How Marissa Shipman Built Resilient Beauty Businesses with theBalm and Pretty Smart

September 2, 2024

“I’m a glass half full kind of person. I really like to think of things like, “Okay, why did this happen?” And, you know, it’s like, if life gives you lemons, add vodka.”

In this episode of Entreprenista, we sat down with Marissa Shipman, the founder and CEO of theBalm Cosmetics and Pretty Smart Cosmetics. Under her leadership, theBalm has expanded globally, staying true to its mission of inspiring confidence and creativity through beauty. Recently, she collaborated with Walmart to launch her latest brand, Pretty Smart, in 2,800 stores. Marissa is committed to offering high-quality beauty products at affordable prices, continuing her mission of making luxury beauty accessible to everyone. Tune in to hear Marissa share how she got her first big break with Sephora, her decision to invest in building her own factory, and the importance of learning from her biggest mistakes.

We talked about:

How theBalm started in a kitchen in San Francisco (02:30)
The benefits of having your own factory (06:37)
Bringing a luxury cosmetics line to Walmart (10:41)
Learning to course correct when things don’t go as planned (18:24)
The value of customer feedback (28:24)

Connect with Marissa:

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