01.12.2022
Bonus Episode: Emily Horrego, Senior Manager of Digital Marketing at Base Beauty Creative Agency
Watch It Live
Summary

Former intern at BBCA, Emily Horrego has set a new standard for working your way up. Now acting as the Senior Manager of Digital Marketing, Emily aims to inspire other interns to gain experience and confidence in the field. All experience, whether good or bad, is valuable experience!

Dan Hodgdon
Transcript
AnnouncerWelcome to WHERE BRAINS MEET BEAUTY®, hosted by Jodi Katz, Founder and Creative Director of Base Beauty Creative Agency.
Carey ChanningHappy new year, Jodi, how are you?
Jodi KatzHi, Carey. It's so great to talk with you again.
Carey ChanningThis is the first time ... well, not the first time we're talking, but the first time we're talking podcasts in 2022. We made it, another year.
Jodi KatzI want to ring the bell. I'm going to do it.
Carey ChanningLightly.
Jodi KatzRight, so our sound engineer doesn't go nuts.
Carey ChanningDefinitely, this is the time to ring the bell. We're in a new year. For those who don't know, we are hitting major milestones. You want to tell our listeners all the milestones we're hitting?
Jodi KatzYes, because there's so many and I'm so proud. So for Base Beauty, the agency that I run that produces this show, it's our 15th year in business. For our podcast, it's our fifth anniversary. This month, we'll be launching our 200th episode. We are moving to a live-streaming format where you're going to get to actually watch and listen to the episodes as they're made on YouTube Live, all year long. We're also launching a book based on all the lessons and wisdom that our guests have shared with us. So this is a very big year.
Carey ChanningVery big year. I want to break down really quickly, this whole YouTube Live just so everyone's clear. So up until now, you've only been able to hear the audio of industry leaders or people that you might use their products or admire. But now, our listeners can go on YouTube and watch as it's happening, no cuts, no edits. Obviously you can watch after the fact too, but just the raw, real conversation that you're having and see the face and expression and it becomes a more intimate experience, so that's very exciting.
Jodi KatzYes. And of course, if you just love listening in your ears, when you're on a walk or on the train, you'll still get to download all the episodes as usual on your favorite podcast apps. But this is just a new way to enjoy meeting leaders in our industry and at the agency, at Base Beauty, we're always talking about how the consumer really is just moving into loving live and brands should be embracing live, so we thought, "Well, so should we at the podcast." So, the first episode is going to be major, Carey.
Carey ChanningDo we tell them? I think so. I think it's necessary.
Jodi KatzYeah, okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah, okay.
Carey ChanningSpill the beans.
Jodi KatzOkay, so our first YouTube Live episode and our 200th episode is going to feature Dr. Shaw. So, if you're in skincare or love skincare, you know Dr. Shaw, because he is so major, he has over 11 million fans on TikTok. He's a very successful YouTube and Instagram and he really just brings it with this edutainment. This is something else we talk about at the agency, educating while entertaining. I've watched this video so many times, I feel like I already know him. I don't know him and I'm really excited to get to know him on our live podcast recording this month.
Carey ChanningI know he's going to bring great energy and really captivate our audience, so I'm stoked that he is the first guest to kick off this new year, all these milestones. We actually are doing things a little differently in the new year, we have quarterly themes. So, the first quarter we're featuring all guests that are in beauty, but also technology. So, if that's something that you're extremely interested in, you don't want to miss the first six or seven episodes and then each quarter, we switch it up.
Jodi KatzYes, I'm really excited about these themes. Traditionally, we select guests just based on the stories that we hear and the people that we meet, but not in any themeing or specific categories, but here I think what we're going to be able to give our listeners as they want to continue to educate themselves and get to meet more people in our industry, we're going to be able to give them a focus.

