006. The Boardroom Moment That Changed Everything (Building Differently, Part 2)

I was in a boardroom presenting a compensation plan when I said we needed something for the people who just needed to pay the light bill, buy soccer shoes for their kids, or simply put milk on the table.

The CEO looked at me and said: "Melissa, that's not our demographic."

That was the moment that changed everything.

This is Part 2 of Building Differently — what I did after I walked away from corporate, what I built, and why I built it the way I did.

In this episode:

• The boardroom moment that became the foundation of everything I built
• Why "put milk on the table" became the North Star for my entire brand
• What it means to stop waiting for someone else to come rescue you—in business and in life
• Why 97-99% of social entrepreneurs are women, yet most brand founders and CEOs in this space are men
• How my husband Scott challenged every "that's just how it's done" assumption—and changed everything
• What the Omni Marketer Platform is and why we built it differently
• Why I stopped chasing a billion-dollar brand and started chasing a billion lives of impact instead

Timestamps: 

 1:37 – Corporate Misalignment
 2:09 – The Boardroom Wake-Up Call
 3:43 – Milk on the Table: The Mission
 4:18 – Be Your Own Hero
 5:13 – Challenging Industry Norms
 6:24 – The Women-Led Business Advantage
 8:17 – Pivoting Through Growth
 8:40 – The Omni Marketer Platform
 10:26 – Billion Lives Over Dollars
 11:45 – The Becoming Question

The Becoming Question: What are you being called to build if you could build differently?

You are not late. You are not behind. You are not finished. You are in the making.

Stay in the making.

Connect: @melissathompson.19

Watch/Listen: bellame.com/becomingher

You are not late. 

You are not behind. 

You are not finished. 

You are in the making.

