Why Kindness Belongs in the Longevity Conversation with Dr. Brent Ridge of Beekman 1802

In this deeply reflective episode of Skin Anarchy, Dr. Ekta Yadav sits down with Dr. Brent Ridge to explore the story behind Beekman 1802—and how a simple act of kindness unexpectedly became the foundation for one of the most beloved brands in modern beauty. What begins as a conversation about goat milk skincare quickly expands into something much larger: resilience, longevity, emotional wellbeing, and the role human connection plays in how we age. 

Before founding Beekman 1802, Dr. Ridge worked in geroscience and longevity medicine, studying healthy aging long before “longevity” became a beauty trend. But the turning point came after he and his husband purchased a farm in upstate New York and agreed to help a local farmer keep his goats during the 2008 financial crisis. Searching for a way to survive financially after both losing their jobs, they began making goat milk soap—a decision that would ultimately launch an entirely new category of skincare. 

As customers began reporting dramatic improvements in sensitive skin and barrier health, Dr. Ridge became increasingly interested in the biology behind goat milk itself—from fatty acids and oligosaccharides to the microbiome and emerging exosome research. But throughout the episode, one message remains central: healthy skin cannot be separated from emotional health. Stress, connection, optimism, and self-perception all influence how skin functions and heals. 

The conversation ultimately reframes longevity as something broader than biology alone. It’s not just molecular—it’s emotional, social, and deeply human.

Listen to the full episode to hear Dr. Brent Ridge discuss Beekman 1802, longevity science, and why kindness may be one of the most powerful health interventions we have.

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Transcript

Welcome Back Dr Brett Rich

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hey guys, welcome back to Skin Anarchy. It's a very, very special episode because today's guest is somebody I I feel is very special for both me as a person who's been doing this podcast for five or six years. He agreed to come on the show very early on, and I was so excited back then that I'm equally excited now. I know a lot of you will recognize him from obviously the amazing brand that he's built, but also the wonderful book that came out last year, which was Goat Wisdom. So please welcome back Dr. Brett Rich of Beatman 1802. Welcome back, Dr. Rich.

SPEAKER_01 0:29

Oh great to be here, and I'm just so proud to see how far you've come. And um, I just always enjoy uh seeing everything that you're doing.

SPEAKER_00 0:37

Thank you so much. That really means the world to me coming from you, and I can't wait to dive in because as we were talking about before we started the recording, I am just such a fan that you wrote this book and you have pioneered so much in this industry. It's almost like you're our oracle, you know, a lot of things. Like I really feel like that. Um, I will I want to start from the beginning, if you don't mind. I

The Farm And The Goats

SPEAKER_00 1:00

know we spoke about this the first time I got to chat with you and Josh on the show, where you know, where did Beakman 1802 start? But I I would love for you to kind of walk us down that lane again, but to start from the full like the philosophy of it and like where it really stunned from.

SPEAKER_01 1:14

Sure, sure. Well, um, for those of you who don't know, um, we started Beakman 1802 about 20 years ago now. My background is in longevity medicine and geroscience. And um, my partner, my husband and co-founder of the business, he is a writer and was an advertising executive. And we were both in New York City. And um, you know, by that point, I had been on faculty at Mount Sinai Hospital and then had left to go work at Martha Stewart's company to create a new division of her company devoted to health and wellness. And one weekend we were driving in upstate New York, um, just on an excursion from the city, and we came across this vacant farm property. And um, we were both at that point, this was back in 2006, and we um were both at that kind of point in our career where we had had some success, but we're also still naive, right? We were still like in the early 30s, and we thought the whole world was amazing. And uh and so we decided on the way back into the city after that apple picking weekend that we were gonna buy this farm and we were gonna use it on the weekends. And um and one weekend we came up, maybe three or four months later, and there was a note in our mailbox from a local farmer, and he was losing his farm, and he asked if he could bring his herd of goats to our property to graze, otherwise, he would have to sell the herd. And so we met with him and um could tell how much these animals meant to him. And we said, you know, sure, it's fine. You can bring them, you can use the barn. There's another little uh cottage on the property, you can live there. And it we thought this works out great for us because we're only here, we're here infrequently. So someone will keep an eye on the property when we're not here. You have all your needs met, so it worked out great. And we say that was the original act of kindness that started Beakman 1802, because a year and a half later, when the recession of 2008 hit, my new division that I was starting at Martha folded. My husband's advertising agency folded, and we were in one of those situations where it's like, uh, okay, old crap, you know, what are we gonna do? Because we had this million-dollar mortgage on this farm, and we had taken in this farmer and his goats and kind of made this handshake promise to him that we weren't going to leave him homeless. And um, so we Googled what could we make with goat milk? And with our original product that we started making was a bar of goat milk soap. And at the time, we didn't have any, you know, plans that grow a beauty company. Um, we were just trying to survive. We're like, what

The Soap That Started It

SPEAKER_01 4:05

can we possibly sell that will help us make the mortgage payment? Um, and that's how Beakman 1802 started with that original bar of soap. And, you know, as we um had some success with that bar of soap, and we can get into that, you know, how we how that happened, um, we just started hearing all these anecdotal reports from people about how the soap was helping their skin, which then just piqued my curiosity as a scientist. And we just started researching the properties of goat milk and trying to understand why it had been used for so many hundreds of years for sensitive skin. And that's kind of how the company has subsequently developed.

