In episode 132 of the Glow Journal podcast, host Gemma Dimond talks to the co founder of LUI, Rebecca Harding and Ingrid Kesa. This is my favourite genre, so to speak, of founder conversation to have for a number of reasons: the first being I know both Bec and Ingrid personally, and how often in life are you given an opportunity to just ask your friends questions about their job for an hour? Never; the second reason being that LUI was developed out of a very real gap in the market; and the third is one that regular listeners will know I love, and that is that LUI exists in a space where most ..read more

In episode 131 of the Glow Journal podcast, host Gemma Dimond talks to the CEO of Rationale, Shamini Rajarethnam. Despite Rationale having been founded in 1992, Shamini and I agreed that it does still feel like an insider’s brand to an extent. Those of you have heard of Rationale likely first heard of it in 2011 and beyond, which is not a coincidence as this is when Shamini was brought on as the brand’s Marketing & Digital Coordinator. By September 2014, Shamini was Rationale’s General Manager, and by 2017 she was CEO.  I’d met Shamini before and I just think she’s amazing, but I to ..read more

In episode 130 of the Glow Journal podcast, host Gemma Dimond talks to the founder of Fig Femme, Lindy Klim. I don’t really think Lindy Klim needs an introduction, however I can say fairly confidently that this interview does show a side to Lindy that I’m not so sure the general public will have seen before, despite her having spent over 25 years in the public eye.  Lindy has founded not one but two beauty brands (Milk & Co with her ex husband Michael back in 2008, and Fig Femme in 2020), but her own relationship with beauty has taken a significant amount of work. Lindy was the only ..read more

In episode 129 of the Glow Journal podcast, host Gemma Dimond talks to the founder of JSHealth Vitamins, Jessica Sepel. Top level- at age 27 or 28, Jess Sepel and her now-husband Dean bootstrapped JSHealth Vitamins, which they launched in 2018, and it is now worth a reported $600 million, is available in 1800 retail stores in Australia, over 1000 in the UK, and has experienced 300% year-on-year growth in US. If that’s not interesting to you, I’m not sure what will be. More interesting than that, however, is Jess’ story from childhood to now- I was a bit floored by how open and vulnerable she ..read more

When I first started planning season 1 of this podcast, that I thought would be a mini series, back in 2018, I wrote a list of dream guests- bucket list, beauty industry stalwarts whose brains I wanted to pick. Jo Malone was, of course, on that list, and on her most recent trip to Australia last month, we made it happen. Jo’s story is unlike any other, and while we all know her name, I don’t believe as many people know her story as well as they probably should. Jo grew up in South East London and following a very, very early introduction to the beauty industry, she discovered her sense of sme ..read more

In episode 127 of the Glow Journal podcast, host Gemma Dimond talks to the founder of Yours Only, Ashli Templer. When I connect with someone over a love of beauty, whether it’s on this podcast or away from it, the thread or the through line always comes back to a feeling. I think it’s that feeling that separates people who truly love this industry from the people who do view it as solely superficial, and it’s also the feeling that you get from James when you listen to or sit down with him. What drew James Vivian to beauty, initially, was how good a facial made him feel, and because he is so ..read more

In episode 126 of the Glow Journal podcast, host Gemma Dimond talks to the founder of Yours Only, Ashli Templer. We obviously talk a lot on this podcast about identifying a gap for a product and developing out of a really genuine need, and I think the Yours Only story is probably one of the best examples of that that we’ve covered across all 6 seasons. Ash grew up, in her words, “not being able to eat any cake at birthday parties.” She’s always had many, many food allergies, and things were only heightened in her 20s when she was diagnosed with both Hashimoto’s and a salicylate intolerance ..read more

In episode 125 of the Glow Journal podcast, host Gemma Dimond talks to the founder of IKKARI, Adrian Norris. I have thought Adrian Norris to be one of the most interesting brand founders in the country for many, many years now, since he co founded fashion house Aje in 2008, and I have loved watching him enter the beauty space upon founding skincare and wellness brand IKKARI last year. There’s so much about this brand and Adrian’s story that I love but one thing in particular that I found so interesting, and I think you will too, is Adrian’s passion for retail. It’s been a while since I’ve ha ..read more

In episode 124 of the Glow Journal podcast, host Gemma Dimond talks to the founder of Hairification, Jordan Mylius. You’ve heard of Hairification- from a distribution standpoint, they’re the fastest growing haircare brand in Australia having launched into 840 Coles stores in 2023 (that’s 840 retail locations from day one) and, as of last month, hitting the shelves of all 470 Priceline stores. Quick maths- Hairification is available in over 1300 retail locations in less than a year post launch.  Jordan has entered the beauty founder space with a really interesting skill set and perspecti ..read more

In episode 123 of the Glow Journal podcast, host Gemma Dimond talks to the founder of Maison Crivelli, Thibaud Crivelli. I’ve made no secret of the fact that fragrance is probably my favourite category to talk about, particularly from a storytelling perspective. Thibaud talks about fragrance in a way that is unlike anything I’ve ever heard before and that is, again, why I’m so fascinated by this category. I love asking people how they either construct a fragrance or brief it into their perfumer, and this particular answer went so far beyond anything I could’ve imagined in that Thibaud actuall ..read more