Welcome to Where Brains Meet Beauty, hosted by Jodi Katz, founder and creative director of Base Beauty Creative Agency.
Eleni, we are back at Where Brains Meet Beauty podcast, although I should change my background, because I have my Base Beauty background up right now.
I should do the same.And I love our podcast backgrounds, but it'll probably take me too long to find it on this call.
So in the spirit of recording live and being really real and raw and behind the scenes, we are back and we're filming a little bit of conversation to get our next episode started.
And we've been loving posting these on LinkedIn to really show everybody a little bit of how the podcast is made.
Right, so Aline and I, outside of my recording with the guests, we record banter.So it's like a little chat about what's going on in our lives at Base Beauty or in the world before we launch into the episode.
So it's just like a way to warm up our listeners, bring them into our world.We always love pulling back the curtain on everything, which is why we're here right now on LinkedIn.
Yeah, I think it really centers us into the conversation.There's been so many amazing guests.There's more coming this week and in the following launches.But yeah, we're always learning and always wanting to share.
Recently, Jodi and I attended the Women's Wear Daily Women in Power event.So we are spilling with learnings from this event.We have not stopped talking about it since we attended.It's been amazing.Jodi, what were some of your favorite parts?
I guess like the most important thing to me was like who we were surrounded by.We were sitting with such incredible people, talented, smart, curious clients and friends.So, okay, that was at our table.Mary Van Praagh, our client, the CEO at Malani.
Maria Corral, our client, the CEO of Revision.Kayla Risch, our client from Colgate.Allison Dickinson, our client from MERS.Don Pilzerzyk.Sorry, Don, if I said your name. She's the COO of Borghese.Ellen Bauer is the CEO of Everbody.
Debbie Pearlman's on the board of Stripes Beauty.Kelly deals with Imaginary Adventures.And then we got to see our client Maria Warrington from Plus One.She was on stage presenting.And you and I just got to be around these incredible people all day.
Yeah, it really was.We truly got to bask in the glow of women who are just creating and leading and bringing change into the industry.And there were so many amazing conversations we got to be part of.So many of the panels were awesome.
One of them we really liked hearing about was the consumer experience and kind of how there's a tension between endless choice for consumers and then curation for brands, how we have to navigate that storytelling with the marketing.
Yes, I think about this all the time.I mean, that's basically what we do every day, right?We use the power of data and science and empathy, to make sure we're able to really create that curation for the customer, right?
She wants choice, she wants to do a lot of research.Within that she still needs education and guidance and help with helpful hand.And that's really what our work boils down to.
Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.Yeah, I've used this in a couple conversations with our ideation teams lately.Consumer talking to them has changed from consumption to creation.
When they're part of your community, they're becoming fans of the community, and they're really wanting to be part of the storytelling.They want to post about things.
So trying to tap into that and get them to be part of that is really the big challenge of the moment.
And most of the panels at one point touched on leadership, right?Like we're all in this room, the vibe is just like we're all in this together.It was really incredible, this magical energy.
And somebody on the stage said, it's not really about the job, it's about the boss. That's who makes your career special.A great boss pushes you out of your comfort zone, gives candid feedback, and reminds you that you can meet any challenge.
And when I think about that in my career, and I've had a lot of bosses through the years, it's huge.
You can have the same job, do the exact same thing with two different bosses, and have a completely different energy about your job, passion about your job, and that's just because of the person who you're reporting it to.
Mm hmm.Yeah, it's such a great takeaway for our leadership team.And for any leadership team, the impact that you have on people's day to day, we spend so much time together is really big.
So it's it was a really great reminder, love attending these events, and then bringing some of the takeaways to our team to our LinkedIn and our podcast community.
So if anybody wants to hear anything else about this event, please tap either one of us, we can talk about it for days.
That is true.And LinkedIn is like the place to be from my perspective.So happy to answer questions over DM.Okay, so let's refocus.We're here to talk about the podcast.Today's guest is Angela Kalia.
She is going to be a PD Connect in LA and I'm going to be there too.So I'll get to see her in real life. And her story is so incredible.I actually, literally, I'm not joking.I'm not being bombastic.I actually started tearing up.