So quarter one, like you said, is all about technology. Quarter two is all about sustainability and then we have other themes we'll announce later for quarter three and four, but this is going to give you a chance to really dive deep and meet people that maybe you never would've met before, but I'm excited for their inspiring stories. Once again, like always, like our other 199 episodes, we're not here to talk about product, or the goop, or even how to use it. We're here to tell these really personal, career and personal journey stories. So I'm excited to get to meet more people.
Carey ChanningI'm going to circle it back to what we're doing here today. Because we said, Dr. Shaw is the 200th episode and that's coming shortly. But today we have some bonus material and we have a couple bonus episodes coming up, featuring our team members at Base Beauty Creative Agency. It's really exciting because we get to work with these people every day, but our listeners aren't as familiar with them. So we going to give you a little inside peek and today we have Emily Horrego. She is the senior digital marketing manager at Base Beauty Creative Agency and we're going to get to hear your conversation with her.
Jodi KatzI'm so excited for these bonus episodes. I love, love, love interviewing our team. Some of our team members really are excited about it and dive right in. Some people I have to convince. And some people like you, I think I even just ... I don't know, did I like trick you into doing a recording?
Carey ChanningSure did.
Jodi KatzBut it's so great. Like you said, we get to work with these people every day and get to know them, but I think it's another way to humanize our industry, get to know people beyond the status calls of clients or the creative direction, but get to know what moves them and their own career journey. So I'm very, very excited to present this episode to you, our bonus episode with Emily Horrego. I can't believe we're live. Welcome to WHERE BRAINS MEET BEAUTY® Live, so proud to be here on YouTube Live for our next generation of podcast recordings. Thank you to our fans who have come over from their podcast app to see us in real life, in real time, and get to know my incredibly inspiring guests.

Today, I am so excited for my guest to be someone who I get to work with every single day. Her name is Emily Horrego and she is Base Beauty's senior and digital marketing manager.
Emily HorregoHi Jodi, I'm so excited about this. I'm so happy to be a part of this new generation of WHERE BRAINS MEETS BEAUTY® and help kick off YouTube live for WHERE BRAINS MEETS BEAUTY® podcast.
Jodi KatzI can't believe we did it, we're here.
Emily HorregoSo exciting.
Jodi KatzI am so thrilled, it takes a lot to change the game. So we've been recording our podcasts in real life before COVID, over Zoom during the quarantine time period and starting now, we're ready for something new, something fresh and something that we know the consumer really craves, which is live edutainment. So here we are to deliver. Thanks for joining me.
Emily HorregoOf course, I'm so excited. I've been scrolling through the podcast feed recently and you really see the changes that have been happening right from our in-person photo ops next to the recording studio with all our fun props, to now our Zoom screenshots. So, I'm excited to see these videos coming live on social and on YouTube for our audience to engage with you and your guests even more.
Jodi KatzSo, before we jump into your story, I want to tell you and our audience about a dream I had recently. It was about our podcast and in the dream, I was in a theater on Broadway, a small Broadway theater. Just by chance, we happened to do an impromptu podcast live recording on the stage of the theater. We were so surprised, my team and I, Carey our producer was in the dream, so surprised that people showed up and they loved it. Once people started to file out of the theater, after the show, Carey put in a call to Janice, I don't even know who Janice is, but she's Janice and she was The Rock's agent. So The Rock, the actor, performer. The Rock wanted to come and be a guest on our show. I thought that was such a fun dream because it just shows whatever is coming next is going to be big for this podcast.
Emily HorregoI love that. I think that that dream is telling you something and we have so many things coming up in the pipelines to share soon. I feel like that really reflects all of the exciting milestones that we're hitting for the podcast. I'm not surprised at all, either in the dream or in real life, that everybody loved the show because it's really such a powerful show. I, in preparation for joining you today, was reminiscing on the first time I ever listened to the podcast and I vividly remember it. I was walking on the streets of New York City, living the life of working full time, still in school, commuting and just go, go, go and podcasts are my favorite way to tune out the noise and just focus in. It's a little bit of me time while I'm also getting to where I need to go.

