Skin Anarchy
Skin Anarchy is where beauty meets curiosity and science. Hosted by Dr. Ekta, this podcast dives deep into the behind-the-scenes world of beauty, uncovering the stories, trends, and innovations shaping skincare, makeup, haircare, fragrance, and more. Featuring candid conversations with industry pioneers, we explore the art and science behind beauty with passion and purpose. Join the revolution on Instagram @skincareanarchy and discover the beauty world like never before. (Not legal or medical advice, all views expressed are non-legal and non-medical opinions.)https://skinanarchy.com/
Understanding Barrier Repair with Dr. Carl Thornfeldt of Epionce
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Dermatologist Dr. Carl Thornfeldt, founder of Epionce and holder of 22 patents, joins Skin Anarchy to explain the science of barrier repair before it was a trend: the discovery of the skin barrier ratio, why ceramides alone fall short, and why high dose actives can do more harm than good.
Who is Dr. Carl Thornfeldt?
A dermatologist whose childhood eczema drove a lifelong quest to understand skin. As the only full time dermatologist across 30,000 square miles of rural Oregon, he saw skin pushed to extremes and realized most...
The Secretome: The Next Frontier in Regenerative Medicine with Dr. Drew Taylor of Acorn Biolabs
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Dr. Drew Taylor, biomedical engineer and CEO of Acorn, joins Skin Anarchy to demystify regenerative aesthetics: what a secretome actually is, why exosome counts can mislead, whether older cells still work, and why banking your own cells early may matter.
Who is Dr. Drew Taylor?
A biomedical engineer who took a winding path through pro baseball. He played in the Blue Jays and Phillies organizations while earning a PhD at the University of Toronto, studying how a patient's own stem cells regenerate connective tissue. "I really do...
Joanna Vargas on the Science and Art of Great Skin
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Celebrity esthetician and skincare founder Joanna Vargas joins Skin Anarchy to share what three decades of hands on work taught her: why LED and microcurrent changed her practice, what clients actually want, how she vets ingredients, and why the basics still win over hype.
How did Joanna Vargas get into skincare?
By a winding road. She moved to New York hoping to be a fashion photographer, found she was too shy for it, and enrolled in aesthetic school, then fell in love with the one on one...
What Separates Medical Aesthetics from Retail Aesthetics with Dominic Mazzone of VOS Collection
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Dominic Mazzone, CEO of VOS Collection, joins Skin Anarchy to pull back the curtain on medical aesthetic platforms: how his model differs from private equity, the split between medical and retail aesthetics, how clinics and skincare brands earn their place, and how to find a provider who delivers real results.
What is VOS Collection?
A medical aesthetics platform built by an entrepreneur rather than a private equity firm. A self described serial entrepreneur who has started 19 businesses, Mazzone acquires top clinics whose physicians become equity partners. "I'm...
Beyond the Wellness Hype with Durana Elmi of Cymbiotika
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Durana Elmi, cofounder of Cymbiotika, joins Skin Anarchy to talk about building a transparency first supplement brand: the loss that inspired it, why absorption matters more than dose, how the pouch format drives consistency, and the gaps in women's health.
What inspired Durana Elmi to start Cymbiotika?
Loss. After she and her husband lost family members they could not help despite having resources, they set out to change how health is accessed. "The inspiration came from losing family members who we couldn't help." They saw an industry...
Beauty, Identity, and Raising Conscious Children with Dr. Shefali
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Clinical psychologist and New York Times bestselling author Dr. Shefali joins Skin Anarchy to talk about conscious parenting: why emotional regulation starts with the parent, how mothers pass down beauty standards, and the blueprints for raising sons and daughters.
Who is Dr. Shefali?
A clinical psychologist and bestselling author who pioneered conscious parenting 16 years ago with her 2010 book The Conscious Parent, blending Western psychology with Eastern philosophy. "Children are undergoing the most acute mental health crisis of modern times, and parents are unknowingly messing it up."
