PillowtalkDerm - How Social Media's Favorite Board-Certified Dermatologist Established Trust And Transparency In Skincare ft. Dr Shereene Idriss

Doctor Shirin Idris is the board certified dermatologist behind Bilo Talk Derm, a line of science backed solutions for achieving your best skin. Tune in as we discuss how she went from dermatology to content creation to the founder of her very own skincare brand. Hi everyone and welcome to Founder Beauty, a podcast dedicated to beauty entrepreneurs who built some of the biggest brands today and where we learn exactly how how they did it. We'll cover some of the most intimate stories, their path to success and how they overcame the obstacles along the way. I'm Akash Mehta, CEO and co founder of Fable and Main, the modern hair wellness brand inspired by ancient Indian beauty secrets. Building Fable and Maine has been an incredible journey so far and I decided to launch this podcast as a founder, keen to learn and connect with fellow beauty brand founders around the world. I believe in collaboration over competition and so I'm using this platform as a way to hopefully help and inspire each other what can be quite a tough and lonely journey. So if you are an entrepreneur or simply just curious how to build a brand, this podcast is perfect for you. So without further ado, it's delight to welcome our guest for today, Dr. Sherene Idris. A leading board certified dermatologist. Shirin is out to bust beauty myths and remind us that while our skin may be complex, our skin care doesn't have to be. She found herself tired of misleading marketing and turned to her legion of social media followers to ask them the question that would change everything. Should I launch my own skincare line? The answer was a resounding yes. Paleo Talk derm launched in September 2022 with the powerhouse trio of products to fight hyperpigmentation. Determined to establish a trusted and transparent source of conversation around skincare. But it's also more than that. PoloTACHM is committed to providing more opportunities for young women to access STEM education and invest annually towards sponsorships. There is so much to dive into today. So Sherene, thank you so much for being with us today.

Thank you so much for having me. That was such a lovely introduction and I love what you said about entrepreneurs feeling alone and this is the podcast for them because I'm currently in that little lonely dinghy of a boat.

I feel you like no one really knows until they're in it. And yeah, it's one of those things where it's like a wave of loneliness and then not feeling loneliness, but it's always there. That's why. Yeah, you know, you're absolutely right.

I mean, when I was Interviewing people for one night stand before I fully jumped into launching the skincare event. They would say that and it wouldn't fully resonate. I'm like, what are you talking about? You have all these people who follow you, you have all these people around you. But once you're in it and it's like your bank account and you're like, oh, supply chains are off. Like, you feel like you're completely deserted and alone and you have to answer to all these people. So.

And you have this yin and yang to everything because someone will always tell you a one way response. So, for example, like I just told you before, like, I'm so happy. Like you've sold out twice. Like, that's really cool. You'll be saying, yes, great. But also, why don't I have products right now? Like I want to be selling, right? Like, there's that two side angle that as a founder we see. We have to see both sides. Which can make it like when people tell you something, you're like, oh, I agree, but I don't really agree. And that's like the problem is no one really knows it until you're in it. And you have that mindset. But we're going to get into that and the realities because, you know, we're pretty much both in the same journey of creating beauty brands through the pandemic. And a new norm is now shifted where people are really taking the time to take, you know, just basically understand what are they using on their body and their face and their skin and their hair and does it really work? Because as we know, we've seen a huge rise of beauty brands in the market and it can be quite tough, especially with TikTok, for anyone to know what to trust, what not to trust. Everything seems great and influencer says it's the best. Or is it the best? So all of that we're going to discuss today. But before I get started, Shereen, I asked my guest the same question I'm going to ask you. Who in a nutshell is Dr. Sherene?

Who in a nutshell is Dr. Sherene? It's funny because I always used to ask that. Typical. And one night stand. And I've never thought about it for myself. I think Shirin is a nerd at heart who often felt like the odd one out in her family, but who basically loves science and loves that. She loves the nerdy stuff, but also felt like odd because she never felt that she was as serious as she should be in order to love it. Like she does and so I guess I'm a nerd still. People would still say I'm a nerd. My sister should definitely still say I'm a nerd. But who has found her own people and who are able to. She's able to laugh with a lot of the process. I don't know. That's who Shereen is in a nutshell, personality wise. But I'm a board certified dermatologist is my professional answer. I've been practicing for more than 10 years. I have my own practice that I opened in 2021 in New York City. And I completely landed on social, completely unmeditated. It was a fluke that happened that took off on its own. And, you know, like, everything in life that I've learned is, like, when opportunities are there, you have to feel the current and you just kind of go with it. And I let it take me. And it's evolved into a community of nearly a million nerds over all platforms today. Also known as Pillow Talk Derm. So that's the professional answer, maybe what you're looking for. But the real answer is know what the hell I'm doing, and I'm just kind of living it day to day. I know what I'm doing from a medical perspective, but I don't really know what I'm doing when it comes to all of this.

Honestly, that's. But that's normal. I can tell you, like, even me. Like, people ask me, like, how you created a brand now, like, what's your goals and you want to sell. I'm like, I don't know. Like, I see it day by day, year by year. But obviously it's good just to be enjoying the process and the journey that's the most important. So I think that that's the one thing we have to remind ourselves. But I do want to start a little bit at the beginning. So, baby Sherene, I know you were born in the U.S. but your parents and your sister are from Lebanon. So we'd love to know a little bit about sort of like your experience being born and raised in Washington and having that kind of duality of cultures in your household. But what were your first memories of beauty in all of that?

