Sometimes you’ll find that sacrificing your principles can help you achieve short-term gains, but how will that affect you, your business, and your goals in the long-run? Take a page from Ashley Capone. As the founder of the Beauty Activism Movement, and Beauty Marks NYC, Ashley tells us how sticking to her guns and running her business according to her values has helped separate her and her brand in the highly competitive fashion industry.
Learn more about Ashley and her company here: http://www.beautymarksnyc.com
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FULL TRANSCRIPT
Disclaimer: this transcript is autogenerated by otter.ai
Ashley Capone 0:01
I was teaming up with people who were doing things that at the time were radical, you know, it was radical to have different models of different sizes and an inclusive setting. This was groundbreaking at the time. I mean, I was having conversations with people in the fashion industry, going into New York, you know, Fashion Week, over and over and over again. And I was hearing, well, the models are really supposed to be the hangers with legs. And I went, Well, how can anyone envision themselves in that? It's like, well, they're supposed to be able to use that as a tool to envision themselves in that I'm like, No, they're not seeing themselves represent it, like, over and over and over again, just having these conversations. So now it's kind of spiraled into my brand as well.
Jessica McKinley Uyeno 0:46
Welcome to sincerely future you a podcast that helps ambitious women like you make decisions today with the future you in mind. Are you someone who's making decisions in your business, for money and for time and for the short term, and has suddenly looked up and wondered, Is My Business reflective of my values? Does my business not just feel like it's moving forward? But does it feel like it is a reflection of beauty? Does it feel fun? Does it feel creative? Does it feel like you if not or if this is something that's important to you, and you're always looking for ways to improve this type of business evaluation, you are going to love our guest. Ashley Capone is the founder of beauty marks, NYC Creative Studios, and the creator of the beauty activism movement. Beauty activism is something that I had never heard of until I heard it from Ashley's mouth. And now. And that was a while ago. And now it is trending. It is kind of all over the place. You see it in big brands like airy, you see it really being something that large companies are starting to have to pay attention to. Because it's being demanded by our clients. We're starting to care more about what type of values or companies have that we're buying from right. Ashley defines beauty activism as a movement to change the paradigm in our society through the intersectionality of inclusion, sustainability, beauty, and philanthropy. Ashley has been working in the creative field for over 20 years. And she's committed to only working and collaborating with other beauty activists, which I've seen her do and turn down opportunities because these collaborations that businesses present to her they don't meet the beauty activism standard that she cares so much about. And I think that this work is so powerful, and I've started to infuse it in my own business. Her work as an artist has been focused on the healing of the beauty industry while attempting to heal ourselves in the process. By redefining and reclaiming our own relationship with beauty. We're harnessing a tool that has ripple effects, far beyond our own bathroom mirrors. She's a mama. She's an autism advocate. She's a sign language sling and Jane of all trades. She's hilarious and smart, and probably one of the most relatable people I know. She's been a one on one client of mine and is also in the March class of the masterful CEO school. I've spoken to her about her before on the show. And as of recently, I hired her to produce our first live event coming up in July, which I know I've spoken to you guys about as well. If you've been a listener of the show, I can't explain the depth of thought that she's infused into every part of the process for me, and making the logistics of producing this live event actually fun. I cannot wait for you to listen in on our conversation about community money accessibility and value based activism that will hopefully make you think about how you can make your own business more equitable, aligned and beautiful. But before we dive in, you know I can't leave you without a hype sash and shouting out the listener of the week. So listener of the week is Tina d t to D says brilliant. I love listening to this podcast. Not only is it a positive and upbeat plus, I learned loads of useful information for being a woman business owner. I'm so glad that this is useful for you. And sure we love to be positive and upbeat. And I'm glad that even though a lot of what I say on here is really tough love. You understand that all of this is coming from a place of high energy of knowing that our future selves are just kicking ass and taking names. So Tina, I'm so glad that you took the time to leave a review and if you guys are listening right now we are currently in the middle of Have a fun goal over here at sincerely future you where we are racing the clock to create 60 reviews on the podcast by the end of June. So please be a part of creating that goal and meeting that goal with us. It just means so much to me. And I love hearing your feedback so I can just keep making the show better and better. Okay, here's the part I know lots of you guys just wait for it's your hype sesh get hype. I'm hopping up and down on my couch. Okay, don't want to get out of breath before I say this. Are you over promising and under delivering in your business? Yikes. How about under promising and over delivering? That's definitely better. But what if you could over promise and over deliver. Sometimes we hear these phrases and they become so commonplace in our culture that we just forget that we can smash the good, the standard and be great. Here's the difference, darlings. We're going to infuse this new motto into your life and business today. We all know that over promising and under delivering, it's not good. It's the equivalent to a used car salesman, it feels gross, it just feels terrible when this happens in our own businesses, or if you see this in a business or you've been experienced this in the sales process out elsewhere, they're promising the sun and the moon. And you just know they're going to be some slugs in that soup. When you get it you're like really, this is the best deal ever. And then nine out