Tarte Cosmetics: Maureen Kelly

I can remember the beauty editor from Vogue came up to me and said What is this and who are you? Yeah. And I was like, I'm Warren Kelly. And this is Tart. And she's like, Okay, so you're not a celebrity makeup artist, and you're not an heiress, you're a nobody. I was like, Okay.

Enough with everybody telling me I'm I'm a nobody. Welcome to How I Built This. A show about innovators, entrepreneurs, idealists, and the stories behind the movements. they built. I'm Guy Roz and on the show today.

How one woman conquered the cosmetics industry without experience, connections, funding, or even a way to sell her homegrown products. Turning her company Tart Cosmetics. into a billion dollar brand. Mm. One of the reasons I love stories about cosmetics so much isn't because I have a natural interest in them. To be honest, I don't.

But over the years, I've become really interested in business stories about cosmetics for one simple reason. And the reason is there are so many lessons to be learned about business in cosmetics. How to market, how to sell, how to manufacture, how to bootstrap, how to grow slowly and intentionally. I could go on and on. And today's story is a great example of this thesis. Because even if you've never heard of Tart Cosmetics,

This episode is a master class in things like getting your foot in the door and how to come up with a product that gets people's attention and most importantly Had a weather crisis. For those of you who may or may not know, Tar Cosmetics is among the best-selling makeup brands in the United States. They make everything from concealers and mascaras to lipsticks and skin creams. And the company was founded by a woman without any experience or connections in the industry. Marine Kelly was actually pursuing a career. career in clinical psychology. In fact, when she founded TART in 1999, Maureen was still a PhD student at Columbia University. She had already completed most of her coursework, but it was through studying psychology that Maureen got intrigued by consumer behavior. And that's where she started to think about maybe starting a business. And it was her husband, Mark, who really encouraged her to go for it.

Maureen had always been interested in makeup, and makeup, she soon discovered, was something she could dip her toe into without a lot of startup cash. And the key, at least for Maureen, was coming up with a product so unique. It could get the attention of the influential boutiques and retailers in New York City. But within two years of launching TARP. A life changing tragedy almost derailed the whole company, which we'll get to. For now, what you need to know about Maureen Kelly is that she grew up in a middle class home in Rockland County in New York. Her dad was a judge and her mom, who was an Irish immigrant, was involved in local politics. My mom growing up in Ireland, it definitely shaped who she was, and I think as a result.

Shaped us, especially the girls, because You know, she wasn't allowed to play any sports or do boy things. Like girls and boys had very different roles in Ireland. And so She said you know, when she had girls. she would make sure that they could do everything, you know, and that they could be anything they wanted. And so That's kind of what she always

Um you know, said to my sisters and I there's three girls and two boys and She was like, You guys can do anything, you can be anything, and you know, she was just always talking about girl power, girl power, you know, and I feel like That's such a big thing for me now. And You know, I just I guess I didn't think about the fact that my mom shaped that, you know, because of

The fact that she couldn't have that. Um How how what were you How would you describe yourself as a student in high school? I would say that I

did well in the classes I was interested in and not well in the classes that I was not interested in. I am told that I have A D D. I was never diagnosed as that. Um, I think back in my time that like wasn't such a big thing. Um so I think that that kinda makes sense, right? With you know A D D you have that hyper focus, right, on stuff that you're interested in. So I feel like I was like a classic with that. You went to a s a state university in a U I did. In in Binghamton, right. And And when you got there, um What do you think you want to do? I didn't know, I'll be honest.

My sister went there first. So my my one sister went to Georgetown, my other sister went to Cornell, and then my older sister went to Binghamton and they visited her And classic metaboy. um at a party and was like, Okay, I'm just gonna go there and Course I got there and I was like hey, it's me and he was like Who are you? I don't even know who you are, I don't even remember you And of course I was crushed, but it was a very good early lesson. Um and then yeah, and then I was up in Binghamton where it was really, really cold for a couple years. But I finished college quick. I actually did college in two and a half years And so I graduated and my sister was already older sister was already living in the city going to law school. In New York. Mm-hmm. I was like, okay, Veronica, I'm not moving home. I'm moving in with you and I'll just sleep on your futon.

And I did so I moved to New York City and crashed on her futon. I got a bartending job and I applied to grad school. This is in the early nineties I think, right? Ninety two, ninety three time period. Yes, yes. I was really interested in psychology. Um something that's like always fascinated me and still does. You know, just um, you know, like why people think the way they do and what motivates them.

Um, you know, and then consumer psychology obviously is fascinating. So I went for my master's degree in that while I bartended. And And while you were working on this degree. you started to have doubts about whether you want to pursue it. I did, you know, I love psychology. But I just wasn't sure, you know, part of our job

Um you know or requirements as um a graduate student was counseling the undergrads Um at Columbia and so I would be sitting, you know, counseling them, listening, you know, doing sessions with M one on one, and I would find myself, you know, drifting off, thinking about different things. And you know, that's the exact wrong thing to be doing when you're sitting with a therapist or a counselor. And I be thinking then I you know click myself back in and you know, give some advice or feedback and um

you know, reiterate what they were saying so they r rec you know, recognize that I was listening to them. Um but I was thinking, gosh, I do not want to do this with my life. I don't want to do this. But I'm really far down this path. So Yeah, like So maybe this is what I should do. What you have to do. And I think that happens to a lot of people. You get really far down a path, you know, and you just feel like I'm trapped. And I did feel like that. I felt like that. And I talked to my parents and they were like Marine You're all over the place. You have to just finish this. This is just get your P just get your PhD, finish your dissertation.

And Then you can decide what you want to do. And and meanwhile, while you while you were a grad student in New York, you m you met the guy who you would eventually marry and I think in nineteen ninety eight, Mark Ludvigson Um who who would have a huge impact on

your career and your decisions. Uh how d how did you how did the two of you meet? I met him in a bar on the Upper East Side. He was he was a rugby playing investment banker and he had just um come from like a a rugby game, um, I think at like the New York Athletic Club, and he and his friends just came into the bar and started talking to my friends and I and He was roughly your age, sort of late twenties. Yes. A couple of years older. At the time, but yes, roughly my age. And he was he was working in the city in the in the city that he was in finance. He was. He was in finance at the World Trade Center and just one of those guys that

Lights up a room, could talk to like CEOs and janitors alike, you know, just made everybody feel like really special. Just a w really warm guy. He was six, um, six three, two hundred and thirty pounds. Um a funny, just very kind, just a really, really kind person. And did you guys eventually move in together? We did. We moved in together when I was living with my sister. We had moved out of that um that studio apartment when she was going to law school and we got like a two bedroom five floor walk up on the upper east side, but There was like some kind of an animal in the wall that died. Started smelling really bad. So I was like, Okay, peace out. I'm moving across town with Mark. And she was like, What? And she was like, I'm telling mom and dad. I was like, Don't you dare

Um and she told my parents and they were not happy with me. They weren't happy that you were moving in with him because you guys were. Um, so I was like I'll just stay in a diff a different you know, bedroom. Of course my parents believe that. Yeah. And then we actually wound up moving Down to Stivisant Town. It's this like really cool rent controls um development.

Yeah. Massive, massive buildings. Yes. Yeah. And and so Alright, so you have This boyfriend, Mark. Yes. And you are But for m you know, many years, several years, you were doing this degree. He was working as an investment banker and um Yes.

