Buzzy Skincare Line Summer Fridays Has Thrived During COVID—This Marketing Pivot Was Key
Co-founder Lauren Gores Ireland gives us the inside scoop.
“We truly just started, and never really looked back.”
—Lauren Gores Ireland, Co-Founder of Summer Fridays
Just because a market is saturated doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try to disrupt it. Let’s take the beauty industry for example. It’s a $532 billion market, which might seem too daunting to even attempt breaking into, but here’s the kicker: women are leading the way!
When it comes to gender equality at the highest level, the beauty industry comes out on top. In fact, it officially outranks every other profession in terms of the highest percentage of women seen on the board and in executive positions.
Unfortunately, that number is still only 29%, so clearly, we still have a long way to go. But the good news is that women aren’t waiting for the doors to open; they’re carving out their own niche and taking a slice of that billion-dollar pie for themselves.
Lauren Gores Ireland is one of them. The co-founder of the buzzy skincare brand Summer Fridays broke the influencer mold and turned her online community into brand ambassadors. But it’s the brand’s unique marketing initiatives during COVID that has really set them apart from their competitors.
Knowing that people would be stuck at home for summer Fridays this year, Lauren and her co-founder Marianne Hewitt decided to put the summer back into summer Fridays with comfort house calls.
We’re talking a cake collaboration with Sweet Laurel Bakery inspired by their Jet Lag face mask; a Craig’s Vegan Jet Lag-inspired ice cream called Vanilla Cloud, which comes with a mini mask; and a co-branded limited edition collage kit and photo filter with Tezza Barton. So smart!
At our recent Small Business Summit, Dell Technologies brought the co-founder of Summer Fridays and the founder and CEO of Create & Cultivate, Jaclyn Johnson, together for a conversation on how the beloved skincare brand has pivoted its marketing strategy due to COVID, why networking has been key to their wild success, and what the power of social media marketing can really do.
In fact, thanks to DWEN (Dell Women’s Entrepreneur Network), Dell is enabling women entrepreneurs across the globe to succeed by helping them navigate business challenges. DWEN has a proven ability to facilitate meaningful connections and bridge access to fellow entrepreneurs and advisors, technology, new markets, and resources needed to scale.
If you missed the conversation at our Small Business Summit, you’re in luck. Below, we’ve compiled all the most memorable quotes from the session. So, get out your notebooks because class is now in session!
On launching the business right away…
“We had the idea and, quite literally, that afternoon we were already taking steps toward creating a business.”
“We truly just started, and never really looked back.”
On tapping into your immediate network…
“Once you have an idea and you start asking people, even within your friends-and-family circle, a lot of times, they know someone who knows someone who can connect you, whether that’s to a lab or a manufacturing facility.”
On knowing when it’s time to bring on a team…
“You get to a point where you realize you can’t do everything.”
“Once you’re with a retailer like Sephora, you can’t operate without a proper team behind you.”
On seeking out mentorship opportunities…
“I know that we would not be where we are today without the mentors who really helped guide us.”
“Jen Atkin of OUAI was significant for us. She’s the one that introduced us to Sephora. She guided us when we had big questions.”
“Jamie Kern Lima of IT Cosmetics very kindly sat down with us for hours one day and just gave us so much information and advice, which was so incredible.”
On investing in your own business…
“Before you’re making money, you have to put money into the business.”
On the power of social media marketing…
“It’s remarkable what you can do in the beginning, without a ton of money, on a channel like Instagram.”
“Trying to reach out to the networks that you have, doing gifting, sending things out to people, and investing in getting that product out to people is really helpful.”
“Now that we have grown, whether they’re our close friends or someone that we don’t know, we do pay influencers, and that is now part of our strategy.”
“What Instagram is best for is getting out the message so people can see it and it makes them want it.”
On networking with other brands…
“Reaching out to other brands that feel native to your brand is a really great way to grow.”
Learn more about Dell's Women's Entrepreneur Network (DWEN) at DWEN.com.
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5 Entrepreneurs & Execs Share How Technology Has Changed Their Careers
“Your setbacks are a setup for a really great comeback.”
From social media to emails, podcasts to presentations—technology affects every facet of our lives at work. And it’s changing every day.
We wanted to know how some of our favorite technology leaders and entrepreneurs are using technology to build brands and products, as well as how the women behind that technology made it happen, so we teamed up with our friends at Dell last week to host the #DellExperience Power Players pop-up chat at CES. We loved listening to Alicia Quarles chat with Rachel Tipograph, Kimberly Bryant, Rakia Reynolds, Gerri Tunnell, and Stephanie Hallford about how their careers have evolved—and how they’re shaking up the industry themselves. Below, a few of our favorite tips from the pros:
Their best piece of business advice…
“Invest in your voice. Your ability to be a powerful orator will get you much further than any other skill.”
- Rachel Tipograph, founder & CEO of MikMak
“Step into the unknown. As women I think we’re always trying to think 10 steps ahead and always know what’s next, but where the real growth and opportunity lies is in the unknown.”
- Kimberly Bryant, founder & CEO of Black Girls Code
“Understand that things take time. We see so much glory through social media, but more people have to tell the story behind the glory. If you understand that things that time, you compete with yourself less and less.“
- Rakia Reynolds, founder & CEO of Skai Blue Media
“Vote with your heels. If you’re at a job you don’t feel is working, walk in and be vocal, or go find a job that will reward you for being you. Too often, people stay in a place where their skills are not fully realized, and you have to know the time to either walk in and ask for change or walk out.”
- Gerri Tunnell, SVP of Marketing, Dell
“It’s OK to say no.”
- Stephanie Hallford, VP & GM, Business Client Platforms at Intel
On starting a new venture…
“The part that I love about my job is the part after you’ve learned a bit but you don’t know everything, and you have just enough time to think about things in a really different way from everyone else.”
- Gerri Tunnell
“Your setbacks are a setup for a really great comeback—and everybody loves a comeback. Look at it as an opportunity to innovate and build something new.”
- Rakia Reynolds
On inclusion in the industry...
“We need to look at what it means to be a black woman, or a gender-nonconforming person, or a disabled person in technology. Where that intersectional line happens is where we see the biggest gap. We can’t solve that unless with have a broader discussion around what inclusion and diversity looks like across the spectrum.”
- Kimberly Bryant
“We all have unconscious biases, and it’s so important to understand what those are so you can come from a place of understanding and action.”
- Gerri Tunnell
“Great leaders make other leaders. I’ve had people pour into me, and I’ve gotta pour support back into others.”
- Rakia Reynolds
Dell’s new XPS 13 is thin and light with an innovative top mounted HD webcam and has up to 21 hours of battery life. The XPS 13 is a beautiful and powerful product that helps powerful women get the job done.
On the future of tech...
“I want to see a young woman that has risen through the ranks of the tech industry and is the CEO of an emerging field. I want them to be able to break the barriers so much so that there won’t be a need for a Black Girls Code in the future.”
- Kimberly Bryant
“Young women are so socially-conscious about what they do and the mark they leave on the world. In the future, these women will be in places of power and will use technology for good.”
- Kimberly Bryant
CES 2019 was a hit and we were so happy to see so many of our Create & Cultivators there. This was our first time at the event and we’re so grateful to have had the opportunity to partner with Dell, who has been a real champion of women in the tech space. Same time next year? Sounds like a great plan to us!
This post is sponsored by Dell.
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