Epsa 1:15
We have a really awesome guest today, her name is Megan Niquette. She’s a creator partnership strategist at Ipsy, which is a monthly beauty subscription service. And special thanks to my old roommate Kensie Soule and her boyfriend Danny for connecting us with his sister Megan. And on today’s episode with Megan, we will be discussing her passion for increasing diversity, equity and inclusion in the influencer marketing space. Because it’s truly a space that impacts all of us. I mean, I don’t know about you all. But whenever I see one of my favorite influencers, promote a brand or promote a product, I already have my debit card pulled out ready to make a purchase. So with that, we’ll be chatting with Megan about her role and how she’s been able to use her voice to make an impact speak up when actions need to be addressed and how she has learned how to drive change. And with that, Megan, could you take it away and just share your background and how you were able to get involved in the influencer marketing space?
Megan 2:12
Yes. So I guess I have to start in college. Because yes, college I majored in business with an emphasis in Cinematic Arts. So I thought I wanted to be a producer, spoiler alert, I didn’t. But when I was in college, we had a class called like the business of digital marketing or something like something to that effect. And so one of our guest speakers was looking for interns, and it was paid, which most entertainment internships are not. So I snatchedit up. And then that was kind of my intro to the influencer space. So that was a company that managed gamers gaming influencers. And so a lot of my job was handling copyright claims, and like that kind of stuff for them. Which was interesting, you know, not terribly compelling work, but it was it. It’s interesting in terms of the law, and like the intricacies of YouTube and like what they what we can monetize and what they can monetize. So I was, after my internship ended, I was a part time assistant there for probably, I don’t know, six months. And then around graduation, I left and did a bunch of freelance Film and Television Production stuff. So I was a production assistant on things. And I really, you know, it was a lot of fun. But I realized that stability is important to me. And that is not something you really get so much in that space. So I was like, there are people who want this way more than me. So I leave space for them. Like I don’t, I don’t need to be taking up this job. There’s someone who’d be super excited about, you know, getting these coffees or whatever. So then I got a job at a marketing agency, which was really where like the influencer marketing started. It was a very small team of like three people, which was great because I was entry level but because there were so few people, they had me doing full campaign. So I was negotiating with influencers and making contracts and like handling the execution and communicating with the brands. So that was that was a great learning experience. And really, I was there for about a year. And towards the end, what I realized was that the part where I interacted with the talent was my favorite. And so then when this job came up at a video app, that was basically like handling relationships with influencers on behalf of the app, I was like, oh, that I want to do that. Actually. That’s another interesting thing about this space, the jobs just appear and then you just pop up and you can just hop around. It’s cool. I’ll do that. Let’s try. Um, so yeah, I took that job. That was a terrible mistake in the app was acquired by a Chinese company who own a now very popular video app that rhymes was schmuck, schmuck.
Megan 5:15
You know, it was just a really toxic work environment and the way they treated their creators was really bad. I, you know, one point someone said to me, creator, success is not our goal, verbatim. And I was just like, Oh, well, that’s my goal. So kind of a tipping point for me in terms of like, Oh, I’m very unhappy here. So I actually quit without another job lined up. Just did some freelance consulting and some brand campaigns for smaller brands. And then this job popped up it Ipsy. And someone I had met at that first internship was the hiring manager. And so she brought me on and now here I am, two years, two promotions later, manage all the micro influencers, for what happy ending.
Epsa 6:06
So hey, look at you go bopping around and you landed yourself at Ipsy? I’m just curious. Megan, if this is just like on a personal note to like, were you ever from like, kind of like going from a new role to a new role, and then gaining more and more like responsibility? Did you ever have immense imposter syndrome, when you were like, given certain tasks that you were like, Oh, my God, I don’t even know how to do it. But I guess I’ll try. Like, how did you navigate that? I know, it’s not a question. But I’m just curious.
