Transcription

• Speaker #0

  Welcome to Boussaiti, the first French podcast dedicated to professional hair and makeup artists. I'm Valentina, a bridal hair and makeup artist based in the French Alps. Specializing in destination weddings across Europe and beyond, every summer, as you drive to your weddings, I open this week to accompany you on the road, keeping you inspired between two venues, two trials, two early mornings. I invite aspiring wedding professionals from around the world We talk about their journey, their expertise, their mindset, and what it truly takes to build a meaningful business that empowers women and elevates our industry. Let's talk the real talk. Hello Welcome Hello,

• Speaker #1

  Valentina Hi,

• Speaker #2

  Valentina So nice to see you again.

• Speaker #0

  Thank you, yeah. Let's do as if we didn't do just like... two seconds earlier. So like I'm so happy to have you guys here. Thank you so much for coming here. Usually you're the one hosting. Today I'm the one hosting.

• Speaker #1

  Yeah yeah yeah we're honored to be here as guests. We're honored yeah so honored to be here.

• Speaker #0

  Welcome Aline and Daria. So you guys are the Wed Vibes founder. So before we get started I just wanted to make a special note because today episode is very special for me. Because you guys are two people that truly changed my career. So it was important for me to have you here today. Because working with Wet Vibes opened doors to a world I once believed that I was not able to go inside. I always dreamed about working in a luxury world, etc. But I felt it was something very, very, very big. It could take me decades to enter inside this world and working with Webvise makes things very simple and makes things very fun to me. So I wanted to make a special thank you for this before we start the episode. And voilà.

• Speaker #2

  I didn't plan it, but yeah, we trained to send emojis.

• Speaker #0

  Yeah. So for those who may not know who you are, could you please... Tell us who you are.

• Speaker #2

  Yes, of course. We are the co-owners of WedVibes. WedVibes, how we usually call it, it's a platform that helps couples to connect with wedding vendors. And on the storefront, we post all kinds of wedding inspiration and we try to do it like in a way of blending it, like the wedding with art and digital trends and inspirational trends. So that couple can find, any couple can find some kind of, again, inspiration to express themselves during the wedding day. But to your point, at the back end of our project, of our business, we help wedding professionals to grow. And we do a lot of marketing exercises. Like we used to have a marketing school. Now we have a mastermind. We do the live sessions. But we... empower wedding professionals with all kinds of PR and marketing tools and beyond I guess it's also confidence and understanding the personal voice and tone of voice yeah to convert their talent into success oh

• Speaker #0

  nice and so just to make things clear because before you Daria you was working alone in wet vibes before you met Alina that right yeah yeah yeah so we started wet vibes

• Speaker #1

  10 years ago we're going to celebrate our 11th year uh on september yeah yeah so before it was like the small boutique european magazine actually not even like the the blog so we started with the printed magazine then they transformed to digital one then transform it to blog and i moved to united states almost seven years ago at this point oh my god time flies and i met alina on my like third or fourth day at UCLA and university and We decided to continue this journey together and here we are.

• Speaker #0

  What Vibes is much more than a platform because as Alina said you try to help vendors to improve their business etc. I feel it's much like a movement, like a community and a voice to the global industry. So what was the original vision behind and how did that vision evolve from the beginning of WEDVIPES? Because you said it was before paper, then after blog. What was the initial vision?

• Speaker #1

  The initial vision? Because I also come from the community of wedding professionals. This is my story. I used to be a wedding planner and I've been doing this for like seven years before I started Wed Vibes and uh yeah as Alina mentioned it's like on the front line let's say on the front on the front in the surface this is the media that helps couples to find the inspiration and education like some uh information about their wedding preparation but because I used to be Literally, like in your place or in place of every other wedding creative, I knew how important it is to actually promote your services because you work in sales basically every day. You don't have the salary from month to month. Every day you have to find your next clients. And the world changes so fast. Before we didn't have Instagram. Right now we have Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, Pinterest, whatever you want to. Your websites, your networking events. And as a planner, I used to literally sell the services of my fellow professionals, like photographers, people who do makeup and hair, the floral designers. I used to sell their services to couples trying to find the perfect match for the right vendor for the right couple. And this is how I started helping my friends with their social media, with their website, with portfolio curation. And, and this is how. The idea of VEDVIPES was born. What if we will create a platform where we will help professionals with their marketing strategy? And with Alina's expertise in marketing, she just came in and transformed the whole project with her knowledge because she can tell the story, but she has an extensive expertise in marketing.

• Speaker #0

  Yeah, because you're the creative one and Alina the business one.

• Speaker #1

  Yeah. This is how we do it. Yeah.

• Speaker #2

  I don't want to, how to say, to sell Daria shorts. She's very business focused.

• Speaker #1

  Yeah.

• Speaker #2

  But maybe it was me who kind of opened the business vision in Daria because I have certain expertise and experience in working in huge companies and running the world known brands. So, and building that strategy for the brands like Nutella or Kinder or Nescafe, it of course makes me like to understand how to approach any other business yeah right so when we started working with daria i was like explaining things how we should let's say set it up and that is how daria because she's very talented not only in creative part uh like visual part but also in a way how we can make things happen yeah she kind of put her creativity and whatever the gut feeling on my spine or like the skeleton.

