Redefining Beauty and Confidence with Margot Grant Witz

In this inspiring conversation, Jeanne Collins sits down with Margot Grant Witz, Vice President of Elizabeth Grant Skin Care and third-generation leader of a family-owned beauty brand with a remarkable legacy. 

Margot shares the extraordinary story of her grandmother, Elizabeth Grant, who turned personal adversity into innovation, creating one of the first skincare serums for consumers. 

Together, Jeanne and Margot explore beauty rituals, aging with confidence, entrepreneurship, women supporting women, and the importance of self-worth beyond appearance. This episode is a powerful reminder that true beauty comes from embracing every stage of life while showing up fully for yourself and others.

Try their products with a great discount!

Use promo code HOJ25 for 25% off your order. 

Elizabeth Grant Skin Care https://elizabethgrant.com

Her book recommendations:

One Powerful Mind by Paul W. Witz

and Hector and the Search for Happiness by François Lelord

More about Margot:

Margot Grant Witz brings together family legacy, modern science, and real-world practicality in a way that feels both credible and accessible. As a third-generation beauty leader and hands-on product innovator, she has spent years helping people cut through overwhelm and build routines that foster confidence and consistency. Her approach is grounded in actionable, no-nonsense strategies that make daily habits stick—whether in skincare or in creating a greater sense of ease in everyday life.

As Vice President of Elizabeth Grant Skin Care, Margot is the third-generation steward of the brand founded by her grandmother, Elizabeth Grant. With over hundreds of cruelty-free formulations—including the brand’s proprietary Torricelumn™ technology inspired by Elizabeth Grant’s original post-war skin recovery breakthrough—the company continues to blend heritage with scientific advancement, all while remaining proudly Toronto-based and women-led.

Elizabeth Grant Skin Care: https://elizabethgrant.com

https://www.instagram.com/margotgrantwitz https://www.instagram.com/egskincare

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Transcript

Introducing Margot Grant Witz

SPEAKER_01 0:04

Welcome to Building the Best You, a destination for you to reimagine what is possible in your life and then create it. Welcome to the show, everybody. I'm your host, Gene Collins, and today we are going to talk about beauty. I am so excited. We have the vice president from Elizabeth Grant Skincare here. It's a company up in Canada. They are family-owned, family-run, no cruelty to animals. I am so excited to talk about beauty. And we have the third generation, we have Margo Grant White here joining us to talk about everything beauty. So, Margo, welcome to the show.

SPEAKER_00 0:43

I'm so excited to be here. And I love helping to change the narrative for women around the aging process. So thank you for giving me the opportunity to chat.

SPEAKER_01 0:54

And I love that. And I think we have to be our greatest advocates. And there is so much stuff out there. And I am a huge believer in routine and rituals and like taking beauty routines and making them rituals. And what I mean by that is I really believe if you can take even some simple things like what you do to your body in the shower or, you know, washing your face at night, and you can make it into something that doesn't feel like I have to do this, but like, oh, I am giving this opportunity and this time and these products to myself, it changes everything. It becomes really nourishing. And I think you and I agree on this. And you view beauty and routines as rituals as well.

SPEAKER_00 1:40

I see beauty and routines as rituals, but I also feel like while you're setting that motion, it can feel overwhelming, like something that you have to do. And then all of a sudden, you look back one day and you're like, I've been doing this every day for five years, for one month, for three months, and you go, it's now just almost as if it's part of my body. So I love taking the have to out of it and just keep you on track until you just feel great about it. It's a lifestyle, it's a way of living.

SPEAKER_01 2:14

All right, so talk to me about your grandmother and your

The Incredible Story Behind Elizabeth Grant Skincare

SPEAKER_01 2:18

company.

