Christina Flach Celebrity Makeup Artist on Embracing Beauty, Strength & Opportunity

Christina Flach, celebrity makeup artist, CEO and founder of Pretty Girl Makeup, and a woman who truly embodies resilience, passion, and purpose.

Christina’s talent has graced the faces of icons like Condoleezza Rice, Hilary Swank, Isiah Washington, Melissa McCarthy, Rita Moreno, Renee Zellweger, and Tyler Florence. She’s worked with luxury brands including Gucci and Louis Vuitton, and her artistry has been featured in Vogue, Time, People, and Elle. She’s a philanthropist, beauty expert on NBC’s California Live, and a devoted mother who has turned personal tragedy into purpose.

Christina shares:

• The mindset to go after what she truly wants
• Saying yes to opportunities and showing up as your best self
• Her heart-wrenching journey of loss, the passing of her baby, Beau, and how she honors his memory through philanthropy
•  Beauty is confidence, resilience, and feeling amazing from the inside out

About Christina: A makeup artist, CEO and founder of Pretty Girl Makeup. Her celebrity clientele includes Hilary Swank, Isiah Washington, Melissa McCarthy, Rita Moreno, Renee Zellweger, Tyler Florence and more. She works with high end brands such as Gucci and Louis Vuitton, has been featured in campaigns for Macy's, Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue, and Bloomingdales, and magazines including Vogue, Time, People, and Elle. In addition, Christina also writes articles about the best tips, tricks, and hacks in makeup and is featured as a beauty expert on California Live on NBC. In addition to her career, she is a devoted mother of four and philanthropist and raises awareness for sepsis. She started the Beau Friedman outdoor classroom at the Edna McGuire school in Mill Valley, CA raising money for the Baby Beau and Ken Flach educational funds at the Northern Light School in Oakland, CA. Christina uses her platform to promote the importance of feeling beautiful from the inside out. 

Websites: www.PrettyGirlMakeup.com and www.ChristinaFlach.com - I'm Too Busy TV: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2mJRFNbd_wh6UubbsHr8iU9F4L54qWvr

Transcript

[00:00:58] Christine Santos: Hello. Hello. Hello. And welcome to another episode of Wonder Boldly. Today I have with me Christina Flach. And before I introduce her, I just want to say she is so generous. We're just meeting today for the very first time. I was introduced to her through another podcast that I listened to.

[00:01:19] Christine Santos: And I just thought I have to reach out to this woman and ask her to come on the Wonder Boldly show. And I did and she graciously said yes. So I'm super excited to have her today. Let me tell you a little bit about her and then we'll get right into it. So Christina is a celebrity hair and makeup artist based in the San Francisco Bay Area.

[00:01:40] Christine Santos: After starting her career in 1995, she founded her own makeup line. Pretty girl makeup and has acquired many notable clientele. She has worked with many major television networks, celebrities, designers, department stores, magazines, and big name brands. She is an expert at creating looks that allow her clients natural beauty to shine through by making every client feel like the best version of themselves on the inside.

[00:02:12] Christine Santos: and the outside. In addition to her career as a makeup artist, Christina is a philanthropist, a beauty expert on NBC's CA Live, and a guest on a variety of podcasts, now including Wonder Boldly. Christina is represented by Zenobia, she'll correct me, and Ford Artists, NYC, LA, and Miami and is available for travel worldwide.

[00:02:38] Christine Santos: Oh my gosh, that is like so exciting, so inspiring. Welcome Christina for being here. 

[00:02:44] Christina Flach: Oh my gosh. Thank you so much for having me. It's such a pleasure to chat with you. 

[00:02:49] Christine Santos: So correct my pronunciation. How do you pronounce that? 

[00:02:51] Christina Flach: Oh, my agent Zenobia. 

[00:02:53] Christine Santos: Zenobia. Awesome. So as we are interviewing folks here on the Wonder Bowlie show, we're really diving into women working in their purpose.

[00:03:03] Christine Santos: so I'm going to kick us off with that question to you and we'll go from there. What are you doing on purpose right now that you're really enjoying? 

I think I'm enjoying being open to whatever opportunities the universe puts in my path. And instead of being like, oh no, I can't do that or no, I'm scared saying yes because now I know that I learned to get comfortable being uncomfortable and it opened up a ton of doors.

[00:03:32] Christina Flach: And now I know that scary oh my gosh, I don't want to do it feeling is actually me. The doorway to something great that's gonna happen. So I'm excited about that. 

[00:03:43] Christine Santos: Say more about that. Can you give us an example? 

[00:03:45] Christina Flach: Starting my TV show. I'm too busy. I Never in a million years thought I would be hosting a TV show our podcast I Never expected that and I never expected to actually be even doing the doing these type of podcasts So because I'm much before I was much more comfortable, I was much more comfortable being behind the camera and I've learned through many hours and many interviews and being on live TV that I'm comfortable in front of the camera, which I didn't think I thought I will never feel like I'm not going to have a heart attack before I do this.

