Self-Love and Supplements featuring Mary Berry, Cosmos Vita

Transcript:

Intro 0:05

Welcome to the Gooder podcast where we talk with powerhouse women in CPG about their journeys to success. This episode is sponsored by Retail Voodoo. A brand development firm guiding mission driven consumer brands to attract new and passionate consumer base crush their categories through growth and innovation and magnify their social and environmental impact. If your brand is in need of brand positioning, package design or marketing activation, we are here to help. You can find more information at www dot retail dash voodoo.com.

Diana Fryc 0:45

Hi, welcome to the Gooder podcast. I’m your host Diane Fryc, I have met and worked with some of the most amazing women in the naturals industry food and wellness and fitness. As such I had well I decided to create the Gooder podcast to interview these great people and subject matter experts and have them share their insights and expertise in helping businesses all around the world become Gooder so today we get to meet Miss Mary Berry, the Founder and CEO of Cosmos Vita a wellness brand rooted in accessibility inclusivity and empowerment. Mary is a serial entrepreneur in the beauty and wellness space. And she’s was also the founder and CEO of Texas beauty labs now good kind Did I get that right? They spell that right? sound? Yeah, okay. Yeah, that’s it. They are the leading product services partner to clean beauty brands and creators, which created the world’s best selling natural deodorant. Mary was is one of the pioneers of clean beauty. Early on, recognizing the importance of what goes in and on your body. She brings her enthusiasm and expertise to the wellness space, always encouraging people to be kind to themselves and understand that small steps in their wellness journey will bring big results. She’s really a natural leader and a people lover with a passion for community building. Well, hello, Miss Mary, how are you? I’m doing great. How are you? I’m doing really good year in Texas, which is really ginormous compared to the rest of the world. whereabouts are you in Texas today? I’m in Austin, Texas, Austin. Okay, I heard that’s one of the best. I’ve not been to Austin. I’ve only been to Dallas. That’s been the only place and I heard they’re quite different.

Mary Berry 2:28

They’re quite different. I grew up in Dallas, and I love Dallas. But Austin is like the best the best place in Texas, I

Diana Fryc 2:34

think. Okay, well, I can surprise with South by Southwest. I’ve never found myself down. I know, extra extra reason is to come and see what you’re up to and attend South by Southwest. Yeah, totally have you? Is that something that you would see your brand doing in the future? Maybe?

Mary Berry 2:51

I think so. You know, I’ve always done b2b like brands. So, you know, I’ve never had like a reason to go to South by am as a like entrepreneur, other than just for funsies. But yeah, I think that, hopefully, hopefully when it comes back, you know, we’ll be able to do something there.

Diana Fryc 3:09

I think it’d be fun. Yeah, yeah. Well, hey, I always like to start every podcast with my guests being able to kind of share a little bit about their company, you know, real high level of Cosmos Vita and why you exist?

Mary Berry 3:26

Yeah. Well, Cosmos Vita. It’s a wellness brand. And you know, I always say it’s a wellness brand. And we started with gummy supplements. Okay, um, you know, we’re going to be doing lots of things, you know, with the whole eye on, you know, how you like to treat yourself better? Yeah. Yeah, you know, and we started with gummies. Because during the pandemic, and really even before the pandemic, I was seeing a functional medicine doctor. And so like, you know, when you’re seeing a functional medicine doctor, they like, test out your, you know, vitamin like, levels and things like that. And so I was taking like literal fistfuls of vitamins and supplements, like, you know, twice a day. Yeah. Yeah. And then like, I’m looking at my children, and they’re like, I’m, like, choking it down. And they’re like, Oh, my God, these are delicious. Do I get it? When do I get to take my gummies? And I’m like, this sucks. Like, why am I down? And they’re like, Oh my God, my best life ever is eating these gummies. And so, you know, I’m an evangelist when it comes to like, if I’m doing something, I’m like, Oh, my God, everybody has to do this. So I tell my friends and people who don’t even want to know. Yes, so I told them all Hey, guys are taking these supplements. They’re amazing. And they’re all like, thank you. We don’t really want to choke them down. And I was like, but you need to and here’s why. And so then I kind of got like, the thing where I was like, how can I make them comply? And how can I make myself comply? Yeah, like better. And so I was like, Oh my God, if it was delicious, like I would like be so excited to take them every day. Right? You know, I mean, you know, it’s not necessarily original thought, but, you know, I just kind of put it together and I thought, you know, I think that I would really love it if like, you know, I was, you know, excited to take my like vitamins and things that like make me feel healthier and make me feel better in my body. Yeah. Yeah. So that’s kind of where it all started.

Diana Fryc 5:11

Yeah. Okay, so. So the idea came from just literally watching your kids.

Mary Berry 5:18

Yeah, it really did. You know, I have like, hundreds of ideas just like, randomly I’m like, Oh, we should do this, or this or this or, like, if I’m on vacation, and I’m like, looking up, like, you know, boats, like, does this ideas, I don’t know anything about boats. But I was like, What if a boat could do this? And everyone was like, yeah, you know, and so, you know, this, to me was just such a strong idea. Because, you know, especially during the pandemic, I think we all looked a little bit closer about our health, right? Because we wanted to be as healthy as we could be, you know, if we got sick, then it gave us a chance of like, not being really, really sick. And so, um, you know, that’s why I decided this one was, like, you know, something to act on, you know, right. Um, and then I wanted it to be so much more than just supplements, because you can get your supplements kind of anywhere, like, you know, there’s other gummies, but like, one of my superpowers is like, connecting people. And like, you know, I’ve been through years and years and years of therapy myself. And so, you know, I love to share that knowledge with other people, you know, maybe help people be kinder to each other, and themselves, mostly honestly. Which, you know, it’s something that’s really hard for us, you know, especially like people that are very, like, high achieving, you know, yeah, Want to be the best. And if we’re not the best, and we’re super hard on ourselves. And, you know, I think that it just, it’s just really important to be kind to yourself. And so that was also part of my mission. It’s like being calm to your body, and being kind to your mind, and your spirit and your soul. And all of those things kind of together is really my big vision for Cosmos Vita.