Megan 6:36
Yeah, definitely. I think that’s the secret of adulthood is everybody has that. And you know, you don’t really realize until you’re in it, and you talk to your friends about it, that we’re all just pretending all the time. So yes, definitely, how do I deal with it? Honestly, I just do my best, like, that’s literally all you can get from me, and you hired me, you know, what you were getting into? And, you know, I’m, I’ll just do what I can. And, you know, if I’m not capable, I can ask for help. Like, I think that’s another important thing is, you know, realizing what you aren’t able to do or what you don’t know, and asking questions. Totally.
Sydney 7:16
You’ve been at Ipsy for a little over two years. And we would love to know a bit more about some of the most impactful parts or responsibilities that you’re currently doing at Ipsy
Megan 7:31
I think, like, on a personal level, what’s most impactful thing about my job is that I get to be the person who pays creative people for their work. And like that, I will never get tired of that of getting to email someone. And you know, often because I work with smaller creators and I go out of my way to work with smaller creators, often I’m the first person to offer them money for what they do. So I think people don’t really think about it. But to become an influencer, you have to sink a lot of like time and money into it and just add content into the void and like build your audience. Before you reach a point where you can monetize. So I think that is like really magical, honestly, to be able to be the person who emails them and says, like, Hey, I see you, I see that you’re talented, I think that your work is worth money. And like, it just yeah, I mean, I’ve and I’ve been told, you know, years later from people that I did this with in the past that it was, like even hiring them for a small project is really motivating, and empowering because, you know, like I said, you’re just pouring content into Yeah, yeah. You know, likes are great, but to make it a career, you do have to make money and so that’s why I think that’s really my favorite part on a personal level about my job is getting to be Santa.
Sydney 8:53
Yeah. But every day, not just during Christmas time. And so I’m curious, you’re like you say you work mainly with micro influencers. What does that look like? What is the definition of that like a micro influencer versus a big and like, right, yeah, totally. Yeah. So
Megan 9:16
the influencer space is very fluid. And so different companies define things different ways. But Ipsy I would say a micro influencer is anywhere between 10,000 followers and like 300,000 followers. Probably I aim for the smaller end of that generally. Just for the reasons I said that I’m just like you they need it more. And but yeah, that’s definitely a really cool part of my job and yeah, there it is a weird thing though to define a micro influencer or so yeah, stop me if I use any jargon because I am fully just immersed in the media world now. So I find four
Epsa 9:58
So Megan, earlier, you mentioned that you reach out to a lot of micro influencers throughout your week. I’m just curious if you could just describe to us a typical week work week in your life, and your favorite parts about your work week, and then parts about your work week that you hope would improve or things you wish would improve.
Megan 10:21
So I guess I should give you a little overview about Ipsy. First, so Ipsy, hashtag ad Ipsy is a
Epsa 10:31
Hashtag not sponsored
Unknown Speaker 10:33
Ipsy is a beauty subscription company. And so we’re the only beauty subscription company that customizes your products to you. So when you sign up, you take a quiz about yourself, you give us your skin tone, your skin type, your hair type, what kind of colors you like to wear, etc, etc. And then every month, we’ll either send you five sample size products to try based on those preferences for $12, or five full size products for $25. So the reason I tell you this is because everyone’s box is custom, it means that there is a big list every month of products that people could get. Since not everyone’s getting the same thing. So my job, my main job is to take that list of products and make sure that every single one gets posted about by an influencer. So the way I do that is I hire talent that you know, are diverse and varied because there are all kinds of different products. And then I kind of do the terrible but kind of fun puzzle of which products make sense for which person and I create bags for them to post about. So that’s my like, the bulk of my work until now has been that. Recently, I’ve also taken on influencer marketing campaigns on behalf of some of our brand partners. So someone from the brand partnerships team might come to me and say, Hey, because Benefit Cosmetics has been such a great partner to us, we’re giving them three influencer posts, and you have this much money. And these are the products that we want to highlight, go find someone so then I come back to them with a list of people that would make sense. And the brand lets us know who is