An Interview With Candice Georgiadis
… “You are who you make yourself up to be.” Who says what’s done is done. We all have the power of transformation, to invent and reinvent ourselves.
As a part of our series about women who are shaking things up in their industry, I had the pleasure of interviewing Robin Albin, Founder, Brand Strategist & Sherpa, INSURGENTS.
Robin is a serial brand innovator, strategist and virtual Swiss Army Knife of creativity with an insatiable curiosity about people and culture. She founded INSURGENTS with the goal of partnering with brave business leaders who want to break through barriers and bureaucratic BS to uncover new worlds of opportunity.
Over her career, Robin has helped invent or reinvent over 50 brands. Some of the original brands she has helped create and steer to success include: Origins Natural Resources, Sensegen Taste, Smell & Beauty, Sweegen Taste Solutions, Léman Manhattan Preparatory School, DrinkLavit, Voli Vodka and microMend. She has also helped many incumbent brands rediscover their “True North” in a contemporary way.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your “backstory”? What led you to this particular career path?
Give me a form or application to fill out and you can bet I’ll make a mess of it. Last name where first name should go. My handwriting is so large, I run out of room on the given line. And stuff like that.
I had to take the SATs 7 times before I could break 1000. Not because I wasn’t smart enough. I graduated top of my class at a prestigious Long Island high school. But because I didn’t — and still can’t — answer questions sequentially. So, at the conclusion of the test there were many gaps — which naturally impacted my score.
Tell me to fill in the blanks and I go blank. Following directions has never been my strong suit. I don’t believe that best practices = the right answer.
You see, I have always been something of a MissFit. A square peg in a round hole. A step behind. And a step ahead. And for many years I struggled trying to follow the rules and belong versus trusting my instincts and ideals.
Over the past decades, I’ve learned that being an outsider can actually be a huge creative advantage and an inspired form of leadership. It’s been my secret sauce and a key ingredient in my personal happiness, creativity and success — even when I didn’t realize it.
So, no surprise that when it came to my career, following some logical step-by-step up the corporate ladder was never going to happen. My entire career has been a series of detours and unpredictable disruptions followed by moments of incredible serendipity. Being in the right place at the right time and open to opportunities that to some seem risky. I’ve become a master of the jig and jag.
For instance, I quit a toxic agency job where I was an VP Creative Director managing a team of 12 with no idea what was next. Why be miserable? It turned out great and changed my life.
Less than 2 weeks later, I landed a sweet engagement to form a Skunk Works for Cover Girl, a former client, which morphed into my first agency BRASH (an acronym of By Robin Albin and Susan Hunter). We created a virtual model long before the idea existed. Our job was to come to Baltimore once a month with ideas. New products. New brands. Promotions. Retail store concepts. Anything. It was an amazing opportunity. When P&G bought Cover Girl, the gig was up. But we had built our agency and reputation. And when our CG clients moved on, they called us. As a result, we worked for a who’s-who of brands for many years.
I was fired from one account for being too outspoken aka BRASH. Which led to an introduction to another Skunk Works project this time at Estée Lauder where I became one of the Founders of the Origins Brand. This role led to tremendous visibility and again changed my life and my career.
After BRASH disbanded (my partner chose to retire), I accepted the “perfect job on paper” as SVP of Conceptual Innovation on the Estée Lauder brand. Essentially an in-house entrepreneur charged with creating the future expression of the mothership. I knew the players and the politics. I’d been a consultant there for over 25 years. I figured I had less than a 10% chance of succeeding. But what did I have to lose? While I didn’t succeed, I learned a ton.
I was laid off on a Friday (along with many others in a corporate house-cleaning) and launched my new agency, INSURGENTS, the following Monday. And I have never looked back.
I’m not afraid of curve balls that might back others off the plate.
Today, we live in a world where all of the fundamentals we once counted on have crumbled. Where and how we will work, how achievement is measured and rewarded, and what success really looks like, are all undergoing massive transformation. I see all this uncertainty and instability as an opportunity bold new ideas. So long as we have the courage and the skill to take hold of the jib and sail full tilt into the wind’s eye.
My greatest accomplishments, insights, and creative efforts have come as a direct result of a disruption of the status quo, of being pushed to think out of the box, because the box suddenly disappeared into thin air.
Here are a few things I learned along the way.
- Don’t be afraid to take a baseball bat to the piñata. There are some wonderful surprises inside ready to shower you.
- Try anything. Try everything. Try, try again. Take a swing — even if you miss, you’ll always get another at bat.
- Remember, life is like a slingshot. When stuff keeps pulling you back, the thrust forward will be so much greater and more powerful.
- Fitting in is overrated — Having a strong opinion makes you interesting — it creates conversation and causes people to feel something. Beige is boring and it rarely looks good on anyone
Can you tell our readers what it is about the work you’re doing that’s disruptive?