<...From Miss World to Parliament: Beauty, Power, and Reinvention with Lisa Hanna
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Lisa Hanna, former Miss World, longtime Jamaican cabinet minister, and founder of Lisa Hanna Beauty, joins Skin Anarchy to talk about rejecting the language of correction, building a science led luxury line in Italy, and the activist mission behind her brand.
Who is Lisa Hanna?
An "accidental beauty queen" who won Miss World in 1993 at 18, then built a two decade political career as one of Jamaica's youngest female members of parliament and a cabinet minister before retiring last year to enter beauty. "I think leadership has an...
From HGTV to Beauty: The Art of Reinvention with Alison Victoria
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Interior designer, HGTV host, and Volition Beauty collaborator Alison Victoria joins Skin Anarchy to talk about the free habits that actually keep her well, how your home shapes your health, how HGTV really gets made, building her Greek Goddess Glow Drops, and what it takes to break into television. Below are the biggest questions answered in this episode.
Who is Alison Victoria?
An interior designer turned television host and executive producer who knew her path at age 11. Design is the throughline of everything she builds. "Doing design...
How AI Will Reshape Beauty, Science, and Leadership with Chaz Giles
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Chaz Giles, founder of Alida Labs and former head of external innovation at Estee Lauder, returns to Skin Anarchy to cut through the AI hype: where it creates real value in beauty and wellness, why midsize brands are outpacing the giants, how to get your data ready, and what AI means for executives and their careers.
Who is Chaz Giles?Â
Two decades across Procter & Gamble, venture capital, and Estee Lauder, then founder of Revea and now Alida Labs. "How do you turn technology into things that consumers l...
What It Means to Become the Face of Sephora with Marjan Tabibzada
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Content creator Marjan Tabibzada joins Skin Anarchy to talk about building a career with no blueprint: her start at the MAC counter, representing brown and Middle Eastern women in beauty and fashion, surviving online hate, vetting brand deals honestly, and the Times Square campaign that made a childhood dream real.
Who is Marjan Tabibzada?Â
A creator who built a following representing women who rarely saw themselves online. "There's so many of us out there."
How did she get started in content creation?Â
...
Building Mielle: Purpose Before Profit with Monique Rodriguez
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Monique Rodriguez, founder and CEO of Mielle Organics, joins Skin Anarchy to trace her path from labor and delivery nurse to textured hair care leader: bootstrapping through millions in debt, protecting the brand's DNA through the P&G acquisition, surviving a viral moment, and where textured hair innovation goes next.
Who is Monique Rodriguez?Â
A former labor and delivery nurse who bet on herself. "I literally built mine from the ground up by bootstrapping."
How did she build Mielle as an inclusive brand?Â
...Science Of Skin 2026 - Explained & Winners
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Ever wondered what it takes for a skincare brand to win a prestigious award? In this episode, we spotlight the 2026 Science of Skin awards, where innovation and science-backed formulations reign supreme.Â
The Science of Skin Awards, hosted by Skin Anarchy, represent the gold standard in skincare innovation. With only ten brands receiving this prestigious recognition each year, the awards celebrate the intersection of cutting-edge technology and pioneering advancements in skin science.
These awards are renowned for their rigorous scientific evaluation process, which ensures that winning brands demonstrate a high s...
How Bioelectricity Shapes Skin Health with David Suzuki of Bio-Therapeutic
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David Suzuki, founder and CEO of Bio-Therapeutic, explains frequency specific microcurrent: how it stimulates the mitochondria, why ATP decline drives aging, and what the clinical data shows.
What is Bio-Therapeutic?
A second generation, FDA registered device manufacturer founded in the 1970s by Suzuki's father, an electrical engineer who worked on Boeing missile systems before turning to the body's own electrical system. "Every function in the human body is powered by cellular energy, but the frequencies are what the commands are."
How does aging relate...
The Science of Building Great Beauty Brands with Chris Hobson of Rare Beauty Brands
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Chris Hobson, CEO of Rare Beauty Brands, home to Patchology and Kate Somerville, breaks down the business of beauty: the insight that turned Old Spice around, what it now costs to build a brand, how to handle dupes, and the metrics founders should track.