[00:04:18] Christina Flach: So now I know that feeling is excitement instead of fear. And so And even the opportunity that I've had on NBC on California live, I didn't expect to do that either. And it was terrifying to me, live TV, because if you make a mistake, you may, they will never have you back or, they can't fix it because it's live.

[00:04:39] Christina Flach: So that's really, that really helped get me into gear quickly of getting comfortable in front of the camera. Because now when I do a podcast or if I do my show. I'm so much more comfortable because I don't have that stressed out pressure of being on live TV. 

[00:04:57] Christine Santos: That makes sense. And so tell us the name of your show.

[00:05:00] Christine Santos: My 

[00:05:01] Christina Flach: show is called I'm Too Busy because everyone's too busy, men, women, children, everyone's too busy. I think it resonates with everyone. And I think it's, I think one of the gifts with purchase of my job being a makeup artist Having the opportunity to meet all these incredible people that I get one on one time with is such a blessing.

[00:05:20] Christina Flach: How often am I going to have one on one time with a Condoleezza Rice or a, a Zac Posen or, Tyler Florence or Bobby Flay? All these amazing people that I work with and I'm so blessed. So I, I just thought this would, I always thought to myself, gosh, if I could get my clients and interview them the way I like, I interviewed, like how we talk when we're together, like that would be such a fun show.

[00:05:42] Christina Flach: So that's how it happened. 

[00:05:43] Christine Santos: Wow. So have you had Tyler 

[00:05:45] Christina Flach: Florence on? Not yet. Okay. I've been waiting to make sure that I'm really. Comfortable and also with his schedule. I need to it's got the timing has to be perfect I don't want to add more to him because he that man is too busy He has so much going on and he actually inspires me so much.

[00:06:03] Christina Flach: He's my longest client. I've had him 17 years and He inspires me to push myself to greatness. To be an ex and trying to be exceptional because he is constantly Listening to new opportunities instead of just putting himself in this little square box of Oh, I'm just a chef. He's not a chef. He has podcasts.

[00:06:22] Christina Flach: He goes on other shows. He has the great food truck race on the Food Network and he writes books like he's constantly pushing himself opening new restaurants. And so that kind of inspires me to do the same to be open to opportunities. Cause we don't know that we like something until we try it. We didn't know we liked vanilla ice cream until we tried it.

[00:06:42] Christina Flach: So I think it's just really great. I think life is, you're really living life when you're constantly pushing yourself, making yourself a bit uncomfortable to do something different. 

[00:06:52] Christine Santos: Yeah, I agree. 

[00:06:53] Christina Flach: I think the rewards are so great. When you get over that hump of Oh my gosh, I can't do that.

[00:06:59] Christina Flach: And then you do it. I just take that word out. Can't doesn't exist to me. 

[00:07:03] Christine Santos: Yeah. I always say walk through the door, whatever the door is, you never know what's on the other side. And you learn so much, even if you start something and it wasn't the right fit or whatever, you've learned along the way.

[00:07:18] Christine Santos: And oh my gosh, of course. And I just love learning, like that challenge of doing something new, learning, the, for me, the podcast production company, I stumbled into that because I was a business mentor and my, my, one of my clients had a podcast and they lost [00:07:38] their editor. And I said I have a podcast, sure.

[00:07:40] Christine Santos: I'll edit yours. And then it just snowballs. I'm like, wow, I really like doing this. And then you get more clients and it just grows and grows. And if I hadn't said yes, I'll try it and see what happens. I love that. I love 

[00:07:52] Christina Flach: that. Yeah. Cause we don't know. We don't know. There are so many opportunities that come our way.

[00:07:56] Christina Flach: And if we're open to things, a lot of great things can happen. And I think, when you take off the. thing of, is this the right decision or wrong decision? It's the right decision for now. And if it doesn't, pan out the way you thought it would, then you make a different decision. It's not the end of the world.

[00:08:12] Christina Flach: I don't sit there and beat myself up about, Oh, why did I do that? It's a waste of time. I need to focus on now, the future and what can I do to be better. And when you just stop wasting time thinking about the past and what you should have done that you didn't do it opens up the door to so many more possibilities just, being open to doing a podcast.

[00:08:34] Christina Flach: And, I'm super curious about everyone. And so that's fun that I get to interview all these people, even people that I know once you interview them, it's actually, you find out things that you didn't know. 

[00:08:46] Christine Santos: Yeah, absolutely. So far, what have you learned doing your show? What would you say was something that you were like, oh, I didn't see that coming?

