Most Powerful Women Summit 2024: The Multi-Hyphenates
Cameron Diaz, Actor; Author; Co-founder, Avaline Katherine Power, Founder and Chairperson, MERIT, Versed; Co-founder, Avaline Moderator: Emma Hinchliffe, Senior Writer, Fortune; Co-chair, Fortune MPW Summit
Category
🤖
TechTranscript
00:00Hello, hello. Hi everybody. Hi ladies. Yeah. Hi Cameron, Catherine. Thank you so much for being here. Thanks for having us.
00:06Yeah, thanks for having us. I think everyone's really excited to see you and we're here to talk about your wine brand, Avaline,
00:11which I hope everyone is drinking.
00:14What a great group of women.
00:18Totally.
00:19So,
00:20Cameron, you must have had so many opportunities over your career to start a brand, whatever may have crossed your path.
00:27So why did you decide to do wine?
00:30Catherine Power.
00:32Period.
00:34No, I, you know, there's
00:37obviously in the world of celebrity,
00:40a lot of people come to you, they want you to sign on to whether it's a, you know,
00:44something that they're gonna pay you for, something they want you to invest in.
00:49There's a lot of different opportunities. I myself have never been sort of a product person.
00:56My products have always been movies. So I sold my films really well, you know.
01:03I pounded the pavement, I went out there, I pushed my, you know, pushed my product.
01:09But I didn't really
01:12ever take on sort of a product because I didn't want to put my name on something and
01:17it just wasn't my, it wasn't my bag, you know what I'm saying?
01:21But Catherine and I are good friends.
01:24We were, you know, we spend a lot of time together. We would always kind of find each other at
01:31friend gatherings
01:32where we would sit in the corner and have a glass of wine and talk about food and houses and, you know.
01:38Be a little antisocial.
01:40Be a little antisocial and
01:43you know, one day we just sort of had that moment where we were just like, what is in the bottle?
01:48Like we asked this question about everything else that we consume.
01:53But we both realized we had never
01:56thought to ask about the wine because it kind of felt like one of those really romantic
02:01notions that wine was just like fermented grapes, you know. How fun that is and like squishy and warm it felt.
02:08And then we were like, but is it? Because I feel like
02:12every time I have like a glass and a half, you know, so like what's happening?
02:17So we
02:18turned the bottle around and realized that it was, you know, there was no label.
02:22There was no ingredient list and we thought to ourselves, hmm, that's very interesting.
02:27We wouldn't consume something of anything else if we didn't know what was
02:32inside of it, like literally the ingredients. And we said, is it just fermented grapes? And that led us on to a path of
02:40learning about how, what the winemaking process was and how there could be over 70 ingredients added with no
02:48you know, transparency and all the different things that those ingredients were and could become and
02:56that we would never consume otherwise, you know.
02:59We just wouldn't, if we saw any of those on a label, we would just take our hands off of the
03:04product and never consume it.
03:06So we decided that we were going to make a wine that we could drink and feel good about and
03:12put, give to other wine lovers
03:16and give, you know, really be the brand that
03:21was leading that transparency and that people could, you know,
03:25depend on to have the highest quality.
03:29Amazing. You know, Catherine, why was it that the wine industry had not been part of these conversations around ingredient transparency,
03:37organic products, non-toxic products, those conversations have gone pretty mainstream.
03:41How had the wine industry avoided it and has anything changed since you launched the brand?
03:44Yeah, it's a very old-fashioned industry.
03:47And, you know, it's not a product that's governed by the FDA.
03:52It's governed by something called the TTB.
03:54So they don't have the same kind of oversight as any food that we would eat or other, even beverages that we would consume that
04:01are non-alcoholic.
04:03So it used to be, you know, you would go into a wine store and
04:08if a wine was organic, it would be kind of pushed off to the side and it would, it would be kind of like a
04:13dirty word, right?
04:15Even though many, you know, producers and growers across Europe are farming without pesticides, making wine in this really
04:23beautiful way without a lot of additives.
04:26And it was really a personal journey that we set out to, you know, find cleaner wine.
04:33And when we couldn't find it in Los Angeles, which is like the mecca of wellness, we thought this is a problem.
04:40So we would go to the restaurants, we would go to the stores and we would say, do you have any clean wine?
04:45Do you have any organic wine? Do you have any natural wine? And people would roll their eyes at us.
04:50They were so snobby and, or they would say, it's all organic.
04:54It's just grapes, you know.
04:56But we knew from doing the research that, as Cameron said, you can add over 73 ingredients throughout the process.
05:03Many of which, you know, these ingredients at high levels can be toxic.
05:08Without any transparency.
05:10So we really wanted to lead the charge. Not only did we want to be able to drink, we love wine.
05:16You know, we love good wine. We wanted to be able to continue to drink it.
05:21So we created it, you know, first for ourselves and then felt compelled to share our story with our consumers.
05:28And I think we've really
05:30championed this whole new movement in Better For You Wines. Now we have dedicated organic month at grocery stores and
05:38menus that note, you know, if something's biodynamic or organic.