• Speaker #0

  of the let's say business approach and strategy okay so i guess that was our yeah that was how our journey started okay okay so uh for basically in the web vibe community you often work with wedding planners photographers videographers uh also there are like wedding content creators and makeup artists as you say yeah at the beginning did you put all the wedding vendors or there are some like um specificities that came after like makeup artists like because this is a podcast for makeup artists so of course the interview is going to be a bit focused on makeup artists um but like um it was very cool to be in a world where makeup artists were also as important as the wedding planners and photographers because often we are a little bit behind you know. um was it uh from the beginning or is something that you see that the the need came out during the time or it was something that you started doing at the beginning of the wet vibes um uh community let's say that yeah yeah yeah literally from the beginning so in the beginning it was just basically my friends everyone okay i used to work as a planner and of course it was everyone from the,

• Speaker #1

  I don't know, bartenders and people who do fire work. photographers, other planners, because you build a community and you have like... So the whole world of my friends consists of wedding professionals at this point, because in total I've been in this industry for 17 years at this point, so of course it's my life. Okay. Yeah, we actually started with Alina, initially we started a marketing agency. It wasn't... So VetVibes was kind of... We couldn't understand how to transform it, because it was, like I said, the small... european actually like russian project and it was in russian language and at the beginning we couldn't even we didn't even know like what to do with this project can we actually transform it on international level so our journey with alina started from the marketing agency and all my friends with whom i used to work and help them in instagram social media they came along for like with all the questions for consultations for help with instagram strategy portfolio curation some of them like we had some friends like makeup and hair artists who opened their own beauty salons they wanted to expand their market and this that alina hopped in and we decided okay what how can we help them and with this marketing agency came the idea that actually the world works not the same but very similar for one country marketing to like the whole the worldwide marketing strategy because the strategies are similar for everyone and who works in this industry i

• Speaker #0

  think that's the very good point of yours like that's a good strand because as i said often like i feel makeup artists we are always aside so uh it was very uh precious for me to be in a place where I counted as much as a photographer. So it's a very good point of yours. And I did several editorials last year with you, and they were so, like, gorgeous. And I can see the Russian vibe inside because Russian know luxury, you know? Like, you can see the difference. Like, Russian know what luxury means, you know? You can see that European side inside all your editorials, etc. So, like, I don't even need to see a mood board to know it's going to be good because I know it's going to be good and also working with you guys is always fun it's always nice and it's also very professional very well very well organized sometimes there are all the there may be some like things that happens that may not happen the good way but you don't even see it like I remember there was a an editorial where like the the the the stationery was missing Thank you. at the shooting but nobody see the difference like you guys you guys made it happen and nobody see the difference like how do you do that how do you do that do you sleep i think the thanks goes to our production team yeah yeah let's be fair that it's our production team that you in person met olga valerie and

• Speaker #2

  julia she's a pr lead but she also helps the girls on set because she lives in Paris. and she travels to all our editorials so our production team they came from wedding planning so they have the certain skill of figuring things out as we go and as you know every wedding there is always a plan a plan b plan c and something that doesn't actually speak to any plan but you have to deliver you have to create the experience and let I mean, let's be honest, it's not the rocket science, right? Nobody's going to die. So that's probably the way of thinking and the way of finding the solutions. And plus, I guess that our team, they also have, again, this vision and let's say visual skills that if nobody can come and do the flat lays, it will be done by our team.

• Speaker #0

  Yeah,

• Speaker #1

  true.

• Speaker #2

  right and if like the stationery is missing they will become food designers if needed okay yeah it's like a multi-skilled uh team that can cover each part each component of the editorial and if we want to go further and i was there and you have to carry some furniture sometimes because the rentals they very let's say tight on their schedule so you

• Speaker #0

  like we have to do a lot of things that's right but it's it comes from the wedding planning i guess yeah yeah there's a lot of things because i i don't really see because when i'm on on the editor i'm like oh wow everything's nice nice very nice but at the back i think you guys are really rushing russian russian rushing and speeding everywhere and i think this part is something that we don't really see a lot on uh on the on on your platform but it's something that feel important to know because It's like a wedding, as you say, there's plan A, B, C, even Z. And that's a very like chef d'orchestre. In French, you say chef d'orchestre. It's a chef d'orchestre. I don't know how you say it in English.

• Speaker #1

  Yeah,

• Speaker #2

  but I mean,

• Speaker #1

  it's a chef d'orchestre. Yeah, it's very similar to the wedding process. And whenever you work on a wedding, I'm sure that you also have to keep it together. And whatever goes... out of line, like everyone, I don't know, maybe everything is late or there's a rain outside, etc. You have to keep it together and like you have to be the team worker, right? The team member, basically. And as a makeup artist and hair artist, I'm sure you're also like... some unprecedented things where you need to help with a dress or you have to coordinate time with photographers videographers etc sometimes maybe even redo makeup the whole thing so it's all about we all know and face those obstacles every day it doesn't matter editorials and weddings are very similar this way yeah

• Speaker #0

  that's true there's one advice that you gave me uh during a coaching call that I really used and really worked. for my business is like contacting the wedding planners and offering something, offering my service. That was something I didn't used to do before and I didn't even think to do before. And I applied that advice and it really worked because that brings me multiple brides with the same wedding planner. Is there any other advice that you could give to hair and makeup artists to improve our business. Like, as you said before, on the wedding day, you have the bride put on her dress, etc. Like, we're not there only for makeup. We're also there to be the emotional support for the wedding day. So if you have any advice to give to makeup artists there, makeup artists listening to us today, what would that advice be for?

• Speaker #1

  So in a case, there could be so many advices. But in the case, how to start, for example, working with planners? Yes, definitely. We call it give first approach. is just... Once again, coming from the planner's perspective, I just know how we choose or like how did I choose everyone with whom I worked with. And, you know, you have to remember that for the planner, the stakes are super high. Whenever you try and you want to try someone's new. So it's a normality that all the wedding planners, they work with closed circles. They have maybe like two, three or like up to five makeup artists in their circle. And that's it. Most likely, they don't need anyone else because they already know them. They will book them in advance. If they need someone additional for, like, mother or, like, the bridal party, those makeup parties in their team, they can cover it. So if you want to get on their radar and somehow start working with them, this give-first approach usually helps that they can try you on something, like, maybe for themselves during some networking event or et cetera. or like all the planners, they... uh come to us and they say oh we don't have usually time to prepare during the wedding day so we look like the total mess but they also want to have beautiful pictures from the backstage so you can offer your services for the wedding planning right during the day like early early in the morning you can also help them prepare so they will look beautiful and in this case if they will see how you work if they will like all of your products if you will be on time you will be like all this like they have a smile etc most likely they will recommend you because it's all human contact right it's all human connection so this is like the number one approach how to start working with planners yeah and is there yeah go ahead yeah yeah no go ahead sorry i called you i just i was nothing

• Speaker #0

  valentina go no just like just like yeah okay perfect yeah no that's that was a very good advice because like it seems very uh it's something i didn't think about but at the end when you told me it was like well that's really obvious at the end so uh that's a very nice advice and thank you for that um so webvibes is not only a a platform it's not only a community for wedding providers you're also a big heart because you organized um the vote for girls congress um How did that initiative came to your mind to organize that Congress last year? It was the first one last year, right?