[00:08:57] Christine Santos: I think 

[00:08:58] Christina Flach: You know, finding the right questions to ask someone, um, you don't want to ask the same questions that they've been asked 9000 times. And you want to ask, questions about, their work, but also about their personal life without making them uncomfortable. And getting them to engage, like I, I think I have a skill of, or a talent, I don't know what it is, but I know how to make people feel really comfortable so that they open up and talk to me because I don't judge them.

[00:09:26] Christina Flach: And I listen, that's one thing, you learn to really listen. And I think asking questions that are provoke, thought provoking. Is really interesting and getting to get, I think it's fascinating to find out how all these different entrepreneurs what their story is. Everyone has a story.

[00:09:41] Christina Flach: They don't have to be famous. They don't have to be, crazy rich or successful, but everyone has a story. And it's so fascinating that we all can learn something from someone's story. And get in, hopefully get inspired. That's what I want. I want my show to inspire people to, I don't like hearing people complain about, Oh, I hate my job.

[00:10:01] Christina Flach: I don't like my life. I don't like this relationship. I don't like where I live. I don't want to hear that. I want to hear, then fix it. Don't complain to me unless you have a solution. I do not want to hear it. I don't have time. So it's a waste of energy. So I hope it inspires people to take a step. I, I encourage people that have not everyone has a job.

[00:10:20] Christina Flach: Like I do. I have a weird job. I have, being a makeup artist and then I own my company and then I do the show and. I just feel like one thing leads to the other one, being a makeup artist helps my both of my careers overlap and they help one another. And so I think, not everyone has that opportunity.

[00:10:37] Christina Flach: Some people have a corporate job, but they want to do something entrepreneurial. They can't just quit their job and go do it. Then I urged people. Do it. Get a part time job doing something that you really love, that you're excited to wake up about, that you're inspired. And then, hopefully it'll lead to something else.

[00:10:53] Christina Flach: I've always encouraged my kids, figure out what you love doing so much that you do it for free, and then figure out how to get paid well. And that way you're motivated and excited, because if you just go into any business or anything just for the money, you're going to fail because you don't love it.

[00:11:09] Christina Flach: You're not inspired. You start resenting it because being an entrepreneur takes. Much more time, money and effort than you could have ever imagined. So if you don't love what you're doing, it's going to fail because it's exhausting 

[00:11:22] Christine Santos: and 

[00:11:23] Christina Flach: enjoy the little wins because those little wins. Help keep you going.

[00:11:28] Christina Flach: If I, if I get a little, if my work is in a magazine or in a catalog or on TV or, like with Zach, it's, he's doing all these great things at gap. Those little things help me when I'm having a hard day, when things are difficult and when I feel like uninspired and thinking Oh God, nothing's moving forward the way I want it to.

[00:11:47] Christine Santos: And you mentioned your family. So you have children. 

[00:11:50] Christina Flach: I do. I have five kids. 

[00:11:51] Christine Santos: Wow. Five. I did not know that. And what if I may, what are their age range? 

[00:11:57] Christina Flach: So my oldest Melania is 31, Rose is 29. Nikolai is 24 and Ben is 18.

[00:12:05] Christine Santos: Oh. 

[00:12:05] Christina Flach: Yeah. Melania is a fashion designer. She studied in Europe at Central Saint Martins in London and Rose is a screenwriter. She went to NYU film school. She went to Tisch. She lives in LA and Nikolai is in college golfing and my youngest is a senior in high school and he is going to college to play division one golf in the fall.

[00:12:25] Christina Flach: Oh, I 

[00:12:26] Christine Santos: love all of that. I love passion and screenwriting. Yeah. Yeah. They're all doing lots of interesting things. And now, so is everyone out of the house? Almost. The little one, not yet. Wow. So is the little one a senior in high school? 

[00:12:41] Christina Flach: Okay. 

[00:12:42] Christine Santos: Yeah. 

[00:12:43] Christina Flach: My little one that's six foot three. Yes. It's huge. 

[00:12:46] Christine Santos: Oh my gosh.

[00:12:47] Christine Santos: And so if I may ask, did you lose a child? 

[00:12:50] Christina Flach: Yes. Yeah. My son, Beau, passed away on Christmas Day 18 years ago. I'm so sorry. Yeah. Yeah. It was very hard. Yeah. Losing a child is the worst thing that anyone can imagine. And then on Christmas day, it just, it's just, yeah, it was really a hard time.

[00:13:07] Christina Flach: So that's why I feel, and then my husband died seven years ago. It'll be seven years ago this March. And so I just really feel that time is precious, not to waste time, be grateful for what you have, not for what you don't have. You're not entitled to anything. You're not entitled to a lifetime with any one person.