05:42And so the industry is really coming around, but it's a very old-fashioned industry that needs a lot of pushing.
05:48Yeah, laughing at you. I can't imagine.
05:51Cameron, what does your ideal wine setup look like? You're having a glass. Where are you? What's going on?
05:56Oh, I mean in this room with these ladies.
05:59You know, I think that's one thing for us with Avaline, you know, you think a lot of times about wine as sort of this, you know,
06:06celebratory beverage where you're like, you're sitting down, you serve it at an event or you serve it at a dinner party.
06:13But Catherine and I really wanted Avaline to be so your everyday drinking wine, the one that you put on
06:20the table, you know, and you, you know, you're like, oh, I'm going to have a glass of Avaline.
06:26You know, and you, you know, that's why we put the, with our three core wines, we put the
06:33the screw tops on because we're like, pull the cork out. What are you going to do?
06:39You're going to put it back in? Is it going to save? Like, I don't want to drink the whole bottle, you know?
06:46So we put the screw cap on so that we could, you know, have a glass of wine with dinner and
06:51put it back in the fridge and tomorrow night I'll have another glass of wine with dinner.
06:55I just want a glass, I just want a glass of wine.
06:58And so that's kind of, you know, we, we kind of say it's your, it's your everyday wine.
07:04It's the glass that you enjoy wherever you're at, whatever you're doing, doing your laundry, doing, you know,
07:13watching the baby monitor.
07:16I don't know, you just insert it wherever it works for you. Yeah, okay.
07:21That's a beautiful vision.
07:24You know, Catherine, as Cameron alluded to, like, you have launched several successful brands of your career,
07:30but this is really the only one that could be considered a quote-unquote celebrity brand.
07:34So what made Cameron the right partner for you?
07:35And what's your view on what makes for a successful celebrity brand and what does not work?
07:39Yeah, even though I have a celebrity brand or participate in, in one,
07:46I don't
07:49necessarily believe in them just broadly, right?
07:53Cameron is a founder of this business.
07:56I mean, we literally, you know, the first dollars into the business were ours. We picked the Pantone chips.
08:02We knocked on doors in Europe trying to convince these
08:06old world wine families to work with these two girls from Hollywood.
08:10Like, you know, it's, it, it is not a celebrity brand. It's a brand that needed to exist that we
08:19wanted to build so that it would stand on its own. And now we're at the point where when people learn it's
08:26Cameron's brand, they're pleasantly surprised, but they've actually heard of the brand first.
08:31And so that's how I know we've done a good job.
08:34And I think, you know, it's, it's very hard as a venture or private equity backed business
08:41to have a celebrity attached. I think alcohol is maybe one of the only categories where we're still seeing a lot of M&A.
08:49Around celebrity brands, but there's often a lot of risk in that. And so they just don't trade.
08:56They don't get the investment and ultimately, you know, you have to take a business to an exit. So
09:01as an investor,
09:04it's actually not something I'm super excited about. But for a brand like Avaline that needed to exist no matter who the founders were,
09:11you know, we were just two passionate people, you know, that brought different perspectives to this new business we created.
09:18Interesting. Of course, it doesn't hurt, but
09:21Yeah.
09:22Well, you know, part of your strategy is targeting what you've called this Xennial consumer who's this micro generation between Millennials and Gen X.
09:30What is so powerful about this consumer and what do you get out of targeting her? I love the Xennial customers.
09:37So all of my businesses, I have Avaline. I have a
09:41beauty brand called Merit. I have a
09:44skincare brand called Versed.
09:46They all target the Xennial and
09:49it's really
09:51somebody who has,
09:53you know, who grew up without
09:56technology, but now participates in it. They kind of bridge the gap between
10:01Millennial and Gen X.
10:04They're very influential across all different generations.
10:07So they show up and they buy it for themselves,
10:10but she also buys a bottle of Avaline for her mom or she goes to Sephora and she buys a
10:15blush for her, you know, 13 year old daughter because it's clean and natural. So we feel like by targeting this
10:22consumer, we're actually reaching multiple generations. They're more brand loyal. They're higher, you know, average order value,
10:29basket size, all of that. I think it's a very exciting
10:33sort of micro demo. Yeah, it's a really interesting strategy.
10:37So Cameron, you made a transition away from acting and took some time to focus on other parts of your life, including Avaline.
10:44And you've spoken about wanting to simplify your life and, you know, have a more manageable life that you could handle yourself.
10:50And we have a lot of other women in the room who have similarly very high level, high powered careers that are very complex and
10:56have likely considered some of those same existential questions.
10:59So for someone else considering whether to press pause or to pivot to something else,
11:03what advice would you give them about how to know whether it's the right choice and how to do it in a way that
11:07serves them?
11:08Well, I can only speak for myself. Like for me, it was just something I had to do.
11:14It felt like the right thing for me to reclaim my own life, and I just really didn't care about
11:22anything else.
11:27Nobody's opinion,
11:29nobody's
11:30success, no one's
11:32offer, no one's
11:35anything could change my mind about my decision of taking care of myself and
11:42looking after the, you know, and building the life that I really wanted to have.
