After 30-Plus Years As A Broker For Brands Like Mielle Organics, Germaine Bolds-Leftridge Creates Her Own Line

Germaine Bolds-Leftridge has spent almost half of her life being what she calls a server. It’s a role she’s happily taken on during her three-decade broker career cultivating beauty brands like Mielle Organics, Oyin Handmade, Curls Dynasty, Kenya Moore Haircare, Makeup Bullet and Taliah Waajid at her sales and marketing organization GBL Sales Inc. It’s also readied her for her next chapter as founder of I KNOW, a line of skincare products formulated specifically for Black women 50 years old and above.

“Everybody talks about taking a seat at the table, but there are so many lessons and value in being the server,” reflects Bolds-Leftridge. “Because if you think about a server, you start looking at all the nuances of the people that are sitting at that table, you learn body language, you look at eyes, you’ll know if they love the food, you can hear all the conversations. But if you’re sitting at the table, your conversations and your exposure is limited to the people just around you. So, when you learn how to be a server, when it’s time for you to take a seat at the table, I think you’re better prepared.”

Beauty Independent spoke with Bolds-Leftridge about her early days in beauty, how marketing strategies have evolved, why retail isn’t for everyone, what she thinks about celebrity beauty brands, and building I KNOW into the No. 1 skincare brand for women of color.

Was having a career in beauty always the goal for you?

No, not at all. Some people really have their whole life mapped out and know what they want to do. I wish it was that easy for me. I knew I wanted to work for myself, but doing what I didn’t know. I grew up in Detroit and was very rambunctious, so my parents sent me to a private boarding school in Bruton, Alabama. When the bus stopped at a gas station, I burst out crying. It was such a small town. I had never seen cows before except for in a book, but that was the best experience of my life, and it prepared me for being a great follower and a good leader.

I was very active at the school and then went to Morgan State University, where I was very active in student government. I was also president of my sorority chapter. When I got out of school, I wasn’t really serious about getting a job, but, when I looked around and saw all of my friends were working for Fortune 500 companies, it start affecting me. I was happy for them, but sad for me. I started working at an insurance company where I had to pray every day when I turned to open that door because I hated sitting behind a computer, it just wasn’t who I am.

One homecoming, a friend introduced me to one of my sorority sisters who worked for M&M. She said, “There’s an opening as a merchandiser, and I’m going to set you up for an interview.” I didn’t get that job, but I got another one with Soft-Sheen Carson and was really good at it. After about a year, I felt like I should be going to the next level, so I worked with a broker and excelled with that. Then, I started working for a company, Worlds of Curls, and did extremely well in that and then Luster products, the pink moisturizer company. March 1, 1990 is when I hung my shingles up for GBL sales, and I became a broker. Luster was my first client.

When I first got into the business it was male-dominated and it was very hard getting into it, but I was very patient really trying to work my game. I became known for getting results and other manufacturers started coming to me and asking me if I would represent their brand. Here I am, 1990 to 2022, still growing and reinventing.

What made you want to start your own brand?

I’ve had a couple of my employees who have started their own, and at first, that bothered me but then I was like, “No, that’s a blessing. That’s what you’re supposed to do.” For those that want to be entrepreneurs, you’re supposed to bring that out in them. I had to look at it differently.

I’ve helped a lot of brands make a lot of money. In 2020 when COVID started, my mother got sick, and it made me stop and go spend time with her. Even though we didn’t have much, my mother would always tell us, “Take care of your skin and it’ll take care of you later.” My mother was beautiful, even when she was in the hospital, she got compliments on her skin. My father lives with me with dementia. He’s 88, and his skin is beautiful.

I knew I wanted to do something for the platinum woman. I was starting to do focus groups back when I was 50—that was 13 years ago—talking about haircare products, but I knew that it would be a conflict of interest because I couldn’t push my brands and push my line. I always put that on the back burner, but, when my mother passed it, was eye-opening for me. It was like, if not now, when?

I really wanted to focus on Black women because, when you look at the skincare game, these big companies will splatter us in because they do want our money, but it’s not intentional. We spend $465 million a year on skincare. I wanted to be intentional about talking to this woman and letting her know how important she is. More important than the products, it’s about building a community where women can talk to each other.