interesting. And then I go from there and really, you know, do the negotiating, you know, so it’s, you know, the initial outreach email, like, Hey, you know, if I know them, maybe it’s a text. But, you know, hey, I, you know, think you’d be a great fit for this project, here are the things we’re looking for, what would your rate be for this, and then they give me their rate. And then if it’s more than I have, we negotiate. And then from there, I handle, you know, the contracting process. So I put together an agreement for them to sign and make sure that they get all the products that they need to post. Let’s see what else then they make the actual content, and I have to review it. And make sure it includes all the things that it needed to, you know, include in both the caption and the video or the photo. And then they post it and I handle the reporting stuff afterwards and making sure that they get paid, you know, handling the invoices and things like that. So that’s kind of like the influencer marketing process. So that’s what I do for the glam bag, post. And then also these brand partner posts. And then on top of that Ipsy is we have a production studio in Santa Monica, but it’s closed because of COVID. So we’ve really turned to creators to help us make things for our social channels and our website and everywhere that we’re, you know, posting content. So, that’s another thing is they’ll come to me with a concept like, okay, we need someone to do a brow hacks video. So who has good brows and is good on camera, that kind of thing. So that’s kind of another element of the kind of stuff I do, which those are great for like really small, like nano influencers, because it doesn’t matter how many followers you have, as long as you can make something good, you know, right. So yeah, those are like the big main projects I work on. And then seasonally there will be stuff like we have, you know, a holiday thing or you know, we need a bunch of makeup transformations for Halloween. Things like that will come up. But yeah, that’s kind of like the average week I would say in terms of what I wish would improve or be better. You know, I feel very lucky that I work at a company where I get to avoid a lot of the negativity of working with influencers. There are divas out there and people who are mean and difficult. We’ll hire them once, and then I won’t ever hire them again. So luckily, that is very much my choice. So I think, you know, in terms of improvements, I wish that there was a way to avoid hiring them ever. But I do think that that’s something that I am very lucky in that I get to kind of curate my own community of positive, hardworking influencers who are nice to me.
Sydney 15:26
Yeah, that’s so interesting, because I feel like I mean, I am certainly not an expert in this space, which is why I’m glad to be learning from you this evening. But what I do feel is that they’re like, if you hear influencer or just like influencer marketing, there’s kind of like a negative connotation, or like, you know, stereotypes around that. Around that space.
Megan 15:52
Yeah, absolutely. And there’s a lot of influencers who are not good people, or, you know, they’re just wealthy and just do it for fun. And, you know, don’t there’s been a lot of partying happening in Los Angeles during the pandemic by influencers. So, yeah, and I do keep an eye on that, you know, if I see people behaving badly, like that reflects the things that the influencers that we work with do reflects on our brand. So when I hire someone, I do look and see, you know, what kind of stuff they post and what you know. And I think a lot of brands are that way. And then there are some brands that do not care at all, and they, you know, so and you’ll, you’ll see that happen, you know, when you’re like, wow, they they really partnered with PewDiePie, after he used the N word on his stream, no one thought that was going to be a problem. But sometimes I think people pay more attention to metrics then their values and, you know, the qualitative elements of influencer marketing. It’s very much an art and a science. You cannot just do one or the other.
Epsa 17:00
That’s so true. I think, um, I’ve noticed that a lot. And like, I follow a lot of influencers. I think, Megan, when we talk I told you that I’ve been on YouTube watching people since I was like 12, like an impressionable age, and I was like, looking up to these influencers. So I have so much like buy in and brand value and brand appreciation if a brand is associated with a content creator that I know. But honestly, if I partner with someone that I don’t like, or has a bad image that I’m like, Oh, wow. And that brand is stooping low for those views for Bryce Hall on tik tok, just as an example, yeah, gets these partnerships. The swayboys, I’m just gonna dip into that, get these partnerships. And I’m just like, I don’t want to buy from that brand. That like to me like, it’s funny to them that they think that’s super strategic. But for people, for other consumers like me, that are maybe more conscious consumers. That is another way that we view that brand.