I mean, it's a very good question. I think that's why maybe I've always felt like the odd one out. So I was only four days old when we flew back to Cyprus and we couldn't go back to Lebanon because our apartment got blown up. So we were like, this is where I struggle. Like, were we refugees or were we immigrants? We were only lucky because my dad had the green card because he happened to have studied in the US and he got it also on a fluke because his mentor told him to apply for it in the 70s. So we were very, very fortunate in that sense. But we had to go back at four days old to get my sisters who were living in Cyprus at the time. And so it was always kind of like not really belonging. So I moved back to the US I think I was around 1 years old and my parents always thought we would go back to Lebanon. But the war was a never ending story that basically took 10, 12, 15 years to kind of go through the civil war. So we ended up just kind of setting up shop in D.C. but my mom thought because we were going to go back, let the kids go to a French school because it's a francophone country, it's the second language. So we were the odd ones out now in our neighborhood where we were the weird kids who didn't go to the public school down the road. We went to some weird French school that ended at 5:30pm and we spoke a weird language we didn't really speak, you know, we spoke English, French and Arabic at home. So it was always kind of living in two cultures, two worlds constantly. And so growing up it was difficult because you just want to fit in. You don't want to be asked, what are you eating for lunch? And why does, you know, why do you say that? In a weird way? You just want to be like, I'm eating a peanut butter and jelly sandw everyone else. But it really did form who I am and appreciating, you know, those quirks and those differences and making me realize that really, truly we're all essentially the same. But it's a universal language how you speak to people. So I think it was, I think it really did help me and did help shape me growing up. And my first, I mean, beauty was never something that was emphasized by my parents because they were literally running away from the war. They were like education number one. Typical immigrant mentality. Like have what you have in your head, take it wherever you can go. You don't know when your home's literally going to blow up. So if you have a profession that you can land on your set and never depend on a man or a woman in this world because they might end up becoming an asshole. And you don't want to live your life dependent on anyone. And they're like, and for sure don't depend on us because we don't know what we're going to have back home or if we're going to have anything to give you once we're done on this earth. And so it was very much that mentality. And so beauty was not something that was instilled in us. But ironically, I am the whitest of my family. My sisters look like you. My oldest sister, she's tanned, tan beautifully in the summer. It was always like, you're so white. Go get some color. So it was almost the counter problem of like, you know, it was like, literally I was ashamed of how pale I was. So it was a big insecurity growing up. And I remember my grandmother would sit down and kind of like, really take care of herself. My mom's mom putting her egg white mask on her face or like doing her, you know, and I would just kind of stare at her because my mom for sure as hell would not do that. So whenever she would come to visit, I was probably 7 or 8, and I would just stare at her doing her routine. And I was like, how nice to really care about the skin that you're in. Because I was constantly poked fun of constantly by my sisters, by my cousins, you name it. And so that's. I think that must have been what kind of sparked it in me. And I remember when I was 12 years old or 13 years old, the only time my mom gave me beauty advice was when I was 12 or 13, because I had lines under my eyes. Genetically, they were not from aging. And she bought me a very expensive for my under eyes. And I was like, mom, I'm only 12. She goes, Just put it. You have to protect, you know, your under eyes just look a little bit, you know. So I use it and I had the biggest allergic reaction. And I was like, okay, let's understand this world. And that's sort of when I think I myself started getting into the whole skincare beauty world. But it really drove me first into dermatology because of the allergic reaction that my sister had. Eczema. It's a long story. But anyway, that's sort of my first memories of beauty. And you know, how I ended up in this world.

And that's so powerful at a young age to realize, like, what someone advocates so much for them. It might not work for you because every human being or being is different, right? We are. Skin is different. And. And that's why sometimes it can be quite dangerous when you don't. People don't know really what they are either consuming or putting on their. On their body. Without doing the relevant homework on, on the, the layer, the levels of, you know, how much of each ingredient is it? I think there's a lot of. And what I love about your social media is, you know, before the brand is, you've made it very accessible for everyone to learn from your own learnings. But I do want to talk a bit about that. So you went into did many, many years, I read in your undergrad in med school. And I read also you were initially interested in plastic surgery and then you went into dermatology. So tell us more about your journey in your, in your career.

So, so basically I love working with my hands. I'm like again, I was odd one and I'm the youngest of my sisters would like set me aside. I would sit there like creating puzzles and sculpting stuff with my hands for hours on end. I never took a paint, never took a class. I just worked with my hands a lot. And so I thought there's no way I can do a desk job. I would literally just go nuts. I need to work with people and I love working with my hands. So maybe it's surgery and I love art and I let. So maybe it's plastic surgery. And for a long time in high school I thought that's what I wanted to do and I applied to the seven year program from high school, which is a straight SH into undergrad and medical school in the US And I got in under the premise that I want to go into plastic surgery now. In my second year of undergrad, my sister had a really bad flare up with eczema which reminded me of my eye allergy when I was using the La Prairie cream. But I didn't get treatment for it when I was a kid. I just stopped using the cream. And so we took my sister to a dermatologist and I was like, what do these people do? They just pop pimples. It's probably the worst thing in the world. But I was going to go with her because why not? And so I went with her and I was like, wow, this is actually amazing. She has an issue she can see. This person is helping her take care of the issue that she can see. So she's not actually convincing her of her issue, which I hate doing, convincing people that they have a problem. And I was like. And on top of that, she's developing now a longer term relationship with this person. So it's not a one hit wonder. One and done. You don't see your patients, so that's pretty cool. And then I was open to the world of cosmetics and how all of these other procedures that are in the dermatologist office can help enhance somebody as they are without changing their essence, which ultimately is what plastic surgery is sort of doing. I mean, you can argue when you're 50, getting a facelift, you can bring them back to their youth. But like you're changing your nose, you're getting a chin up, you're kind of changing the person. Whereas in derm you can do all these tight, tiny little things along the way that doesn't change the person while maintaining that relationship. And so it kind of like a light bulb went off and I was like, this seems really cool. It has a little bit of everything. Medicine, long term, a lot of art, a lot of cosmetics in addition to obviously the science. And it just felt like the right fit. And so I took a year off, I did research, is very competitive to get into dermatology. And then I applied in my last year of medical school and I was very fortunate to get in. And that's how I ended up in dermatology.

