Tracy Dubb

With a background in venture capital and an interest in bringing relatable brands to life, Tracy Dubb spent the first half of her career sitting in meetings listening to brands pitch their most precious of ideas. Those with compelling visions—like Rumble Boxing, Kosas and Heyday—went on to soar with Dubb’s backing and she began to carve a place for herself as a sentient, young venture capitalist with an eye for pinpointing brands that are utilitarian yet possess a certain emotional resonance or (sry) authenticity that connects especially well with women.

Dubb knew for the past six years she wanted to create something of her own and obviously had the biz side down, but was apprehensive because she didn’t know where to begin with creating a great product. Cue Charlie Denton, her partner in Isla Beauty with a background in product development and a vast network to match Dubb’s. Together the two entrepreneurs launched a new beauty company that feels functional, friendly, and elevated. If Isla were personified, she would be like your college friend who used to travel to Switzerland with her family when she was nine, but is also deeply self-aware with a little trauma that makes her relatable. Isla doesn’t use words like “clean” or “organic” in its branding—and we didn’t do a deep dive on the ingredients— but it does promote accessible luxury skincare ingredients and refreshing transparency in really beautiful packaging. We happen to be big fans of the Snow Scrub Exfoliator, which looks like fresh powder whipped with a shaved crystal-like texture and smells like a papaya-mint dream. All we know is that it made our face feel hella clean and we’re excited to see what else Isla has in store!

Tracy Dubb is a motivated and thoughtful leader, a true girl’s girl, and has an outstanding sense of humor—all of which and so much more make her so damn Dandy.

How have you been doing mentally throughout this crazy cyclone of a year?

It’s certainly been emotional! I had a lot of things planned for 2020 and obviously none of them have panned out the way I imagined, but there have been some highlights too (thank you, Isla)! I’m just trying to take it day-by-day at this point. It’s probably been good for me to give up some control in my life.

Before founding Isla, you worked in venture capital and private equity. Those experiences must have made for a great jumping point to commandeer the growth of your new company! Can you tell us a bit about the process of acquiring funding for a new business?

My background has shaped my approach to Isla in a number of ways—some obvious and some less expected. Despite my background, our approach to funding relied heavily on our friends, family and prior colleagues. The majority of our investment came from people we’d worked with in the past, which wasn’t what I expected, but is a really wonderful thing to happen because it means they have some belief in what you’re doing. As I’ve seen fundraising go, the first investors are usually the hardest to come by, and in the end we were lucky to have more investment than we’d set out for.

Did you run into any haters while trying to source capital or plan for Isla?

Of course! My partner Charlie and I spent a lot of time talking each other off the ledge following some fundraising meetings. I don’t think I was ever the kind of investor who tried to poke holes in someone’s vision, even when I knew I wasn’t going to invest. Being on the other side of it, people say some pretty wild things to you in fundraising and in some ways their feedback is helpful. It’s cliché to say this, but it drives you. For someone like me who is sensitive and was more comfortable being the one to listen and not pitch for so many years, it’s really toughened me up. You really can’t let other people’s doubts creep in, because they can be your undoing.

You work with your partner Charlie Denton on Isla. The branding is on point! As far as the creative vision for the company, do you guys collaborate on that or do you have separate roles?

Since our very first meeting, we’ve spent so many hours discussing the visual identity of our brand and how to stand out in the beauty world. Now in quarantine, we’ll often start out a conversation about an Instagram post and end up spending hours on the phone talking about our brand values and how they come across in our creative. It’s been incredibly rewarding to get feedback on how the creative resonates, though it’s also been so interesting to see that people can actually get hung up on branding with a strong point of view. We often see people who haven’t tried us yet comment something along the lines of “very aesthetic but curious if the product works,” which is crazy! One of the reasons we actually wanted to start Isla was because we wanted to deliver brand experience that was a strong as the product itself!

Do you ever struggle with figuring out how much of yourself to highlight within your brand?

All the time. It’s actually been a journey for us and I’m sure we are only at the beginning. We really believe in letting the product and the experts we work with speak for the brand, but we’ve come to realize that people want to understand who they’re buying from and we need to be comfortable with that too. Right now, our biggest challenge has been wanting to put more of ourselves out there for the people who are curious, but not forcing our voices into the conversation when there are so many important things happening right now.

What made you decide to start a beauty company and how long did it take from start to now?

I’ve been on this path since my chronic acne first appeared at sleep away camp when I was younger, but I had my first urge to do something about it maybe five or six years ago. I didn’t pursue it at the time because I knew that I didn’t know how to get great product made, and something I felt until the day I met Charlie was that I never wanted to be one of those brands that is just putting more stuff into the world. When we starting talking about what would eventually become Isla, a huge piece of it was connecting this network of people to create innovative products in a way that hadn’t been done before.

Where did you grow up? Were you always just really good at numbers and that kind of specific analytical thinking that fosters a “business mind?”

I grew up on Long Island and I do remember always being good at math, but I think it’s a giant misnomer that people who are good at business are good with numbers and vice versa. I’m actually not great at the fast math elements of investing or business accounting, and I still get nervous doing math out loud (which is insane). My whole career has been working on the business side of consumer brands, and I actually think I was drawn to the psychology of it all. I really like thinking about how commerce shapes societies and that brands can really unlock something emotional in people. I actually think the competitive part of me is what drove me into finance, but as I’ve gotten more experience that feeling has given way into wanting to create something really meaningful to me.

So many people are getting maskne right now. What do you recommend to combat that or prevent it?