Megan 17:58
it’s all about the audience. You think about who Bryce halls audiences, like, they’re very young, they probably most of them don’t have a credit card. Like you’re getting views, but are you investing responsibly and intelligently in people who can drive sales to your brand. And to your point, I actually was talking about this with my boss the other day. Something like I saw a stat that 57% of millennial women make purchasing decisions based on like, a brand stance on issues that they care about. And I imagine that number is only higher for Gen Z. Like that’s, I think that’s definitely a trend. And it’s interesting to see brands react to that, like and kind of, like in the wake of the events of the summer with George Floyd, like brands stepping up and making comments when they never would have before, like that was taboo, or hiring influencers who speak about politics on their page. That’s something that I was not really allowed to do with the agency, like that made them not brand safe. And now, how do you avoid it? Like you couldn’t possibly and it’s only beneficial, honestly.
Sydney 19:11
Right? How have these, you know, changes and of course, the Black Lives Matter movement this year impacted your role over the past few months?
Megan 19:22
Well, honestly, not to sound like a hipster but it doesn’t really change and hasn’t really changed my behavior. I’ve been advocating for diversity in the people that we hire. And so I think the change that has happened with brands is that they now recognize it as enough of a trend to be worthy of their attention and time and money. which is unfortunate that that is the thing that made that happen, but I you know, I guess silver linings but in terms of Ipsy I have to say I am proud Ipsy has really stepped up we committed to spend $5 million With black owned brands in 2021, which I guess sounds like a very vague out of nowhere number if you don’t know, like how we spend money, but it’s a lot, and so that’s something that they’ve really put an emphasis on. And I think there’s an announcement coming soon. So I’m not gonna spoil it. But I believe they have done that and more. I think the other thing that’s interesting, and that is tough with social media being so reactive and instant is that it takes a long time for companies to do things. Like there’s a lot of processes that have to happen. Like, immediately after the George Floyd incident, we were, you know, ideating, about things we could do were like, Oh, we could have a special bag that we sell at a percentage of all proceeds go to one of these charities, which would be great, but you have to register in every single state. Before you can do that. Like there’s legal processes that have to happen and things like that. So I think it is important to hold businesses accountable, definitely. And, you know, make sure that they’re moving in the right direction and making efforts. But I do also think that sometimes there’s an element of like impatience, that and lack of understanding about exactly what some of these actions consist of in terms of logistics and operations. That makes sense.
Epsa 21:30
That totally makes sense. I think corporate America, the corporate world is so slow. Social media is speedy, She’s fast, like, people are so fast. And people are used to like, fast responses and people that are influencers, they for the most part, they are their own brand. They are their own CEO, so they can put out a post immediately. Has there ever been a moment where there have been social stances or just posts that, you know, Ipsy is working on putting out in terms of social justice movements? But have you ever had reactions from like, people that you partner with is asking, Hey, like, why hasn’t there been anything out? And then how do you kind of like, communicate that or be that liaison between that?
Megan 22:10
Yeah, absolutely. I’m actually, so I’m trying to think what the timing was. So I believe with George Floyd, things blew up on like, it was a Friday, probably. So then on Saturday night, I got a call from an influencer that I work with. She’s a woman of color, who was like, you guys posted a giveaway today? Like, what, what is happening over there? Why haven’t you said anything about this? And, you know, she was absolutely right. The marketing team was working on it, but it was also a weekend. And so in that particular instance, I was like, you know, what, yes, let’s elevate this. So I connected her with our Vice President of Marketing, and our I think she’s a director of Ipsy, for good. She’s like, our charitable person. And they jumped on a zoom call with her right then, which I really do appreciate. And they heard her out. Yeah, it was, it was great, you know, and she, you know, kind of took them to task was like, hey, this hasn’t happened yet. And they’re like, You’re totally right, here’s what we’re working on. Things do take time. But I really, so appreciate that. That influencer felt comfortable reaching out to me and telling me that and like, you know, being critical of this company, because for her, I’m a source of income. So like, it’s very brave of her to, you know, say something like that. And, you know, of course, I’m not going to penalize her for it or anything. But she didn’t know that going in that, you know, the FCT wasn’t going to be like, Okay, well, let’s not hire her ever again. And so that, I mean, that is really, it’s so funny that you asked that question, because yes, exactly that happened with the Black Lives Matter movement. And I, you know, it really was striking that balance of being like, we hear you, you’re totally right. We’re working on it. And I think that is actually really what brands need to be doing is acknowledging when they have not done something correctly, and try to fix it, like, no one is perfect. I don’t think anyone is expecting brands to be perfect. It’s a company. It’s like it’s made up of individual flawed people. It’s just about trying your best and recognizing when you’ve not done well enough.