I’m an incurable romantic. Give me a story where a hero overcomes his or her adversary, good triumphs over evil, love conquers all and results in a happy, happy ending and I’m over the moon.
That may be the reason I’m so attracted to Challenger Brands. Brands that have a strong sense of self. Engage with passion. Are ever-true and authentic to their purpose. Challenger brands are not necessarily market leaders, they are thought leaders.
According to Henry Morgan author of Eating The Big Fish, a Challenger Brand is defined, primarily, by a mindset. It has business ambitions bigger than its conventional resources, and aims to change the status quo, to do something bold, to question existing conventions, industry norms, complacency and category codes in a way that bends in the customer’s favor. It’s more about what they are challenging — than who they are challenging.
I’m forever adopting brands and founders who are challenging the status quo in order to make a difference in the world. For example, I am an advisor to Victoria Watts whose mission is to empower the blind and visually impaired with the ability to experience and enjoy products independently and safely. She is the Founder of The CyR.U.S. system, the first — and only — modern tactile language universally designed to make products accessible to this currently ignored and underserved audience.
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
I don’t know if it counts as a mistake — but it certainly was the funniest thing I’ve ever done. I was in college and my friend’s mom was a pretty famous puppeteer. She not only taught me how to make and work these amazing hand puppets and elaborate marionettes, but she had me appear as special characters in her puppet shows. We performed all over Long Island. I was Alice In Wonderland, A Frog Princess, Santa’s Helper and Mickey Mouse. To name a few. For Mickey I wasn’t allowed to speak because his voice was trademarked. What I learned from this experience is don’t worry about looking silly or foolish. Just to get up there, assume the role and forget what anyone thinks.
We all need a little help along the journey. Who have been some of your mentors? Can you share a story about how they made an impact?
By the time I reached age 27, I had been blessed with three incredible mentors who shaped my life and my career.
My first mentor was Joyce, a beauty industry veteran who herself was mentored by the legendary Shirley Polykoff of Clairol “If I have one life to live let me live it as a blonde” advertising fame. Joyce took incredible joy in teaching me all about the beauty biz, how to name and position products and invent exotic new lotions and potions in the typewriter. (It was a long time ago.) During the 2 years I worked for her at Revlon, she challenged, encouraged — and often mothered me. And when I eventually needed to spread my wings, she not only cheered me on — she did something even more important — she saved me. I had been offered my first ad agency job at 2x my prior salary and responsibility. And that’s when I was stricken with a debilitating case of Imposter’s Syndrome — a condition in which someone doubts their abilities and constantly fears being exposed as a fraud. I was paralyzed — unable to breathe. “What have I gotten myself into? The world was about to find I was not a writer — I was a talentless hack.” Joyce would not stand for that. She picked up the pieces and made me go to therapy. And of course, made me take the job. Then she religiously checked in on me and championed me. Joyce paved the way for my future success as a person and professional.
At the agency, I worked for my second mentor, Mary Ellen, on Johnson & Johnson Baby Diapers. Her serene confidence set my values and standards for the future. She said speaking of herself: “I will never be a chief creative officer — I won’t play the politics — but I can get up every morning and I look in the mirror and I like who I see.” Mary Ellen is my constant North Star and I still strive to be like her in business and in life.
It wasn’t long before the Cover Girl group at the agency learned that they had a beauty writer from Revlon hidden downstairs. Which led to Mentor #3.
“I will teach you everything I know but I expect blood in return.” That was the first thing Lois said to me the day she became my new boss. I immediately thought “Yikes!” Lois was a hugely famous copywriter with a long list of impressive campaign creds and awards. And I was in awe of her talent — and her cool sophistication. She had so much to teach. I had much to learn. Instead of giving me junior caliber assignments, Lois made me sit and write alongside her in her office, from 9–5, day after day including lunch — working on the high-visibility TV and print campaigns.
Lois hand wrote in large flowing script on a yellow lined pad with a thick blue felt tip pen. I’m not sure she ever used a typewriter — or even knew how to type. This was way before computers. On rare occasions, I got to chime in with an idea or two. “Robbbbin” she would say in her deep Lauren Bacall voice “I don’t get it.” The even rarer times she allowed me to write my own copy, she would make me rewrite and rewrite and rewrite it. Each word, each sentence carefully crafted, deliberated and debated over. But in the end my ideas began to sizzle. The words were crisp and sharp. Clever and smart. Humorous and human. Lois schlepped me to every meeting she attended and always gave me equal credit for the work — which cemented my credibility with the client. After 5 years, I had learned all I could from Lois and it was time for me to move on. I became a VP Creative Director at my next agency leading a staff of 12 writers and art directors.