My eyes started tearing up at the very end.You have to watch the Instagram after show, because when we're in the game and answering fan questions, it just got kind of big and exciting for me.I was like, whoa, that was huge.
So I won't reveal what that is.I want people to go and listen.
Okay, that's an amazing teaser.I love when our worlds collide with the guests from our friends at Beauty Connect, one of our favorite events and other show that we've been going to for years and years.
We have so many great people we've met through that network.Angela has a really great journey to share with us today as a celebrity esthetician and founder of Angela Kalia Skin Care.
So she emphasizes the importance of trust when working with high profile clients.So her hands touch a lot of very, very famous faces.
And we actually go in pretty deep about like, in the game, you have to go to the after show once again, it's so good.Like what it's like to actually work on these people and like the human approaches beyond the aesthetician approaches.
Anyway, so she knows how to connect to customers needs.She's literally doing it through her fingertips. her whole career.So she's put that learning into her product development and it's a really great story.
Okay, I'm very excited to learn more.Let's get to it.Episode 268 with Angela Kalia.
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 with Angela Kalia, a celebrity esthetician and founder of Angela Kalia Skin Care.
Angela has spent the last 28 years perfecting and polishing the skin of tens of thousands of people, not to mention celebrities such as Barbra Streisand, Sting, and Mini Driver.
After spending time in Paris and New York, Angela moved back to her home state of California and found a key role at a very famous spa.We'll get into who encouraged her to start her own spa later in the show.
The line of products called The Cellular Collection has a formula built on decades of research and the regenerative power of stem cells.I'm excited to get into this conversation about her career journey all on episode 268.Hello, Angela.
Welcome to Where Brains Meet Beauty.
Hi, Judy.Thank you for having me.
So this is a career journey show, a little bit unusual in the beauty industry because we're not really actually here to talk about like tips and tricks and your skincare habits.
We're really here to talk about you and what it was like to start this journey and all the experiences you've had before that led you here.
So we're going to go way back in time and pick up with your elementary age school self when you're like 11, 10, 12 years old.At that time, what kind of career did you dream of having?
Well, when I was really young, I wanted to be a singer and actress.You know, that was my dream.And then in junior high, I thought I wanted to be a glamorous fashion designer.So that's kind of where I thought I would end up.
Who in fashion was inspiring you at the time?
Well, when I was around, I grew up in a small town in the Central Valley farming community, like the farming belt of
really the United States and what happened was I discovered CNN it just launched and in the mornings there was Elsa Clench at 9 30 a.m.Do you remember her?
She was Australian with that little you know black hair really short and she would show all the the Paris fashion shows and I was watching you know Cindy Crawford, Helena Christensen and it just whole style that I didn't have in this little small town and I was just like um that's where I want to be what I want to do so I think
That was kind of what I was thinking in terms of like a different lifestyle than, you know, having a, I don't know, A&W down the road and like this very simple farm.
You know, I could smell the dairy farms, the manure, you know, like that kind of thing.
We must be around the same age because Elsa Clench was like super influential on me too.Not that I wanted to be part of the fashion industry, but it just made like the world seem so fascinating and interesting and exotic and like the place to be.
Right.And maybe it also shaped my view of like what life in New York is like.
Yeah, exactly.And I ended up moving to New York as well, so from that small town.
Oh, so what led you to move to New York?Well, maybe we'll get there in the story.
We'll get there talking.You'll figure it out, because I don't want to jump there.
But yeah.All right.So you're not a little kid anymore.You're going to pursue a career after high school.What was the next step for you?
Well, I always wanted to go to college, so I actually was enrolled, I moved to Monterey, the Monterey Peninsula, Carmel, and that's where my mom had moved.So she's like, you've got to get out of this small town.
So at 18, I graduated, actually at 17, I graduated high school, went right there.
and was going to school there and applied for the Monterey Institute of International Studies, which is a very elite private university when I was going to get my MBA in three years.They had a business program.
So I was enrolled in that and I was studying that. And then there was an opportunity, because it was an international school, to go to Paris for a semester to study at the Sorbonne.
So, of course, I wanted to go, remembering that whole Parisian, you know, the whole fashion thing when I was young, and I had studied French in high school.So I went to Paris, and that's really where I discovered facials and the career of facials.
