Transcript
Speaker: Allison, hi. Hi. Thank you so much for having me. I am so excited to have you. And I mentioned this before we started recording, but you sent me some of your products before our episode, and I love them. It made me even more excited to get to have this conversation with you. But before we jump in, can you tell anyone listening who doesn't know you who you are and what you do?
Speaker: Yeah, my name is Allison Taylor. I'm one of the co-founders of La Preniere, which is an innovative skincare line based on the power of plum. My sisters and I were raised on a fourth generation family farm in Northern California.
Speaker: And we had a little crazy idea to upcycle the dried plum. And we're using the seeds of the fruit. We're cold pressing it. And we launched Le Penier in 2018. So it has been a journey. And i still run it with my sisters. And it's just amazing and fun.
Speaker: I really want to get into... The brand, the work you're doing now, and your career journey up till then. Can you talk to me about the moment where you were like, we think there's something here. Yeah. Why did you think to try it out? to set the stage properly, we really have to go back to think about like when we were children and what we were raised around. We worked farmer's markets during the summers. That's how we made our spending money. And my dad was like, you're going to learn the value of dollar. And he literally... woke up at 5 a.m., packed the truck ourselves. We would hire someone older than us, one of my older sister's friend's brother, so he could drive us. Wow.
Speaker: We did this whole thing. It was like her and i for a couple of years in high school. We were really immersed in the family farm from obviously such a young age. So that made a lasting impact on us. We always grew up with this deep reverence and appreciation for organic farming, sustainability. We just incorporated that in every aspect of our life very naturally. It wasn't something that was forced. And so cut to when we were in high school, our father started taking some of us on business trips occasionally. He would take one or two of us at a time. And the first time I went to Japan was in eighth grade. I studied abroad there for a couple weeks.
Speaker: And following that trip, I've been a bunch, but Thankfully, our dad, it was so sweet of him because he would bring us and just essentially let us sit in on these meetings where we would offer nothing. We were too young. We were just like flies on the wall, but these were longstanding buyers of his. And I think they truly appreciated the heritage and the family component of seeing this next generation that's interested in the family business.
Speaker: And we just truly started to understand how highly regarded the dried plum was as a super fruit. Most people don't even realize there's higher antioxidants than blueberries, kale, spinach. The dried plum, there's something called sorbitol, which just really gives it that laxative kind of digestive effect, but also just shoots the antioxidants through the roof. So but at a young age, we truly started to understand, okay, this is a very special fruit. I don't think either of us thought we would come back and work with the family business. That was never pushed on us whatsoever, but The seed was planted ah many years ago, so to speak. And then my older sister, she was working in Silicon Valley at the time and she was a raw vegan chef. I ended up going into marketing, entertainment, like creative ventures. I really worked for some great brands like Giorgio Armani and Mother Denim.
Speaker: And I credit her for having the idea for the plum oil. So she initially approached my dad and was like, why are we throwing away the seeds of the fruit on the farm? Why are we just throwing away this antioxidant rich kind of byproduct? And his answer was just like, what else are we going to do with it? There's no use for it. And so that was when the seed was planted. So we, from there built out a business plan, did a ton of market research, understanding what is the actual opportunity at hand here? Where is the white space? Plum oil was something that was non-existent and it just hadn't ever really been introduced properly.
Speaker: He of course pushed back and was a little bit like, oh my gosh, I don't know about this girls. This is going to be a large undertaking. he was looking out for our best interest. But after some convincing, we finally were able to purchase the seeds of the fruit. And we set out on a journey to launch Le Prenier. That's trying to condense it, but we did two and a half years of research. Jackie, she really loves R&D and d in formulation. That's where her passion lies. So within those two and a half years, gathered all of this incredible research and finally approached me about it and was like, maybe we should sell this to L'Oreal or Estee Lauder as an ingredient. right yeah
Speaker: My background was more branding marketing. i was at Mother Dunham when they really just started the company from scratch. So I remembered witnessing Lila and Tim, the co-founders, just build this brand that they self-funded, they bootstrapped, and i was so inspired by it. And Lila was very instrumental in helping me with LeBronier, but I remember it being like, there is an opportunity here for us to tell the story of this farm and the family heritage in a way that is really difficult for anyone else to make up. That is the hardest thing I think about developing a brand is what is your story, your point of view, your North Star. And we just had that. How old were you in 2018 when you started this? I think it was like 27, 28. And Jackie, she's a couple years older than me. So she was like early thirty s
Speaker: Wow, yeah, but it seems like you had a vision. And as you're expressing that, it sounds like you've stayed true to that vision. i started it early. I really want to dig in more and I want to talk about the branding a lot because I think you guys have a beautiful brand and it sounds like that's something that I would imagine brought a lot to.