• Speaker #2

  That's right.

• Speaker #0

  How did it come to your mind to organize it?

• Speaker #2

  I think that we had some kind of ideas what we can do and how we can connect, let's say, our power because we build the audience, right? In a good way. But also, of course, let's say... that it can be contributive to our business, to what we do. So, and we've been thinking how we can do it in a smart way. And also if it's possible to do online, because most of the Congress or conferences they have done in person. And, but we have international audience. So we understand whatever we do in person, it will limit us. And when you speak about the charity and. let's say like the huge initiative if we will limit that mean that we cannot everybody who wants to be involved they won't be able and also let's say if we do it in person the congress and we will donate all the tickets to charity so many people they cannot afford to travel i mean that's kind of yeah limitation so we were thinking and looking for the right partner so wow for girls it wasn't like it didn't start with all for girls it started with idea that we want to do some project that is connected to charity. And we started, let's say, unfolding this idea, looking for the right partners, because from a business perspective, when it comes to doing any project with charity and, let's say, charge people money for the tickets, it's always a lot about transparency. And if people can trust the whatever fund you're supporting, because there are so many stories that and I work in this business, I know, let's say, how Nestle approach it, because charity is always on the edge of really doing the good thing. or doing something in the gray area. So as our brand was getting bigger, we knew that we would be very, let's say, strategic and selective in terms of who we can partner with, who deserves not only our trust, but the audience's trust. And we can make sure that whatever money we make, the effort we make will be delivered to the right people. so there was some progress process and initially we wanted of course it somehow to be connected with weddings and honestly i think that daria will spill there like one of the ideas we wanted to create some funds to support creators because we know that people come from different backgrounds some creators they were blessed to have education supportive families and they had enough time to build themselves right But other creatives, they struggle and they have to do like any corporate job, whatever job, because they cannot, they don't have just time, five years to build portfolio, travel, attend all master classes and then make money. We know that, right? So we were thinking, okay, if we can build, create some funds to support those who didn't come from money, but they have time.

• Speaker #1

  It's not only about that. It's also about the thing that I mentioned in the beginning. You're all constantly in sales. And if... something that happens to you unfortunately like for example you broke a leg as a photographer or uh i think even maybe for a makeup artist it's like it's not going to be that easy photographers they are like done for the season in this way right they like they will have to pass over to like the next one uh with the clients and this way you cannot make any money etc or something happens in your family, you have to be present. And it's very, like, it's a physical job. You don't, you, like, yeah, part of the time, of course, you prepare and, like, you do your marketing at home, but you have to be present on the wedding day. So we still have this idea. Honestly, we just know how much time and effort it will take from us to create this bigger project, like the Creators Fund, as Elena mentioned. Oh, that's fantastic.

• Speaker #0

  So we decided to go with existing...

• Speaker #1

  charity program that's an existing fundraiser and we started with Vofo Girls because they do the amazing thing.

• Speaker #0

  Yeah, actually the two ideas are very very amazing because Vofo Girls is like, I'm speaking as the little girl, the little immigrant came from Nigeria because I'm not French, I'm not Italian, I was born in Nigeria, I came in Europe when I was eight years old and I know I know that... If I was not, if I didn't grow up in Europe, maybe I wouldn't have the life I have today. And Vote for Girls, like, speaks to me literally because I see myself in those girls that were forced to marriage because that's something that happens in my country and that still happens today. And that is something, like, usual. And I know that education is one of the things that saved me and that helped me be the person I am today. And when I saw Vote for Girls, like, I didn't even reflect, like,

• Speaker #2

  let's go for it like i to be honest i didn't really follow the congress i just wanted to pay that's all it just but i like that you're saying that because we know that everybody comes from different background and daria and i will also have certain values and background that's why when we finally decided to do the vow for girls it connected to our past yeah and uh Again, how we build ourselves and what experience we have in our childhood and our growing up. And it's again, it's so much bigger than just, let's say, stopping the child marriage to us. Because it's giving the privilege to somebody else in the world who doesn't have it to make their own choices in life.

• Speaker #1

  Yeah.

• Speaker #2

  Cheers. we have our choices and we have luxury to decide whatever we do even if we make mistakes but it's us who decide what what's our next steps but these girls they don't have any choice exactly no speaking of education education gives you the chance of understanding who you can become and to become this person and even have dreams because dreams is a choice partially so there was our let's say way of thinking in the end and that When you support the girl, you pretty much support yourself and your inner child or the choice you make.

• Speaker #0

  Exactly, exactly.

• Speaker #2

  That is how we wanted to put it. And I know that it's hard to communicate the big goal because when you see, let's say, the poster of the vow for girls, you think, okay, that goes for girls. But when we spoke with our speakers, we tried to deliver that everybody who will support it, they support themselves. Like ability to pursue your dreams.

