In this conversation, Adeela Johnson, CEO and co-founder of travel gear brand Béis, shares her journey from being a mom of three to leading the successful D2C brand she co-founded with actress and entrepreneur Shay Mitchell. Johnson discusses the importance of consumer-centric design, the importance of relatability in influencer marketing and what the Béis team learned from its early beginnings that helped the brand come out on top in a post-pandemic economy. Johnson also emphasizes the significance of community engagement and experiential marketing in building brand loyalty, such as the "Béis Wash" pop up event and teases future Béis plans and innovation.

Noteworthy quotes

This has been edited and condensed for clarity.

1. On authenticity and brand personality: "[Béis] is authentic to who [founder Shay Mitchell] is and obviously we leveraged her following, but it was much more than that. Her personality became the brand's personality. And that is really hard to do... it's hard to develop a sense of community and a sense of loyalty to a brand when people can't relate to it as much."
2. On founder vision and humility: "[Mitchell] was very clear early on in the brand [stating] 'I don't want this to be Béis by Shay Mitchell.' Very intentionally, which again is very humble for a celebrity of her caliber to say, 'I want this brand to be innovative, to be meaningful, to have purpose that lives beyond me.'"
3. On community-driven innovation: "We had this great vision — it was this huge bag and we gave it to moms in our community and they gave us such tremendous feedback. We changed it before we launched it. And we do that frequently, where we get feedback from our community on color [and needs]."
4. On team passion and grit: "You can't replicate and you can't teach [passion]. You either have it or you don't. And when we recruit, [we] want you to have a million different perspectives. I don't want you to agree with me, but I want you to have grit and passion."
5. On consumer-centric product development: "The goal for us is always to have consumers say, 'that is a function that I didn't know I needed and now I can't live without.' If [we] get that from a consumer, we're doing our job."
6. On community as the next influencer: "Community [is the] next influencer and growing as a trend. We've been seeing that for years and we were founded in that."
7. On transparency and creating behind-the-scenes content: "People want to see behind-the-scenes, relatable content. People want to see art [and they] want to know who the people are behind these brands that [they] want to build a relationship with. It's no longer about transactions."
8. On building brand relationships beyond transactions: "People don't buy a product. They buy into a brand and they buy into a vision. They buy into a community. We leveraged Shay early in the brand to give the brand personality and make it relatable, not just a brand that existed with a bunch of products."

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