Welcome to Where Brains Meet Beauty, hosted by Jodi Katz, founder and creative director of Base Beauty Creative Agency.Hi, Jodi.Happy September.We're in back to school mode.We're in our cozy sweatshirts.How are you?Oh, I'm so happy.
Yesterday, it was my daughter's first day of school.And in the house, it was just me and the dog.And it was quiet and peaceful.I really like a routine.It makes me very happy.
Yeah, I love that feeling even though I'm not going back to school myself.
I feel like the change just getting back into a new season and we do have a lot of moms at the base beauty creative agency team and I feel like it sounds like a lot of people are excited for kids to go back to school.
have so much like new school year energy.I always do.September I think is my favorite month.It's my birthday month but it's also the you know the weather changing in the morning makes me happy.The smell of the air makes me happy.
The thought of going like pumpkin and apple picking soon makes me happy.Yeah I had this like really weird energy the day before the first day of school where like not only was I helping my daughter like get her backpack ready but I was like
cleaning up the house and, you know, sorting rooms that were messy and sort of getting a fresh start for myself.But you know, like going back to school is exciting.
And ironically, this week's guest is related to someone I went to high school with, which is It's so amazing and he's been on our show.Oh my gosh, tell us more.Okay, so I went to high school in New Jersey and I graduated a long time ago.
So I was at, I think it was my 20th high school reunion and that was also a long time ago at this point. And I saw Joseph Cortana.So we called him Joey in high school.
But Joseph Cortana, and I were the only two people in the room in the beauty industry, which is not a huge surprise.But he's a fragrance expert and really well known and respected for creating very beautiful, unique fragrances.
And he was on our show back in 2018.He was episode 49. So just to give you some perspective, this is episode 267.He was episode 49.And today's guest is Tina Izzardi, and she married Joseph's brother.
So we have, I think, for the first time ever, family members on the show.We've never been in a situation before.But the last name Izzardi is so unusual.
So I'm like, wait, I wonder if she's related to Joe.
That is really really funny i remember when he was on the show that was like felt like a million lifetimes ago he was one of our earliest episodes i think that was the very first season now we're so far in so well it would be interesting to hear the two of them next to each other wait i want to go i want to pause a second where would we have recorded joseph's episode if it was episode 49 2018 we didn't have our new office where we have a recording studio we probably recorded with him in the studio at we work right
Either at WeWork, I think I remember him being there, but there was also a moment in time where we were going to another studio that was like kind of when podcasting was first getting big.
So this was like a space where people would go and record their shows week after week.Either of those two places, we had kind of a bootstrap sound system going on.Yeah.
Now it's taking me all the way back to me saying to you, hey, can we Google how to make a podcast?
Tell us more about Tina.Well, it is a small world, I guess, the beauty industry and Tina is really innovating on her own.
She actually has a great story and was able to leverage her passions and her experience in the industry and start something brand new for herself.
Yeah, that's amazing.I love that this show teaches us over and over.It's never too late or too early to try something new, find out what you're really passionate about, just go for it.
Yeah, it's very intimidating to say to yourself, oh, let me just go start a business.But for Tina, she started a lot of businesses when she described some of those failures, I wouldn't use that word.
They were learning experiences, maybe expensive ones, but she really actually gives us the whole list of the businesses she started and what flopped about them.
But you need those experiences in life to be able to then have the courage to do the thing that you're meant to do.
Yeah, agree 100%.Tina also gave us a promo code, WBMB20.That's W-B-M-B-2-0, which is good for 15% off any products at Cheeks.co.
And at Cheeks.co, we love that they partner with brands that are female-founded, USA-based, and have curated choices that reflect their clean commitment to healthy skin. So go ahead and check them out at Cheeks.co with code WBMB20.
We'll put the link in the episode summary.Now let's get to the full story from Tina Usardi and her journey to Cheeks and Co.This is episode 267.