11:49And so I think it really comes to,
11:53you know, what are you passionate about? You know, whether it's for me, it was to, you know, build my family.
12:01For other people, it might just be, you know what?
12:03I went to school for this and I've done it my whole life and I know how to do it really, really well.
12:09I'm at the top of my game, but it doesn't feed my soul. And I always like taking pictures or, you know,
12:16whatever, or I always thought I could be a gardener or whatever it is. Like,
12:20that's the thing you feel in your soul that speaks to you and you feel peace in it.
12:26You're going to figure it out. You're going to find a way to
12:30go there. And then a friend of mine a long time ago said, told me this, gave me this imagery,
12:36which I thought was really interesting.
12:38It was like, a
12:41jellyfish has to suck into itself before it can propel forward.
12:47Right? So if you think of a jellyfish, it's like all of its power,
12:51even octopus, any of these, it's like comes in
12:54and it comes into itself and it pushes forward. And I always thought of that.
12:58It was like, I can't go forward anymore if I don't come into myself and I don't
13:03pull in all of my energy and my power to be able to thrust forward.
13:06So once you figure that out for yourself and take the time and however much time it takes you to do it,
13:12it doesn't, it's on your timeline. It's yours.
13:16You just do that and you'll find your way to your next, you know,
13:21passion or you'll build the passion you're in.
13:23Wow. Amazing.
13:25On the other side of that, you do have your first project in a while coming out in early 2025.
13:30So how did you know it was the right time for you to come back and how would you frame that for others
13:35who are considering whether to get back into something?
13:37It was just the right time for my family. After the COVID,
13:42I was like, we were in the house for a long time, which was amazing.
13:47And the problem was, was that we would probably stay there.
13:50We would still be there right now. People would be like, it's over.
13:53And I'd be like, no, it's not. It is not. It's not over for me.
13:57So I had to push myself. My husband and I were like, you know,
14:02and my husband, who's the best, he's just the best.
14:04He was just like, you've been supporting us and, you know,
14:08building the family and, you know, supporting him in his businesses.
14:12He's like, it's time for us to go.
14:14Supporting him in his businesses.
14:16He's like, it's time for us to support you and let mommy,
14:21like, you know, ascend and do her thing.
14:25He's like, let me see you do it, girl.
14:27All right, here we go.
14:29Are you excited?
14:31I'm really excited. I mean, also Jamie Foxx.
14:33I couldn't say no to Jamie. He said, come with me.
14:35And I was like, OK, let's do it. It's our third film together.
14:38So amazing.
14:40What have you taken with you from this time, you know, focusing on other things?
14:44And including building Avalene, what have you learned from your time
14:46as a founder that you're now bringing into other parts of your life?
14:50Well, I mean, we were talking about this on the way down.
14:53You know, it's entrepreneurial endeavors are creative endeavors.
14:58You know, it's about creativity.
15:00It's about finding something and making something out of nothing.
15:04Right. And telling a story and, you know,
15:09you know, picking pantomimes, you know.
15:13But we you know, it's a creative endeavor.
15:17So I think it's just a natural thing for me personally to to create.
15:22And Catherine's a phenomenal entrepreneur who knows how to build a business
15:28and also is very creative and, you know, an artist in so many ways.
15:35So the two of us just we just had a lot of fun doing it.
15:38It was just felt really natural.
15:39I don't think we ever like as many people who told us, no, you can't do it that way.
15:46We just were looking at him like, whatever, you can't do it that way.
15:50We can watch us.
15:54We'll figure it out.
15:56So, yeah, that's a motto.
15:59You know, Catherine, something that really separates you as a founder
16:02is that you've not just built one successful brand,
16:04but you have this entire portfolio where you've built so many.
16:07So what is the key to that repeat success?
16:09How do you build not just one, but several brands?
16:11You know, they all come from a white space in the market,
16:15and they usually line up with the personal need that I have
16:18or a problem that I want to solve, you know, and that I want to solve for other people.
16:23So it's it's kind of starts with that.
16:26And then, you know, I use data to validate that opportunity.
16:30And even in the early days of Avaline, we went on our Instagram and said,
16:35you know, ask questions about wine.
16:36You know what organic wine is?
16:38How often do you drink wine?
16:39And we, you know, it's just like all these things to inform,
16:42you know, what we wanted to create.
16:45And you start to get signals, you know, from people from the universe
16:50that you're headed in the right direction.
16:51And then, you know, from there, it's just about putting the right people together.
16:58You know, not unlike, you know, doing a film, right?
17:01It's like there's a there's a brand, there's a narrative,
17:04and then you got to put the right team together to execute it.
17:08So, Cameron, has this, you know, scratched a founder itch for you?
17:11Should we be keeping an eye out for any other brands, any other projects from you?
17:15Only if Catherine does it with me.
17:17That's it.
17:19Amazing. Well, thank you both so much.
17:20It was a pleasure to chat with you.
17:22Thank you. Thank you, everyone.