where we have two of the products and a cute Christmas box for a set for gifting. So we're very excited about that. We have the cutest merch because we actually just launched an ambassador program amongst college girls across the country. We've got several of them and we're counting. And college football is so huge, obviously, in the South, especially Louisiana. We're a Louisiana-based company. I mean, it's just Bible here, right? It's crazy. And actually, it's cute. Our little marketing coordinator is engaged to the LSU quarterback, LSU football quarterback.