Podcast 68: Talking diversity in the beauty industry with Eryca Freemantle

I regularly get to speak to some incredible and inspiring people as part of my job, but rarely do I have the privilege of speaking to someone with a 40 year track record in the beauty industry. Today's video is an interview with Erika Freemantle, and believe me, you are going to want to hear her story. Erica is one of the world's leading makeup artists and as a woman of color, has played a key role in in influencing the global makeup health and well being space to help people rethink their strategies on inclusion. You will leave this video feeling more inspired than you have in months, I promise you. My name is Lorraine Dallmeyer and I'm the CEO of Formula Botanica, the online organic cosmetic formulation school. I hope you enjoy this interview today. So welcome to the podcast. Erica. It is lovely to have you here.

Oh, thank you. It's an honor and a privilege to be here and to meet you.

Oh, well, thank you very much. The privilege is all mine. So I'd like to jump straight in and talk to you about your story because I know it's a very, very inspirational one. So can you talk us through your journey of becoming one of the world's leading experts on makeup? Where did you start and what was the journey like to get to where you are now?

Okay, let me start at the end and then I can then take you to the beginning. So I've been in the industry. Erica Fremantle, global beauty strategist. That's my title now. It changes every seven years. But I've been in the industry for, as I said, nearly 40 years. How it started, it actually started by accident, literally. I was involved in a car accident in my very early 20s. I think I was about 21. So this bald head that you see here isn't a fashion statement. I was involved in a car accident where I lost all of my hair. I was in the petrol station paying for my petrol, as you do, and I woke up in hospital. But apparently what had happened was a lady came in and she lost control of her car and I was walking over to the kiosk. And in those days you paid for your petrol by check. Well, you had the option of cash or check. If I'd paid for it by cash, I would have not been part of the the accident, but because I was there showing off in my new leather pants. Well, I don't think I was showing off. I just felt good about myself in my new leather pants. And I was writing out the check. I'll never Forget. It was £5. £5 to fill up my tank. Of my, my Mini. So I put petrol in the car, walked over and writing out the check and as I said, I woke up in hospital. But what apparently what happened, she lost control of her car. She had just passed the test and instead of putting her foot on the brake, she put her foot on the accelerator which then made me into a human sandwich between her car, the kiosk and my poor little tiny body at the time. So she. And if it was another Mini, it would have been bad, but it wouldn't have been so bad. It was a Volvo Estate. And for those of you that are not old enough, please go and google a Volvo Estate. It's one of the biggest, most heaviest cars on the road. And the full impact of that, bearing in mind she didn't do it on purpose, but the accident, you know, was so full on that it made me into a human sandwich. And the glass from the kiosk shattered and as I fell to the ground, my face landed in the glass and my, from my waist down took the full impact of her car. Tiny, tiny little body. I was only about a size 8, size 6 at the time and. But what saved my life apparently was I was on a step and the step was about a feet high and that took me off the ground and that raised me. So I had the impact of the car from my waist down and because I must have heard the screech, I turned to an angle as you do, I mean, I don't remember and the car, my, my body took the full impact and my left side, my left leg was broken in five places by the time I hit the ground. My hair fell out there and then I went into shock and my skin, my face landed on the glass, in the glass, I said on in because a lot of the glass penetrated into my face. They took out 250 plus pieces of glass out of my face when I eventually got to hospital. So that's why. I know, but for me it's not so impactful for me because I'm telling you the story third hand. This is from what other people have seen. My father was there, unfortunately, he was across the road and he just heard someone say someone just got run over in the petrol station. My dad said how can anyone get run over in a petrol station? That's stupid, you know. And