• Speaker #0

  Yeah. that was our approach that's why we decided to do it again because the more we think about this initiative and about these girls we it more and more resonates with us and our values and the choices we make every day yeah because having the knowledge is having the choice that was that was my feeling because like when you don't know anything everybody can use you as the one and once you have the knowledge knowledge is power is it more powerful than money or anything knowledge power dream knowing to make your choice by yourself and not to say no or go away from a place that is not good for you uh that's really amazing and that the initiative of vote for girls has really resonated in me because like yeah as you said i was supporting the little girl i was uh and yeah i think yeah it's really resonating but also the other the other idea of the creative funds is a very nice idea I hope one day to see it will see the day um i hope one day that that that action will come out because like also yeah i'm immigrant so i had the background so i had struggle uh i had to work etc so i am i live i pay i pay my my bills since i'm 18 years old so i'm a mom etc so like it's not the same thing as someone that lives with the parents that have money as they come out from the parents house etc i needed to work to build my business etc and i'm still working to be in my business and i know that sometimes like okay like sometimes maybe you you want to do something but like you don't have the fun to do it and having a creative fund could be very very helpful for a lot of creative people and that's a very very nice idea hope that come soon okay yeah yes freaking on it yeah so the Just to give the information, the Vofo Girl will be on 9 and 10 November this year, right? Yes. The online congress. And after, you're going to have in-person soirées, three in-person soirées. So you have one in San Francisco on November 12. Another one, Lake Como, I will surely be there, on November 17. And then another one on November 19 in New York. So three soirées. You're going to be present at the three?

• Speaker #1

  No, just in two of them. We're going to be in New York and San Francisco and our team will be present in Lake Como because it's going to be crazy for us to travel.

• Speaker #2

  We are still a small business, so it's hard. 7-4 traveling for one event from the US.

• Speaker #1

  Yeah, that's not possible.

• Speaker #2

  But we know that we have European part of our team, as Daria mentioned, and they're going to attend. And also... Speaking of the small business, but it's also like a big investment of us, but we decided that we try to make it happen. So all our team members from Europe will be able to come to the soiree and meet in person with our members.

• Speaker #0

  Yeah.

• Speaker #2

  That we can communicate in any way. So because Dari and I, we have this luxury of meeting even like virtually with our members, but many of our team members, Red Vibes members, They never met these people. They actually surf, right? So we want them to come to this story and to meet with you. So everybody will know it's not only Lina and Daria. It's 20 more people.

• Speaker #0

  yeah because even while we are giving podcasts somebody is curating our members gallery yeah yeah but what is julia that sent me the pictures and the link and the information for the call yeah so yeah it's a huge and there's that's something i really appreciate because like uh you guys respond very very fast um um to to give a context because i came into the vibes universe like i i i make fun about this but at the beginning I remember every newsletter I received from Wet Vibes, I would just reply with a copy and paste, copy and paste. Hello, I'm Valentina, my dream is... Hello, I'm Valentina... And every time I had an email, oh, okay, we'll put you in touch with the team, etc, etc. Then after one day, I finally get in touch with the team and I enter inside the Fred's editorial, etc, etc. And now we are on the podcast. But anytime we need information, there is always somebody to answer. really really fast and that is really appreciated sometimes i'm a bit slow but you are fast we're trying to we're trying to yeah yeah because how many people is inside the wet vibes um how many people work inside wet vibes actually like 20 something no i think 20 with me and so 18 oh okay okay okay nice that's a huge you

• Speaker #1

  It's bigger than people perceive because usually people think okay, that's an Instagram page probably it's me Daria and the assistant But no, it doesn't work No, we have 18 and we are actually we have two positions open.

• Speaker #0

  Yeah,

• Speaker #1

  so yeah, we It's bigger than two but it's more than 100. Yeah

• Speaker #0

  Yeah Yeah,

• Speaker #2

  what do you think? It's big, yeah, yeah, yeah, for our industry, it's big. But it's just, like, we have, like, so many things. We have people who are responsible for Instagram, people who are responsible for the website, for all of our members, for curating portfolio, for marketing, for Pinterest, for, like, yeah, for production, because we have... For production,

• Speaker #1

  yeah.

• Speaker #0

  Yeah, yeah, yeah, because, like, we have so many things besides, like, the blog, let's say.

• Speaker #1

  The storefront. People see the storefront. It's Instagram page.

• Speaker #0

  Well, yeah, you have the blog, Pinterest, everything, because I follow you on Pinterest also, because now I'm trying to be more on Pinterest because, like, I feel Instagram is becoming very too overwhelming for me. So I'm trying to go on other places, other platforms. And Pinterest is a really good channel. And a lot of hair and makeup artists or maybe also other vendors do not think about Pinterest. But Pinterest, like, is the first source where bride go to. look for inspiration and like i find your pinterest are interesting let's go on pinterest let's try pinterest you know so it's even more bigger than we think and do you think actually talking about pinterest do you think like more vendors should go on pinterest because lately you're talking a lot about gen z uh generation etc uh we usually expect gen z to be on tiktok uh more than face even more than facebook but i feel also Pinterest is coming back. I don't know if maybe I'm wrong or what do you think about that?

• Speaker #1

  We feel the same, Valentina. Ah,

• Speaker #0

  you feel the same. Yeah,

• Speaker #2

  we feel the same.

• Speaker #0

  Yeah, yeah, yeah. The marketing feeling. Yes.

• Speaker #2

  Yeah, yeah, yeah. Actually, yeah, you are very smart. I want to say that you're very intuitive in terms of the marketing. You see the changes in the industry and you go with them and and you're the doer and we know that. that you will not only think about it, you will start doing this. But yeah, absolutely. Pinterest, it's always has been, and I don't think it's going to change anytime soon for the couples. It's always has been the biggest source of inspiration because yes, to your point, if I'm a bride and I'm thinking about the wedding, I will open a Pinterest and I will start exploring and I'm like basically falling down the rabbit hole. It's like, oh, so many things. It's a beautiful inspiration for the makeup and hair and the dresses and the flowers and everything. You just have to, and it's the biggest, one of the biggest tool from the point of SEO, how the people can actually discover you. But you have to be smart in terms of not only uploading your pictures there, but also use the captions. If this is the makeup, like what's on this exact? picture is it like the red lipstick or it's like slim uh slick slick bun yeah like inspired by i don't know sophia richie or like like just a recent oscar red carpet and use the caption and the one more thing, just put your pictures into the different folders.