Who is Chris Hobson?
He started a clothing brand in college in Canada, then joined Procter & Gamble in brand management, running Scope, Folgers Canada, Old Spice, and Secret before an MBA and a career building brands. "As a brand manager, you get trained...
Before Barrier Repair Was a Trend with Catherine D'Aragon of First Aid Beauty
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Catherine D'Aragon, CEO of First Aid Beauty, joins Skin Anarchy to discuss how the brand built its barrier science foundation years before barrier repair became a trend, why it develops products around problems instead of buzzy ingredients, how it responds to dupes, what changed after the P&G acquisition, and the GLP-1 body care innovation coming next. Below are the biggest questions answered in this episode.
Did First Aid Beauty focus on barrier repair before it was a trend?
Yes. The brand was founded in 2009 around sensitive...
Cutting Through the Noise: Dr. Muneeb Shah Debunks Skincare's Biggest Trends
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Dermatologist Dr. Muneeb Shah returns to Skin Anarchy to break down what actually works in skincare, how GLP-1 medications affect the skin, the truth about trending ingredients, and how to spot credible science communication online. Below are the biggest questions answered in this episode.
Why did Dr. Muneeb Shah start his own skincare brand, Remedy?
After years of educating patients one at a time in clinic and then millions online, Dr. Shah saw a gap between how dermatologists actually treat skin and how most products are formulated...
The Evolution of Clean Beauty with Abbott Stark of OGEE
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In this episode of Skin Anarchy, Dr. Ekta Yadav sits down with Abbott Stark, co-founder of OGEE, to explore one of the beauty industry's biggest questions: can clean beauty truly deliver luxury performance? Drawing from decades of product development experience, Abbott shares how OGEE was built to challenge the idea that consumers must choose between ingredient integrity and visible results.
The conversation examines how the definition of "clean beauty" has evolved—and why terms like "natural" and "clean" have become increasingly difficult to navigate. Rather than relying on marketing claims, Abbott ex...
Scalp Health, Hair Growth, and the Future of Hair Care with Dr. Aamna Adel of Rhute
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In this episode of Skin Anarchy, Dr. Ekta Yadav sits down with Dr. Aamna Adel to explore a topic that has long been overshadowed in beauty conversations: scalp health. While consumers often focus on the visible aspects of hair, Dr. Adel explains why healthy hair begins at the scalp—and why understanding the biology beneath the surface may be one of the most important shifts happening in dermatology and hair care today.
Drawing from both her clinical expertise and personal experience with hair loss, Dr. Adel unpacks the complex factors that in...
The Missing Conversation in Exosome Science with Andrew Ignatow and John Borja of Exocellure
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In this episode of Skin Anarchy, Dr. Ekta Yadav sits down with Andrew Ignatow, CEO of Exocellure, and John Borja, Chief Technology of Exocellure. They deep dive into one of the most rapidly evolving—and frequently misunderstood—areas of regenerative aesthetics: exosome science. As extracellular vesicles continue to gain attention across skincare and medicine, this conversation moves beyond marketing claims to explore the biology, manufacturing challenges, and delivery technologies that determine whether these products can actually perform as intended.
At the center of the discussion is a simple but important question: what...
The Discovery That Changed Aesthetic Medicine with Dr. Jean Carruthers
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In this special episode of Skin Anarchy, Dr. Ekta Yadav sits down with Dr. Jean Carruthers MD, FRCSC, FRC(Ophth), the pioneer of cosmetic botox, world Renowned cosmetic surgeon & award winning researcher. What began as an unexpected patient interaction ultimately changed the way the world thinks about facial aging, leading to the development of cosmetic botulinum toxin treatments that continue to shape the field today.
Dr. Carruthers reflects on the remarkable journey from treating patients with functional eye disorders to recognizing an entirely new application for botulinum toxin. At a time...
