Sarah Irby Photo: Courtesy of Unilever If you were to survey the assortment of serums, cleansers, and cosmetics you’ve collected over the years, there’s a good chance Sarah Irby helped those gems make their way into your daily routines.
I also now see the importance of movement and daily exercise, if you can —I don’t. [Laughs.] But there was a period of time there where I was working out every day, doing YouTube exercises in my living room, or getting out for a walk around the reservoir just to get moving. I think that’s also feeding our beauty from within. I think a lot of what’s changed around beauty is it’s more about having that inner glow that comes with feeling good and having that overall wellness shining through.
In a more personal sense, I wish people knew that all of the passion and dedication and energy and conviction that I have is really full of the best intentions of driving our business. What I have found over the years, especially as I’ve gotten higher up in my career and worked with so many different people, is some people can perceive that passion and drive as kind of scary and intimidating.
The executive vice-president or senior vice-president of marketing was like, “You obviously don’t know where you work. This brand is all about certain codes and luxury cues,” and they had nothing to do with sustainability and natural ingredients. That was probably the hardest “no,” because I was earlier in my career, and it was like: I hear you. You’re not wrong, but it’s not going to happen on this brand.
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