In episode 116 of the Glow Journal podcast, host Gemma Watts talks to the co founders of Elemis, Noella Gabriel and Oriele Frank. This is probably the best example of serendipity that we’ve had on the show in the way that Noella, Oriele and their third co-founder Sean Harrington were brought together, each with a complementary skill set, the combination of which was precisely what the brand needed, but also with no real understanding of what they were saying yes to. By no means did the imagine t...
Sep 05, 2023•59 min
In episode 115 of the Glow Journal podcast, host Gemma Watts talks to the founder of Naked Sundays, Samantha Brett. Samantha Brett has always loved beauty but, despite a brief stint as a beauty writer during an internship, she only ever wanted to be a news reporter. Sam worked as hard as she possibly could to achieve the dream she’d held onto since she was 14 years old, and once she got there it was a job she truly never pictured herself walking away from. That was, until, the 2019 to 2020 bushf...
Aug 22, 2023•1 hr 1 min
In episode 114 of the Glow Journal podcast, host Gemma Watts talks to the co founder and creative director, respectively, of Mr. Smith Hair, David and Freda Rossidis. Freda Rossidis is an industry legend. Freda tells me that being a migrant to Australia, very few of her earliest memories are centred around beauty. She had no idea what she wanted to be when she grew up, she fell into hairdressing, and grew to love it over time. As that passion grew, so too did Freda’s resume, as she directed the ...
Aug 08, 2023•43 min
In episode 113 of the Glow Journal podcast, host Gemma Watts talks to the founder and CEO of Kat Burki Skincare, Kat Burki. Kat had studied Healthcare Law and Health Policy at university and was working happily in the industry, occasionally picking up passion projects in interior design as a creative outlet. Upon completing an interior for her brother-in-law, she decided she wanted to sign off the project with a signature scent. She met with some people who worked in the beauty industry creating...
Jul 25, 2023•37 min
In episode 112 of the Glow Journal podcast, host Gemma Watts talks to the founder of ROBE Haircare, Lauren Mackellar. In 5 seasons of this show, Lauren Mackellar is the most inspiring guest I’ve had the joy of sitting down with. Lauren Mackellar was one of Australia’s most in demand hair stylists. In early 2022, following years of intense migraines that she’d chalked up to her work, she took herself to the emergency ward and was diagnosed with a brain tumour. She went into surgery a day and a ha...
Jul 11, 2023•33 min
In episode 111 of the Glow Journal podcast, host Gemma Watts talks to the co-founder of Sundae Body, Lizzie Waley. Imagine not just trying to get customers on board with a new brand, but getting them to entirely change the way they’ve done something for their entire life. That is precisely the task Lizzie Waley was faced with on launched Sundae Body. Lizzie had had a conversation with her business partner about how bath time is so fun when you’re a kid, and by adulthood it’s totally lost its mag...
Jun 27, 2023•38 min
In episode 110 of the Glow Journal podcast, host Gemma Watts talks to the CEO and founder of Gem, Georgia Danos. This conversation is essentially a marketing masterclass. One of Georgia’s earliest roles was at Remedy Kombucha. Now, we all know what kombucha is now, but keep in mind this was in 2014, before the brand was even on Instagram, so Georgia’s job wasn’t just to build the brand’s social media presence- she was more or less responsible for bringing the product to mainstream recognition. A...
Jun 13, 2023•40 min
In episode 109 of the Glow Journal podcast, host Gemma Watts talks to the founder of YŌLI and En Gold, Steffanie Ball. Steffanie Ball’s ties to beauty come through YŌLI, a brand centred around “elevated bathing rituals” that was launched in December of last year with a range including luxury towelling (emphasis on the word luxury), a scent range and a dry body brush. You’ve likely heard of Steff’s first business, furniture and homewares brand En Gold, which began as an Instagram account selling ...
May 23, 2023•56 min
In episode 108 of the Glow Journal podcast, host Gemma Watts talks to the founder of Vida Glow, Anna Lahey. Vida Glow is the number one marine collagen brand in the world, with one unit sold every four seconds. Anna doesn’t hold her cards close to her chest. From sharing the brand’s Shopify launch strategy, what goes into developing packaging and sourcing ingredients, how many products Vida Glow have discontinued and the rationale behind the brand’s 2021 rebrand, Anna sincerely believes that the...
May 09, 2023•1 hr 8 min
In episode 107 of the Glow Journal podcast, host Gemma Watts talks to the co-founder of ABHATI Suisse, Shirin Dörig. A British-born Indian who now lives with her family in Switzerland, Shirin’s mother Anju has been described as a serial entrepreneur. She studied sociology and ethnology, she worked as a social worker in the UK, and was instrumental in setting up a shelter for victims of domestic violence. Her interest in beauty began in the same way her daughter, Shirin’s, did, with both women be...
