Keeping Face with Kathleen Baird-Murray – Details, episodes & analysis

Isamaya Ffrench’s eponymous beauty brand ISAMAYA is very new - two years! But what an impact it’s made. Shocking us with her lipsticks in penis-inspired packaging (a sentence I never thought I would write!) and her Steven Klein campaigns, her brand of cosmetics has landed - as she says  - “exactly where I wanted it to land”. 

But juggling it alongside her day job - creating campaigns and catwalk looks for some of the most influential global stars in the fashion and music industry, from Balmain, Giambattista Valli, Vivienne Westwood as well as contributing to international magazines like Vogue, Dazed, and Beauty Papers, recently took its toll. When she experienced one too many burnouts, Isamaya finally learnt that she’s the only person who can improve her own life quality. And so that's just what she did. 

You can find out more about Isamaya Ffrench here: 

https://britishbeautycouncil.com/advisory-board-announcement/

https://isamaya.co.uk/?gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiAuYuvBhApEiwAzq_YiYrJfHNc5Xt1q1Gp6SZIaqymoGvNcyuCiJC2gARBzo5-wGP7WBPJBxoCFPcQAvD_BwE

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/09/style/isamaya-ffrench-beauty.html

https://www.dazeddigital.com/beauty/article/42106/1/isamaya-ffrench-my-life-in-make-up

Please follow or subscribe to Keeping Face wherever you’re listening, and if you enjoy it, please spread the word! 

Please visit the website https://lapyae.com/ to find out about Keeping Face founder, Kathleen Baird-Murray’s new, special project. 

For more information about how to sponsor an episode, please contact emily@blanketlondon.com

Produced by Parkview Creative. For more information please contact them at info@parkviewcreative.com

Music composed by Armand Daniaud

Editing by Armand Daniaud

Keeping Face logo by Paul McNeil

Social Media by Angelika Wiatkowska

AMAZING AMY: THE PERFUMER WHO WANTS TO CHANGE THE WORLD FOR THE BETTER

Passionate about fragrance, Amy Christiansen, founder of Sana Jardin, created her luxury perfume house of intoxicating scents with a Master Perfumer. A social justice activist, her business model has a strong social conscience driving it - she ensures that the women harvesting the petals for her fragrances are in turn able to develop their own businesses. On this episode of Keeping Face, Amy shares the joy she experienced at being able to support female micro-entrepreneurs - but also the immense sorrow and worry when she was in Morocco when 6.8 magnitude earthquake exploded and witnessed the subsequent humanitarian disaster at first hand. One of the nicest, kindest people you’ll ever meet, this is an inspirational listen about a brand whose values have always been more than just virtue signalling. It shows that doing good and running a successful luxury brand are not mutually exclusive. 

For more background, these links are useful: 

https://sanajardin.com/?gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQiA5-uuBhDzARIsAAa21T8adeLWwSeEds5CXqLZuuNu2_doPMct5Odl9cSvJKOsFJtykpD3rIgaAimGEALw_wcB

https://wwd.com/business-news/financial/clean-fragrance-perfume-sana-jardin-raises-2-million-us-market-1235741004/

https://perfumesociety.org/discover-the-sustainable-future-of-fragrance-with-sana-jardins-amy-christiansen/

Please follow or subscribe to Keeping Face wherever you’re listening and if you enjoy it, please spread the word! It helps others to find us. 

Please visit the website https://lapyae.com/ to find out more about Kathleen Baird-Murray’s new, very special project. 

For more information about how to sponsor an episode, please contact emily@blanketlondon.com. 

Produced by Parkview Creative. For more information please contact them at info@parkviewcreative.com

Music composed by Armand Daniaud 

Editing by Armand Daniaud

Keeping Face logo by Paul McNeil

Social Media by Angelika Wiatkowska

He was a young hairdresser from the south of France, who learnt the business by listening to the likes of Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein and other role models.  But when others stopped listening to him, Frederic Fekkai had no choice but to fight back.  And he did. Here he talks about what it’s  like to get your business back, when you’ve already sold it for millions. 

https://fekkai.com/

Please follow or subscribe to Keeping Face wherever you’re listening.