SPEAKER_00 2:19

So my grandmother is Elizabeth Grant. She is alive and well. She's 103 years young. And we are three generations of Elizabeth Grant skincare. My grandmother started this company not because she wanted to start the company, but because she wanted to fix her skin. She was a makeup artist in L Street Studios in London, England. And she was walking the streets one day with her girlfriend and a bomb blast went off a couple streets over, and a V2 rocket went down and she had shrapnel on the damage of the side of her face, the left-hand side. And she was a makeup artist at El Street Studios. So she was working on all of these incredible celebrities. But she felt she couldn't make them feel comfortable or confident or beautiful if she didn't look comfortable or confident and beautiful in her skin. And I think that is a universal truth. And I'll always say men get to experience this as well, but specifically women, where we're sort of looking in the mirror and being told what we shouldn't love to see. And it breaks us down. And so my grandmother just wanted to go back to work. She wanted to continue her career. She wanted to continue the level of financial independence that she was getting from it as well. And so every day she would go to her doctor's office and she would say, Is there something for me? Can you fix my skin? And he said, No. And she said, Okay, I'll come back tomorrow. And every day she would go around tea time. And one day during tea time, she said, and she said, Hi, I'm here. He said, I'll be right back. I have a patient. I'll be here. So just hang out. I'll see you in a minute. And she was bored. And she always said that there was no Vogue magazines in the doctor's office at that time. She always believed her father, who passed away when she was seven, was always looking out after her. And she picked up a book, a medical journal, and she just opened up a random page because she was curious and bored. And it said war wounds. She scribbled it down. And as soon as she scribbled it down and shoved this piece of paper in her pocket, the doctor came back and said, Those words are too big for you. You wouldn't understand them. And closed the book and they had tea. And the next day she ran to her friend who was a chemist and she said, Charles, do you know what this is? And he said, Yes, it's what they treat use to treat soldiers on the front lines on the way to the hospital to help reduce their damage and their burn to their skin. And she said, Would you mind making it for me? He said, It's not going to do anything for you. She said, I didn't ask you your opinion. I asked you if you would make it for me. And he did. And around eight to ten months later, her skin cleared up, the scarring was gone. She went back to work and she was working on Miss Vivian Lee. And Miss Lee said, You have gorgeous skin. What do you use? And my grandmother fell off her chair because ten months ago it was not that case. It wasn't you have beautiful skin. It wasn't what do you do use? It was how do you hide? And she sheepishly went into her bag and she took out a maybe a vial this big and she said, This is what I use. Gave it to Miss Lee, and Miss Lee came back two weeks later and said, I love it. Where can I buy it? And my grandmother said, I will get right back to you about that. And she started batching it in her bathtub and she just kept going. And it was the most incredible story of not just resilience, but she would always tell me that she wanted to get into a store. So she would go to the pharmacy and say, Okay, I'm here. And they said, Not for me. And they said, Okay. And so she would get her friends to call. Do you have the essence of tourism by Elizabeth Grant? They say, Sorry, I don't carry it. She goes, Well, can't shop with you then, and would hang up the phone. And she started to get orders from this. And so that started, we launched the very first serum on the market ever for the at-home beauty market in 1948. The next serum that came out from another brand was 1982. So it's like a big tenure of who my grandmother was. And then when she came to Canada, she retired in 92. And my mother, who is my grandmother's daughter-in-law, she is related to my grandmother through the marriage to my late father. Okay. She said, Let's start again. And my mom and my grandmother were excited, but my grandmother said, I'm in my 70s. No, thank you. I'm not here to knock on doors. I'm an old woman. What do you want from me? And all of a sudden, from still pictures to live people, the shopping channel here in Toronto launched. Yep. And my mom and grandmother were like, oh my goodness, this is it. And they went on for the first four 30-minute shows and they sold out. And now we are the number one vendor on the shopping network here in Toronto, today's shopping choice, along with 10 other shopping channels around the world. So that's what we're

Growing Up in a Family Business

SPEAKER_00 7:13

amazing.

SPEAKER_01 7:14

I love that story. And your grandmother sounds like the kind of lady you want to go have tea with. Like you just want to sit and hang with her because it sounds like her stories are just so cool. And she just went for it and she didn't let anything hold her back. And I love that. And I love that that spirit has been transferred down to you in some capacity. I think that's incredible. So when did you get involved in the business? Was it always like this is going to be what you're going to do? Because guess what, girl? We're here in beauty and this is your path, or not necessarily.

SPEAKER_00 7:49

Not one bit. So I was unofficially with the company when I was 12 years old. And what I mean by that is my mom would say, Do you want to have your friends come over? I said, Yes, please. And my friends would come over. She said, Okay, girls, come down to the basement. We need you to like pack some boxes and tie some bows. And I'm sitting there going, Wait, what? Because we were always part of the entrepreneurial family. Like your dad would come home with 2,000 envelopes that we had to stuff or the boxes that we had to pack. So unofficially, when I was 13. And then I went to school and I want to become an English teacher. Okay. And my mom said, That's so nice. Uh, no, we would like you to join the company. And I said, I see, I see what you're saying. And no, I I'm not I'm not there yet. And what's actually very smart of my mother, and it's one of the rare stories that I tell, is I was being broken up with. I'm not gonna say I was breaking up, I was being dumped hard in university. And my mother said, why don't you go to the Cannes Film Festival with sponsoring it and go go work for it? Give you some space between you and your ex. And it gave me a lot of space between me and my ex. And I fell in love with Can and I fell in love with what I was doing. And I started to work more officially when I was 23 with the company.

SPEAKER_01 9:20

I love that. And who wouldn't want to go to the Cannes Film Festival? I mean, that's so cool. Correct.

SPEAKER_00 9:27

It was a very, it was a very different life. Yeah, you don't have to twist my arm. I would love to go do that. I had no idea about the Canned Film Festival. It was just something, okay, let's go. I I love leaning into adventure and opportunity. And why not? You know, it could have been awful, but luckily for me it wasn't.

SPEAKER_01 9:49

Yeah. Yeah. Which is so great. So now you work with your mom. What's

Working With Three Generations of Women

SPEAKER_01 9:54

that like?

