This episode is brought to you by Yotpo.   Beia Beauty's ultimate mission is to make women feel comfortable in their skin as it relates to their sexual being and physical beauty, says Brittany Lo, the brand's founder and CEO.   It's a mission Brittany has been on since the second grade when she first told her father she wanted to have her own beauty company. She started her first company - offering hair and makeup services for weddings and events - straight out of college.   "My bigger vision has always been (a) product," she says. "But as we all know, there are a lot of beauty brands out there, and I wanted to take the time to figure out where is the white space and where can I thrive in that industry? And so I thought the best place to figure it out was creating a product or a service company where I was constantly talking to women and understanding their pain points to then figure out what this next step would look like."   Brittany found some exciting synergies between perceived beauty and pain points from these discussions with other women.   "It's all about feeling comfortable in your skin, right? So whether that is getting intimate or using beauty products or taking care of your body by eating healthy, feeling comfortable correlates very strongly with your confidence level," she says.   The COVID pandemic - when weddings and events were suddenly postponed indefinitely - caused Brittany to switch her focus from a service-first company to a product-based brand.   "As traumatic as it was, it has been a turning point in my life," she says.   In Part 1, Brittany talks about:   * Gratitude for a sixth-grade teacher who first gave her hope in pursuing a career in business. * When she got her initial inspiration for starting a skincare brand. * How the anxieties associated with the dating scene in New York City drove her direction. * How using her mother's makeup at a very early age changed her confidence. * The COVID pandemic's effect on her original service-oriented business and her subsequent shift to Beia. * How she leveraged her team of hairstylists and makeup artists - and their experience in skincare products - to help with market research for Beia.   Join Ramon Vela and Brittany Lo as they break down the inside story on The Story of a Brand.   For more on Beia Beauty, visit: https://beiabeauty.com/    Subscribe and Listen to the podcast on all major apps. Simply search for “The Story of a Brand,” or click here to listen on your favorite podcast player: Listen now.   *   This podcast is supported by Yotpo, the leading eCommerce marketing platform for brands looking to drive customer loyalty.   As I’m sure many of you know, customer retention is the new acquisition. With Yotpo, brands can provide value through a strategic loyalty program — and ensure shoppers come back time and again.   Want to know more? Visit https://yotpo.com/storyofabrand    And turn your one-time shoppers into lifelong brand lovers.