Don’t Mess With Podiatrist Cary Gannon: After A Polish Brand Didn’t Respond To Her, She Launched A Competitor

Cary Gannon is as type A as they come. When the practicing podiatrist became disgruntled with a nail polish line she carried in her office promoting itself as healthy, she figured she could probably create a superior one – and she did. Since Gannon’s brand, Aila, launched in 2014, its better-for-you nail products have reached customers around the world in countries such as India, New Zealand and England. “When we started this, I didn’t know anything about the beauty industry, and I still probably don’t,” she says. “We don’t let what everybody thinks is going to be cool next year guide us. We do things that make us feel good.” Beauty Independent pressed Gannon about naming colors, adjusting prices, learning to be a kinder leader and diversifying Aila’s product mix.

What were you doing before Aila?

I’m still doing it. I’m a lower extremity surgeon and podiatrist. I see lot of a really nasty feet and along with that comes really gross, nasty toenails. I was selling an alternative product in my office, and I thought they were being disingenuous. I had a patient who was very specific about what ingredients she would put on her body and, in looking the ingredient list, I had a couple of questions about what the brand was saying. When I reached out, they were not willing to respond. I was selling the brand, and I needed to be able to communicate about it with the people I was selling it to. When I couldn’t do that, I decided the brand wasn’t for me. I was like, you know what, I’m going to do it myself. That was the birth of Aila.

What was developing Aila like?

We decided to go into product development at the end of 2013, and we didn’t launch until mid-2014. I knew it was going to be a lot of hard work. I think pretty much everything is, but it was a little different from what I expected. I work in a medical environment where people deal in exactness. We are not allowed to delay or make mistakes. In the beauty industry, there’s not always a fast response. That was a learning curve for me.

What’s the mission of your brand?

I wanted to balance function, health and beauty. Women are notorious for comprising their health for beauty, but I didn’t want them to compromise their health as much as they are for beauty. In the process, I learned that the green beauty industry wants perfection and, for every person, that perfection has a different definition. It’s not possible to make beauty products without chemistry. People hear the world chemistry or chemical, and they automatically think it’s bad, but that’s not necessarily true. There are a lot of natural chemicals that will kill you, and there are manmade chemicals that are safer for you than natural chemicals. It’s all about balance. I’ve learned not to please everyone.

Is there something you are OK with that other people aren’t?

I feel like a lot of chemicals that people make a big deal of aren’t really a big deal and, then, there are certain chemicals that, for sure, we would never consider putting in beauty products. People confuse benzophenone-1 with benzophenone, and it has a completely different chemical construct. People lose their minds over it, no matter how much we educate them about it. Usually these people don’t have a background in chemistry. I’m not putting them down. It’s just not their background. Also, the supposition that water-based nail polish is healthy for you is something I don’t agree with. It will grow bacteria unless it is completely full of preservatives, and I think that’s completely overlooked in the beauty industry.

How much investment did it take to get Aila off the ground?

Somewhere between $70,000 and $100,000. When you deal with a manufacturer, they are not really forgiving on minimum order quantities, and that’s where a lot of indie beauty brands probably fail. When I manufacture products, I have to manufacture a large amount. Most of the money we put toward the brand went to the product.

Where did you envision the brand selling when you started?

I didn’t approach it in a very organized manner. I did it because it made me feel good, and I wanted to make other women feel good. I didn’t see it as a medical product, although I do have a lot of medical wholesalers. I sell it to more of the high-end healthy beauty places that are becoming more prominent in the U.S. When I started, there weren’t a lot of them, but it’s definitely a growing part of the industry.

Where has the brand ended up?

We are international, and are in United States, Canada, Hong Kong, New Zealand and India. We are working on Mexico and have some distributors in the U.K. We have spas, medical offices and boutiques. We do very well in boutiques because some people treat their nail color as more of an accessory than a beauty product. When they buy an outfit, they want a nail color to go with it.

What products did Aila begin with, and how has its assortment grown?

I started with 14 polishes, a base coat, a top coat, a natural cuticle oil and a natural soil-based polish remover. Now, we are up to almost 50 SKUs. We have remover cloths now, and we’re working on skincare well.

How do you name the products?

The product line is named after my daughter Aila, and the name means strong in Gaelic. The color names are the most fun. My kids are involved in them. Recently, we introduced Unillamapegadoodle. My daughter wanted to name it after four of her favorite animals: unicorns, lamas, Pegasus and Sheepadoodles. Our dog is a Sheepadoodle. The colors are named after someone or something we love or mistakes we’ve made. I have a color called My 2 Jeffs because my ex-husband is named Jeff and my current fiancé is named Jeff. We have color names that make the products real for people.

What are some of the bestsellers?

Kelly is one of our bestsellers. It’s a pinky nude that’s a universal color. Interestingly enough, [yellow] Sadie Brett, [bold purple-pink] Supernova and [glittery purple] Unillamapegadoodle are selling like crazy, and you wouldn’t think they’re universal. Color is very geographic and seasonal, and it can depend on the environment it’s being sold in. We’ve learned that we can’t pinpoint color trends.