SPEAKER_00 9:55

I work with my mom and my grandma because my grandma's so involved. That's crazy. So what's inter what's interesting is it's tough, but it's great. And why that is, is because we've always grown up in an entrepreneurial family, we've always worked together. We've always talked about work at the dinner table, which to other people might seem strange, but we know how to separate church and state. And what I mean by that is I can argue with my boss and not like her decisions, but still she's the boss. So it is what it is. This is your ship. And she's still able and welcome to come to my home and spend time with us at dinner or hang out with my my children, her grandchildren, because life is about the moments you make and it's not perfect. And if I'm so critical to who my mother is as a boss, it's completely different of a person of who she is as my mom. Yes. And also, my mom really built this company, like rebuilt this company from 1998 to today, and made it more into what it is. So she knows what she's doing. And so I have to be able to call a spade a spade and tip my hat and tip my hat and also at times eat that big bowl of crud with a smile on your face and be like, that was delicious. Thank you so much. Because that's also a very important part of life. Right. You're still an employee. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 11:39

You can't lose sight of that. You're still an employee? You're still an employee. All right. So let's talk about your products because you have a lot of them. I went out to your website. You have so many cool products. I was so overwhelmed. So you're responsible for innovation at a high

Creating Innovative Skincare That Truly Works

SPEAKER_01 11:56

level. How would you describe your products? Phenomenal. Yes. They look great. I was like, I have to buy some. I don't even know where to start, but I have to buy some.

SPEAKER_00 12:08

I got you. I'll send you some and then we can take it from there. So why I say they're phenomenal is because they are bloody brilliant. They are incredible formulations. They are incredible active products that work for our needs. And what I love to say is we are the only, potentially genuinely the only privately owned skincare company in the entire world, owned and operated by three generations of women who make, manufacture, and formulate every single product in-house. I mean, I look at my grandma at 100 tour, and I can't be like, you don't get it. You don't understand aging. Don't need to talk to you. I look at my mom, who is like an avid sun worshipper, like baby oil, tinfoil, no SBF, South African, and be like, you don't get them. You don't understand sun damage. Like, what are you talking about? So there comes from real women who are living it, who get it, who are over the age of 40, who are still here, who are still enjoying what they see. And then I'll ahead of RD is a woman over the age of 50. So I love that we come from a place of us. I love that we come from a place of wanting women and men, but women to really feel that life doesn't end at the age of 40, that you don't have to disappear and go out to pasture, that there's a whole runway to enjoy. And so coming from a place of understanding that our skin can change through the month, the week, the year, the season, the day, the hour is a great place to be able to make a product from, versus being told, oh yeah, no, I need you to look like you're 21, but have all your life together. And by the way, don't freak out. And if you do, we will just airbrush you and change you for a younger model. Like that's not where we're coming from. Right. We're coming from, I love that we have the ability to complain about aging because the opposite of that is not being able to age at all. Right. Sure. Of course. It's a gift. We think that it's a gift. And so we want more women to enjoy it, be less of a crab in a bucket, and be more of like, how can I fix your crown? Because it's beautiful. Yeah, which is so cool.

SPEAKER_01 14:31

And I will say, you you skimmed over it, but didn't people might not have caught this. Like you guys really do in your own facility, make, manage, package, ship, like everything is under your roof and under your control, testing everything, which I've never heard of. I've never heard of. So, and then you also test on real people. You talk about not testing on animals and have this whole thing about not testing on animals, which I think is really beautiful. I'm just curious, as a business owner in the skincare business where the cost of doing everything is through the roof and everybody outsources everything to other countries, how do you still stand by those values as a company with all the competition that is out in the marketplace to try to do it a different way? How do you do that? How do you deal with that pressure?

Manufacturing, Company Culture, and Empowering Women

SPEAKER_00 15:25

Okay. So is there financial pressure? Of course. That's that's life, but that's everything. That's if you own it or you don't own it. If you have a bill to play and a certain amount of dollars and cents, you you do your best with it. The money is in the manufacturing. That's the long and the short of it. 90% of the world's skincare is not made by the brand that has the name on the label. And it's like the biggest stat that I'll always say to someone, and someone's like, wait, what? And I say this: like, you sort of follow the money because the brand that you love, nine times out of ten, is not independently owned. It's owned by another brand and another parent. Sure. And that parent company knows how to make the most longevity of their formulations. And that formulation can go into many different jars with different labels, but it's the same guts. Yes. So for us, if we're going somewhere to make a product, and based on how we are in business, which are omnichannels, which are the shopping channels, which are you need new, new, new all the time, it would be impossible to go to somebody else without that level of standardization, without that limitation of innovation, without all of those opportunities to succeed and fail. And so there's that one aspect of it. But on the flip side of it, it's really nice to change lives. And what I mean by that is the majority of our employees are women. 85% of our employees are women. And out of those 85%, 85% of those women are over the age of 45. Love it. And they quite often come from a place where they're not the breadwinner in their family. And then they come to us, which is a very safe, incredible place because we like to understand that you spend one third of your life working.