And then tell us, I want to go to the brand in a bit, but tell us a little bit about how then you ended up eventually creating your own clinic. I know there's a whole story. Moving to Belgium and tell me a little bit about it.

So my whole, I mean, basically I got married my last year of residency. I was living in Boston and my husband was living in London and we were doing long distance. London, Boston. And he thought, okay, you'll move to London. And I was like, hey buddy, I don't know how I'm going to practice in London. You know, I don't think it's going to be that easy. Maybe you should transfer your company to the US and after we got married, we didn't know what we were going to do. He got a phone call like three months later saying, hey, we'll transfer you to you York. So he moved to New York. I was still in Boston when I graduated. I didn't know anyone in New York. So I took the first job I got, which was a very much a medical job, medical derm job. And at that job, this drug rep found me and was like, I'm going to give your CV to this dermatologist who's like, you know, the number one, the OG in cosmetics. She's been around since the 90s, early 90s, go work with her. I'm like, why is she going to take me? Lo and behold, I got hired by her and she trained me. But you know, the story then turns and twists and I got, you know, fired. When I was pregnant, there was a lot of, you know, personalities involved. And at that point I was like, I'm going to start my own office. But I was already 10 weeks pregnant. I had gone through IVF. It was very difficult for me to get pregnant. It took a few years. And my husband was like, shreem, do you really want to do this now? And I was like, yes. And then I get a phone call from another office saying, hey, we heard you're no longer with so and so would you want to join us? And I was like, maybe it's a sign that I should just focus on, like, making these babies in a healthy way. And honestly, thank God I listened to that sign. And I like, you know, because if I were stubborn, I think it would have been extremely difficult to have a baby start a practice. And I don't think I would have ever grown on social the way I have, because it was after I joined that practice and my baby was born that I was literally sitting there because I wasn't worried about anything except my kid and my sitting in bed. I decided to turn on Instagram. And I think if I had a practice, there's no way I would have turned on Instagram. I would have been too busy trying to pay the bills, too busy trying to figure out how to run an office. Too busy. And so it was the best thing that ever happened to me.

And did you have a flexing point on Instagram where there was a piece of content that was like, whoa, that maybe went viral? Or that was the one that you started seeing the traction increase?

That meant viral or flexing point. This is in 2018. And I literally started and I thought, okay, I want to do this for like, two weeks, answer everyone's questions and be done.

Yeah.

And I'm doing this now, almost five years later, still answering people's questions, but there was definitely a video Allure interviewed me and wanted to do a YouTube video with me in it a day in the Life. And I was like, who watches YouTube? Legit question I asked. I was like, why don't you watch TV and Apple TV? Who's watching people on YouTube? And they're like, just, we want to interview. So I did it very reluctantly.

Yeah.

And I think that piece of content put me more so on the map because this YouTube followers found me then on Instagram. And it just kind of continued to snowball after that.

So cool. I mean, that's also the best way I feel to Grow an authentic, loyal following that I know you have garnered is just by not wanting any expectation back. It's just by doing it sometimes without any strategy. Right. And today, people, I got frustrated when I see these videos and like all social media, like, grow a million followers and this is what you need to do and hack this trend. I'm like, everyone who made the million followers never did those trends and never did anything. Like, so clearly, like, you know, it's kind of also why I didn't go to business school is like the ones that would be teaching me usually, like, didn't make big businesses. So it's kind of like learning it in the process. Yeah, I'm like, I just will learn it by doing it. You know, even creating this brand, you know, you learn it by doing it.

I completely agree with you, but I do envy people who are more strategic.

Me too. I think it's not in our. Maybe we have a similar, like, fiery personality. I just like to just. If I have an idea, try to do it. I don't have that patience person personally to like have like seven steps. I do in the day and I can't do it. And I sometimes, like, I listen to talks and there'll be someone like saying, these are the four tips you got to like focus on. And then. And I was recently at somewhere that they were talking about this and I was sitting in the audience and I was a bit like, okay, like, I'm not going to do four tips, seven tips. I can't do that. That's not how I operate my brain. But some after. And we're like, oh, my God, this is going to. I need the structure. I need this. It's. I think it's understood skin. Right. It's like understanding what your needs are and then you find the right products for you. Same with content and whatever it is. But yeah, I do think that's quite funny that we have very similar. Lots of similarities. And also I think it comes from being very creative. Like, I used to paint every night. I had a paint studio growing up and that was my escapism. And I never really painted your creativity.

If you tell me. And this is. Yeah, a schedule kills it down. And recording your YouTube, it's like, I want to record it when I feel like it, you know? And so it's very difficult, I think, to actually now have the platform and not try to be structured while being creative. I think that's the struggle. If there are no hours in the day, great. But because there are hours in the day, you have to kind of like.

Follow something, especially with your stakeholders, like the people listening or whatever. Right. You have to also abide by their own structures.