And this was like almost 30 years ago, and no one really knew what a facial was in the U.S.at that time either.
So you're like 19 years old going to Paris?
All right.So how does one find themselves learning about facials?Like because I've walked around Paris is a 20 something and I don't know that I would have discovered anything new.Right.So tell me how that happened.
Yeah.I mean, I was walking the streets, obviously in love with Paris and I would walk by this beautiful, you know, back in the time that it was always like hair and nails, it was always together and loud, the salons.
And I would walk by salons that had a, like a woman in a desk and a white lab coat, like a bureau desk and just a wall of skincare products.And she was standing there very glamorous and it's a facial salon.I'm like, what is this?
So I wandered in and discovered the facial salons in Paris and
basically had my first facial and had my eyebrows tweezed for the first time and had my hair colored and blown out and just fell in love with the glamour of how these women cared for themselves.
OK, so I really want to dig into this, because maybe I was just not as astute in my 20s as you were.But this idea of trying something new and spending money in this new way, I definitely was not there in my 20s.
So what actually do you think empowered you to say, this is for me?Because I do think that there's a lot of intimidation factor in this category, especially if you're just seeing all this for the first time.
Yeah.I mean, it was something I was always attracted to.Remember I was watching the Paris shows.I love glamor.My mom and I would always talk about makeup.So it was just something that appealed to me.
And one thing about being a business owner, you can't have fear because I didn't, I, I'm a person that didn't have fear.So I walked in and I wanted to, you know, so that's just part of my personality.I think, um, I just wanted to explore and see it.
So, especially at that age, it was easier, but much easier at that age.
I feel like I would have been so intimidated and not walked in and like walk past like 1000 times and never walked in.
Maybe I walked past a few times.
Yeah.I love Well, I mean, it's really important that you went in.Okay, so you had your first facial.
Is it like in a cartoon where there's like, you know, exclamation points bouncing out of your brain and like, you know, lightning, like, tell us what you were thinking after that experience.
I just thought this is so cool.These women, they walk around with hardly any makeup on.Their skin looks amazing.This is such a beautiful ritual experience.I can still remember the place.I just love the care of the person giving me the facial.
It's such an intimate experience. Then I came back when I flew back and I was in school, obviously.So I saw in Carmel this same kind of look of something pop up in a beautiful center.And it said Yonca Paris.And that's a beautiful brand.
And they had their training institute that just opened.And it literally just looked like the ones I was seeing in Paris, the woman in the white lab, very glamorous and all the skincare products.And I'm like, wait a minute.
That's just what I was, you know, I just saw this.So I wondered in and I just said, can I work at your front desk?I want to work here.
Oh, you didn't want to go to school there.You wanted to actually just be a part of the business.
Well, I was going to school.I was getting my business degree.So I wanted to work in part time and I wanted to be there.Like somehow I just, that's the job I wanted.I didn't want to work at a restaurant.I was like, this appeals to me.
Can I work at your front desk while I'm, while I'm in school?
Yonka is like, to me, the beginning, right?Like, once again, I think we're like, we might have been born in the same month or something.
Because like, Yonka was like, all in all the salons and spas that I ever wandered into with my mom was Yonka signs all over the place.Yonka photography, right?Yonka products.
And they were really just like, at the front of this, of bringing this to the US.
Yeah, it's a 60-year-old brand.It's really the first clean beauty brand, if you will.The toner was colored pink with beet extract, and it's just such beautiful aromatherapy.It's still a very incredible brand.
If there's a chance for me to get a Yonka Facial, I'll go.I was fortunate because it was their training institute.Remember, this is a product line, and this was their spa and training institute.
very big and i was there first i basically said okay i'm done at the front desk i want to get my aesthetic life so i commuted an hour and a half to get that aesthetic license and they hired me and i was there for a statistician there but i was trained, trained in products basically i was trained in ingredients because that was a product line not just a spa.
What a cool job.It's great.So, okay, now you're taking me back in time because one of my first jobs in beauty was at L'Occitane in Provence.Yeah, are you familiar with L'Occitane?And there was an amazing training program that I got to take.
