Shelley Sullivan | Founder and CEO of ModelCo - a podcast by Gemma Watts

In episode thirty two of the Glow Journal podcast, host Gemma Watts sits down with Shelley Sullivan, founder and CEO of ModelCo and MCo Beauty. 

Shelley Sullivan has one of the sharpest business minds in Australia and, quite possibly, the world. 

Shelley grew up knowing she wanted to own and operate her own business, founding her own event management company at age 18 and a modelling agency aged 21. On founding that agency, Shelley represented 1 talent. On selling the business 10 years later, that number had grown to 18,000. 

Never one to rest on her laurels, Shelley began to identify a gap for a truly innovative, niche brand n the beauty market to compete with the existing multinationals and, 8 years in to running the agency, launched ModelCo with a single product- the world’s first heated eyelash curler. 

The eyes of the world were now firmly on Shelley, with global beauty industry insiders asking “What will Shelley do next?” A year after that first-to-market launch Shelley sold the agency and focused on growing ModelCo- a business she’s now been at the helm of for 17 years. 

ModelCo have maintained that reputation for innovation, developing 250 products launching several first-to-market innovations since their 2002 launch. One such product? The world’s first Airbrush Tan in Can, a can of which is sold globally every 36 seconds. 

The years that followed saw ModelCo collaborate with industry icons including Hailey Baldwin, Elle Macpherson and Rosie Huntington-Whiteley and, in 2017, the brand was selected ahead of 27 companies globally to develop a 52 piece collection with Karl Lagerfeld- a collection that Shelley credits with officially placing ModelCo on the global map. 

In this conversation, Shelley discusses the importance of learning from the ground up, how to determine what women want and the magic, product-selling ingredients that she launched ModelCo with and still relies on today.

You can read this interview now at: glowjournal.com/

Follow ModelCo on Instagram @modelco

Follow MCo Beauty on Instagram @mcobeauty

Stay up to date with Gemma on Instagram at @gemkwatts and @glow.journal, or get in touch at hello@gemkwatts.com

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