And it was clear to you that you guys would eventually get married sometimes. It was clear to me, but um, you know, as young for sure. He was a couple three years older than me. Um but he event he proposed Um and we got married. And Yeah, so he was really, really, really supportive of me and He just I just you know, he said you always talked about doing something on your own. You've always wanted to start your own company and you've been

You know, for lack of a better word. kind of afraid, you know? Yeah. Um Because I think what the I didn't know exactly, but like in my heart I really wanted to start a makeup company, but I knew that my parents wouldn't think that that was like reputable enough. You know, since I was a little girl

Um, you know, it always like play with my mom's makeup and you know, she was beautiful and I would, you know, make my own like you know, cheek stain and like the bathtub with like shaving cream and like, you know, cough syrup or like chalk or whatever had and I would take like lipstick and put it on my sisters and like their Holly Hobby dolls. Um it was something I always loved, right? And my mom used to like you know, m make us to do these egg weight masks and homemade candles and face masks and things like that and soaps. My sisters and I had like

you know, acne or pimple, she would like, you know, mix like turmeric or an aloe vera and like you know like home remedies, yeah. And so it's just something that I always did and loved But to her that wasn't like a job, you know? You were you liked cosmetics you like maybe. I guess I even read that like You would give friend like you'd make lip gloss for free. I did for like holiday presents. I did. And I was how do you make lip glosses? And it's like

Like petroleum jelly and and I don't know, wha what do you how do you make it? Yeah, we don't actually put petrolanum in any of our lip products because it's a byproduct of But how would you make it for friends, wouldn't you? I would use beeswax back then. Oh I got you. You'd melt beeswax into like a little container with little jars. Like I don't know, extracts of different urban. Exactly, and then I put vanilla in to make it taste good. So And my friends would love it, you know, and it was never anything like oh I'm gonna start a business doing this, but it was just something that I You know, that it always love and it always did. And it's funny, my best friend said

You know, that was in my um PhD program at Columbia, she said, I remember you, Maureen Um she said I remember having like a Stila eyeshadow palette and you like prying the sh eyeshadow pan Um from the paper compact. And m her saying, like, What are you doing? Like and me saying, Like, I just wanna see how this is made And she was like We we have neuroscience to do, like stop it. Like Stop pulling around.

You know, so it was just always something I was like really interested in. But but you had this Interest in Make up and cosmetics'cause you liked wearing it. I mean you liked I mean you liked trying different brands out, you liked I did. And I felt like, you know, when I'd go to the makeup counter and I'd get my makeup done

In New York. I would look great like so many of us do, but I'd get home and I'd be really frustrated because I'd flip over the box and it would be Filled with synthetic like ingredients I could literally not even pronounce'cause remember this is nineteen ninety nine, right?

I mean everything was like formulated with like all the bad stuff. And so I was like I don't know, I just I wasn't a business person. And I'd never created like a business plan in my life or had never done an Excel spreadsheet, but You know, I had this like vision board that I was like slowly and surely creating of like all of these like

cut outs and tear outs from like magazines and things like that and I just wanted to create this like makeup line of like Makeup that was like filled without the bad stuff like the paravens or petrolatum or um You know

make it cruelty free because, you know, my mom grew up in Ireland on a farm and so we had rabbits and dogs and snakes and all the things I couldn't imagine like testing on animals. I wanted it to be mostly vegan and Then you know. Lots of good for you ingredients. Um But that was really hard.

But there I mean there's a having a an idea and saying, God, what if we could make a makeup brand that did this and this and cool packaging and and and I want to do that. There's a difference in The leap to do that is quite

large, right? And there's a lot that has to happen. There is. Including like understanding the landscape and and understanding how how to make makeup and where it gets manufactured and how to finance it. What what did you Do w how did you first start to learn about the industry? What I mean, there are lots of things you had to know. Yeah.

So Where did you start? Well I opened the yellow pages to find suppliers. Um, and I just started making calls, call after call, and guess what? Nobody called me back. Shocker was these are companies that that make Cosmetics or that actually make the Packaging or both or

They make the cosmetics. And I just started calling these labs and no one was calling me back because I was a nobody. Remember, there was no social media back then, no Facebook, no. TikTok, no Instagram and So then what did I do? I just got in my car and I drove across the towards Washington Bridge and I s started going to the suppliers, the the labs and sitting in the waiting room. Yeah. Are there labs in in New Jersey or New York? Oh yeah.

For sure, yeah. Florida, New Jersey, New York. you know, Italy of course, like all over the all over the world, but absolutely Um there are In in New York and New Jersey. And how did you get a foot in the door to any of them? How did you get a meeting to Find out I mean you were you're you were a a nobody. I was a nobody, exactly. Uh so many people told me that I was a nobody. You had no experience, you had no

You weren't even in business. So how did you even get a Like what were what was your ask? Was your ask, Hey, I wanna find out more about this or I have an idea to make Um Product line or Yeah, at that point I just said I am starting a company because then I feel like you have to commit to those people, of course, like behind the scenes in my apartment. Yeah. I was like, oh my gosh, what am I doing? This is a crazy idea. But with the labs, I would say, you know, to the receptionist, I'm Maureen Kelly, I left a message for your head chemist, you know? Um

I haven't heard back so you know, I was in the area at another meeting and so I figured I would pop by. Smoking and joking a little bit, I guess. Um And so Yeah, eventually and most of them were like

Most of them were like, um, they're not available for meeting but You know, a couple of them came out and Um I had meetings with them and I shared my vision. And what would you ask? I just said I'm starting a company, a makeup company that is formally without parabens, and I want it to be cruelty free.

I want it to be infused with You know, all of these good for you ingredients and keep out the bad stuff. And you said you wanted to make what, like um concealer and blush and mascara and lipstick and Exactly. And they laughed at me. They laughed at me'cause they said, listen If um customers wanted that The big guys would have done it. Lauder or L'Oreal would have done it. um customers don't care about.

Parabens being in products,'cause remember this only parabens only came out of things like a handful of years ago. Um, customers don't care about cruelty free. This is nineteen ninety nine, right? Um, so You know, no thanks. But I did find one chemist who Thought I was crazy, but He was like, I don't agree with you, but You know, we kinda take on one charity case like

You know, every year or so and you know what, I'll do it for you. And I was like, Where was this chemist based? In New Jersey. Yeah. a manufacturing facility that made cosmetics for a bunch of different brands. They did, for big brands actually. So you know they're very established and so they could take a risk on like a small little thing might like you know it was like a pet project, you know? Um all right. So You you meet this

And by the way, what what's do you remember the name of this guy, this scientist? Russ. Russ. And and Russ says, Yeah, okay, I can I can probably make some for you. And Um was it that gonna be expensive to do or was it How mu uh how much was it gonna cost you to have him make Just a

prototype of of a few, you know, products. It wasn't crazy expensive because he knew that I didn't have a lot of money. That was the other thing. So either you're a celebrity Or you're like an heiress making a makeup line. Um and so he knew I didn't have a ton of money and so It wasn't crazy expensive. The other thing is I couldn't afford to have them usually n you know, now when we have makeup made, they put it in the package, they pack it out, they put it in the box, everything like I wasn't having them do any of that.

You had to get it like loose in bags or whatever, and then you would By the way. I'm c'cause he was doing this j this cheek stance of stuff. And then um pressed eyeshadow. Um and I also did a press blush. Um just I'm just like thinking logistically.

The the cheek stain I can'cause it's like a gel, so I can see how you would package that, but he was gonna give you like literally pans of eyeshadow. Um blush. And then I got the packaging separately. And then I had pizza and wine parties'cause I couldn't afford the lab.

to, you know, press the the tins, the makeup in the actual packaging. Um and so my friends and my family like basically did it till their fingers like had blisters on it. When and so it wasn't gonna be that expensive for you to do that. You could you basically with your income you could you could get this made. And how much how much Mark and I had twenty thousand dollars in savings. Right. And and then I put the rest on credit cards. Yeah.

Do you remember like while they they the slide said, Okay, yeah, we'll make this for you. And were you do were you going back and forth to sort of help them fine tune it. Oh yeah, for sure. Yeah. Absolutely. I was like, Okay, this isn't soft enough, it's not silky enough. Um, you know Mm-hmm.