SPEAKER_01 17:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:20

And how do you make that feel better? And how do you enjoy what you do? Because it's tough. It's tough to really always enjoy what you do. Yes. But we love that these women, you know, they hold their head up a little bit higher. And their whole being changes. And so when you see the good that you're doing in the quality of product that you're making, that the efficacy is outstanding. Like when I tell you we make products at work, we make products at work because we want to make products at work. Yes. To see that the people who work with us are so proud of it. To see that people who get the product are so proud of what they're using. That's the lighthouse in the storm. That's the that's the piece that keeps going. And when you see it, like my mom started again when she was 46. She was working with my dad and she started again. See that my grandmother, her husband, bankrupted her twice in the Elizabeth Grant journey. Wow. And she kept going and kept step starting again. There's something so empowering about that. There's something that just goes, I love that you can fail and start again. I love that you can hit a roadblock and figure out a solution. I love that people matter when they talk to us. And so that's just what keeps us going.

SPEAKER_01 18:43

It's the human side of it, which is so exciting. And then on top of it, with your products working, you're helping women just feel better about themselves when they look in the mirror. And as you said, once you're over the age of 40, that becomes more frustrating. I mean, like we just get wrinkles and our skin just sags and our eyes are just more puffy. And like, that's just what happens. And so we're sort of on a constant path of trying to find new things. So, how often do you create new products? All the time.

SPEAKER_00 19:23

Yeah. Yeah, but also a challenge with that, right? Because it's a lot. Like, and because of the nature of the channels of always having to have new, you have to have that innovation. So we will come out with new ranges every year. Usually it's an upgrade of one of our products. So collagen goes to collagen reinforce, goes to collagen facelift, things like that. That is what happens for new. But we have a lot of products that just stand still, like in the concept of point-proven time. The essence of Trislam has been around for almost 80 years. And other than removing the parabens and saying that what my grandmother said was crude at the time of the one that she had, that product's been around for 80 years, over like over eight decades, and it's still here. Yeah. Is it in every product you make or only in the serums? So it's in every single product we make, except for our perfumes, because turiculum, which is our proprietary blend of vitamins, nutrients, minerals, amino acids, and peptides, comes from a particular type of sea kelp that we harvest twice a year. We replant it. It's okay. We always make sure we're not depleting. Yes. And it goes into every single one of our products, except for our perfume. But the essence of trisolum is the most potent, the most powerful, the most concentrated of that secret sauce.

SPEAKER_01 20:53

So cool.

SPEAKER_00 20:54

And you guys do everything.

SPEAKER_01 20:55

Like you have a body, you have lipsticks, like you've got scrub, body scrub. Everything you can imagine. You've got you have it all. Okay. So let's talk about it all. You have it all. So let's talk to me as a consumer who went to your website and there is so much out there. So I will say you do have this cool thing on your website where like you have, you and your mom, and I'm pretty sure your grandmother too, have like your favorite picks on the website. So you can go and see. And so I'm wondering. So two questions. Are those related to your ages in terms of your favorite picks? So that like if I align with your mother's age, I should look at your mother's favorite picks, or not necessarily. That's question one. And then I'll get to question two after you answer question one. Great

Finding the Right Products for Your Skin

SPEAKER_01 21:36

question.

SPEAKER_00 21:36

So no, because your skin is your skin, is your skin is your skin. Your concerns for your skin can happen at any age or any stage. Your type of skin can happen at any age or any stage. So, for example, I have dehydrated skin. I don't just have dehydrated skin in winter, and I don't just have dehydrated skin because I'm in my 60s. I'm 41. I have dehydrated skin. So I like to use a richer cream. So we go from skin first. What are your skin concerns? And do you have any skin sensitivity? So those are two aspects. Now, if you're looking at my mom and my grandmother and be like, oh my God, I want what she's having, I'm in. Like there's there's no wrong path with that. A hundred percent. So we start from a place of what are your goals for your skin? And how many products do you like to use? And what are you hoping for? Versus you have to use this regimented system. And if you deter if you step away from this, you won't. It's no life, no. Yeah. Stop with this. Okay. Yep. We're all our products are what we they only work if you use them. That's it. Right.

SPEAKER_01 22:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:49

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 22:50

And then you do have a bunch of bundles to make it easier for people by pairing. We sure talk to me about the bundles. What what what makes up a bundle?