Diana Fryc 6:58

Gotcha. So, I mean, you’re not unlike other entrepreneurs that we’ve worked with in the, in the space of, I’ve got this idea. And then I’ve got this idea. And I’ve got this idea, and none of them are there. They’re mutually exclusive. They don’t overlap in any single way. But I find what I find consistent with what I’m hearing from you is, there’s, there’s a little bit of pressure that I think that you as, as a woman bring into this role to in regards to your performance, you know, that being kind to yourself, I think women do, we beat ourselves up, I think, far more, I don’t even think culturally, you know, men aren’t beating us up, I think that something has happened in where we’ve taken, like, past history of the way things used to be in the way many men did used to, you know, with all of the stuff that they used to subjugate us to. Yeah, things have progressed. I mean, listen, we have men advocates, there’s a parody is starting to happen across the board. And yet, I think we, as women do ourselves, sometimes more harm, then what’s going out there. So if you happen to work in a bad environment, or toxic environment, where still you still have some of that disparity going on, and then you’re doubling down on yourself, that’s a lot of stress and pressure.

Mary Berry 8:16

Oh my gosh, like so much like, yeah, you know, I I can say that I don’t have any men in my life that, you know, treat me in a way that it you know, is unpleasant, unpleasant, or disparaging, you know, and it’s me myself, I’ve been this way, my whole life. I just kind of born this way where like, I want to win. I love to win. Yeah, mice, like, and I’m not competing. I’ve never been one to compete against someone else. So like, I’m not going to compete against you or someone else. Like, I want you to do your best. Like, yeah, I want to do my best. So yeah, you know, and so, I think that we are super hard on ourselves. And there’s this, you know, part of Cosmos is we have an intuitive eating nutritionist like on staff. Okay, um, and so I have sessions with her every week, to kind of like, you know, be able to, you know, learn it myself, sort of thing. One of the things that we’re working on is like things that I say to myself, like about maybe my body or, you know, anything like that, or health or wellness. It’s not something I would ever say to anyone else. Right. Right. You know what I mean? Like, not even someone I disliked. Yeah, you know? Yeah. And so, that’s been my awakening in the last few weeks is like, when I have those thoughts about myself, you know, you didn’t move your body today, and I might have thought about that. Then I try to say what would I do? If my best friend said, Oh, I didn’t move my body today, today, right? I’d be like, Oh, it’s okay. You can do it tomorrow. Right. Let’s go right now. Right. You know, instead of like this negative whole what I think we can go down. No,

Diana Fryc 9:53

yeah, I it’s very much I know this sounds really crazy. But I started the neum app recently. I Join the bag bandwagon with 9 million of my other closest friends. Yeah, yeah. And psychologic, this psychological componentry that they have in their system is really forgiving, and intuitive and comfortable and gives their, the way they approach even the communication around all of it is really comfortable is almost like you’re working with your cheerleader, best friend, so to speak, but it’s not obnoxious. And so I definitely hear what you’re saying, when you’re like when you’re saying, Yeah, some of the things I say to myself, I wouldn’t say to my worst enemy. And so what we do, I think it’s really good to that’s whole self love thing. I’m a big fan of big fan of RuPaul. And he and I’ve been watching drag race since 1847. I feel like and his big thing is, is if you can’t love yourself, how are you going to love anybody else. And I think that’s probably a good place for all of us to kind of sit and think about right now especially, you know, coming out of pandemic, we’re coming out of really unproductive and volatile political situations for the last couple of years, combinations, conversations, families being torn apart, and for all sorts of reasons. And you might want to step back and kind of go is that a result of self hate? A lack of self love? Like, where’s that coming from? So really interesting, and totally off topic. But I

Mary Berry 11:23

know, I know, I can’t help but I always go off topic. Let me tell you about this thing I’m doing, please. Yeah, no. I mean, I think I completely agree with you. It’s just been a really hard time for everyone. You know, everyone in their own way has had a very hard time. And I’m not one that likes to say we’re having a hard time I like to try to say we’re having an easy time. So it’ll be easy, right? Like I put things on the universe, but I’m just gonna go ahead and double down and say we’ve all had a hard time.

Diana Fryc 11:49

Agreed. So, you know,

Mary Berry 11:51

any sort of self love that we can have coming out of this really difficult time? I think it’s going to help everyone on what they’re on or what they want to do. We only get to live one time. Perfect. And, you know, I, I just really am a big advocate of like, do all the things do know things, do all the things like do every single thing. Don’t wait, last, you know, I travel a ton is like yeah, I you know, I could be by bus tomorrow. And then, you know, I wouldn’t have seen all the things that I wanted to see. For me. I love to travel. So that’s my thing. Like, if I think about Should I take this trip? I’m always like, yes,

Diana Fryc 12:34

yes. Yes, I think we determined this during our prep call that you and I are kindred spirits or sisters or something. There’s a lot. Yeah, I’m extremely self competitive. And I and I’m all about the do it now. You don’t know what tomorrow brings?