SPEAKER_00 4:44

I I mean, I find it to be so phenomenal because I feel like, I mean, I'm sure like you know this before our listeners, like when I think about science, it's like the most beautiful some simplicity, the most complex simplicity, right? And when I look at the brand you've built, that's what I think for me has always stood out is like it's goat milk, but it's like it's a bar of soap with so much that's in there that's gonna heal you. I mean, that to me isn't just luck, you know, it's like it's meant to happen. It was meant to happen. And then the way you followed up on that, I think is what just excites me as a scientist because you followed up. I mean, you've done hundreds of clinical studies on the formula, hundreds of you know, papers. And and I want to understand this from you because we are now entering the world of longevity. I mean, it's everywhere, but you were the pioneer. I mean, you were doing this 20 years ago. So, how does that feel when you watch this movement and then watching what you did with your brand and you know what I mean? Like kind of propagating this idea the whole time.

SPEAKER_01 5:44

Yeah, well, it is longevity. You know, longevity is hanging in there, right? And um, you know, when

Skin Barrier Basics And Longevity

SPEAKER_01 5:50

we first started with the bar of soap, and for the first couple of years, that was our only product was the bar of soap. And, you know, what we were telling people back then, now again, this was 18 years ago. Um, we were saying, you know, the way you cleanse your skin is the foundation of skin health because you are changing, you know, destroying the barrier as you're cleansing, or you're changing the pH of your skin when you're cleansing, that's you know what's going to cause this cascade of potential inflammation. So that was, and really that was where the science was at the point. You know, uh maybe a lot of people back then weren't talking about the barrier, but that was kind of the frontier of the science at the time. And then as we just started researching the goat milk, looking at the various components of the goat milk, as we were developing other products, you know, we're looking at the fatty acids from the goat milk and um, you know, the omega-3, you know, the omega-3s from the goat milk and the oligosaccharides from the goat milk. And that's when, you know, people really started looking into the microbiome. And um I think the last time I was on with you years ago, that's when we were, we were having the conversation about the microbiome. That's when our industry people were starting to talk about it. And as a scientist, I was just so curious then about the oligosaccharides in goat and milk and how they serve as the prebiotics for the skin's native microbiome and how to make your skin's microbiome as resilient as possible. Because, you know, we live in a modern world where we're going to be constantly bombarded with insults to our skin, whether they're self-inflicted or it's just part of the environment. And how can we make our skin as healthy as possible to withstand uh the forces of modern society? So that was that, you know, that was that research. And I think it just always comes back down to being curious and always seeing, oh, what are other people talking about? And, you know, you know, of course, as you know now, a lot of people are talking about exosomes, uh, particularly when it comes to longevity. And that also was complete um happenstance that that we landed on that because you know, I'm always still to this day reading medical journals, and the more obscure the journal is, the more fascinated I am.

SPEAKER_00 7:57

Yeah, the more excited. Right, you're the same.

SPEAKER_01 8:00

And um when I was reading um about this study, um, these these scientists were looking at how they could potentially administer um doxirubicin, a chemotherapeutic agent, and use exosomes as a delivery mechanism. Because as we know, exosomes are these kind of delivery molecules, delivery systems. And um so they said, yes, we can we can put doxirubicin into an exosome and deliver it um into a cell. Um and so then they just were looking at what are sources of exosomes that would be easy to source, that could be inexpensive, so that if people start doing

Microbiome Resilience And Prebiotics

SPEAKER_01 8:40

this in the future, what would be the source of the exosome? And they happen to find them in goat milk. So that's when that really piqued my curiosity. I'm like, wow, that is amazing that you know this really available source of mammalian exosomes is in goat milk. And so that's really kind of how we, you know, started thinking about our our approach to longevity. But it really does go back to having that for me, having that foundation in the gyrosciences, because I always believed, and I when I first had my very first meeting with Martha Stewart, you know, 25 years ago, and she was asking me about healthy aging, and I said, Martha, aging is not something that starts at 45, 50, 65.

SPEAKER_00 9:23

Right?

