Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Camille Barreto. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Camille, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?
Risk taking is something we’re really interested in and we’d love to hear the story of a risk you’ve taken.
Our family has enjoyed expat life across three continents for almost 15 years – a reasonably brave and adventurous lifestyle choice that is not for the faint of heart – yet can firmly state that launching ME Cosmetics is by far the biggest risk I have ever taken.
Many brand founders were raised in entrepreneurial families however, in my case, my parents and I enjoyed long careers as solid “corporate soldiers” and launching a brand was an uncomfortable proposition for me and truly required a leap of faith.
Like so many innovative brands, ME Cosmetics was born from a personal struggle with a beauty concern. After struggling with androgenetic alopecia (female pattern hair loss) I became very self-conscious and searched everywhere for a cosmetic solution to conceal the hair loss. But the reality is that beauty aisles don’t have a dedicated area for products specifically designed to conceal hair loss because compelling products simply don’t exist.
A common tactic is to jerry-rig products intended for a different use such as eyeshadows, root covers, etc. However, this is akin to trying to use an eyeshadow as a face foundation or a root concealer as body makeup. These products fall short, not because they aren’t excellent products but rather because they were simply not designed for this purpose.
Aware that over 50% of women experience some form of hair loss** I recognized that there was a tremendous opportunity to create an elegant cosmetic solution that actually works and would make a truly meaningful impact on women’s lives. This is how ME Cosmetics was born. Our mission became apparent very quickly: to transform self-consciousness into self-confidence by creating innovative cosmetic solutions to everyday beauty concerns.
My entire career up until this point had been unrelated to the beauty industry so figuring out all of the pieces required to launch a beauty brand was like putting together a massive puzzle. I spent a lot of time researching and reaching out to my network. After countless visits to suppliers I found incredible partners and began designing and perfecting our hero product – Can’t Stop Me Now Ultimate Coverage Scalp Foundation – over two years ago. Launching a brand is an enormous undertaking and I have immense respect for all of the founders out there.
ME Cosmetics recently celebrated our first birthday and I am excited to continue helping transform self-consciousness about thinning hair into a huge boost of self-confidence with our award-winning scalp foundation!
(a) https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/16921-hair-loss-in-women
Camille, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
Happy to! My path to entrepreneurship has been circuitous. After graduating from Dartmouth in the late 90s I returned to Toronto and entered the tech industry for several years, first on the hardware side and then to a SaaS which went on to be the first Canadian tech IPO following the dot.com bust. During fundraising rounds prior to the IPO, senior leadership realized that I didn’t have any knowledge about the capital markets and after seeing my interest in this topic, encouraged me to go to business school. To our CEO’s dismay (David Ossip, who went to HBS), I applied early to Columbia because I wanted to study finance in the finance capital of the world. I really enjoyed my summer internship as an associate in Citi’s investment banking division, so I returned full time after graduating in 2004. I spent the next decade in banking across NYC, London, and Latin America which I truly loved. We decided to put my career aside before we moved from Lima to Mexico City as it was difficult to continue transferring my role this often, and enjoyed a few years focused on other priorities such as serving on Board committees for the American School in Mexico City and doing service with El Pozo de Vida, an organization dedicated to fighting sex trafficking. It was in Mexico City that my husband encouraged me to begin my entrepreneurial journey after years of watching me struggle with hair loss and hearing me go on and on about what an ideal scalp foundation would look like!
What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?
Networking and simultaneously using as many tools as you have available are key to growing a customer base.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
While I had always been open about my hair loss, it was something that was very difficult for me to show in public such as on social media. But I knew that connecting with our customers required vulnerability on my part so I just went for it and put myself out there. It may not seem like much but for most women with hair loss concerns, this is a very private journey to which we prefer not to draw attention as this can be very distressing.
Contact Info:
- Website: camille@mecosmetics.com
- Instagram: @camille.barreto @mecosmeticsusa
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/camille-barreto/