As it turned out, Lois and I both lived up to our parts of the bargain. Lois taught me the art of ideation, advertising and strategy. I gave her blood. But Lois never forgave me for leaving her.
I recently read this question: How can someone teach others to ride a bike who hasn’t really skinned their own knees? I am forever indebted to these 3 incredible women — each 2x plus my senior. Each among the trailblazers of their time. Mentors and role models who endured their fair share of skinned knees from misogynist bosses and stereotypes about what women could and should not do. And they paid those lessons forward to me along with a great big box of Band-aids.
In today’s parlance, being disruptive is usually a positive adjective. But is disrupting always good? When do we say the converse, that a system or structure has ‘withstood the test of time’? Can you articulate to our readers when disrupting an industry is positive, and when disrupting an industry is ‘not so positive’? Can you share some examples of what you mean?
“Forget everything you know about cosmetics. We are not here to test the waters — but to make waves,” that’s what Leonard Lauder told our Skunk Works team as we began to explore the importance of the green movement and the role cosmetics would need to play in the 21st century. And that’s just what we did.
We didn’t just listen to the conversations at the beauty counter. We listened to the politics, culture, economics and environment of the time. Because ultimately, every decision we make is influenced by the world around us.
Based on what we heard, we sensed a seismic shift in attitudes. Our audience was feeling marginalized by the hyper-materialism and excesses of the time. Technology was encroaching on our lives and it seemed overwhelming and scary. (Think Orwell’s 1984.) The Cold War was pretty hot and there was a lot of saber rattling. (Sound familiar?)
We created a brand built on the word RESPECT. Respect for our audience’s skin. Respect for the genius of nature. Respect for the world around us (if you take from Nature, you have a responsibility to care and protect her resources).
We chose to Respect our audience’s intelligence, pocketbook and desire for self-discovery. We removed all of the barriers from the shopping experience including the highfalutin beauty lingo and preachy beauty experts. And we created a quirky, engaging tone of voice featuring Origins’ now famous naming system and wit to share information in a warm, inviting, human way.
Origins broke every rule of the beauty industry. There was not a single touch point that we didn’t consider. The brand was right on time and perfectly executed to meet the moment. Today, Origins remains the most widely copied beauty brand in the world.
Conversely, a brand can be in the wrong place at the wrong time. And fail for that reason.
Some time ago, we were contracted to create a tween beauty brand to be sold in Walmart. We had previously created a teen brand named Jane that had taken the industry by storm. A brief nine months after its launch, it was scooped up by the Estée Lauder Companies as their first — and last — foray into the mass market.
So — as so-called “experts” — we set out to make lightning strike twice.
We knew that young girls were maturing faster and hitting puberty and skin problems earlier. We wanted to offer an alternative to the potentially irritating play cosmetics available at the time. We wanted to teach good grooming habits — like washing your face — in a responsible way. We knew that tech-savvy Gen Z craved community and connectivity. We knew they were philanthropic, socially and environmentally conscious.
And so, we created GeoGirl. Wholesome, age-appropriate, mistake-proof beauty products made with gentle, good-for-skin natural ingredients. No harsh chemicals. No synthetic colors or fragrances. The products popped in the package but were virtually invisible on young skin. Our planet-friendly packages were made of recyclable materials. We even wrote a theme song that was recorded by an up-and-coming tween vocalist. It was as innocent as innocent could be.
Out of the blue, the day of our launch party, a rightwing news outlet released an on-line headline: “Walmart targets EIGHT-year-olds with a new range of ‘anti-aging’ make-up.”
And with that all hell broke loose. No one could resist the flap — CNN, Good Morning America, The Wall Street Journal — even Jay Leno — all weighed in. “The sooner they start wearing makeup, the sooner they can get knocked up and come back to Walmart to buy cases of diapers and baby goods,” wrote one pundit. Another called it prosti-tot.
Like a game of telephone — word of our healthy, natural antioxidant ingredients in our flavored Blueberry Lipgloss were twisted as they were passed along — antioxidants became anti-aging. Our wholesome Balloons, Butterflies and LadyBugs became Botox.
24 hours later, the retailer decided to rethink the project. Within 2 weeks we were told GeoGirl could only “soft” launch. No advertising. No PR. No website. No music videos. No reputation repair. All of which resulted in No sales. Within 6 months, GeoGirl was scrapped as a failure. At great cost to our client.
At that time, social media was relatively new and we totally underestimated its power to ignite a firestorm. We were at the forefront of the cyber-bulling movement that is on steroids today.
Can you share 3 of the best words of advice you’ve gotten along your journey? Please give a story or example for each.
My best words of advice actually come from campaigns I’ve written.
#1: From a Calvin Klein project: “You are who you make yourself up to be.” Who says what’s done is done. We all have the power of transformation, to invent and reinvent ourselves.