The Meaning of Modern Ayurveda in Skincare featuring Pritika Swarup of Prakti
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In this episode of Skin Anarchy, Dr. Ekta Yadav sits down with Pritika Swarup, founder of Prakti, for a conversation that explores the intersection of Ayurveda, modern skincare, and cultural authenticity. More than a discussion about products, this episode examines how ancient wellness philosophies can inform a more thoughtful and holistic approach to skin health.
Drawing from her upbringing and lifelong exposure to Ayurvedic traditions, Pritika shares how her perspective on beauty was shaped by the belief that skin reflects much more than what happens on the surface. Rather than focusing...
Regenerative Medicine Meets Aesthetic Surgery with Dr. Michelle Lee of Dr. 90210
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In this episode of Skin Anarchy, Dr. Ekta Yadav sits down with Beverly Hills plastic surgeon and Dr. 90210 physician Dr. Michelle Lee for a thoughtful conversation about beauty, body image, and the future of aesthetic medicine. Moving beyond social media trends and quick-fix procedures, Dr. Lee offers an evidence-based perspective on how patients can make more informed decisions in an increasingly complex cosmetic landscape.
Drawing from her background in plastic surgery and her lifelong appreciation for art and aesthetics, Dr. Lee challenges the idea that beauty is synonymous with perfection. Instead...
Building a Category Then Challenging It: Alli Webb’s New Vision for Hair
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In this episode of Skin Anarchy, Dr. Ekta Yadav sits down with Alli Webb, the founder of Drybar and creator of Messy, for a candid conversation about entrepreneurship, innovation, and the evolving relationship people have with their hair. Best known for transforming the blowout into a category-defining experience, Alli reflects on the journey from launching a mobile styling business to building one of the most recognizable brands in beauty.
What emerges is a powerful lesson in how great businesses are built. Drybar didn’t succeed because it invented something new—it succ...
From Fertility Struggles to Skincare Innovation: The Power of Peptides Ft. Whitney Kendrick of Routine Skin
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In this episode of Skin Anarchy, Ekta sits down with Whitney Kendrick, founder and CEO of Routine Skin and co-founder of Soma, for an insightful conversation about peptides, regenerative skincare, and the evolving connection between skin health and longevity science.
Whitney shares the deeply personal experiences that led her into the world of peptides, beginning with fertility challenges that introduced her to peptide therapy and later a severe burn injury that inspired the creation of Routine Skin. Through her journey, she discovered the powerful role peptides can play in supporting the...
The Exosome Question with David Panter of RadiantXO
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In this episode of Skin Anarchy, Dr. Ekta Yadav sits down with David Panter, founder and CEO of RadiantXO, for a conversation that cuts through one of the most talked-about—and misunderstood—areas of modern skincare: regenerative science. As exosomes and extracellular vesicles continue to dominate industry conversations, this episode explores what these technologies actually are, why they matter, and how consumers can separate scientific substance from marketing noise.
At the center of the discussion is cellular communication. David explains how extracellular vesicles function as biological messengers, carrying signals between cells that...
The Science Behind Effective Skincare with Scott Futterman and Samuel Raoof of DRMTLGY
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In this episode of Skin Anarchy, Dr. Ekta Yadav sits down with DRMTLGY co-founders Scott Futterman and Samuel Raoof for a conversation that cuts through one of the beauty industry’s biggest misconceptions: that great skincare is defined by ingredient lists alone. In a market flooded with trending actives, viral products, and marketing claims, they offer a rare look at what actually determines whether a product performs.Â
The story begins long before DRMTLGY entered the consumer market. Raised around dermatology, Samuel developed a deep appreciation for skin science and eventually recognized a g...
Why Kindness Belongs in the Longevity Conversation with Dr. Brent Ridge of Beekman 1802
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In this deeply reflective episode of Skin Anarchy, Dr. Ekta Yadav sits down with Dr. Brent Ridge to explore the story behind Beekman 1802—and how a simple act of kindness unexpectedly became the foundation for one of the most beloved brands in modern beauty. What begins as a conversation about goat milk skincare quickly expands into something much larger: resilience, longevity, emotional wellbeing, and the role human connection plays in how we age.Â
Before founding Beekman 1802, Dr. Ridge worked in geroscience and longevity medicine, studying healthy aging long before “longevity” became a beaut...
