About career and motherhood, bankruptcies and defeats, highs and lows – and about the vision for JACKS beauty line: our managing directors Lisa Buchholz and Miriam Jacks in a very personal interview.
Dear Lisa, dear Miriam, you have been working together for a long time. How many years is it now?
Lisa: We have had five very intense years.
Miriam: But it could have been ten, considering how much we experienced together!
How did you two find each other professionally?
Lisa: I know Miriam through her sister Rose. We worked together back then - and I was a big fan of Miriam's store: the JACKS beauty department. Miriam was looking for an office manager for her store on Facebook. I was very unhappy in my job at the time and applied straight away.
Miriam: And I took it with open hands ;-) Lisa came to my side at a very stressful time. I was heavily pregnant, my son Noah was born shortly afterwards and at the same time my franchisee in Munich went bankrupt. So I could hardly take care of the store in Berlin. Lisa had my back the whole time. After everything was over, we decided to carry on as a couple and founded JACKS beauty GmbH to focus 100% on JACKS beauty line.
You are both successful entrepreneurs and mothers. How well do you combine being an entrepreneur and having a family?
Lisa: When we were still building up the business, it wasn't that easy. Now we have a great team behind us and can withdraw more and more from day-to-day business, so it's definitely easier to combine the two.
Miriam: That's what we want for our employees too. We want to be a company where you don't have to worry about having to end your career as a mother or being sidelined. Maybe we'll even manage to have a JACKS daycare center at some point.
You have experienced a lot together: pregnancies, bankruptcies and, of course, good times too...
Lisa: Absolutely! We've had a lot of ups and downs. We've fallen a lot, made mistakes, but we've always gotten back up and learned from them. Miriam and I have always complemented each other well and everyone brings their own expertise to the company.
You've already said it: you've had ups and downs. What lows have you had to endure?
Miriam: There were quite a few... In the beginning, as the saying goes, I was juggling ten different things at once. I had a contract with L'Oréal Paris as a national make-up artist, I had a make-up school, I was a beauty expert at QVC, and so on. So I had a lot of projects going on. Lisa put out most of the fires with me, but it also left us extremely exhausted and made us doubt. We couldn't imagine that we would ever achieve the financial freedom to live out our dreams. We were often dependent on other people who didn't always mean well by us. Many shops were built and then demolished. It was an exciting journey, but we managed it all together and today we are grateful that we are finally where we always wanted to be.
JACKS beauty line is considered a pioneer in the field of make-up brushes. No wonder, in less than a year you have recorded growth of almost 900% - how did that happen?
Lisa: We started completely over in 2018 and founded the GmbH. All the stores were closed and we didn't really know where the journey was going. The only thing that was still standing was JACKS beauty line and our make-up brushes. We took sales back into our own hands and rebuilt the brand. In 2020, Corona came, we had to rethink and focus on online business. Miriam introduced the live make-up workshops and went live on Instagram with influencers, customers and famous faces. Our reach grew, sales increased and we were able to use these sales to invest in very good staff and develop new products. Only with this great team were we able to achieve this tremendous growth.
Where do you get your energy from?
Miriam: We just have a lot of fun working. I usually come up with business ideas and, in my euphoria, I simply carry Lisa along. Often I go too fast and Lisa has to pull me back a little. The Corona year also taught me that. Often in business, less is more. The success that results from work gives us a lot of strength.
JACKS beauty line now sells not only in well-known online shops such as Douglas or Flaconi, but also in numerous stores throughout Germany. How important is brick-and-mortar retail for a beauty brand?
Lisa: At the beginning it was very important because we had to make the brand known first and we weren't strong online ourselves. You have to hold our brushes in your hand to convince yourself of the quality. That's why I think it's extremely important to position yourself on the market and also to be listed in great stores. For 2022, we plan to focus on brick-and-mortar retail again and to be represented in great concept and flagship stores. This is even more important for the launch of make-up; we don't have a contact point ourselves yet and want to give our customers the opportunity to test the products in selected stores.
Miriam: Many customers simply long for human contact, good advice and the opportunity to talk to experts. That's why we've just hired a new employee who will focus on retailers, to offer them great promotions and to make the product range a tangible experience for our customers.
New logo, new color schemes, new online shop – why was it now time for a relaunch of the brand?
Miriam: I founded JACKS beauty line ten years ago, so the logo has been around for a long time. It was time to become more grown-up and cooler. The new JACKS beauty line should represent our maturity, our professionalism and our aesthetics that we have achieved over the years.
Where do you get your inspiration for new products? Do you follow trends?
Miriam: Hardly, it is rather the timeless beauty, the well-being, the joy of beautiful things and the experience that guide us in product development and design.
Lisa: And we always involve our community in product development and look at how we can improve the beauty market a little bit.
Keyword: Improve! You are certified with the PETA seal: Why did you choose this?
Lisa: It is important to us that no animals have to suffer or die for our products and we want to stand by this 100% and set an example.
Miriam: The PETA seal is also a good incentive for more people to become aware of it and think about the ingredients in their products.
Which product from JACKS beauty line marks a special milestone in the history of JBL?
Lisa: Definitely, our sustainable beauty bags made from recycled PET and our new packaging. We thought long and hard about how we could make the packaging for our brushes and hairbrushes sustainable.
Miriam: The brushes were there from day one, but never as beautifully painted as they are now. With our employee and artist Sara, who started working with us two years ago, the style changed and with it the whole brush. It has been our dream for a long time to finally create the right products for our brushes and so another milestone will be our first own make-up products.
Which beauty product from JACKS beauty line could you not do without?
Lisa: Brush number #12 - my all-rounder and the make-up products that we have developed exactly according to our ideas!
Miriam: I already know that it is the Glow Foundation in combination with the Foundation Brush #12.
The brand has undergone a relaunch, as has the online shop. What's next?
Lisa: Let yourself be surprised: We are bursting with new ideas! We want to continue to expand our make-up products, start great new collaborations with artists, include skin & hair care and of course continue to expand the company.
Miriam: We still have a lot planned, but we don't just want to overwhelm our customers with products, we also want to offer them great service, so we've come up with some great ideas. It's going to be exciting.
A standard question, but I have to get it out there: Where do you see JACKS beauty line in five years?
Miriam: I actually see us at our first press event in New York or LA. My dream is to one day be a lifestyle and beauty brand that enjoys global success.
Thank you both so much for the great interview!
