PYT Beauty Founder, Mary Schulman
How did PYT Beauty get started, and what does it look like now?
Three years ago, on July 23, we launched PYT Beauty with a mission to offer Clean Makeup product to ALL who seek it. Our first retail partner (Credo Beauty) partnered with us to offer our full assortment (30 products) of color cosmetics in all of their retail locations as well as online. Soon after we teamed up with Ulta Beauty online as well as Macy’s, Anthropologie and Bloomingdale’s. While Clean Beauty at affordable prices is a cornerstone of who we are, we also believe in a clean planet. On Earth Day 2021, we re-branded PYT Beauty and in partnership with Target launched PYT Beauty in earth-friendly/sustainable packaging. This means we have reduced secondary packaging, eliminated mirrors, which always end up in landfills, and all of our packaging is made with PCR plus where possible curbside recyclable. Since we pride ourselves on being transparent, we have detailed breakouts of each ingredient and sustainable packaging anatomy clearly listed on our website. Today we offer 40 products priced from $14-$28 and are sold at Target (select locations), Ulta Beauty (select locations), Credo Beauty, Macy’s (select locations), The Grove, Bloomingdale’s (online), Amazon and direct to consumers on our own website PYTBeauty.com. Now, your beauty can change everything!
What has been the biggest obstacle you've had to overcome?
Our biggest challenge has been our journey to sustainable packaging over the past 18 months. When we decided we must do better for the Earth and change all of our packaging we were only a two year old brand and were having great success with it. We decided to upend what was working and act with our hearts, which was quite risky. Once the decision was made the challenges immediately shifted from the decision making to the execution. We were pushing our partners to add more PCR and increase limits on what they initially said was impossible. They would think they were presenting ground-breaking options and we kept insisting on more. Ultimately, we engineered our own molds for our compacts (no metal hinges and curbside recyclable), created flag labels as secondary packaging, found and utilized a solution to reduce the molecular weight of plastic and used PCR in every single package. We did all this without passing along any cost to the consumer and in fact reduced prices on several products. (Brow Pencil $16 to $14, Eyeshadow Palette $32 to $28). Finally, it’s here. PYT Beauty is clean makeup in earth-friendly/sustainable packaging that looks damn good at affordable prices.
What moment in your career are you most proud of?
My most proud moment happened just yesterday. I must give a bit of background for this to make sense. As you can imagine this process of moving to sustainable packaging was an arduous process and we did all of this during a pandemic. Timing was tight in order to meet our launch commitment with Target and we were moments away from missing the entire opportunity because it was taking so long for our final product to arrive. Once product did arrive it was all allocated to all of our retail partners with not an extra to spare. Orders kept flowing in and we have been working to keep up with demand. With all of this said, I haven't been able to have any final product for myself. Of course I have been testing product and packaging, but never actually experienced it all put together in one package. Finally last week we caught up with demand and had an extra UpCycle Eyeshadow Palette in Party in the Nude that I could have for myself. I placed my order (online) and it arrived yesterday in my mailbox in our fully recyclable shipping bag. I opened it up and tears started rolling down my cheeks. I finally had it in my hands, our PYT Beauty Party in the Nude Eyeshadow Palette. It was like a beautifully decorated cake that you hate to cut into, I was hesitant to even dip my brush in, but I did, and it was pure bliss!
What are your aspirations professionally and personally?
Personal and professional are one for me. When I leave this world I want to have left it in a better place. This means I have raised loving children with good moral compasses and that I have created businesses that have helped others in some way. I created my first CPG business (Snikiddy Snacks) because I wanted moms like me to have healthy snacks to offer to their children. PYT Beauty was created when my 13 year old daughter started diving into my makeup bag. I was appalled by the ingredients in the makeup I was using every day. I didn’t want my daughter, friends or family members using these harsh chemicals. The problem was that clean makeup was far too expensive for most people to afford. I partnered with my college friend and we founded PYT Beauty with a mission of offering clean beauty products at affordable prices.
What have you learned through your experience as an entrepreneur that can be used by aspiring business individuals?
The most valuable thing to understand as an entrepreneur is that being an entrepreneur is a roller coaster ride. From the outside, many think it’s the most glorious situation since you make your own hours and control your own destiny. While all of this is true, being an entrepreneur means doing everything. Some days I work on the P&L and inventory forecasting and on other days, I’m cold calling a retailer, but then there are times I’m on my hands and knees packing up boxes or digging through a back room at a retail partner trying to find a sign that is missing from the display. It takes grit, perseverance and the ability to hear “no” time and time again, but be able to turn "no's" into “yes's”. Most of all it takes the ability to put any semblance of an ego aside and having the willingness to do whatever it takes to be successful, ethically of course. □
Article Credits
Instagram: @pytbeauty
Facebook: @pytbeautynobs
Youtube: PYT Beauty
Website: pytbeauty.com