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“What was your big break?”
InMy Beauty Break, we’ll dig into the behind-the-scenes details the money, the aha!
Francesco Clarkloves to say that vanity saved his life.
When Clark was a 24-year-old fashion assistant, a diving accident left him paralyzed below the neck.
Clark’s Botanicals Smoothing Marine Cream
Keeping quiet has never been his strong suit, he admits.
What compelled you to want to work again?
In the beginning, I didn’t know how to structure my days.
Clark’s Botanicals Smoothing Marine Cream
The turning point for me was the day that Christopher Reeve passed away.
He was my hero because he would travel the world in his wheelchair and challenge doctors and researchers.
He became a voice for people who felt they had no voice.
Francesco Clark
I was part of the group and part of the conversation I wasn’t simply patient No.
To be acknowledged as a human being is a huge thing.
At first, all that was on the board was going to physical therapy.
Then it was therapy and going to the [advocacy group] meetings.
Then it was therapy, the meetings, and scheduling time to write.
Soon, instead of doing physical therapyordoing something, the “ands” became part of living.
Allure: At what point did working on a skin-care formula find its spot on that dry-erase board?
Nothing seemed to help, whether it was $3 drugstore creams or $300 face creams from Barneys.
Allure: RIP, Barneys New York.
Clark:Yes, respect!
We researched different ingredients and what they can do for the skin.
It was a lot of trial and error and reading studies and research in medical and science journals.
Allure: What prompted you to turn your home-brewed concoction into a sellable product?
Clark:I’d worked as a fashion assistant atHarper’s Bazaarup until right before my accident.
In 2008, Glenda Bailey [then editor in chief] emailed me to come in for a catch-up.
Then my mom noticed the change in both of our skin and also began using it.
It was an ugly, dirty, scratched-up vial with like suspect liquid inside.
And my sister hands it over to the editor in chief ofBazaar!
Allure: Were you horrified?
Clark:Horrified!I didn’t know what to say.
I left her office feeling super embarrassed.
The gist was find a manufacturer and two reputable retailers and you have five months to make this happen.
I didn’t realize it at the time, but this wasmy first big break.
That early sample was what is now ourSmoothing Marine Cream, which is our number-one selling product.
Allure: What was your response during that call?
Did you even want to sell your formula?
Clark:At first, I said,Thanks, but no thanks.
That’s when I got excited.
I realized that other people believed in me and these were people who didn’t have to care.
So I had to say yes.
That moment gave me the validity to feel like a person again.
Clark:I broke it down into little nuggets of activities.
Step one was finding a manufacturer.
Where do I get jars made?
And what about the design?
I contacted doctors who had their own [skin-care] lines and asked where they had their formulas made.
That led me to start speaking with different factories.
But none of the factories wanted to work with such a tiny little brand at first.
You have to make people believe in what you’re doing and your long-term goals.
The factories liked that I made my own formulations.
I wasn’t buying stock formulas and just doing what other brands were already doing.
They could see that I was in for the long haul.
Allure: How did you go about getting in touch with factories and graphic designers?
Were you literally Googling “skin-care factories,” or were you talking to contacts from yourBazaardays?
When starting a brand, you have to get over any shyness and constantly ask people for help.
They’d say, “Oh, I don’t remember how I did that.
I don’t understand that mindset.
There’s room for everybody to coexist.
I promised myself that I’d never be that person.
Allure: What was your strategy to find a retailer?
I’d never met her before, so I sent her a five-paragraph, passionate email about my brand.
Allure: How did you sell buyers and big-time editors on your brand in the beginning?
Clark:For me, cold-emailing people was about letting them know that I’m serious.
I carefully crafted an email to Anna Wintour and she wrote back.
Then I emailed Linda Wells and she wrote back.
And not just once both women continued to have an ongoing dialogue with me.
There’s a perception that people who work in fashion and beauty are shallow.
I’d worked atHarper’s Bazaarand even I assumed these people wouldn’t give me the time of day.
But they were so supportive and generous with their time.
It was eye-opening and gave me strength in my voice and my sense of self.
Allure: It seems like Clark’s Botanicals had famous fans practically from day one.
Did you approach celebrities in the same cold-outreach manner?
Clark:For the most part.
Madonna was a huge supporter from the beginning.
Glenda Bailey had arranged for Madonna to call me when I was still in the hospital.
Michelle Obama was also incredibly supportive.
Which I framed, of course.
How did you get the word out to regular folks?
Clark:We never had the budget to do ads or fancy editor launch events.
I didn’t have to say we were authentic because you could see that we were so scrappy.
I literally had a table just a guy in a wheelchair and a table with product!
I thought I was doomed to fail.
Meeting with customers at in-store events proved to be key and much harder than meeting with beauty editors.
Customers don’t hold back.
They’ll tell you straight up that your product is crap.
But every customer I spoke with had his or her own story that would come out.
Because that’s how Clark’s Botanicals was born.
Allure: In those scrappy early days, how did you fund your brand?
I had to write and submit a business plan, then present it to 10 or 12 people.
The process took forever, but I ended up winning the grant, which was about $5,000.
Then there was another grant in California that I found by searching online.
you’re free to have the grant!”
I even sold lab samples when customers offered to buy them in between production runs.
It was what we did, in the beginning, to get by.
Allure: Were you running everything out of your house at that time?
Clark:Pretty much.
I’ll just put the jars in the basement of my parents' house.
you’ve got the option to’t farm out everything to other people.
Otherwise, you’ll be taken advantage of.
Allure: How did you go from selling one face cream to creating an entire skin-care brand?
Clark:No, it became therapeutic.
And that’s by donating a portion of our proceeds to the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation.
Allure: How did your connection to the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation happen?
Clark:I emailed Peter Wilderotter, the CEO.
Two weeks later, he came over to my house and I met with the foundation’s directors.
It was a beautiful, 360-degree moment.
Allure: You clearly have a knack for establishing connections.
Include a suggestion of how you could potentially work together or brainstorm.
It’s important to know what you want without being too pushy.
Get to the point about why you’re reaching out while also showing your thoughtfulness and value.
That said, sometimes not asking for anything is the best way to get advice.
If you like a particular project that the person has worked on, say so, and explain why.
Believe it or not, people do this!
What are your biggest takeaways from that whirlwind experience?
I had to take my ego out of it and think about what was best for the brand.
Once you sell, you have to accept that it’s not your brand anymore.
And can we get that all in writing?"
Allure:On that note, what’s the best piece of business advice you’ve ever received?
Clark:Nobody knows what they’re doing [laughs].
You have to constantly respond and pivot.
When the pandemic began, we started making hand sanitizer in nine days.
We made eight months' worth of inventory and sold out of it in 19 hours.
We’re a tightly knit team of nine people, which allows us to divide and conquer.
If you have complacent people working for you, it’s very hard to be nimble.
You have to always come at it with the intention of making a positive impact.
How do you manage to conquer fear?
Look, we’re all scared of failure and rejection.
You’ll kick yourself for not having tried.
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