Welcome to Where Brains Meet Beauty.We are a career journey podcast talking about what it's like to define success and reach for it in the beauty and wellness industries.Today, we continue our artistry wisdom theme.
The artists in our industry are essential voices in the conversations between client and customer.
Today, we are joined by Tina Ozzardi, cosmetics professional, founder and CEO at Cheeks & Co., a clean beauty veteran with over a decade at cult favorite clean beauty brand, Ilia, where along with founder Sasha Plavsic, she helped scale the company from $100,000 tiny business to a $20 million plus business as a director of operations.
An entrepreneur at heart and a seasoned esthetician, Tina launched Cheeks & Co.in 2019, determined to fill the void she saw in the market for clean, advanced skincare treatments.
She currently has two locations in Southern California and also launched her own clean skincare line, Cheeks & Co., and is launching her second product in September.Wow, you're busy, Tina.
I'm excited to get into this conversation about her career journey on episode 267. Hi, Tina.Welcome to Where Brains Meet Beauty.Thanks for having me.
I am actually recording this from Southern California.I'm on a half work, half vacation before the kids go back to school, and I'm at Disneyland right now.Fun.
Are they going after Labor Day?
Yeah.We live in New Jersey, so school gets started next week.So this is our last trip before the school starts.
You had my brother-in-law on the podcast a few years ago, Joseph Bortana.
Okay, so when I saw your last name, I'm like, well, I call him Joey Izzardi, right?
I know.Yeah, yeah.All his real friends are people he – yeah.
Does he know you're on the show?I didn't know you were related.
I feel like I mentioned it to him, but I'm not sure.Yeah.
Okay.I'm going to mention it to him.So, okay.Backstory, Joey Izzardi, who I went to high school with, is actually a major fragrance innovator and I ran into him at our a high school reunion.So this would have been before COVID.
So I don't know what year it was.I'm a lot of years out of school.So I don't it was a long time ago.Yeah, it was like, we're the only obviously two people in the room that are in the beauty industry.Right.And it was so amazing to reconnect with him.
And then he's been on the show.So when I saw when Natasha showed me your last name, I'm like, I wonder if she's related to Joey is already and so insane, his younger brother.
Okay, so I grew up in the next town.I think he was in Essex Fells, maybe?Or Roseland?Caldwell.Maybe North Caldwell?Yeah, North Caldwell.Okay, so I grew up in Roseland, which is the next town everyone went to high school together.
Okay, this is amazing and this is wild.Okay, maybe you guys will collab on something.
Actually, we are.Yeah, we're currently kind of working on something. But yeah, I'm not going to pass on that opportunity to – and a lot of his formulations are clean and they're beautiful.So yeah, we're working on something now.
Well, maybe I'll get to see you in real life when you come to New Jersey for family visits.
I know.That would be amazing.We try to get out at least once or twice a year.
Well, that was an aside.Usually, we start the conversation talking about our career journey dreams when we're little kids.But this is very cool that you have a relative who's been on the show.
I think that's literally the first time that's ever happened.Really?Yeah.So that either means we've had so many guests on this show that now we're into the families of guests, or this is just very unusual that the two of you are in the same business.
So Tina, let's go back in time.So before you met Joey's brother, you're like, I don't know, 11 years old.
And this is I feel like when we start to have these dreams, maybe even younger of like, when I grow up, I'm going to be a rock star, you know, or whatever.What were you dreaming about when you were a kid?
I was actually planning, like my mom sent me, I don't know if your parents have done this in the past, but like the box of like, Here's all of your special mementos that I don't want anymore, but I'm going to send to you.
So she sent me a box of old things, and one of them was one of those, what do I want to be when I grow up?You have kids, for Mother's Day, they do those things.
owner which my parents are business owners so maybe it was just kind of like what I knew but like as far as I can remember like that was you know it's so vague and not really something you could study in school but it was like that's what I want to be like when I grow up is a business owner not an entrepreneur just like a business owner so
And when you were a little bit older, did it take a certain shape?I wanted to own a jewelry store when I was nine years old.What was on your mind?