Mary Berry 12:47

Yes, yeah. Yeah. I mean, I think and I think that’s a strong thing for people to realize in self care, too, is like, you know, I think a lot of us grew up with parents. I mean, in the generation of, you know, you do this one vacation or, you know, it’s very, like, yes, you know, like, I grew up going to Minnesota every year except for my dad was from, like, in the backseat of a car with a dog at my feet and a cooler between my brother and I so we wouldn’t fight. You know, and just because I did that doesn’t mean I you know, I don’t know it to me, it’s like, I don’t know, I want to expand on that and be able to do all the things I guess. Yeah, I

Diana Fryc 13:25

think we’re the same too. You know, when I think of them, you know, when I was a kid, you can see you guys can all watch me while I’m fussing with my, with my ears as a kid that was like, uh, you know, we would go one place and or Yeah, or, or, and camping and camping, we would go like one camping trip was like, that was thing, you know? Yeah. And or a road trip to visit cousins was a thing you would do that like once every five or six years or what have you. And so to be in a situation where we live, we live in a world where it’s really easy to travel, it’s really easy to do all those things. And it doesn’t have to be really huge. It could be like, we’re going to explore a different park in the city. This was or, you know, it doesn’t have to be expensive. It doesn’t have to be grandiose. Right. So I think I say yes. Absolute alignment with you. Yeah, yeah. Well, so let’s kind of let’s talk a little bit about you know, kind of bringing back to Cosmos Vita and beauty. Now in the last few years, we’ve really seen beauty and wellness and even food kind of smashed together. What do you think’s happening here? What what’s what’s driving that? Is it that innovators are getting really fancy or is it really consumer demand or maybe something else?

Mary Berry 14:40

I think it’s just kind of real life because when we think about, like what we put on our skin is important, but what we put in our body is important to how our skin in here is Yeah, right. You know, and I think that that’s kind of where it’s kind of like next step situation right? Yeah, I can put all the skincare all the expensive skincare I want on my skin. Yeah, I don’t have enough water. My my skin looks yellow. Yeah, right like, right, like glowing as like as I would like it to be. Right. So like vitamin D for it for instance like it, like will fight like the free radicals that Yeah cause premature aging, right? Yeah, you’re putting it in your mouth, right. And that’s a better way, honestly to get it than even on your skin. Because on your skin, you can’t get a good enough dose to Okay, yeah, to really get the effects that you would like to get. Mm hmm.

Diana Fryc 15:30

Yeah. So yeah, I know, we just finished working with a brand. Where, as part of the brand positioning, we were able to identify that this food, this really nutrient dense food that was kind of just sitting here being marketed and positioned as kind of, Oh, this is just something that you eat because you want to be healthy. And we identify that all of the ingredient profile, all the ingredients were in line with products or with ingredients that would help help a person’s skin feel better not just feel better, but their skin look better the hair look. Yeah, if you feel but if you feel good about yourself, then that also brings a little bit of something in there. Yeah, and yet, and all of our research pointed to the fact that this brand could be repositioned as a beauty brand, even though it was a food. Yeah, I can’t share what it is because it’s not out to the market yet. But I might tell you a little bit later. But and and when we tested it against consumers, there was a very high degree of acceptance for it moving. And so we moved something that was functional in something that was a lifestyle, which you normally do with a brand. But what we did is we found this whitespace that really people had been playing around but not head like putting their crosshairs on so yes. So you’re seeing it from one end as a as an innovator and an entrepreneur and we’re seeing it Yeah, brand positioning standpoint. So it seems to me like it’s just more and more of that going in there. We started with supplements. Now it’s moving into functional foods, and so on and so forth. We’ll see where that where it all goes.

Mary Berry 17:09

Yeah, it’s so interesting to me, too, because this is not something we saw 10 years ago. No, you know what I not even three years ago. Yeah, that’s right. That’s right. Yeah, it’s an interesting, I love to see how the beauty industry evolves. You know, it’s just, it’s a very interesting yeah, she and slash beast to me. Yeah.

Diana Fryc 17:27

Yeah. And I have not been on beauty counter recently. And I know it’s like, if I want to see anything, kind of more innovative. That’s I know, that’s a really fun place to go. But it’s been a month since I’ve gone out there and and bopped around. But yeah, so prayer Cosmos Vita, you spend, you know, a great deal of time creating, building the clean beauty category by way of Texas beauty labs. And then at a high level, what sorts of products were you working on in what was your primary role? Or or more? Why did you even go in that direction? You told me a really great story about how that all started. I love to be able to share that everybody else?

Mary Berry 18:02

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I mean, I started it, I had my own brand, honestly, like back in the early 2000s. Before, like, the internet was a thing. It’s dated myself a little bit there. But, um, so I have my own brand. And then people started asking me if I could make their own stuff, I was making it out of my garage. And I know, it was like, literally my garage and put an air conditioner out there. Like a little portable ones. It’s so hot in Texas. But yeah, that’s where it was. And so I had some girlfriends being like, you know, I can’t make my stuff anymore. Can you make it because going to manufacturers at that time, you can only get 10,000 Sq run, right? Like, so you’d have to have 10,000 if you had five fragrances, you’d have to have, you know, 50,000 items that you would have a hard time selling. So, you know, I was like, sure. And so, you know, I started out making like 80 candles, right? Like, so like a low number. Yeah. And yeah, so then, you know, I just turned out I really liked manufacturing better than I liked running a retail brand at that time. And I just, you know, it was in my garage, and then it expanded to like a room downstairs. And then before I knew it, it was my whole downstairs, moved out in like 2008 into a warehouse. And you know, at the end of two, well, kind of the beginning of 2009 I was really pregnant with our first baby. And we the economy crashed. So we had the either lose rises, right or move back into the house when we were in the house. And we lived upstairs with a baby like an apartment. Okay. And she do downstairs. Yeah, it’s what you do. And so, you know, it grew and grew and I had two babies, you know, during that time, and you know, we were small, we felt like nine employees, and we move back out and you know, a couple months, but, um, we we got a call from someone that wanted us to make natural deodorant. And I was like, you know, I told our salesperson I was like, Oh no, we don’t make that and, you know, we made Buddy products. And so, you know, he was like, No, no, but like, please. And I was like, okay, so we finally like figured it out. And we made, he was like, you know, I want to do 500 a week and I was like, 500 a week is just too much for us. But we’ll try. Fast forward. You know, we scaled up from 500 a week to making 24,000. a day, six days a week, whoo. I’m in a matter of 18 months. So

Diana Fryc 20:26

all my 18 months, okay, yeah, good problem to have.