For more information please contact info@parkviewcreative.com

Hosted by @kathleen_bairdmurray, a @parkview.creative production.

Bobbi Brown, founder of the eponymous make-up brand now wholly owned by Estee Lauder, has since gone on to start several other brands, including the hugely successful cosmetics company Jones Road. But with so many successes under her belt, how would she cope if she ever did come across failure?  Here she talks about knowing when it’s the right time to walk away. 

https://www.ft.com/content/7701c485-f15b-4ca2-badc-eb6e7bb4c021

https://www.thecut.com/2018/04/bobbi-brown-evolution-18-interview.html

Please follow or subscribe to Keeping Face wherever you’re listening.

For more information please contact info@parkviewcreative.com

Hosted by @kathleen_bairdmurray, a @parkview.creative production.

Recorded in Kenya (her) and Shropshire (me), Alexia Inge is living the dream. But it’s a  well earnt dream, following 15 years of 100-hour work weeks, and the kind of ups and downs that would often leave her in tears, laughter, and with several huge problems to solve. Resigning from CultBeauty in 2022, the ecommerce site that revolutionised the way we shop for beauty, the co-founder reflects on a time very early on, when it very nearly didn’t happen… 

Please follow or subscribe to Keeping Face wherever you’re listening.

For more information please contact info@parkviewcreative.com

Hosted by @kathleen_bairdmurray, a @parkview.creative production.

Indomitable, unstoppable, and a veritable force of nature, Tina Chen Craig, founder of UBeauty skincare, talks about the time she nearly didn’t make it to her own launch. The originator of BagSnob, and creator of one of the world’s most exciting skincare brands also discusses her Asian heritage, and the importance of friends and family. 

Please follow or subscribe to Keeping Face wherever you’re listening.

For more information please contact info@parkviewcreative.com

Hosted by @kathleen_bairdmurray, a @parkview.creative production.

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times..”          Charles Dickens 

But wasn't it always the worst of times from which we learnt something? Something useful? 

Welcome to Keeping Face, a podcast about beauty founders and the moment they might have, almost did - and in some cases most definitely did - lose the plot and had to scramble to get back on track. From the moment Tina Chen Craig collapsed on the floor of her hotel bedroom to Frederic Fekkai realising that no one listened to him in board meetings, their excitement in building a successful brand is always pitted against those moments where they thought everything might go up in flames (as it did once, for Rose-Marie Swift). 

Over seven episodes, our host Kathleen Baird-Murray unpicks the glossy success stories of our favourite beauty brand founders, to discover those moments of desperation, intense pressure, and often, astonishment. 

The series came about after Kathleen had tea with Frederic one day and while talking about starting a podcast -  because with a 28-year long career in journalism behind her, and a love of interviewing people, what else could she do -  Frederic suggested she focus on those times when everyone gets it wrong, “because then you learn something”.  

Working with the team at Parkview Creative, she set about tracking down those founders she felt might want to open up, and then dug deep to find out how they turned things around. Some, like Bobbi Brown, took failure in their stride; others, like Alexia Inge, cried all weekend before picking themselves up and getting on with it.  Trusting Kathleen to let them tell their stories, there were plenty of surprises along the way. 

Keeping Face is essential listening for anyone wanting to know more about the business of beauty, but also it’s always life-affirming to hear how others cope with difficulty, and reassuring to know that even shiny successful people get a little insecure at times.

Hosted by Kathleen Baird-Murray, a Parkview Creative Production.

Sponsored by Renude

How Nyakio Grieco Learnt to Be Her No1 Advocate

Nyakio Grieco is what they call a beauty industry veteran, having lived and breathed it for years before starting her own brand, Nyakio, which was acquired by Unilever in 2017. She’s now both a retailer with Thirteen Lune in the US, a beauty emporium that focuses on brands developed by people of colour, as well as the founder of Relevant Skin check, which launched in June 2022, and now sells at Sephora. Besides creating products that really work, like her One and Done, a three in one primer, moisturiser, and sun protection, has been about tapping into the need we all have to feel seen, to feel relevant. 