SPEAKER_01 9:23

You start aging the minute you come out of the womb. Yeah, and that has always been my personal philosophy. Better aging starts at birth. And that's why for so many years, we never had a product that we said had anything to do with aging, you know. And I said we will never, as a company, have an anti-aging product because I just didn't believe not.

SPEAKER_00 9:44

I mean, it's that's the thing, is like I think that is even before I had this podcast, anything as a consumer with Drew Beekman was the idea this is a brand that caters to my skin's baseline needs. You know what I mean? Like it was never like like as a consumer, I can say that that I looked at the brand as like a tried and true in my daily routine. It was, and I think it still speaks that way to many, many consumers. And so when you're speaking about longevity, I think that's what is so fascinating about it because even what you were explaining just now at the exosomes, it's a modality that can be incorporated, but the baseline doesn't shift, you know, the baseline of the health of the skin, the barrier health, everything you just explained. And you know, I really would love for you to expand on this because I think, and this is my opinion, I think we're kind of losing the plot sometimes, you know, with this whole I mean, you've seen it. I get it, the science gets exciting, and you know, you get the papers in your hands and you're like, oh wow, but at the end of the day, what does the skin really need? You know, and so I'd love for you to talk about that also from like an entrepreneurship angle, because I think we are getting, you know, kind of lost in this world.

SPEAKER_01 10:51

So this is a great question. And I think for us from a science standpoint, if you look at any of the science that applies to skincare, and I I know you know this, I'm saying this for your audience, even the most researched skincare ingredient like retinol, like if you just really go back and look at what studies exist, even for retinol, which we know is great, yeah, the scientific studies of that are even not great, right? You know, they're not robust studies, you know, they're not double-blinded, you know, placebo-controlled studies. In our industry in general, the science is always been, I don't want to say uh theoretical, it's hypothetical. And then you have to give the consumer reason, you have to give the consumer some baseline result, and then you also have to give them reason to believe. That's two very powerful things. Now, for us, as you said, you know, our focus has always been not reversing aging, it's not purely aesthetic. We say healthy skin is the most beautiful skin. So we always talk about how we can make your skin healthy, and as our approach to longevity is healthier for longer. But you know, when we talk about aging of the skin, we try to educate the consumer about uh the entire ecosystem of better aging. So, yes, it's what

Goat Milk Exosomes And Inflammation

SPEAKER_01 12:10

we're doing with the microbiome of the skin and the oligosaccharides and what we how we might make the microbiome more resilient. How can we deliver ingredients into the skin via the exosome to help control inflammation as deep into the skin as possible? How can we do that? But then even beyond that, we think about how does the messaging that we put out into the world around the product make the consumer feel better about themselves. And um, because that psychodermatology is also part of the equation. And you know, when you get up every morning and you look in the mirror, we want you to talk to yourself with kindness and we want you to be positive because if you look into the mirror and say, Oh, the cream is not working yet, or I still see this wrinkle, that negativity is as powerful uh pro-inflammatory device as anything else. Um, so we try to really think of that entire ecosystem, what is going to make the person who chooses to believe in Beakman a healthier person? And how can we address that throughout their entire body, the surface of their skin, in their mind as well?

SPEAKER_00 13:21

I love that so much. And there's so it's so profound the way you explain that, because we have known also, like people go back to science all the time, right? And it's like my argument is always like, guys, even if you go to the science, the idea of kindness, the idea of this like mental health component has been proven. Like those studies that were done by the monks where they were watching the crystallization of water and like meditating on certain, you know, like ideas, like that's real. And you know, when we don't have that intrinsically, it affects everything, it our entire health.

SPEAKER_01 13:56

So people talk about epigenetics, they talk about inflammation. Yeah, but these acts of kindness and even starting with self-kindness are the only things that have been shown to prove everything. And I I when I first started my career, I was um doing a research fellowship at Harvard uh on a project called the New England Centenarian Study, the lead scientist with Dr. Tom Pearls. And um, what we were doing at the time was using the Mormon database. Um, and and we used the Mormon database because genealogy has always been very important um in that faith. And so they had the records. And so we were looking through all of um the Mormon genealogy and finding families in which there were multiple generations that had lived to 90 or above. Um, and so when we would find a family where it had like two or three generations where people had lived to 90 or above, then we reached out to them, we did this huge intake questionnaire, we drew blood. And the thought when the project started was that by looking at these multiple generations of centenarians or people approaching that mark, we would be able to find the needle in the haystack, right? Because we were making the haystack smaller, we're going to be able to find that genetic thing that made these families live longer. And um, the study went on long after I, you know, went off and started my career elsewhere. But ultimately, what that study found and

Healthy Skin Over Anti-Aging

SPEAKER_01 15:30

other studies have found was that there is no real genetic marker to longevity. And in fact, as you were just saying, the only thing, really the only thing that has been shown to improve longevity, scientifically proven, are our social connections and our optimism.