he came over to look and lo and behold he saw me, what was left of me on the ground and it was my dad that picked my hair up off the ground. Apparently he just fell out there and then had very long hair. But later on, I found out it was my body just went into complete shock, and it's never grown back. So how did I. My career start? So all those years ago, I mean, now in the makeup industry, there's a lot of complaints about there not being enough makeup for women of my complexion, women of color in general. But I'm what you call, like, at the darker end of the spectrum. Spectrum. And, you know, way back then, if people are complaining now, you can imagine 40 years ago, there was nothing available for women of color in the market. So because I had all of these scars in my face, and I was at home in hospital for three months, at home for two years, feeling really ugly, feeling very demoralized, feeling that life wasn't worth it, I remember. I remember sitting. Sitting up in the bed, and I remember something that I learned at school, even though I hated school. But this is one of the things that resonated with me. I remember in my. I think it was history or geography lesson, we spoke about the Egyptian, and we spoke about scars, and we spoke about healing. So I got this great idea, and I told one of my brothers to go and get some earth out of the garden, and we mixed it with water, and we put that on my face. And that was my first ever encounter with makeup, because I called that my foundation. That's my foundation. I mean, you read these things, but you don't really believe that they're going to work. But what it did do, it camouflaged my entire face, obviously for short periods of time, because it turned into mud and it will crack, crumble. But it gave me so ironic. It gave me the confidence that I needed at the time to enable me to even leave the house to go to the shop, which I was on crutches and everything. And even though people were looking at me really weird, I felt great because I felt that if they saw what was really there, they'd look at me even worse. It's just a psychological thing anyway. You know, over a period of time, putting the mud on my face that dried into clay, I. It had healing properties, and it really did heal my face. I have got a little bit of makeup on now. When you take it off, the scars are still there, but, you know, I've come a long way. The skin heals, the body forgives, and all of that. And now when I tell people my story, people. I mean, literally staring in my face, they can't believe it. They can't see it. So that was my initial encounter with the. In not even with the industry, with Myself. I then said to my dad, after being in the house for nearly two years, you know, I need to do something with my life, but I'm not sure what it is. So my dad, we came up with all these different things, whether I wanted to be a nurse because it was always around other people after going through what I went through. Anyway, eventually I said to my dad, I want to do something in beauty. Remember this is 40, 30 odd years ago. And my dad said, beauty, what the heck is that? And I said, I don't know. There was no Internet, there was no mobile phones as we know it now. And if we did have a phone, I mean, you had to be rich. So we didn't have one. There was a third party sharing of your telephone in the house and there was only a telephone box. So my dad said to me, let's go to the telephone box and look in the yellow pages. Then if you remember the yellow Pages, to the world, this yellow pages is the equivalent to in the Internet, but in a book, describe it. And we looked up beauty colleges and everything. And as we were going through the book I said, dad, this isn't what I want to do. I don't want to be a beauty therapist. At that time I didn't want to be. But we had that conversation with one of the receptionists and she said, why don't you do makeup based on the story that you've told me about your daughter? We said, makeup? And she said, yeah, there are various different makeup schools that you can attend to. Anyway, we looked through the yellow pages and we saw Complexion School of Makeup, which was in Holborn. Now to me, a South Londoner living in Brixton and seeing Holborn, it was like going to Australia. I mean, whereas holborn, it's only 40 minutes by two with that. But you know, 40 years ago getting in the tube was a novelty. Anyway, we rang them up and they told us that they had a space and their next course was going to be in, I think it was six weeks time and it was £13,000.