Mary Berry 20:30

I know, it was all like good problems to have, it was super fun, super problem solving. I had the best team ever that I built that business with. And, you know, we had 100 employees, you know, all that kind of, you know, but it was really, it was a really great time. Like, like, say it was 10 pounds of fun and a five pound bag. It was great. But it’s

Unknown Speaker 20:53

Yeah. Southern thing.

Diana Fryc 20:57

Is it. Okay, I love it. I’m adopting and putting in my back pocket, right?

Mary Berry 21:01

Put it in your pocket. So yeah, that’s kind of was our big first move. You know, we did a lot of you know, so we did a lot of natural deodorant, obviously, and we did a lot of natural journal for a lot of people. So like, once we had that mastered, we were the go to people for deodorant. And then we also did a lot of skincare. So we really did a lot of clean or now slash Natural Skincare. Because that is a really, it was really an up and coming category during that time. Hmm. So, I mean, it still is, but back then, you know, it would take us like, you know, a year to finalize a formula, it’s a really long time, right? Because, you know, we’re just you’re dealing with new ingredients that, you know, you’re having to figure out and that kind of thing.

Diana Fryc 21:50

Well, so when you were working with these, all of these brands, these are right, private labels commanding, however, I’m probably a combination of both. Yeah, was your role. Strictly manufacturing? Were you involved in the r&d and development of products, we

Mary Berry 22:07

did the r&d and development. So you know, if we did all of that I probably produce, you know, over five, like, Did product development for over 500 skews. You know, over my years, and may even be more I never really sat down and thought about it. But like, you know, product development is what I’m really good at, like, I love coming up with new product ideas, figuring out how to make them happen in the lab, you know, and really kind of pushing the boundaries of what people you know, can do within these spaces, because they’re so new. I had a client that we really pushed the limit with, like bakuchiol, which is like an alternative to retinol. You know, and that was super fun. And then other you know, it’s fun to see us innovative product and then have other people come out. And yes, you know, copy the product, which Yes, makes people mad, but not making some like dinner.

Diana Fryc 23:00

Well, right. That’s your proof of concept. Right? Yeah. Once you start being copied, then you know, so So tell me a little bit you know, as these are evolving. What are what what have you been seeing in this kind of green science? I mean, I’m gonna call it green science because we’re using plant based in a number of these things, including Isaac Cosmos Vita is plant based or is not I don’t remember.

Mary Berry 23:23

It is. It is it is plant based. I mean, you know, some of the vitamins are not like, you know, plant based or like, you know, vitamins. So it

Diana Fryc 23:32

was a gummy. I don’t know what the gelatin Yeah,

Mary Berry 23:34

yeah, yes. Yeah, they’re vegan. So, okay, great. So yeah,

Diana Fryc 23:38

yeah. Okay, so, um, Kosmos vetus is your new baby. What learnings or what, what was transferable from Texas beauty labs and what was like the Oh, okay. Something new here.

Mary Berry 23:54

Yeah. So transferrable things are just like, you know, an entrepreneur, I feel like an entrepreneur can be made, but also just born, I think I’m born an entrepreneur, that’s what I really believe. Because I was always this way. So I was like, selling lemonade at my mom’s garage sales. So like, you know, I’ve just always been this way. And so, you know, the kind of like, go get a miss of an entrepreneur, like, you know, you can get knocked down 50 million times and keep getting back up. I’m an entrepreneur, like, it’s just something inside me that like, I can take from any business, any business, you know, I definitely learned a lot of important, you know, I guess, business things that I can bring with me, like, you know, how to deal with accountants and things like that, like p&l legal, all of that guess. Yeah, all of that. I definitely learned, um, you know, what’s new is that I’ve always been business business. And so, like, nobody cared that we had a PR company or no one cares that you know, we were on Instagram and we had a business to business. It’s been a fun challenge, but like, I literally went My Okay, so I had plasma sweta. I was like, okay, like the product development course was done, because that’s the easiest thing. And like, that was all like being done. And then I was like, Well, I’m going to get a website and we’re all done. thing. No, no, no, ma’am. So, I was like, you know, then they’re like, well, you need this tech stack you need, you know, all of these different apps to go on your website that you track all these things, and then you need to do PR, and then you need to do have ads, and, you know, you need to have SEO and all of these things. And so I’ve had to learn all of that. Because that’s not then also Tick Tock. To learn. Oh, girl, to learn the TIC tock, tic. We made our first tic tocs yesterday, okay, Was that fun? It was super fun. You know, I have to get over like, where I’m like, I’m probably the oldest person. Probably not true. person making a tic Tock. But it was super fun, you know, and thank God, our marketing manager, she’s like, you know, 23 or 24. And so she definitely knows how to use the TIC tock, okay.

Diana Fryc 26:09

Hire the 23 year olds, let me tell you, they know how the new tech like nobody’s business.

Mary Berry 26:14

I know. Well, and it’s it’s just it’s interesting, because, you know, we always talk about like, our parents, not knowing how to work the VCR like remember growing up and they’d be like, a really, really, they can’t work the VCR. Like they can’t time something. They’re in there. Just mashing buttons. Oh, yeah. Oh, no. Yep. But now it me for, like all the tech, because like, you know, I generally know, like, I can run a business, I can do these things. But now I’m having to learn how to read like analytics from, you know, adspend. Yeah. Just new, you know,

Diana Fryc 26:47

do you have different kind of dashboards different kind of? Yes, I think that’s probably something that you enjoy doing is learning all that stuff, though.

