Ep 257 | Allison Conrad

Written By Yasmin Nouri

How Getting Older & Discovering Her First Grey Hairs Inspired This Founder to Disrupt the Haircare Industry & Launch a Multi-Million Dollar Business

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Allison Conrad is the co-founder and CEO of Arey, the first functional beauty brand to target aging hair with a proactive, science-driven approach. 

The idea for Arey came shortly after Allison saw her first grey hairs and was shocked that the only way to address grey hair was with hair dye and that there were no preventive solutions. She was using wrinkle cream and SPF to prevent wrinkles, but there was nothing available to manage and prevent grey hair, and that’s when Arey was born.

In 2020, Allison founded the company alongside her beloved hairstylist and friend Jay Small who also saw the demand for such a product. From a daily supplement to topicals, Arey offers a full line of clean, innovative products formulated with vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and a clinically efficacious peptide to slow and re-pigment greys. In just a few years, Arey has already been featured on  Who What Wear, VOGUE, Cosmopolitan, Women’s Health and so many more. 

In this week’s episode, we talk to Allison about the power of patience, why we shouldn’t be so hard on ourselves, and how every twist in turn in your career will lead you to where you’re supposed to be. Allison also walks through the challenges she had pioneering a new category in the haircare industry, how she thought through funding her business - from bootstrapping to then fundraising and what she did to create early traction & awareness for the business.  Allison also shares how Arey is the 12th company that she has been involved in and the 3rd she has founded, so in this episode, she shares a lot of insights when it comes to entrepreneurship, making pivots in your life and career, and so much more.

Show Notes:

  • Importance of patience and self-compassion. [02:53]

  • How Allison handles stress and avoids being too hard on herself. [05:15]

  • Being the black sheep in the family. [08:01]

  • Allison’s work experience at Martha Stewart. [10:18]

  • Sewing and selling skirts as her first business venture. [12:23]

  • Allison's lessons from her first business. [15:09]

  • Studying in Stanford Business School. [16:55]

  • What Allison learned about herself. [18:38]

  • Why feedback is valuable. [20:49]

  • Lessons from the startup fundraising world. [26:33]

  • Allison's pivotal moment in starting Arey. [32:27]

  • The concept of hair re-pigmentation. [34:30]

  • The importance of networking in finding the right manufacturer. [37:02]

  • Allison’s approach in fund-raising for Arey. [38:37]

  • The key players in launching Arey. [39:54]

  • How Allison validated the concept early on. [42:17]

  • The effectiveness and challenges of PR in the startup world. [43:34]

  • How Allison created education around her brand. [45:09]

  • The messy truth in entrepreneurship. [48:48]

  • Future plans for Arey. [52:41]

This episode is brought to you by Beeya:

  • If you or anyone you know have been struggling with hormonal imbalances and bad periods, go to https://beeyawellness.com/free to download the free guide to tackling hormonal imbalances and to learn more about Beeya’s seed cycling bundle.

  • Plus, get $10 off your order by using promo code BEHINDHEREMPIRE10.

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Ep 258 | Nicole Bendayan
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Ep 256 | Mimi Ikonn