Wow.

My dad looked at me and I looked at my dad and, and to tell you the truth, I didn't even know what £13,000 was. I just remember seeing the look on my father's face. Anyway, to cut a long story short, he went home and he shared that with my mom and they did what they needed to do. They remortgaged one of those, one of their properties. Because my father was in property. I don't even think he remortgaged I don't think remortgage was a thing at the time. I think he got a loan against the property, and he said he would do anything to make me smile. And even when I told the story, now I still get a lump in my throat. And my father paid for me to go to Complexion School of Makeup. And that was in the Western, in the Hole in Holborn. And what I loved about going there, I was the only black girl there. I was definitely the only black girl with bald head and scars. And all the other students had flown in from all over the world. They came from very wealthy backgrounds. Australia, Canada, France. But for them, I was a novelty because everybody wanted to do where we did the practice makeovers. They wanted to do the makeup on me because, one, I had the scars. Two, I'm black, and they'd never even touched the black person before. And three, I had no hair. So for them, I was a great novelty, but in a really nice way, you know. And, you know, I formed some of my greatest relationships on that course all those years ago. And my confidence grew, and these women supported me. It was a very short course, but it's amazing what can happen in a short period of time. So those women all went about their ways. I passed my course with distinctions. It was about one of the only things that I did really well. I really enjoyed it. I was very passionate about how makeup made me feel. And remember, I'd lost all of my hair scars, and felt that I was really ugly. But I will never forget the way it made me feel. And also how it made my Caucasian counterparts, how it made them feel for doing a great job. Because if you get to know me, you'll know that I'm a very emotional, emotive person. And. And for some reason, that has always stayed with me. Anyway, so about two weeks after doing the course, not knowing what I was going to do with my life or my career, the word career didn't even come to mind. Didn't know what I was going to do at all. I got a phone call on the party line that we shared with three of our houses. There was one of my friends, this was in the 80s, and she was going for a job, which later turned out to be a fashion show. And she'd put my name forward to be a makeup artist, because obviously, I told her about my newfound career, my new qualifications. She then went and put my name forward. I didn't know. I said, look, Erica, we'd like you to come along and do the makeup. Assist the makeup artists. I mean, can you imagine the feeling, fear of God that ran through my body? Me, I'm okay. I've got no hair. I've got scars. I've got no confidence. I don't know what I'm doing. She said, erica, just come. You know, left leg was. And he still knew. Shorter than the other. I felt very, very insecure. I went along to the job with her. It wasn't that far away from my house. When I got there, lo and behold, I saw the most beautiful, beautiful women. Well, I thought they were. They were six foot. Well, I was gonna say six foot four. No, not quite. Maybe six foot one. Five foot nine. Six foot, really beautiful, tall, elegant black women. So when I walked through the door with my friend who's also a model, everyone started clapping like this, wondering what's going on? I mean, who. They can't be clapping for me. But there was no one behind me. I'm going to tell you something quite traumatic now. The makeup artist hadn't arrived, so I was the makeup artist.

Wow.

Idea that I was the makeup artist, as far as I was concerned, I was going to be the assistant makeup artist. What makeup kit did I have? Three foundations and about two brushes and a sponge and a red lipstick. That's all. I had never done anything before. Never done an anything. So I had done nothing. Forget. I was gonna say, never done anything so important. The only thing I've ever done was worked upon, worked on the other girls that I went to the college with. But something in me said, erica, buck up. You can do this. After the. The nerves and all the apprehension. And then what I did is I looked at every single girl, and as I said before, they're all black girls. But what I did do was I got the lightest of the black girls to the darkest. So I put them in a color coordination, and I asked anyone, I said, have you got guys got any Foundation? About 10 of them had foundations. I remember. Oh, I didn't tell you. Did I say there was 56 girls? Okay. Wow.

Wow.

Yeah. So, yeah. So you can imagine. So there were 56 women there to be made up 10 different. Lots of foundations, including mine. So what I did do was I just got the darkest foundation, and I started off with the darkest girl, and then I got the lightest girl to do her own foundation. She's never done makeup before, and I asked her to help me. And what we did is we mixed the foundations and we. She worked that way, and I worked that way. There was one lipstick red Lipstick. And when you do a fashion show or anything like that, one thing I remember, that everything has to be uniformed. So I broke off a tiny little bit of lipstick, and I gave each person the lips a little tiny bit of lipstick. And I asked them to put the red lipstick on while I did all the powders. I started off this way, she started off that way. We met in the middle. Everyone had the same lipstick on. And then I went with my forget hygiene. I went in with my one brush that at that time, there were no triangular sponges. I got a pair of scissors and I cut. And I then used that to create that shape because lips are very important, very prominent on the, you know, the catwalk. These are the things I was remembering that I just learned three weeks ago. Anyway, when all they. After the show. That's all I could say because I can't remember during all the beginning. But after the show, there was a standing ovation. Everyone was standing, everyone was laughing, everyone was happy, everyone was jovial. And they all turned around and they said, it's because of her. And again I looked and I realized that everyone was. And pointing their fingers at me. I had saved the day. And it was on the back of that I realized the importance of makeup. You know, it's something that we take for granted. It's something that people laugh at. I didn't even know that you could have in a career from makeup artistry, but I knew there and then that I had saved the day, saved some lives, and made some women feel very beautiful. Now, to top it all, a gentleman came over to me and he said to me, hello, my name is Bruno and I'm from Island Records and I'd like you to give me a call tomorrow. And I'm thinking, me, I haven't got a phone. He gave me his card. I had to go to the phone box. It was 10 pence at the time. He put it in. And I put in my Tempe. I called him and I put my Tempe in. And then I said, hi, Bruno, this is Erica. We met yesterday at the show, blah, blah, blah. And he said, I've been waiting for your call and I was wondering if you were going to call. He said, I'd like to speak to you about an opportunity. And I'm like, okay. He said, I'd like you to go on a global tour. Global? What's global? A world tour. World tour. What's world tour? Travel the world with us and become our in house makeup artist.