But I will say I'm very proud of myself on Instagram, I've never abided by a structure. Some weeks I'll go on stories 10 times in a week. And there are weeks where you won't see me at all. And I've never followed a structure because I never wanted to feel like a prisoner to Instagram. Now for YouTube, I held myself accountable and I did it for almost two years straight. Every week. I'm going out every other week because I need time. But on Instagram, it's sort of like when I want to post something, I post it. And you'll see maybe three weeks in a post, you'll see maybe one post a month. It just is dependent on what's going on in life. And I don't ever want to feel like I'm beholden to it.

Yeah, I think the key word is just intentions, like, not accountability, like intending to do stuff and if it doesn't happen, okay, no worries. Next week or whatever.

Exactly.

Perfect. That's what I've said. Even for this year. I was like, I put my intentions of what I want to gain and do and create, but also, and it's quite funny, right? Like we live in this world where like even me, I'm thinking this year I want to create more content. I'm like, I never, like I'm an engineer for four years, I never thought this would be things I'll be saying in my, in my day to day. But the reason why it is important is the people that are consuming that content, they really see the value in things that I've learned and like, likewise. So it's sort of like that's the fuel for me. It's, it's. And for you, I know it's the same. It's. There is always new people probably asking the same question you've answered two weeks ago. But for them it's new to them and it's important to.

It's like what keeps me going like that? It's honestly, and I know it sounds cheesy, it's being able to help somebody beyond the walls of my office. Like being able to see somebody help themselves through all of the noise, through all bs, through all of the misinformation, through all of the. I call it FOMOs. Fear of missing out on skin care. Like being able to kind of cut through that and help somebody help themselves is sort of what is, I think, motivational in this whole thing and honestly why I'm still going after five years. Like, if I get a DM with like, thank you so much. This is a picture of four months ago. It gives me, like, energy for like the next few months just to kind of get that sort of, you know, feedback in my DMs.

So, yeah, well, now it's. I wanted to go to the star of the show, the Pillow Talk Derm line. And I kind of want to first ask two questions out of mind was a how potentially during lockdown. And maybe the idea came before, but how did the brand start being conceived and why? The name Pillow Talk them seemed way.

Before lockdown, the brand name, and it was actually from a follower. They're like, oh, I love these pillow talks that you're doing online. They're so cute. And I was like, oh, Pillow Talk derm, that's cute hashtag. And I just started hashtagging it, like, and everything. I. I didn't know. Okay. I just thought, I think I'm the only person on Instagram who still puts a sticker hashtag on a story.

And I guess this wasn't trademarked or anything at that time. It was just.

No, no, no. It was literally like, oh, this is what's. And then Allure wrote about it and I was like, oh, cute, you know, we'll go with it. So I wasn't even didn't think about it. And so that started in 2018. And then the brand, it was honestly like in lockdown. I stopped working for a few months. I was at home, I was doing a lot of stories. I was just sitting thinking I had two babies, you know, and I was like, what can we do? And then there was a couple, and I won't say names, but brands that had a couple of like skin drama surrounding them with like false marketing around their products. And it wasn't really people were getting. And I think I had had it. I'm like, I'm sick of this shit. I don't know if I can curse on your pocket.

You can, you can do whatever you want.

But I'm like, I don't know, I'm sick of this shit. Like, this is like not right, you know, and here I am sitting down for like now, two and a half years giving out information and brand. I'm like, do you guys want me to start a skincare brand? Are you over flooded on the market? Like, is this something that I should put my energy towards? So I genuinely just didn't know, and I had Covid. I was locked in my room at the time. It was a 14 day lockup in your room. I wasn't seeing anyone. And the response was overwhelmingly yes. It was like, I think we had over 10,000 people vote yes on a little poll thing. And so I was like, okay, let's do it. So then I called the lawyer, I took money out of my bank account, put it into other. My husband's like, what are you doing up there? I'm like, don't worry about it, you know, and then I come out like two weeks later, I'm like, we're starting a business. And he was like, what? At the time. And I couldn't say this because I was still working at other office. I had just signed the lease on this office to start my office. So my husband's like, shereen, we just spent x amount of money for you to now build your office. And what are you saying? You're like, are you out of your mind? And I was like, I don't know, I just, I had two weeks to think. So this is what we're gonna do. And that's literally how it started. And I called my friend who's like the serial entrepreneur and he's British. And I was like, Simon, like, what do you think? He's like, you must be a complete moron to start two businesses at once. Oh, you know, you're gonna prove me completely wrong. My British accent is terrible, but he's like, he must be a complete moron. But you know what, let's watch and see what happens. And so that's legit how it happened.

That is amazing. So you, you, you and a. It's. I think the per. This is why I love doing this, this podcast, right? Because people sometimes might see the brand or the person, but not, you know, not, not fully put the jigsaw puzzles together. And sometimes a jigsaw puzzle isn't that perfect jigsaw puzzle. Often it isn't. But that's like, the beauty of it is like, if you don't do or start, you don't know what you're going to build and can achieve. And even if it doesn't work out the way you want to, you're still going to learn a hell of a lot and that's still worth it.

Yeah. And that's when I think people, I think it's their ego gets in the way. Like, if it doesn't work out, like, okay, you could say, okay, if this doesn't work out, is it bad? Who cares. No one's going to remember. And like, I don't even care when I'm going to be on my deathbed. Oh, I didn't feel it was a killer as long as you tried it and you gave yourself a chance. And you might realize I effing hate being an entrepreneur. I'll tell you, there's a lot of things that I thought were amazing, that I would think were amazing, that I think now, oh, my God, it sucks. You know, especially at the Christmas party when everyone was around me, I'm like, they're all on my payroll. You don't know.

