For Lauren Schwab and Marissa Vosper, being negative isn't bad if it means rejecting everything you don't like about something, and keeping only the things you do. For them this meant creating a line of intimates that ditched the uncomfortable designs, silly frills and embarrassing advertising, and became a cult-favorite line of lingerie. In this episode of Beauty Bosses, Dr. Lara Devgan talks with Lauren and Marissa about how it took four years to become an overnight success, selling out of the their best-selling product ten times, and why confidence is the key to beauty.
Tanya Zuckerbrot, Founder of F-Factor
Tanya Zuckerbrot wondered why some people can eat whatever they want until their heart's content while others see even the slightest dietary peccadilloes betrayed by their waistline. Putting her masters-level training in nutrition to work, Tanya formulated the F-Factor diet which made fiber fabulous and turned Tanya into THE person fashionable New Yorkers go to when they seek to shed a few pounds. In this episode of Beauty Bosses, Tanya Zuckerbrot talks to Dr. Lara Devgan about why perseverance is the key to success and happiness, and why life is too short to not have a bite (or three) of your favorite food.
Divya Gugnani, Co-founder of Wander Beauty
In 2014, Divya Gugnani and Lindsay Ellingson decided that the best solution to dealing with the overwhelming offering of new beauty products on the market as to, well..., to bring to market a new product! Four years and millions of sold products later, the consumer clearly agrees that there is a durable demand for Wander Beauty's high quality and fuss-free make-up. In this episode of Beauty Bosses, Dr. Lara Devgan talks to Divya Gugnani about her journey as a serial entrepreneur, mom and beauty maven.
Kate Siegel and Kim Friedman, Crazy Jewish Mom
Kate Siegel and Kim Friedman (Kate's mom, biggest supporter and frequent critic) have taken the internet by storm with their crazy hilarious instagram account @crazyjewishmom. With nearly 800,000 followers, recent author of, 'Mother Can You Not?', and host of 'Ask Mom & Spawn' podcast, Kate has created a brand around her ‘Crazy Jewish Mom’! Dr. Devgan talks to Kate and Kim about their one-of-a-kind relationship, the decision to pursue @crazyjewishmom full time, and the hilarious day-to-day conversations they have while running a successful brand together. They also provide insight into their experiences in the professional world as women, and give advice on so many relatable situations in a modern women's life.
Alexandra Wilkis Wilson, Co-founder of Gilt Groupe
Pioneering the world of online sample sales and on-demand beauty, we have to thank no other than the serial entrepreneur and co-founder behind behind Gilt Groupe, GlamSquad and Fitz - Alexandra Wilkis Wilson. Alexandra speaks to her experiences launching start-ups and shares advice for budding entrepreneurs looking to explore their passions. In this episode of Beauty Bosses, Dr. Lara Devgan talks to Alexandra about her success journey, and how her mother and grandmother shaped her idea that happy people are beautiful, and beauty comes from within.
Verena von Pfetten, Co-founder of Gossamer
Verena von Pfetten, a fashion and lifestyle writer who has contributed to many leading publications including Vogue and the Huffington Post, isn't about to do anything without a bit of class and creativity. And that includes launching Gossamer, a glossy new magazine "for people who also smoke weed." In this episode of Beauty Bosses, Dr. Lara Devgan talks with Verena von Pfetten about why it is time to drop all the negative connotations around cannabis and how you explain to your mom why you're quitting writing for the New York Times so you can launch "a magazine about pot".
Gwen Whiting and Lindsey Boyd, Founders of The Laundress
So after many, many years you finally manage to fill up your closet with at least a bunch of the clothes you've been pining for for so long, only for those prized pieces to be worn (or washed...) too rarely because they are labelled: "Dry Cleaning Only" and life is too short (and too busy and too expensive) to want to deal with that. If you recognize yourself in this, well, then you are in the good company of Gwen Whiting and Lindsey Boyd, the founders of The Laundress. In this episode of Beauty Bosses, they talk with Dr. Lara Devgan about how their revolutionary line of laundry products, now sold in 1,500 stores around the world, can help you avoid the dreaded dry cleaning runs and actually deal with those annoying red wine stains.
