What it means when a brand becomes art
+ leadership lessons from InstaCart's CEO, the $600M Beautycounter saga, luxury retail consolidation, podcast recos, and my fave wine of the week.
Hi friends.
Something happened recently—our brand became “art”.
While on the surface, it may simply look like a cute illustration of a girl with Juliet, I think this is actually a big deal.
In fact, despite objectively having quite a bit of success to date, this is one of just a handful of moments that stand out in terms of feeling like we’ve “made it” … or at least are on the path towards it.
The first moment was when Vogue confirmed they were going to cover our launch (to this day, still my favorite article about the company). I remember the exact street corner my Co-founder, Lauren, and I were on in New York City when we read the email with the news … and promptly burst into tears.
Then there was the first time I went into a store and saw our product on shelves—it’s a truly surreal experience to see something that you dreamed up and willed into existence for sale in a store.
Better still was when Lauren and I were stopped on an airplane by two women who were fans. They saw our Juliet-branded tote bags and mentioned that they loved the wine, not realizing that we were the founders—possibly the first time I really believed that people other than our friends and family were buying our wine!
Last week was another one of those “pinch me” moments. Juliet’s Instagram was tagged in a post with a custom illustration of a woman holding our distinctively-packaged wine. The woman in question is a Juliet customer, and it was created by a talented Alabama-based artist, Meredith Palmer.
Our brand being turned into art? YES!
In my opinion, this type of thing is the holy grail of brand building. I remember attending a Jameson event back when I worked at Pernod Ricard and seeing guests, who were lifelong fans of the whiskey, proudly showing off their Jameson tattoo art. Personal feelings about tattoos aside, I don’t think there is a better testament to the strength of the brand than immortalizing it with art. And not just visual art, think about how powerful it is when a brand is name-dropped in a song or featured in a film script?
If a brand is being turned into art, it means that it has started to impact culture. It has resonated so deeply with a community that they have started to integrate it into their lifestyles and share it proudly with others. Most importantly, it means that it’s started to stand for something larger than itself—its very presence sends a signal. As someone who has built brands for over a decade, I can say with certainty that there is no better sign that you are doing something right.
In entrepreneurship, you have good weeks and bad weeks, so you have to be grateful for even the small wins when you get them. Putting this in the “win” column for sure.
Personal news aside, here is my usual round-up of interesting things on my radar, as well as one great thing I drank this week. ⬇️
xAllison
Welcome to On the Rise—weekly musings on founder life, navigating the business world, and women's empowerment from award-winning entrepreneur Allison Luvera, Co-Founder & CEO of Juliet. Subscribe (for free!) today.
On My Radar:
Leadership Lessons from a Fishing Boat Captain: via Fidji Simo, CEO of Instacart.
Fidji is one of those women who have achieved so much so early in their careers (she is only 38yo) that I follow them closely on public channels, hoping to glean any learnings from their experience. Case in point, I subscribe to her Linkedin newsletter called Food in Thought. She just published an insightful essay on leadership, inspired by a recent trip to the fishing village she grew up in.
Worth a read, but my favorite two highlights below.
On “servant leadership”:
Some people think that leveling up means having the team do the hard work, but I have always felt more responsibility to work harder than everyone else and be in the trenches with the team.
On “disrupting yourself”, especially relevant right now with AI:
My grandfather was one of the best fishermen in the Mediterranean Sea because he had a unique knack for guessing where fish would be most abundant. Then, sonar technology came around and made it possible to see exactly where the fish were on a screen inside the cabin. This completely removed my grandfather’s edge, but he didn’t let that get in the way. Instead, he decided to become a master of this new technology faster than anyone else.
If you’re interested in learning more about her views on leadership, she also gave a great podcast interview on the topic with Anu Duggal of Female Founders Fund.
The news about tampons is terrifying: Toxic metals down there? No thanks. Between this, filler migration, ozempic side effects, and ubiquitous microplastics, I’m starting to feel like nothing is safe.
Two amazing female-led companies are crowdfunding: Given the ongoing challenges with the macro fundraising environment (leading to “Zombie Brands” in many cases, as Modern Retail outlined in a well-written article this week), some consumer companies are turning to their fans for support and investment.