Apr 25, 2023•33 min
In episode 106 of the Glow Journal podcast, host Gemma Watts talks to the founder and CEO of VIOLETTE_FR and Creative Director of Makeup for Guerlain, Violette Serrat. Violette has been a bucket list guest of mine since Season 1 as I became aware of her work at something of a pivotal time, career wise, for me. Violette realised she wanted to become a makeup artist at the age of 19 after applying glitter to a friends face ahead of a party. She promptly moved to New York, with no training beyond a...
Apr 11, 2023•56 min
In episode 105 of the Glow Journal podcast, host Gemma Watts talks to the founder and CEO of Verso, Lars Fredriksson. It was a love of interaction, communication, and connection that led Lars Fredriksson to the beauty world. Having spent years in business, sales and marketing, he found himself talking to a stranger at a music industry party. Lars and this man were the only two guests who didn’t work in music, and it was this conversation that led Lars to his first role in the beauty world. Lars ...
Mar 28, 2023•44 min
In episode 104 of the Glow Journal podcast, host Gemma Watts talks to the founder of FaceGym, Inge Theron. From early ambitions to become a CNN correspondent to a job as radio DJ, founding a branding agency to launching a board game, it was a job in the wellness space that really made Inge Theron feel as though she was home. Inge spent 11 years as the Financial Times' Wellbeing, Beauty & Spa writer, a job that quite literally saw her trialling the best and, in some cases the worst, beauty an...
Mar 14, 2023•53 min
In episode 103 of the Glow Journal podcast, host Gemma Watts talks to the co-founders of JB SKRUB, Julie Bowen and Jill Biren. USE CODE GLOWJOURNAL15 FOR 15% OFF YOUR JB SKRUB ORDER. Julie Bowen has been acting professionally since 1992, perhaps most notably spending 11 years in the role of Claire Dunphy on Modern Family. Jill Biren spent close to two decades in publishing at Condé Nast, working across titles including Vogue, GQ, and Vanity Fair. Both mothers of sons, Julie and Jill got to chatt...
Feb 28, 2023•53 min
In episode 102 of the Glow Journal podcast, host Gemma Watts talks to the founder of Recreation Beauty, Nedahl Stelio. Despite steadily building a name for herself as one of the country’s most influential voices in fashion and beauty media, Nedahl didn’t enter the industry with a specific niche in mind. Having worked at Girlfriend Magazine as Beauty and Features Editor, Cosmopolitan Magazine as Beauty Editor, Features Editor and Deputy Editor, and as Editor of Cleo Magazine, she tells me that wh...
Feb 14, 2023•34 min
In episode 101 of the Glow Journal podcast, host Gemma Watts talks to the founder of Saint Louve Skincare, Elly Seymour. The wheels of Elly Seymour’s career journey were set in motion when she was a child with a very specific dream of wearing surgeon’s scrubs. Elly decided she wanted to be a cosmetic nurse when she was just a teenager, convincing her parents to allow her to study a Diploma of Makeup in lieu of Year 12. Her reason was a pragmatic one- when she turned 18 she’d be able to enrol as ...
Jan 31, 2023•47 min
We're back! Season 5 of the Glow Journal Podcast begins on Feb 1st. Make sure you're subscribed! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Jan 29, 2023•25 sec
In the final episode of Season 4, host Gemma Watts talks to the founder and CEO of Floral Street, Michelle Feeney. Michelle is, quite literally, a beauty industry icon. Headhunted by Estée Lauder Companies in 1993, Michelle is largely responsible for turning Crème de la Mer into a cult product before becoming Vice President, Global Communications of MAC Cosmetics, helping to increase the company’s net worth from $65 million to $1 billion in less than 7 years bringing mainstream awareness to the ...
Nov 15, 2022•25 min
To celebrate 100 EPISODES of the Glow Journal podcast, host Gemma Watts talks to the founder of Paula’s Choice, Paula Begoun. Paula was my first ever international guest back in 2018, Season 1, Episode 3, and I still receive messages about that episode to this very day. To celebrate 100 episodes and 4 seasons, we’re taking it back to basics and doing what Paula does best- myth busting. Should skin flake when we first try retinol? If a product makes our skin tingle, does that mean it’s working? D...
Nov 08, 2022•1 hr
In this Bonus Episode of the Glow Journal podcast, Trinny London founder and CEO Trinny Woodall returns! It has been three years since Trinny’s last visit to Australia and her last appearance on the podcast, so I headed to her suite on her most recent trip to catch up on three years worth of beauty and business (and for Trinny and I to do our skincare routines together, which you can see on my TikTok). Since we last caught up, Trinny has launched an entire skincare range, which she trialled on a...