SPEAKER_02 15:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:51

So as many as as exciting as biomarkers are and sexy, and maybe there's a future for them, the only thing right now that has been scientifically proven is our ability to connect to other people and to remain positive in life. And that is what kindness does.

SPEAKER_00 16:09

Yeah. No, I love that. I really, really love that. And I think, you know, you know what this reminds me of, honestly, is like people have always had that like age-long conversation of like, you're a doctor, do you believe in God? Or like, you know, like people always say this. And it's like, I honestly, and it's not about God, by the way, for my listeners who are not going down that road. Um, but this idea, right? That's heavy, like in the weed scientists. I mean, you've like you're Harvard trained, you've done it all, you've seen it all. And then you're you're sitting here telling us like, guys, this is it, you know, kindness matters, love matters, how you feel matters. I mean, your health reflects it. That's that's profound. And I think that, you know, I see that as a consumer, I see sometimes it's leaving, you know, in a lot of the products. And I, it's not an I'm not critiquing anybody, but it makes you wonder in this age that we're living in where beauty is turning into almost like a wheel, like we're turning out products every day. I'm all for innovation, don't get me wrong. But it's like, at what point do you pause and say, like, what are we doing? You know, and like, why are we doing what we're doing? And is the science really adding up? Like it really makes you stop and wonder, you know?

SPEAKER_01 17:21

You know, you know, I do think that the consumer is catching up to some degree with that. I mean, and you know, you follow the industry as much as I do, and there has been a profound shift in the past two years. I mean, the industry is dramatically different in the past two years. You know, I think during the pandemic, which I think we may have, I can't remember the last the first time we talked, but you know, during the pandemic, there were a couple of forces that were happening that just propelled the industry, you know, because you had, you know, Instagram first, which you know the beauty industry has always been a big part of, and then you had TikTok, you know, the rapid rise of TikTok, at the same time that people were spending more time on their screens in Zoom meetings, on FaceTimes, and things like that. And then you had government stimulus, which gave people more uh economic freedom to try things, and that was all great for the industry, right? Because people were trying things. And you remember, like back in that time period, it was like every like so many different serums were coming out, and like it was all these different things, and people were they were they had the money and they were being entertained by it and they were willing to spend on it. And as you know, the rates of skin inflammation and people complaining of skin sensitivity also skyrocketed during that time. So that's right. We weren't doing healthy things for the skin, but we were entertaining people and you know, um, whatnot. Um, and I think now the consumer is rapidly eliminating product from their car. They're like, you know what? I tried all those things and my skin didn't get better. So let me just go back to the basics.

Psychodermatology And Self-Kindness

SPEAKER_01 19:05

But I think what's interesting is that the consumer is becoming more interested in clinical and science and whatnot. That's the natural progression of you know having access to so much information. But the counter to that is that the consumer tried so many products over the past decade at all levels. Like they were trying mass products, they were trying prestige products, they were trying clinical products, they were trying Lux products, they were trying, you know, going, you know, interventions, and they tried it all. And what they realized was that they all gave kind of the same results. And so now the consumer is like, you know what, this mastige product that I can get for $15 is going to do the same thing for me that this product that someone's trying to charge me $300 for is going to do. And I think that's the issue that we're coming into now is that there are a lot of great innovations happening. Like we're doing a lot of study, like we're looking at we've identified new peptides and goat milk that have never been identified before. We're looking at the exosomes, like and how they control inflammation. Like there's a lot of great science happening, but when it comes down to the consumer level, even some of the really coolest, most amazing scientific things that are happening are not going to make a truly perceptible difference in the consumer's skin. It's going to make an incremental difference over time. And most consumers, they don't stick with something long enough to actually see the difference. So I think that's what we're seeing now. And I think as a brand founder, I think that's a really interesting place to be in from the industry, because then you have to decide how much of my finite resources am I going to assign to research and how much am I going to assign to marketing? And for the past 10 years, that was less of a critical decision because you were just, you could sell product like this. Like it was, but now that the consumer is being, um, you know, the economy is being what, you know, is what how it is, and the consumer is, you know, being more conscientious, it's a tougher call. You're like, okay, I can can I afford to do this research, or because my customer acquisition costs are getting so much higher, do I need to deploy that money over here? Um, so it's like it's it's a very interesting time.

SPEAKER_00 21:33

Yeah, no, that's a that's a great point that you brought up. And I and I want to actually like pivot into the book for this because there's so many, and obviously, the book is is literally like the holy grail for any entrepreneurs out there, you have to read go.

SPEAKER_01 21:46

It's not just the beauty industry. It's a it's a very general book. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:49

Yeah. I mean, I I'm not a beauty entrepreneur and I I've learned so much from it. And I think everyone can learn from it. You know, there's so many like guiding light principles in there. And one of the ones that really stood out to me. I mean, I think there's a lot that stands out, but you said we're drowning in information and starved for wisdom. And that is profound. I mean, I would love for you to expand on that and explain what that means and what you're seeing happening, you know, beauty and everything.