Speaker: So can you just give us a little bit of the work you were doing before you and your sister launched this? I started working with more of an executive like life coach recently and just diving into all the things that I'm passionate about and where I want LePrenier to go. but also looking at some of my prior experience. And there were two years where I felt like I was a singer songwriter. It's just so crazy. I did not uncover this in my research. I always worked in fashion and entertainment through college. I was a beauty editor in college at a magazine that's now no longer in publication. And I've had these like various kind of interesting moments throughout my career. I started in VIP PR and then I moved into beauty as that editor. And I just have always been a really creative person. And singing has been my favorite thing since I was like two years old. I love to sing. And I always used to just do in my spare time. So I essentially worked in fashion and entertainment for 10 plus years out of college. And then I decided to switch gears and I was like, I want just go out on a limb and try singing and songwriting. So I did it for two years. wow And that was what I was doing right before starting Lefrenier.
Speaker: It's so crazy. My full-time job was assisting the chairman of a huge film studio in Los Angeles. I was his main assistant and oversaw a few other people. And that was an expansive experience for me because I realized I definitely did not want to go down that path of entertainment. But...
Speaker: I learned so much from him and it helped me pay the bills while I was writing music on the side. But I had some really incredible experiences. Like I had some placements in HBO series. and like I was on the Entraus soundtrack. So all these crazy things. I remember I had a little bit of an imposter syndrome when I wanted to talk about the business and my prior career history. and I never talked about it because I was just like, you can't, in a sense, I've wrapped my head around like, it's okay. You can be whoever you want to be. You don't have to have this kind of specific career path.
Speaker: And that was the recent discovery for me. I'm like, okay, I'm going to embrace that was like the reality of what I was doing. That's really cool. I'm really happy you said it. And also during COVID, my husband and I watched every single Entourage episode. So I'm sure I heard you. It was in the Entourage film on their soundtrack. So it was a really crazy experience.
Speaker: Is it on Spotify? I'm going to look it up and listen. It is. It is. I'm not doing this, but yes. and No, please don't. I think it's very cool. And I appreciate you saying it because i do so many of these interviews. And one thing I've noticed is I think from the outside, people often have this perspective that if someone has started and launched a company, that that was their plan all along. It is a singular focus and it's like they're manifesting a really specific vision. And sometimes that's the case, but it seems that mostly it's very creative people who are drawn to an idea and they're focused on it. But I really appreciate you talking about your path up till then because
Speaker: yeah A winding path where you're paying attention to what you're drawn to and trying things out seems very common and cool. i And at MedBerry, we do mostly strategy and content on LinkedIn for leaders at enterprise brands.
Speaker: But we end up consulting and supporting and advising on different things. And actually backgrounds have come up a lot lately for us. yeah And it's I've become really attuned to. And I feel like your background's gorgeous. You're giving...
Speaker: brand to me. You're giving someone who's just really attuned to a cohesive vision, folks listening, but there's a really aesthetic, beautiful bookshelf with some awards, some product, a cool plant.
Speaker: What was it that drew you to brand right after school, before even the singer-songwriter work? When I was a kid, we grew up in this tiny little town, right? So magazines were my kind of gateway into a different world. And I thought I wanted to be like a magazine editor when I was young. And I just thought it was like fashion was the first thing that I felt could transport me somewhere else outside of my farm town. I was always just very drawn to it. So when i moved to Los Angeles, I went to USC. i studied communications and I just always wanted to work. I was doing internships nonstop. One of the early experiences that really helped shape me was working with Rodarte and then that beauty editor kind of position as I was, I think, a junior and I knew nothing about beauty at the time other than what I enjoyed. But I remember it was a woman who was ex-Vogue editor-in-chief of Russia. She moved to LA, started this magazine.
Speaker: And I remember having this conversation with her about honing your eye as a muscle, like any other muscle in your body and just training it and really editing. And that has always come very natural to me. And it was something that I feel like working in those kind of industries and worlds at a young age that helped clarify that it was a talent of mine and just something that I felt really drawn to. i want to get into in a little bit your day-to-day currently, but I want to spend some time on the product because it's beautiful. Can you talk to us about the products that you all offer.
Speaker: i feel like it seems from the research I've done and the reviews you're getting, it seems like a cult product and develop a really vocal fan base. We started with our Plum Beauty Oil. That is the one that we are most known for. Chrissy Teigen, she discovered it through a makeup artist. Very crazy story. The makeup artist did not mention that. It was very organic.