What was the worst day at Aila, and why?

I originally started it with my best friend, and it didn’t work out for her. The worst day was when she exited the business. The stress on the relationship was really hard. She was really hurt, and I was really hurt. That made everybody step back and rethink what we we’re doing. Is the friendship worth losing over nail polish? The truth is that it’s not.

What did you learn from that experience?

I probably shouldn’t have started the business at the time I did. I was going through a divorce. I had two very small children, one with a neurological disorder, and I’m a practicing physician. It was too much for me to do, and I unfairly handed her too much to do. I probably was not as gracious and as kind as I should have been, and I learned that communication is paramount. Sometimes when you think you’re communicating very well, you are not.

Do you conduct your business differently today?

I do. I switched completely. I decided that I was going to use this as a vessel for giving. If anybody needed something or wanted to talk about the Aila products, I would be more giving instead of saying “no” upfront. Instead of something that was a draining amount of hard work, I said, “I want this to be successful, but in a way that’s positive.” We have a team that’s smaller than people realize – we have five people, and two of them are part-time – but everybody on the team is so excited. We don’t have a formal business structure. We have delegated responsibilities to people, but sometimes we have to be fluid about those.

Have you changed the management of your brand?

I’m a very type A personality, and I continue to learn the hard way that I can’t do everything. I have to hand things over to my team and trust them. They have to continue to trust me, and we have to communicate. We are working on becoming more efficient especially since we’ve been experiencing such large growth. We spend a lot of time focused on organic sales. Instead of reaching out to people, we cultivate our personal relationships. For us, that’s been key. Our strategy is continue to develop those relationships and develop products our community is asking for.

Have you made tweaks that have been impactful?

We lowered prices last year from $17 to $14 a bottle. When we started out, we wanted to allow as many people as possible to join the healthier beauty movement, but we couldn’t offer lower prices because our production costs were so high. As we grew, we had an internal meeting and said, “Look, our profit margins are great. We want to reach more people. How do we do that?” We decreased our prices, and I think that’s catapulted our success. We also decided to be a company of giving. Sadie Brett, who fought against a congenital heart condition, inspired the Brett Boyer Foundation and our color Sadie Brett. We try to partner with groups like that to spread positivity.

How much have your sales increased lately?

We have had 260% growth over the last 12 months. The development of our relationships, having an attitude of giving and the price decrease has driven the growth.

Have you turned to outside funding?

We have never had outside funding. We will definitely be doing that in the future. I don’t think it will be 2018, but it may be in 2019. We are going to need to do it to keep up with growth. We’ve had a lot of people offer. Once people start noticing what you are doing, you are probably almost to the point of doing something like that. The process is in its infancy, but it is definitely coming down the pike.

Have you had a product that didn’t quite hit the mark?

The cuticle oil hit the mark, but I ran into problems with it on the manufacturing side. My supplier was not being consistent. The production hassles caused me to pause, look at the product and make it better. The one thing I haven’t been pleased about has been matte top coat sales. We projected they would be higher than they are based on industry research. It’s still a great product, and I wouldn’t change it. I just think people aren’t used to buying a matte top coat. They’re used to buying matte nail polish.

The nail polish segment was hot a few years ago and then declined. What do you see happening now?

It went up initially and kind of replaced lipstick. Women can see their nails as they are working on computers and feel good when they see pretty colors. It went down as far as nail polishes are concerned because everyone got on the gel bandwagon and pretty much ruined their nails with the gel polishes. I understand the gels. They last weeks, and you don’t have to do anything. Nail polishes are starting to tick up again, and I think the economy is making a huge difference. People have disposable income, and it’s not such a big deal to spend on nail polish.

How do you believe the nail segment will change going forward?

There are a lot of brands jumping on the 8-free or 10-free bandwagon. They are marketing that they’re not using ingredients that haven’t been used in the nail segment in decades, but there is going to be continued improvement in formulation. There are also going to be trends with breathable nail polish, which has a different chemical construct than standard nail polish. Aila has a breathable nail polish formula that we’re working on right now. There’s going to be a trend of people moving away from gel polish because it’s so damaging to nails, although you are always going to have people continuing to do it.

What’s Aila’s approach to social media?

Our approach is pretty organic. We post things we think are pretty and educational. About 85% to 90% of our sales through social media come from Instagram. Collaborations drive sales through Instagram whether they are color collaborations or collaborative giveaways. We just did the color Supernova with A Beautiful Mess. The collaborations promote everybody and have been really successful.

You mentioned developing skincare. Why do you want to push beyond the nail category?

I want to make certain first and foremost that I’m doing the nail category well. I don’t want to diversify unless I’m sure we are doing that well. I feel we’re in a place where we are doing that well and, ultimately, I think a brand needs some diversification to remain relevant. I’m passionate about skin, so that’s a next logical step. I’m passionate about health generally, so the brand is going to encompass more than just nails.