Insider Tips for Breaking Into the Beauty Industry (w/ Jenn Harper, Founder & CEO - Cheekbone Beauty)

And So, She Left: Wisdom from Women Beyond the Corporate World

**A GIFT FOR "And So, She Left" listeners: until December 8, 2023, get 20% off all regular priced items at www.cheekbonebeauty.com with code ASSL20**

With $500 in a basement in St. Catherines, Ontario, Jenn Harper started Cheekbone Beauty.

She had zero experience working in the beauty space, making the leap from a career in the food industry’s hospitality and sales sectors. Like all great entrepreneurs, Jenn’s vision eventually rocketed the company to earn multi-million-dollar revenues. But unlike other founders, Jenn’s vision was literal: in January 2015, a dream popped into her head of three little indigenous girls, giggling and covered in lip gloss.

Battling alcoholism and intergenerational trauma, she started Cheekbone on the side. But today, Cheekbone Beauty sells every kind of colour cosmetic you can think of in stores like Sephora and JC Penny.

This is the story of how Jenn carved out a unique space in the nearly $600 billion beauty industry as a newcomer. You’ll hear how her cultural background served as a guiding light, her greatest advice for entrepreneurs venturing into new industries, and the practical methods she used to quickly scale her company to the next level.

Jenn talks about:

• The literal dream that inspired her business
• Going from $500 to selling products in Sephora and JC Penny
• The role that her identity plays in helping her brand to stand out
• The sacrifices she and her husband have made to create Cheekbone
• Her greatest pieces of advice for entrepreneurs entering a new industry
• How she uses lab testing to carve out a unique advantage in the beauty space

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Hosted by Katherin Vasilopoulos. Made by Cansulta and Ethan Lee.

Music by © Chris Zabriskie, published by You've Been a Wonderful Laugh Track (ASCAP).

Songs used in this episode include: "Air Hockey Saloon," "I Refuse to Accept That There's Nothing I Can Do About It," "The Lower Third Hall of Fame," " They Call It Nature," "I Should Have Been More Human," "Short Song 010923."

Used under the Creative Commons 4.0 International License