Influencer Alix Earle turned her worst insecurity into her first brand. This is her plan to monetize her 14 million followers and make it last

Yesterday, Alix Earle plastered the internet with the launch of Reale Actives, her first brand of her own. It’s a skincare brand designed to be safe for acne-prone skin, which she spent the past two years developing with Imaginary Ventures.

Recommended Video

But while Earle is just getting started as a founder, she already has a wealth of insight into marketing and how brands can reach consumers today. With 14 million followers across TikTok and Instagram, she’s one of the world’s most successful influencers. Her resume includes four Super Bowl commercials, an equity stake in the soda brand Poppi as part of her endorsement fee (which meant she benefitted from its $1.95 billion sale to PepsiCo), and sharing her wisdom with students at Harvard Business School.

Ahead of the launch of Reale Actives, Earle, 25, sat down with Fortune for a wide-ranging conversation about her own career, influencer marketing today, and what brands are getting wrong.

Tell me about Reale Actives.

Where do I start? Acne is something I started to struggle with in middle school and throughout high school. I tried different doctors, medications and a bunch of different products and treatments. And then going into college, I had done Accutane three times, and after every time I completed it, my acne would tend to come back. It was kind of what kickstarted my career online, because I was at such a low point in my self-confidence that I just decided to go online and share about my acne because I thought maybe it would help someone.

After graduating college, I really wanted to start a brand of my own, and I was going back and forth with a bunch of different ideas and thoughts. I didn’t want to just rush into anything or just do anything for a paycheck, so I was kind of trying to just take my time and figure out what I really felt passionate about. A lot of the opportunities were either for me to jump on board with something that had already kind of been built, and I knew that I wanted to start building something from the ground up, so I didn’t end up going that route.

Skincare actually was not my top choice of what I wanted to do, because I always had a pretty dark relationship with skincare. I guess I didn’t really love it. I didn’t have fun doing my skincare. I was always confused by skincare, and I just always dreaded that moment—getting in front of the mirror and having to go wash my face and look at the reality of my skin. I felt like there was a gap in the market, as saturated as the beauty space is, especially with celebrity-led brands, between a skincare brand that’s super efficacious and great for acne-prone skin, and at the same time, is fun and cute and something you’re proud to have out on your counter.

What other categories were you interested in before skincare?

I was interested in the beauty space. But I thought for sure that skincare wasn’t it for me. Just because I dreaded my skincare. I thought maybe makeup, or maybe something with SPF, and there were a lot of people that had come to me with really amazing ideas. It was easy for me to kind of just slap my name on it and take a paycheck and go for it, but that wasn’t something that really excited me, and I knew deep down that that wasn’t going to fulfill me. I wanted to build something from the ground up, and I wanted to have a say in every little detail, and I wanted to be there for every step of the process.

Growing up, were you watching the Proactiv era? How did that influence what you thought an acne brand looks like today?

I remember the Proactivs, all the ones you would take tests for online. Like, I have literally tried everything when it comes to skincare. So I feel like I know a ton of the brands, and I think when it comes to going into a store and going for the more fun, viral products, I felt like I never had the chance to go out and try those because I always knew deep down it wasn’t going to be good for my skin. There’s some brands that might be a little trendier, but also sort of promote the staying inside, calm, not going out, type of lifestyle. With this brand, we want to embody the girl who wants to go out and not stop living her life because of her skincare.

You’re now launching your own brand. You’ve done so much and learned so much working with other brands, from Super Bowl ads to speaking at Harvard Business School. From that side of your work, what do you feel applies to building something on your own? And what’s different?

When working with other brands, I’ve gotten the chance to learn how they run their ship and how they connect with their audience. But I think when I work with other brands, that’s kind of what I bring in—that connection and just relation and understanding of this generation. So a lot of the times I work with them, I’m also partially educating them on what people want to see, and I think that’s been really helpful when it comes to building this. I think I have a pretty strong grasp on my audience and the broader Gen Z gr