Bryce Scarlett, Celebrity Hair Stylist
If Natalie Portman, Bella and Gigi Hadid, Emma Stone, Margot Robbie, Lily Aldridge, Rachel McAdams, Kate Upton and countless other stunning celebrities trust him with their hair, then Bryce Scarlett probably does know a thing or two about beauty! In this episode of Beauty Bosses, Dr. Lara Devgan talks to Bryce Scarlett about how he became a real boss in the hair styling business and his personal, and compelling, definition of beauty.
Kate Ward and Lindsay Mannering, Bustle
In less than 5 years Bustle has grown from an idea into a site that attracts 80 million women who love the eclectic content mix that ranges from career advice and book reviews to fashion trends and popular memes. In this episode of Beauty Bosses, Dr. Lara Devgan talks to Kate Ward, Bustle's Editor-In-Chief, and Lindsay Mannering, Vice President of Editorial Strategy, about how they ended up at the same company but reached it very different ways, and why there should be no shame in plastic surgery.
Jennifer Bandier, Founder of Bandier
If some of the best business ideas stem from an entrepreneur's solution to a problem they are trying to solve for themselves, then there is no better example than Bandier. Jennifer Bandier started walking a lot as way to recover from a foot fracture, but she was frustrated that athletic wear was more frump than fashionista. So she decided to start the "Barney's of athleisure wear", and, in 2014, she did just that. Dr. Lara Devgan talks with Jennifer Bandier about how she went from managing R&B trio TLC to managing a quintet of high-end fashion boutiques, and how, through sheer force of will, she turned what even her friends called "the worst business idea they'd ever heard of" into one of the hottest new concepts in retail.
Natalie Kraiem, Celebrated Interior Designer
Natalie Kraiem is now an award-winning interior designer but she did not follow a traditional path to get there. Even though aesthetics were always very much a part of her life growing up in Buenos Aires, Argentina, she also had a knack for numbers and forged ahead with a career in finance. After moving to New York City to work as a private banker, Natalie decorated her apartment with her architect mother and felt inspired to go back to her first love: design. On this episode of Beauty Bosses, Natalie speaks with Dr. Lara Devgan about knowing the moment office work wasn’t meant for her, and how she used her finance background to build a celebrated interior design business.
Jennifer Vaughan Maanavi and Tanya Becker, Founders of Physique 57
In the wake of her favorite ballet-inspired fitness studio closing, Jennifer Vaughan Maanavi saw an opportunity to open her own replacement studio. Jennifer left her Wall Street job and teamed up with Tanya Becker, a leading Lotte Berk Method instructor, to create a modern Lotte Berk inspired workout – Physique 57. In 2006, the duo opened their first Physique 57 studio on West 57th Street, where it became an overnight success, with long waitlists, celebrity clients and talk of studio expansions. On this episode of Beauty Bosses, Jennifer and Tanya speak with Dr. Lara Devgan about defining the concept of boutique fitness before it was a trend, expanding globally, and the challenges entrepreneurs face when building a business.
Philip Burchard, CEO of Merz
When Philip Burchard took the reins of family-owned Merz, the more than 100 year-old German company had diversified into wide array of pharmaceutical products. Recognizing the potential of some key Merz products, Philip refocused the company primarily on aesthetics and neurotoxins while relentlessly growing the business geographically. Six years later, it is thriving in an industry otherwise dominated by multi-national behemoths. Dr. Lara Devgan talks with Philip Burchard, CEO of Merz, about why Christie Brinkley is a great spokesperson for the company, the need for continuous innovation, and why a boss is personally responsible for his or her employees' well-being.
