Jessica Alba was nine months pregnant, stressed out of her mind and battling a bad allergic reaction to laundry detergent when she decided to launch her first business. Alba spoke about her experience as a successful entrepreneur in a conversation with Courtney Kelso, senior executive VP and head of payments: consumer and small business for U.S. Bank, held Oct. 29 in Hollywood.
Alba, the actor known for such films as “The Fantastic Four” and “Sin City” and James Cameron’s Fox TV drama “Dark Angel,” was recently named spokesperson for U.S. Bank on behalf of small businesses. She’s featured in a national ad campaign rolling out for U.S.
Bank’s Business Essentials Visa Card. Alba’s determination to launch a company that used safe and healthy chemicals in skin care and cleaning products was realized after the birth of her daughter. The Honest Company made its retail debut in 2012 with a handful of products.
Nine years later, the company had a successful IPO, making Alba one of the youngest and one of the few Latinas to take a company public. In the conversation with Kelso, moderated by Cynthia Littleton, Variety’s co-Editor in Chief, Alba recalled the hard work of getting the company off the ground. She was ahead of the curve in recognizing that her name recognition could be harnessed to create awareness for her brand.
I didn’t collab with the brand that existed. I did something impossible. I created something that never existed, and to build a consumer brand around a digital marketplace, which also had not been done before,” Alba said.
I had to learn about shipping and packing. [Alba and her initial partners] were literally getting different types of bubble wrap around our detergents and throwing them off the back of the cars because we’re like, that’s going to happen when said delivery person is irritated in the middle of winter in Ohio, they will be tossing it and so we had to see if like the cap would break. And it did, it totally did.” The learning curve was steep, Alba admitted to the invitation-only crowd of small business owners, entrepreneurs and business influencers. And then there was the time that they had to chase after consumers for payment because the system failed to charge credit cards.
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