I feel you. And it gets, it changes. Right? Like, as you said, with emotions, it will never be consistent. It will always be. There'll be days where you love it, days where you don't love it. But the point is, is if you're.

Having fun in the long term, great. But if you don't, it's okay to say, this isn't for me to go back to what I want.

I think it's with anything, right? Like you being an entrepreneur, working in a company, knowing when is the right moment to tap out and try something else. It's absolutely okay. And not give two monkeys what people think about it. Because in the day, let's be honest, they don't really care because it's not their life. So, you know, in the day, like, you can worry, oh, everyone think I'm a failure. What do you think? And if you think you're going to be a failure for giving it a go and not succeeding, then there's something wrong. You've got to fix that. Because that's not the right way to be.

But it's a success. At least you tried.

Exactly. Well, already what I'm seeing is pillow talk. Derma is a huge success in my eye. I've seen it being sold out twice already. And I was so fortunate enough to be sent your products by yourself, which is. I'm so grateful. And I did try Flash mask yesterday, which I am obsessed with, but I'm going to try tonight.

The rest I will tell you a secret about Flash.

Tell me.

Hold on. Okay. So we wrote on the box, like, leave it on for like 15, 20 minutes, wash it off.

Yeah.

Now, the reason I did it, because most people are sensitive and I didn't want to have to like, you know, but I had, I do once a week, a one step skincare routine where I wash my face, I put the flash mask and I go to sleep.

Yeah.

I leave it on overnight. My face, I Did it last night. Is like a baby's butt. Not the dirty way, but it's like the best possible way. And it is. As long as you're not sensitive. You did it last night. So give yourself a few days.

I'll give it. Yeah, you're right.

Yeah, give it a few days. Because it is 15% glycolic acid and lactic acid. So it's strong. But you can do it once a week. Almost like a deep clean. And it's amazing. As long as you're not sensitive.

Okay. No, no. For me, I had. I. I actually like, I would consider my skin combination just. It can get dry here. And sensitive is not really sensitive. It's sensitive to certain ingredients, like more natural ingredients that I'm allergic to. I think not. That's different. But look how. I mean, you can't really see. I've got light on, but it's so smooth. My skin, thanks to your products. So can you tell us, for those listening, what are your current three products and what are they? What do they do? How they may tell us all These.

Three products were really born from my personal experience with hyperpigmentation discoloration. And I have a medical condition known as melasma, which has to be treated with a prescription, but over the counters can definitely help in the long term thing when you can't always be on prescription. But also, these three products are born from my experience with my patients because I do 99% cosmetics. And the biggest bang for your buck that you can give yourself is an even skin tone. You just look more fresh. You look more, you know, awake. You look more radiant when your skin tone is even. And so when somebody comes in complaining about a line right here, I always take a step back with a mirror and I'm like, do you see the line in the mirror? And they kind of hesitate. I'm like, I see a lot of, like, discoloration on your cheeks, on your. I was like, let's first start with this. Once we address this, let's address the rest. And so for me, starting with discoloration is a way for me to like, really give people the biggest bang for their buck by streamlining a solution to a big problem that most people have and they don't realize they even have. And so the three products are all targeting how pigment is made using different ingredients in each one so there's no redundancy. And as a trio together, it's the real powerhouse because it's all targeting how pigmentation is made at different points of how Pigment is produced. So starting with the mask, you have exfoliating acids like, but then you have tranexamic acid, which helps the melanocyte kind of shut off the main cell that makes pigment. Then you have the hyper serum, which is loaded in all of the goodies. Niacinamide, kojic acid, arbutin, licorice root. So kojic acid can be irritating. So if you're sensitive, you have to be careful because it is at a strong percent. But they're all mixed together to kind of target how melanin is made within the melanocyte. And then you have the moisturizer, which also has vitamin C in it, as well as other peptides and other ingredients like hydrolyzed brassica, nicosinex, I can never say it. Extract, basically vitamin C, which targets how pigment is sent out. And so it really hits it at different points to streamline your skincare routine so that you know what you're really doing with each step. And if you can't use all three, each one alone is still going to help in this domain within your own skincare routine. So I want it to be interchangeable, but I also wanted to be a powerhouse of someone who's like, I am determined, I am ready to really commit, and I really want to work on one problem at a time. This set is it.

You know what, what's amazing is already the amount of incredible reviews you've had of people just seeing like, you know, it's worked instantly. And it's something I wanted to ask you is obviously, you know, you wouldn't release a product with your knowledge and your, you know, it's. And let's be honest, like, you wouldn't only want to create something that's needed and works, but there is that initial nerves when you launch a product just to see how it's perceived by people, right? 100% day one, like for you, nerve wracking.

And it's on video. And I think I saved it on my grid because I went live. But it's like when you do a painting, I don't know if people paint to listen to your. And you like show it to people. Are they gonna think it's. It's like your baby, that you're opening up to discrimination. No one's gonna really discriminate against your baby because you're holding it. You're always walking around, you know. But once your baby's out in the world and people have it in their own hands, they're gonna say whatever they want. Like this baby yeah. And so you're opening up your. Your baby to being, like, evaluated. You're vulnerable. You're super vulnerable. And I think that was very scary. And because it is a little bit more. You know, there's more science behind each one of these products, and I really wanted to put part of my story into them. I wanted to make sure that people understood why each one was created. So sometimes I maybe overspoke about each product, but I wanted people to really understand why I did it in this format, why I chose not to have certain ingredients. And, like, I'm realizing again, I'm gonna have to repeat myself over and over and over again the same way. I haven't talked since 2018, because one question leads to a second, which leads to a third, and. But it's exciting because people are very curious and they want to know more. So that, I think has been extremely rewarding because I didn't think people were gonna want to know more. Like, okay. And I did not think it was gonna have the reception that it had. I genuinely did not think so. So. And so for me, it was really just like, a watershed of emotions once I launched.