• Speaker #1

  Yeah.

• Speaker #2

  So whenever they will discover you and they want to learn some, like, more and find some more inspiration, they can actually find the specific styles that they like. Because think about how your couples, most likely brides, of course, in your case, how do they search? Most likely they search for the inspiration in particular style that they like. they think okay i want to be like this celebrity or i want to i just know that the nude makeup is for me well i just oh i want the beach waves and that's it and like they're going to explore more more and more so if you have your work organized posted organized in different folders using captions having your bio description that will link will be linked to your website on Instagram.

• Speaker #0

  Yeah.

• Speaker #2

  That's.

• Speaker #0

  how you should approach it yeah just uploading your work no no that's true no no no no that's not really necessary because you can just create a portfolio or the in another space like in a page on your website but um i also couple that with blogging like making blogging creating folders etc and something i really see that really works on pinterest is like collage um i don't know if If you try the collage, it really brings a lot of traffic. on my pinterest so on my website and also on my instagram also so um really interesting i'm trying i'm doing some text actually i don't really talk about it because i'm doing some tests and after but it's really really interesting yeah

• Speaker #2

  colleges videos videos that maybe even explain or give like some hacks or tips to your future brides that's always worked uh the best because like they look for some sort of inspiration.

• Speaker #0

  Yeah, bringing values. bringing value the same as instagram but it less overwhelming and more like uh it it works during the time you actually it's not very fast and like something that expires in 24 hours like instagram or even tiktok so uh from your perspective uh what are going to be the the the most biggest shift uh that we should pay attention apart from pinterest do you have any other any other thing that you feel that we shouldn't pay attention to with the new gen z uh how they function etc with searching your wedding vendors have you tried tick tock tikka i'm trying i'm trying like i started this month like i said i have to stick on ticker so i'm consuming more tick tock content i'm trying because actually i'm really like bored from instagram so i'm going to tick tock but i don't know why i'm jenny but

• Speaker #2

  I don't know why I can't because not all Gen Z are the same the same as like not all millennials are the same but TikTok right now we see that actually right now it's like number two platform not even the Pinterest but it goes Instagram on the first place and TikTok becoming fast the number two platform TikTok TikTok Yeah, so I'm a millennial, but I do love TikTok. So not all the generations are like, not all the millennials are the same, not all the Gen Z are the same, but I'm a huge fan of TikTok. And I know that even like four or five years ago, TikTok was kind of for the most progressive, let's say, influencers who tried new things. But for the other people, it was like, oh, there are a lot of dancers, a lot of kids, et cetera. But what we see right now, that so many couples are looking for the inspiration and uh not even inspiration i want to say pinterest is still number one for inspiration but the useful advices the useful like tips and hacks right now they're not even googling it they go to tiktok and they look for uh professionals to give them the opinion to give the stories uh from the weddings so tiktok is literally becoming number two platform right now uh for couples to do their research

• Speaker #0

  Yeah, actually, it's not surprising because, as I said, I'm trying actually to go more on TikTok to consume more TikTok content and go to know how other people work on TikTok. And like I had a bride, I had a call with a bride not very some some weeks ago, and she sent me the foundation she usually use in beauty, for example. but I knew that I didn't have that nuance so I was like was the was the the the match of these millions in fancy beauty in your backstage i went to google i didn't find the information i was like let me try on tiktok i went on tiktok and say shade match uh fancy beauty 345 and i have a lot and you found it i was like oh my god like what is this universe is This is multiverse.

• Speaker #2

  Exactly.

• Speaker #0

  Yeah. And you have a lot of information. I didn't know TikTok was so useful because for me, TikTok was like people dancing. That's all. And absolutely not. So yeah, definitely TikTok is like I have to go on TikTok. I know it.

• Speaker #2

  It's a perception versus reality. And I know that everyone is super busy. And I know that no one has like all the time in the world to create the different. content strategy for different platforms. So like our advice will be this one. Think about everything that for example if you're thinking about instagram tick tock on pinterest and think about your clients journey try and post uh it like the same content on all the free platforms for example we know that right now the videos are number one tool for you to grow so post this video like post something about your brides post something about trends post the useful advices but posted on Instagram, copy pasted on TikTok. copy-pasted on Pinterest. This way, you will be presented in all three platforms. It's just, we know that at the end, different things will blow up. The more inspirational, like you will, like the basically like the beautiful bride and you just showing the final product, the final, let's say, look.

• Speaker #0

  Yeah.

• Speaker #2

  It will blow up on Instagram, right? And Pinterest. But if you will record yourself, like Valentina, and you're saying, oh, have you seen it? You have the perfect occasion ever. the oscar 2026 just finished like yesterday yeah if you go you will record yourself and you will say okay this is my top three makeups yeah or like this is uh my recreation of uh like this makeup from this actress yeah and you will do it on your face and you will recommend some of the products they use right this most likely will blow up on tiktok but you still can post it on all of three platforms, but you just know. that as much as you present in all of those platforms then like you will have much more chances to get on like in the face of your potential clients because most likely they are present on all of the platforms they don't google anymore as much as they used to right now they use social media yeah social media so instagram tiktok pinterest pinterest but just create like I said the same piece of content uh For makeup artists, honestly, whoever's listening to us right now, I feel like the video is the number, it's the most important format. Because photographers, they have a different approach. Planners have a different approach. But for you, even if you, I know how difficult it is for you to use the photographer's final photos, the edited photos, because they all have different editing style. Yeah, or they may be sometimes busy and forget to send you pictures. And, like, you have to chase everyone, of course, because the clients are their priority. And I know how difficult it is for you guys to create a content. But if you will start using your phone and just recording the videos, like we discussed, the final look, it's more than enough for you. And use yourself and do, like, get ready with me. Do the trends observations. Do this, like, the product. unpaking and observing like oh this is like you said like the new fancy product yeah and i'm just saying you like my honest opinion about this eyeliner etc this is like pure bread and butter for the content and for all the social media yeah