of 10 times when you leave with a car that's got two wheel drive when you're about to have a winter baby in New York. That's a real life experience. No, no one feels great in a scenario, not even the person that is delivering. So if you're in a pattern of under delivering, you're going to slow down and reevaluate. But really this hype sash is for the listener who's feeling pretty high and mighty, because they have developed a habit of under promising and over delivering truthfully, of course, this is the better of the two. And if you're already doing this great. But the wild thing about what we future Ewers know is that our future is completely unwritten. And there are no rules in the future, we get to live outside of that either or box, we get to use what I call a third door. And in this case, that's over promising and over delivering, the only reason we under promise is so that we can delight our clients on the back end, good for you delight away. However, we promised the standard. And then we if we get around to it, or as a part of our plan, give a little surprise. Now there's a time and a place for this, especially as you're growing or practicing a new offer and testing things out. But there's also a time to blow your clients mind and raise the bar in your industry over promising it just means that you're promising your clients more than they've ever seen. Now, I don't mean giving them all of your time, or an insane discount that's going to cause you not to have any profit. I simply mean thinking about something that would make your offer compelling as fuck, and then delightful and fun for you to deliver it as well. Then for the really sexy part, are you ready? Over delivering on that over promise, you've already sold them something that's blown their mind, it's a no brainer. They're psyched. But hey, you're not done yet. Because from the time you've created and sold that offer to the time you're delivering it, you've become a higher level CEO, you have thoughts, skills, emotions, tools, expertise that you didn't have, then your capacity has grown. Here on the show, I'm giving you permission to lean hard into the self concept that you've just grow rapidly. It's what you do WWF why D what would future you do babes. And because you're constantly expanding, deepening yourself, your company, your team and your belief that your offer and you will always be able to over deliver. Promising less than that is only coming from your belief that you don't know if what how, who you'll be when you deliver your product or service in the future. And you do know my friend, you know deep in your bones that you aren't going anywhere. And what you have to offer is creme de la creme, and even as other attractive offers pop up to compete with you and your industry. They simply can't because future you is always evolving and she is always over delivering. Let that sink in. Take a deep breath in a power pose and say I over promise and I over deliver it every time
and then go enjoy this killer convo with my guest Ashley could phone. Okay, you guys, I'm so excited for you to finally meet in the ether webs. I guess I don't really know whether we consider this meeting your way. Yeah. And the airwaves. If you're listening to the show, I guess you're not meeting Ashley, but you kind of are because I have talked about her for a handful of times on the show. She's not only one of my best friends, but also someone that I've hired someone that is a client of mine. And we just have so many different relationships, that it's kind of bonkers that you haven't been on the show yet. But I'm glad that you're here so that we can share with the world all that you have done the journey of your business, I think it's really interesting. I think what you're doing is, I don't like to use the word trending, but I mean it in a positive way. Like it's just really important people are they care to learn about what you're doing? So why don't we dive in, just tell me a little bit, in your own words about currently, what your business is, and what you guys stand for?
Ashley Capone 11:11
Well, first of all, thank you for that lovely introduction. And I just want to say, before we start, thank you for having me on the podcast, it's taken me a while to get here. But that's because I really just want to bring home to people that coaching wasn't accessible for me at the time. And I use the podcast as a tool to get to where I am today. And I'm forever grateful to you for offering this space as an accessible space for people to access this mindset work. Because I definitely could not have done any of this without you, as a business professional or friends or I don't know, you play a lot of roles. We're definitely waiting to be called each other business colleagues, whatever that is. I know it's like and you're a great person to work with, you know, and I have seen the evidence to, I've been around to see you grow your business and this evolution of where future you has taken it is like really never acknowledged.
Jessica McKinley Uyeno 12:13
Yeah, I mean, that's really fun. Actually, I don't know that I have had someone on the show. That's know me as long as you definitely not. So I mean, for those of you who are listening, Ashley and I go way back, I mean, we grew up in the same town, and we went to the same school, but we actually never went to school at the same time together because she was three grades older than me. But our moms were in the same book club together, we had a lot of mutual friends who were in the grades between us channel two book club. Yeah, shout out to two book clubs, right? Our high school want to be book club, and our mom's book club. I mean, at that time, like for the audience, just so they they get to like laugh a little bit with you, you because you're always like giggling, I feel like during group coaching, when I am using my personal anecdotes from the past and talking about that growth, because you really witnessed that, like you saw who I was then and you're like, No, she's not exaggerating, this is real. She was terrible at these things. And now it's kind of almost like, you've come to know, two people. And I feel that way with you as well. And your growth in your journey,
Ashley Capone 13:30
I would never say you were terrible. I would say that you lacked the skills. But you you're definitely one of the people who had some motivation, I think that they're like, that's key is that you have to if you don't have the skills, those are learnable. You just have to have the motivation part. And that's the part you always did have. And that was really the through line for all of this.