SPEAKER_01 22:14

Yeah. Well, that was actually the entire reason we wrote the book and structured the book in this way. You know, and I'll tell this little backstory that a lot of people uh haven't heard. I haven't really talked about it too often. But we the way the book came about was that um we were on uh a train coming from the farm into the city to New York City for a business meeting. And a Beekman neighbor, we call all of our customers neighbors because they were so our neighbors in Sharon Springs, New York were so critical in helping us get started, wrapping the original bars of soap around our dining room table. This Beekman neighbor came up and he's like, Oh, God, I'm so excited that I'm meeting you. And you know, and we were just making small talk on the train. And so we said, Well, what do you do? And he's like, Oh, I'm a literary agent. And he said, Have you guys ever thought of writing a business book? Honestly, we really hadn't, um, because you know, we're busy, you know, we like we're we don't really have time to do it. And um he said, Oh, but I think you would. People just love your story and they'd love to know the details of how you're you grew the company. Um, we, you know, we finished the trip, got off the train, didn't really think anything would come of the discussion, but he was just very persistent. He's like, guys, you should write you should write a business book. I mean, he's a literary agent, so he's gonna be a progressive. And he said, Tom, that's right, agent's name. I said, Listen, if you can get Harvard Business School, Harvard Business Review, to um want to publish our business book, then we'll do it. And I and again, I said that kind of flippantly, thinking, you know, because that's the that's like the gold seal, like, you know, like and he said, okay. Um, he said, what what would you write in the book? And I said, listen, I I'm I'm a voracious reader of business literature. Like I love business books of all types. I think it's just something I'm interested in, business psychology. And I said, What I have learned after reading probably thousands

What Longevity Studies Really Show

SPEAKER_01 24:10

of business books is they all say the same thing. You know, if you're looking at Instagram or you're looking at LinkedIn, everybody has a what they're trying to sell as a business hack. Like, oh, these three steps and you will make it, or five things to whatever, you know. Yeah, like instant millionaires. And I'm like, and I know from being an entrepreneur, those things aren't happening. And I don't want to sell just for the sake of selling a book, I don't want to sell um an instant solution to potential entrepreneurs because that they they don't pan out. I said, you know, and as you said, I believe that there's too much information in the world. At that point, it was just social media, it wasn't even AI. I said, there's too much information, but not enough wisdom. And I said, I guarantee you I can look back at all of these ancient proverbs, you know, some of which have been around for hundreds, if not thousands of years in some form, and I can show that it's are these these same principles that have been passed down from generation to generation, are still the things that are going to lead to a truly great foundation for any business. It's not five easy steps or three hacks or whatever to a million dollars. These are the these are the principles that will help you create a foundation for a greatest of all time business. Um, and so that's that was kind of the premise of the book. So we went back to these old proverbs, which coincidentally many of them have their roots in agrarian entrepreneurship because farmers were the original entrepreneurs. Um and we took those proverbs, we then went back through the business literature and found the academic studies that basically proved that these proverbs were the truth. And then I really looked at it from a scientific standpoint because, as you know as a scientist as well, you when you have a theory, you prove that theory, and then you have to prove that that proof is replicatable. And you know, and that's really what these proverbs do. They have shown by virtue that they have converted from something into wisdom based on how many times and how many generations they've passed down, they have passed the scientific method, right? They have proven themselves in replicating a benefit to be replicated. And so that was really the premise of the book. And more than anything, as people read through the book, what we want them to be able to do, and there's there are great little exercises at the end of each chapter that they can immediately apply to their own business or idea, um, is to say, yes, the world is uh full of information, and that's a wonderful thing. But then how do you take that bit of information and convert it into wisdom that is going to be applicable to the problem that you're trying to solve? And I really do think that if people finish the book, they will be able to do that. They will be able to discern, oh, of this wealth of information, this is the uh how I turn that information into wisdom. And, you know, yes, we have a very entertaining story in terms of the way our brand developed over

Beauty Burnout And Back To Basics

SPEAKER_01 27:25

the past 20 years. And we tell some amazing backstories uh in the book as well, which makes it entertaining. So we get we give the spoonful of sugar to make the medicine, to make the wisdom go down.