I was hired as a copywriter for the brand, so I took the same training that all the store managers would take.
This is like, you know, like over a week of training and learning about all the ingredients and the formulas and the why and how skin works and how fragrance works.
And I just remember it being like really mind blowing for me because someone in the room would ask me, they would be talking about like how they wash their face.I'm like, what do you mean how do you wash your face?
You take a bar of soap and you wash your face in the shower.And they're like, what, Jodi, how do you wash your face?It was like everything was just like brand new for me.
So I'm wondering, like, were you just like amazed every single day of what you were learning?
Not at that time, because I was like 22 or 23.So I was kind of already intuitively doing that.Remember, like, I'm like an esthetician.So I love to do so.I was just amazed at just the product, the ingredients and what they can do for your skin.
I was fascinated by, you know, rosemary is a micro stimulant that if you put it in there, it's in their eye cream, the fetal contour.So that helps puffiness and dark circles.
So I was just intrigued how they were using nature as ways to make you look younger and feel feel more beautiful.And I also was trained in a French way to give a facial, you know, which is they're the OGs of how to give a facial.
So that's incorporated in my facials now.So yeah, it taught me how to give a facial and bring in technology, but still make sure that that client has the aromatherapy and has the efficacy.
What a cool foundation so early in your career.Okay.So you have, you're, you're a licensed esthetician.You have this background at one of these like most amazing legacy companies. Um, where do you take your career from there?
That's a good, you're getting right into what we want to, where we want to go.Yeah.I was bored to tears. I was like 23.It's called the land of the newlywed or nearly dead.So I was 23.All the restaurants closed at like 10.And they all had blue hair.
So I bought a one-way ticket to New York City and said, I'm out of here.And I had no money.I had $500 in my pocket.I didn't have rich parents.I moved to New York City.And that's when other things kind of went into place.
And Frederic Fekai was really big at the time.So you probably remember when that was huge on 57th.So I'm like, I'm going to work at Frederic Fekai. So I went into Frederic Foucault and I said, I want to be at this beautiful spa, hire me.
They were hiring only Romanians because they're a business and they were paying $8 an hour.I was making 800 bucks a day at Yonker Paris in Carmel.I'm like, there's no way I can afford to work here and be in New York.
It's funny, I was just on a panel with Frederic Foucault himself.He and I were buddies and talking and I'm like, did you know that I went to apply and I wanted to work there? You weren't paying anything, you were only hiring the Romanians."
Frederic's been on the show and I love that he has his brand back.
No, he's doing an amazing job.He's like he's 35 years old, he's just doing everything.It's amazing.
Okay, I really want to go back in time in the minutia here.You have $500 in your pocket, you moved to New York. Where was this first apartment?How did you find it?And how many roommates did you have?
Okay, this is interesting.You're gonna find out.So my best friend had just moved to New York to study.She got a job with like a PE company, and she just got her master's.So she said, Angela, will you help me move?
And I'm like, I'll go and help you move.So I go and help her move.And I'm like, see that suitcase? I left my boyfriend, I was living with this guy, and I'm like, I left him, I'm actually staying, I'm going to stay here until I can get a place.
So she was excited, she's like, oh good, she was so afraid to be in New York.So I stayed with her on the Upper East Side on 69th and 2nd, Fairfax or something, for like literally just three months, because it was a studio.And I put signs up
on the Upper West Side.I really like the Upper West Side, so right by the Museum of Natural History.So I put signs up saying, looking for a room to rent, because that was the neighborhood I wanted.
And this woman said, hey, it's 500 bucks a month, and that was the best deal ever.So I rented a room, and I got to be one block from the park.Jerry Seinfeld was my neighbor, and Billy Baldwin.So it was perfect.
I'm really struck by how at ease you seem to move through the world this young, right?Like walking through Paris, walking into the space that is curious to you, walking into Yonka saying, give me a job.Let me go get an esthetician.
Give me another job.Let me hang out with you in New York.Like, let me go find a room.Like, like, is this a romanticized version of your 20s?Or were you really this at ease moving through the world and trying new things?
I was.I think I just wanted to escape so badly the small town that I was just like grabbing anything and I'm like, I want this.So literally I just felt so out of place growing up in this small town that I wanted to be over here.