Sydney 24:37
Yeah, and I feel like we’re seeing so much more of that accountability in action as well. Just the fact that you know, the higher management at Ipsy was so responsive to that, I think speaks volumes of the brand. We can definitely stand to see more of that just from other companies and other brands, but I think you’re totally right there, about just owning up to, you know, when you’ve messed up as a company or as a brand.
Anjana 25:07
Yeah, it really, in so many ways working with influencers and business in general is just about communicating, like just tell people what’s going on, you know, like they cannot know, unless you tell them so. And I think that’s awesome. Yeah, I mean, that’s really important for influencers in particular, because there a lot of what I do is like relationship management, and making sure that the people we work with, appreciate us because every influencer is kind of a time bomb, they could call us out on social media and cancel us and, you know, start something big and expensive and bad for Ipsy. But because we treat them with kindness, and we communicate with them, and like in this instance, she could have just posted on her stories and been like, I see you being silent MC. But instead, she knew that she could talk to me and reached out and let me know when I addressed her concern. And we moved on. And we have continued to hire her for things, you know, she just did a live for our holiday activation.
Epsa 26:12
I think that’s awesome. I think that just shows what a brand is supposed to be. It’s supposed to be progressive and adaptable. And I think what you said about sometimes influencers can be a time bomb, I think that is true, especially with things like canceled culture being really prevalent in society and people being super quick, to cancel something and then I’m in like, I’m pretty indifferent about that. I think it depends on like, what the situation holds. But for something like this, I think having that conversation and just the fact that you’re what VP of marketing or was so quick to hop on zoom, I think, I think that’s really cool. I think it makes a brand feel human. And it just kind of feels so calming to know that that was something that was done. So I know, Megan, you’ve had honestly, you’ve had a really cool range of experiences, from previous roles to now Ipsy Do you have any stories from like previous jobs or roles you’ve held, that have kind of made you realize, Wow, there really needs to be a mindset shift and culture shift within this company, or within this org or within this group? And if so, like, how did you approach those situations? How did you feel as if your actions drove impact?
Megan 27:23
Totally. Um, so yes, the first thing that comes to my mind is more it’s larger scale than a company or anything. But I think the first time that I realized how important like diversity and representation was like, in a real way beyond, like, you know, just generally knowing that diversity is good. I was at the marketing agency, a lot of my job was building lists of sample talent to send brands while we were pitching them. And so they asked for this one was they wanted a pretty large influencer, but they wanted a black or Latinx woman who did travel. And I searched and searched and searched and could not find hardly anyone. And I think that was when it occurred to me like, oh, to become a travel influencer, you need to have capital to travel before brands will pay you to travel, you need time to travel, you can’t have like a normal, you know, work day job where you work five days a week. And from there, it kind of occurred to me like, Oh, this is systemic, like, the reason that there’s no travel influencers of color that are, you know, have a significant following is because there’s all these barriers to entry. And so that obviously, I couldn’t do anything about that at the time. But it is something that I’ve kept in mind as I’ve gone forward. And obviously travel is a particularly expensive example. But you do see it in other places, too. And beauty makeups expensive. skincare is expensive, like there’s you need to have, you know, like I said earlier, the time to make this content and to pour it into the internet for however long it takes to build your audience and reach a point where you can pay your bills from doing this. And not a lot of people get there. So I think that that was a big moment for me. But then, in terms of like specific companies, there have been a couple times when I’ve been asked to not hire someone because of their sexual orientation. And in those instances, I really was, I just kind of immediately called it out and they backed off. But I, I think it’s interesting in terms of like, I’m a straight white woman. So I’m kind of very, you know, the default neutral. And I think people that makes people a little more comfortable saying things like that to me and thinking I’m gonna go Along with it. And so I think in that way, it’s extra important because, you know, they’re never going to say that to my gay co worker, you know, they would never suggest that they shouldn’t hire an influencer because they’re gay. It’s you know, but because I’m straight, they’re like, Oh, yeah, we’re in a club together. And I am not in that club. It’s a terrible club. I don’t, I don’t want to be part of it. So yeah, I think that that’s happened a couple times. And what I really do appreciate is that once it’s called out, they back off immediately, you know, I always keep it in mind, in the future, for my analysis of who they are as a person. But yeah, that’s definitely something that I’ve come across. And, you know, I, like I said, I’m a straight white woman. So this is what my voice is for. I’m, you know, I have a responsibility to speak up for the people who can’t speak up, or, you know, aren’t comfortable or don’t want to be responsible for the fight. Like, they didn’t pick this. They, you know, and I have the resources and the time and the voice, and I will speak to a manager.