Just I I love this color, I don't love that color. So yeah, just giving them lots of feedback is just a non makeup artist regular girl. Yeah. I I guess when you started

The company. There was this um person named Troy Surratt or Surrat that you worked with and I guess Troy was a makeup artist that that worked for you on your wedding day. Tell me about Troy's involvement at the beginning,'cause I know Troy left pretty soon after you lost. Yeah, he was a super talented, um, celebrity makeup artist and he had so many projects as a makeup artist. Like Um, you know, in the beginning I really doubted you know, because I wasn't a makeup artist, I doubted myself, as you know.

We all do right all along. I felt like I needed a makeup artist to help me you know, create this line. Um But In the end

You know, we kind of had a different vision of approaches for like beauty. Like I wanted it to cater to everyday women and not high profile clientele. So like ultimately it made sense that you know, he become a silent partner after a year or so. And just eventually I bought him out.

Right. All right, so you're you're kinda working on this. This prototype. In in meantime I mean it's one thing to you know to say hey to go to a lab and say, Hey, here are the ingredients I want you to use in

I want these Three things. And then It's another thing to create a brand out of it, right? So let's talk about about that side. W the name Tart, was that the name you came up with? Um I had a different name. It was called Plume.

Um and then I second guessed myself and I switched it to Tarte. Which you know, Tart is like a hel uh is a treat. It's like something yummy. Um, and I just felt like I wanted this line to be like a healthy treat for your skin. Um I will say it became a little problematic later on. Well yeah, I'm curious'cause your mom was from Ireland and in Ireland and the UK that word means something very different. Yes. Oh my goodness. I definitely didn't think it through What did your mom say when he said it's called Tart Cosmetics? Well, my mom went on T A R T dot com and you can imagine what was on there. It was not good. She like screamed, I think. And then um I was told eventually that I would never be able to launch in France and England, um, specifically because of the name, and luckily we're a top brand in both now. Um but

Yeah, you know, I I just I didn't think of it that way. Yeah. And and you spelled it with an E, T A R T E, presumably because it was was that a domain name that you could get? Yes, exactly. Well no, actually I had tartcosmetics dot com. This is how not savvy I was as a business person back then. Um T A R T E.com was taken by a guy like Scott Tardy, his name was, and many years later he sold it to me, which was very, very kind of him. Um, but I didn't launch the website for actually for years. If you think back then I feel like dot com sales like Yeah. It wasn't really a thing. Big thing, yeah. But you know

You were asking me about like my first product and my cheek stain was You know, was definitely it. And you know, when I was asking him to put in all of these like ingredients, they definitely thought it was crazy. Yeah. And once that You got the

the order. From this lab, right? And you've got thousands of pieces of I keep calling them pieces. I don't know if that's the right word. Compacts or pieces, yeah, exactly. And then you you had to package them. Where by the way, where did you get the packaging from? So I got the packaging from a pack a la um a packaging company that I found and talk them into doing this amazing

Lavender Fabric packaging. No one in the industry had ever done it. We were the first ever. I look back, I wish I patented that, but Fabric. Like a f like a w I'm thinking of for example like a I don't know, a lipstick case or mascara. Like mascara comes in a a brush. Yeah. So the the right the the the tube was

Fabric. Fabric. Mm-hmm so like our lights camera lashes mascara to this day has the fabric around the outside of it. And no one had done that. And was your name brand on there too? Yes. Printed on there. Mm-hmm. And did you design the l the logo? It was century gothic font from the computer. And it still is the same pot to this day. Yeah. All these years later. Yeah, and that was it. It just said tart on it. It was super simple.

Yeah. Um And Alright, so you are You've got

Now probably fifty what, forty, fifty thousand dollars worth of product in that apartment. That you paid for. Yes. And You can't move. Yeah. I mean it's boxes everywhere. I mean I remember my friend came over, she was pregnant, she had to turn sideways to like get to the bathroom. And and what did Mark and Mark was supportive of all this? He was. I mean he was like this is so crazy, but you know, he was such a good guy. He was definitely supportive of it. And

You know, you can't be half pregnant. We were I was already like too far down the path. So then I felt like woo, I'm legit. I have a company here. But I also realized okay, I have to be able to sell it somewhere so sell it. Yes, yes. Yeah, I mean I mean this is like today I guess you could start at like a farmer's market or there are tons of boutiques that you could go to online. Um, what was your game plan? Did you think you would go to like small little independent Boutiques and see if they would carry it. Um no, so Sephora wasn't even in the United States yet at that point. Yeah, yeah, for sure. For sure. I was thinking you know, I was in New York, so I thought like I'm gonna try and get in into Bendels or Barney's Or or berg jars. Like the three Bs in my mind. Yeah. That's a the those are pretty I mean

And those are sort of iconic Stories. Um Bendle. Uh, Birddorf Goodman and Barney's which isn't I don't think it's there. Besides Bigelow, yeah, there's not too many like small boutiques in in New York City, you know, at the time. So how are you going to get into

those stores. I mean the I have to assume that By and large, they The buyers there have relationships with You know, Going way back with other right for sure. Yeah. Brands.

So I just started calling and leaving messages and I was so excited in the beginning, guy I said, you know, I have this brand Tarte, it's amazing, it's high performance, naturals, it's different than anything you've ever tried. And you know, I left my first message for each of them. And then You know, they didn't call me back, but that was okay. You know, just a message.

So then I was like, Okay, well I'll we you know, it's like how long is too long you know, not long enough and how does it look desperate and so then I called a couple days later, I left another message, you know, and I would call and then hang up because I would be hoping that I'd be able to catch one of them, but You know, what you realize is buy these merchandisers and buyers never pick up their phones ever. Um so that was just never gonna happen. I've learned that since then. Um So you leave voice mails. Yes, I kept leaving voicemails and I was getting more And more desperate.

Because nobody was calling you back. No,'cause remember I was a nobody. And you had Put down Tens of thousands of dollars. On your credit card.

and you know this product. And it was gonna go out of business before I started. Well. And a full panic. Full panic has now kicked in and I called um I called and left a message for the Bendles buyer saying, This is my final message. You know, I just had to leave you one more because

I grew up g shopping in Bendels with my mom, which is completely not true, and I kinda felt bad leaving this white lie. You know, there's the Catholic guilt. But um I just wanted to leave you one last message because it was my favorite store shopping growing up with my mom. We're about to sign tomorrow with Berg Dref Goodman. Um Yeah. You basically made it up. I made it up, yes. I made it up.

When we come back in just a moment, how Maureen's relentless determination plus that little white lie Paid off. Stay with us. I'm Guy Raz and you're listening.

Hey, welcome back to How I Built This. I'm Guy Raz. So it's the start of the new millennium, and Maureen is grinding away, cold calling luxury retailers, running her business from home, and desperately pitching anyone in the industry about her makeup. But then that little white lie, wrapped in Catholic guilt, pays off. The buyer at Bendles? Calls back. She said, I'll give you fifteen minutes on, you know, like next week. Come in and show me your stuff. And so I panicked. Like that day like that week or next week or Yeah, exactly. And so I went in, I showed her my product'cause I knew if I could just get it in front of her, she would see that it was different. I had all of this special fabric packaging and I had my cheek stain, right, guy.

But how did you prepare for that? I mean, that's high stakes there. Right,'cause Bendles's was like on Fifth Avenue, I'm pretty sure, and it was like so luxurious and and influential and like you had to Make that work. Aren't you nervous?

I was really nervous. I was super, super nervous. Yeah. Um, I went in, I met her, I showed her the products, and she said, I love it. I think it's really different. Wow But But We have a press breakfast next week.