Mary Berry 26:53

I do I do. sleeping a lot, because it’s like, I learn a lot. Okay, like mama has to take a nap. Well, so

Diana Fryc 27:05

how are the so you’ve launched this just in the last year? How are the early days going? I mean, there’s some big things, you’ve launched a new brand in them. It’s your second, it’s your second rodeo? Or maybe, maybe maybe your third or fourth? I’m not quite sure. But um, and you’ve been doing this from COVID. And you, you know, and you’ve got kids and like, it’s, it’s a new world? And and I’m just curious, how is the business going? What is adoption? Like? Are you seeing interest from the channels? Or you’ve been even entertaining those conversations right now?

Mary Berry 27:37

Yeah. So it’s been really, like, it’s been really interesting. I really like to be, I love to be candid. That’s my favorite thing. So like, to be really candid. I was like, you know, I have my website, I have, you know, some of these things keyed up, and then we launched and then it was like, and then it’s like, a little, little, little molehill, you know, which honestly, I think a lot of people would be discouraged by, but me on the other hand, is like, Oh, really, but so it makes me double down and be like, Okay, well, this isn’t working, like, what else can we do? Like what other knobs Can we turn to get this to work the way we want it to work. And so that’s kind of where we work. Because we are where we are. Now. We’re kind of past that, because we started turning the knobs and they’re in motion now. But like, when we launched at the end of April, like literally, it was like, we had some orders. And then it was like crickets. And I was like, yeah, cuz I helped a whole bunch of direct consumer brands, like other companies. Yeah, I did it from the side of, you know, making the products which I was really good at. Right. So, you know, this has, there’s a lot of push to this. And there’s a lot of things to learn and to know, and, you know, I think really, it’s about, like, kind of doing a little bit of it all. Okay, turning all the knobs on and then seeing where your audience wants to be. Yeah, no, I avoided doing adspend for a long time, because I was like, I don’t want to go through the painful learning that you have to do with 1000s and 1000s of dollars for the ads. And I was like, people are gonna see it, and they’re gonna love it. And that’s gonna be enough. False. It’s not enough. You have to do that. So, you know, I think it’s about looking at what, what’s working, what’s not working, being able to say, okay, Mary Berry you thought you’re brilliant. Let’s take a few steps back and see what else we need to do to get this going. Gotcha. You know, yeah, yeah, I

Diana Fryc 29:37

think, um, you know, we’ve worked with brands of all sizes, startups and the really big ones. And I would say that, you know, on the startup side, it’s, it’s a common, it’s a common dilemma. Which levers Do you pull at the very beginning, how much can you handle? Sometimes you come out of the chute and it is exploding and other times it’s not quite moving in the direction and requires a little bit more work outside, I mean, even just even just knocking on doors to pay out on whether you’re gonna be DTC, or if you’re going to go through the retail channel, or what have you, he comm channel. So I, I, I’ve, we’ve, we’ve seen, we’ve seen your pain before. So I can, I can absolutely respect that you’re pulling different levers right now, I can’t get that. And it’s fun. It’s fun. It’s really fun.

Mary Berry 30:26

It really is, like, I love solving a problem and figuring something out. So I also love competing with myself. So like, then, you know, I’ve kind of got all that going from you. It’s like, you know, how much can you know, how much can we get done this month? You know, when we’re looking at that? And how much can we, you know, how much can we move the needle by doing these things? It’s really interesting, like, very, very interesting work. Because it’s like, you know, we thought that our, you know, target market would be this age range, but it’s really like, you know, this age range, and you’re like, wow, you know, it just the things that the internet tell you now. Oh, I know, running ads, and like all that is just, it’s just amazing. And also kind of makes me want to shut my computer and my phone smashed them and go live in the woods. Right, right.

Diana Fryc 31:18

You’re always you’re being watched all the time. I know, I could not know that. Oh, well. Just happily living my life. But, you know, now I know. And it’s the marketers not secret. I think Apple just came out with a new opportunity to shut all of those types of things down on their phones in the ad that they created for that was so brilliant, where they just have this I don’t know, if you’ve watched if you watch TV at all, but Oh, go look it up. It’s, they literally demonstrate what it’s like to as a phone, you know, you’re carrying your phone around. And they literally have throngs of people walking behind this guy while he’s on his phone. And they all represent the companies that are tracking what he’s doing from a location and then on his device and everything. Yeah. Is it that’s what it literally is, it’s very hard to turn it off. And to, and many sites won’t even let you on their site. Now unless you agree to cookies. So yeah, which is kind of weird. In my opinion. Even as even as a marketer, I feel like, That’s weird.

Mary Berry 32:27

I think like when we look, and like in the future, I don’t know how many years but we look back to this time, either we’re gonna be like, that’s when it started. Or we’re gonna look back and be like, you know, we learned a lot from that time. And this is why we have these laws in place to, you know, you know, I don’t know, I’m not like, you know, I don’t think that much about it. Yeah. Yeah, no, I, it’s, it’s interesting.

Diana Fryc 32:51

Yeah. Or will become Borg or something like that. It’ll be something who knows what the future will bring us to TBT, we’ll come back in 10 years and talk about so that at the end of the day, though, what is the goal with Cosmos Vita Like, what are you hoping to impact is,

Mary Berry 33:09

you know, it’s funny, because, like, one of the things is, like, obviously, you know, we want to sell some supplements. But what’s more important to me is that people can have like, a safe place where they can come. And, you know, right now, it’s kind of Instagram, we’re kind of, like, branching out and stuff, but we’re, you know, where they can come and feel like, you know, accepted and heard and all of those things, you know, that’s kind of the most important thing to me right now. is just to be like a really inclusive brand, that’s really thoughtful about the things that we do, and the way that we communicate and treat people, you know, to help them basically treat themselves better. And in turn others, you know, kind of, as we discussed before, so like, you know, I know that my goal should be to sell a bunch of stuff. You know, but it isn’t as much. Yeah, that sounds corny, too. But like, I get my most joy out of people, you know, being like, I saw what you put up like a random friend be like, I’m not, you know, I saw this thing, this quote that you put up, it made me really think about it. And like, that’s more what I’m into like is, you know, kind of, because we all have those sites on our social media where like, we go to them and we’re like, oh, you know, they always have something interesting to say, Yeah, they always have like, something that makes me that really strikes a chord with me. Yeah, you know, with quotes or pictures or you know, whatever. inspirational, inspirational and that’s what I would love to be for one person even, you know, like, that’s, that’s the deal. And so, yeah, I mean, it’s kind of corny but like it’s the it’s the truth. That’s when I that’s when I get my my most joy is when we can really do something that might help someone else. Got it.

