Building a $150MM Brand on the Foundation of Passion + Purpose with Karissa Bodnar, Founder of Thrive Causemetics

“I wish there was a beauty brand I could go work for that was rooted in philanthropy.” It’s the desire that led Karissa Bodnar to found Thrive Causemetics, the leading direct-to-consumer luxury beauty brand. As a child growing up on her family’s farm in rural Washington, she mixed her own beauty products and would go on to travel the world working for L’Oreal’s luxury division. Following a friend’s death from cancer, Karissa was inspired to create a line of clean products which people with health concerns can feel safe using. Since its founding in 2015, the company has donated an astounding $135 million in funds and products to 500 giving partners in order to help deserving communities thrive. 

With empathetic leadership and a dedication to social action, Karissa is on a mission to change the way we think about the power and potential of beauty. 

Key takeaways:

Ignorance is bliss when you’re starting a business Don’t raise money if you don’t need toStart slowly - especially if you’re low on capitalRely on and trust your community to guide you in making pivotal decisionsAsk for help, you can’t do it aloneFind friends outside the business

Quotes:

“I often say that ignorance is bliss when you're starting a business, because if I had known how hard it was, I wouldn't have done it.”(11:47 | Karissa)“I had to work on it for many, many years, much longer than your traditional product development cycle. That spirit of creating products that are truly solving problems still rings true in all of the products that we're creating. Because at the time the world didn't need another pair of false eyelashes or lash glue. There were great ones on the market, but we needed to solve a very specific problem.” (13:39 | Karissa)“We always say everybody's on the giving team at Thrive Cosmetics because one of our values is one team, one score.” (24:11 | Karissa)“I did not think that it would get this big. I did not think it would happen the way that it did and when it did, but that's one thing that always inspires me, Lindsay, is that I didn't dream that big, but our community did.” (34:34 | Karissa)

Connect with Karissa Bodnar:

Instagram:http://www.instagram.com/thrivecausemetics

Instagram:http://www.instagram.com/karissabodnar

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