And all the editors are coming, I'll give you a tiny like booth in the corner. If the editors respond to it. I'll give you a counter. But if they don't know. Then sorry, no.

I was like, Oh my gosh. Wow. So It's basically she was saying that the press is coming next week to see a bunch of new products that they were considering. Right and she would allow you to present

You know, she would Yeah, she would allow me to have a little corner booth, basically, at this breakfast. Did she ask you any questions like yeah, where are you selling and were the stuff available? No, she didn't know you just purely looked at your side. Yes, that I was. D have you worked for Revlon or Leste Lotter, nothing. And so my fate hung in the balance with this press breakfast. So I was so n this is where I was really nervous because I knew this was it. So

And these were journalists from where? Like Cosmos? Cosmo, Vogue, L, Alure, all of the big guys which and they were everything back then, right? They made you or broke you. And so I went out, I went to Ann Taylor and I got myself a suit, which let's be honest, I was uh getting a suit for this was the complete wrong thing, but I didn't know. No. I tuck the tags in the back'cause I knew I was gonna have to return it. 'Cause it was expensive. Yeah. Ann Taylor really wasn't the not to disparage Ann Taylor, but not really the look of Tarte. No, no. And a suit. What was I thinking? A skirt suit? Yeah. I mean I was so I not cool at all. Um

And so I was there at my counter and all of these beauty editors were fabulous. They all had champagne in their hands. Yeah. Gorgeous, walking around with their champagne, looking at the different products and I can remember The beauty editor from Vogue, Sarah Brown, came up to me and said What is this and who are you?

Uh. And I was like, I'm Warren Kelly. And this is Tart and she's like, Okay, so you're not a celebrity makeup artist and you're not an heiress, you're a nobody I was like, Okay, enough with everybody telling me I'm I'm a nobody. Of course I didn't say that to her, but um I was like, Great, you're right. But this is amazing and it's so different and here's why and She's like, Okay, well I'm gonna shoot it.

come to my office um in two days. And I was like Oh my God, oh my god, oh my god. You know, trying to play it cool. And then, you know, five minutes later, the beauty editor from L magazine came up.

And was like, What is this? And who are you? I love it. It's really different. She picked up the cheek stain, tell me about it. And she's like, I wanna shoot it next week. I want it in my next issue. Can I ask you about the cheek stain? So

Uh I'm Forgive me because I don't wear usually. Um I have in the past. I was a the T V reporter twenty years ago, so I get to learn how to to use makeup. Um but uh very rarely wear work these days unless you're gonna be able to get it some cheek. All right. Okay, I'm I'm in I could use it. Um anyway, I um I'm trying to understand the this thing about cheek stain. It was Something that you put out there and they were like, Wow, what is this thing called cheek'cause I would see cheek stain and I would say it's daring

How much I I would think weird. I don't want stainless cheeks. Exactly. And that I don't want to put stain on my cheeks. This is just weird. Totally, and it looked like that because it looked like a jar, like this jar of like the cranberry sauce. Like that gross like you get from the can. It's dark, but it comes out really pretty and natural and it just gives you this like beautiful flush. Like a like a Like a reddish light. Yeah. Sort of like a renoir paint. Exactly, exactly like that guy. But it was I mean, i the obviously this is a product that's become massively successful for you today, which we're gonna get to later, but

This was basically I guess you could kind of describe it and again, I'm describing this for people who are not familiar with makeup, so forgive me, Maureen, because I'm such a complete idiot, but It's sort of like a giant lipstick tube for your cheeks. That's exactly right, and it's gel. And it's gel, okay. So you just like dab it on and then you blend it with your fingers and you go, which is really cool. So these editors were kind of looking at that, and they were looking at the fabric packaging, which they also photographed, and it had double-ended eyeliners. And they said like wow, like this is all brand new and really different. And I think that's the thing that saved me because I hadn't worked at Lauder, I hadn't worked at L'Oreal or Longcombe. I didn't go into this feeling like

Well, well This cells and that sells, so I have to do that, right? I didn't launch with a mascara and a mascara is typically a brand's number one selling product. I didn't have that for five years and definitely guy people told me you're a bad business person, you have to have a mascara to throw one out there, even if it's not like something that you love, love, love. And I said, Why would I do that? Like If I don't find one that's different from everything on the market and formulated without the bad stuff, I'm just not gonna do it. So they saw this thing and they're like, Wow, this is different. This is really interesting. And I was trying to play a cool you would try to play cool and

But clearly you were in. Once I got in these magazines, guy it we catapulted. I mean Of course the beauty the beauty buyer at Bendle said, Okay, you've got a counter, that's it. And you can have an event next month and I was like, What do you what do you mean an event? Like what does that entail? Oh my gosh. But she did say you have to make X amount of dollars a month to be able to stay in Bendles. It wasn't just like you're in.

I mean you you had tens of thousands of dollars of product But I'm assuming Bendle didn't buy you out, right? No. Definitely. When you say their first order was a lot. We're not talking about a million dollars. No, definitely not. twenty, thirty thousand dollars. Exactly. Exactly. And and you had the and you had the product ready to go.

Ready to go. Um, and then you know, we had our first event at Bendles and You know, we had our counter, we are first event. It was exciting. Talking about the product to whoever s stop by your counter?

You know, I didn't know what to expect, so I got my brothers and sisters to help me. I bought my brother a purple tie and I had him bartend. I brought in like eight dollar champagne and put like sweet tarts in a glass and I call them tartinis and so we were doing tartinis and makeovers. Wow. That's so smart. You had oh,'cause it's tart cosmetics and you put sweet tart in a glass. And call them and you serve tart. Cheap and cheerful. I didn't you know. Yeah. And I I kept the the bottle under the counter, knowing that of course they would be expecting like Viv Clique or something like that. But and my sisters and I pulled like potential customers Off Fift Avenue off the street just telling these women that we were serving like tartinis and doing touch ups like after work, of course they were gonna pop in and if they're getting a drink and getting a touch up, why not? And was really kind of like gorilla marketing, you know, before I even knew what that was.

Brilliant, a tartini. I never thought about that. I'm not saying I'm gonna go run out and put sweet tarts in a martini glass and pour champagne over it. But it's a great idea when you're marketing tart cosmetics. Yes, definitely. And then you know what, I was like, Okay, I've gotta like keep getting press. So I couldn't we had no budget, so I couldn't afford, you know, fifteen dollar messenger. So I would put on a baseball hat and I would

drop the press packages myself to, you know in New York City to like the Conde Nas building or like the Hearst buildings. Those are the ones that had like all of the big, you know, be magazines'cause You know. I just I

how it was the influencers of the day. Um but I would be like, Oh my gosh, I hope You know, I don't hope I hope I don't see any editors like oh my goodness, like these women that I saw at the Bendels breakfast. Meanwhile, these women would never have like recognized me from like a hole in the wall. Um I be I would be going in th for the back side of the building, right? But then I I now am getting appointments with um

At these You know, Uh once it ran in L and once it ran in Vogue. All of the magazines were calling saying, you know, I wanna like see your products, like

you know, come in and tell me about it. And so then I would like take the baseball hat off, get dressed up and go in through the front door. Yeah. And it was it was, you know, really pretty exciting. And you would go you would go in yourself with a package. Of a bunch of stuff. And

If it was sent to the mail, maybe It might get to them, but if it's hand delivered. Exactly. Exactly. Open it up. Exactly. And then the phone lines started ringing. I mean I had to put fake names on the phone lines. Like I'd have my friends and and family

Like say like Hi, this is you know, Jen from Operations, blah, blah, blah, like make up phone line. So seemed like we were an actual company. Um, and then they just started ringing as these um It started to like hit the magazines. Still doing this out of your apartment. Still doing it out of my apartment.