Wow.

What? Me? How? Why? We'll get the contracts to you. Can you please send us your, your address? There's no emails in those days. I had just landed myself a contract of a lifetime because he was there on backstage and he saw how I was able to manage and deal with all the different aspects. Apparently I was calm, but I'm very calm in nature anyway. Apparently I was very calm and he really liked that. And then within two weeks, I did the makeup for Seal. He wasn't known as Seal then. He was in a group called Adamski. And they asked for me to come along because I won. Obviously I'm a black woman. And two, he's a black man. But he also had scar, what they called scars, but they were. They're not scars. It's just a different form of Skyrim. It's lupus. And he needed somebody that could sympathize with him. Remember, I had scars, dark skin as well, dark skinned black woman, bald head as well. So there were lots of similarities. Even though his head wasn't bald then he had locks and used to hide behind his hair. So I became his makeup artist and the next thing I knew I was doing everybody's makeup. I had the pleasure of doing Whitney Houston assisted with her makeup artist. I did Misha Paris, I did Michael Jackson. I did so many people. Yeah, my career just blew up, as the youngsters say now. But it wasn't preordained. I didn't plan it. I just happened to be at the right place at the right time. So that's how my career started. It's started because of an accident leading me to be at the top of my game without realizing, without having any support, without having any guidance. And I made sure I made the most of it. However, Lorraine, what happened for me is that it happened too quickly. I hadn't dealt with my own issues. I found that I became the counselor for everybody else because that's what happens when you're a beauty therapist or a makeup artist, whoever you're touching, you became. You become their personal person, you know. And I hadn't dealt with all of my issues, my accidents, my insecurities, being called ugly at school, being bullied. It was too much. And as you can hear, I'm a great talker. And as a makeup artist, you are not allowed to talk. So I was always giving my opinion and I was always having to slap my mouth. Anyway, the long and short of it is that I stopped doing makeup artistry, oh, maybe 20 years ago, but I really, really enjoyed it. And then I got, you know, arts Right. Makeup courses for London College of Fashion, especially for women of color, because no one was doing it at the time. I've always been a voice for women of color. I've always felt alone. So all of these conversations that being had now in the UK and around the world, they're old, but I'm really glad that they're happening now because I was having them on my own. I had no support, because, remember, I'm first generation. I'm not that far from my 60s, so 60th birthday. So for a lot of people, you know, there's a. They said that when you have numbers, there's a lot more volume. I was one voice without the Internet, without Instagram, just about had a phone. So it was very difficult for me, but it never stopped me. But I don't. I never see it as a disadvantage, which is what I see happening now. I see as an and. And not a but. And I was able to use it to my advantage, being one of the few people in the space at the time around makeup and beauty. And then I wrote these courses for London College of Fashion. I ended up on their panel, their advisory board. I became a spokesperson for the industry. It was a fantastic time. And I'm still doing that now, a lot more amplified, but I'm doing a lot more of that now. And then I studied beauty. I enjoyed it, but not as much as makeup. But then I realized for me to speak at the level that I was speaking, I needed to know a lot more about different aspects of the industry. So, yeah, so that was the beginning of my career. I'm sorry it took so long, but.

No, no, I. I was spellbound listening to you. I mean, what a privilege to, first of all, hear your story and share it. And I know that all the listeners today will be sitting here as well, going, wow, Erica, wow. What an achievement. And to come from such a. Such an awful accident, to turn that into something so profound, your life's work, effectively. I mean, that is incredible how you've turned that around. So thank you very much for sharing that. And I suppose my next question really ties in with your mission and what you're doing now. And you've been working with the beauty industry, as you just said, to embrace all tones, all shades, all sizes, all ages of women for a very long time. So how has this message been received?