Jasmine Lobe, Columnist for The Observer
Jasmine Lobe graduated from Vassar full of ideals about #GirlPower. Spending six years in Los Angeles as a young actress left her with a slightly more jaded view of how the world really works. Writing about those experiences led her back to New York where she took over Candace Bushnell's famous Observer column which served as the basis for Sex and the City. Dr. Lara Devgan talks with Jasmine Lobe about her #MeToo experiences with some well-known protagonists and how beauty is all about feeling confident in the way you look.
Aidan Donnelley Rowley, Acclaimed Writer
Aidan Donnelley Rowley, a Yale and Columbia-educated lawyer, realized that secret dream of probably every young lawyer: quit it all and write a successful novel. What stayed firmly secret however was how alcohol was playing an increasingly large role in her life as she dealt with the challenges of being a mom to three young daughters. She realized that, as a writer, she could add nuance to the discussion and she started to write increasingly about drinking while partaking ever less in it. In this episode of Beauty Bosses, Dr. Lara Devgan talks with Aidan Donnelley Rowley about motherhood, beauty, and how life can be better without booze.
Nell Diamond, Founder of Hill House Home
When Nell Diamond was looking for bedding for her first "grown-up" apartment she faced the classic dilemma of being priced out of what she liked while being unimpressed with what she could afford. So she joined her business school's incubator and turned a life-long passion for design and decorating into Hill House Home which purveys luxury bedlinen at reasonable prices. In this episode of Beauty Bosses, Nell Diamond talks to Dr. Lara Devgan about the high ups and deep lows of starting a business, the crazy things people monogram on their bedding, and making her girlhood dream of getting a canopy bed come true.
Marvin Eisenstadt, Inventor of Sweet'N Low
Marvin Eisenstadt was a young man helping build his father's company, Cumberland Packaging Corp., which had invented the sugar packet only a few years earlier. Marvin had been tinkering with saccharin, a powerful sweetener, when he found that by combining it with certain other chemical compounds he could make a new sweetener that tasted much better than saccharin alone, and had a fraction of the calories of sugar. This was the beginning of the Sweet'N Low story which changed the way we sweeten our beverages. Now, more than 60 years and 500 billion packets later, Marvin Eisenstadt shares his and his family's story with Dr. Lara Devgan in Episode 11 of Beauty Bosses.
Jill Kargman, Acclaimed Writer and Actress
Jill Kargman was a mom and writer living on New York's fancy Upper East Side. She had always marched to the beat of her own drum but when her daughter asked why she didn't have red soles on her shoes like all the other moms she knew she had a story to tell. Dr. Lara Devgan talks with the irrepressible Jill Kargman about being, writing and playing the Odd Mom Out, how battling cancer twice before the age of 35 makes you fearless and why, even though she hates sports and being outside, she still talks like a sailor.
Sarah Hoover, Gagosian
Sarah Hoover's grandfather used to always take her to art museums when she was growing up, so it was not entirely surprising that she ended up as a graduate student studying art. On a whim, however, she applied for and landed a job with Larry Gagosian. That decisively bent her career path away from the hallowed halls of academe to the fast-paced, dynamic world of contemporary art. Dr. Lara Devgan talks to Sarah Hoover about working at the most successful gallery in the world and what it takes to represent some of the most prominent artists from around the globe.
Cece Barfield Thompson, Acclaimed Interior Designer
CeCe Barfield Thompson had a dream job with Bunny Williams, the doyenne of Upper East Side chic, and could not imagine working anywhere else. However, with motherhood, her entrepreneurial genes kicked in (her parents and grandparents owned businesses) and she decided to strike out on her own. Since then she has built CeCe Barfield, Inc. into a leading New York design firm featured in all the main national and international design and architectural magazines. Dr. Lara Devgan talks to CeCe Barfield Thompson about how you can never have enough closet space in New York, how to stem the tide of kid’s toys in an apartment, and why taking care of other people is at the core of being a boss.