Jessica McKinley Uyeno 13:49
Yeah. And I mean, I wouldn't even say though, that like in a lot of ways, I didn't have the motivation to develop the skills until I did you know what I mean? It was like, their time management wasn't important to me. In fact, organization of any sense wasn't important to me, because two reasons. Number one, I just didn't think it was possible. For me, I kind of just thought it was part of my identity that I was sure kind of flighty and mismanaged and all those things and, and so it wasn't until I started getting into that personal development space. And I think for for all of us, as business owners, when we're up against this new result that we want, and we're just like, ooh, the person that I am today is just like not capable of this. I like to just say, Yeah, that's true for the person that you are today. And that is the whole point of having this concept of the future you where you get to really say the person that I am in the future, is has a whole new set of skill sets has a whole new set of thoughts. An understanding and like a level of self compassion for herself. That's so much greater than I do right now. How can I access her? How can I lean on her? How can I get some sort of insight from her? It'll be fun as we're, as I'm hearing your examples throughout the show of like, how you've used that, to just really reference things of, of what we experienced being friendly with each other along the way.
Ashley Capone 15:25
Yes. And it just ups the quality of the questions is just the main point. Because it's like, what, what else could be true? Yeah, if I, if I believe hard enough, what else could be true. And that's really how beauty activism started, is, I believe, so our
Jessica McKinley Uyeno 15:44
dive, we dived right in without doing that type of intro. So tell us a little bit about who you are, what you did a little bit
Ashley Capone 15:51
how I started, was, I feel like I've been a secret undercover makeup artist, like I became a makeup artists because it was a great creative job that I could do part time while I also pursued acting, I knew I also could have other creative jobs while doing it, it could be my bread and butter, and that I could grow it into something bigger. And when I was thinking about what I was going to grow it into bigger platform was like, What do I want the overall message gonna be like, I thought about new marks, really 20 years from now. And now we're here 20 years from now. And over the last 10 years, I have been a makeup artist and I have been advocating for other activists to join us in this community. And I've really just watched that grow. And specifically VT activism is the cornerstone of all of this. And it's really just the intersectionality of a few things that I thought needed to change in order for everyone to feel beautiful, to feel accepted to feel like they're in alignment with themselves, because I knew makeup wasn't the only tool in the toolbox for that, right? That that works deeper. So it's like how do we create a cultural change, where it's acceptable to be focusing on these things to be focusing on inclusion, to be focusing on sustainability. And I don't just mean for the earth, I also mean sustainability, specifically for people in being to being able to take care of themselves and get their own needs met. Yes. And beauty. And then also, like, I dove into research of what makes people feel beautiful. And then what is beauty? I mean, I've been on this quest my whole life as an artist, just you know, that's what most artists are really apt to, you know, at the end of the day, they're really looking at that question and answering it differently with different perspectives. So always I found that interesting. It was always more to me about how could I create a cultural shift around the ideas and people's relationships with beauty over just being a makeup artist? And one of the ways I did that was after reading the tipping point? I don't know if you've
Jessica McKinley Uyeno 17:53
read? Yeah, yeah, a long time ago. Malcolm?
Ashley Capone 17:57
Yeah, yeah, it was, it was one of the first books that really affected me in this way. Because they tell a great story about Doc Martens, and how Doc Martens got to become as famous as they did. And it started, you know, in this underground community. And so how that was not the Soho it is today. And it was in the music scene, it was off the beaten path. It was a small company. And it was just word of mouth. And you and I have always talked about this, like, word of mouth is still the best form of advertising. So really, I knew what had to happen was we had to shift the culture, cultural thoughts on what beauty was. And the way to do that was to go through media, go through editorial, go through Soho again now and just plant the seeds in these ideas in as many people's heads as possible. And then it's New York City. I mean, it just beauty is an energy. And the ripple effect of that has been tremendous. And I'm not to say I'm the only one that has been pursuing this by any means there has been a handful of us, but I will say it was a small handful when we started.
Jessica McKinley Uyeno 19:10
I remember when you were first talking about it. And when you were using the term beauty activism, I was so confused. I was like, What is this? And now I hear it and I'm like, wait, Ashley, No, you were really on the cutting edge of, of this concept. I mean, again, whether or not that word was something that you created or whether you you want it to infuse it into the mission of your business before it was mainstream before people really cared to make beauty activism part of their mission. So give us an example like more concretely how a business a business owner who's listening right now could use you and consult with you in a way to make their business more alive. And with their audience using beauty activism.
Ashley Capone 20:04
Yeah, absolutely. So beauty marks NYC is now the beauty service part of my business and beauty marks creative is this new endeavor that just launched this week in Port Jefferson, New York at the hive Creative Studios? Shout out to them because they have been incredibly supportive of this new endeavor. I can't wait
Jessica McKinley Uyeno 20:21
to get over there. Yes, it was. It was a labor of love. But oh, it's so beautiful. Are you watching this on YouTube? You guys blew your head a little bit. Ashley did the makeup for this. It was in an editorial. What was that for?