In this episode, Grieco, who was born in Oklahoma to parents of Kenyan heritage and who now lives in Los Angeles, reveals the stumbling blocks in her way - specifically the challenges that lurk around taking on investment. An inspirational listen, she discusses the importance of family heritage, and how that played into her learnings around the Black Lives Matter racial reckoning of 2020. “You can’t stay too long in a place of negativity, you have to turn your pain into purpose…”

For more background, these links are useful: 

https://thirteenlune.com/blogs/shop-talk/a-note-from-nyakio

https://relevantskin.com/

https://www.nyakio.com/us/en

https://wwd.com/beauty-industry-news/beauty-features/inside-nyakio-griecos-unyielding-vision-for-borderless-beauty-1235620655/

Please follow or subscribe to Keeping Face wherever you’re listening, and if you enjoy it, please spread the word! 

Please visit the website https://lapyae.com/ to find out about Keeping Face founder, Kathleen Baird-Murray’s new, special project. 

For more information about how to sponsor an episode, please contact emily@blanketlondon.com

Produced by Parkview Creative. For more information please contact them at info@parkviewcreative.com

Music composed by Armand Daniaud

Editing by Armand Daniaud

Keeping Face logo by Paul McNeil

Social Media by Angelika Wiatkowska

Visit the Westbourne Grove branch of Kama Ayurveda and it's like stepping into India. Jungles with elephants and banana leaf murals, smart red striped ceilings and marigold garlands invite us to discover the ancient wisdoms of Ayurveda. Started by the former graphic designer Vivek Sahni over 20 years ago, Kama Ayurveda is now owned by the Spanish family-owned beauty conglomerate, Puig. 

For Keeping Face, Vivek, a self-proclaimed "non-businessman" describes his anxiety during the Covid years, and the learnings he experienced from his staff as shops shut, the business had to pivot rapidly, and the pandemic tried to shut him down. The secret ingredient? Kindness. 

For more background, these links are useful: 

www.kamaayurveda.com

https://www.travelandleisureasia.com/in/people/interview-with-tl-champion-of-conscious-beauty-vivek-sahni/

https://www.forbesindia.com/article/leadership/how-vivek-sahni-is-taking-kama-ayurveda-local-and-global-at-the-same-time/86693/1

Please follow or subscribe to Keeping Face wherever you’re listening, and if you enjoy it, please spread the word! 

Please visit the website https://lapyae.com/ to find out about Keeping Face founder, Kathleen Baird-Murray’s new, special project. 

For more information about how to sponsor an episode, please contact emily@blanketlondon.com

Produced by Parkview Creative. For more information please contact them at info@parkviewcreative.com

Music composed by: Armand Daniaud

Editing by: Armand Daniaud

Keeping Face logo by Paul McNeil

Social Media by Angelika Wiatkowska

I first met Kate when I was beauty director at Tatler magazine many years ago. I happened to be in LA, and asked some friends which facialist might be worth visiting, and hers was the name that came up time and time again. But her's is not an overnight sensation type of story - she worked in a top cosmetic surgery office for many years before setting up on her own as an aesthetician and developing her own skincare line.

 For Keeping Face she shares the struggles of her childhood, growing up with a mother whose dependence on alcohol rocked her own confidence, until she was brave enough to leave home and find her own positive role models. Acquired by Unilever Prestige in 2015, she's come a long, long way since then. 

For more information on Kate Somerville:
https://www.katesomerville.co.uk/?gclsrc=aw.ds&gad_source=1&gclid=*

The book she references:
https://www.melodybeattie.com/codependentnomore

Please follow or subscribe to Keeping Face wherever you’re listening. 

Please visit the website https://lapyae.com/ to find out about Kathleen Baird-Murray’s new, special project…  

For more information please contact info@parkviewcreative.com 

Hosted by @kathleen_bairdmurray, a @parkview.creative production 

Produced by: Parkview Creative 

Music composed by: Armand Daniaud 

Editing by: Armand Daniaud 

Keeping Face logo by: Paul McNeil 

Social Media by: Angelika Wiatkowska