I didn't really have any specifics, and I think that's kind of why it took me a while to find my groove and what I was really good at and what that looked like.Because you can't really study.
You can study business, but I always thought, oh, you go to school, you study business, and then I'll learn how to be a business owner.
know something that's not really entrepreneurial like per se even like with an MBA so I was kind of a little bit like lost on like I want to be I want to own a business but like what kind of business because you can do like
have a convenience store or like Joey and David's dad had a like Exxon gas station in New Jersey and you know there's like so many things you can do with it so I think I struggled with that of like kind of what does that look like so I didn't really know what kind of business I wanted or what to study in school and like what that looked like so I was really had no had no idea like what kind of business I
Okay, so like what about in college?Were you on a more definitive path by then?
That's most people's answer.Honestly.
I don't know.My parents were really into go to college, and you don't need to know what you're going to do.Majors don't matter.You just need to learn how to learn.My dad would always say that.
You just need to go through that experience, and it'll all make sense later on, which I think is frustrating when you're 19, 20, and having to pick a major.How is this going to affect my future?
liberal like I went to UC Santa Cruz and at the time like to date myself but it was like like a pass no pass like school so it's like you I literally don't have a GPA from college it was like you just choose do I want a grade or do I want pass fail and I never chose grade so it was a very just kind of like hippie liberal arts kind of like very relaxed environment so I didn't really ever think
then you'll you'll figure it out later but it's funny we joke like my friends joke and my husband but like I don't like I don't read much and I hate that like I hate to admit it but I'm like an honest person and I'm real and I listen to podcasts or like sometimes books on tape or business books but I'm not really a big like reader like it's just never you know been something that I can like focus
That was something I, to this day, like I love that I could write and I can do those things for the business that maybe some other people can't, you know, which I think is, as you probably relate, but it's really useful for, you know, when you're doing a million things that you can write creative copy or business copy or even emails, things like that.
I guess to answer your question, no, I did not know what I wanted to do.I was so lost in college.
Back to being a good writer.I was a copywriter for many years, writing marketing copy, and it came very naturally to me.I don't have any actual training in it, but it helps me so much as a CEO now.I mean, it's even just a persuasive email, right?
can, you know, to capture that person's attention, get them to keep reading, right?And I don't mean like a mass email, I mean like just a one-on-one, like trying to get someone to respond or give you feedback.
These are really hard skills to develop, so I relish the fact that they came easy to me and that I spent time professionally doing it.
Same, yeah.I'm very grateful that like, you know, I chose that path.I mean, I think I've definitely, I've had many, many years in my like professional career where like You know, hindsight is 20-20.
But now I look back and I'm like, you know, that makes sense.And it was all for a reason that I did that, you know, okay, yeah, now it's very helpful.
So you started working with Ilya in the very beginning.So Sasha was on my show before the transaction.It was episode 145.Yes, I listened to that episode. That's awesome.I think it might have been during COVID or right now.
I don't know.Right now we're at 267 and that was 140 months, it was a while ago.
I feel it was right after I left the company to focus on cheats because for a while I did both.They knew about it but I remember it being right after I transitioned away from it. They must have been around then.
So you're an esthetician, and by my definition, you are a part of artistry, right?Because you're looking at my skin from all angles and really crafting solutions, right?And that requires, in my opinion, artistry and science, of course.
you had this desire to open a business, why go become an aesthetician?Why go to school for that?
Very good question.I feel like everything I've done leads to the next thing.And if you would have asked me 10 years ago or told me, you're going to be doing facials, I would have been like, there's no way.That's not what I'm good at, right?
Why would I do facials?That was not what I wrote down at 10 years old that I
I have done businesses in the past but I was ready for my next like venture and I was with Sasha and Ilia and learning so much and I knew that like starting Just a skincare brand or just a makeup brand not because I don't mean just like to put that down But that wasn't like what I was passionate about and I've learned from failed businesses that if you do If you get into business with something you're not passionate about it's not gonna be successful, right?
so I was like I'm passionate about beauty clean beauty, but I don't want I
had you know I wanted I think there was more layers to it that I was like you know interested in and I had had my second daughter in 2015 and she's fine but she went through like
fine but it was something we dealt with and I ended up with shingles, adult acne, and just like hair falling out.