• Speaker #0

  involving the audience inside the journey like i'm packing my my stuff to the wedding etc come to the weathering me get weathering me etc very involved in the people because like actually now people need more connection than just I feel more connection than just like a beautiful makeup because yeah beautiful makeup is like just the minimum you have to do when you do makeup or a style but also the connection is important like the the value you bring to the to the bride also is

• Speaker #2

  important so such a lot of things to take in mind what about youtube youtube no no not really no youtube is actually it's also pretty good but i feel like for you youtube it still works the best in the long term uh in a long form i'm sorry of the video yeah but you don't have usually like the more like a lot of time to record the long form video you can still repost it in shorts i just honestly like in our research we haven't find the big like the big youtube cases from the video industry we know it works well for like maybe some other industries but not for youtube but you can still post it you never know you never know like you have this piece of content try and use it everywhere there. yeah it's already ready it's already ready just put and try and see so okay nice yeah yeah absolutely it's just yeah for video like for the makeup and hair artist i just want to say yes that you have to embrace the power of video and you have to embrace the power of your phone and the tripod because i know how difficult it is but at the end of the day for the bride it's even like more, let's say, she will understand your final look even more on the video because if you can see how the skin reflected in the sun etc she will see the final look even better than the professional photo and video

• Speaker #0

  Yeah,

• Speaker #2

  honestly.

• Speaker #0

  My craft work is always with me.

• Speaker #2

  Yeah, absolutely. Even if you will look at the celebrity makeup artist page, like Patrick Thie, right, on Nina Park, like everyone who does the red carpet, let's say, you will see that they use lots of content from their own phones. And you can see the real skin, the real final look. And this is what's important right now for everyone.

• Speaker #0

  And the real reaction, the reaction, especially the bride, when you showed the makeup, the reaction like, wow, amazing, thank you very much.

• Speaker #2

  Yeah, yeah, yeah. How happy she is, how she likes it. Yeah, because it's not only about your professionalism, it's also about how you made her feel.

• Speaker #0

  Yeah.

• Speaker #2

  Right. Because everyone is different and everyone's, let's say, perception of beauty is different. but if you see that they love the final look this is what what

• Speaker #0

  this is what matters if they look at the bureau and they like yeah they happy with the final result so where do you see the global wedding is evolving hey welcome back alina you're

• Speaker #1

  muted we can't hear you we can't hear you you're on mute i saw that thank you ladies i had to take very important call to manage some things for no worries no thank you we just see happy but instagram instagram i was listening to daria giving advices about what to do as a makeup did you say well yeah did you say well yeah she did perfect but i guess summarize what that you said the process what people love to watch yeah so you show the process and transformation that's a bread and butter for the makeup artist regardless if you do wedding makeup or celebrity makeup or any kind of makeup the process it's

• Speaker #0

  something that you definitely should yeah showcase beyond the only final result yeah because there's also a trend like actually like film yourself working not just your work like i don't know if you see but like that's like that's also summarize what we say like film yourself working not only the content because as we say like doing a beautiful makeup is the minimum as a makeup artist but showing how you make the bright feel is very important you and makes more like make the future brothers looking at the video connect more to the bride inside the video and to you So very nice Wow time flies Could we just take some time just to do some signature question for the end before I leave you guys? So this bus cat was made after like big big challenge so I had a lot of time to to to to I had a lot of time to no no actually it wasn't a really a new year resolution but it was something I had in mind for a lot a lot of time but um something happened and I had a lot of time to do this project so I was like it's the moment so I started the podcast one year ago so the podcast is already one year now. almost 100th episode on the podcast. Wow.

• Speaker #2

  Congratulations. First of all.

• Speaker #0

  Thank you. I think, yeah, just after, like, two episodes after this one is coming out, it's going to be the 100th episode. So, like, I'm very proud of that.

• Speaker #1

  Congratulations. That's why Dario said that you're a doer.

• Speaker #0

  Doer. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. This podcast is my baby. And so that's why I like to ask the question, like, What? What is your biggest, for each of you, what is your biggest failure that you ever had in business or your biggest challenge that you ever had and what did that help you, how did that help you grow? Because a challenge is never a failure, it's always a way to improve ourselves. So could you just tell us your challenge and how that improves you?

• Speaker #2

  Yeah, because failure, it's how you look at the failure. Yeah, you look at this and it's a challenge. Yeah, it's different. Oh, wow. I'm trying to come up with the best example because honestly, guys, there's so many challenges. Challenges and failures. Challenges and failures. Yeah. Okay. I feel like one of the biggest challenges for me that we touched is how we moved to another country. So it's very similar here with your journey, Valentina, but We made it then we were 30 years old. So for us, I feel like it was even maybe like more challenging if you do it in adult age, because you're already formed person and you already got. to the things that are done the certain way and especially moving to the united states everything is different they don't have kilometers they have miles oh my god kilos they have gallons and that's my minor daria american need to be interesting was different everything everything is different so for us one of the biggest challenges was to overcome overcome this failure of language, for example, and I feel like it's Maybe relevant to somebody who's listening to us right now, if you want to expand your services to the new market and you want to work with international couples, never ever get shy in a way that people will not understand you or your basic language skills, which is directly connected with sales. Never think that this could be something that will... stop you or like challenge you even with a fast if our like we still still have english skills even english lessons i'm sorry even though we live in united states every week we have english lessons and yeah sometimes it's a challenge even like with pronunciation of bad vibes sometimes people honestly in the united states they do not understand that we're trying to say bad vibes they do not understand because i'm not making effort Yes. So never ever let that stop you if you want to work on the next level. We had some, honestly, we had some challenges without being Russians, because you know what's happening right now in the world. And for some time, I feel like for a year or maybe two, we didn't even want to say that this is the country of origin for us, because it had some... bad reputation it still has and uh so i feel like whatever is your background you have to find a way to make it your strengths not a weakness and it's like you mentioned you finding out that we russians you immediately thought oh they know everything about luxury transform it it's it's all a matter of perception right we could have said yeah we will never tell anyone where we're from and we decided no

• Speaker #1

  And only our second name and accent will reveal us.