[00:13:25] Christina Flach: So you have to be grateful for the time that you do have because otherwise you can just be miserable and bitter. And I just don't see the point in that. I don't think we're honoring our loved ones at all, because I think that imagine how it would feel to look down on your loved ones. If you're up there and 

[00:13:42] Christine Santos: they're 

[00:13:43] Christina Flach: miserable and bitter and angry and not living their best lives, So I just try to honor my, my son, my mother, my husband, my cousins, my girlfriends that have passed as best I can, just trying to be the best person I can be. I also have set up two educational funds at the Northern Lights School in Oakland, California for my husband and my son. I helped start a garden at the Edna McGuire School in Mill Valley named after, it's an outdoor classroom named after my son, Beau.

[00:14:08] Christina Flach: So I just try to do things to honor them. In a positive way, but everyone's, grieving process is different. It's not. One [00:14:18] way, but I think for me, it is helping others makes me feel better. 

[00:14:22] Christine Santos: Yeah. Yeah. 

[00:14:24] Christina Flach: To keep someone's memory alive. 

[00:14:25] Christine Santos: Mm hmm. Thank you for sharing that. I really appreciate that.

[00:14:29] Christine Santos: Wow. So you have this busy family, big family, and you're a makeup artist. How long have you been a makeup artist? 17? Did you say how long? Oh my gosh. Over 20 years. Over 20. Okay. And how did you, because I know the listeners will be interested, how did you come into that role as a makeup artist and then advance to the level that you're at?

[00:14:53] Christine Santos: How does that happen? I think 

[00:14:55] Christina Flach: I just, I think I just started, like I started on my friends and my cousins and my mom. Just. See if I could, I don't know. I've got this fascination with making people look like the best versions of themselves. And I love doing that. And I just started doing like proms and weddings and then photographers.

[00:15:13] Christina Flach: Asked me to do some photo shoots and then I did some campaigns and then I got enough images together to get, my agents and so once you get agents, that's a lot easier to you get your first celebrity. It's always hardest to get the first one because that leads to more, and I got lucky I work with Fox and the Food Network and Bloomberg a lot. So I get a lot of different celebrities there and, I don't say no to anything. If my agents call, I always say yes, even if I don't know what it is. And most of the time it's great. And sometimes it's, not the great job, but it'll lead to another great job or meeting people.

[00:15:47] Christina Flach: you always meet different people and you'd work hard and then they like your work and then you work for them again. 

[00:15:52] Christine Santos: Where is the place that you feel the most aligned in the areas of that you do? And so right now we've talked about the show, the makeup artist, and then your company.

[00:16:02] Christine Santos: We haven't talked about it. But where do you feel most aligned? 

[00:16:06] Christina Flach: That is a great question. I think it fluctuates. It just depends on the day. I feel pretty solid with And comfortable with all three different things with my makeup lines, my skincare line with the TV shows, being on NBC and being a makeup artist.

[00:16:23] Christina Flach: I like all of them. I feel equally good. I'd say. In all of them, some days obviously are easier than others, but last week, for example, we did a segment on Mocha Moose, which is the color of the year for 2025. And and I felt really comfortable doing that. I always just try to remember, this is what I do and what I know.

[00:16:42] Christina Flach: So when I start getting scared or worried or whatever. My friend Berlin, he's my TV husband we do NBC together. He's like, look, you don't even have to think. And so when I took that pressure off, I'm like, Oh, you're right. I do know all this. This isn't anything I'm learning.

[00:16:57] Christina Flach: It's what I've been doing for such a long time. And I just try to have fun with it. It's not curing cancer. I'm making people beautiful and hopefully happy and hopefully feeling good. And so I just try to focus on that. 

[00:17:10] Christine Santos: Yeah, and. The thing that I always tell people when they're getting, preparing for an interview, if you will, is you have all the answers.

[00:17:19] Christine Santos: They're interviewing you to get to know you and maybe your business or whatever. You have all the answers. 

[00:17:26] Christina Flach: Exactly. That's exactly it. You have the answers. So there's just nothing. Just breathe. Yeah. Try not to hold your breath and just relax and just pretend you're talking to your friend or whatever.

[00:17:36] Christina Flach: We're just chatting and it's not we, our minds can play such crazy games. And so I just try to not let my head like be in control here, because you can spin anything any way you want. You could spin it like super no big deal, or you can get yourself incredibly worked up. And so I just try to stay centered and balanced and just deal with what I have, people, when at first, doing these interviews.

[00:18:00] Christina Flach: There's some people that do these interviews that want to do a pre call, and I think they're really lazy, quite frankly, and I don't ever do a pre interview. I do my homework, my assistant does the script, we do the artwork, and then I take some time to look over the basic script and add questions, and I, just like what you did, I look at other interviews people have done, I read about them, and then I go from there.

[00:18:24] Christina Flach: But to have a pre, I, I don't understand these people that want to do this pre interview. You. That's your job. It's not my job. I do that for my own show. So that's the one thing that always surprises me once in a while. And I've told my assistant, I'm not doing any more of these pre interviews. They can, I've done a million interviews.