As you get older, a lot of people get more depressed because you see this transformation, you see the wrinkles and your body changes. How do you live with that? We started this thing called I KNOW confessions. If you go on the website, you’ll hear these women talk about the things that they know when you get to a certain age.

We tell people to get a new relationship with their skin. So what, you got another wrinkle? It shows your pathway to your wonderful life and the legacies that you’re creating for your children. I also tell people to go to their dermatologist every year, get butt naked, and let them look all over because you can’t see what’s happening on your back or the back of your legs. Take care of yourself, drink more water, eat right, and more importantly, keep creating a future for yourself. It’s not over.

I look at some women when they get to a certain age, they think it’s OK to dress frumpy, it’s OK to get out of shape. It’s not. I hate exercising, but I’m in that Pilates class, I got a personal trainer because I’m preparing for my 80-year-old self. I keep young people around me because I learn a lot from them, and they learn a lot from me. That’s the perfect combination: A baby boomer and a millennial.

In the beginning of your career, what was your strategy when it came to building brands? 

In the beginning, we didn’t have social media. Sampling, radio and billboards were very critical back in the day. A lot of it was grassroots sampling. We would do really creative things like I would position beautiful women on major corners to hand out samples while the light was red. Also, I knew what was happening in the territory so that I could make sure that my clients were part of any events that were taking place.

Back in the day, before chain stores like Target or Walmart or CVS, it started in the beauty salons and barber shops. Within the last 10 years, there’s been a paradigm shift where now the brands want to start in the chains and the B2B business is secondary.

One of the things that I tell them is everybody does not have the stomach for retail because there’s a lot of expense that’s associated with being on that retail shelf. You have to be strong enough to engage your base and to get that consumer to come into that store and take the product off the shelf. It’s not personal when it’s retail, it’s business and everything is about terms profitability. Some people become poor by going into the retail space.

How has your marketing approach evolved over the years?

Now I try to make sure that they’re strong on their social media and that they know how to activate and engage with that consumer to get them to go and move product off the shelf. My strategy always has been and always will be slow and steady wins the race. It’s not that we’re not aggressive because I’m very aggressive, but very strategic. One success will dictate the next move.

You have to talk to the millennials very differently than you talk to the people 20 or 30 years ago. Now, it’s short to the point and move on. When I first started, it was more face-to-face, now it’s more impersonal because the internet is your source of information.

We did a lot of in-store promotions back in the day, a lot of radio campaigns and contests. Now they don’t have to do radio, even though I think it’s still a very effective means of communicating to the consumer. It’s all about digital and how they engage on social media. That’s the one thing that I’ve had to adjust, even with my I KNOW brand. I have to find what that happy medium is for me in talking to my consumer base, which is more mature.

And how are you reaching the 50-plus consumer?

I belong to two strong women’s organizations, The Links incorporated and Delta Sigma Theta. They’ve both been very, very supportive, and we are also doing pop-up shops. Our first one was in Beverly Hills. It was amazing. We did our second one in Houston two weeks ago, and our next one will probably be in New York. That’s how Mary Kay built her brand.

I’m not looking to go to retail right now, I want to build a community where women can talk about things that are happening to their bodies. The brand is all about exfoliation and putting that moisture back into the skin because, as you get older, everything gets drier. When I say that, all the women laugh in the room because they know what I mean by that.

Right now, the line is going through a clinical study by a dermatology and research center, so I’m really really excited about that. We’re doing the things that are necessary to really get it out there. I’m very comfortable with saying this: It will be the No. 1 skincare line for women of color.

I KNOW has launched on Amazon with the help of a third-party agency. Why is Amazon a good partner for it? 

Amazon reaches so many people, and they’re doing a great job at featuring minority brands. You don’t have to deal with temporary price reductions, and you don’t have to participate in a lot of the chains’ programs, which are profit centers, but really crush your bottom line and keep you from doing other things. I want to put my money into digital ads, and once I build the consumer base, when I go to Target, then that’s when I get the residual benefit.

How did you determine product prices?

I had this Caucasian lady tell me, “Your product should be three times what they are.” I want be profitable, but I don’t need to gouge this consumer. I don’t need them to have to spend $500 a month to maintain their skin.

