Today we’d like to introduce you to Angela Ubias.
Hi Angela, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I’ve had a deep love of beauty for as long as I can remember. Growing up, I was heavily influenced by my grandmother and the glamour of her Sunday morning rituals. The skincare, the lipstick, the spritz of perfume—all of it was just so captivating, even as a kid in small-town Texas!
Fast forward to a couple of years after my time at Texas State University-San Marcos, I was the buyer and manager for a local boutique here in Austin. After a couple of years doing that, I realized I wanted to branch out of buying and make a career shift. Unbeknownst to me at the time, one of the first clean and indie beauty labs in North America happened to be just north of Austin (located in Pflugerville) and they were hiring for an entry-level sales and marketing position. I was woefully underqualified but applied regardless, and somehow managed to win over the founder and start my position at Texas Beauty Labs (now Goodkind Co.) within a week!
That position and company catapulted me into a career in beauty and personal care where I never, in a million years, imagined I’d be. I fell in love within those first few months with product development, formulation, and operations–the understanding of how all of the products on our vanities are created from idea to lab samples to manufacturing to landing on store shelves and eventually on your top-shelf. It’s so much bigger, more involved, and more interesting than I think most of us realize.
I spent every second I could learning everything there was to learn on the job—rudimentary formulating, what each ingredient actually does, what makes a product stable or perform better than another one, how to blend beautiful fragrances together, what each piece of equipment does, even how supply chains work (and break). All of the behind-the-scenes things nobody really talks about, I just couldn’t get enough of and I was always hungry to learn more.
Within a few years at Texas Beauty Labs, I’d taken on the role of VP and built an unparalleled reputation for the company in terms of capabilities and customer service. At the time, the company was female-founded and led which, in manufacturing, (yes, even cosmetic manufacturing) is kind of unheard of! Throughout my total of 7.5 years spent at Texas Beauty Labs, I helped launch 50-60 beauty brands, developed hundreds and hundreds of products, and helped grow the company exponentially by the time I left.
By fall of 2019, I realized I was eager to move out of my role at Texas Beauty Labs and began wondering whether or not I’d stay in beauty or have another life-changing career pivot. In December 2019, at the urging of a close friend, I took a call with a perfect stranger, based halfway across the country who was looking for a co-founder for a new skincare venture. I snuck out of my office, took the call with Cary Lin and the rest is history. By the last week of February 2020, I knew building a brand like Common Heir was where I wanted to be. I wanted the excitement of a start-up again, I wanted to build a beauty brand from the ground up, using all of the knowledge I’d gained in the past 7.5/8 years.
After that first phone call, I knew that Cary was the perfect counterpart to balance out this dynamic duo! By May 2020, I was officially on board, full-time building Common Heir as co-founder and CPO. We launched just this past April and in that short time, we’ve partnered with Credo Beauty (the leading clean beauty retailer), and our hero product, a Vitamin C Serum, has already won a handful of notable beauty and design awards! I couldn’t be more excited to see what the rest of our first year of business, and years to come will look like!
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Absolutely not! I took a pretty non-traditional path in beauty to get to where I am today as a founder. I didn’t have any formal product development or formulating training, but I think learning in a hands-on way is just as, if not more, important to honing a specialized skillset.
Common Heir was built during a once-in-a-lifetime global pandemic which made everything that much more difficult. I had a co-founder who was a complete stranger so we didn’t have a personal or professional foundational relationship to fall back. This forced us to dig our heels in from across the country and basically live on Zoom and FaceTime in order to learn the best ways to work together and to build the human connection that I think every co-founder or founding team needs to have to make magic happen. Logistically, supply chains were impacted on such a massive level. It required us to optimize not for just plans B and C but also for plans D, E, and F.
Being two women of color, and women in general, we certainly faced a lot of challenges when fundraising. Potential investors often wanted to see a man (specifically a CIS, white male) in a C-level role alongside us. We were up against those that were dismissive of our vision for Common Heir to be sustainable and plastic-free and premium as a “gimmick” or a “passion project.” But you grow a thick skin, you find conviction within yourself that you actually know what the heck you’re doing, and you believe in your vision. You come to realize that if somebody doesn’t understand that, it’s ultimately not the right fit. Eventually, you’ll connect with the right people who not only “get it” but are your number one cheerleaders and that’s such a momentous point to get to!
We’ve been impressed with Common Heir, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Common Heir is luxury skincare redefined for you. For the unapologetically self-made beauty lover that cares as much about their skin as they do their communities and the world.
Gorgeous, clean, sustainable, and clinically-backed formulas–we deliver first-in-class skincare that is completely plastic-free. Beauty editors and besties alike love our Vitamin C Serum and we have so many exciting new launches coming we cannot wait to share!
Common Heir celebrates inclusivity and we showcase this in the way in which we approach formulation. Always approachable, luxe, and with universal benefit for all. Shop us online at https://commonheir.com or at our exclusive retail partner Credo Beauty.
How do you think about happiness?
Such a great question! I often find happiness in those around me. It’s weekends spent with my nieces or grandparents, or long dinners spent with friends and loved ones where you talk about any and everything. It’s also quieter moments of solitude when I feel unexpected bursts of gratitude to be able to be doing what I love and building something I believe in.
Ultimately, happiness starts with a foundation of gratitude, good work/life balance, and whatever it is that brings you fulfillment and puts a smile on your face.
Pricing:
- Vitamin C Serum – $88 for 60 capsules / 2- month supply
Contact Info:
- Email: hello@commonheir.com
- Website: https://commonheir.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/commonheir/
Image Credits
Franceska Carbajal
Wilson Wong
Joe Saraceno
