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- Rhode to success. Last October, Melanie Bender started a new job in the beauty industry—one that came with an immediate audience of 50 million. The 38-year-old exec became the CEO of Rhode, Hailey Bieber’s skincare brand.
Rhode had launched that June, making it through a bumpy start featuring a trademark lawsuit. (The brand is named for Bieber’s middle name.) The brand that sells $16 lip treatments and other skincare products directly from its website reached eight-figure revenue within six months—and only 11 days of actual sales thanks to sold-out inventory. And there are 1 million signups for its product waitlist.
Bieber's fanbase—50 million across Instagram and TikTok—fed the frenzy. They follow 26-year-old Bieber’s modeling career and her life with husband Justin Bieber on social media. Plus, they trust her recommendations as a lifestyle influencer. Their collective power was evident to Bender right away.
Most of Rhode’s customers are under 35. The vast majority of buyers are between 18 and 24.
“Those consumers are notoriously difficult to gain because they are so informed, they are so skeptical because they have grown up with access to social media,” Bender says in her first interview since starting this job. “They’re also consumers that are trendsetters. So when they latch onto something and integrate it into their routine, we see it take on an even bigger role with other demographics."
Besides appealing to Bieber’s existing fan base, Rhode has tried to stand out with simplicity. Its tagline is “one of everything really good.”
“The consumer is feeling really inundated and confused by all these options,” Bender says. “Rhode addressed that mindset by launching a really tight-ended assortment that does what you need it to do and what it says it’s going to do.”
Bender joined Rhode after leading the “clean skincare” brand Versed as founding president through a period of hyper-growth during the pandemic. She'd previously worked for a beauty manufacturer that produced products for private-label brands. Originally from Hawaii, Bender studied aerospace engineering and sustainability in college before winding up in beauty after moving to New York.
She says she decided to accept the job at Rhode, which had about five employees when she joined, because of Bieber’s position in the beauty industry. “To me, there is no other founder in beauty like Hailey in terms of the amount of credibility she has,” Bender says.
Bender’s experience at Versed attracted the Rhode team to her as a candidate. "I was so excited to bring on Melanie as CEO in October last year,” Bieber says in a statement to Fortune. “We have big plans for Rhode and the business, and Melanie not only is an expert in scaling brands, but understands my vision.…[She is] a true collaborator and having her onboard allows me to spend more time on the creative and product development side of the business, which are big passions of mine."
Today, Rhode is part of beauty trends like the “glass skin” and “glazed” aesthetics. While Bender appreciates the relevance that such a young customer base—and founder—brings, she’s also aiming to build a “generational brand” that lasts. “It’s not just selling products, it’s building trends and behaviors in a pretty major way,” she says.
Emma Hinchliffe
emma.hinchliffe@fortune.com
@_emmahinchliffe
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