I have a panic attack every time I start sweating in a mask. I guess I should say that I’m not a dermatologist, even though in my head I am, but we talked to a dermatologist about this and suspect that most mask acne is being caused by some combination of moisture and makeup or heavy product. A few things that I’ve been doing:

• swapping masks immediately after sweating and washing the dirty ones
• using simple, light products in the mask area and avoiding make up under the mask when I know I’m going to be wearing it for long stretches of time
• wash my face when I get home or use facial wipes after being in the mask for a while

Have you been watching or reading anything good lately?

I May Destroy You by Michaela Coel is one of the best shows I’ve seen in a long time. I’m totally blown away by how fully recognized her voice feels and the fact that she apparently wrote the entire thing herself. Other shows I’ve been making people in my life watch lately: I’ll Be Gone in the Dark, Formula 1 Drive to Survive on Netflix, and I’m currently watching the BBC show The Capture and its everything I want in a show!

Tell us your skincare regimen:

My routine is always changing because I’m always trying new products and I have true combination skin that changes all the time, but here goes:

• Cleanser: In the colder months I actually don’t cleanse in the morning because I usually like the way my skin feels when I wake up, but with the summer heat I need to wash my face more often so I don’t break out. I usually use Avene’s Mousse Nettoyante or DHC Deep Cleansing Oil. Oil cleansers can be hit or miss based the texture, but when they’re good they’re great. And a few days a week I follow up with our Snow Scrub, which I leave on for a few minutes to allow all of the regenerative ingredients in the Snow Algae complex to sink in.
• Toner: Every time I wash, I have to follow up with our Tone Balance Elixir for hydration and balancing. I used to wash and go straight into a more astringent toner like the Biologique P50, but now since I realized my skin needed more nourishment after washing, not more harsh ingredients, its really changed my entire skin texture (I find that phrase overused and I normally hate when I read it on a skincare review, but I promise its true here!)
• Serums: I use a BHA serum daily on my forehead, nose and chin where my skin gets oily and I get clogged pores. It dissolves some of the dead skin in those areas, which helps with clogged pores and dullness. I’m currently using Cosrx BHA Blackhead Power Liquid and I really like how non-irritating it is.
• I use Hyaluronic Acid serum every day for extra hydration, followed by our Face Base Priming Moisturizer which is truly a perfect summertime moisturizer. It’s formulated with the three main hydrating ingredient groups to seal in moisture and it leaves a perfect, not-greasy-but-not-dull finish on your skin. I usually find that I can skip face make up after using it (although who needs make up anymore).

What was one of your biggest insecurities you had to overcome to start Isla:

Getting over a fear of people judging me. I can’t say I beat it, but I’m working on it.

Imagine you’re throwing a dinner party post-covid. What’s the menu and the vibe? Music, friends, etc. Paint a picture:

It’s honestly hard to imagine! I assume there would be lots of wine, pasta and me and all of my girlfriends huddled together. Not being able to see them has been the hardest part of quarantine, even though it’s given our group chat a new life. In reality, the first party I’ll throw when all of this is over is going to be my wedding, which was supposed to be in Sicily in October.

What are some ways you take care of yourself?

Cooking is my self-care quarantine discovery. It’s not exactly healthy, but I’ve loved being able to turn my brain off for a few hours each day and do something with my hands. I learned how to make homemade pasta and it’s all I ever want to eat.

Has anything good from your quarantine experience? Any lessons learned, eye-opening moments, or anything new you’ve tried?

My fiancé and I have never spent this much consecutive time together, which I imagine might be the case for a lot of couples. It was a bummer when we had to cancel our wedding, but having so much time together has been really nice for us. And we’re still really into each other! I guess that’s a silver lining. I also play video games now, which is unexpected.

How would you describe what confidence looks and feels like?

I love meeting people who are truly comfortable in their skin. You can just tell when you’re around one of those people, and it’s so intoxicating. I think it’s part of the reason I started Isla; I want to give people the easy, effortless confidence that has sometimes evaded me because of my skin. I also realize now that so much of that feeling in people isn’t correlated to how they look on the outside.

In comparison to your 20s, your 30s have been:

So much easier. I had a lot of fun in my 20’s and I think about them (too?) often, but it’s true what they say—it does get better.

It's interesting that people (mostly boomers) used to hate so hard on millennials and now we're really dictating the way forward and emphasizing values like transparency, wellness and individuality. These values seem to inform your brand model.

I understand the criticism. I think it’s fair to say that millennials may have overcorrected a little, leading those positives you mentioned to create negatives of their own. While I don’t like to think of Isla as a millennial brand, I think the reality is that the barriers to entry are so low now for new businesses that people have the luxury of picking exactly what they want from a company. So, you really need to ask yourself what you stand for and try and live up to it every day. For us that happens to be access to us and our network.

Do you have any marketing tips or advice to share with young women who want to start their own biz? 

I would say that it’s an emotional roller coaster, so make sure it’s the thing that you absolutely want to do the most. Then figure out what you can bring to the table that no one else is offering. Even if that thing is small, it can become big.

The last time you felt embarrassed was when:

My fiancé caught me trying to learn the TikTok Megan thee Stallion song in early quarantine and I’ll never forget the look on his face.

In a past-life, you were probably a:

I feel like I was a boy, which is why I came out such a tomboy.

Your vices:

Lately it’s TikTok drama. And watching beauty YouTube tutorials. I also think I’m addicted to ordering at-home massage tools from the internet when I’m stressed. I have at least 20 around my apartment.