SPEAKER_00 27:35

Yeah. No, I I love it. I really, and you know, I love that you have gone into like the deep, deep roots of understanding like what is the wisdom in all of this, you know, and and that's I mean, to me, that's so important right now, especially because when I look online, and I honestly this bothers me so much because I feel like such a beautiful space, such a beautiful industry. And I've seen this specifically in skincare, okay? There are people out here just attacking each other, like coming from people's throats. And it's like you can't thrive in an environment like that, you know? And that's why I feel like the book is so timely because it's like, guys, we have to pause and like let's recenter and focus on like, even if you're building a brand, even if you're critiquing a brand, where is the wisdom in this? Are you really doing this for a purpose or are you doing it for some vanity thing, whether it's views or whatever? You know what I mean? And I think that's why like I'm glad what you said, where you said this is not just for entrepreneurs and in the beauty industry, this is for everybody, because you do have to at some point in your life wonder like, what is my motivation for doing what I do? You know, so I think it really feeds into that. And I want to talk about this because I know right now we're approaching the world of AI. Everybody's using AI for everything, we're automating everything, but you've kind of mentioned this in the in the book, where it's like, if if you chop your own wood, it's going to warm you twice. And I really would love for you to speak on this principle of like the hard work of what it takes to build something.

SPEAKER_01 29:10

That's right. Um, yeah, so this is an amazing old proverb. And basically, what the proverb is saying is that if you can chop your own wood, you're going to warm yourself because of the physical activity of chopping the wood.

SPEAKER_02 29:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 29:22

And then you're going to have a pile of wood that when it gets wintertime, you're going to be able to burn. So you're going to warm your twelve twice, warm yourself twice with one activity. And the way we applied that in terms of your own personal growth or your business growth is you really do need to have a fundamental understanding of how everything is working in your business. And you're going to understand very quickly what you're good at, what you're not good at, you know, what you're interested in, what you're not interested in, and be able to farm those things out that are not your skill set to other people who that happens to be their skill set. But you still need to have some baseline understanding of everything. And when people ask about AI and always scared about AI and you know, concerned about AI, I'm like, AI is a tool. You know, it's a new tool that we've been given. So get in there and learn how to use that tool and figure out how it's going to help you warm yourself, you know, in in the future. It's here, you're not going to make it not here. Um, so get in there and use that tool. But yeah, that that's kind of the idea behind that. So, you know, you need to learn everything about your business. Don't turn over every single detail about your business to somebody else. And I think now that our company has grown and we have, you know, 80 employees, and there are by far many people in the company who are smarter at their thing than we are, you know, because they're on the cutting edge of digital marketing or the cutting edge of packaging design or whatever. And so we realize, okay, our role now is to ask the stupid question because um we understand that they are experts, but sometimes experts get so into the weeds of the thing. Yeah, like narrowed focus as well. That then they don't take the 10,000 foot view of like, oh, and ask the right question. And so, you know, when we're in our executive meetings, we are the ones, Josh and myself, asking the stupid question. Like, oh, why'd you why is that? Why did that happen? Um, and a lot of times that stupid question is the unlock because it makes the team member say, Oh, yeah, you're right. But we wouldn't know we wouldn't, we wouldn't be able to ask the stupid question if we didn't have some fundamental understanding of what they were doing.

SPEAKER_00 31:33

Yeah, no, that's so, I mean, I I love that because that's I feel like that's what creates the best products and that's what creates the best things in life, is like the stupid questions because most of us have stupid questions, you know. Like when I'm I do my skincare, you know, Dr. Ridge, even now, like I have access to so many brands and I get to try so many things and it's wonderful. But then I always have the stupid question in my mind of like, well, my barrier is disrupted. What is a disrupted barrier? You know, what does that even mean? So it's like, I think people just we get so ahead of ourselves and we, you know what I mean? And it's in human nature, I think, right? To some degree. But it's also like it's interesting to watch how this plays out in our in our purchasing decisions and our, you know, just life, like how we conduct ourselves in life.

SPEAKER_01 32:18

So no, absolutely, absolutely. We're all we are all consumers, we are all, you know, we all follow this, we have a kind of the same psychological makeup. So we all kind of fall into the same traps and messagings and marketing hooks and whatnot, but that's just part of being human in Western society. And, you know, and and again, coming back to what we were talking about with um psychodermatology and reason to believe, if you you know, respond to a marketing message and you buy that product, and that product doesn't do any harm to you, but you enjoy the feeling of that product, or you enjoy looking at that product sitting on your vanity or the experience of blooming out that product and that makes you feel good. Well, that actually is controlling inflammation and controlling cortisol level in your body. So that is a functioning product. So I think you know, you you just have to look at it. Don't don't feel like you're being taken advantage of or you're you're prey to marketing scheme. You're just you're finding the modality that is working for you.

SPEAKER_00 33:21

Yeah, yeah. No, I love that. And I I actually want to like ask you this because I think there are a lot of people who tune in that are maybe even budding entrepreneurs. They haven't taken the leap yet, but they've thought about it, especially in today's economy. I think a lot of people are gravitating towards this. I gotta do my own thing, I need that security. I would love for you to speak on this in terms of what should we know before embarking on the entrepreneurial journey, knowing everything you know now after.