Speaker: We didn't know that was a client of hers. And then a few months later, she talked about it on the internet and It just went viral, changed the trajectory of our business overnight. But once that kind of went viral, we were able to reinvest back into the business and we still remain self-funded, but we really had Plum Beauty Oil for four years. That was the single ingredient kind of one product. And then we launched our Plum Screen SPF, which is a very elegant, beautiful formula. I like to refer to it as your kind of everyday under makeup, very moisturizing. It's a foreign one, so it's a primer, it's an SPF of course, but it's also moisturizer.
Speaker: and it has incredible skincare benefits so like it actually treats hyperpigmentation which is crazy you can see the before and afters it's amazing and then we launched our plum body hydrating body cream that's lovely it just creates the most silky finish on your skin leaves you super rich and hydrated and then we've launched a mask plum tox enzyme mask i'm not sure if you've tried that one yet tried the mask or the body lotion yeah And then we launched a cleanser this year in January and a mist recently in May. So the cleanser, it's an oil to lather. It's very subtle, but it's obviously inspired by the Plum Beauty Oil as that's the hero SKU. Everyone really for years has been asking for a c cleanser from us. And so we took five years to develop that. And i think it's won four or five awards already since January. It's done so well. We're very intentional about what we're creating because we're self-funded. We don't feel the pressure to churn out products like many brands that kind of go to market. They just have 12 products already. we were very careful with not only our capital, the funds that we did have, but just with launching, we wanted to make sure that there was a white space, something that we were filling like a gap. And we're very minimal people in general, just in terms of our skincare routines. So we wanted multifunctional products. So that's kind of the ethos through each of the products. I will also mention everything in the line is recognized by the National Eczema Association. So if you have sensitive skin, you struggle with rosacea, dermatitis, eczema, like these products will be so good for your skin.
Speaker: In particular with the oil cleanser, i like an Origins oil cleanser, but they keep discontinuing the ones that I like. Like I'll like it. They discontinue it. I'll find another. I love an oil as a first cleanser. And but the feeling of yours. Also, I have to say the smell of your products is good.
Speaker: What is it like almondy marzipan? Yes. Nice. Yeah. It was funny in the early days, an advisor of ours told us to remove the scent of the marzipan, even though it's totally natural. He wanted to remove it so it would be more of a globally accepted product because he didn't think people in Europe or Asia would really take to the smell. and We actually went through the exercise of doing the process of removing it and testing it for the nutritional content. And the antioxidants were just evaporated. Wow. It was so crazy. So we said, nevermind, we're not going to do that. And now we're so glad we didn't because leaving it alone, like mother nature intended was the best thing. People love that smell.
Speaker: The packaging is also gorgeous. Did you lead on the branding visuals? Yeah. So packaging is definitely just going back to my design aesthetic. I've just very clear on what I do and don't like. And when Jackie and I sat down to really talk about the vision for the brand,
Speaker: Obviously we were inspired by Japan and Korea. We spent a lot of time there and we love the Japanese, it's called Ikebana. It's like a Japanese floral arrangement design. And it's just, if you look at the sides of the carton, you can see there's like plum blossoms that are styled in an Ikebana fashion. And then we wanted it to feel really classic and unisex. So the bottle obviously is like a clean black, very visible logo and just a very clean brand. Initially, when we first launched, again, because we didn't have a ton of funds, I worked with a freelance designer and we came up with this bottle concept in a totally different box. Like, OG fans will remember this box. It was like a coffin box that popped off. And then there was an insert where the bottle would sit inside like a telescope. It was really beautiful. but so expensive. And the insert I've later learned was like not the most eco-friendly. So we nixed that, went to a new design agency here in New York and did a rebrand. It was like 2021. Can you talk me through what a day in your life is like? And I'm curious, not just for the business side of things, but as much as you want to share too around what's your morning routine? What do you do in the evenings?
Speaker: It depends on where I'm at. We're bicoastal the moment right now. So if I'm in New York, my team is working West Coast hours, so I feel like my mornings are much more relaxed here, which is lovely. i have 14-year-old rescue pup who is the love of my life, aside from my husband, but he's my first thing I do when I wake up is usually give my husband a kiss and then go snuggle my dog, and that's mandatory every day.