[00:18:41] Christina Flach: We have a press kit. And if they don't know how to ask the questions then they shouldn't have a show because it tells it's, as it's a ton of work preparing for these interviews, it's. Yeah. It's a lot. So if you're unwilling to do the work, you shouldn't have the show, you can't expect your guests to do the show for you, 

[00:18:59] Christine Santos: right?

[00:18:59] Christine Santos: Yeah, I totally agree. And I think, it's out of respect. So I'm just gonna because that's how I think and tell stories is so I reached out to you. We don't know each other and you graciously agreed and you hooked me up with a team member, somebody on your team that helps you organize. I'm sure your schedule, whatever.

[00:19:19] Christine Santos: And you graciously said yes. So for me, that is like reciprocity, like I'm so grateful that you agreed to come on the show. I'm so grateful 

[00:19:29] Christina Flach: you asked me to be on your show. And, if you think about it, I've had people like want to do a pre call. They don't know my name. They don't know what I do.

[00:19:38] Christina Flach: They know nothing. And I'm like, how rude are you? Because when I do these interviews. There's lights here. I've got to paint my face. I've got to get ready. If I'm going to make, if I'm going to give you my gift of time, the least you can do is know my name and what I do. And read my press kit.

[00:19:54] Christina Flach: I am, I'm bewildered when I've had that happen to me and I'm like, I'm not gonna waste, don't waste my time. Cause you don't take this seriously and I don't have time for, monkey business. I'm not in the mood. I want to have monkey business who I want to have monkey business with, but not with some stranger.

[00:20:10] Christine Santos: And I edit so many podcasts and none of my wonderful clients Currently, but in the beginning, you like, you said to your children, like you do things for free and then you start charging and you grow. So this is about my current clients. But in the beginning, when I was just doing the work, getting used to it and seeing, is this something I really want to do?

[00:20:28] Christine Santos: I was editing all kinds of podcasts and I would be. Lord, that the host, who would be myself in this example, wouldn't even know the person's name, if they were doing a book, that what's the name? Oh, you wrote a book? 

[00:20:40] Christina Flach: I know, and they don't even pretend. If I don't know, I'm gonna fake it.

[00:20:44] Christina Flach: Okay? Exactly. I don't know. You know what? And that's the thing. To do these podcasts, you want it to reach people. But if someone's not taking their podcast seriously, it's a total waste of time. 

[00:20:54] Christine Santos: It's really not 

[00:20:55] Christina Flach: getting out into the world. So why am I going to [00:20:58] give you this gift of time when you're not even, you don't know what I do?

[00:21:02] Christina Flach: It's pretty funny, but then there's, I can't tell you how many interviews I do that people are, they know me better than I know me. They're like, Oh, remember this interview? And I'm like, Oh my gosh, I forgot about that. Okay. It's really wonderful. Like that someone takes the time.

[00:21:16] Christina Flach: I find it like such a compliment that. Someone cares enough about interviewing me, but also cares enough about their own show that they're, going the extra mile and listening to interviews and looking at my portfolio. Cause I have a lot, mine's not quite so straightforward. I've got, I'm too busy TV website, Christina Flach.

[00:21:35] Christina Flach: com and pretty girl makeup on top of YouTube channels and Instagram and Facebook. So it's a lot to. And then my philanthropic work, it's a lot to unveil. It's not something that's going to take five minutes. So I really do appreciate that you took the time to find out about me.

[00:21:52] Christine Santos: Absolutely. I appreciate you coming on. You mentioned the philanthropic work. I'd like to get into that a little bit. 

[00:21:59] Christine Santos: You just need to do, one little thing like you could read books to little kids or, help with the family.

[00:22:05] Christina Flach: If you don't, it starts with the first step and doing the first little thing. It doesn't need to be big. 

[00:22:11] Christine Santos: Yeah. So one of the things that I currently do is I work with elderly folks. I take care of my mom. I left corporate. My mom had three strokes and I'm her primary caregiver, all the things. And in that journey, meeting through meeting her doctors, they needed help with some of their elderly patients.

[00:22:29] Christine Santos: So I do that as well. and it's so rewarding. Of course it is. Yeah. I love that. All to say, tell us about your work. philanthropic work Because I'm really interested in that. 

[00:22:42] Christina Flach: I, so with the Northern Lights School, I started going there, my brother was on the board.

[00:22:49] Christina Flach: It's a private school for underprivileged children in Oakland, California. 90 percent of the kids are there on scholarships, so the school runs on grants and donations. And then my kids, I've always taken to these teddy bear teas during Christmas and Easter. And I thought, I want everyone to have that opportunity.