• Speaker #2

  Your second name and accent will... You don't need to say it. We will never say it.

• Speaker #1

  You don't really have to say it. I interrupted the rest.

• Speaker #2

  How we can play around it. We can make jokes about our accent. We can say that, yes, we have strengths that are in our culture, because, yes, we're like in a perfect mix of European background and American business perspective. So I feel like this...

• Speaker #1

  still to this day this is a challenge that we have to overcome yeah every day we try to blend in and then we finally realize that with a certain positioning we can fill this certain gap even amongst the media owners or founders or whoever

• Speaker #2

  runs the maiden media if it makes sense right so i guess yeah so this is why we decided to even like not uh hide our personalities because especially with media companies usually we don't know who's running them. It's like we perceive the company, not a persona. And we are voting for personal brands, as you know. We constantly talk with everyone in our community about importance of personal brands. And this is what we try to do with ourselves. We can be not your cup of tea, as they say, right? But if we are, you will go with us. This is who we are. This is our background. And this is what makes us different. If you like us, good. But we're not for everyone. And we do understand that.

• Speaker #0

  That's a very powerful challenge.

• Speaker #2

  Yeah.

• Speaker #0

  Yeah. Thank you for talking about this challenge. Because this series of English podcasts, I'm going to put them inside my lesson. Because I do lessons for French hair and makeup artists. And most of them would love to work with international brides. But they don't speak English. so they always say oh i'm going to learn english then i can book a bride and i always say no is the other way first you book a bride then you learn english because you have the bride uh because if you wait you will have a challenge you will have a deadline exactly exactly because if you just try to learn english like in three years time five years time ten years time you don't know how to speak english but if you have a bride in three months i assure you you speak english in three months you know you will speak every day english enough language english to communicate about the make exactly because you have a deadline so thank you very much for talking about that because like is something very important to know that language should not be a barrier because like you can't even talk with your hands that's enough like at the moment that people can understand you that's enough and yes it's going to be challenging at the beginning and after you learn then after you get more comfy more confident etc but language should never be a barrier and the fact that you guys put your face on wet vibes and the personal branding makes me more that creates more connection with you, with your story, etc. So that's a very good point of wet vibes again. And what is your biggest win in your career that you had?

• Speaker #1

  I think that I will take that because my challenge actually, Valentina, was different.

• Speaker #0

  Oh, go ahead.

• Speaker #1

  So my challenge was that I worked... in different career I build a good career in corporate world and at some point I realized that I cannot do it any time longer I feel anxious I feel kind of I don't know like in the in the loop and I felt that I need to change something so this is how I decided to change the country and change the career and My biggest takeaway, and I know that mostly makeup artists are listening to you, at the same time I know that some of them probably still have corporate jobs or something like that, because not everybody can lean on the income from like these artistic professions. So I'm not encouraging everyone to quit the job without the cushion, but at the same time what I'm encouraging to do, if you have a chance to change your life, you can do it. And it definitely won't work out the way you imagined. At the time you were quitting the job, but you will find the way how it can work out. And it can be, I guess, just another chapter of your life. Because me now thinking about living the same nine to five corporate life, fighting for corporate, like for strategies. I just cannot imagine myself now. It doesn't mean that I don't fight. I mean, in terms of like, we still have a lot of things with business and it's different things. I don't want to put myself into the same trap of nine to five corporate jobs and presenting the debts to the general managers day by day. So if you feel like you have to change, it's make a cushion and then change. For the biggest win, I guess what we've built with Daria, it's the biggest win. And even when we mentioned how many people work with us, that's also something that we celebrate every day. Because we started our business, let's say we met with Daria six years ago at UCLA. We became friends. Then because we are immigrants and we couldn't work for hire because we didn't have job permit as a foreign student, we had to hustle. So we opened the digital marketing agency and that was hustle. Right. And we like now I speak with an accent, but. Trust me, six years ago, it wasn't just an exit. It was like horrible, something that I wanted to call English. So we hustled and we did, like, we grew our Instagrams. We became marketing bloggers. And then it transformed into Red Vibes. When we started Red Vibes, we had four people in our team except us. And now it's 18. So even if the hat count, it feels like that's a big win. And the second thing to me, And I guess Daria will agree that every time we do live sessions, every time you look at our, let's say, members, there are people from all over the world. And it feels like what we say, that we want to unite professionals from all over the world, and they also can see that they belong to something bigger. And to your point, Valentina, that a lot of French makeup artists, they don't think, okay, I'm French, and I have French clients, and I'm in the bubble of this little world. But even when they... Even when they just joined VEDVIPES, they feel that they belong to a bigger industry. And this feeling of belonging, to me, it's very empowering. Because you see people from all over the world. You can connect with them. You can discuss the same issues that, I don't know, German makeup artists have with German brides. Russian with Russians. Everybody with, like, I don't know.