Two female founders that I know and admire have announced crowdfund campaigns to support their company’s growth plans—sharing below. ⬇️
HerWorkplace, fundraising on iFundWomen.
Ellavate Wagon, fundraising on IndieGogo.
Spread the word and support if you can!
Takeaways from a billion dollar beauty implosion: The Beautycounter saga has been talked about in the trades for months, but recently there’s been mainstream media coverage in the NY Times and Fast Company that give more insight into the surprising downward spiral of the clean beauty pioneer.
The short version is—a PE firm bought a controlling stake in 2021 for $600M. They promptly demoted the Founder & CEO (who had run the business for a decade) and brought in an “expert” to run it. Three years of decreasing revenues and questionable cost-cutting decisions ensued and the company abruptly shut down this April.
The Founder, Gregg Renfrew has bought the IP and is determined to rebuild.
A few takeaways in no particular order:
The real losers here seem to be the 65,000 independent sellers, primarily women.
This is a good case study in the effectiveness of “domain experience” vs. “company experience” in a leader, and how the latter shouldn’t be discounted as inferior to the former.
This is the second recent instance of a founder buying back the rights to their company after it was acquired due to the buyer’s inability to run it. Third if you count Foxtrot.
This may have contributed to Carlyle’s decision to permanently exit the consumer and retail sector. This is a shame. Not only do these sectors generate great returns, but they tend to attract more female leaders and workers. Will this decision have a downstream impact on liquidity event opportunities for women CEOs, especially if other PE firms follow suit?
This really stuck out to me for it’s sheer ridiculousness. Marc Rey, the CEO who initially replaced the founder, at one point suggested sellers stop talking about “clean beauty” brand values (literally the mission of the company) as “it was no longer sexy” and he thought “the new sexy was the environment”.
After cycling through unsuccessful CEOs, bringing Gregg back in as CEO right before shuttering the company is very glass-cliff-coded.
I’m rooting for her, but is she realistically going to be able to resurrect the company under the same business model? It was built on the backs of independent sellers that are understandably disillusioned (and per some reports, partially blaming her).
As my mom loves to say—time will tell. Either way, good lessons here for all.
More consolidation in the luxury fashion & retail space: Saks, Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman announced a plan to form a new luxury retail giant with a proposed $2.65B acquisition, backed by Amazon. Given Lina Khan’s track record of late, I will be surprised if the FTC waves this through.
I really enjoyed this podcast episode from Female Founder World: Featuring Lindsey Carter, Founder of SET Active. She talks candidly about recent challenges she has had personally and professionally, which is somewhat rare and always helpful.
Melinda French Gates on Jay Shetty was also a good listen. Skip Ivanka Trump on Lex Fridman, nothing against her, but the entire episode felt sanitized and rehearsed.
What I’m Drinking:
A few of you emailed and asked what wine I’m drinking lately, given that I work in the industry. I’m surprised and flattered that anyone would want my wine recommendations—happy to oblige (although tbh, most days I’m just drinking Juliet).
So, sharing one great wine I drank this past week. ⬇️
Like much of the country, we are still in a heat wave in New York. I tend to drink a lot of Txakolina when it’s hot and was excited to see this Ameztoi Rubentis on the menu at Celestine this week (which I enjoyed over ice—it’s ok, you can do this!).
Why is this a great hot weather wine? I’m not sure.
Maybe because it has a subtle effervescence? Or maybe because when I learned about this wine, I remember being told how the grapes—hondarribi zuri or hondarribi beltza—grow on rocky slopes that lead straight down into the Atlantic Ocean (and this brings a “cooling” effect to mind).
Either way, it’s a super dry, light, refreshing choice during Summer. Ameztoi is a classic producer, I like their white and rosé (Rubentis) expressions equally. If you typically drink Sancerre, Vermentino, or Provençal rosé, this is a must-try alternative.
That’s it for now—see you next week! ✨
Great post. I think Fidji from Instacart is so impressive. I wish she talked more about how she was able to get promoted so high so fast.