Like just so many things that were like tied to that and I couldn't find... I wanted a facial where I can go and they could show me like even though I was in the beauty industry it was makeup and I didn't you know I didn't know what brands to use or what I should be focusing on so I wanted kind of that advanced skincare guidance but I'm not necessarily the type of person that wanted to go to like you know
Jans Skincare Studio upstairs in the house, which is great.So many of my team members have businesses at home, and they do facials.That's not what I wanted.
I wanted more of a spa environment, but I felt like everything was either a bigger, quote-unquote,
them it's kind of like I'm on vacation I want a facial which is great but I couldn't find anywhere that mixed the two of them and I was like like aha moment you know like light bulb like how about I just like create that which is so naive it's like you know it's such a big feat to take on like a service based business you know especially when I come from consumer packaging and you know like consumer products and that's my expertise but
Anyways, I looked for a co-founder that was an esthetician so that like they could provide that part of the business and what I found was everyone that's a skincare like an esthetician They really want to do like they're an artist like you said like that's their trade and that's all they really want to do Maybe they want to own their own like private business, but they don't want a spot in higher, right?
that wasn't like maybe a celebrity esthetician that has their own brand and they're not interested in like going into the spa business so I was like you know what I'm just gonna do it like it's just like a right you know I was just like I was gonna go to school you know like why not I went up
to figure it out and see what this entails.
So Tina, it sounds like because of the emotional toll that your child's care was taking on you, you needed that vibe of spa because you needed to feel good.
You needed to feel like you're in a place that's, even if it's for 55 minutes, just calm and smells of spa. Yeah.
And then it sounds like you wanted that actual education and support from an esthete where you could text them and be like, my skin's freaking out, what do I do?Exactly.Right?Yeah.So that's amazing that you built it for yourself.
And it's really interesting how these moments occur in entrepreneurs' minds where they just decide they're going to take a leap because when they're recounted, it doesn't always show up as a big theatrical moment. Right?
So I want to go back, though, you said to me, you've been part of a whole bunch of failed businesses.So let's let's list them.Let's put them out into the universe.
Let's let everyone else knows that there's been, you know, I guess I'll call them lessons or expensive.
Yeah, yeah, I call it my MBA, you know,
to go to like you know HBS but so one of the biggest I mean again and I don't want to say failures but it was kind of a massive like flop I had a clothing boutique in San Francisco called in Lou and you sold like you know up-and-coming designers like more indie kind of brands that I didn't see you know
I had that in the North Beach area of San Francisco, and then I moved it to Russian Hill for a couple of years.But I was the worst at it.I hated being there.
I hated even working with the customers, which was weird because I have a history in retail, and I love people, and I just really, I wasn't good at it.I would just buy clothes and not do the actual counting of,
25 so it was Maybe for me a little too young to be getting into that So that was kind of like my biggest like official business like that didn't work out.
I also had coupon website where I Okay, coupon is kind of like Making it sound cheap, but it was like a website where you can go to find like deals on like smart
kind of like budget fashion stuff so I did that for a few years that was like another big one it was called sale bite that was the name of it I did social media marketing I had an agency for like six months that I
I mean, I own an agency for 17 years, so I know how it is.
So I was like, that's not for me.
So those were kind of like the ones that come to mind, but I literally have like, like for a while, I mean, even now I own like probably like 50 domain names, and sometimes I'll sell them like for like a good amount of money.Just like random things.
I'm always just kind of like, oh, That's how I got into Ilia.It was just kind of this community of beauty owners in LA.
I had met her friend who had a nail polish line, and I helped do everything for her, like line sheets and social media and customer service and wholesale management.She knew Sasha, and I started working for Sasha.