Ashley Capone 20:36
Yes, that was for that was a photoshoot for American salon magazine. And that's one of the people that I'm talking about. It's like I was teaming up with people who were doing things that at the time were radical, you know, it was radical to have different models of different sizes. And, and an inclusive setting. And this was groundbreaking at the time. I mean, I was having conversations with people in the fashion industry, going into New York, you know, Fashion Week, over and over and over again. And I was hearing well, the models are really supposed to be the hangers with legs. And I went well, how can anyone envision themselves in that? It's like, well, they're supposed to be able to use that as a tool to envision themselves. And then I'm like, No, they're not seeing themselves represented, like, over and over and over again, just having these conversations. So now it's kind of spiraled into my brand as well, right. And it's been fun that over the last five years or so I've started producing films that are, you know, focused in this area. And I've started, you know, dabbling in a little bit of philanthropy with it, and trying to bring self care to people who are going through cancer, and illness and any other situation that could really be robbing them of feeling beautiful. Because it really robs you of your dignity when you don't feel beautiful. So that's really why I keep coming back to the Cornerstone is, beauty activism is really about beauty being a human rights issue that we are all entitled to feel beautiful. And really what I want the marks creative to be now is not only a service company, but we're also going to start selling, you know, products, and we're going to start producing more events. And I've been doing styling, it's really like, it's really tapping into the idea that beauty is an energy, right? It's, it's not that's not a woowoo thing to say, at all. It's science, you get a dopamine hit, that oxytocin is going when you see something that lights you up, that is something that you can harness, curates and bring into your everyday life as a tool as a mental health tool.
Jessica McKinley Uyeno 22:47
Yeah, as a business owner, I just keep thinking like, people pay to feel connected to beauty. And so for me, how can I you know, make infuse beauty activism into my brand to help my clients feel not only like you said, represented and feel like they can access my brand and my tools and my teachings. So part of that, right is looking at my whole business as a whole and looking at the accessibility of it and the equity of it. And looking at the language I'm using and looking at the images that I'm using and seeing like, is this speaking to the audience and the people that I want to speak to? Is it diverse the the people that I'm speaking to and then also, I've hired Ashley now to come on, and help me run from start to finish my entire live event for the masterful CEO school. So our first live event is going to going to be July 8, and it's coming right up. It's right around the corner. So why don't you tell people a little bit about kind of that process. So if anyone is someone that listens, and they do live events, and they wanted to hire someone like you or specifically right if they wanted to hire you if they wanted to have beauty activism infused? What did that process look like for us? What are the types of things that are important to you and like the creative process from start to finish.
Ashley Capone 24:22
We've been a beauty activism only collaborator from the beginning, which now that these ideas have taken off, it's led to some really fun and exciting work that has gone beyond you know, makeup. Once I was tackling new things, I started to realize that I had this Jane of all trades approach. And as a producer, I could see budget wise, how that could be really helpful and how much more savvy we can because this Jane of all trades approach is really me acknowledging and healing a huge part of myself too. I have to say, because for years and years and years, you know I was diagnosed with attention deficit disorder at age eight. And the stories that I have heard, have shaped me in negative and positive ways around that narrative. And this really helped me to embrace all of the times I started something and was like learned that next, learn that next, I am hungry for art, I am hungry for creativity, I'm hungry for connection. I always happen. Moving home and being here in Port Jeff has just brought that up all the more for me. And I have dabbled in so many different creative jobs that I'm a Swiss army knife on set. And I can help people figure out how to one infuse more beauty activism into their brands, and to make sure their brand has tentacles. And it's serving them in ways that they didn't even know it could on an inspirational level because I believe that's incorrect as a currency as well. And I connective level, you and I connect with a lot of business entrepreneurs and you can't deny that there's a whole movement going on with that as well for women.
Jessica McKinley Uyeno 26:08
Yeah, I mean, that's what this whole live event is going to be about. And so to give it more like context, intangibility, for the listeners, when Ashley and I, when I hired her to produce the event, I was like, Okay, these are the details that I have for the event. Like I was like, Okay, we have to just figure out the day I want it to be live, I want it to be one day, everyone's kind of coming in together, I want to do a workshop. That's like it. That's all I really knew. I was like, I want to do a workshop, I want to do some fun things. I just want it to be fun.
Ashley Capone 26:40
It's no different than when someone comes to me for makeup. They say I don't know, this is what I do. This is the mascara, I use some of the time. And I like this look. And I really like this look on my Pinterest board. But I've never been able to accomplish it like stuff like that. It's it's all it's all the same. We're elevating you, right? You are your brands. And we're elevating you through the creative event that you're planning.
Jessica McKinley Uyeno 27:03
Yeah. And so to give everyone some examples of things that she brought to my attention that I hadn't really thought about, in a way is like she was asking for some inspiration. We were doing like an inspiration board. And I was sending her some of the marketing or some of the people out there that inspire me that are maybe doing some things similarly and she was like, okay, okay, like, I see this, I like this part of this, but like, all of this can't even possibly begin to be you. And I realized like it didn't cover me it she was like, you were like it lacks like your fun it lacks like your your brightness, your color. And when you said that I was like, I first of all, I was like I completely agree, like no one quite has that the same quality of energy that I have. I don't mean good or bad. I just mean that nobody's texture of energy. Nobody's me. Exactly. And so for anyone listening, it's like she helps bring out of you the units that you really are limiting when you're using Pinterest only to or just like saving other people's posts and using that to create what your brand is. It's like you need to ask higher quality questions. We talk about that on the podcast all the time.
