341 | Building a Brand on Repeat Buying Power | with Lea Garcia

Leah Garcia is the Founder & CEO of NULASTIN®, the first beauty brand to commercialize elastin-based haircare. With a background as a professional athlete and award-winning media personality, Leah brings a performance mindset to DTC brand building, combining storytelling, product innovation, and operational grit. Before launching NULASTIN, Leah built a successful career in broadcast journalism and sports media, covering professional bull riding for CBS and competing internationally in mountain biking. That same tenacity shows up in how she scaled NULASTIN to $17.5M in revenue before hiring her first employee, bootstrapping the brand through direct response marketing, Indiegogo campaigns, and scrappy user-generated content. Leah shares why she shifted from a crowded skincare category to focus on brows and lashes, how “less polished” creative outperformed high-production assets, and why authenticity still drives her best-performing ads. She also breaks down her product development process, the metrics she tracks most closely, and how she’s approaching influencer and affiliate marketing now that the brand has scaled. Whether she’s explaining why awkward websites sometimes convert better or why prestige branding can alienate loyal buyers, Leah offers a no-BS look at building a beauty brand that lasts without relying on glossy tactics or VC backing. In This Conversation We Discuss:[00:43] Intro[01:20] Launching niche beauty products with clear focus[02:00] Identifying a personal need in the market[03:20] Investing early in a science-backed idea[04:30] Taking control after early business loss[05:36] Accepting risk when investing your own money[06:53] Bootstrapping with decks, debt, and side hustles[09:22] Trusting instinct over validation frameworks[10:38] Learning from regulatory arrogance[12:55] Leveraging infomercial skills for DTC[14:46] Episode Sponsors: Electric Eye, Heatmap & Zamp[18:43] Focusing early on user generated content[20:42] Understanding the tradeoffs of premium branding[22:30] Selling before customers hit the website[23:20] Learning from infomercial-driven growth[27:29] Blending legacy service with modern tech Resources:Subscribe to Honest Ecommerce on YoutubeElastin-based hair and skincare nulastin.com/Follow Leah Garcia linkedin.com/in/leah-garcia-592988Schedule an intro call with one of our experts electriceye.io/connectClear, real-time data built for ecommerce optimization heatmap.com/honestFully managed sales tax solution for Ecommerce brands zamp.com/honest If you’re enjoying the show, we’d love it if you left Honest Ecommerce a review on Apple Podcasts. It makes a huge impact on the success of the podcast, and we love reading every one of your reviews!