Just kind of like Jill of all trades, I guess.
Tina, were all of these ventures self-funded?Yes. Yes.So those were the best lessons I guess.
The best lessons and you know I'm surprised I did it again after the store because the store was all like personal debt and credit cards that like actually like took me you know over 10 years to pay back you know I'm a very like I couldn't just like claim bankruptcy and say you
honest way, like for me personally.So that's why it took a while from that to Cheeks & Co to where I was ready to do it again.But Cheeks & Co is funded all privately too by like debt financing and things like that.
And I'm a firm believer in starting a business that way, at least in the beginning, you know.
So more irony here in your family, Joseph owned a clothing store in the 20s too.
Yeah, it was like I think a pretty big deal.And he was a real innovator.
He actually – that was what I had in my store too when he owned Seven.So we were both kind of doing similar things, which is funny that now we're both like beauty founders.It's just like random.
At the time, I would never have thought I would get into beauty and take this path.But it's obviously – like the one I'm happy is the most successful and so crazy know, versus in the fashion industry, you know, it's different.Yeah.
I was actually walking around New York a couple weekends ago and noticing some of the boutiques that I would have shopped in my 20s that sold, you know, adorable clothes.And I mean, there weren't that many that were left still around.
So it made me like remember like, There was Scoop, remember when Scoop changed everything and now we're Scoop.It's like these businesses are almost like nightclubs.
There's a shelf life and the momentum to maintain that is so great and the cost is so high that most would just close and then open another shop just for that initial buzz again.
Okay, well thank you for going down the list of what you call failed businesses.Yeah.Let's talk about, let's talk about Cheeks because now you are, you're now educated as the esthetician you always wanted to find, so you are your own person.
I guess, how do you blend the artistry, because you're trying to create a specific experience for the customer, with the fact that like you're almost like brand new to being an esthetician?
Yeah.I think definitely like time and practice and, you know, focus. this is a skill and we should be paid for it and not giving things out for free.
But when you're new and you're just starting, I was like, just give me like 30 bucks for the products and I'll give you, like, I want to learn on you, right?You're my getting pig.
So I did that for quite a while while I was with Ilya and just kind of finding out what, what did I want out of our facial and what would that look like?What menu items do we want to offer?
So just kind of through trial and error and practicing and making mistakes and then just
had a lot of time on my hands to you know work on friends and family and just you know the few clients that did want to come in during that time and just always learning from like mistakes and I'm still always learning from them but like kind of where do I see
and I'm big on extractions and so you know that was always something that I believed in and I felt really passionate about and just like you know honing the skill to where like now I'm a master at them and I can train my girls in that and we don't use steam we extract with oil and I will you know people are blown away they're like I want steam how do you do extractions without steam and you could do them like way better and more successfully without steam in my opinion and
You do you.Everyone that does it their way, that's fine too.But for us at Cheeks & Co., that's just not as effective.
So just kind of going down that path of focusing on the things in the facial that I think are where you get your money's worth and you get the
of what does that look like and how to make it better and so just practicing and focusing on those things we only do like we do a lot of modalities but we're not the place that you're going to come to and see like the newest hydrofacial or the newest
modalities that have been proven, you know, with science and technology and just experience.So, you know, LED microcurrents were really big on Gua Sha.So we've developed that training program and that facial to be like a true Gua Sha facial.
So just focus, you know, I think just like, I wasn't scared to show up and just say, hey, I'm new at this.Like, can you trust me with your skin?And, you know, we'll go from there.And I think that's worked.
to get me to seven or eight years in and I feel like, okay, now I get it.
I really do feel like I'm a master at that artistry and I can teach that to people that come and work here, which maybe they're a year out of school or you don't learn much in school.
It's really just a textbook that you read and take a test and then you get your license by sitting there for six what you need to be successful in this career like at school.
So Tina, this idea of you've run many businesses, and now you've started this business, and now you're a licensed esthetician.How much time are you spending, I guess, hands on faces versus as CEO?Because they're obviously very different jobs.Yes.