Ashley Capone 28:27
It's higher quality creative questions and processes. To make it fun again, too. I noticed I think it was like what is happening right now it's the same thing as what what happened with beauty marks NYC I was like, I see people who want a natural look, I see people who want to look like themselves I want I think people will want to move and feel and be themselves at their wedding. Just their elevated, most present itself, of course, but themselves you know. And that's what I tried to infuse to every creative project I have worked with designed along the way.
Jessica McKinley Uyeno 29:01
Absolutely. And other things that we had discussed like other elements of this event was okay, like what is important? How do I want my clients to feel what are the things that I want them to leave with and not just information because I could do that all on my own right? Like that's on Ashley's job, she's not coming up with any of the content of my event. She was helping me and of course you do a lot of the logistics and I will say that is that is Beauty to me beauty to me, his being able to come in be a creative like explosion of confetti in your face and you just like sweep it into these nice little piles and just like it yeah, presented back to me. And you had said okay, like, how can we make sure that the girls feel beauty like throughout the day and it was a question that I never would have asked myself probably because As I don't think that I use that word too much, even though I do understand that it's important and also important to my clients, right? And, and so we are infusing a bunch of other self care moments. And one of the things that we had talked about as well as to me, it matters that this whole thing feels like a community like rallying around this event, I'm newly in Garden City, I chose to have my live event in my new hometown, and I was like, I want the people around, you were like, okay, like, let's, let's infuse local. So, what did you do? Like, what was your strategy there?
Ashley Capone 30:48
I think it's just when you are looking at the tentacles of your business, you want to always be supporting other companies that are in alignment with you, and that are doing their own great work in the world. You know, it's like, we could get the coffee at the, you know, at the big box, we could get the box at Joe, you know what I mean? It's like, why don't we go down to the local small business and ask them instead, because these, this is how communities are built. These are how connections are made. There's a deep, deep need for this to come back to in real life communities. And people being there for one another, and people showing up for one another. I don't want to get on my soapbox with the activism stuff about the government, I'll try to keep it as neutral as. But what I want to say is no one's coming for us, it's really our responsibility to make this world beautiful. And to feel beautiful in it. It's nobody else's responsibility. And we can help each other to do that. But the way we can do that is through community. And through building these strong networks that become you know, family, they become clients, they become, they refer you it's just it's, it's the same thing is the tipping point. It's the word of mouth. I'm still positive, it's the best form of advertising. And it's the best form of activism. As far as I'm concerned.
Jessica McKinley Uyeno 32:15
It's so good. And it's been such a fun strategy, right? Because like, I'm getting to know the other local business owners who are my clients, right, that are like local and supporting them. And I remember going to Stacey Bateman's mastermind, she did it in Kentucky, and she bought cookies for all of us from this girl, you may have heard of her. She's like blown up. I don't know whether she was on Shark Tank or what but she has autism. And she runs her own, like cookie company that is like massive, it's really big. And the cookies are very, very good. And she's got like some big clients. And the mastermind that I was a part of is really about sales. And she was like, I wanted to support this girl who was so good when I called her impressed about the story like, oh, I would love to invest. I would love to buy from you. She was kind of like, well, how many she was just like so to the point that girl and she was like, yeah, like her strategy. Her business is so successful, because she's willing to call and ask for what she wants. And then if it's a no, she doesn't make that mean anything. If it's a yes, she's like, okay, that's business. And if we could only appeal a little bit more like that girl. But my point was, like, I remember being so moved as a client of that mastermind, that Stacy had thought to be really thoughtful about the things that were going out to us. And I know that that has always been very important to my business, like you said to like, I want to be a pillar of my community, I want to impact everything that I do impact my community in a big way. But also like when we're always tying it back to time and money and all of that it's like, really, your your business can grow rapidly. And though some of your business when you see let's say you grow to 100k using local or you grow to 100k, using, you know, whatever was the cheapest or whatever kind of was Amazon products and just using whatever was right available to you will see that you are what you eat for, for lack of a better term there. It's like I when I did my annual report, if you haven't listened to that episode, you can go back and listen to the episode, where it's my report, I realized that at the beginning of each year, I outlined what are my values and then I make sure that my business decisions reflect my values. And so it took me a long time to find the right accountant because my I wanted to hire a female accountant that shared the same values as me. And so I went through many, many, many iterations and ended up doing my taxes by myself or with my husband for like, many years until finally I found her this year. And now that I have her, it's so aligned, it's such a click Fit. And I know that when my clients, so she came on a call with all of everyone in the masterful CEO school on Monday, and there was a bonus call with my accountant, I knew that I could throw her in there, and people were just going to eat it up. And they did. Because when you make business decisions, from a place of beauty activism from a place of aligned core values, when things get tight, or when you don't have enough time, you don't have to worry about the wrong things spilling out of your cup, because you filled it properly.
