stomer contacts me, saying they love our products and they have become a staple in their beauty bag, I am so touched, and it really makes what I do extremely rewarding. I also get a kick out of stories from women who tell me they have ditched their $100 foundation in favour of ours, or they no longer buy the $60 designer mascara and they’ve switched to our XtendLash tubular mascara. In another lifetime, you ran your own modelling agency. What was that like and what were some of the interesting insights or lessons you took from that and applied to the rest of your career? It taught me about the psychology of dealing with people and the art of negotiating, because I was dealing with so many talents and models and their briefs and fees. I did a Diploma of Psychology when I left school and it came in handy when managing talent. I wasn’t just the agent, I was also acting as their psychologist, health specialist and friend. That experience has been so important in teaching me how to negotiate talent rates and contracts now with our ambassadors and the influencers we work with. I think also because I’ve been on the other side, I do treat the relationships with talent as a joint business venture – a true partnership. And I think that’s why we have such success with our ambassadors, because they are authentic business relationships. What are some of your favourite local/international retailers/brands and why? I’ll admit with my busy work schedule I don’t have a huge amount of time for browsing, so I love to shop online at retailers like Net-A-Porter, MatchesFashion and Farfetch. I love supporting local Aussie designers like Zimmermann and Scanlan Theodore.  And then, for staples, I love Country Road and Oroton. I do love to splurge on shoes when I want to treat myself. I love the classics, like an Hermes slide or a pair of Chanel ballet flats, or Saint Laurent slides, which I mostly buy online, to be honest. And because I’m on the go, I love a one-stop shop. I try to do all my beauty shopping at Chemist Warehouse or Woolies – get my groceries, pick up a few makeup goodies and stock up on my skincare. Or for more fancy international brands you can’t buy in Australia, I shop at Net-A-Porter. Comedian and brand ambassador Celeste Barber with glamorous drag queen. Courtney Act. Image: Supplied What were some of the interesting things you learnt about yourself from being on a reality TV show? When I was a judge on Celebrity Apprentice, I was kind of half mentor, half judge. I love supporting young talent and I loved the experience of watching people thrive. Watching the contestants in the challenges, helping them overcome the hurdles, it was really rewarding. They’re celebrities, but over the course of filming, these people turn into mini entrepreneurs. I loved watching that transformation. Sophie Monk ended up winning that season and I just saw her star power rise and rise, so much so that I ended up bringing her on as an MCoBeauty ambassador in 2019 and she created her own makeup range with us. What have been some of the ways you’ve learnt to work and live since the pandemic hit? Like so many of us, I now Zoom what feels like all day, every day. I have to say I don’t mind the hybrid working model, with the increased flexibility and the ability to work from anywhere now. But I miss travel so much. I used to be on a plane every few weeks so I’ve got used to a new routine. Once those borders are open, I’m going to be on the first flight out to Europe! What’s it like working with comedian Celeste Barber, who has become an MCoBeauty ambassador? Working with Celeste has been fabulous, a truly collaborative business partnership. I think she has resonated with our customers because she is so genuine and authentic, and because she was a huge fan of our MCoBeauty products before she even signed on as an ambassador. She is so creative when it comes to content ideas and we are always left in stitches in the office when she sends through her videos. The collaboration has been hugely successful for us.  During the first few weeks of our campaign launch in February earlier this year, we sold out of our best-selling XtendLash Mascara and brought 1.5 million new customers into Woolworths alone. Since then, XtendLash has remained the No.1 best-selling cosmetics product in Woolworths, beating out global brands like L’Oreal, Rimmel and Covergirl, and our SKUs continue to dominate the category overall. If you were starting your beauty business today, what would you do differently and why? I wouldn’t change the fundamentals of how I run the business but the beauty industry has completely changed since I launched ModelCo 20 years ago. I’m now so much more aware of the importance of having a diverse range in our colour cosmetics and providing shades for people of all skin tones and integrating products that suit everyone. We have continued to expand our shade range and now have a really diverse offering but, in hindsight, this should have been something we had at launch. What is one of the scariest things you’ve ever done in business and what was the outcome? I take risks all the time and I do believe it’s the key to my success. But probably the scariest thing we’ve done was expanding the ModelCo brand into international markets, several years ago. We were featured on the Home Shopping Network and QVC. We had a great product and did really well on that platform, but for example when we pivoted and were featured on QVC in Japan, it was a huge challenge because of the language barrier. If you could organise your dream Zoom video chat, whom would you invite, dead or alive? The Kardashian family, Karl Lagerfeld, Bill and Melinda Gates, comedian and influencer Celeste Barber, and comedian Carla from Bankstown. This article was originally published in the November 2021 issue of Inside Retail Australia