SPEAKER_00 22:59

Time of year, ease of use. Some goes in brand new to the system. So it could be the serum bundle. So like a day serum, a night serum, and a and uh treatment. It could be your full system, which is a cleanser, a serum, a face cream, and like a neck treatment. It could just be like you want to go, you want the glow getter. So you want to be something that makes you just so glowy and radiant. Who doesn't want to? Usually what that well, the thing is, some people talk about glow, but they don't actually know what that means. And a glow that's why I always say, like a glow, the easiest way is a healthy skin. And so when you have a cold or you have the flu, you get this sallowness to you. You get this yellowness to you, you get this like rundown. And that's the opposite of a glow. So when people say, I want that glow, it's I want that circulation and stimulation and fresh face. And that comes from movement and the health of your skip. Right. So it really is when we say, what is your intention and your hope for your skin? We start from there. But to answer your very first question, and you might be like, Margot, what? So I tell people to start with two products only of my range. And I make the best products in the whole wide world. I don't even I don't even have a concern about that. Because I know as soon as someone tries it, they go, Oh, that's what my skin can look like. That's what my skin can feel like. I know it. But I also know you bought products that you use. And however that much was, if whether it was $8, $70, $400, someone has a system that they use. Yep. So I don't want you to chuck out your system. Do I want you maybe to one day become a full EG Trism girl guy? 100%. But am I expecting you to chuck everything out to get there? No.

SPEAKER_01 25:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 25:02

So I tell people to start with two products. Okay. The essence of Trisom, which is our number one best-selling serum that is hypoallergenic, fragrance-free, mineral oil-free, sulfate-free, silicone-free, alcohol-free, phthalate-free, not tested on animals, suitable for all ages, all skin types. And frankly, it's one pump mixed with any serum you have at home. Okay. Or before any moisturizer you're using. One to two drops for your entire face and neck. Thank you so much. That's it. Okay. And then I say the Night Wonder concentrate, which is my moment of skincare. Because it is. It is your little Cinderella overnight skin reset. And what it is, it's like a lycolic acid base. It feels like silky water. Lycolic acid is nothing to freak out about. It is a derivative of sugar cane, doesn't wind up on your hips. It's a nice great exfoliator. What's so nice is it stays with you. It stays to like slough off the dead skin cells and get the gunk out and like your little vacuum of skincare where you're like and it's all gone. Like that, like you've changed your sheets of your skin. Yes. And it doesn't make you red, it doesn't make you flaky, it doesn't make you sensitive, it doesn't give you a warm tingling sensation. Nothing. Okay. And it's the best of the best products. So if I can tell anybody start anywhere, those two products.

SPEAKER_01 26:29

Those two.

SPEAKER_00 26:30

Okay. And then sold. We could take it from there. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 26:34

That's it. Okay. Yes. I love that. The other thing that you have that is also cool that I love that you did this is you have like these travel packs, which I personally am a huge fan of skincare that comes in a travel pack. Like you have like a whole series, like the whole system in a travel pack, which I love as a consumer because sometimes I want to try it, but I don't want to have to spend $150 to buy the serum that I maybe then don't like. And so I just personally want to say as a consumer, thank you. And by the way, I do travel a lot. And I also love having travel, like the appropriate travel size. I'm just kind of a nerd. I like it in its own packaging as opposed to me having to like stick it in the little plastic stuff from CVS. So also as a consumer, I get it. Any company that makes stuff in travel size, I am a huge fan of that because you're making life easier for women to be able to keep your routines and your rituals going when you travel by allowing us to bring the same product. So thank you for that.

SPEAKER_00 27:33

And what I love about them is the samples aren't like itty bitty, like they're proper size. So it's in 15 mil, 20 mil, 25 mil, everything except for like we all have like a mask in it, for example. And I'll I won't tell you that the mask will last 21 days. Right. Because it won't. No. But other than like the mask and a hand cream, every other product in our travel sizes will last a minimum of 21 days. That's amazing. And like all of our before and afters and our clinicals and our efficacies are 28 days. So when you're looking at an eye cream, that the stock standard in the industry is 15 mils, one five, and our eye creams every day not supersized at 30 mil, you're kind of like, oh, that's a great size. But so when you see the samples, 25 milliliters for face cream, that's our normal face creams are 50 milliliters. And so in American speak, one fluid ounce. Right. So you'll have 0.5 fluid ounces of a product, which is not not a sachet. It's not like a one-time. Yeah, it's not a one-time try. Yes. You can use it. And also I love it because, like, if you're like, oh, I really want a neck cream, but I don't know. I really like the hylerodin, but I'm wondering about the collagen. Yes. It feels you can easily mix and match. And that's a little secret. You can call Amanda and say, can I mix and match? Amanda is the head of a customer KR. She's amazing. Yeah. We're a very small team. And so when people email or chat to us, it's always us. Yeah. So we're on the flip of it. So if you ever want to be like, hey, Amanda, can I do the neck cream instead of the face cream? She'll make arrangements. Nice.

SPEAKER_01 29:17

I love that. I love that. It's still the small company feel, but yet larger company. Which is larger company. Which is very, very cool. So do you feel pressure when you leave the house every day to feel like you're looking gorgeous to represent the brand?