And and working with this lab. in New Jersey. Mm-hmm. And I started to get offer calls from like Sephora and QVC and I just said like absolutely not. I can't, um you know, we're we're we're not ready ready yet for that. I felt like you know, I didn't want to overpromise and under deliver'cause I just feel like once you burn a bridge, you don't get a second chance. And and were you thinking Maybe I should find some investors. Or or not really. No, not really. You know, I never started it to like grow it to sell it. Yeah.

And I I feel like it was a very different time then and I I just I just started it because I it was a passion of mine and I I loved it. And it was just you really or or did you were you able to hire somebody to help you? It was me and then I had a couple of interns actually. One of of which is one of whom is still with me. She's my head of creative. Yes, I have still have some of the women that have been with me all these years, which is pretty incredible. Alright, so you are now trying to figure out, you know Kinda strategic rethinking, right, as you're you're getting more and more demand. Yes. But still in in Bendels. And then meeting my vendors at a coffee shop. Yeah. You know, a couple of blocks away because they couldn't come to my office.

Right,'cause you didn't have an office. Exactly. And being in New York was a huge advantage because that's the center of the fashion world in the US and maybe even in in the world. It really was. Um And You're also in New York, um, on September eleventh. Yes. Two thousand one. It was.

Um and Mark worked there. He worked in the World Trade Center. He did. Yeah. So Yeah, my world came to a halt. For sure on that day.

Um You know, Mark called me in the morning. and I didn't know anything was happening, but he called me and said, Like, hey Mo I just want you to know everything's fine and I said, Wait wha what do you mean, what's going on? And he said, you know, a plane hit the first tower

Um, but I'm okay. And they're just tell you know, I could hear them t um talking over the loudspeaker. And he said, They're telling us to go back to our desks. And Mark had been there for the first Trade Center incident. Yes. Yeah, so I was like, Okay, are you sure everything's okay? And he was like, Yeah, I'm completely fine. I gotta go. They're telling us to go back to our desks. I was like, All right, I love you and he's like, I love you too

And then that was the last time I spoke to him. Um I flipped on the T V. And I was like, Okay, well he said he's fine, but let me just So I flipped on the T V And you know, I don't know, like

Maybe I can't remember now. I just blacked out a lot of that time to be honest. Five or Ten minutes later I watched As a plane crashed into that tower and

I just remember, you know. Like just collapsing to my knees and Really watching is He was killed. Has the second tower fell?

Um But then you know I just I mean, I just was destroyed, obviously, and But then like somewhere in the back of my brain I felt like, No, he's gonna be okay, he's fine. Yeah. Yeah. He got out. Like I don't know how I could have thought he got out, but I felt like he got out.

So I like waited for him. And some of his rugby playing like investment banking friends did come to my door. Like their clothes were tattered and covered in ashes and like bleeding, wanting to know if Mark had made it out. And it'd run like the like fifty or sixty or blocks, like home, um like they did. Yeah, I mean it was cre you know, their shirts were torn off. I mean it was horrific, but

He didn't and I I was like, Well I gotta wait here because you know, all the phone lines were knocked out Um you you couldn't get a signal like nothing. So I was like, Well I can't I'm not gonna leave, I've gotta wait'cause he's gonna come through the door any minute. He's just gonna come through the door. Mm. Any second. Yeah.

But he he didn't he didn't come through the door. So yeah. Well. Poof. Yeah.

So I d then drove to a lot of the hospitals in the city, um, and that was horrible because I thought well maybe he'll be at a hospital. And that was so sad because There's all the nurses and the doctors. Waiting outside front, like tons of them with wheelchairs. Just like a ghost town.

Um You could just drive in New York w cause You know. No one was on the street. I mean it was just ashes just A mile thick.

Um, but they were just like waiting for people to come, you know, but there was nobody to help. So Yeah. And I

Yeah. I don't know. That was it. I mean I woke up in the morning and I looked out the window and I just Honestly couldn't understand how It wasn't all a dream.

You know. Um I can't imagine What? just what that was like for you and and

Your family and his family and My God. Um In in the middle of a A tragedy that

Touched. Thousands and thousands and thousands of people. Right. Um, all the families of the people who Who didn't make it. Um And um

You're That was it. I mean you were You were on your own. Yeah. Um you were about twenty eight, twenty nine. Yeah. It just turned thirty and I just thought like

I'm a thirty year old widow and I've I've been with him for a decade and I'm lost the love of my life, you know? This is this is it. I don't even want to go on. Honestly is how I felt. But and the city was locked down, you know, it was Terrible. I mean it had like that ash cloud for months and months and You know, over time people just slowly got back to living. But I I just felt like my life was over.

Did you Did you think that y that You were not gonna be able to continue. But

after that happened Oh yeah, for sure. I mean I didn't want to continue with anything after that happened. Period. Um But You know, my family and my friends I mean didn't leave me alone for one second. I mean someone stayed with me every single night and every single day.

Um and you know, they just said, you know, Mark wouldn't want you You know, Mark was the one that encouraged you to do this, so Yeah. Yeah, like he would

Sad and disappointed if you Let this all go. Which I kinda thought was like a little bit mean at the time'cause But then it fueled me, you know? Yeah. Um

Because I and I just became like a walking zombie and I kept hard in his memory. Basically a year after it started. Okay. How how long did you I I I read about a a brief thing that you mentioned about his memorial service, which was

You you said it was more of a celebration really because he was that kind of person that that he would have preferred people to kinda make jokes about him and remember funny things about him. Yeah, I mean he was just larger than life, you know. I didn't want to have a funeral for him. I wanted it to be You know, a memorial, I mean, everyone was just telling amazing stories about him and you know, drinking and laughing and crying, obviously. Um with the New York Athletic Club and you know all of his teammates and I would say

I almost said office meets, but no, they're all gone. I mean I would open up our wedding album and Literally every single It's gone. You know, it's just a I mean almost every single thing.

person in their office, like if they weren't there maybe that day they made it, but That was That was really it. Just you know. Decimated, but

I mean he was just such an amazing guy. Like the most incredible person in the world. And What company did he work for? A firm. He worked for Ke Kef Rattenwoods.

And they were amazing after I mean they really were, they're such a good company. So like, you know, I didn't have kids Unfortunately, I wish I did. Um But

you know, my best friend was pregnant with um Mark's best friend from the firm. She was a a week pregnant with his baby. Um her husband she was a week pregnant Pregnant. Um And they were just so good to all of the um

You know. All of the the widows and then the surviving children and families. So I became her kind of Brent was his name.

Right. With her and You know, when she had her C section and I mean it was it was it was a tough You know, and went with her to spread his ashes on Seal Beach. In California and

Um Mm. Yeah. How How long did it

Was it before you were Able to Say, all right, I'm I gotta get back to this. This thing that I started. I don't even know. I can't even remember, honestly, I've blacked out so much of that time.

Yeah. That it's weird, it's just like gone from my mind. Um Like numb. Yeah. Just kind of unconnected to

The world around you. You know, as I started to kind of try to go back to work a little bit, you know, people would say, like, Oh Maureen, you should Um You know you should You should you you have to answer this email or you have to do this, it would be like good for you.

Um, remember the office was in our apartment. So I would work during the day a little bit and when everybody left, like the interns and I had one or two employees at that point, I would just like collapse in the bed that Mark and I shared at night So yeah. And I kept it. in that apartment for many years, which looking back that probably wasn't The healthiest thing that I

How are you um Just For your own mental health, how are you?

Coping. I mean were you Did you have Some talk to a therapist or Family. I mean I went on like multi hour walks every day.

Um I would walk our office was on the lower east side and so I would just like walk on the East River all the way down to South Street Seaport. Yeah, and sometimes I would do it at night, and my family was like, You can't do that at night. It's really dangerous. Um so yeah.