And also, apart from just creating great products, you also are making a huge impact. And I want to talk a bit about the work you do with stem, and STEM is for people who want to know science, technology, engineering, and math. And can you tell us about what you guys do for STEM for her?

So we are going to be giving two scholarships this year, year to young girls through STEM for Her, which is an organization, a nonprofit, that helps to really, you know, like, what's the word I'm looking for, ignite this sort of interest in STEM. And I just went to the STEM for her day in D.C. where all of these girls from different high schools were there. And it was interesting because they were all. They all, like, did a double take when they saw our Stan. It was almost like, medically blonde in a world of, like, engineers inside, you know? And it was like, wait, what are you. And I was like, you can still be in STEM and be a doctor and have interest in things that are pretty. And that's also part of pillow talk. Dermis. The science is there. They're highly effective, but they're fun to look at. They're enjoyable.

Packaging is stunning.

They're. They're not, like, annoying to get out of a metal tube that cracks. And then cream comes a typical prescription. And so I wanted the same thing to be applied to these girls who are, like, interested maybe in medicine, but they. You have to wear a white coat. You have to be super serious. You can't have fun with your life. And so definitely I want to make sure that I open, I lift that veil to younger girls especially. And girls, for me, I'm a girl. I came from a war torn country. I come from a culture where it was often told in growing up, why don't you just get married? You have blonde hair, you'll get a good husband. Like, you know, like literally. And so from my perspective, I wanted to make sure that girls have this sort of, you know, thing to look up to, this pillow talk, germ world to look up to that doesn't necessarily have to fit, quote, unquote, the mold of science or the world where there's no fun, or the world that lacks color or like this scary world. It's a fun world that's inviting and colorful and yet I'm a doctor and I was managed to kind of break through and hopefully combine all aspects of different faces of science in one. So that's what we do with stem. For her and for me, it was very important that we really get younger girls who are at a pivotal point in their life where they can get discouraged, especially if they don't come from the right backgrounds.

Exactly. No, couldn't agree more. And one other thing I want to mention is I've seen a lot of our founder friend network as well. Like I saw Gucci loving your products, Gucci Westman. And she came on the podcast and it's so great to see amazing advocates in the industry advocate your creations. What has been some of the highlights for you? Like, people that have enjoyed the product.

And you know, I mean, it's, it's. I mean, I can't, I will never say names because when you slip into my DMs, I'll repost you anonymously. But just the types of people who slipped into my dms, I'm like, what? You know, like, you're like, you're telling me you can't get the product, can you please? Like, you know, put you on the list. Like, it's been unbelievable. I think though the best is like just seeing the before and afters from people. Even though like the quality of it.

To say it's the people, right? Yeah, yeah.

I like, I still want to repost. And it's funny because my dream team was like, you can't repost that, the quality stuff, like, but this person took this own picture and I want to repost their picture for them. You know, just seeing people's Experience through things has been incredible. And then forget skincare. Just like on a motivational front, like I never thought of myself as inspirational. Genuinely, I still don't because if you know what happens behind the scenes, like I'm going to feel position in this corner like five times a day. But to just hear, like just hearing your story has motivated me to really give it a try or like, you know, I come from a world where I'm told I just have to go get married or I have to go. It really just gives it so much more purpose and so much more value than just talking about like how niacinamide works. And for me that has been really true. I get like, it's, it's really just, it keeps me going, you know, the fact that I can help somebody beyond just being a doctor in other ways, even if they're not interested in science. Let's say she wants to go open a bakery, which I've had. You know, I want to go do it now because I saw what you went through has been very, very rewarding on so many levels. So that's really been, I think the biggest driving factor behind it all.

And then in terms of now, the future is there plans to create more SKUs. Like what's sort of the vision for a pillar talk term, long term that you can share? Because of course a lot of stuff we've got to keep it hush hush.

Till we need to. I mean definitely the long term vision is to create streamlined solutions to problems and we have a couple of things that we're already working on. But while having the occasional fun one offs that are just like fun products to use that are also very helpful in ways that you didn't think they would be helpful. And so for me, like we've already, we're working on a few, already doing studies on a few other ones but I wanted to first focus on major fate because for me that's really where you can get the biggest bang for your buck. And what has honestly helped my own skin genuinely. So, so that's where we are at. And I mean I just want to do other. Like we did a PJ drop last February because I love pajamas and if I could live in PJs all day, I would. It's funny, people sometimes think they're my outfits, but I'm actually wearing a pj. So maybe have another PJ drop and then bring back One Night Stand and have you on it on a podcast format one day, you know, so hopefully we can accomplish all that in between seeing Patients and, you know, raising two kids and having a husband trying to figure out, you know, there's too many things I want to do.

That's the problem. I think it's about just having people around you. You know, team is one of the most important factors too. I always say, don't throw away ideas. Just share the ideas with other people to help you realize them. Because when you have something such like, there is always beauty in everything. I sometimes have my ego launchers, I call them. I create things just because I want to create them. I put my logo on it, but I'm like, but you know what? I'm going to do it. There's no money, no roi. Like, we made this tiger toy that was a nightmare and stuck in customs and this and that because people think toys can harbor things inside them when they come to the border, which I guess they could normally. But I'm like, so I paid more for to clear them from customs than the cost of the toy. I was like, okay, but actually it cost me more than the retail price, the toy, just to clear it. But I learned the lesson there. But still, no, I purchased one for you.