SPEAKER_00 29:34

No, I look gorgeous. Like I love you. I can look at my skin and I do not wear makeup. Like I'm wearing makeup now because we're on a podcast and there's like a film. But even like I don't have like a lot a lot on. I am the firm believer I want you to have a makeup-free optional look, or I want you to be able to wear makeup and just to the best. But makeup is camouflage. So I gotta treat your skin underneath, right? It's we can't go to the store and buy a new piece of skin. Yeah. You just can't do it. And so I can look at my skin very egotistically and compare it to my girlfriend's skin and be like, okay. Like I kind of wanted your advice, but like I like it's fine, or like I'm finding I'll be in a mom chat and they'll be like, the Sephora sale, what can I get? And I'm sitting there going, all right, folks, like what uh what would you like to have? Um like a girlfriend of mine's like, I'm looking for a new vitamin C serum. And I was like, you can waste whatever money you want. Go spend it. Yeah. But I can, I will also give you a vitamin C serum. And as soon as I do it, their whole skin changes and they love it. And that's all that matters. I just want people to have brilliant skin for something that works because the investment in what you're spending, it shouldn't matter. It shouldn't matter that it's giving you results that you want. It shouldn't matter that you like using it, it should matter that you don't feel guilt that you bought it and it costs you $70, but you don't really like it, but it's past the 30 days, so I can't return it. Like we all have patented ingredients or patented technologies. And aside from those two like aspects, it's like going to a grocery store. You all have the options for the same ingredients. How are you making your recipe? Sure. Because it's not like the Johnsons and Johnsons or the Estee Lauders or the LaMaire's have a secret source for their sodium hyaluronate.

SPEAKER_01 31:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 31:42

We all have the option for ingredients and it's just how you're building it. You put it together.

SPEAKER_01 31:48

Yeah. Which I like that because you sort of take the myth of the big brands as if just because it's a big brand, their product is better. And that is so not true. I personally have found that myself. Like that, just because it's a big brand, that doesn't make the product any better. Just because it costs more, it doesn't make it better. They've paid a lot of money to tell you it tastes right. Exactly. So, really, the cost and the brand and the name has nothing really necessarily, it's not a direct correlation to the efficacy of skincare products. And I think our skincare industry is so blown out of proportion that it's it's so hard for people to know. So, one of the things I would love to know, because one of the things I think that's so unique about your company, as I started to look into your company when your agency reached out to me, is I was like, you guys have just such a cool brand story, you know? And like the energy of your brand, the energy of the family, how you produce things, your mission, what you're after, how you give back to charity, is such a cool story. So, how are you trying to get that word out as part of your job of what your brand story is?

Brand Values, Confidence, and Supporting Other Women

SPEAKER_00 32:57

So it's crazy is we've never once paid a dollar for advertising. It's just been something that my grandmother has always said. She's like, I can pay someone to tell you I'm great, or someone's gonna use my product and tell you it's great. Yeah. And so we do a lot of word of mouth and we're very grateful for that. Now, is that sometimes the wrong strategy? 100%. But it was would have been the wrong strategy 20, 30, 40 years ago. Today, you can't throw enough money at something to make a debt. Sure. And it's very fast-paced and it's very the landscape keeps changing. Like even traditional PR, what it was 10 years ago, doesn't exist today. Influencers five years ago are no longer influencing anything. Now they're content creators. So that's changed. And so you just have to sort of continue to know who you are. And I think that's universal. I think that goes beyond a business. If you are confident in who you are, in your own two feet, every decision you make, it could be wrong for someone else, but it will be right for you. And that doesn't mean that the outcome becomes exactly what you wish it to be. But usually it's not a square peg round hall. And what I mean by that is you take a square peg and you can shove it into a round hall and you can make it fit and you can say it fits. But that round that square peg kind of gets a little damaged, or maybe it's stuck, or maybe it chipped and this you you you can't fix it. So I always say if you have the confidence to know who you are and to be the best to the people who love you, because you can't be everything to everyone. You just can't, unfortunately. Well, be okay. And when I tell you that we've had customers here in Canada 27 years, in Germany, 25 years. Wow. People who've been with my grandma there for 30 years, 40 years. When I have someone write to me and say, My grandmother used it, my mom uses it, I use it. I'm doing something right because it's making people want instead of feel pressure.

SPEAKER_01 35:22

Yeah. Yeah. And you're helping women feel beautiful and feel good about themselves. Yeah. And if they don't feel good about themselves, the energy that they're putting out is not as good. And they're not as likely to do good into the world if they don't. Everything, I believe, starts with you and how you feel internally about yourself. And if part of that has to come from how you externally look, but honestly, how your skin feels. If your skin feels like dry and cakey and gross, it's really hard to feel really good.