#2: From Jane Cosmetics: “There’s no such thing as a plain Jane.” We all have unique qualities. Learning to make them your secret sauce is the surest route to success and happiness.
#3: From Origins: “Never stop discovering.” Curiosity and exploration are vital to the resilience of a brand — and an individual.
We are sure you aren’t done. How are you going to shake things up next?
Every time I hear about a forest fire in California or Colorado, I’m overwhelmed. And heartbroken. It’s hard to imagine anything more frightening or devastating than a wild fire devouring everything in its path. A loss of life and livelihoods. It’s the ultimate act of destruction.
That said, sometimes you need to burn the forest down to spark new growth.
There can be hidden benefits that come with what’s called counter-fires or backfires. They play a vital role in renewal. Fires can open the forest canopy to allow sunlight to reach the forest floor. Benefiting many plants that are shade intolerant. Fires clear out dead trees and litter allowing healthy regrowth. They can break down nutrients and minerals and other debris to nourish the soil. Fire brings change.
A similar principle applies to entrepreneurship and innovation. While at Insurgents, we strongly advocate for sticking to your DNA, we also recognize times when too tight a hold on the past prevents future growth. That’s when it’s time to strike a match.
Fire metaphors are prolific. Sparking change. Igniting ideas. Firing up our imaginations.
The economist Joseph Schumpeter coined the term creative destruction to describe how innovation creates new entities — industries, jobs, tools — and at the same time destroys those behaviors and approaches that no longer work. The theory states that long-standing arrangements and assumptions must be destroyed to free up resources and energy to be deployed for innovation. Bye-bye horse and buggy. Hello Henry Ford. Out with the old. In with the new.
I am currently working with a Righteous Rebel who is going to shake up the sleepy (pardon the pun) aromatherapy category by drawing the distinction between “olfaction” and “olfiction.” Stay tuned.
In your opinion, what are the biggest challenges faced by ‘women disruptors’ that aren’t typically faced by their male counterparts?
Everybody talks about how women are judged differently — ambition seen as aggression. Sensitivity as too emotional. But I think the two biggest challenges for women today are the “isms”. Ageism has been added to the sexism — despite the accomplishments women have made. I watch with terrific sadness as many of my friends and peers are dismissed from senior roles at an alarming rate. Too expensive. Less valuable. Or just plain over the hill. Here’s a nice package. Have a nice life. Bullshit. These women are amazing successes with gobs of experience to offer. Baby boomers, like myself, bring vital technical chops, creativity and business acumen. And we not only have the ambition and the agency — we have the bandwidth to do it. Ageism is in fact the most neglected “ism.” This mass extinction will likely ripple through every field and industry. We’re talking mega-brain drain. And a huge loss of generational capital.
Do you have a book/podcast/talk that’s had a deep impact on your thinking? Can you share a story with us?
I have been inspired by the amazing essayist and risk analyst, Nassim Nicholas Taleb and his bestselling book — Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder.
He wrote: “Some things benefit from shocks; they thrive and grow when exposed to volatility, randomness, disorder and stressors and love adventure, risk and uncertainty. Let’s call it anti-fragile…Anti-fragile is beyond resilience and robustness. The resilient resists shocks and stay the same. The anti-fragile get better.”
Taleb defines glass or fine china as “fragile”. Things that should be handled gingerly or even better left alone on a shelf in peace, quiet, order and predictability. Fragile objects do not benefit from earthquakes or toddlers. Fragile seeks tranquility. Anti-fragile thrives on volatility. Anti-fragile grows from disorder.
My life has been anti-fragile. And I’ve learned that anti-fragile can send you on a path you would never have found otherwise. Shrinks refer to this path as “Post Traumatic Growth”. PTG is positive change experienced as a result of the struggle with a major life crisis or a traumatic event. Those who experience PTG don’t simply bounce back, they bounce higher than they ever did before. We truly can build a better future out of the ashes of the disrupted past. By standing up, standing out, sticking to what you believe in you can harness the forces of change that are bound to come.
You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
If I could inspire a movement, I would encourage young women to value and cultivate their uniqueness. To not fear failure. To strive to be and thrive on being themselves. And to use their authentic originality to fuel their success.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
Don’t be afraid to poke the bear. The messed-up things that happen in life — the shit you think is going to sink you forever — actually present moments of incredible transformation. They provide us with the greatest opportunity to leap forward and achieve things that we never thought possible.
How can our readers follow you online?
On LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robin-albin-02525b11/
On Medium: RobinAlbin
On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/insurgents.io/
Website: www.insurgents.io
This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for joining us!
Female Disruptors: Robin Albin of Insurgents On The Things You Need To Shake Up Your Industry was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.