And probably both realms would love to have you and more of your time.So how do you divide your time?
That's a really good question.And it's honestly, I'm still working on it, and I'm still kind of learning. getting adjusted.It's like having from one kid to two, right?
I'm just like, okay, wait, I have like, now I have two of these, but I have double the employees.I do facials on Thursdays in Pasadena.And that is my, it's, I mean, everything's my happy place in this business, but that
Changing that like at least for the next you know a couple years So I do get a good like eight hours and facials once a week and so right now that is like the time that I actually do like treatments on clients that you know, they pay the same price that Anyone pays to see anyone so it's not like a special, you know
patient and wait to see me once a week and then I train about depending on where we are with the business but I'm usually training at least every month for like a week I'm training like team members on like actual like hands-on training for new hires or retraining and then like we're working on our education like videos things like that so I'd say like about I don't know what's really
How many hours do we work as entrepreneurs?Out of the 100 hours a week I work, about 10 of those are actually doing services.So probably 10% is actually in the treatment room.And then the rest is running payroll.
And I'm very hands-on, scrubbing the bathroom, molding, all of those things.It's still so young that I'm doing a lot of that, too.But I would love to go to a position where I was that I think is missing.
It's really hard to find jobs where people actually spend a lot of time and train.I say like the girls, but we're all women.I don't know how many people we're at now.I think we're at like 20 estheticians.
We call them glow givers, but they're all women.So if a man comes in and applies, I'm definitely going to entertain that.But it is a
We require a little bit of experience if you work for us, so you need at least a year in the treatment room, even if it's at home or wherever, massaging me, there's so many good entry-level places to start out, but I would love to provide a more robust training program and teach them everything that I've learned or I've taught myself, I guess.
Tina, this is amazing.And Nikki in the comments wrote she recently graduated from aesthetician school, and she's awaiting her state board exam.And she loves hearing about these experiences of yours, Tina.So people are listening.
And you will get to the point in your business where someone else can handle payroll, and you can focus on that hands-on training, because that's where you'll be the most impactful. Well, thank you so much.This wraps up our interview segment.
I really appreciate your honest answers.It's been really fun to get to know you and to know how our worlds intersect.Yeah.
Thank you for letting me share my story.
Okay.I think we have time for maybe like one or two fan questions.Okay.Nikki, thank you for asking this question.She's asking, do you include cupping in your treatments for lymphatic drainage?
We don't.I haven't like gone down the path of facial cupping yet. really effective but I'm not trained on it or I don't really, I don't have too much experience with it.So no, we do not.
So if I was getting copying on my face that means I'd have like black and blue spots on my face?
No.Like people do on their bodies?No, it's like kind of like gua sha or like when it's a But it's the same where like when you do cupping on your face It's not as it's not those those big bruises because that would be too invasive.
Okay.Oh Cheeks and Co.It's launching more products.
We are our next product is a mist Treatment mist when does when do we see that in the world?Hopefully the next couple of months is like the plan
Oh, here's a really funny question.These old jobs you talked about, like couponing, are you still doing any of these things, the coupon website?
No, I've learned that I have to quiet the noise of like my brain telling me to do like a million different things because I'm always that one that's like, okay, maybe I'll try it.Let's do this.But no, let's focus on Cheeks & Co.
So no, I'm not doing professionally, but I do love a good deal.So I do not like paying full price.
Tina, this has been so great.Thank you so much for joining us for our 267th episode.
Thank you, Jodi.It was so nice to talk with you.
And to everybody listening, thank you for joining us.If you like this episode, please rate and review.
And as always, make sure you're following us on your favorite podcast platform and Instagram to stay up to date on upcoming episodes and all the fun we have along the way.Thank you, everybody.Thanks, guys.Thank you.Bye.
Bye. Thanks for listening to Where Brains Meet Beauty with Jodi Katz.Tune in again for more authentic conversations with beauty leaders.
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