I mean Not that not the healthiest, but And then, you know, at the time my office, like the girls would go for walks with me, which was really nice. Um So

Yeah, I mean And and people who experience grief like that. Um You know

They talk about it coming and going. There are times where it's really intense and And times are You can manage. Yes. Um

Did that last a long time? It lasted a long time. Yeah, it did. I mean we were together for a decade, so Um and then nine eleven, remember, is such a You know. So like

It's just every year, you know, I mean it that part is tough. It comes back in the worst kind of way, you know,'cause that's not how I wanted to remember Mark, like by that. The bad stuff, I wanna remember all of the good stuff. But we come back in just a moment. Amoreen grapples with grief.

and figures out a way forward. Tart. And for herself. Stay with us. I'm Guy Raz and you're listening to how I built this.

Hey, welcome back to How I Built This. I'm Guy Raz. So by two thousand two, Maureen is picking up the pieces of tart while learning to manage her grief. And pretty soon she moves the company out of her apartment and into an office. Her main client is still the luxury retail store Bendels. But then the cosmetic chain Sephora.

Come stocking. When I met with them for the first time I thought it was just meeting with like one or two people and they brought like David Slatiana, who at the time was like the head. Um And it was like ten people.

So I was like, Oh my gosh, I'm feeling very overwhelmed, and it was just me. And they said, okay, you know, this brand is amazing, we've read about it everywhere, we've seen it in Bendels, we wanna launch it. We wanna launch it in, you know. All of our stores. And I was like, thank you so much. That's so flattering, but I can't launch it in all of your stores, but I could launch it in like three stores. Yeah. He laughed at me and he was like, I can't launch it in three stores. That's crazy. How about You know, how about like fine, we'll meet somewhere in the middle, like have it a hundred stores. I was like, I can't launch it in a hundred stores. Maybe I could like do five stores. I think I settled with like fifteen stores. Um so we started the dot com first and then um

And then, you know, we rolled out to four months later to Fifteen stars. Alright, so you get picked up by Sephora. But but still an a s sort of a small scale.

And um I guess You know, you're still kinda you're growing small. I mean you're you're still it's cash flow. that is financing the business, right? You're not d d we were taking out loans. I wasn't taking out loans. Now I'm using my um

My nine eleven fund, which Is really tough because You know, I knew that this is what Mark wanted for me, but it also felt like oh my gosh, if I make a mistake and screw this up in any way, shape, or form. I've like not only failed myself, but I failed Mark. So

Yeah. Like So he I mean It is amazing. I mean his legacy really is wrapped up in this company. It really is in every way. Yeah.

So after his his his death, uh uh obviously the Yeah. Um As you said, helped out. the the surviving family members. Um, so you had some money that you could use to

Yes, to continue to finance it over the years because I remember our head of you know like I I hired someone from Pricewater House Cooper to do like You know, all the finance stuff, the accounting And I I hired her while we were still in the apartment and she didn't know we were in an apartment. So she left, you know, P W C I don't know, it was big six at the time or you know, what we called it back then. Do you oh you hired her full time to be your finance person. And when she came to the apartment and walked in.

She was like, Oh my gosh, what? is this. Like what have I done? I already quit my job. Барте і на ню офис. You know, she reminded me it was Twelve fifty.

a month, like one thousand two hundred fifty dollars. And there were some months that like Tarte couldn't pay it. And that like I would have to lend the money. Because you didn't have enough revenue coming in from Tart. Exactly. Yeah. And and she was your first hire, your first formal hire? She was my second vermal hire. My first formal hire was an intern.

Um that you know, had been interning with me and I brought her on full time. And your second hire was this woman w with a finance background. And she's she's still with me and she's still the head of finance. Wow. And why was that the the second hire? Why was why why was the finance job, in your view, the most important because I'm not a finance person. And I wanted to make sure that all of my hires were people that

were strong at things that I'm not good at. Yeah. I think if you surround yourself with people that are smarter than you and stronger than you and things that you can't do. Um you'll be successful. So You've got this office.

and it's a four of you and and So on a day to day basis, what tell me a little bit about what you were all doing, like were you Were you just sort of managing your existing buyers like calling them Were you trying to get into new stores? Were you calling the lab? Were you

going to the lab, were you coming up with ways to were you calling editors All those things. I was wearing all of those hats. I've never worked so hard in my life. I felt like I was pushing a boulder up like a mountain every single day. Yeah. And then just like crashing in bed at night. Kind of depressed, you know. Um Depressed. Well,

Mark and Yeah. Yeah. So But like obviously happy that the company is growing and and doing well. Um so like I didn't have time to think at

All during the day. It was so busy nonstop. Yeah. Just'cause we were growing and not didn't have a lot of resources. And then at night, you know, your mind would Everything would get quiet and your mind would Yeah, we just start to Start to slow down and like think a little bit.

Um you got remarried in I think two thousand four. Um and Um and to to the husband that you're married to today. Mm-hmm. Yes. What's his name?

His name is Scott. Scott, okay. Yeah. I feel like he and Mark would would have been best friends for sure. And and he was also was he working in w like he You you met him in New York? I actually met him. He went to um

uh Wharton with my best friend from undergrad. Um and I met him when we went to Boston. We were selling in a little apothecary that's since out of business called Es and we needed a place to stay'cause we still were pretty scrappy and my best friend Raquel said, Well I can stay with Scott, you know, from business school. Um we could just Stay there. And I was like, Okay, sounds good and And that's when I met him.

And um Yeah, and we got married in two thousand four. Wow. And he eventually came on board to like help That's hard. He eventually joined the company. He did. He

Um he moved to New York for me. And he Um was in finance. And then he um he became an FBI agent for a little while. What a couple of years, yeah. And then um he loved it so much. I mean it was like the favorite thing he's ever done. But I just we were starting to really be drowning and I you know, he had his CPA and his MBA and I just said, Like I need the help. Please, like just come help, um, even for a little while. And so he kinda took a leave of absence came on board to help.

But virtually never. made his way back to the FBI, which he's still sad about to this day and it reminds me. He said, You know, gosh, it's so different here, you know, girls cry, you know, when they break up with their boyfriends, it's very different from the FBI. I was like, Oh yeah When when I mean even by two thousand five, right, when you are in And that's the year where you your mascara makes its debut, which I think is becomes a b a a big hit. But Even even with the

Like the magazine placements and being in in some of those stores. Like you still needed to market the product and I can't imagine you had a pr a massive budget. for advertising or promotional things. How did you get

How did you get people to be aware of Uh of your products. Yeah, you know, we've never spent one dollar in advertising in Tart ever. Um You know, in the beginning we never had the money to, and then obviously as

As time progressed, you know, that changed a little bit. Um I think Facebook started in two thousand four. So if you think about that, you know, social media, MySpace was like two thousand three. Um You know, we hopped on the influencer trend pretty early. Um Which

Was definitely. great um for us. And started sending it to influencers. Or people we thought were influencers that just sending them free product and And hoping that they w they might

Write about it on their blog or whatever. Exactly. Or put it on their Facebook page. Back then we would send it to Um I did have PR back then, in house PR. So Um one of the early hires was like part time PR person, so we would send it And she would pitch or he would pitch to who They would send it to celebrities. Like there was a there's a data there was a database then and there's a database now where you can like look up like you know where to send celebrities products to and things like that. So we would just like send it out. Um open it up and like it and talk about it. Exactly, exactly. You know, I would keep sending it to the magazine, so I remember sending it to Gail, Oprah's best friend. And Gail Gail from CBS, Gail Key. Mm-hmm.