So I knew I had to hustle to get over here.So, I mean, there's so many hustle stories that I have of things that I've done and continue to do just because
I just want to live a certain life and here I am, you know, living my dream of what I wanted, which is a skincare line and helping women.
I love that you moved to the world this way because I just had so much self-doubt and like it took me, you know, decades to get out of it and a lot of therapy and a lot of work.
And I love it when I hear people, you know, just like believing in themselves.It's really inspiring to me.So let's continue on with the story.You finally find this room.You have to cultivate a business in New York now.What is that process like?
Well, I heard Frederick Frick High didn't pay you anything.So I was like, I have to waitress.So it's like, I need to make money.So Isabella's, which was right down the street, I worked there.And that was such a great experience.
Jennifer Gardner just left right when I got there.She took alias the job.And it was the spot to work.And they're like, you remind me of Jennifer Gardner.She just left.You know, I was like, there's a
same age and waitress and it was filled with all actresses and there's other people that became famous that used to work there with me.
So it was super fun and I made like 500 bucks a day and I wasn't giving facials because I'm like there's no market.
So I did find a company that kind of went to celebrities to give massages and they wanted me to come on board and be the facialist to go get facials and then she wanted to start a skincare line so she was having me help her with that.
which I had no idea what I was doing.I don't know why she did that, but we did that for a bit.
Okay, so you were hustling, you were waiting tables, you were doing this like as needed kind of freelance aesthetician work.
Yeah, I had no money.I had to eat a bagel and a slice of tomato for dinner.I would make onion sandwiches.I was poor.And where I worked, there was a hostess.And I didn't want the hostess job because we didn't make enough money.And she was pretty.
And she's like, oh, I only date the rich guys that come in.And I was like, I like the bartender.He's cute, Adam.And she's like, oh, we don't date bartenders.And I'm like, yeah, I do. You know, it's interesting, the culture of New York at the time.
Okay, let's fast forward, because I'm sure there's amazing stories, and probably a book full of them.
You know, we certainly know now that you have a very long career touching very famous and very important faces, and I'm sure a lot of very important but not famous faces.What does that look like?
You know, give me a sense of like, when you started to notice, you know, people sharing your name, sharing your phone number, your book being filled up and that this is actually like a career and you're not still waiting tables?
Well yeah, I left New York.So I left New York.I also studied acting in New York.That's where I moved to New York to study at Lee Strasberg.I was a terrible actress so I was waiting tables for that.So anyway, I moved, left New York and when I
took a wrong turn, got married, said this isn't working, got a divorce, and then came to LA.And then I started working.I tried to get a job at Ula Henriksen Spa, but they weren't hiring, and I had to work at the Equinox Spa.And I kept going at
I kept going every few weeks saying, please hire me at Ula Henriksen.Anyway, so they finally did.That's where I started to get the celebrity clientele to come in.
They were telling their friends, and that's kind of where it all started, was working at Ula Henriksen Spa.
How many years did you spend there?
That was about 11 years ago.I spent maybe two or three years there, but I built quickly.Ula had already sold the spa. I was attracting everyone to come in and they were telling their friends.So that's where I worked online.
Minnie Driver became a regular, you know, there's plenty of others.And then they referred David Foster and other people.But then I left to open my own spa quickly after that.
All right.Let's talk a little bit about like name dropping in this industry, right?Because there's obviously like this idea of aspiration is so important in consumerism and this kind of
RTB, like who you've worked with or who you've worked on, is kind of critical for telling that story.And I would imagine there's people that you've worked on that you can't say their name.And then there are people that you can say their name.
Yeah, I mean, some of them had me sign an NDA, like heiresses, big heiresses. But Barbara Streisand, there's a great story there, I'm not going to go into it, but she's been my client for 11 years.She's amazing.And she's all about the truth.
She's like, Angela, say my name if you want.I went on QVC.You want to say my name?It's the truth.You work on me.Say it.But I don't like to lead with that.I like to lead with, I've been doing this for 30 years.I'm a master esthetician, brand founder.
And if they dig a little deeper, they're like, oh, wow, she works on these people.I think it's passe to lead with that, because I think it's stupid.I work on other people, too.I work on a doctor.