Nov 01, 2022•29 min
In episode ninety nine of the Glow Journal podcast, host Gemma Watts talks to the founder of Tribe Skincare, Kayla Houlihan. Kayla Houlihan understands first hand just how debilitating acne and inflammation can be to a person’s confidence. It was her understanding of the impact skin heath can have on one’s confidence that led Kayla to study skin, and what drove her to want to help clients in clinic. The idea for Tribe Skincare came to Kayla whilst running her own skin clinic in Geelong. Clients ...
Oct 25, 2022•38 min
In episode ninety eight of the Glow Journal podcast, host Gemma Watts talks to the Chief Commercial Officer of Alpha-H, Tina Randello. Alpha-H was founded in a garage on the Gold Coast, in 1995, by the late Michelle Doherty. In the year 2000, Michelle launched Liquid Gold- a glycolic acid based resurfacing treatment the likes of which had never been seen before by the global beauty industry. Liquid Gold soon developed a cult following, elevating Alpha-H from Queensland’s best kept skin secret to...
Oct 11, 2022•1 hr 1 min
In episode ninety seven of the Glow Journal podcast, host Gemma Watts talks to the founder CEO of Vintner’s Daughter, April Gargiulo. The idea for Vintner’s Daughter came to April when she was working on her family’s vineyard. She was pregnant and, as many do, was studying the ingredients lists of each product in her existing skincare routine. April wanted a product born from a similar ethos to that of winemaking- one centred around quality and craftsmanship, and how those factors drive performa...
Sep 27, 2022•43 min
In episode ninety six of the Glow Journal podcast, host Gemma Watts talks to the founder of Holme Beauty, Hilary Holmes. Hilary discovered her love of makeup in her final year of high school, and although she tells me that initial affinity for beauty may not have come from the right place, to this day she connects to the transformative energy she felt upon that discovery. Despite her love of makeup, Hilary studied and worked in agriculture. In 2009 the recession hit, and after being made redunda...
Sep 13, 2022•53 min
In episode ninety five of the Glow Journal podcast, host Gemma Watts talks to the co-founder of Korres, Lena Korres. When Dr Clara Hurst opened Perth skin clinic, Blanc, having relocated to Australia from the UK, she sought the help of a pharmacist to compound prescription skincare to her clients. That pharmacist told her that, just down the road, there was a GP prescribing the very same ingredients and having them compounded into solutions for her patients. That GP was Dr Deb Cohen-Jones. Upon ...
Aug 30, 2022•52 min
In episode ninety four of the Glow Journal podcast, host Gemma Watts talks to the co-founder of Korres, Lena Korres. Korres began as the oldest herbal apothecary in Athens, Greece. Whilst working there, George Korres began formulating topical cosmetics for his friends and loyal customers of the pharmacy, and word quickly began to spread. Lena Philippou, now Lena Philippou-Korres, a chemical engineer, commenced work at the pharmacy in 1996 and, following consumer demand, the KORRES brand was offi...
Aug 16, 2022•49 min
In episode ninety three of the Glow Journal podcast, host Gemma Watts talks to the founder of Joanna Vargas, Joanna Vargas. Joanna Vargas tells me that caregiving is her love language. Following a number of years working as an esthetician, Joanna had grown tired of seeing clients given the same facials and being sold the same products. Driven by a wish to create her own treatments and be guided by each individual’s needs, Joanna opened her first namesake spa in New York City in 2006. By 2011, ha...
Aug 02, 2022•49 min
In episode ninety two of the Glow Journal podcast, host Gemma Watts talks to the founder of Conserving Beauty, Natassia Nicolao. Natassia, 28 years old and a qualified biochemist, spent the first years of her career immersed in the beauty industry, working across brands like Swisse and Elle Macpherson’s WelleCo, counting the latter as a valued mentor. Following her time at Swisse, Natassia was one of only five offered a position at private equity fund The Foundry, a fund that exists to support t...
Jul 19, 2022•1 hr 1 min
July 14 is Bastille Day, the national day of France, so to celebrate we’re heroing all things French beauty- and who better to help us than the co-founder of French Beauty Co, Emilie Roberson. French skincare sales, as a category, are reportedly up 25% in the last quarter, and the appetite for hard-to-find French brands and products has never been higher. In this bonus episode of the Glow Journal podcast, host Gemma Watts discover the secrets to mastering French girl beauty. This episode is spon...
Jul 05, 2022•27 min
In episode ninety one of the Glow Journal podcast, host Gemma Watts talks to the founder of Susanne Kaufmann, Susanne Kaufmann. Beauty has been something of a constant thread woven throughout Susanne Kaufmann’s life. Growing up in the westernmost part of Austria, Susanne’s earliest memories are of the beauty rituals she shared with her grandmother of a weekend as a child. Her family owned a hotel, with Susanne growing to become the fifth generation hotelier to run the retreat, and in the mid 90s...
Jun 21, 2022•29 min