SPEAKER_01 33:48

I would say, and I'm gonna try to say something that's not industry specific, but just very general. So anyone listening to this, and I think it's applicable to many, many things in life, is before you take the risk, always know what your plan B is. Um, and I say that on the other side of this because we had to grow Beakman 1802 out of desperation. And what propelled us at the time was that desperation was the motivation. But that's a very terrible way to have to go through a decade of your life. You're so stressed out about that. And I think if we look back on how we grew Beekman, we I think we came to that realization that that was really stressful. So, how can we mitigate that risk? How can we mitigate that stress?

Turning Information Into Wisdom

SPEAKER_01 34:40

And so, very early on into the company, as soon as the economy started to turn around and one of us could go back into the city to get a job, um, that's what we did. You know, we said, okay, one of us is going to go in so that someone is providing healthcare insurance and someone is, you know, it's while the other person is trying to get this business off the ground. And uh so we kind of already we we try to build that plan B or that safety net in. So I would say for if you are in a in the enviable position where you currently have a job that is covering your basic needs, may not be providing you luxuries, but it's providing your basic needs of healthcare and it's putting, you know, the food that you need on the table and you know you have a place to live. Yes, pursue that entrepreneurial dream, but you and do it in your what do they call it? Uh, you know, they people say it's your you're not do your nine to five and then have your five to nine uh where you're working on your entrepreneurial dream. If you are in the position to do that, do that because you're going to be in a much better mindset to accomplish the things that you need to accomplish. Because coming at it from a place of desperation and just burnout is a real thing. So that's what I would tell all entrepreneurs. If you have that idea, start by pursuing it in your spare time, sacrifice, put the sweat equity in, sacrifice your leisure time, use that first.

SPEAKER_00 36:02

Yeah, no, I I think that's that's such great advice because I do see a lot of people are like, I'm gonna quit everything and I'm gonna become a founder. And it's like, ah, like, please don't. Yeah. I mean, but you know, my next question is for the scientists that are listening because I have to ask you. I mean, I like I said, you've truly been an oracle in this space, you know, with the beauty industry, the way it's moving, where it's going. And I think um, having been so ahead of the times all the time, um, where do you see us going? Do you think we're, I mean, is it the right direction or what do you feel?

SPEAKER_01 36:35

Yes, I think it's the right direction. I think we have a very educated consumer base, which is fantastic. I even, you know, when I was a practicing physician, you know, at Mount Sinai Hospital, I loved when my patients would come in with reams of stuff they'd printed off WebMD, you know. I'm like, yes, great. You are educating yourself. You may not always know the answer, but at least you have known something more and you're curious about your body and you're trying to be proactive. And I'd much rather have a proactive consumer, proactive patient, um, than one who's just like not interested in their own health. Um, so I I like the fact that consumers are more interested. And I like the fact that they're becoming more discerning and say, hey, show me the proof of this. Uh I like that. But and I do think what we're going to see is that you're going to have consumers who are either going to go the intervention route, like have a quick fix, and whether that is a surgery, whether it's some injectable something, they're going to go that route if they can afford that route. And all of those things are going to become less expensive too. So they're either going to go that route or they're going to say, you know what? I just need the very basics. I need a great cleanser that doesn't disturb my skin. I need a moisturizer. I need an SPF. Though some people, no matter how much science you give them about SPF, build it up and on the SPF. But um, you know, I think people are going to say, you know what, I can probably and maybe even be healthier if I go down to just like two products or, you know, my facial, my cleanser, my moisturizer, and then my SPF, if you can convince them to do it. I think that's what you're going to see. And now, people, there are going to be some elasticity in the consumer base because we are, you know, prey to our own psychologies. And so someone is going to be able to say, Oh, we have this new peptide, it's going to do this amount more, or um, look at this amazing uh lip balm. And when you pull it out of your purse, it's going to signal to other people that you're in the know about something culturally, those that have value too. So I think you're going to always have that kind of thing going on, um, maybe to a lesser degree. And I do think that what I'm seeing with social media is that people are burnt out on social media getting to that point across all age demands.

SPEAKER_00 38:55

I'm there. I'm there. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 38:57

And I think those things that were social signals or status symbols are going to become less

AI As A Tool Plus Plan B

SPEAKER_01 39:05

valuable as people come off of social media. Um, because those things only have value if other people also know that you have them and that you can share, oh, I have this thing, you know. So as we share less about our personal lives on social media, those signals, those social signals have less value. So people are going to be less willing to pay for those markups on those products. Um, so I think we'll see some of that. And I think things will become more personalized. I think people will go into Chat GPT and say, here's my skin. I have tried already XYZ. What do you recommend? And it's going to give you, you know, some recommendations based on all of the information that's out there.

