Credo Beauty
Conscientious shopping has become the latest trend. After all, we are what we consume, so why not make it our credo to pamper ourselves with what’s good for us?
The best remedies start with the basics: what we put on our bodies. Credo beauty is a quickly developing beauty and skincare company that starts with just that, dedication and a desire to change the way we consider content, quality, and our overall well-being.
In the world of beauty and self-care, Credo Beauty sets itself apart by prioritizing two main principles: education and ingredients. With a constantly updated “dirty” list, Credo maintains and upholds a strict standard to which all products must adhere. Everything in this store is pre-approved before it reaches the shelves so that you can shop more freely and cleanly! In addition to this promise, Credo continues to educate its employees and customers on products and ingredients in the face of the constantly expanding world of beauty.
In the wake of a clean beauty revolution, the team at BWB took a moment to speak with Annie Jackson, Credo Beauty’s Vice President of Merchandising & Planning, to see what’s coming up ahead!
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Annie Jackson | VP, Merchandising & Planning at Credo
YOUR INSPIRATION
For joining Credo after your career at Sephora
One aspect of Credo that I was not prepared for was how personal this journey would become.
I have worked with our founder Shashi Batra for a long time… let’s just say the internet was not around when I started… hah. Suffice it to say, that I have been in beauty a long time; however, I took a departure for a few years and owned my own retail store. So, for me, Credo is this very fortuitous coming together of all of these experiences. It is also important for me to be able to work for someone who has always had a contagiously creative vision and from whom I can continue to learn.
Credo is creating a place for women to find clean beauty brands that have beautiful formulas, work effectively and have incredibly unique ingredient combinations.
One aspect of Credo that I was not prepared for was how personal this journey would become. I have dedicated much of my career to working for conventional beauty brands, not understanding the impact that these products’ chemicals have on your health and our environment.
The people behind these brands are inspiring, creative people from different backgrounds who were moved to create these incredible solutions.
Credo is creating a place for women to find clean beauty brands that have beautiful formulas, work effectively and have incredibly unique ingredient combinations. The people behind these brands are inspiring, creative people from different backgrounds who were moved to create these incredible solutions.
How to be an effective leader
We are choosing people to join our company that are as determined as we are to change the way women think about what they put on their bodies.
Credo is something we are building organically, as we selectively draw from our past experiences in retail and beauty. We are choosing people to join our company that are as determined as we are to change the way women think about what they put on their bodies. Our team is truly the “heart” of our company. We value transparency, integrity and shared a sense of urgency to lead this natural beauty revolution! Our “everyday” is one of collaboration, creatively figuring out challenges and a lot of laughing. I could not be more proud of our team – so it is not about “leading” as much as staying vigilant to our vision, together.
How to stay creative
One of the most special parts of Credo is the community of brands within the company, and their collaboration with each other.
Trust me, there is competition – but it is genuine and serves our customer best.
They all believe in the “rising tide lifts all boats” mentality. By sharing resources and holding each other to a higher standard, they help one another.
The clean beauty space is evolving rapidly – product development formulas are innovating rapidly, packaging is more effective and speed to market is improving
Trust me, there is competition, but it is genuine and serves our customer best. I keep the balance of this community in mind when I select a brand to be a part of Credo.
At the same time, the clean beauty space is evolving rapidly; product development formulas are innovating, packaging is more effective, and speed to market is improving. We have different resources for finding new brands, and the most successful launches to date resulted from extensive research on European and Australian markets to understand the kind of ingredients and trends that are resonating overseas. That is what makes being a merchant so fun – the more specific the need, the more fun the hunt.
YOUR CITY
What you love most
I am from the Bay Area, born and raised. I love that San Francisco feels like a small town and I often run into friends and family just walking from our office to our store on Fillmore street. Our family also loves the water – we paddle board, surf and sail— so being so close to the water feels incredible. San Francisco is also a welcoming community, open to people from ALL cultures, and we are proud to headquarter our office and live here.