And I don't like to say I'm a celebrity esthetician, but I guess I work on celebrities a lot.
Right.I mean, this is the marketing world we're in, right?When you talk to the media and they want to know, when people are asking you questions in your DMs, they want to know, right?So it's really part of the storytelling culture.
But this is such an intimate thing that you're doing, right?And I was so curious about if there are times when controls need to be in place.
Not really, because there's a trust.And they're only your clients because they trust you.And that's it.It's just trust.
Yeah, that makes sense.OK, so you started.You launched your own business.Now you're an entrepreneur at this point, full in, right? after spending a few years in someone else's space.
So what's the one thing that you wish you knew before starting that business that you learned, I guess, eight years later?
I mean, that's a lot of work.And I didn't know that.So having known what I know now, how competitive it was going to be, I started this line seven and a half years ago, and we're still we're doing really well.
So but it took a few years to go through and make sure but so we made it so it's just thinking it's only going to cost this much to start it and this much work when it's just every second of your life, it's working.
So like that, if I separate your businesses into two, one is as an esthetician, one is as a let's say, a formulator, brand developer, the building the product line is I guess harder as an entrepreneur?
I'm actually more my two jobs are CEO, co CEO of a business, a global skincare line, and then esthetician.So I spend about 80% 80 90 90% of my time running, running my business.And then giving facials is like my therapy.It's my fun thing.So that's
where I go and give facials and to celebrities or some clients but it's a smaller part of my time.I have a studio in West Hollywood but my main love is this brand and connecting and my skincare products and you know they're award-winning.
We're launching into a huge luxury retailer I can announce at the end of the month and then another one so we're really doing really well with the skincare line and And that's the way I can touch more people than just these hands.
Right, right.And the little muscles in your hands can only do so much, right?So you have a way to share this wider.So those are very strong muscles, right?They're very well worked.Yeah.And I just gave one yesterday.So I still get facials.OK.
So when you fall asleep at night, you're daydreaming about the product company.When you wake up in the morning, you're having ideas are baking and percolating about products.
Yeah, not just product development.I run the social.I mean, there's so many elements I run.I design the packaging.I design the product pipeline.I work with my PR.I work with my marketing team.
So it's basically a CEO role, which is what I studied in school business.So it's all business.It's all innovation. and dealing with all the different, you know, cogs in the wheel and product development is a slice of that.
I guess, like, when I'm thinking about the intimacy of working on someone's face and, like, you know, literally staring into their eyes, right?
That's a very different experience than being on the other side of the phone where, like, someone might be DMing you and asking questions.So tell me how you think your experience as an esthetician bridges that gap, right?
That, like, human-to-human touch versus that human-through-phone touch.
I think it helps me make better products.And I won't stop giving facials because I stay connected to her.It keeps me not honest, but it keeps, I am honest, but it keeps me focused on her.
So when I go and work with my chemist, I just gave her a facial yesterday.So I am so connected to this woman that I'm making better skincare and I'm fighting for better skincare.And that's really what it is.
When I first started, the brand started taking off and my husband's my partner and he would be texting me about some stressful thing as I'm giving a facial.I'm like, oh, dude, what are you doing?
It's like, no, I got to zen out right before I give a facial.And he's like saying, oh my God, the shipment from China for the components are late.
It was hard to balance at first. It's interesting to know that your spouse is your partner in the business.That's a whole nother episode, I think, of the show we could talk about.My husband's very generous.
He doesn't work in our business, but he helps us with things that he's a specialist in, and it's incredible to have him because his brain works differently than mine.But let's talk about artistry, right?As an esthetician, I think of you as an artist.
right?Like that falls, you know, there's makeup artists, there's hairstylists, but I think of an esthetician as an artist as well, right?Like you see things in our faces and what's under the skin in a way that like a painter sees shadows, right?
So I'm curious to know, like, as you're building these products, as you're engaging with fans that never met you in person, like how does that sense of artistry come through?
I think of myself as a blind artist because when I give a facial, the first thing I do is touch.It's really important to feel the texture of the skin when I'm looking at it.So when I'm analyzing the skin, there's all different ways.