SPEAKER_00 35:50

Like let's be honest. If your feet hurt, as silly as that sound, if your feet hurt, you can see it on your face. But you did say something. We've been made to feel that we're not good enough from as long as I can remember, from being a little girl. And it's a narrative that goes forever. You're either not tall enough, not small enough, not uh blonde enough, not brunette above, not chesty enough, not bum enough, not small enough, not this right mental enough, not this right religion enough, not this right gender enough. It's always not enough. And you're sitting there going, but you're great. And I'll always tell women that regardless of what you look like, there's always going to be someone who tells you or makes you feel that you should feel smaller or not to take up space, or to you're not good enough to sit at the table. And ladies and Jeffs, but ladies, y'all are the table. There would not be anybody sitting at the table without you. Yes. And each table is allowed a different flavor. Each table is allowed to have different people sitting at the table. And you're allowed to say, like, you know what, I want a buffet today. So I might not be the right shape and size today, but the person next to me is also not the right shape and size because they were told they weren't. But you know what? We get off. And so I think for us, those wrinkles and crinkles are always attached to a moment and a memory. So the crow's feet, it's because you're smiling and because you're laughing so much. And you maybe you laughed so much that you cried with your best friend. You know, the melasma, which can come out in pregnancy more, or because you were laughing and frolicking on the beach because you didn't think anything would happen. And it was it's all attached to a life worth living. Yeah. And so I'm happy to help, but I'm not here to erase. The only thing I'm here to erase is the bad conversation you have with yourself. If you're not enough, let's give you all the reasons of why you're outstanding.

SPEAKER_01 38:01

Yes. Which is so beautiful because you're taking it so far deeper, so much deeper than just skincare. It's really trying to have a platform and a message and a brand that represents something so much deeper than just the skincare and the sarum and the routine and the rituals, which I think is so beautiful. Okay, I'm curious. Fast forward five years, what's on your bucket list for the brand?

SPEAKER_00 38:26

The brand? Oh, God. I thought it was going to be for me. I'm like, even I'm like, for me, that was even hard. You could do you too. The brand's just gonna keep going. It's the same, same tiny little goal I've had since I was 12. Yeah. And that's to be in every single person's bathroom around the world. That's it. It has been the exact same dialogue and narrative that I've had for people. Next five years, continuously to make products at work, continuously show up for our audience. Get people who don't watch the shopping channels to know about us. I think that's also a different plight because it's a certain social economic norm who is fine to watch Omnichannels, HSN, QBC, TBSN, all of them. And then there are people who are like, uh, nah, I wouldn't touch that. Not my vibe. Yeah. Until you get one product on it and you're like, wait, I can buy this for that. It's great. It's a whole thing. And that's your entry. But five years, we just want to continuously have a great e-commerce platform that people find a product that they know that they love to get into. I love talking to like uh the elder millennial and generation X. I love, I love that generation because I feel that no one talks to them. Yeah. They're just not old enough, but not young enough.

unknown 39:50

Right. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 39:50

Yep. So yeah. I just like people to I just want people to feel that they're not a dollar sign to a company, but they're part of a community and a fabric to make the next generation better.

SPEAKER_01 40:03

Yeah, which is so beautiful. I love that. All right. So I have two questions left. First, did I miss anything? Did we not talk about anything about the brand, the business, you, women, anything that we want to talk about? Did I skip anything that we think is so important? And by the way, everybody, you can order online. You can order online all of her products, by the way. Like you don't even have you don't have to watch the Saving Channel. You can go right to her website and buy whatever you want. You sure can. You sure can. So, did I miss anything?

SPEAKER_00 40:29

So I always love to say, like, I'm a living infomercial. That's just what I do. But what I always like to say is where that confidence came from was my grandma. Yeah. And my grandmother was always told that she also wasn't good enough and she also wasn't pretty enough, and she also wouldn't amount to anything. And so she felt from a very young age that if someone says no and closes the door, this is only in regards to everything but sexual identity and no means no when it comes to that world. Okay. I will make that very, very clear, of course. But when someone says no to you in business, it just probably means not right now. So the mic close the door, but go through a window. So if someone keeps saying no to you, you just need one yes because there's gonna be so many more no's than there's gonna be a yes for you. Yes. That's one aspect, which I love. And then the other aspect is ladies, just be nicer to each other. I mean, don't be such a crab in the bucket. The world is big enough for all of us. We have enough people who are gonna pull us down. You don't have to pull someone down, you don't have to be the archetype that you think fix someone's crown, someone's gonna fix your crown. It's gonna be great. It's I think ladies sort of have to have that camaraderie because everyone always says the conversation of it takes a village to raise a child. But it takes a village to be a woman because you need so many people to help you every step of the way.

SPEAKER_01 42:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 42:03

So just keep showing up as your village.

SPEAKER_01 42:06

I love that. And it does. It takes you need, you need support and you need different support from different types of people at different stages of your life. And I love that message of just be nicer, be slightly nicer. Just nicer. Just be nicer. Yeah, because you know pushover. Just be nicer. Just be nicer. Because if we all could just be a little bit nicer, you have to believe. Let's start with women, because women should be running the world. But if we all as women could just be a little bit nicer, I think you can really make the world a better place. So I love that. Thank you. That is a hundred percent account. Perfect. All right. A book you loved reading. You wanted to be a teacher. I love to ask everybody if there's a book they've read or books you can recommend more than one, impacted you personally, professionally that you think people should read. So, what book or books would you like to recommend?