SPEAKER_00 39:50

Um, I think people are doing that now, right? Like they're unloading their scans and stuff onto GBT. That's crazy.

SPEAKER_01 39:56

Already, already, yeah, yeah. It's and what's interesting, I think, from an independent indie beauty brand, which you know, we are still an indie brand, I think it's going to become a lot harder, particularly in for people starting indie brands, because if you look at the way these large language models operate, right, they're just pulling, they're aggregating information, right, and then coming up with something to summarize and get back to you. And so unless all of the information about your brand already exists online, it's going to be almost impossible for you to come up in that aggregate of information, right? Yes. Um, and so all of the big strategics who either have lots of money to boost their information about their brands, or you're an indie brand, you know, hopefully not on wood like us, who've been around for 20 years, who already have lots of validating points in different parts of the internet. It's going to be really hard for a brand new brand to come in and be a part of that ecosystem unless they have really deep pockets and they can pay to be part of that ecosystem. So I think we're going to see a big fallout in terms of ND brands being built. Now, that doesn't mean we're not still going to have lots of product. And I think that's what we're seeing with K-Beauty right now, is that they are overall less concerned about building a brand as they are about selling the product. And they have mastered that ecosystem of cool texture, cool packaging, cool three-second TikTok video in right price point, um, directly into your cart. Like they have mastered that. So we're never going to be without a new cool thing to buy, but trying to start a brand is going to be really challenging now.

SPEAKER_00 41:55

Yeah, no, that's I I am so glad that you shed so much light. And I just want to say something about K-beauty. I don't know if you've noticed the same thing, but it's like we're kind of doing what you remember when you were explaining like how everybody had inflammation going on. That's what we are doing now, again, with K-Beauty. And I just wish people would recognize that. You know, it's like, I love K-Beauty. I personally have used a lot of their products, but it's great. Some of them are great in a great amazing. Yeah. And I love the idea of like introducing new technology, but at the same time, it's still about 15 steps. And you you get locked into this like cycle. It never ends. And and going back to your point about AI, I'm so glad you dove into it the way you did because I'll tell you, I've spent so many times like on Chat GBT trying to find like, I know this product is good. You know what I mean? Like, I know this worked for my skin. It can't pull up the inky. Even if you have it on your website, it won't pull it up right, or it'll tell you something completely bonkers, and you're like, what are you talking about? I know this is like barrier loving, you know, and then you have to give it the inky for it to evaluate what's going on.

SPEAKER_01 42:59

So yeah, I well that that that comes down to the visibility because for you know, the way the LLMs

Where Skincare And Brands Go Next

SPEAKER_01 43:05

work is it's pulling information and it's assigning different weights to the information based on how many times it has appeared, you know, across the internet, how many times it's been mentioned in a video, or you know, how many times, and they give higher weight to things that have been invalid sources. So has X bit of information been in the New York Times? Has it been in, you know, a medical journal, whatever? And for most inky lists, those inky lists exist in one place online, which is on the brand's website. Yeah, and you know, LLM is not going to give that a lot of credibility because it's in one place.

SPEAKER_00 43:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 43:44

And um, yeah, so yes, I would say if you're a new brand and you're trying to get the ink, you know, uh into LLMs, put your inky everywhere that you can. All the publications, like all the publications, make a YouTube video every day about your inky. This, yeah. Um, and then you'll get into the to L in search.

SPEAKER_00 44:04

I love it. Well, thank you so much, Dr. Ridge. This has been so amazing. And every time I talk to you, I just I love it because I just learned so much. And I cannot applaud Beekman 1802 enough. Like, I genuinely mean that from my heart because it's such a tried and true brand. And I literally tell this to everybody. Like, I think I've recommended the brand more than any other brand I've ever tried in my life because it's literally what we started the conversation with. It's tried, true, tested, and then the amount of science you've poured in, you know, like it's just like I feel like that's the blueprint of a great brand. And so I just I don't know. I apologize for it.

SPEAKER_01 44:38

Yes. Well, you're you are a China true Bigman neighbor, of course. But you you nailed it. We have always thought about how to build not just a good company, not just a great brand, but a greatest of all time brand, uh, a goat brand. And there's, you know, you can make a lot of money with a good business, a great business, but if you want to

Closing Thoughts And Thanks

SPEAKER_01 45:00

make a difference, then you have to go for the goat. And you know, not every entrepreneur is going to want to put in the effort to do that. But for those who do, we hope we can inspire them and give them some tools to do that.

SPEAKER_00 45:12

Absolutely. No, I love it. And please send my love to Josh. We missed him on this conversation. But thank you so much. And for everyone listening, go buy Beekman 1802 if you haven't already. I can't say that enough. Thank you. Thank you.