I could just.

The best thing with that is all the proceeds go to charity, too. It's a tiger. It's a tiger toy. And I have it here. One second. I'll bring it. You have to see. It's so cute.

But that's like the type of stuff that you never. He's just walked away. But that's the type of stuff that you never think of, like, as a consumer is all those details that fall into it that actually make you lose money, but that you want to.

You're not getting ROI or scale on, right? Like, things like PJs.

You're not going to order 100,000 become a fashion label. But I love PJs. And I'm like, if I could design them for fun, why not? But it's going to lose money on them. But I still want to do it. This is so cute.

So you can, like take this out the. Well, this one is actually a prototype, but normally you can take the oil out. It's got like favorite mane and back and on the porch. But yeah, this is ego launch Ego watch none. And I'll say like, oh, I asked the audience. Everyone wants wanted it. No one wanted it. It's just me. But we have it and it's not selling. But I don't care.

I'll purchase. Send me the link. I'm happy to. I'm happy to support but you said something which is 100% true. Without this. All of this is amazing. And for an hour, we're talking about my experience, but none of it, genuinely, none of it would have been possible without the right people by your side. And I think having. Finding the right people is very difficult. But once you have them, making sure they're happy, making sure they're well paid, and making sure they can kind of fulfill their own dreams at the same time. Like, my manager is taking business courses as extra, you know, for her to grow in her own way, you know, making sure that your team is honestly well padded, well taken care of. And so they're happy because the boat rises. All boats rise with the tide. And so without the right people, without taking care of them, none of this would have been happening. None of this would have been possible.

And I think it's so important to remember, like, what. What you do for someone. It's like that also that their. Their. Their life after your company. Like, we have an employee that was at Fable that now works for you. And for me, it's amazing because, you know, at Fable, it was potentially limited, but for me, all I care about was her career and her future growth. And for me to see her now get what she wanted somewhere else is the most exciting thing. Right? Because I. When I hire everyone in my company, like I was working in Estee Lauder Dior, I know myself as an employee as. Now as a founder, but as an employee, I wanted to only stay until I learned. If I stopped learning within my role, I would want to. To jump to the next one, but I would love to have worked in a workplace that allowed me to kind of trampoline in there, and then they would help me get to the next place or with, you know, with. With love.

We have job opportunities at Philip Thunder.

Yeah, exactly. But that's. But that's what I want to do with the founded. With the founded. Beauty Fam is literally like, I will this year, and you're going to be part of it now because you're part of the people on the podcast. I want to, like, bring us all together and, like, you know, instead of not the Summit recruiters, but, like, Summit and then share them. Like, if so one of our employees, we have an amazing talent that we can't. They want to grow, but the role is the role. Because sometimes the role is the role, you know, they can move somewhere else 100%.

Like, we should have this, like, founder group because it's amazing, though, how helpful people are and honestly, genuinely when you ask questions and who do you know who's good at graphic design for people are willing to help and give information. But number two, when you do hire that person to your point, making sure that you can give them opportunities to grow. And when you recognize that there's no more opportunity to grow, not to try to hold them back, but to push them out or forward in some other way.

Exactly. And be transparent about what that role is looking like.

You know, I tell everyone that I hire, I will never turn my back on you. Just let me know the day you want to leave. Give me a heads up.

Exactly.

So that I can help you find the next thing for you. But we can also find the right person to come in so that this way we're always going to win.

Win. And I think that transparency from day one, anyone hiring today or has a company or whatever is looking just always be transparent with your employees about that openness and that help. Because a lot of the time people don't share their past, their thoughts because they feel nervous and then, then last minute. But if you end up just saying like when we remind ourselves as employees of companies, because most of us have all worked somewhere before, how would we want to feel if we were in that position? So when you're a founder of a new company, I think transparency and loyalty is so important and they come hand in hand. So yeah, but you know, if we can as founders come together a bit more and because I'm always looking for new hires and sometimes I'm like, you know. And now having done this podcast, nearly over 200 something founders, I look at some of the CVs I'm getting and I'm like, oh God, that person's working in that company. I just had that founder on. Did that founder know that they're applying? Like all this stuff is in my head. I'm like, I just want like a very transparent, open loving family world where we can all help each other. But yeah, that's something that as found the beauty gets bigger. I think I want to self found what we do together. Like I just basically connect everyone like a community.

I love that.

Yeah, like no one's behind it. Not a cash method, no one is just you guys. It's co creation. And we, if some people like group, some people want to have a meet up once a month, whatever, we do it. You know.

You do like a newsletter for all of the guests that you've had on where like you send this newsletter to all of your 200 guests every month being like, hey, so and so is looking at you and have like a little bulletin board.

I was thinking, I think I might do that. Yeah, I might do that.

Great idea. That's a great idea.

And ask them to, you know, founders or whoever can share their requests once a month. And I'll say I'll put them in the roundup, you know, or something.

Yeah, 100. I think that's really. Sign me up.

Done. Well, before we wrap up, I have two more things and then I'll leave. We have. We have businesses to build and run, so I'll leave you to it. But, but first up is I have a. It's a very mean one, but I have a desert island situation. So you're invited to a founded beauty retreat. But I'm saying you can only bring one of your three, which kind of is because they all come perfectly together as a trio. But if you had to choose one, what is your go to too?

And is there a sun on this deserted island or is it like a shaded desert?

There'll be sun. I think they'll be fine.