Diana Fryc 34:59

Yeah. When you think back, you know, the path that exact got you here and who knows where Cosmos Vita is going to go, I can see that you have a lot of passion, and there’s a really great opportunity for explosion. When you think back, is there any kind of pivotal moment, or anything in particular that you felt was it was a milestone that kind of led you to today?

Mary Berry 35:26

Um, gosh, you know, it’s funny, I had a turning point in my life, where I was I had really bad anxiety, and I had really bad panic attacks. And I had a core phobia. And there was one point of my life that I was like sitting on the beach, which, you know, was really difficult for me to get to executive or phobia. And I was sitting with my son, who was like, he was the age where they could sit, but not crawl. And that’s like, the most amazing age. Yeah, yes. So I was sitting with him, and I looked at him, and I thought he deserves something better than what I’m giving him. And because I, you know, wasn’t leaving, there was there was a mess behind that, basically. And with that moment, I can think of it as clear as like, right now, um, you know, was when I started going to therapy, and really changed my life around to be able to be able to be the person that I’m supposed to be. No, I wasn’t supposed to be that person, I had just worked myself into that person that wouldn’t leave their house, it was just like, overcome anxiety and panic. Yeah, the person that I’m supposed to be, and so I had to work at it to get there. And even during that time, like, I knew that that wasn’t the person I was supposed to be. But I didn’t know how to get out of it. Yeah, get to be the person I was with. Yeah, though. Like, you know, I really think for me, in all of business, and all my life, honestly, like, it was that moment that changed the trajectory trajectory of my life. You know, I could have easily been like, Yeah, he deserves something better. But I still don’t want to it’s a lot of work, or I’m too afraid, or whatever. But I chose in that moment to do something about it. And, you know, it really changed my life, my family’s life. You know, think about all the people that worked at Texas beauty labs, right? That did yeah, existed? Yeah, no, if I had not made that decision in that moment. So it’s kind of like, you know, think about that and be brave, with the things that that that you’re doing, you know, and be brave with the choices when you when you get an opportunity like that, where you have that thought, like, take it and do something about it. You know,

Diana Fryc 37:47

I, that’s, it’s an it’s an amazing, it’s an amazing story that you share right there. And that transformation I know, did not come in, and it really an instant, I mean, it happened in an instant. But I know that a lot that led up to it. You know, those people that might be listening to you that are hoping for that moment to happen. Do you really like what is it they can be looking for? Because they can know that they should take the risk? But what is it that you like from an advice standpoint that you just kind of go this is, you know, these are the things that I did in order to have that moment happen? For me anything that you can share there?

Mary Berry 38:28

Yeah, that’s a really good question. I mean, for me, I wish I could have been like, I did it for me. Like I did it. Like I decided for me that this is the life I wanted, that would be the ultimate response. But like, I didn’t I looked at and I have a daughter too. And a husband who’s amazing, like my high school sweetheart. Like, I could have done it for everyone, or Yeah, I just happened to be sitting there with Bo in that moment. And he just, I don’t know, I think that it’s almost like I feel like you when you know, you know, and there’s been times when I’ve known I’ve known but then I still haven’t done anything about other random things. But I’ve learned to really listen to my inner voice to be like, I’m gonna take a chance and do this, you know, I and it wasn’t easy. And it wasn’t overnight, and it was over like five years. 10 therapy, you know, okay, um, and like, at first I went twice a week for you know, two hours at a time. Yeah. And, you know, I still love therapy. Like, I love being like, and then this bothered me. This year, the conversation has changed, yes. But, um, it’s still great. And I just, you know, anyone that’s in that space, like, I just really urge you to, like, you know, to, to wait and listen, you know, listen to yourself, because you’ve always listen to your gut, your gut always knows. And we know that and sometimes we turn it off and we’re like, nope, no, thank you. Like, you know, my gut says something that I don’t want to hear. Yeah, I’m still gonna go ahead and do the thing. That I’m listening to. And sometimes that’s okay too. Like we could be kind to ourselves. Yeah. Would we really listen, we know what’s right. You know, and I really believe that. And, and I believe that for everyone, like, I have hope for everyone, you know, and and also like talk about it with your friends or your family or Yeah, you know, whoever and maybe they have some really amazing wisdom. Yeah, yeah, it was so embarrassing to me like this when I was agoraphobic or boar phobic, I can never remember how to say it, but like, it was horribly embarrassing, because like, I grew up, you know, I was, you know, really liked in high school, and I was really, you know, I, you know, did all these things. And I was really like, ultra, like, competitive and ultra, like, you know, I was a swimmer and all of these things, and then