[00:23:08] Christina Flach: And these kids Clearly, we're never going to have that opportunity, so I've got a bunch of my girlfriends together and our kids. I found a teddy bear factory. I got hundreds of teddy bears. I got, ribbons and buttons and sparkles and all kinds of everything to for each kid to decorate a teddy bear.

[00:23:26] Christina Flach: We got gingerbread houses for them to decorate gingerbread cookies. We got hot chocolate and all these things. And so they all had this amazing, like holiday experience. And my, I just thought, I don't want my kids to just see that I write a check for charity. I want them to see, I actually do something because it me, it's so much more impactful.

[00:23:47] Christina Flach: So I love that my kids were all there helping other people because they realize how. Bless they are not. Everyone has the opportunities that they've had. And so it started with that. And then the kids like kept these teddy bears, like they were like in fifth, sixth grade and they took them to college.

[00:24:04] Christina Flach: Like it meant so much to them. And so then after my son, Bo passed away, I didn't want him to be forgotten because most people don't want to hear. They want to forget about a baby that dies because it's just too horrific and painful for them to even fathom that this happened. And I wanted him not to be forgotten.

[00:24:20] Christina Flach: So I started raising money in his name for a fund at the school, Baby Bo Fund. And then they had a golf, a celebrity golf tournament every year. They started doing that with Vida Blue. Professional baseball player and a good friend of ours, and my husband would play in that we would raise money for the school.

[00:24:37] Christina Flach: And so did Ben B's twin. Ben started at eight years old, raising, standing on a hole and, beat the kid and raising, raised a couple hundred or a thousand dollars the first year. And last year he raised over $75,000 in one day playing golf. And he is done that year after year.

[00:24:54] Christina Flach: And it's like close to $200,000 now. And. It means so much to me that my son is so gracious with his time and, helping others. And so that's how that started. And then the garden, the Beau Friedman outdoor classroom garden, my kids were at this school and my friend Lisa Zimmer was the principal and they had this garden and it was just a mess and we raised all this money to get these, beds.

[00:25:18] Christina Flach: Available for the vegetables and there were fruit trees and then there's chickens and so they have a farmer's market every week and then the kids have snack eating the apples and the carrots and nutrition and education are really important to me and I want, I think that if kids are exposed from a young age to planting a seed that grows into a carrot and they, pick it and then they do a science experiment or they cook with it or they eat it, they're going to be much more inclined As they get older to have healthy food choices, they'll make healthy food choices, hopefully.

[00:25:50] Christina Flach: So I just, those are really important to me. And that's why I think if you figure out what it is that means a lot to you. So nutrition education mean a lot to me, so it's easy for me to donate time and effort towards that. 

[00:26:03] Christine Santos: Yeah. That's a great point. Yeah. That's beautiful.

[00:26:05] Christine Santos: I love that so much, especially on the food aspect of it. somebody is listening to this podcast and that sounds really interesting. How does somebody take that first step? What would you recommend? 

[00:26:16] Christina Flach: I would get for example, my girlfriend was the principal and I, we were talking and I said what's up with that garden.

[00:26:22] Christina Flach: It's a disaster. And she's we don't have any money. And I'm like, oh I'll fix that. So I just, made some phone calls and I wrote a check and I'm like, let's do this, just. Yeah, you just need to get people together that are equally inspired and little by little. Just, I just urge people take the first step, stop thinking about everything and what could might possibly go wrong.

[00:26:43] Christina Flach: Just make a step forward, go towards your goal. And I took the word, I've omitted the word try out of my vocabulary because there's too much wiggle room to get out. I think if I tell you like, yes, I'm going to be on your show. You've got my word that I'm going to be. It's not I'll try to get on there and then not show up.

[00:27:03] Christina Flach: I just, I think if you're going to do something, do it. And if it doesn't work out, it's okay. It'll then make another turn. It's not the end of the world and don't focus on these lessons as failures. It's just a lesson and it was to lead you to this next point that will lead you to something else.

[00:27:18] Christine Santos: Exactly. 

[00:27:19] Christina Flach: Yeah. It doesn't need to be so complicated. 

[00:27:22] Christine Santos: Yeah, exactly. We're so aligned like that. I totally agree with that. And I made a mistake the other day and I was, I'm in this networking group and just a silly mistake, but I'm like, I love making mistakes because truly I'm not being, because then you just learn so much and I.

[00:27:36] Christine Santos: And I laugh at myself [00:27:38] like it's oh all the time who cares all the time, right? 

[00:27:42] Christina Flach: Yeah, then who cares Really cares that you're right. Yeah, and I totally understand and it just makes it means you're living life learning lessons, there's bumps, there's turns in the road. And sometimes, we often think, Oh gosh, this is happening to me.

[00:27:58] Christina Flach: No, maybe it's happening for you. It's all perspective on how you choose to look at the situation. 