Okay. Then I would take the active because it has vitamin C and it would help boost my sunscreen that I'm using. You know, that's what I would take. Now if it was a shaded one, I'd take the Hyperscrum because that's the powerhouse. Really. For minimizing pigmentation.

Amazing. Well, yeah, I think. Well, you should just sneak all three.

Because I would probably sneak all three.

Okay, now firearm questions. This is first thing that comes to your mind. And then. Okay, wrap it up.

So first going to meditate on it.

Exactly. What's another beauty brand that you're currently loving right now? It could be skin.

Whatever fragrance I absolutely love. It's a fragrance and I'm only thinking about it because I just did a get ready with me this morning. 13. It's not a beauty brand. It's a baby. Skincare, clothes, little boys perfume. Baby boy perfume. And they don't sell it in the US because Americans don't like fragrance. But they sell it in Europe and my cousin sent me some and I use that as my fragrance.

That is the baby. You caught me off guard there. Tartine, Chocolat.

Okay. It's the best. The boy perfume is the best.

I think you just influenced me. I'm going to try it. It's so good. It's only in Europe.

Yeah. I don't find it in the US you'll find it. You'll find it in. We have it in Marlborough.

There's one in oh, it's only for women.

Or maybe look for the babies they have. The babies. They have babies. It's for kids. Yeah.

It's so cute. Okay, that is the best answer ever. That's my favorite answer to this date.

Thank you. Thank you.

My next question is, do you have a favorite quote or, like, a saying?

I wrote it on my New Year's clothes. But winners are not people who never fit. What is that? Right? I don't know it. But for winners are not people who never fail. Winners are. Wait, I'll read it to you. Let me pop it up, because I don't know anything.

I've got it here. I've got it on you. You post on your Instagram. Okay, I'm gonna read it to you. Okay, fine. Okay. Your New Year's post. Okay, here, I see it. When is it? The long post.

Winners are not people that never fail, but winners are people that never quit.

Okay, there you go. I couldn't find it. Where was.

Was the Rocky Balboa quote? And I ended last year with that, and then I restarted this year with that. And every day I tell myself I'm never quitting. Although I sometimes, you know, want to. Yeah, we're going to quit.

You're just going to create something new. That's what you do. Yeah, yeah, that's what we do. Yeah. But that's the point. There's no quitting. There's always. There's always a way to delegate it away, pivot it, whatever you need to do. My last question, because I'm keeping them shorter now because I've got feedback that I've done. I used to do, like, six Fire Round questions. And this is when you go to your audience and you think, do you even listen to all of them? They're like, nope. So I was like, okay, so I'll do less. My last question of the Fire round is, if you weren't a beauty entrepreneur or even a dermatologist, what would Shireen. Maybe not the doctor part. Let's say we take that out, too. What would you be doing in another multiverse?

So I didn't have to sustain myself. I've been singing, but I'd probably be singing.

Are you a singer?

No, I have no talent in singing. I cannot sing, but I like to think of myself as I could. But I've been told time, and I've done, like, those karaoke things where you record yourself and you re. Listen and you're like, that's really bad. You know? But, I mean, I. I would love it's funny. I just took a two week vacation and it's just like singing. I tried to meditate every day for 20 minutes painting, like literally just kind of like going with my creative juices. But unfortunately we don't, we don't live in that kind of world. So I try to incorporate it in my.

It's for you and you enjoy it. That's what we've got to do in life, you know, that's. I used to, I used to busk on the streets. I don't think I was very good but I used to do it Portobello Road in London.

I had fun.

Yeah. And it was great fun with it out of my comfort zone. So you're going to try these things. But yeah. Well, Dr. Shereen, it's been such a pleasure but what would I do? I've never been asked. I think if I was, I would probably be doing, spending my life and probably and I will want to do this anyway later in Africa and, and do something with local farms and animals and, and financing there and helping them get more funds much more useful than singing. But only, only I would always still have my creative outlet and I think it would be like, I don't know, like I'm obsessed with puzzles and I would probably want to be building escape rooms or something. Probably not in Africa but maybe somewhere else in the world. Just like little escape rooms. I love, like I do puzzles every day so maybe that's something else I would do. Be an escape room master, you know, game master. That'd be so fun.

Yeah, I'll come and I'll come and you'll be a customer.

I'll do a founded beauty escape room. I'll put like all these, I'll put like. Yeah but like tariffs, tax and all these things and everything. Imagine. But no, thank you so much. It's been such a pleasure. Where can everyone find you on Instagram? Social, the brand.

So you guys can all find me on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube at Shereen Idris, there's four E's in my name. You can also find us on Instagram and TikTok @PhilTalkJourney as the brand.

I'll put all the links in the summary so people can just tap straight away and thank you so much and can't wait to see you very, very soon.

Please keep me posted whenever you come to New York and for sure we'll have, we'll do a little singing escape room session together.

Done. Done. I hope you enjoyed this episode of Founded Beauty as much as I had making it and it if you did please share it with a friend who you think will love it too. Founded Beauty is available on all podcast platforms such as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music Podcast, the Acast App and many more. And I'm also very proud to be part of the Acast Creator Network to be sure to follow the podcast so you can get episodes as soon as they drop. We really appreciate every single follow, listen, share and review it True truly go such a long way and helps us reach new listeners. So as a little thank you I will be hosting a giveaway each week on my Instagram channel ETA where you can win some amazing Faber le Mane goodies. All you have to do is follow me, check out my stories and all will be revealed. Stay tuned for the next episode of Founded Beauty and don't forget to subscribe and follow so you can be notified when it drops.