Diana Fryc 40:49

I’m from the south even,

Mary Berry 40:50

yeah, yes. And then all of a sudden, I wasn’t leaving my house. horridly embarrassing. It seems really, really Oh, gosh, yes. It was just like, I could not admit it to anyone. My friends are like, You’re not leaving the house and be like, oh, like, I, I will. And then when you didn’t know. Yeah. Um, and so it’s, you know, and I was that way for? I don’t know, 567 years? Oh, wow. That’s a long time. Yeah, it was a long time when I would get better. And it would get worse, like, where I’d be like, okay, you know, I’m gonna leave the house, you know, to go to Target, but I’m not gonna go to the back to look at the milk. Like, that’s too much. Well, I can, it was a really like, intense, you know, it was an intense, like, mental block I had. And so, yeah, but if I had never listened to myself, in that one moment on the beach with my son, then I never would have sought therapy, I never would have, you know, you know, gone on anti anxiety medication, because it helped me. Yeah. And I think people don’t talk about that enough, either. And gone on to do the things that I’ve done in my life that like, are just so amazing. Like, I love living life. You know, it’s like, my favorite thing. You know, I love to I love to travel, I love to see new things. I love to go new places. I love to do like, you know, weird things with my family. Like, it’s just life. And it’s so fun. And I would never, I would still be in my house had not listened to myself in that moment. Wow. I mean, I’m in my house right now. But like,

Diana Fryc 42:31

just for a minute, because you’re working? Because I’m working? Yes, guys. You’re working? Yeah. Wow. Lots to lots of share there. I’m sure that it will be valuable to somebody. So that’s really great. Thanks for sure. for sharing that. Yeah, I’m kind of moving along a trajectory, but kind of pushing it back into business. When you are working, when people approach you and say, Wow, Mary, how did you do this? Can you give me an advice? Are there are there things that you find yourself saying, sharing with people consistently on this entrepreneurial journey that they might be on kind of, you’ve done it? Now you’re sharing with them?

Mary Berry 43:11

It’s kind of like, start now, keep going be scrappy, it’s kind of my thing, you know, because like, I, you know, I we never took loans for Texas PD labs, it was all done. Like it was just bootstraps. So, you know, I had really no idea kind of what I was doing. And I learned, like, from people on the internet, how to make stuff, you know, and then, you know, obviously, hiring chemists and things like that. But like, in early days, we had no idea we’re just guessing. So like, you know, start now was kind of that keep going, like there were times where like I would, you know, I have a lot of friends that are like in business and all this stuff. And I would be like, this is where we are in the business. And they’d be like, Oh, my God, you need to quit. You like how you only have like two months, two weeks of like runway and I’d be like, Yeah, but something will happen. And there’ll be like, you need to shut this down right now. Oh, wow. Like, meanwhile, I’m signing a contract for another year on the you know, on the app. Oh, yes. You got to double, triple, quadruple down and believe in yourself, you know, that it’s gonna happen.

Diana Fryc 44:13

Yeah. You know? Because if you can’t, yeah, if you can’t, then it’s not going to happen. Right? You kind of talked about it earlier, a little self fulfilling prophecy. Anything that you say out loud, you kind of bring it to reality. And if you are afraid that something’s going to fail, failure is going to be really, really visible. But if you are seeing success in front of you, then that’s where that’s what is bound to happen to and it’s gonna be a roller coaster ride, don’t like don’t get along, right? You’re going to get to that goal, but you’re going to go up and down a few 100 times on your way there as well. Oh, my god, yes.

Mary Berry 44:49

Like failure just wasn’t an option to me. Whenever I would think about failure, which was not often I would think about with Texas be your labs having to go and tell everyone that I quit. And I was like, I’m not willing to do that? Yeah, I’m willing. Like, I mean, we like I pawned my wedding ring like several times, I sold my car. Like we, we almost like lost our house. Like, you know. And, you know, luckily my husband’s like, sure came with me on the journey. Oh, man. Awesome. But like that was obviously a very long time ago, but it’s what we did to make it happen because we really believed in it. And so, you know, I realized not everyone’s in the position to do that, like, we didn’t have to do anything. So we’re just

Diana Fryc 45:31

actually why it makes it easier.

Mary Berry 45:33

Yeah, makes it easier. Yeah. But there are other ways to really double triple down on you on believing in yourself so that you can like make it happen. It’s not gonna happen overnight. I’m still an idiot that was like, Oh, it’s gonna happen overnight with Cosmos Vita, you know, and it hasn’t. And I’m also really thankful for the opportunity to learn all the things that I’ve learned because it didn’t happen overnight. Right, you know, yo, you know, I’m not quitting cousin sweet. I’m not waiting until everyone knows about it. Yeah, you know, and so

Diana Fryc 46:07

to be honest, growth is in failure. Like we’ve worked with, we’ve worked with, uh, you know, again, we’ve worked with a number of brands where the brand owners have come to us, and they’ve come to us on the heel of a success. And sometimes it’s, you know, it was the first thing and they were successful on the first shoot. And sometimes, they’re a little bit more trickier to work with, because they haven’t hit in very, I mean, you’re going to dozen, as an entrepreneur, you are not going to hit a, you’re not going to hit it out of the ballpark every single time. It’s just not gonna happen. That’s that can because that’s life. And so sometimes, I feel like the best clients for us are the ones that get the most value from us are the ones that have been through some of the ups and downs so that when we’re talking to them, they’re like, Oh, yeah, that that happened to me. Oh, and that’s why that happened to me. Like they are some correlation between x, y and z. So I love you know, if you kind of go Okay, it’s gonna be up and down journey. And I’m in it for the winnett and we’re gonna go double triple down. I think you’re setting yourself up for continual success. Yeah, not gonna be easy all the time. But

Mary Berry 47:17

it’s not and if it is, like, you know, gay for you. Yeah, I don’t know anyone. Like, literally like, of all the entrepreneurs. I know. It’s a ton. Because we manufactured It was not easy for anyone. And you know, even me, like literally I lol at myself, because I’m like, it’s gonna be so easy.