• Speaker #0

  have same like same profession have similar challenges and when they discuss until they belong it's even empowering to travel more to learn english and to understand that yeah i can pretty much book uh whoever bright i want so to me that's empowering that i guess with the only media that really unites people from all over the world yeah intentionally

• Speaker #1

  I agree with that. I agree with that because, yeah, I don't know any other media that reunites a lot of people from all over the world. As you say, I assisted to a lot of live sessions and even your mastermind. And every time you have France, you have Germany, you have East countries, you have from all over the world, US, etc. and that's very powerful and it's not only reuniting but yeah the i feel I feel part of something being in the wet vibe circle you know I really feel part of something and that is very very huge and that is very powerful and empowering that's so true and you Daria

• Speaker #2

  Daria I just agree with Alina like with everything what she said nothing to add yeah I I feel like this is the biggest win yeah to see the community we've built around us it's I couldn't even imagine it like yeah five years ago or even like three years ago honestly

• Speaker #1

  The growth was very fast, no?

• Speaker #0

  No. Yeah. I mean, people, no, no. Because it's so fast. Okay. I mean, people think that, oh, my God, everything that you don't do personally, it happens fast, right? Like kids grow fast, especially if they're not your kids. But first of all, we work hard. Second, we have team internationally. So if you think about wet wipes, it's 24-7. And that was like the last time I was thinking, really? Because our team is located in China, Emirates, America, Europe, all over the world, pretty much the project operates 24-7. Because if we were only, let's say, California-based, we clearly had this gap. When we go to bed, wake up. But because when we go to bed, our production team wakes up, we can also ask them, OK, girls, while we are sleeping, can you do that? And vice versa. When they go to bed, they can ask us to cover. Night shift. and another thing that people think that we're kind of huge and that we make like millions of dollars it's not exactly right because the digital present it's not really uh reflects with the let's say the profit right and the amount of job we put and i guess darry and i we had like this you know feeling maybe a year ago that oh my god we're growing so fast we're so cool but then like some humbling experience happens with us and now we feel like no, we're still small business and we work hard. And sometimes the efforts we put not really reflected in the outcome that we want.

• Speaker #1

  Yeah.

• Speaker #0

  And it's only for people from outside. It looks like we are massive. But trust me, we believe that we would have grown faster, like an IT startup that is not happening to us. And we believe that we would have, let's say, at this point, Maybe I cannot say work less, but somehow figure things out. But we're still figuring things out. We're still working on the new project. We're still, let's say, trying to find a new way for the media companies because media business is transforming. Nobody go and buy Vogue magazine anymore. Nobody even buy the New York Times subscription. Not many people even buy the Patreon subscription. So the media industry is changing. Because every time we talk to wedding artists, they complain that it's hard. And I also want to say it's not only for wedding artists. Life is hard. And we also, Daria and I and our team, we're trying to figure out and be on top of the change, which is hard. And in many cases, the amount of work and creative efforts we put in place doesn't really bring the result that we want. And even for WOW for Girls, that is an amazing opportunity. And we loved it. But we raised $45,000 instead of $90,000. So it's also a very humbling experience all the time.

• Speaker #2

  Yeah.

• Speaker #0

  To be honest. And it's just know that, especially speaking of the makeup artists who is listening now, sometimes you feel I'm small and other people are big. It is not.

• Speaker #1

  No, that's true. When you're inside the business, you know the reality. I'm not surprised.

• Speaker #0

  That's probably the biggest takeaway.

• Speaker #1

  Yeah. I'm not really surprised by what you're saying, because I never think like, you know, like we can, when you people see from the outside and not inside the industry, they may think that, I being inside, I'm not surprised by what you're saying, because like even I'm sure that other makeup artists, when they see what I do, et cetera, going to Lake Como, going to this place, et cetera, et cetera. They think like I make millions, but absolutely not.

• Speaker #0

  Which is good to build this impression. But because we have podcast about the back end of the business, it's again, don't think that you're small and others big.

• Speaker #1

  No. And thank you for saying that. Thank you very much for saying that. It's important for people to hear it and to know it. that even for a huge big little huge company let's say if you prefer because we know you a company yeah little huge company is is very is thank you for saying that because sometimes like it's difficult to talk about this kind of uh topics like money etc sometimes can be some a bit taboo but yeah the the the like saying that saying that you you expected having 90 000 and you had only 45 000 like oh wow so i'm not the only one that makes so big

• Speaker #2

  a big um yeah support 200 500 girls but we supported 250 250 but we're also setting up the goals and we sometimes don't meet the goals yeah yeah yeah i'm sorry girls but they actually making me knock into the door okay let's talk yeah perfect the final final uh so well it

• Speaker #1

  was a really amazing podcast with you guys so just one little question what do you think people shoot

• Speaker #2

  uh take in mind after listening this episode with you uh stop start doing something yeah so one of my favorite advices whatever you do just do it try and post on instagram uh update your website reach out update website i want to say it's like it's the simplest task no go outside literally go outside go to the networking event go outside in terms of online, reach out to at least one planner, post on Instagram, on TikTok or Pinterest, whatever you do, just continue to do it. It's a step. You will not meet your goals. You will be ghosted by your clients. You will meet all of the challenges, but if you will continue doing like Valentina, you will... most likely end up at the end with 100 episodes or with 100 clients for the season or etc etc it's just continue and try try try never stop there's something the same thing happens with us we never stop we always try new things yeah this is why it feels like we've grown so fast for me yeah we're just constantly in a process of doing something going going doing doing do being

• Speaker #1

  be a doer be a doer be a doer very much if you

• Speaker #0

  Thank you very much. Thank you.

• Speaker #2

  It's been very nice having you.

• Speaker #0

  Wait Oh,

• Speaker #2

  my God. Yes. Let's take a picture. Bye. Thank you very much. Bye. Bye. Ciao.

• Speaker #1

  Thank you so much for listening. If this episode resonated with you, make sure to subscribe and leave a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. It truly helps the podcast grow. You'll find all the details about today's guest as well as how to connect with both of us in the show notes. And if you'd like to connect directly, you can find me on Instagram at ValentinaDenis. See you next week for more Real Talk.