Epsa 31:12
Megan, I just got, like, just really excited when you said that, because I think everything you said really speaks to that phrase making room for others at that table. Because when you have that voice, you need to use it otherwise, like that voice is just going to go away. So I just loved hearing what you had to say, thank you, I care so much. I love that. Especially and I feel like you’re in a great,
Sydney 31:38
Especially and I feel like you’re in a great, like space to be doing this too. Because, like, I mean, you did mention those times where, you know, there was pushback, or like, the company was just not open to like D&I when it came to, you know, influencers? I’m sorry, just I think it’s awesome that you, you know, stood your ground there and have just like, continue to do that, like in your career, too. It’s great. It’s really cool.
Megan 32:09
Yeah, and it’s, you know, it’s weird, because I don’t think that people see, asking those things of me, I don’t think it occurred to them. At the moment, it was like homophobia. I think they truly were like, Oh, well, this is for an international audience who might not be comfortable with that, or whatever. But that is not my problem. It really just is, you know, I don’t think it’s malicious, but I will always call it out when I see it. And I think once you do, people are kind of taken aback and like, Well, I’m not I’m not a homophobe. It was like, Alright, prove it.
Epsa 32:46
Yeah. And I think what you’re doing, you’re not, you’re just like kind of calling them in, like you’re letting them know, hey, like, what you’re doing, what your approach was? Probably not what you what you intended. So you’re just kind of calling them and like letting them know, like, hey, like, maybe not say that, or, hey, maybe we should go about it this way. And I think we just the position that you’re in, you do have that power to like drive specific change, especially now that you do work with a lot of various influencers, ranging from various backgrounds. And I think, you know, because you can pick them and see who can select each part. And they’re not super cool, because I think I mentioned this earlier, but like growing up, like I was on YouTube watching it. And I never realized that every YouTuber I watched was white, and lived in like a really rich house. And obviously, they had great videos, because high they had great cameras, which they probably just took from their dad or mom, I would always follow their beauty tutorial or their what I eat in the day, but it was like their body their skin in it wasn’t necessarily always aligned with my olive skin tone or my socio economic background. But now, I’ve definitely been seeing a more diverse content being put out there and various partnerships. So I think just letting you know the work that you are doing, I’m sure you know, but just letting you know like, the strategy behind increasing DE&I really impacts so many people like myself,
Megan 34:10
Absolutely. Yeah, well, I’m like, everything is tailored to me all of the advertising. Every you know, and it doesn’t occur to you when everyone in advertising looks like you. You know, obviously it took looking for that travel influencer for it to kind of click with me that Oh, like wait a second, this isn’t everyone’s experience and it should be it should be everyone’s experience to see someone who looks like them. Particularly in beauty. When it’s like a blush shade can look wildly different on different people like that’s like i’ve you know, you’re like oh, this is a medium pink how that the way that looks on a different different people is so varied and it is would be impossible to guess you can’t guess how something like that. It’s going to look so it’s Yeah, super important. Beauty for a lot of the darker skin, influencer women that I work with tell me that the reason they got into it was because there was no one like them. And so they wanted to put out tutorials. So people could learn how to contour their face, you know, as a dark skinned woman or, you know, try different foundations, things like that, because it you know, how to use bright colors and feel confident in the bright colors that you’re using. Yeah, it’s just very important. And it’s, you know, something that I am in a position to notice and amplify, which is great, and sometimes pay them for it. But yeah, that’s, you know, creators will sometimes say like, oh, thank you so much, you know, for hiring me. And I’m like, you’re the talented one. I just noticed, like, I, I am just on the internet watching things, andyou’re the one who’s doing stuff. So I, like I have so much respect for people who are influencers full time. It’s so hard.