[00:28:03] Christine Santos: Exactly. So before I let you go, I want to hear about pretty girl makeup. Tell us about a little bit about that as well. 

[00:28:09] Christina Flach: I started pretty girl makeup. A long time ago, because I was a mom driving my kids around in a constant battle with my water bottle and my lip gloss, I couldn't find one that would stay on.

[00:28:21] Christina Flach: And I just thought this is ridiculous. I'd find one that was long lasting, but it was so matte and drying, ate up my lips. And of course, ignorance is bliss. You don't know what you don't know. So I thought, Oh, how hard can this be? So I found a chemist. And that took over a year to formulate the lip gloss and then the color and the texture and everything So it took a lot longer and then I created a lip plumper.

[00:28:44] Christina Flach: And so It was amazing that all these things Happened and I just led from there and I got a publicist, Yvette Masterson, and we just got into a ton of magazines and got a lot of press and it's just, it's been great. So I created Pretty Girl. I was self funded and I wanted all my colors to look good on all my friends and family because they're all different colors of the rainbow.

[00:29:07] Christina Flach: They're light, they're dark, they're whatever. And so that's what took so long because, color is a weird thing. How it looks on you is going to look very entirely different than it looks on me, 

[00:29:16] Christine Santos: but I wanted 

[00:29:17] Christina Flach: them to be flattering on everybody. So I think we succeeded in doing that. And 

[00:29:21] Christine Santos: it's 

[00:29:22] Christina Flach: really hard to compete in the beauty industry being self funded.

[00:29:25] Christina Flach: It's now, it was a lot easier a long time ago, but now it's impossible because you have all these influencers and celebrities that just have an endless supply of money and you can't compete. So now with I'm too busy, I've also thought, how many times do people come up to me telling me What makeup do I really need and what skin regime works best there's a ton of amazing skin care regimes out there, but a lot of them have multiple steps If you have nine steps or you have to do this in the morning and this at noon and this at night, no one's going to do it. So I, we, I worked with a beauty chemist who created urban decay setting spray. He's brilliant. And we created a three step regime that's. It's good on men and women, all different skin tones.

[00:30:08] Christina Flach: We came up with a reverse cleansing because he asked me a really interesting question. What do you do first thing in the morning? I'm like, splash my face with water. And he's do you drink that water that you splash your face with? And I'm like, my God, no. And he said, exactly. So why would you put it on your face?

[00:30:23] Christina Flach: So think about, so we do reverse cleansing, which means we put the cleanser and the cream as a barrier on the face and then add the water because the water, unfortunately now has so many, chlorine and fluoride and God knows what else. And it dries out the skin, which creates discoloration, which creates fine lines and wrinkles and it's, it makes your skin feel tight and dry.

[00:30:47] Christina Flach: So this way your skin is protected. So we came up with a three step process. We're also working on a makeup line that people really need. I don't know how any brands are going to get brand loyalty when you are constantly selling people things That they, that are not appropriate for their lifestyle, that they're not a makeup artist.

[00:31:05] Christina Flach: They don't know how to do that's going to take forever. People are going to give themselves five, 10 minutes max to get ready in the morning. They're not going to do it. It's very entertaining to watch Tik TOK and Instagram with these influencers getting up there showing the baking and the contouring and all this stuff.

[00:31:20] Christina Flach: Okay. Normal people can't and will not do it. Also I'm on set with, doing makeup. I don't have an hour. Sometimes to work on someone's face and all this makeup that's so heavily done. It's not appropriate for An ad on TV because if you think about ads on TV, people just look like normal people and you don't really notice their makeup.

[00:31:43] Christina Flach: If the makeup artist did their job, you're not really noticing it unless it's obviously a big high fashion and glam type thing. So, I think, I've learned to do all these different things. So I thought, if I cancreate a line that is for, get your skin prepped.

[00:31:56] Christina Flach: So it looks. Fresh and dewy and great and protected. And then with the makeup line, something for the brows, concealer, eye shadow, mascara, liner, cheek and lip. And that be that I think people just want a basic system on how to do their makeup. And it doesn't need to be complicated.

[00:32:14] Christina Flach: And think of all the money people spend on gift with purchase. It's always the products that no one ever uses that you think you're going to use one day, but you don't. It's sitting there in a box. 

[00:32:25] Christine Santos: Exactly. Yeah. Wow. And so do you run that company? How does that work? 

[00:32:31] Christina Flach: I do run that company.

[00:32:32] Christina Flach: I've, I'm the creator and founder and CEO and I have a team and we're actually right now in the fundraising part. We've already formulated, skincare that's ready to go and we're waiting for funding. I cannot, my American express can only. Warrant so much money being spent. So and I really want this to have a real shot at success and being acquired by a bigger brand.

