Yeah.

And then on top of that, I think the thing that we really do well is that we create this world.

So Tower 28 is named after a real lifeguard tower here in LA, um, at the beach in Santa Monica, and so much of that is like a sign of safety.

And I think so much of what we do is a love letter to the community, to the people who really have not perfect skin.

There's a lot of makeup out there that is great for people who have perfect skin, but sometimes you need something that goes over texture, that goes over rosacea, eczema.

We're the only beauty brand that is 100% compliant with the National Eczema Association, and now rosacea and psoriasis are both part of that too.

We make skincare products and makeup products.

It's very interesting.

What was the original mission that you mentioned?

Yeah, so from the very beginning, the goal was always the same.

I've had eczema my entire adult life, and I really...

And, and have been a beauty executive, and so I just really identified with what it's like to have sensitive skin, textured, difficult skin that you want to look better immediately, but yet you're so afraid of making it worse by putting on makeup.

And that was always kind of the original idea.

Honestly, we weren't e- weren't even planning on going into skincare in the beginning.

I thought skincare was just...

What did that experience maybe teach you about launching products or maybe even just, like, running your business in general? Like, what did you learn from that?

How important is third-party validation for consumers?

I mean, listen, I am not an expert in these things.

I'm not a toxicologist.

I'm not an allergist.

I'm not a dermatologist.

I mean, I know a lot about my own experience, and I've certainly seen all of those doctors.

But I think one thing that really frustrated me as a consumer was...

exciting.

Yeah

... where I was like, "I don't, I didn't make it.

I didn't build it.

It's not my...

I'm not even there.

It can't be my liability." And so I wanted to be released of labi- liability, and he also didn't want to accept liability.

And so everybody was like, you know, hot potato, not it.

Would you do it again if you had the opportunity to, or will you do it again?

Agreed.

I don't even think necessarily it is, um, you know, just that it's hereditary and genetic or environmental even, but I do think a lot of it is like we as people I think often over-exfoliate, over use actives.

Um, every ...

You know, the rise of the med spa is incredible, but like not everybody should be doing like as many lasers as they are, or PRF.

Like-

Yeah.

Right? So then you, um, you pay attention to what happens in the press, you pay attention to when people pick it up, you pay attention to like what people are saying.

Um, and then you have to just use it to find your audience, right? And I think I may have said this the other day, but when, um, Hailey posted at the same time this woman, The Vegan Beast, who had a very, very low number of followers, I think it was like 13,000 followers.

Mm.

And so you can go ...

The- Tower 28 is a real lifeguard tower, and that was really where I was going to meet my friends.

And the true story is I got a text one day from a friend who was like, "We're all going to the beach.

Meet me at Tower 28." And I was like, wait, is that it? Like, the beach is this place that you see every single kind of person, uh, age, uh, culture, demogra- you know, socioeconomics.

You see everybody.

But it's also, like, everybody, especially in LA, I think there's so much access to this clean and healthy lifestyle.

Yeah.

What prompted that decision for you to say, okay, I want to give this inventory to these essential workers?

Well, if you remember, early March of 2020, we launched into every Sephora in the country in the stores.

And that was supposed to be like this huge moment.

I was planning on traveling and going into the stores and educating and doing all these things.

And we didn't know how long it was going to last.

We didn't know at the time if it was going to be like a month, a week, a year.

We didn't know what would happen.

What advice would you give people listening that feel like they're in that space?

So first of all, kind of beyond shelf space, what emotional or identity role did American wines play for Canadian consumers? And how do you think Italy might be uniquely positioned to step in to those roles?

I'd say first for most people who worked in the BevAlc business, we assumed trade wars was going to happen for maybe two or three months and then they'll go back to normal.

We are now, I want to say nine months in and there is not really very much reprieve and there isn't enough talks about getting that product back on shelf.

There are small things that are happening in various different provinces, but it doesn't seem like it's coming back anytime soon as far as we can stop.

So if you weren't taking advantage in three months, cause you were thinking maybe this is a short term thing.

We're nine months and now it's definitely time to take some advantages and there are some great things you can do because it opens up small space a hundred percent in terms of consumer needs.

I'd say California wine was really interesting.

You know, what do you think is the single biggest missed opportunity for Italian wineries are overlooking right now in this California absent environment?