Burnout, Boundaries, and Returning to Yourself with Dr. Thema Bryant
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In this deeply reflective episode of Skin Anarchy, Dr. Ekta Yadav sits down with psychologist, author, and trauma expert Dr. Thema Bryant for a conversation about healing, identity, and the emotional patterns that quietly shape the way we move through life. What unfolds is not just a discussion about trauma or relationships, but a broader examination of how people learn to disconnect from themselves in order to survive.Â
Drawing from decades of clinical work and lived experience, Dr. Bryant explores the difference between healthy effort and self-erasure. Many people, she explains, m...
The Science Behind White Cast and Sunscreen Inclusivity with AJ Addae
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In this episode of Skin Anarchy, award-winning cosmetic chemist and clinical researcher AJ Addae joins Dr. Ekta Yadav for a science-driven conversation that challenges one of skincare’s biggest blind spots: why sunscreen still fails so many consumers—especially those with deeper skin tones. What unfolds is a deeper look at formulation chemistry, particle optics, and the gap between sunscreen marketing and how these products actually perform on real skin.Â
AJ shares how her own experiences growing up as a dark-skinned daughter of immigrants shaped her relationship with beauty and science. Long...
Precision Care for Acne and Eczema with Oliver Liu of Hypothesis
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In this episode of Skin Anarchy, Dr. Ekta Yadav sits down with Oliver Liu of Hypothesis to unpack one of the most misunderstood areas in skincare today: the microbiome. While the term has become a marketing staple, this conversation reveals just how early we still are in understanding the microbial ecosystems that shape skin health—and why most current treatments fail to reflect that complexity.
Oliver reframes common conditions like acne and eczema as problems of imbalance, not simple bacterial overgrowth. In eczema, a weakened barrier, immune dysregulation, and the presence of...
From Finance Bro to Beauty Guru Featuring Aditya Madiraju
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In this episode of Skin Anarchy, Dr. Ekta Yadav sits down with Aditya Madiraju for a conversation that moves far beyond beauty tutorials and social media trends. What unfolds is a thoughtful discussion about identity, representation, creativity, and the realities of building a public career in an algorithm-driven world.Â
Before becoming one of the most recognizable voices in beauty content creation, Aditya spent years working in microbiology, finance, and risk management—an unconventional path that reflects one of the episode’s central themes: the tension between stability and fulfillment. Growing up in a...
Building Beauty for Melanin-Rich Skin with Sabrina Dhowre Elba of S’ABLE LABS
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In this episode of Skin Anarchy, Dr. Ekta Yadav sits down with Sabrina Dhowre Elba for a conversation that moves beyond products and into the deeper question of what it actually means to build a beauty brand today. What unfolds is a thoughtful look at identity, responsibility, and the tension between visibility and credibility in an increasingly saturated industry.Â
Sabrina shares the realities behind her path—balancing multiple roles while rejecting the idea that success means doing everything at once. Instead, she reframes it as alignment: choosing what matters and being int...
How Lash Care Became Its Own Category With Dr. Michael Brinkenhoff of RevitaLash Cosmetics
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In this episode of Skin Anarchy, Dr. Ekta Yadav sits down with Michael Brinkenhoff, M.D., Founder and CEO of RevitaLash Cosmetics, to explore the deeply personal story behind one of the most recognizable names in lash care. What began as a private act of care during his wife’s battle with metastatic breast cancer ultimately reshaped an entire category in beauty.
RevitaLash Cosmetics was never intended to be a business. It started as a gift of love—created to help his wife feel like herself again after her treatment damaged her...