Stay in the making.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Women, we are natural leaders. And that is rarely said. We always hear we're natural nurturers. But the truth is we are leaders at heart. Whether you're in a workplace environment, whether you're leading your household, we lead and we nurture. That's what makes us so beautifully equipped to build something that is needed in today's world. I set out to build a billion-dollar brand. And about a year ago, I realized that's not my alignment and happy place either. It's about impacting a billion lives. Not a billion dollars. That changes everything. Welcome to Becoming Her. I'm Melissa Thompson. This is a podcast about lifelong evolution. For the woman who knows she's not finished, not behind, not late, just in the making. And that's exactly where you're supposed to be. I went from working in a corporate role in the beauty industry to building my own multimillion dollar beauty brand. And it all started when I couldn't deny misalignment and discomfort in the path that I was headed down in that corporate role. In the last episode, I talked about how the entrepreneur life chose me. And in this one, I want to share what I did with that to build what I wish had existed all along. The industry I was part of was not where I was misaligned. It truly was what bothered me about what was happening within that industry that sparked my passion for building something differently. In the last episode, I also shared that the road to entrepreneurship can sometimes take a couple of detours. And mine did. I went from corporate to going with entrepreneurship to going back to corporate again before launching my brand that I have today. After going back to corporate, the biggest red flag for me, the biggest call-out to the misalignment that I was feeling was a moment in the boardroom. We were preparing an incentive, a bonus for a compensation plan. In social entrepreneurship, that's how people get paid. They build, they share, they get paid. And I felt something on my heart to call it out loud. There were people in this room that reported to me. There were people that were my peers, and there were those that were above me. And I said, we need something for those people coming in who really are doing this business, this social entrepreneurship, so that they can pay the light bill. They can pay for their car payment. They can afford to buy soccer shoes for their children, or they simply just need to put milk on the table and in front of the room full of people. The CEO at the time said, Melissa, that's not our demographic. Boom. That was a defining moment for me, not just in life, but in business and everything all around. That was a defining moment for me in business and in life. It truly became the foundation of everything I built a multi-million dollar beauty brand on. And it becomes a North Star for what we do and how we do it. Because when you know alignments off with something that you are called to do, you just can't ignore it anymore. For social entrepreneurship, what does that mean? We have developed a brand, for example, that is all based on putting milk on the table for those that share our brand. It is truly that simple. That means everything I do, everything I put my energy into, if it does not align with that promise, we don't do it. My team knows it, my brand partners know it. It is our guiding force to ensure that we stay true to that vision and that alignment. And that really was the moment that changed everything. It was the moment I got to ask myself, why are you continuing to try to sit in all these seats, hoping somebody out there will get it? Some brand, some C-suite, they'll understand it's up to you, Melissa. It's up to you. Go create what doesn't exist. Go create the future of an industry that you love. I think so many times, regardless of what industry we're all in, we're waiting for somebody else to come rescue us. Not just in business, but in life. We can be our own hero. We can be that person. Can it be scary? Absolutely. Going against the grain is never easy, but oh my friend, it is worth it. And it didn't just end there with the decision to do it differently. It was continuing to challenge ourselves every single day. And for me personally, to be open to the fact that I don't know everything and to listen to those who weren't in the industry, to listen to those who question why. I partnered up with my husband, who is a genius when it comes to all things digital. And he continued to ask why. Why do we do it this way? And I said, Because some of the stuff I wanted to challenge the other stuff. I was like, well, because that's the way it's always been done. Perfect example, going back to that guiding light of thinking everything we do is based on helping people put milk on the table. He once asked me, why charge anybody a fee for anything they do? We're in business to support someone making money, not make money off of them. And from that moment on, everything else in how businesses are run, typically in this industry, was uniquely different on the way that we launched. The way we launch, the way we continue, and the way we evolve. So from a platform, we were uniquely different. But from a concept, we challenge the norm even more. In the space of social entrepreneurship and especially beauty and wellness, the majority of social entrepreneurs out there, about 97 to 99%, depending on the business, are women. Yet the majority of owners and founders and CEOs in this industry of brands are men. Don't get me wrong, I love men. I married one and I gave birth to two. So it is one of those things, though, that when you have a female run business that can relate to the needs of a woman, it changes everything. Because women, we are natural leaders. And that is rarely said. We always hear we're natural nurturers. We know we got that down. But the truth is we are leaders at heart. Whether you're in a workplace environment, whether you're leading your household, we lead and we nurture. That's what makes us so beautifully equipped to build something that is needed in today's world. And the most beautiful thing that happens when you follow in alignment is you continue to get confirmations along the way. From the first product, I had the pleasure of working with a chemist on formulations. I got the confirmation. I was told this is the first time they had ever worked with a company or brand that was so passionate about the product, not about what was going to sell, not about certain little marketing things, but about the actual way it worked. A woman knows what a woman wants, and that's the key difference. Uniquely its own. But as we continued moving through the business, as we continued through challenges like launching and then COVID hitting and the entire world stopping, my nurturing wasn't the only attribute that helped. It was the fact that I knew how to lead, I knew how to pivot, and I knew where to move forward next. And even my brand, it's an evolution. A few years after launch, we decided to go a complete different path rather than the typical social entrepreneurship in my industry. So much so we coined the name Omni Marketer Platform. Now, if you've been in marketing, you know Omni is not a new word. But when we launched, I was passionate about delivering a customer omni experience, meeting the customer where they were at, wherever they were at. And as we progress forward with this true guiding star of going back to putting milk on the table for those that share our brand, it became the omni experience for those representing. They are omni marketers. And we are proud to be the only brand in the world that delivers this experience. And we hope that many more fall along the way. But it truly means this omni-marketer platform is respecting entrepreneurs where they're at. They are able to build a beauty business, a wellness business on their own terms, without fees, without costs, and by honoring true entrepreneurship to meet them where they're at, being okay with throwing out old traditional models and being uniquely us, created for, created by women. And although business is fluid and things change, one thing that will never move away from us is the mission on why I started this. What was important, putting milk on the table, which my feelings and my way of doing things have evolved as well. I set out to build a billion-dollar brand. And about a year ago, I realized that's not my alignment and happy place either. It's about impacting a billion lives, not a billion dollars. That changes everything. It changes what we do, it changes how we act and how we serve. And at the end of the day, it keeps me in alignment to the reason we started. And this has always been more than just a beauty brand or about a company. It has always been about impact. And it is beautiful to be able to see it through the eyes of somebody who's never been in this industry. My partner in life and business, my husband Scott Thompson, who to this day, almost eight years later, is inspired every time we're at an event, and he gets to hear real stories of the people that are putting milk on the table for their families all the time. But beauty, beauty also extends beyond helping put milk on the table. The impact of building a business by helping others rise is like the beauty of it all. So beyond this industry, wherever you're seated, what would you build if you didn't have to fit into somebody else's ecosystem, into what they felt should be, and you can envision what could be. So naturally, your becoming question today: what are you being called to build if you could build differently? Thank you for being here. And remember, friend, you are not late. You are not behind. You are not finished. You are still in the making. Keep becoming. Thanks for being here. If you know someone who needs to hear this, send it to them. And if this resonated with you, comment down below. I'd love to keep this conversation going. Make sure to follow along on YouTube and Instagram for daily updates. You can find everything in the description. See you next time.