And Gail gave it to Oprah. And Oprah that's put it in her f um Oprah's favorite things. And it was our double ended lip glosses. You snap them apart. They were named after famous lovers like um, you know Carrie and Juliet was one of them, yes, absolutely. Um Rhett and Scarlet, like Hamlet and Ophelia, even Carrie and Big. And

Once we hit O the Oprah O list, it was like, oh my gosh, unbelievable, like flying to the moon. I mean you had made it, you know? I mean'cause Oprah, remember, I mean, still is very influential, but back then it was just everything. She was the OG. Um I think I would think of this was a turning pretty important turning point for your for the growth of the business, which is two thousand five. Um

And that year you signed a deal or contract on how it works with Q V C. Yes. And Basically you go on it and uh and I shouldn't be explaining this'cause I think everyone listening to this knows how it works. I'm just explaining this to myself. You go on and there's a

fifteen, ten, fifteen minutes to talk about your product and there's a number and people can call and order it, right? Exactly. And how much time would you get on K V C eight minutes. And you still do to this day. It hasn't changed. Are you selling a bunch of things or just one thing in that eight minute period? Uh generally it's one thing. Unless it's T S V, in which case then it's a kit. So all of your products in two thousand and five were obviously unique because they were paraben free and vegan and cruelty and all this stuff. But

You had one product that really was totally different, which was the uh cheek stain, right? Yes. Was that did you patent that? Did you I didn't. Remember I had no business experience. I You know. Which is okay looking back, I didn't patent my fabric packaging, I didn't pat my cheek stain. But we launched it on Q V C and it sure did sell out. I mean those phone lines lit. Uh And how quickly before competitors jumped on that idea? I mean, it took time, actually, which was pretty great back then. I feel like

Not everybody copied everybody back then, which was which was lovely. Um I don't know. And I felt like I was constantly moving back then. It was like okay, what's the next cool idea? What's the next fun thing? Um, I was always trying to like, you know, really like be different and think outside the box. But you know, I think back to my QVC days and While it wasn't sexy, I mean Q V C saved us because

It just helped us grow. When you think about Catabulting to another like level of sales. Um, you know, you can go on, especially in Q four, like holiday time, and do like twenty three thousand dollars a minute. Yeah. I'm sure I'm allowed to share this, but

Um And when you're, you know, young and you're selling and you're in control of your own destiny. Yeah, and you come off And you've sold, let's say I've sold like twenty thousand dollars a minute and you have a buyer say, Okay, well you didn't get gold'cause it was twenty three and I'm thinking, Who cares? I just killed it. Yeah. Yeah. Were were you, um when you s first started going on QVC

Uh I I mean You have no idea how many people are watching at any given time. A hundred and one million, but no, I did not know then. How many?

Hundred and one million, yes. At one moment. How is that possible? A hundred and one and I I love T V C I have to say I just Wait, a hundred and one million that's around the world? Yeah viewers. That's like the superfall. Yeah, they're clicking over from the nightly news and you know, they channel surf. So they're never gonna watch your whole I always say, because now I while I don't sell myself on air anymore directly. I help the girls that do sell with their cells every single week and I just remind them, I'm like, remember, the only one watching your full eight minutes is your mom. And us. Yeah. Right. And you're with somebody else, right? From QVC who's sort of asked asking you questions. Yeah. And is it w is it nerve wracking? Yeah, it was it was nerve wracking for sure, especially because we were growing. We were st definitely in growth mode at that point and You know, every hit was it was

on consignment back then and so you know you ship it to them and you don't get paid until you sell it. And so For us we had already like paid the the lab and paid the packaging company and so we needed to get paid. So and probably you have to price it. at a price that Q V C wants you to price it at Exactly. It had to be more competitive for sure. But I look to Q V C yeah as kind of like more like an infomercial because you're selling it's all of those a hundred and one million like eyeballs and ears.

And then, you know, they may buy it there, many do, but they also may stroll into Ulta or Sephora and buy your product there'cause they want to touch it and smell it and feel it. So all right, so you're growing. I at a really healthy pace and not at a kind of explosive pace because you really are still self financed, I think.

You you know, the company starts in two thousand, by two thousand seven you're at around fifteen million. So still a small business. But but but growing at a healthy pace, I think you had about twenty five or thirty employees roughly at that time. Does that sound about right? Mm-hmm.

Um and Then we hit the beginning of what would become the Great Recession in two thousand eight. Um and I read that at the time, um Like almost sixty percent of women cut back on cosmetics.

Um and and uh many cosmetics companies saw pretty significant um declines. around that time. H what what happened to your business? We were fine. I mean, we were just growing. We were still like in like super growth mode.

Um So for us we were doing great. We were just scaling on QVC and You know, I I would be Driving commuting two hours into the city. Then I'd you know, I'd work all day, then I'd drive to Western Pennsylvania. I'd sell on air.

And I drive home, um I had, you know, at this point now Two kids, two little little kids. So Living in New York City. Um we actually had moved out I think at that point. So when they think back on me, like just I don't know, m my time selling on K V C they're like

We never want you going back on air. You were driving from Yeah. New York to Pennsylvan once a week. Yeah, or twice a week and you get home really late. It was like Friday night beauty and then sometimes you'd have to be on like Saturday night too. So it was it was a it was a lot, but

You know, I mean I I definitely loved it and that was helping us really grow. Um, so that year, two thousand nine, were you still sourcing All of your all of your product from that lab in New Jersey or were you also sourcing it from other labs at that point? We were sourcing about sixty percent of it from that lab in New Jersey. From that original lab that agreed to take you on see what you did for them? You gave them a lot of business. I know, I know, but you know what? It's a good Good tale of like making sure you diversify, which we of course have since then.

Because Okay, two really big things happened. Um I Finally decided that we needed

Private equity. Yeah. You needed outside funding. We did because we were gonna go in Ulta. And launched three hundred and sixty four doors. And that means you need a lot of product and you needed money. Exactly. Yeah, we needed a ton of inventory. We're gonna need a field team.

field team is to go out and to make sure that to make sure that it's placed right and also like sample it for people. Exactly, exactly. And so Um And it costs money. It costs money, yeah. And so We had met with tons of private equity firms, you know, I'd heard the horror stories through the years.

You know, on K V C especially, there'd be a lot of other founders and they'd say that they got pushed out or their teams got fired and they were like, Be careful, Maureen, be careful. Remember I waited eleven years at this point and so I finally found a private equity firm that I was really happy with. They're called Encore, and this guy, Kevin Murphy, was such a good guy. And they signed an L O A. Um, because we needed that money for the Ulta expansion.

Um, and it was really exciting. And they they so they made an investment in the company. Well they signed a letter of intent, right? Um but Literally days later. I got a phone we got a phone call when the girls in the office Um

from one of our truck one of the truckers. They're not our trucker, just a trucker that we work with. And I think this is a good example if you're good to people, they'll be good back to you. Seeing that there's something weird, there's like activity happening at the lab. And I was like, Wait, what do you mean activity? Like just something weird's going down and like You should come down. I was like, okay, shoot. So I hop in a car, I drive over the bridge.

And Um I go in and I said like Hey, you know, what's going on here? Is everything going okay? And they said, We have really bad news and we're so sorry to be telling you this. I I don't even know how you're here or how you knew this, but we're going out of business.

And it's happening right now. I was like but wait what? But how is that possible? They were Making sixty percent of your product, presumably they were doing okay. They were doing okay. We had like a couple of little blips where like We did like mini cheek stains, like travel size cheek stains, and they get like a little soft. They're a little like mushy like cranberry. And then we had an issue with like a foundation where it was like a pump w wasn't pumping out, but like we worked through it.