Oh, wow. You know, for me, first and foremost, for you to put a message out there and for it to be authentic, you have to live it. You have to believe it. So I had been Living it throughout my whole professional career without realizing was always Erica Freemantled the voice. Erica Freeman told the spokesman person, Erica Fremantle, the one that they always came to PR for quotes. And then I sat down one day and I said, look, I'm a black woman and I am a dark skinned black woman and I've racism, prejudice, sarcasm, you know, all of those detriment, detrimental remarks I've heard. But I've also heard and live some very positive things as well. And my career started out with Naomi Campbell, Pat McGrath. For those of you that don't know who Pat McGrath is, she's the most successful makeup artist on the planet and Naomi Campbell, the most successful model on the planet. You know, our careers all started out at the same time. They're all Londoners, they're all girls from London. So, you know, it's, I think they, they are, they are about the only two that are still existing from my era. So the only three of us. So there's something that had to be said about us as Londoners starting our careers in that era. So I was always embracing other people. Remember my story started out, I told you, at Complexion School of Makeup, where there was an always, there was an international classroom. Anyway, so I learned about lots of different cultures and skin types and undertones before even I knew what they were. And I came up with this name, embracing all tones of women. I decided to create a business, a company under that name. And you know, the name is quite known, especially when it comes to diversity. Even though I try to tell people, yes, I am a black woman, yes, it is black led, but it's not just for black people. And what we do is we educate, empower, uplift and hopefully inspire people within the beauty industry or to become better. And we do that by way of coaching now. So I've done many things, I've done teaching, training, but I realized I've retired from this industry twice. And I promise you I'm going to retire within the next six months, whenever that is. So whenever this is being watched, if it's five years time, it's six months, you know, But I'm always being called upon for mentoring and coaching. Always. That is what I do naturally. And I've decided that, you know, one woman isn't an island, one person can't do it on their own. So I've decided to collaborate with the younger person who comes with much more innovative innovation, a lot more zest. But together we are one individual and now we are going to be coaching, educating, empowering and uplifting. Those that are stuck within the beauty industry, no matter what it is that you do in beauty, whether it be skin, hair, makeup, whether you have a business, whether you're another coach or mentor, I believe that I have all the knowledge and all the skills that's required to take your business to the next level. So whether you're earning 50,000 a year, we can make that 100,000. Because it's not always about the product or the actual application in whoever what you do, it's about your confidence and it's about being at the right place at the right time time and being able to articulate and narrate who you are and what you are in that given situation.

I love it. And I. I believe wholly that you can do that as well, because, you know, you are obviously very, very strong in terms of your mentoring and coaching. So, I mean, anyone who gets to work with you obviously will be very privileged to do so. So you've created this platform called Embracing All Tones of Women. Etao, can you tell us a bit more about what it is and how it works and. And your vision for it?

I guess everyone that knows me calls Etao my baby, but I don't see Etao as being my baby. I see Etao as a grown adult, a reflection of myself, but in the form of a business and what it is we do. So, as I said, we do coaching. We also going to be launching every year makeup Artist Awards. We partnered with some of the biggest names in the industry, like Errol Douglas. We've also, and if you don't know who Errol is, is one of the most prolific hairdressers in the uk, Kanya King from the Mobile Awards, who happens to be a friend of mine, but we were also. One of the prizes for the individuals is to go backstage for Mobo and see how makeup's being done. We've just partnered with some of the biggest makeup companies in the world that are now jumping on board, especially around diversity. They feel that it's important that their brands are aligned with a platform like ours. We also do an online academy where anyone that wants to upscale their education within the makeup industry, they can do a quick online course where they can get the qualification online immediately to take their business to the next level. Because I think education, I also think application, I think knowledge and I think insurance is the way forward. Especially having gone through Covid and living through Covid and Covid is now the norm, I think it's very important that people realize that the beauty industry on a whole is about to change forever. There's no time for footing around, there's no time for dabbling. It's time to get serious. And if you didn't know what serious was, you are about to find out because it's going to change. So, yes. So that's what we do. Some of the offerings that we bring.