I listened to your episode with Sue Nabi, I vividly remember your conversation with her and it's lasted with me so long. I just, since then, love listening to the podcast, it was even my top listened to podcast on my Spotify Wrapped last year. But yeah, I'm not surprised that your audience in your dream loved it, your audience in real life loved it and I'm so excited for all your future guests and maybe The Rock will be on it one day.
Jodi KatzYeah, maybe, what we don't know but my dream world knows, is that The Rock is working on skincare, or maybe skincare for bald heads, or some sort of wellness product or fitness product. So my dream might literally come true.
Emily HorregoRight, yeah. It's telling us that The Rock is in our future. Maybe he is a potential partner for a client, who knows? But he's coming into the beauty industry. We're making that happen.
Jodi KatzSo, I want to talk to you about so much, but before we get into our typical podcast questions, I want to tell you that I remember seeing you for the first time coming into the office for your interview with Aleni, and it's burned in my brain. You were sitting on the gray couch by the entrance way and you looked really excited. You looked a little nervous. Were you nervous?
Emily HorregoAbsolutely. I was so nervous. I was walking into an interview at the beginning of my senior year of college. It was actually scheduled right before my first day of classes, so I was even multitasking back then. But I prepared my outfit for hours the day before, I commuted into the city on the train, nervous the whole time. I walked into the office and it left such an impression on me, just the layout of that new, beautiful New York City office that we have. I could tell that it was a space I really wanted to be in and I was really excited and so nervous for the outcome.
Jodi KatzWell, you got what started as an internship. I remember now, the first time that you were in a meeting with a client and it was probably only a few weeks into your internship. We were in the conference room and the client asked a question, I don't remember about what specifically, probably community management and you responded and just as an intern, opening your mouth and having the courage to speak your point of view in a meeting with a client, was so amazing and then what you actually said was so brilliant. I was like, "Oh my God, this is so cool." I was just so excited for you. As someone, as you know, I always suffered from self doubt. So to see somebody in a path that I had been in previously, feel so at ease and so comfortable and confident to be able to speak her mind and share her expertise as an intern and as a consumer in front of a client like that, brand new to the business, made me so, so, so happy.
Emily HorregoThat's definitely one of my favorite memories too. It really is because of the way that I was welcomed into the team. I reference this line all the time, but it really stuck with me with you and Aleni and all of our leadership telling me that I'm not too young or too junior of a level to have a great idea. I definitely struggle with that self-doubt, that imposter syndrome, I think many people do, but I just have to remind myself that it's just not the reality. I think that that was just the start of a lot of incredible opportunities, a lot of great clients and a lot of awesome work that we've been doing together since then.
Jodi KatzWell, Emily, you created a standard at the agency, Elaine and I will say, "We need more Emilys," like you're a noun, a category and I'm so proud of your evolution, your command of the work, your willingness to learn new skills and I'm excited for what's to come, but now, let's go back in time. Way, way, way back in time, Emily, to 10-year-old Emily. What do you want to be when you grow up?
Emily HorregoYeah, so I wanted to be a lot of different things. I was all over the map. I wanted to be a teacher, kindergarten, preschool level, but I also wanted to be a doctor because I thought just how awesome of a job is that to help people in need in that way? But right around that time actually is when I realized that my dream was to go to FIT (Fashion Institute. of Technology). It happened because of a comment from a friend of mine in town, her mother. Fashion and beauty was always a huge part of my life. I loved it, it was a way that I got to express myself. I vividly remember going to a friend's birthday party and I was wearing, I remember, yellow ballet flats with little flowers on them and I had a yellow scarf to match and a white top.

I didn't think anything of it, fashion and beauty was second in nature to me, but she made this comment to me about how I should make it my career and how I could have a career in fashion and beauty. I never had thought that that was an opportunity. I didn't even know that that was a job, really. I just thought fashion and beauty was this unattainable idea that wasn't really something people could make of their career. But that's when I learned that it was something I could do and since then, FIT became my dream and eventually my reality.
Jodi KatzInteresting that you said that you think it would've been great be a doctor, to help people in that way in their time of need, but I know you're not a doctor and I know that we're not a healthcare company, but in a lot of ways, through the magic and intimacy of digital marketing, you're literally helping people in their time of need. Their need is not a medical one, but they want help, they want guidance, they want expertise and that's so much about your day-to-day job.
Emily HorregoYeah, absolutely. I think that there's ways help people in every single industry. I love the way that I get to do so through social media and digital marketing and just connecting with people on another level. I think beauty is such an empowering industry and we get to give people the tools to feel empowered in their own bodies.
Jodi KatzSo, we talk about career journey and life journey in the show and Base Beauty is lucky enough that you started your career here and it's only been a few years, even though you've advanced through Base Beauty very quickly, you've only been in the workforce from a few years with us. Did you have jobs in high school that left an impression on you?
Emily HorregoYeah, my job throughout high school was actually the cashier, like clerk, at a local coffee shop, deli, convenience shop. I'm from a small town and so I found this job junior year of high school and did that through the rest of my time in high school. It doesn't sound super glamorous at all, but I feel like in a lot of ways it taught me skills that I still utilize to this day.

So a lot of what my team does in digital marketing is communicating with customers, building relationships with them, kind of like that first person in the brand that maybe you engage with. So that was me in real life, engaging with the community members, the neighbors that I either knew, or maybe met just through my job, but building relationships with them and creating a community in the town that I grew up in, in this little shop that everybody visited.
Jodi KatzDid you have any other internships in college other than Base Beauty?
Emily HorregoI did, yeah. I think internships are so important and I really think that they're a key part of the college experience and I push everyone to start off with your internships as early on as possible and try as many as possible. I think there's a lot of valuable experiences that you can get from them, whether it's learning that you love this type of work, or maybe it's learning that you don't love that type of work, but either way it's super impactful.