So like there are like a few little signs, you know, looking back There were a couple signs that I should have And I did, I was on it and I was like addressing those concerns with them. I was meeting with them and stuff, but there was no like signs of this going out of business. Of course, I was like, Oh my gosh, I was like, Okay, well when is this happening? And they said immediately. This week we're c we're closing their their cl our our parent company is closing our doors. Wow. So I was like, What about our products? What about our what about our

packaging that you you know, they were storing a lot of our stuff there. Cause you know, they store your packaging to then fill it eventually. And they said, I don't know, the the bank is taking it over and you know, um It's not gonna be ours anymore. I was like, What do you mean? Um And so Scott, my husband at the time said

You know, when that happens they usually put a lock they put a lock on the door and then the bank owns it all until you know you can fight it out in court. And I was like, but what do you mean that's we own that stuff. Like w what do you mean the bank's gonna come to own it? That's insane. Like we paid for all the packaging and Oh they and they locked you out? No, they were they they would be locking you out. So I turned around and I went out and I rented an eighteen wheeler Um truck. Wait, where did you go to like a U hall. Okay. It was insane. It was so insane. I've never in my life done this, but I was like, what am I gonna do? What am I gonna do? And um

Everyone from the company came, you know, came over and And I got family and everybody. loaded up as much as they could. We definitely didn't get everything. Um but we got as much as we could, and then literally the next day. The doors were padlocked because

Est. Laud or L'Oreal, they all manufactured there and they made products for like, you know, Bobby Brown and tons of company tons of companies, you know, because they own them and they couldn't get any of their stuff for a year and talk about exp Expiration dates, right? Like makeup expires. Yeah. Went bad. So we would have gone bankrupt.

Bankrupt at that point. And all of our bank loans were personally guaranteeing. Um guaranteed like by us. So like you know, including like our house. So

You know, private equity was gonna be taking some tips off the table, sure, but like also making sure that we didn't lose our house. And remember I said that Scott was an accountant and so like at the time he would sit and like figure it out all the time. Like Um and you know where we were kind of like numbers wise,'cause I was just like, we were out of money. Um, we get really close to being bankrupt if our retailers didn't pay us or if our suppliers didn't supply us. Like You know, just anything went sideways on us.

We were technically bankrupt like every other month for two thousand eight and two thousand nine. Even though your revenue is strong. Yes. Just'cause we didn't have the money. So what happened to the investment?

So They absolutely could have walked away. I mean they probably should have walked away, but this guy Kevin Murphy I mean like I you know, I didn't know him, but like he Stood by us. And he said, We're gonna do it.

We believe in you. We invest in people. And We believe that you guys are you're gonna pull Um through this.

And we did. But It was real Really, really stressful. We managed through all of it.

This is Encore Consumer Capital. Yes. Yes. And so they made an investment. And what did that what did that investment allow you to do? Was it I mean did it were the allow it allowed you to to to basically Serve the Alta. Buy it.

To to serve all those stores? Well the irony is, um guy, that by the time it came through We were already launched in Ulta. Well. And so they doubled their investment.

They doubled their investment. But like it's the kind of thing where if we weren't okay It was all sideways and we were bankrupt. And it was all it was all cash flow. Yes, all cash flow. And sp but but when you say we would have been bankrupt is'cause cash flow it's like, right? It's there's Uh uh you know, if you're I don't know, thirty days or what just a few days between m having the money, not having the money, waiting for the product and and so you're saying if that

If you could not get your product from that bankrupt lab. That would have been it. That would have been it. Yeah, and the banks would have called in like loans and our house was tied to it. I would have literally lost everything in my entire life. And if you think back to Yeah, just mark and

Everything that I did in his memory to like. Invest and just Yeah. I just I would have lost it all. I would have ruined everything. So all right, so you get um

Get through. And you've got you've got an investor and and um And the company is growing and um And then Two thousand fourteen, you get an offer.

Yes. Um they acquire you to announce in April of twenty fourteen. Um how did that come about? Um, I think once you Once you take on private equity you know, the they'll always look for an exit. I think that's always gonna be

kind of the end, um Yeah. So you knew in two thousand ten, once you took that money back. I did. That There was gonna ha there was gonna inevitably a be an action. I did, I did. Um

You know, which it was it was definitely like a slower exit, um for me, which I think was good because You know, I loved I loved um what I was doing. But Um Kose is kind of like the equivalent of um like a lauder or a L'Oreal in um in Japan.

And they we're looking to acquire a company that they could study and learn from to like really help them with their marketing in the states. And so they kinda felt like Tarte would be a great um Just like a great one for for them for that.

I wasn't ready to kind of like hang up my high heels and and be done for sure. Um so Kose was like a a good match for me. I knew that if I went with like a lotter or you know, a lotter or L'Oreal um it would be different.

Like I I wasn't ready to go lay on the beach forever. Like I like working and I like doing this and I just felt like they were a good partner that would allow me to do that and I maintained Like a surpris level of control given my remaining ownership percentage, um that I I did put Um In the shareholders agreement. To make sure that it remained that way.

So you they bought I think about almost ninety four percent of the company, ninety three and a half percent. Right. Uh and and you kept um percentage and Um And you wanted to stay on as a CEA. I did, yeah.

I did. Yeah, I just wasn't ready to be done. They they they bought it for, I guess, around one hundred thirty five million dollars, um, which is amazing and incredible. exit for a brand that you started um you know in a apartment. Um But you really w I mean, you're still the CEO today. That w that happened in twenty fourteen. Yes. And so we're we're approaching nine years since Crazy. since that uh the time of this recording, nine years since that that happened, and you're still the CEO. Yes, I am. And in twenty twenty is when my final like shares were done.

And at that point, um, we were valued at two point three billion. Wow. Yeah. And tell me, I mean, how many how many employees does Tart have now around the world? Um I think like two hundred and fifty or so.

And so it's pretty it's still pretty manageable. And and I mean From I mean, but still like running a t you know, uh obviously not everybody is a direct report to you, but still you oversee that Yeah.

Um How have you what what's been helpful for you to to kind of develop into the kind of leader that you have become. Like hire a coach or get a mentor, or did it just kind of over time you just kind of figured it out?

Yeah, I mean I have to say A little of both. I've definitely had mentors over the years. I think they're really important. Um And read a lot of lot of business books. Um, but I think that it's really important to recognize as a founder and as a boss, like what you're that you're not the expert at everything. Um

And I just have some really amazing people around me. Um, I have a president. I have a all female C suite, which is Something I'm very proud of. It's very unusual, believe it or not, in um the cosmetic industry to have um women At the top.

Um And yeah, I mean I I I love everyone I work with. I feel very lucky. It's It's the thing that keeps me still. um going and it's the thing that keeps me still at tart. Is the people.

It's always been about the people for me. Um when you when you think about your story, right? And and all that you've been through and all the ups and downs and um and and there were m certainly some really Major Downs. Um how much of of where you are to do you think has to do with Your work and your work ethic and how much

Do you tribute to luck? Oh, I think both. I think luck and um hard work, for sure. I think that Um I worked really, really hard and have had a lot of support throughout my life. Um, but I also feel like I been lucky.

You know, I'm very blessed. So I feel like Um both of them, for sure. That's Maureen Kelly.

CEO and founder. of Tart Cosmetics. By the way, despite never advertising nor even using professional models, Tart has grown a super loyal customer base, who the company calls Guessed it. Hard blitz.

Hey, thanks so much for listening to the show this week. If you want to contact the team, our email address is hibt at id.wondery.com. If you want to follow us on Twitter, our account is at how I built this, and mine is at guy Raz. And on Instagram, I'm at guy.Roz. This episode was produced by Carrie Thompson with music composed by Ramteen Arablui. It was edited by Andrea Bruce with research help from Sam Paulson. Our production staff also includes JC Howard, Casey Herman, Liz Metzger, Alex Chung, Elaine Coates, John Isabella, Chris Massini, and Carla Estevez. Our intern is Susanna Brown. I'm Guy Roz, and you've been listening.

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