Ashley Capone 35:55
Yeah, well, it's quality over quantity. And then once I realized that I'm I was like, How can I take beauty activism and quality over quantity into other aspects of creating beautiful events, beautiful films, like producing creative producing, before the pandemic, I was supposed to be creative producing a runway show, it's like being a musician who could play a few different instruments. Like they're like, I don't know, I just like, I'm a musical person. Like, when I pick up an instrument, I just can kind of figure it out and play. That's how I feel like I just feel like all of these creative jobs led me to the service industry. And now, I'm interested to see to see as we expand, and as beauty activism expands, you know, I knew I couldn't expand this idea until our society was ready for it. Right? Just because that's how capitalism works. Yeah. I mean, I found my niche, I found, I was a makeup artist, I was specifically this natural look, makeup artists, I also did activism work around this. And I think that it's always coming back to what is quality over quantity. What is a content your eyes are eating, because it's telling your brain something every single time, every single time, that is why we do this work. That is why working with Stacy smoker who did this fabulous hair behind me, we decided on quality over quantity on everything we were doing in that and when you decide on that, then you're investing in quality for other people's businesses who are also putting that quality work out there. And that just has raised this idea of inclusion and media up higher and higher and higher. And the more that I knew there, the more there, there was a demand for it from us to see ourselves represented in all sorts of ways, us as a culture that that demand would have to be met. Because that's how capitalism works. Yeah. And
Jessica McKinley Uyeno 37:53
you're just going to end up attracting clients that will make up a business that you don't resent exact, right? Like, if you're not aligning your values with your offer, then you end up attracting a client that you really kind of don't want to work with. And I hear people all the time complaining about their clients. And I'm like, there's just something misaligned here. And I think that it's exactly what we're talking about here. Right? Like, they just haven't given it the time enough. Or maybe they don't believe that it's valued, that beauty activism is valued. And I think that we're kind of proving them wrong. Like, I mean, I'm definitely paying for this. And one of the things that I'm wondering if people are thinking when they're hearing quality over quantity, and you know, slowing down and being thoughtful and doing all these things, and curating right is like expensive, like up that's gonna cost me too much. I don't know if I can afford to be a beauty activist. Can you speak to that?
Ashley Capone 38:55
Yes, absolutely. That's another thing that's like a tentacle on that. It's like my brain just went bing bing, bing, bing, bing, bing, bing bing, because so much has happened. I'm like, there's so much we could talk about, we could talk about how there's, you know, being there's pressure being put on the laws right now to have all of our beauty products looked at the same way we look at the food we put in our body, right? You know, there's all of this pressure now to have inclusion and sustainability as a part of your business. And that has actually made it more accessible. It's made it more accessible for than ever, for people to participate in beauty activism. But what I will say is the most accessible part of beauty activism is that you need to acknowledge that starts with you, and all of those small changes. They're small, small changes, but the more you infuse that work into your life, taking a walk is free. growing a plant from a seed is free. Like curating beauty is free wherever we see it and once We start tapping into that we realize what we like we realize what we feel. And then we realize how to create more of that and to bring others with us along the way.
Jessica McKinley Uyeno 40:13
One of those Jane of all trades things that you bring to your business is like a willingness to look at a budget and think of that as a part of the beauty activism, right? It's like, hey, we don't have to not everything has to be luxury price to feel luxury. And I know that like even with just looking at your space and your studio over there, like I know for a fact that certain items in your studio you like found like that, that like amazing, like plush. I don't know what it's called, like a velvet like chair, or like so fast. That was
Ashley Capone 40:52
the Greenpoint studio. Yeah. But like, I found that on the screen, it was the NYC and the beauty marks NYC. I literally carried it on my head home.
Jessica McKinley Uyeno 41:00
Yep. And like this wallpaper behind me, it's Peel and Stick, I did it myself. And I'm just like, to me, it makes it gives it an energy makes the experience of filming my podcast, people associate this Alice in Wonderland field with me. And what costs me maybe like $200, for wallpapering, the whole section of this room was an investment that has elevated my brand and actually caused people to say, oh, like, Who is that are immediately they stop their scroll, because they see and they notice like, that's Jess. And so I was less thoughtful about these things before listening to you. And before, just the things that you bring attention to that seem to be like, oh, yeah, that'd be nice. And that'll be something that I invest in, like an extra like the cherry on top of the cake to be a beauty activist. But actually, I think of it more as like the plate. Like it is so foundational. And and when I think about my 2023 annual review, there are going to be so many metrics that I put in and I call it the section of my review is like the metrics that matter. It's like, I want to make sure that I'm measuring not just money, and not just hours worked. But within money. It's like people need to see what what created the 200k that I made last year. Well, I had a baby last year, I was eight weeks off in terms of maternity leave. I love creating beauty offer. Yeah, right. Baby Mari she's so beautiful. Yeah. And so I just, I'm really grateful for the work that you are putting out there. I think that it's only going to spread like wildfire. And people are going to wish they listened to you sooner because reverse engineering, beauty activism and your business is just harder and costs more than if you do it from the ground up. But it's also not never too late. Right? It's always the best time to start thinking about it is now right.