What “Efficacy” Actually Means in Skincare with Jack Jia of Musely
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In this episode of Skin Anarchy, Dr. Ekta Yadav sits down with Jack Jia of Musely to unpack one of the most misunderstood ideas in beauty: efficacy. In a market flooded with promises, this conversation cuts through the noise to ask a more fundamental question—what can skincare actually do?
What emerges is a clear divide between perception and reality. Most products on the market aren’t designed to treat skin conditions at a biological level. By definition, they can’t. Once a product begins to alter the structure or function of the...
From Anti-Aging to Longevity Thinking with Amitay and Anastasia of Young Goose Skincare
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In this episode of Skin Anarchy, Dr. Ekta Yadav sits down with Amitay Eshel and Anastasia Khodzhaeva of Young Goose to challenge one of skincare’s most ingrained assumptions: that skin is something to fix. Instead, this conversation reframes skin as a dynamic, responsive organ—one that reflects internal biology in real time.
What unfolds is a shift in perspective. Skin is not just a surface—it’s an output. Stress, sleep, inflammation, and metabolic health all show up visibly, often before anything appears in labs or diagnoses. This changes the question...
The Truth About Regenerative Science in Skincare with Dr. Saranya Wyles of Mayo Clinic
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In this episode of Skin Anarchy, Dr. Ekta Yadav sits down with Dr. Saranya Wyles of Mayo Clinic to unpack one of the most misunderstood areas in modern skincare: regenerative science. As “regenerative” becomes a buzzword, this conversation brings clarity—grounding the discussion in biology, not marketing.
At its core, regeneration isn’t about boosting collagen or improving texture. It’s about restoring tissue structure and function—something the body does naturally, but imperfectly. Dr. Wyles reframes the space as a spectrum: from surgical grafting and platelet-rich plasma to newer acellular approaches l...
Gold Infused Skincare Ft. Lejla Cas of KNESKO Skin
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In this episode of Skin Anarchy, Dr. Ekta Yadav sits down with Lejla Cas, founder of KNESKO, to explore a dimension of skincare that rarely gets full attention: the connection between clinical results, emotional wellbeing, and ritual. What unfolds is not just a conversation about products, but a reframing of how skin actually functions—and what it needs to thrive.Â
Unlike many brands built in labs or marketing pipelines, KNESKO began in the treatment room. After working with thousands of clients, Cas developed a philosophy rooted in observation: skin responds not onl...
The Shift to Regenerative Skincare with Dr. Robin Smith of Exoceuticals
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In this episode of Skin Anarchy, Dr. Ekta Yadav sits down with Dr. Robin Smith, co-founder of Exoceuticals, to explore a shift that goes far beyond traditional skincare. This conversation reframes skin not as a surface to correct, but as a biological system to support—moving the focus from ingredients to cellular behavior.
With a background spanning decades in regenerative medicine, Dr. Smith brings a clinical lens to a category that is rapidly entering the consumer space. At the center of this evolution is cellular communication—specifically exosomes, microscopic vesicles that act...
Color, Culture, and the Future of Sustainable Beauty with Nour Tayara of AORA Makeup
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In this special retail launch episode of Skin Anarchy, Dr. Ekta Yadav sits down with Nour Tayara, co-founder and CEO of AORA Makeup, to explore a shift that feels long overdue: the future of beauty will not be defined by products alone, but by the systems and ideas behind them. What happens when sustainability stops being treated as a limitation—and becomes a creative driver?
Tayara’s path into beauty began outside of it. Trained as an engineer and later working across marketing and innovation at L'Oréal, he gained a first...
The Branding Balancing Act with Camille Moore
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In this episode of Skin Anarchy, Dr. Ekta Yadav sits down with branding and marketing strategist Camille Moore to unpack what actually drives growth in today’s beauty industry—and why so many brands get it wrong. In a market saturated with content, Moore challenges one of the most common assumptions: social media is not the brand. It’s only an extension of it.
Moore brings a unique perspective shaped by her early work in “unsexy” industries like law, real estate, and medical aesthetics—spaces where demand isn’t built on hype, but on t...