Amazing. Well, I want to go into etow in a little bit more detail in a minute, but I just wanted to touch on something you said. I mean, you've obviously worked with makeup companies and, and been a makeup artist for a very long time now. And how does it make you feel that these big makeup companies are now starting to embrace diversity? Because you've obviously been out there championing diversity for such a long time. And now the. Is the message getting through now, do you think?

Is the message getting through now? No. And the reason why I say that it's because a lot of people that make the decisions are older people. And those people are my age. So a lot of those people have grown up with me or I've grown up with them. You can't change the mindsets of those individuals, the people that sign off deals or write the checks, even though they do try. So I believe the change is coming about as and when they get replaced. So I find the younger generation are talking about it a lot more, but they're not necessarily their decision makers. Remember, because something becomes apparent now, because it's being heard more now, doesn't mean it's only started now. You know, people of color, whether they be African, whether it be Asian, Oriental, we've been here for so many years. So the now is the now is the now. But I've just told you that I'm nearly 60 years old and it's been a problem as far as my parents have concerned. They've been here for 62 years, it may be longer. Can I see that it's making a difference? Will it make a difference? Yes. Everything takes time. As long as it kept, it keeps being spoken about. But not in a negative light. Not when something happens to somebody or a celebrity or a hierarchy person, people, then society are then made to feel guilty and then they act on that. It should and could and I hope one day be a natural thing that we can walk into. We, as in someone as dark as me or even darker, can walk into any department store. And it's a norm to pick up a foundation that suits your skin tone rather than having to one, ask or two, look at the bottom. And these are things I don't Think that my Caucasian counterparts have even had to stop to think about. But I want you to go out and do this exercise. Go into boots. Super drugs. They're getting better. But look to see, other than I don't really want to call out any brand names. There are a couple that are doing really well. I'd call their names up, but they have to pay me. There's one and two out there that if you look in general, and I'd like even for you to do this, Lorraine, as an exercise size, see if there's any foundation that you believe Erica could pick up comfortably and wear. Not almost nearly could be. Maybe she mixes it with that or under, you know, uses that to complement that. Just look at my shade. Whether you're a makeup artist or not, whether you know about skin tones or not, and especially in London, and see if there's anything available. You'll be amazed. And that's what I get my students to do. That's an exercise I ask them to do, and then they come back and say to me, wow. And I've been living that my entire life.

Wow. Yes. Well, I hope everyone listening to the podcast will go and do this exercise. I certainly will. I would imagine it will, yes. Open a lot of people's eyes, including my own, no doubt. So following on from that, then, I mean, eat out. Embracing all tones of women. How are you trying to change lives with this platform?

Okay, men, I haven't left you out. The word men is in women. Okay, men come out of women. See, I chose my words very carefully there.

Very true. I have two boys.

Women, men, I haven't left you out. So embracing all tones of women. It's a play on words. How do we intend to change lives just by keep doing. Keep doing, being. Creating the legacy, creating the platform. Coaching in the beauty industry comes with no color. And that's why one of the reasons I had to change my stance. So, yes, some of the things that we do do are specifically around and to educate my Caucasian counterparts on the needs of women of color and also my women of color on the needs of ourselves. However, business coaching has no color. Money has no color other than the ink that it's dyed in. You know, if you're looking at the notes. And I feel it's really important that people of color see somebody like myself that's been in the industry for a long time that's reasonably authority, that re reasonably knows a little bit of information that they can learn from. And not seeing Caucasians in the same space, educating them on the needs of women of color, because that doesn't work either. You know, I am here to educate, to coach, to inspire, to uplift, to share my story, to let you understand that the ordinary girl from next door has made it good. She had to lose her hair, 250, 250. Scars to her face, near amputation to her leg. Married and divorced twice. Bullied at school, school. Told that she would never amount to anything, and so much more. But you know what I realized, Lorraine? It's life. You know, it's not what happens to us, it's how we deal with it. And if we surround ourselves with negative people or people that hold us back, and we know that they're holding us back more for us. You know, you people, I have a saying. To get to where you need to go to, you have to be with someone who's already got there. And it's not people who dream or called or wish. It's somebody that's already got there and looking behind to pass the baton on. And I believe I am one of those individuals that, you know, give back 100% in its entirety, whether it to be individuals, whether it to be businesses, whether it be to multinational brands, whether it be countries. I have so much to give as a woman, and I feel that before I die, that is my legacy. And I have some core values. ETA and Erica Freemantle, and they're combined as one, and they are education, celebration, unity, conversation. I've got a list here. I'm very much about allies. I think allies, which are friends, is really important in the industry. I believe in celebrating difference. I don't think enough of us celebrate difference, and I don't think enough of us. Enough of us celebrate each other's success. So these are all the things I like. Excellence. What is excellence? Excellence is not always about winning. Excellence is sometimes just about participating and trying, endeavoring to better yourself. So they are my core values, and they are the things that I try and permeate through ET in whatever it is that I'm doing within etow.