Ashley Capone 43:26
Yeah, I mean, in the beginning, I started being like, Okay, this is beauty activism, like because this is like taken, this is taken on mainstream, right? This is like we're seeing this in our commercials, we're seeing this everywhere, which is incredible. It has to happen that way in order for it to spread the way that it has. But it also started making me feel like it was not authentic, you know. So it was really important to me to get back to working with small businesses. My parents owned a small business here on Long Island. And I've always been around the culture of that. And I've always understood how important it was. And I think now when I look back, I could have grown my business faster. Had I not taken that BD activism, or BD activists only wanted approach. But I had another job at the time, because it was important to me, as I built this business to take on work that really represented my values and really represented the art that I wanted to be putting out into the world. These are my actual beauty marks. My logo was my actual back I have a typical mold disorder. And it's like everybody has their things, right. Everybody has their their things that make them that they have to rise above in order to feel beautiful. And for me it was like all of these beauty marks and the scars that I have from them because I have to have things taken care of all the time. And how do I reroute that for myself? You know, and how do I infuse beauty into that? How do I change the story in my head? It's no different than any of the Other mindset work that we talk about in business, you know, that's where it starts, it starts with those small shifts and focusing on yourself and then focusing on others, you focus on your own beauty mark, and then you pull out, and you focus on the constellation of beauty marks, right? The people around you, the community around you. So you got to start somewhere. And that's where I started, I started okay, how do I reroute my own insecurities? How do I reroute my own feelings about beauty and really dive in to uncovering what makes me find, feel and create beauty. And that's where it started. And I'm happy to see it's grown. And I also watch with a critical eye because I see that there's, there's a lot of people just trying to take, like, a joy ride on the on the beauty activism train, you know, they're like, Okay, we'll jump on now, you know. So I think it's important to honor all of the people that it took to really get to this place. I mean, our culture has changed so much that just giddy up during COVID Everybody was home, wearing whatever outfits they wanted to wear to feel their best and eat whatever you want to eat to feel your best. Like we were all just doing our best. And something cracked, you know, we cracked open and it's spilling out now into the media and into products. And it's really exciting to see. And I'm really happy to be doing creative consulting now which you can go to my Instagram beauty marks creative, tap that bio, that's how you can find me and all of my offers, you can book me for a beauty consult and makeup lesson. And you can also book me now for a creative console, where we talk about, you know, what we can do with your business to make sure that you're doing this work alongside with everybody else, because it doesn't just like you said, fill your your cup. It fills other people's cups too. So it's just, it's exciting. It's exciting to spread.
Jessica McKinley Uyeno 47:02
It is exciting. And I'm just I'm glad and excited to report back to everyone what kind of what kind of changes and I didn't even get to even name all of the things that kind of came out. I just recently did a rebrand my business officially went all in on sincerely future you and part of that was inspired by the final push that came from doing this work on this live event that was like, No, everything needs to be brighter, it needs to just be dialed up like that is the work that we're doing. It's bright, it's in your face. It's like you either love neon or you're not for this space, right? It's like this space is that is what makes me feel energized and beautiful in my clients as well. And,
Ashley Capone 47:49
and that's what attracts clients like you, to you.
Jessica McKinley Uyeno 47:53
Yeah, yeah. And so like this work, while some of it does seem, you know, aspirational. And just like a little bit more, like you said philanthropic it is but I do not see it separate from my revenue goals, and from my growth goals for the business. And I just wanted to like leave people with that. Because I think that as you're growing your business, if you are doing it very authentically and aligned with your values and aligned with the values that are going to make your community and your the people that matter to you, for me, like women, business owners, a better place like everyone keeps asking me this new offer that I have legacy room coming like, oh, you could probably meet your goals. I've talked to a lot of people behind the scenes if you just let men in. And I was like, Yeah, I know. I'm not interested in that, though. That's not what my values are. And I just think doing this work intentionally ends up. Yes, maybe on the short term, you do take a bit of a growth cut. But in the long term, you end up growing in the way that you really, really want to,
Ashley Capone 49:08
yeah, it's putting down roots, it's that's the way you're growing, it's creating investments where they matter and knowing where to let go creatively in your budget. In your schedule, all of the above, you know, creatives, they're a funny crowd to to wrangle. Their their ideas, because it's like they just, it floods to them, you know, and it's like, things spark and then we're told that that's unorganized, right? So it's just giving the space to breathe into that creative energy to stop saying that you have to behave a certain way in order to look or be professional. All of these things and say, Let's really curate a beautiful life and some work that you feel beautiful in. Like I want you to feel beautiful at this event. You're throwing this event for everybody else, but also want you to feel like yes, this is my events, you invested in this event for us, for your clients, and you not only want them to feel taken care of on an everyday basis, you want it to celebrate that, that that is trickling into their lives and their business. Yep. Amen. Toby. The activism is
Jessica McKinley Uyeno 50:28
yeah, you know, men so good. Well, I mean, I could talk to you forever. And that is very evident. evidenced in the fact that we were at a Mexican restaurant for four hours. But thank you so much for finally coming onto the show and for sharing with us and educating us on the importance of this work. Because I think that if people like you said, there's a reason why this podcast is free. And if people just take this episode, and just take the few tips and the few things that you focused on in this show. And if you start to infuse it into their brand and into their decision making, they are in no time going to be at the place where they're just really called to start working with you and start taking this beauty activism and their business to the next level.