Diana Fryc 47:36

It isn’t. And it isn’t. Let’s step back a few steps. Yeah, well, listen, our time is always it’s always up is our time is almost. And I always have a last few sets of questions that I asked. Yeah, that are kind of quick. But I just really quick, thank you so much for for coming. And joining me on the on the podcast. I know. People just love hearing these sorts of stories. And so one of the things that I that I find people comment on the most is this factoid, or call it a happy hour tidbit. Do you have anything about either supplements or anything about being an entrepreneur that you’d like to leave our listeners with today?

Mary Berry 48:23

Yeah, this one, I thought about this one, because you provided this before and I was like, it’s gonna have to be good. It’s gonna have to be good. Um, okay, so what I really one thing that really blows my mind still is natural, in my opinion, natural is not always best. And here’s why. So like, when you’re using like a product that has water in it, you know, like, I’m talking to the products when using a product that has water in it has ever preservative. So all these natural preservatives start popping up, or like they’re natural, Well, sure, they’re natural, but like, conventional preservatives that are not natural are used in a very tiny amount percent of the product. Okay? point one to like 2.5% Okay, and then when we’re talking like natural preservatives, they’re used at you know, three to 5% which Okay, percent of your formula okay, right. And so that cost more in my experience when we were like experimenting them with them, it costs more skin since since in its sensitization, it’s hard to say, like, you know, than anything else really, it’s just such a high percent now you know, we would we went back and reworked all the products, but it’s just very tricky, so natural to me when it comes to preservatives in beauty products is not necessarily always better. Interesting. Okay. throwing that out there. Oh, come

Diana Fryc 49:42

Don’t call me you can find Mary online. Okay, wondering, are there any other women leaders or rising stars out here in in they don’t even have to be in our category. They can be anywhere. That you would just like to elevate or simply admire for what they’re doing.

Mary Berry 50:05

There’s a lot that I admire and one that I love. It’s Alyssa Bair from milk and honey spas. It’s not that many spas, she’s opening a ton of spas across the country. I’m super excited for her. And products to what. And then also, Angela, you bias from a new brand called common air. She was the VP at Texas beauty labs for all the growth. So like we were, as I like to call it paired rabbits. Okay. So she has started her own company, and I’m so proud of her. They’re getting a ton of press. They do these vitamin C capsules that are completely sustainable. They’re in a cardboard tube. And they’re the little capsule dissolves. Like, it’s just really innovative, really amazing product. So I would love to elevate her. Okay,

Diana Fryc 50:57

awesome. All right, well, we’ll make sure that they get a special call out in our, in our, in our, in our write up, so that’ll be Yes, yes, yes. Uh huh. So any trends you’ve got your eye on right now? And why?

Mary Berry 51:12

One of the things that sustainability which I know is lol to everyone else, because I did not have my eye on this at all. Like when everyone else had their eye on it. No, like, I see brands like credo being like or not brands but companies like credo being like we are not going to accept plastic past this point. Yes. And that gets me so excited. I really am solver. Yes. Because like, you know, it’s gonna make people basically brands hands are being forced to go to sustainable packaging. Yeah, you know, and I when someone’s hand is forced, I love to see what the outcome is.

Diana Fryc 51:50

We are super innovative. Yes, Yes, we

Mary Berry 51:53

are. Because we’re not going to do it. If we can just be like go on and not have to do it. You know, generally but like if your hand is forced and their hands are being forced, like I can’t wait to see what sort of things happen. Yes, I’m excited. Good. Oh,

Diana Fryc 52:06

I have a story to share with you. I was at a trade show last week and I met this guy. His name is Trent with a chalk x. Oh, they’re like a keto ish chocolate out of Vancouver. And they are in 100% compostable packaging on the plastic side. But the paper good side He’s like, yeah, it’s still not compostable. So we start we solve the problem. So any packaging people you guys can take this idea and run with it. But we were talking about the fact that paperboard is not compostable, because there’s no nutritional value in it for enzymes to come and eat it so frequently. If you see paperboard thrown into compost. It’s the last thing that breaks down because that is right. Isn’t that crazy? thought about that? Yeah, yes. Those are those right? Yeah. So so he and I were talking were like, how would we resolve this? And he goes, Well, if we could kind of put some sort of protein fiber in the paper boxes like something from a cassava, some sort of plant, put it in there, it will make it break down. In compostable in that way, if the paper does find itself into a landfill, it will come through Wilson naturally composed rather than stay in its state as paper. So so there is that like, people are thinking that can be your next project. I

Mary Berry 53:30

say business idea number 4923.

Diana Fryc 53:35

Yeah, oh my goodness. Okay, so that was that was something that I learned in that same vein, and I thought that was fun to share. So if people want to connect with you, are you a LinkedIn girl? What tell tell us about that.

Mary Berry 53:48

besties um, through Instagram. Okay, so yeah, so if you go to Cosmos Vita which is the c-o-s-m-o-s, v-i-t-a, then I’m there. I’m linked as the CEO like in the comments, but like the like the header section. Otherwise, I would tell you it’s Mary Berry wish spelled weird. I know. So that’s too hard. So just get a Cosmos Vita. Find me there and and slide into my dm.

Diana Fryc 54:16

Okay, all right. And Mary Berry is also very easy to remember. It’s such a happy Yes. Oh, I love it. Oh, well, Mary, thank you so much for your time and I thank you so much for all the work that you’re doing for us out here and I’m really excited to watch Cosmos Vita take off and and hopefully I’ll be able to meet you in person maybe at a trade show or something. Since those are bad.

Mary Berry 54:38

I would love it. Thank you so much for having me. This was so so fun.

Unknown Speaker 54:42

Oh good. Yeah,

Diana Fryc 54:44

I’m glad you enjoyed your time. Okay, everybody, until next time, have an awesome day.

Outro 54:49

All right, bye. We hope you enjoyed this episode. And if you haven’t already, be sure to click subscribe and share with Your network until next time, be well and do Gooder