Speaker: i usually try to make coffee for him. i don't drink a ton of caffeine these days. I just cut it out, which it was tough, but I feel a lot better. And then we will go for a little stroll on the West Side Highway because we're close. So I try to get a few steps in just to start my day. There's times when I'm in California where I feel like I practice yoga a bit more when I'm there and I'll have, whether it's a yoga instructor or I've been doing EMS as a workout at home. Are you familiar with EMS? What's that?
Speaker: Oh, it's intense. It's like a 20 or 30 minute workout where you essentially are wearing this suit that kind of has little electrodes in it. You're lifting small weights, but it's just really contracting the muscles. So it's a supercharged workout. People think I'm crazy, but it's great. Wow. All right. I'm going be Googling after this. Then I dive into calls. I'm usually pretty call heavy in the mornings. My afternoons, I try to limit the call so I can have some more creative time. I feel like I'm a little bit more creative in the afternoon. And then evenings, depending on my energy levels, I will have a dinner or grab a drink with a friend. But i also i really love to cook. So I've been doing these kind of farm boxes. It's called Farm to People in New York. And I get lots of veggies and proteins and things. And so I made dinner last night for us. And that was like a lovely, chill, easy night in. Sounds really nice.
Speaker: Would you consider yourself an introvert or an extrovert? I think I'm like an introverted extrovert. I have a lot of friends, but I'm very introverted. I just find that I love to be social. Don't get me wrong. I see friends a lot on the weekends, but like weekdays, I feel like are very packed at this point. If I can squeeze in like a dinner, I'm glad I've done something great that week because it's hard to get out of the house.
Speaker: What about you? I think maybe similar to you like when people describe ambiverts, I'm like, yeah, that's me. I definitely need and recharge from a alone time, but I get lonely too. So it's like a balance. And then I don't know if you find this as well too, but one thing I'm mindful of is with Medberry, like running the business does take a lot of my creative and social and mental energy and so I'm okay with that but I'm mindful that like this chapter in my life I probably just am a little less social and I'm okay with that because yeah giving a lot during the work hours 100 yeah I know we don't have kids at the moment but we're thinking about that and so then that's a whole other consideration I'm like oh gosh life is gonna change yeah but
Speaker: No, honestly, same. And when I try and imagine what would that routine look like? I'm like, I don't know. I guess we'll figure it out we get there. i know. I look at my sisters and I'm in the middle, but my younger sister, she has two kids and they're both such wonderful mothers. And I see how time-consuming it can be, but also how rewarding and, like, you just somehow have, like, superpowers and you manage to do it all even though you didn't think you had the time. So I'm excited by it.
Speaker: Are you into Jungian psychology at all? This is a niche question, I know. That's a niche question. I'm familiar with it. You can elaborate. I am. And one of my favorite podcasts is This Jungian Life. It's three Jungian analysts. And it's fantastic. They've been, like, featured in the New york Times. They really work.
Speaker: well loved. And I interviewed one of the hosts, Lisa Marciano, who wrote a book called Motherhood Facing and Finding Yourself, which is all about her Jungian perspective on motherhood. And I feel like that was during my deciding process when we were like, do we want this? Is this something I want? And I recommend it to anybody who's found it. It definitely informed a lot for me.
Speaker: As you're talking, one thing I want to say is I love that you said you're more creative in the afternoons because I feel the same. I'm not morning person, but I feel like there's a tyranny of creative morning people who are always like,
Speaker: I get up at 5 a.m. and those two hours of deep focus work are my most creative time. And I'm always like, that's not me. So I always love it when someone else is like, I love a 2 p.m. space to do some deep thinking.
Speaker: A thousand percent, yes. From 2018 till now, so that's eight years, I imagine that's a big chunk of your career. And as the business has grown and evolved, How do you feel like you have grown and evolved as the person who's co-leading it and shepherding it through this decade? I think entrepreneurship pushes you so hard to just develop yourself and discover yourself in ways that you never anticipated. I've become, i think, while I'm very creative, I'm also type a That's what is a positive and a skill set of mine. I can really...