[00:32:53] Christina Flach: So that's the way it has to be done. And we're doing it. It's such a different way. We're going, normally you create a brand and then hope itself this way. We're doing it the opposite way. We're figuring out. Algorithms, like different ways to sell it before it's even doing it. It's Totally different than I've ever done it before and it's really interesting because it's a I'm learning a lot And I just always thought I you know before I would be like, oh, I don't know how to do a business plan I'm, not smart like that.

[00:33:19] Christina Flach: I don't know do that and I really discredited myself and I limited myself a lot with pretty girl because I was, I thought, Oh, I can't do that. That was totally wrong. I did myself a big disservice by saying, I can't, I could have come up with a business plan. I could have found someone to help me with it.

[00:33:35] Christina Flach:  all I had to do was ask, which I didn't do. So I have learned to ask for help. And also I know what my skills are. I know what my strengths are and my weaknesses are and, I think a good CEO will learn to use their time efficiently and, get people on their team that know how to do marketing and strategies and business plans and all these things that, you find the right people that fit your work ethic that, that we all are aligned.

[00:34:03] Christina Flach: And so I think that's a way to succeeding and growing. 

[00:34:07] Christine Santos: And what would you say is a weakness that you have Like you said earlier, I'm not trying, I'm challenging myself, I'm doing this. 

[00:34:15] Christina Flach: What's been a challenge in the past for me? [00:34:18] Probably asking for help. Or asking for money, getting funding.

[00:34:22] Christina Flach: I did terrified me the thought of that, having to ask someone for funding. I'm giving them an, and now I've changed my attitude. I'm giving them an opportunity. It's something that's going to be fantastic. So it's just all in perspective, keeping balance in my life, learning that self care isn't selfish, making sure that I get enough rest, that I exercise, that I eat well.

[00:34:41] Christina Flach: That I take time to have some fun in the day and enjoy my family and friends. I've learned all that. And that really does help me be a better version of myself. 

[00:34:49] Christina Flach: What would you say is your number one strength I'm comfortable in my skin. I'm. I don't take no, if I get no from someone, you're the wrong person I'm asking.

[00:35:00] Christina Flach: So I, I'm relentless I'm super ambitious and I think people feel my energy is positive and good. Like I love what I do. So I think it's infectious and people like that. I'm also not arrogant and I'm not. Entitled, I am really down to earth and normal and whatever normal means, I make people, I don't think I'm better than anyone else.

[00:35:24] Christina Flach: I think I work really hard and try to make things to make the world a better place. 

When I was doing my research for the interview, I watched a recent episode with a friend of yours, Shannon, and something she said, I won't have it verbatim at the beginning. And I thought.

[00:35:43] Christine Santos: That is just such a testament to have somebody who is a friend say something about you. And it got me even more excited to meet with you today. And that was, she said something about when she met you, she fell in line with everybody else in knowing what a wonderful human you are. Oh, wow. 

[00:36:03] Christina Flach: Yeah. That was very nice.

[00:36:04] Christina Flach: Yeah. And 

[00:36:05] Christine Santos: that just landed for me. I thought, wow, that is, somebody who feels that way and expresses that outwardly about a person that just says so much about her, honestly, and so much about you. And I just loved that. And so I bet that's why I asked you that question, because I bet when you walk into a room and you're around people.

[00:36:25] Christine Santos: I got that sense that people enjoy being around you. You're kind and generous, obviously, and people just feel your goodwill towards them. 

[00:36:35] Christina Flach: And I think it, it's to me, I think people, there's the universe rewards good behavior, I think, and I think in kindness and love and joy. And so I think I've had a lot of opportunities.

[00:36:46] Christina Flach: And because people want to work with me because I'm easy to work with and I'm positive and I do my job. 

Thank you so much for being on the show today. 

[00:36:57] Christina Flach: Oh, thank you so much for having me. It's such a pleasure. 

[00:37:00] Christine Santos: Oh, this is so fun. Is there anything that you'd like to share before we end today?

[00:37:06] Christina Flach: I wish for everyone love and light and happiness and love big. Don't settle for anything other than big love because I think when you have big love, Everything falls into place. 

[00:37:17] Christine Santos: Oh, that's so great. I used to say to friends, I used to say, don't push away love.

[00:37:23] Christine Santos: If I went to give them a hug, they're like, oh, yeah. Don't push away love. Yeah, 

[00:37:28] Christina Flach: why? 

[00:37:28] Christine Santos: Why would you do that? 

[00:37:29] Christina Flach: What's up with that? Exactly. What are you afraid of? You might like it. 

[00:37:33] Christine Santos: Right. Thank you so much. I really appreciate it. It's been lovely having you. 

[00:37:37] Christina Flach: You too. Thank 

[00:37:38] Christine Santos: you. Have a great day.

[00:37:39] Christine Santos: You too.