And then I also want to ask her so many questions on what she's eating, drinking, lifestyle, the products she's using.I may be Googling the ingredients behind her when she tells me a product.
And if I see it's filled with silicones, I'm like, no wonder you're breaking it.You know, it's just like so multifaceted.Yeah.
I guess I'm, I am creative and an artist, but I think in order to do really well at this, it's not even that it's really caring about people.And when I give a facial, my goal is to make them feel good.
So it's about being caring and, and knowing that you can do something to help someone.And that's really makes a great facialist, I think.
Oh, well, that's such an incredible note for us to end on for this interview portion of the show.I want to thank you.This is incredible to hear your story.I think there's a book full of them.I'm sure of it.So there's more that I want to hear.
OK, we have a few questions.I think we probably have time for two or three.This is a really good one.I'm very technical.What led you to learn about the regenerative power of stem cells as an esthetician?
Yeah, actually, as a daughter is what led me to it.My mom was diagnosed with dementia about eight years ago.
And I was looking for regenerative alternative medicines for her and discovered that one of the leading stem cell research labs in the country.And I knew the power of the topical application of the exosomes and growth factors.
And I knew that everyone else was creating synthetic versions trying to recreate the lab what
What are they rejecting the brain to regenerate the brain or the heart so i knew that the correlation of how it regenerates organs the mesenchymal stem cells so.
I was just talking with her and we were just going over all sorts of stuff with wound healing and skin and we just decided that we should work on something.
So I talked to my chemist, we all got together and it took like eight years to get it just right, but we did something that no one else has done.
We launched something derived from the human mesenchymal stem cell, the regenerative power of that, on our largest organ instead of just injecting it in the other organs to regenerate. We added also the bio-identical, so there also is that.
So we have this formula that has both.And there's been nothing more satisfying in my whole life than creating this serum and seeing how women are so happy to have something that makes their skin healthier and actually works.It's not marketing BS.
I'm going to go a little deeper in this.When you're developing that, and it took many years, you don't know that it's necessarily going to work, right?It's a hypothesis.It's a hunch.
No, you know, if you Google mesenchymal stem cell condition media, which is how they make it, it was discovered for wound healing in the 60s.So it's the byproduct of the stem cell kind of my lab creates basically human like conditions to
duplicate the stem cells and to have them excrete the exosomes, the growth factors.There's no stem cells in the bottle.There's no DNA.So it was made topically for wound healing and discovered in the 60s.
So anything for wound healing is going to regenerate.So it took quite a while to here we are to make it, you know, so. It's just interesting.I knew it was going to work and I always test things and I was blown away.
That's so cool.Oh, this is really interesting.In your mind, who are you creating your skincare line for?What are you picturing or is there a muse?
well, I'm not 40 anymore.But when I was in my 20s, giving facials, women in their 40s were the only ones getting facial so because they could afford it.So then came my 30s, it was still working.
So I was always working for like 30 years on a woman 40 5060.So she's my client.And that's what I'm creating it for.So she can age better and feel better and not have to wear makeup.
Oh, I love that.I think we have time for one more.Okay, this will be a quick one.Maybe in just a few words.Go back in time.Who really gave you that push to say like, go for it.Start the skincare line.Do it.
Yeah.She said, what's your dream?So, um, 11 years ago and you could, yeah, there's a whole story around that, but yeah, I gave her the first facial and she, I told her how much Yentl meant to me as a young girl.
My mom said that's the first female director, writer, star producer of a film.Watch her.I told Barbara that during the facial and she said I was 40 when I did that.And she said, uh, how old are you?I said 40.And she said, well, what's your dream?
then I said to start a skincare line.And I didn't even know going in.But when Barbara Streisand asks you something, you better have an answer.So I was like, woo, aha moment.I want a skincare line.
I'm literally tearing up right now.That's so beautiful.Thank you for sharing that.Of course. So thank you so much, Angela.This has been so incredible.This is our 268th episode.Thank you for joining us and sharing your wisdom.Thank you.
And for our listeners, thank you for listening in.If you'd 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 our upcoming episodes and all the fun we have along the way.Thank you, Angela.And check out my website, Angela Kalia Skin Care.Awesome.
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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