Speaker: build momentum and magnetize things to us, like just through that momentum. But also I've discovered like the softer side of my leadership style. And that has been a journey for myself that just doesn't come as as naturally. So I've had to push myself to just ease and lean into the soft side. I've always knew i wanted to start a company. I always knew I wanted to start a brand like of some sort. And I never would have envisioned a skincare line per se, but when you stood back and looked, it totally made sense in the way we went about it. like My sisters and I have such complimentary skill sets. As I mentioned, Jackie is all R&D. I'm really more of like the marketing kind of storytelling in a lane. She pops in and out on like operations and finance. but
Speaker: We've certainly learned how to push each other as leaders as well. I think in the beginning, working with sisters can be the challenge, right? We're best friends, but we've never worked together in that capacity. So there was a learning curve for sure. did a little bit of sister therapy in the beginning, which was helpful to get through. I was about to ask, I'm like, has therapy come into this at all? Yeah, we did really early on, like especially during like the Chrissy thing. We had to just be all hands on deck because we couldn't focus anywhere else. We were just so consumed by it. And then once that kind of leveled out, then we realized, okay, this business has grown much more than we anticipated in such a short period of time. And we were butting heads on some things. So the sister therapy was really great. So grateful we did it. And now we're like totally fine. It was just a lesson in like,
Speaker: understanding each other and accepting each other and also practicing a little bit of like restraint on some of our opinions. We have learned to respect boundaries really well. So yeah, that's been helpful.
Speaker: I'm always so curious about any type of co-founder dynamics, but particularly like sisters. i was like, oh, what's that like? Or if there's like two married partners, I'm always like, how do you guys do it? I want to go back to what you said about integrating a slightly softer, more feminine style into your leadership, because it's something I think about a lot. I think when I was younger, was was more naturally a bit more masculine in my style. none And that actually served me really well. And there's pros and cons to everything. But at times it felt hard and it felt like it took more of my energy.
Speaker: Now I think sometimes I am much more feminine in my style, but I think sometimes that gets me into trouble too. And like finding the right balance, I try to not overthink it and just show up and be present. But it's something I'm navigating for you when you're talking about integrating relationships.
Speaker: a feminine element. What does that look like? I think a lot of it is just in the pause, right? Maybe there's something that you don't necessarily agree with when you hear it or you have a different opinion. And I can be very honest and blunt in a sense with my internal team. If there's something I agree with or don't agree with, I would just share it. And I've learned to just take a pause, wait for all information to be shared. And then I will come back with one of that's later in the afternoon or on an email or something that like our team works extremely well, but I think I can have a strong personality sometimes. So really just taking a pause and it's interesting because like, I think
Speaker: My sisters, because we just have been together our entire lives, like they're the ones that are like, you you can be intense, you can be tough. yeah And I try to make sure that doesn't come across with my team. I don't want them to feel that way. So it's like, I'm separating the two. I don't necessarily think my team would think that, but I think my sisters sometimes, we're just much more honest with each other when we're worried.
Speaker: And vice versa, like they have their moments too. But I think I just would credit it to just taking a pause and thinking through and not just responding immediately. That's always really helpful for me.
Speaker: Do you ever feel like you overcorrect and later you're like, i just needed to be more direct there and let them figure it out and express how I felt. And you're doing lot emotional work around pausing, being soft, thinking about how they're receiving it. I can think of two instances recently where we' were doing a retailer pitch and I didn't want to step on someone else's toes on the call. So I didn't answer what I knew. i knew the answer immediately and really wanted So I didn't. And the response was...
Speaker: Not the best. And then afterwards, I just kick myself. It's tough when yeah you're running it with multiple people and you have to be cognizant. But I think that's where I'm like, you know what? You just have to lead when you know the answers and when you have a strong point of view or perspective. Sometimes I want to be a little too nice and that can get me into trouble. Let's just not overthink it to your point. I feel like it's like a dial and it's always like, all right. For sure. Allison, I feel like I could ask you questions forever. But is there anything I didn't ask that you'd want to say before we wrap up?
Speaker: but I'm just really excited. We have a very exciting award coming out in September. We won an Allure Best of Beauty Award. So huge. Oh my God. Congratulations. Thank you We found out recently the Plum Beauty Oil was nominated for the first time this year and it won. And I can't believe it because it's really the only award that truly matters. And yeah, I was freaking out.
Speaker: That's incredible. Congrats. So folks listening. Yeah. You already know probably, but that's incredible. Thank you. And then we have a really exciting launch plan for October. it can't get too much away, but it is facial regimen oriented and just such a luxurious, beautiful formula. So I can't wait for people to try this.
Speaker: Amazing. That's a way the of the future if you want to. You have to come back on and talk about all the features you're looking to. So for folks who want to purchase your products, we'll put the website in the show notes. Where else should we send them, social or retailers? Where would you like us to direct them? You can find us at Leprenier on Instagram. That's L-E-P-R-U-N-I-E-R. I'm at Alison Tay. And yeah, just you can find us at Credo as well. Credo Beauty.
Speaker: Alison, thank you so much. This was so fun. I'm glad I got to talk to you. Thank you for having me. i appreciate it.
