The Beauty of Success

12In Closing

By June 2022, Lisa and I had made our first investment in the award-winning skincare brand BeautyStat, founded by cosmetic chemist Ron Robinson.

I met Ron on Clubhouse in 2020 when everyone was flocking to the social media channel to just talk and listen. We were in the same beauty groups and eventually found ourselves together every Tuesday morning on a standing call with other beauty executives and leaders sharing insights, being a support system, and more importantly just being in community as everyone grappled with the pandemic that had us all at a standstill. No one was immune, and we bonded over knowledge sharing.

Before we officially started raising our BrainTrust Fund, I ran into Ron at a gala in New York and we talked a bit about his fundraise, the growth of BeautyStat, and the direction he wanted to take the brand. I immediately knew I wanted this to be BrainTrust Fund's first investment. Initially Ron shared that he had closed his round (meaning he wasn't letting any more people invest money into the company), so I was pleasantly surprised when he called and said he wanted us in and made space for BrainTrust to join as investors. Within 72 hours of that call we made our first investment, and that deal set the tone for our future.

In season 2 of Business of the Beat, preinvestment, I talked to Ron about his early days as a chemist at Estée Lauder; his award-winning brand, BeautyStat; and his five-year journey that led him to unlock an untapped patented ...