Ashley Capone 51:26
Yeah, I mean, I jumped from being a podcast listener to just investing in one on one right out the gate. So a lot had to happen in order for that to be possible for me, and thank you for the support along the way. It was an honor and a privilege to talk to you today. Yay, future you. Yeah, we're known past you. Because now we are future you. It's a trend. I'm like, where's where else are we gonna go? Where else are we gonna go?
Jessica McKinley Uyeno 51:50
I know, I actually think we would be flipping out to have just a bird's eye view above of this moment right now. Like, what am what is happening? What Who are we right? And I think we always kind of knew, like, we just weren't going to be attached to a mission that was bigger than us, for both of us. Yeah. And I think a lot of my listeners really relate to that. It's like, yes, there's a mission, and it's bigger than you. And when you're connected and make decisions from that place. The money and the time. It chases you. You don't need to chase it. Absolutely. All right. For those of you go and follow Ashley over at beauty marks isn't beauty marks creative on Instagram are
Ashley Capone 52:32
numerous creative on Instagram, and it's WW WW www. Don't get it done not cutting that out. World Wide Web dot beauty marks nyc.com. And you can see some of the work that we've been doing. And you can connect with us there.
Jessica McKinley Uyeno 52:52
Yes, even just for a infusion shot of beauty. Just go and check that out. All right, you guys, we will see you next week. Thanks again, ash, and we'll talk to you soon. Thank you, I hope you enjoy that conversation as much as I did. Ashley is always helping me think deeper and wider about my business in a way that is not just focused on my personal goals, but really is helping me think about the whole process, not just the results, and making sure that it really is representation of my values, and that the clients feel that as well. So that everything feels super aligned, and that at the end of the day, the more my business grows, the better the world becomes, the more beautiful it becomes as well. So I hope that you enjoyed this. And if you did, please leave us a review or just pop into my DMs over at Jess McKinley, bueno on Instagram. And let me know that you love to the show. You can connect with Ashley as well. And we just can't wait to hear what your thoughts are on beauty activism and how you're doing your part in the world. And also just as a reminder, as we're speaking right now, as you're listening to this, if you're listening to this episode in real time, we are about to kick start the splash pad, the splash pad is my course for business 101 For people that want to monetize that thing they're already really good at now, you might just have an idea and you're coming into this from scratch. But also honestly, the splash pad was really designed for creating those systems and giving you those beginner level systems to increase your profitability so that you will be able to consistently invest in your business. So if you're listening to this and you're like, I don't know, I have been in business for a year or so. Is this right for me or not? The question I would ask yourself is are you trying to get into the masterful CEO school are you really just feel like you're always one step behind investing in your business in a big powerful way that you want to, you want to make sure that you have unlock the five tools that I am teaching you that every business owner needs to know. To get the systems moving in a consistent way, we're going to be talking about the basics of marketing, sales, time management, and money management. It's that well oiled machine behind and of course, making sure that you as in your thoughts, and in your feelings, you've aligned that plan. So that showing up to your action plan just feels like going about your day, it feels easy, it doesn't feel like you're forcing yourself to show up, or you're striving that hard to be different than how you felt when you woke up in the morning. And if you're feeling like you can't get out of that place that you're in and you're stuck, the splashpad is for you too. So you can sign up. Anyone who joins before June 21 is going to get a bonus call with me, you're going to get a founding members call and we're going to kick start all of you guys off together. The splashpad is not coaching offer, it is a community and its lifetime, you'll get access to each other in the Facebook group. And we'll do some coaching, of course, within some written coaching within the Facebook group, and you can always pop on to our monthly coaching calls of ask coach just so you're gonna have tons of support. But I'm telling you this course is for anyone who is not consistently hitting the revenue goals that they want to be hitting, okay, so make sure that you get into the splashpad. And for those of you who are just waiting for the next time to get into the masterful CEO school, my twice a year coaching mastermind, that enrollment is also coming and we will be enrolling for the September class July 10. So get ready. If you're not yet make sure you get on our email list. You can do that by going to sincerely future you.com or in the link in my bio on my Instagram. All right, you guys. I am just so pumped to get back into those two spaces and share with you kind of what is going to be happening with the people who are getting the actual wins. They put their money where their mouth is they are showing their future selves. Hey, I'm coming for you. Are you coming for your future self? Let's go. Hey, hamsters. If you want to learn more about today's topic, head over to what's happening.com forward slash podcast. That's what's happening. Whats h a p p y and ing.com forward slash podcast? If you're a business owner, and you're resonating with what we talked about here, what are you even doing come hang out with me over where the party's at on Instagram at what's happening? W Jess again that's happy. Ha p p y and ing and book a discovery call to see if coaching is your next best step.
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