SPEAKER_00 42:53

Okay,

Favorite Books and Inspirations Featuring One Powerful Mind and Hector and the Search for Happiness

SPEAKER_00 42:54

so there are two different books. Okay. One will always be my father's book, which is One Powerful Mind. And it's written by Paul W. Witz. And One Powerful Mind is to understand your emotional intelligence and your emotional reactions. It is a language that I think is imperative that people know about themselves. Because when you know about yourself in terms of what triggers you or how someone was aggressive makes you feel, communication is the most important aspect in life. It will get you as far as it can take you, as further than your feet can walk you, because we have to be able to have these big conversations. But the book that I really gift to people. I gift it left, right, and center is Hector and the Search for Happiness by Francois Lenode. Ooh, I haven't read that one. So he has search for happiness, search for time, search for love. That's sort of the uh the three. But the happiness. Is what started it all. And basically he's a psychologist. And every single patient comes to him and complains. I want to be happier. I want to be happier. I want to be happier.

SPEAKER_01 44:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 44:10

So he travels the world to find people's different definitions of happiness. And he has this list. And they turned it into the movie. And the a movie doesn't even do it justice. It never does. The list is just it's so good. And it just reminds you how much bigger the world is than you and how your greatest frustration could be someone's greatest blessing that they're hoping for. And I think when we can sort of know that universally we have so much more together and so much more that connects us versus what separates us, it's a beautiful story. And I've gifted this book to everyone. And when people go, what would you want me to do with this book? I go, please be gift it to someone. Because it's a lovely, it's just a lovely book. It just makes you feel not that anything is possible, but you can get through it. And I think the world needs to know that you can always get through it. The stuff that you didn't think that you could get through, you did. You did. And you know this is a great book.

SPEAKER_01 45:22

Yeah. Okay. I'm definitely I'm ordering that today. Yep. Can't wait to read that. Thank you so much. Such a good book. I love it. You give me goosebumps just talking about it and thinking about it. And I love books that just inspire people about gratitude and taking a pause and just looking at your life a slightly different way. Because it's really easy to be negative and be down about yourself and your life. Because life is not easy. Let's just be honest. Especially as women juggling everything. Life is not easy, you know? All the women out there that are trying to do that.

SPEAKER_00 45:56

Exactly. Together. And then it changes. And you're like Exactly. I do what?

SPEAKER_01 46:05

Exactly. It is not easy. And your body changes as a woman as you age and you're like, wait, I figured out the health routine that worked for me. And then all of a sudden your hormones change and you're like, oh wow, that that didn't work anymore, honey. Like, gotta start over.

SPEAKER_00 46:20

It is a privilege that our bodies get to change. It uh women go through physical uh form of puberty every four years. Yeah. It is a privilege. It is a privilege that your hips grow wider. It is a privilege that like our hormones can change in a little bit more. I'm not gonna say a lot, but people are leaning into a little bit more that women's health matters. Um and it changes. But, you know, it's one of those things that everyone will say the good old days. The good old days, yeah. Yeah. And the perfect example is you'll look in your photos when you're 20 or 30 and go, oh, I wish I had that body. But in your 20s or 30s, you were just like, I need to be fitter. I need to have this, I need to do that. You don't get to appreciate it. So it's right now. Enjoy the level up, ladies. It happens all the time. It's gonna keep changing. Yeah. Enjoy it and just enjoy the good days today.

SPEAKER_01 47:16

Perfect

Closing Thoughts on Aging, Gratitude, and Living Fully

SPEAKER_01 47:17

way to end. Thank you so much, Margot, for being on the show. I am so excited to try your products. I'm gonna share it with the world on Instagram as I try them. I love your company. I love your platform, your grandmother, your mom. They just, you guys are just awesome women doing a lot of really good in the world, not only from a product perspective, but also from a company perspective and company culture. I think the world needs a little more of what you guys are delivering on a company culture part. And that is a whole nother podcast. So I might have to have you back to talk about company culture. Like, because that I'm really passionate about company culture and women and finding yourself and making sure you're still a priority within your company culture, because I really think it helps women be the best versions of themselves if they can be seen as real women, not just a number on a board. So anyway, I digress. But so excited to try your products. Thank you so much for being a guest. We will absolutely stay connected. Everybody will be able to find you in the show notes. They will link to you, social media, your website. They can buy your products, they can try. I thank you very much. And if I ever make it up to Toronto, I'm gonna reach out because I would love to see the facility where you guys work. It sounds really cool. So thank you for being a guest on the show. Anytime, come on over.

SPEAKER_00 48:28

And thank you so much for having me. And everyone, thank you for welcoming into your hearts and into your homes. I really appreciate it.

SPEAKER_01 48:34

It is beautiful. Elizabeth Grant Skincare, everybody. Have a beautiful day and we'll stay connected. Thank you, Margot. Thank you for joining us for this week's episode of Building the Best You. If you are ready to take a deeper dive into transforming your life, check out my Empowerment Fundamentals course on my website, houseofgermar.com. Thank you, and I will see you next week with another inspiring guest.