You are changing the world and changing lives with that. And I have no doubt that there are lots of people listening at the moment thinking, I want to go work with Erica now as well. I'm sure you've inspired thousands. So if someone wants to join etao, how does it work? What's involved?

Okay, so what they need to do is, is because we're changing, we're going through, because we are just coming out of the Corona. And the reason why I'm saying this like this is because I think we'll always be in it. I think Covid is here to stay, whether it be COVID 19, 20 or 21. And because we are now taking the various different in vaccination, but it doesn't mean it's going away. We have to learn to live with it. So you can contact us by either following. And I'm not really good at all this Instagram, but it's at E Global, so that's etow e a t o w global. Start by following us. You can DM us and say, I heard you on the podcast, I saw you in the podcast. But also go to our website, which is WW. My daughter said Mommy, don't say WWW Sandbold. Okay, just to sound old, it's WWW etow eatow.co.uk and the website will show you what we're doing at any given time. But I'd love for most people to come on board the coaching so that they too can grow their businesses. Because that's what we do. We grow people's businesses financially. We find a lot of people are afraid to talk about money. We're not in the space. As I said, Pat McGrath is someone that I started off with. She's gone on to be the most successful makeup artist on the planet. At last review, I think she made over 1 billion. Not million, $1 billion. And why? Because she had a formula, she stayed focused and she delivered and that they're the things that we are coaching on our platform. And I can't guarantee anyone 1 billion. I can't even guarantee you 1 million, but I can definitely guarantee you a different mindset.

So, yeah, that's beautiful. We'll include all of those links with the podcast, obviously, and I do encourage you to go and check them out. And if anyone wants to follow you, Erica, I mean, obviously go and follow Etao. But if they want to follow you and be inspired by more of what you put out into the world, where can they find you?

I'm simply at Erica Freemantle on Instagram, which is my name is spelled and you can see it, but I will spell it because we must not assume that everyone can see it's E R Y C A Fremantle F R E E M A N T L E. And honestly, all I do on my own personal platform, people are expecting different portrayals of makeup and all of that. No, all I do is celebrate other people. I'll post what other people's put out about themselves, especially if I know you, and I'll make my comments because for me, it really isn't. I think makeup is so personal. Who am I to tell you that your makeup should look this way? Makeup is about feeling good, and I think by celebrating other people, I'm doing my job well.

Thank you very much for coming onto the podcast and talking about your life, your work, what you do. Etow, I hope that we've been able to celebrate you a bit today because I think you need a lot of celebration with everything that you've achieved. And I really appreciate you taking the time to come and talk to me. Erika, it's been an absolute pleasure. Thank you so much and I can't wait to put this episode out into the world.

Thank you so much. I can't wait to see, too. I really can't. Thank you so much. Thank you.

Thank you for joining me for this interview with Erika. She is amazing and so inspiring and it is such a privilege to have her on this platform with me. I hope you'll go and follow her and itao by clicking on the links below because trust me, if you're inspired by this podcast, you will continue to be inspired by everything she's putting out in the world. If you'd like to learn more about Formula Botanica, click on the link below to come and sign up for our free online organic cosmetic formulation course. Thank you for watching this video.