So, I really worked with my manufacturer on the ingredients and used my negotiating skills to keep the pricing very competitive. The one mistake that I made was using airless jars. It lasts for 45 to 60 days, so they get way more than their money’s worth [laughs], but the packaging is beautiful.

Your goal was and I’m assuming still is to turn small brands into household names. Do you think that task is harder today with the space being as crowded as it is?

Yes and no. I don’t think that the consumer is as excited about this category as they once were because now it’s so saturated. They have so many choices. Back when Shea Moisture, Miss Jessie’s, Mixed Chicks got into the game, they were able to sell stuff at $58. Now with this consumer becoming savvier, she’s doing DIY herself, and it becomes more challenging.

I think it is harder, but not impossible. Their noise has to be louder. Facebook and Instagram have changed how they do business with these entrepreneurs. They see that they were making all this money, so now it takes you almost 25 impressions now to engage with one consumer. It’s costing them more money. They got to get with people like me to help them get relationships with these various retailers to get their product in front of the buyer. I don’t do that until I know that they’re ready.

I feel that oftentimes business people lead their businesses with their egos. You want to be where your competitors are, but it may not be the time or that may not be the retailer that’s best for you. You need to know what the competition is doing, but you don’t know what the end game is for them. Stay true and authentic to yourself, and run your race.

The question that some people always ask me is, how do you manage all these brands that are so alike? They may be wet goods, they may be addressing 4C hair, but they are different and the strategy is different. For Mielle, I recommended and suggested that we go to Sally first, and that was the best move for them. Everybody is different. You don’t want to grow certain brands too fast.

Are there traits that define a standout brand?

It’s all about the founder. I look at Monique [Rodriguez, founder of Mielle Organics], and she’s evolved because she was very quiet at first. She has a great product, but the most important thing is she was very consistent and persistent. Even for me, it’s hard some days. I’m like, I’m not doing social media today, I don’t feel like it. She never did that, it was every day and everybody doesn’t have that stick-to-itiveness. I look at some of my brands, and they’re starting to do it now, but it’s almost too late.

If you think about why there has never been one celebrity successful in our category, it’s because they think that their name alone can get it, and it’s not true. It’s all about the persistent, consistent, authentic engagement. Celebrities don’t do that, they have so many other things going on.

I’m constantly telling them, I’m not your fan first of all. I’m in this for the long haul, I don’t deal with short-term money. I’m not going to do a big order just to get a commission, I want to be very strategic about it. It’s hard keeping their attention, and when a buyer asks for something, it can’t take two weeks to get an answer. So, it’s your level of engagement, it’s your level of persistence, it’s your level of consistency that will get you across the finish line. And having a great product, too, and a great story and how much you’re going to allow the consumer to get to know you.

Is there a brand you worked with at GBL that you’re particularly proud of?

Mielle Organics. I tell people you got to have your end in mind and a lot of their endgame is to sell and create that legacy for their family. For a lot of the indie brands, you have to bring on an investor in order to scale in order to keep building. We don’t have the same access as some of our counterparts, so it makes it much more challenging. I remember when [Sundial Brands co-founder] Rich Dennis first got started in this industry, and he brought on investments so that he could scale up and build the brand to the point where he can now help other entrepreneurs.

It’s important that people understand why they’re getting into this game called entrepreneurship. It can’t be because your girlfriend’s doing it, it can’t be just primarily to buy yourself a new car. That can’t be the goal because you’re going to get so disappointed. Entrepreneurship is not for the faint of heart. You’re going to have some down days, you’re going to have some disappointments, you’re going to have challenges. It’s the ones that can absorb all of that that will be successful.

What are lessons you’ve learned so far going from server to entrepreneur?

I’ve learned that it’s easier to push others than it is to push yourself. It’s hard being an entrepreneur. I understand supply chain challenges, and it’s made me more sensitive to my client’s issues. I’ve been impatient with the process, but now I get it. You don’t get it until you’re in it.

The supply channel issues are really real, but how do you pivot and still make the best of it? That’s one of the things I’ve always learned how to pivot when this doesn’t work. Let me try another version. So, just learn how to not allow the challenges distract or deter you, but work through them. I really believe it’s not what you do when you’re up, it’s what you do when you’re down.