Favorite afternoon café
I love La Boulangerie in Pacific Heights. Once you have had a croissant and a cappuccino at La Boulangerie, nothing else is comparable. Sadly, nearly every day I am able to substantiate this claim.
Go-to lunch place
Out the Door on Bush St. is a Vietnamese restaurant in Pacific Heights, and they have the ultimate SF vibe: totally unassuming, with the most delicious food. You cannot go wrong with any choice, but the 5-spiced chicken and the Green Papaya salad are my all time favorites.
A night on the town
Our favorite evening activity on the weekends is running our dogs on Stinson Beach – usually someone (if not all of us) will end up in the water either surfing or swimming – and then eating at The Siren Canteen. The new owner has transformed it to a sweet little bohemian retreat with a 360 degree view of the Pacific. We sit with our dogs, drink a cold beer under the string lights, and eat incredible food with our feet in the sand. I live for this.
YOUR DAY
Morning beauty routine
Busy! I get up early and run our dogs. We have two teenagers, so we to get them up and going for school, which is sometimes the most complex negotiation of my day. I get ready for work very quickly; my husband says my ability to get in and out of the bathroom in less than 10 minutes is why he married me. I commute to work with our Director of Operations and we laugh that we have done more by 7:50 AM than really makes sense.
Perfect outfit
Until now, I have worked in very “corporate” companies and have done the heels and all black routine too long. Our office is super casual and I find I am most productive in my skinny jeans and Vans. Actually, you would be hard pressed to really find me in anything else. Nothing makes me more unhappy than wearing a blazer and heels.
Evening relaxation
My family is everything to me. So when we are all home we will usually build a fire outside and bundle up after dinner to hang out and talk. We laugh a lot, and our kids (for now) are still very forthcoming (almost too much so if that is possible) about what goes on in their day.
YOUR BEAUTY
Must-have skincare products
Kahina Moroccan Rose Beldi Soap and Innersense Nourish Shampoo & Conditioner
Susanne Kaufmann Skincare Line T Regeneration Cream and the January Labs Restorative Tonic
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Favorite makeup products
Ilia Tinted Moisturizer in Hanalei Bay and the RMS Living Luminizer & Uncover Up 22
Jillian Dempsey Rich Brown Eye Liner and the Antonym Mascara Lola Lash Too
Studio 78 Palette “Ready to Party”
Nu Evolution Cosmopolitan Blush and the Olio e Osso Tinted Balm #4
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Favorite Perfume
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CREDO TOMORROW
Credo’s NYC location on 9 Prince Street
New brands
We are extremely excited to be launching Tony & Tina. We have known Tina for a long time and are really excited to be introducing her new bodycare line that is crafted to leverage the connection between energy healing and aromatherapy to create highly therapeutic products. We will also be launching a brand called Mother Dirt, and one of their items in particular —the AO + Mist — is a probiotic spray that uses live bacteria to rebalance your skin. Last, we are launching Violets are Blue skincare, something I am especially thrilled to do given the heart-wrenching yet all-too-common breast cancer battle their founder, Cynthia Besteman, won.
How to educate better customers
Our biggest challenge is to stay on top of the most current information and misinformation at the same time. We want to be a resource to our customers, so we take every opportunity to educate our staff.
Presence in the US and plans for expansion
We see a Credo presence in any community that has the critical mass to support the demand for conscientiousness. However, we realize that we are at the front of the movement, and that we have to teach and be an integral part of building that demand. We will continue to open stores in communities at a measured pace based on the speed at which we see the market evolving.
Taylor is a recent honors graduate of Rhode Island School of Design’s Painting and Art History Department. A dual-citizen in Belgium and the U.S. with frequent wanderlust, a passion for editorial, and an affinity for sketching, she is now exploring the connection between art and beauty.
Credo is creating a place for women to find clean beauty brands that have beautiful formulas, work effectively and have incredibly unique ingredient combinations.
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