Epsa 36:02
Oh, my God, putting yourself out there like that being receptive to positive and many negative feedbacks. Yeah, I have, like, kudos to them.
Megan 36:10
Yeah, yeah. And just making stuff all the time. Content always I, I like can barely stay functional during the work day that has been designated for me. So imagine, like having to motivate yourself to do that. Right. I would just never post, it would turn into dog photos check. Oh, well, there are like cat influencers on Instagram, too.
Sydney 36:43
But yeah, representation, especially in the influencer space is so important. I think, you know, we have seen a lot more progress in terms of that. But as always, there’s still work that needs to be done. And we touched on this a bit earlier. But you know, from your experience working in this space, what would you say are the first steps pot companies and brands can take in order to start becoming more representative of everybody?
Megan 37:17
I think an important starting point, at least from like, the kind of work that I do is recognizing that it might be harder, it might be harder to find someone who is representative because diversity, you know, races very important, but there’s all kinds of diversity. So you need to be hiring people of different sexualities, body types, different ages, there’s, you know, people with disabilities, there’s a plethora of diversities out there. So I think, acknowledging that, it, it’s going to take a little more work to find the people, you know, there’s, it’s very obvious who the, you know, big white influencers are, but to find people who represent the full spectrum of humanity, your it’s going to take a little more effort, and but it’s going to be worth it. Because it’s not only good marketing practice to, you know, market to everyone. It’s also your kind of responsibility. Like, especially in on social media, the audience is younger. And so, well, we are actively marketing to children, because it’s illegal, and also they have no money. They are seeing it, you know, there’s all of the things that are being posted are being seen by kids. And it’s very important that when they grow up, they don’t feel like you do Epsa, where you’re like, Wow, there wasn’t a person that looked like me. Like, we can’t fix it for you. I’m sorry. But we can, we can fix it for kids in the future. You know, and I know it’s I recognize that I’m standing on a soapbox about influencer marketing. But I do think that it really does matter. And it’s my you know, the things you tell yourself to justify what you do for a living like this is that for me, this is what’s important to me. You know, social media does not necessarily always make the world better. Sometimes it makes it very, very bad. But within the realm of social media, this is the thing that I can do and the power that I have to improve it. And so that’s what I’m going to do. And, you know, I’m lucky to be working with Ipsy, where they care and are making efforts to move in the right direction. And I think there’s, like social pressure works. So I think, honestly, I don’t know if brands will be driven to do it themselves, because of the, you know, financial things and their focuses are elsewhere but social pressure really works. So if everybody calls out Brands when they’re misbehaving, and, you know, make suggestions for like, Oh, hey, like I see comments sometimes when on makeup, paint like brand pages being like, oh, love seeing a person of color. And I’m like that, that is what we need is like, lots of people commenting things like that, like, just like, Oh, yeah, you could do more of that. And I would buy your product. It’s ridiculous, but it’s how capitalism works, dude. And we were stuck together. So yeah, you know. So let’s work within the system, I guess.
40:15 Sydney : Well I think the great thing is just as a society and generation we are becoming more aware of this as well, and we have people like that influencer reaching out to you holding brands accountable. And people are really watching now, which I think is progress in it of itself.
41: 45 Megan : I’m very interested to see the one year mark and see where brands are.
What movements have been made and impact that has been had.