So I had a variety of internships, some on agency level, some on brand level, a lot of them in the PR and social, digital realm. I really just learned that social and digital marketing was where I wanted to be. I loved everything about it. I loved the creative side of it, also the super analytical side of it as well. It all is what led me to my internship at Base Beauty, which I'm so grateful for.
Jodi KatzSo, now you get to manage coordinators, you get to manage people that were at the level that you started at. What has it been like to be in charge of teaching coordinators how to do their job?
Emily HorregoIt's really awesome. It's kind of a pinch me moment because again, that imposter syndrome comes in and I'm like, I still think like I'm the intern sometimes. I forget that I've progressed in my career path, but I just love that I get to give people the opportunity that Base Beauty gave me and I really want to create the most educational, exciting experience for all of our coordinators.

I want to empower them in the same way that the leadership team empowered me to share my ideas, to not be afraid, to have a seat at the table. I want them to have a great experience with us and learn as much as they can. Again, whether it's that this is right for them, or maybe that it's not right for them.
Jodi KatzSo, we hardly ever talk about product Emily, on this show, but now that we're live and in video, I think we should have a little bit of fun.
Emily HorregoI love it.
Jodi KatzSo for our viewers, I did ask Emily to pull some of her favorite products that she's wearing today. So on the count of three, can you show me, and I'll do the same, the product that you think is the most impactful in what you're wearing today. Okay? I'm going to count down. Are you ready?
Emily HorregoYes.
Jodi KatzThree, two, one. Okay, what'd you pick?
Emily HorregoOkay, so I don't know if it's registering well on camera, but this has been like my recent hack because I love makeup. I love beauty, of course, but I'm not a makeup artist. I can watch makeup artists on my For You page all day long, but I cannot achieve the complex, incredibly in-depth eyeshadow looks that they are doing, but I like to have fun with makeup and add a little bit of pop of color. So, my go-to has been Nyx liner sticks. I have multiple different colors, today I'm wearing pink and I just line the bottom of my lashes with a fun pop of color. So, the rest of my makeup is pretty natural. I don't wear a ton of makeup, but I add a little bit of fun color with some liner. I get tons of compliments on it and it makes me feel fun and empowered. So it's my favorite part of my makeup routine.
Jodi KatzI can see a little bit of the pink under your eyes. I wouldn't have known it was pink unless you told me, but now that I know it, I love it and I want it too.
Emily HorregoI do. I like to do blue, I think that stands out a little bit more. I have purple, green, so definitely getting into the color cosmetics a little bit more, because I usually go for it in a very natural makeup.
Jodi KatzWhat I held up today is an eyelash curler and I am lucky to have long lashes, but once I curl, it's like I'm a whole new person and my eyes just seem brighter and my face seems brighter and less tired. So, I do not wear a lot of makeup and don't love wearing a lot of makeup. I'm more of a skincare girl, but when it comes to if I'm getting dressed to see Emily on a YouTube Live, I'm going to curl my lashes. I didn't bring it with me at my desk but the other thing that's essential for me is an eyebrow brush, like a spoolie brush because I love eyebrows and my eyebrows need to be tamed and I like to brush them.
Emily HorregoYeah, I think those two things are really so impactful and they change your whole look. I think they wake you up immediately, once you comb through your brows and curl those lashes, I feel the same way. I don't even need to put mascara on. As soon as I use the curler, it makes such a difference.
Jodi KatzWell, Emily, I'm so glad that we could finally do a podcast recording with you and I'm thrilled that you are our very, very, very first YouTube Live ever. I did tell you that if for some reason we do this wrong we'll get to record it again, but I feel really comfortable and confident in this process with you here, since you are such a digital marketing expert. So, I know that people are going to love to listen and watch this episode because a lot of people are in your shoes. They're students in college and want a great opportunity and don't know how to empower themselves to get it, so I think this will be a really great primer for them.
Emily HorregoYeah, I'm so excited for the future of Base Beauty on YouTube Live and to see all the rest of the recordings to come. Thank you so much for having me here. This was so much fun, Jodi.
Jodi KatzIf anybody wants to listen to our show without seeing our faces, they can go to their favorite podcast app and search for “WHERE BRAINS MEET BEAUTY”. Please follow us on Instagram @ WhereBrainsMeetBeautyPodcast because that's where you will get to learn more about our guests. You'll get access to giveaways and you can also follow me on LinkedIn, Jodi Katz, I also post giveaways and news about show. So thank you again, Emily for your wisdom today.
Emily HorregoThank you so much, Jodi.
AnnouncerThanks for listening to WHERE BRAINS MEET BEAUTY® with Jodi Katz. Tune in again for more authentic conversations with beauty leaders.

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