Female Disruptors: Carly Broderick of Miles On The Three Things You Need To Shake Up Your Industry
You never know what’s happening for someone else. I’m always going to run into someone who is having a bad day, week, month, etc and I might not know that. I try to give others grace and patience if our encounters seem off, or abrupt or negative.
As a part of our series about women who are shaking things up in their industry, we had the pleasure of interviewing Carly Broderick.
Carly Broderick is a former target executive and a mom who noticed a gap in the market when shopping for deodorant for her teen son. This inspired the idea behind Miles, a natural, plant based personal care brand that is designed to to be an inclusive, modern brand focused on individuality rather than enforcing gender roles and expectations.
Can you tell our readers what it is about the work you’re doing that’s disruptive?
When I surveyed the personal care landscape searching for a product and a brand that made sense for my tween kids, I realized three things:
- There weren’t mass market brands representing the individuality, creativity and energy of Gen Z and the Alpha Generation.
- Specifically for deodorant, there wasn’t a great product choice under $10 using clean and natural ingredients.
- Fragrance descriptions were confusing and not resonating with teens & tweens.
I created Miles to meet all of these needs — designed for teens, and approved by parents.
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
I am really having a hard time answering this because I made a lot of mistakes early on, but none of them seem funny — even now! It was painful and hard at times. I started Miles during the early pandemic and then the supply chain crises that followed. As a result, right when my manufacturing partner was supposed to begin Miles’ initial production run for my largest retail partner, they informed me a key ingredient in my formula was experiencing national and global shortages and we couldn’t manufacture. I had to call my retail partner and push off the launch. It was my lowest point. I have since changed manufacturers and reformulated Miles to ensure supply chain stability.
We all need a little help along the journey. Who have been some of your mentors? Can you share a story about how they made an impact?
A very good friend of mine started a haircare brand about 4 years before I started working on Miles. It was exhilarating to have the idea for Miles — but it was so very daunting to know where to begin. She helped me break down the necessary first steps and provided me with her contacts and network to start the manufacturing and branding processes, which was invaluable.
In today’s parlance, being disruptive is usually a positive adjective. But is disrupting always good? When do we say the converse, that a system or structure has ‘withstood the test of time’? Can you articulate to our readers when disrupting an industry is positive, and when disrupting an industry is ‘not so positive’? Can you share some examples of what you mean?
Industry disruption is exciting because it often means — specific to consumer products — someone has identified an unmet consumer need and is bringing new thinking to the market with products and services that consumers want. I led the skincare business for a mass retailer when the idea of “masstige” was disrupting that industry — the notion that prestige-level formulations could be sold in mass retail while simultaneously raising the average price point in the skincare aisle. That was exciting and brought real prestire efficacy to the masses for the first time.
But when you’re disrupting an industry, it’s important to think about the long-term impacts on our world. The notion of fast fashion has created so much choice and allowed for so much individual expression through clothing — but we’re experiencing the environmental impacts of fast fashion also becoming highly disposable. It’s been really important to me to think through the long-term impacts of Miles, which is why I’ve invested in packaging that is recyclable but also developed to biodegrade rapidly in commercial landfills.
Can you share 3 of the best words of advice you’ve gotten along your journey? Please give a story or example for each.
Forge your own path. Being observant and educated on competition is helpful, but if I’m truly going to deliver what teens, tweens and their parents and caregivers need, I need to stay focused on what Miles is meant to deliver. As an example, the deodorant business has been built on ideas of gender division. There are deodorant brands for men and deodorant brands for women. But if you examine many of those brands, they are using similar ingredients and formulations to prevent body odor and sweat. Miles was built for all genders, because puberty is fierce, B.O. happens and I wanted to provide simple solutions to help teens & tweens feel confident in their skin and get on with living their best lives.
As a start-up, an advisory group is invaluable. A formal board of directors wasn’t necessary, but I had an informal advisory “board” that I leveraged all the time. As a sole founder, this was really key for me. I had someone who I trusted for manufacturing and packaging advice. Someone for marketing. Someone for retail and supply chain. Those advisors were important gut checks for me, they helped inform my decisions and support the development of Miles.
You never know what’s happening for someone else. I’m always going to run into someone who is having a bad day, week, month, etc and I might not know that. I try to give others grace and patience if our encounters seem off, or abrupt or negative.
We are sure you aren’t done. How are you going to shake things up next?
As I’ve said before, puberty is fierce and Miles is here for the journey! We’re working on expanding our assortment into other products to continue to help teens & tweens feel confident in their skin.
In your opinion, what are the biggest challenges faced by ‘women disruptors’ that aren’t typically faced by their male counterparts?
There are some startling facts around how hard it is to raise funds as a female entrepreneur, and that gets even harder for women of color. I know we’re seeing more and more female-led, female-focused and women of color-focused investment funds. I’m hopeful this important part of business will continue to evolve and support the incredible innovation and creative thinking coming from women.
Do you have a book/podcast/talk that’s had a deep impact on your thinking? Can you share a story with us?
I listened to How I Built This with Guy Raz non-stop in the early days of Miles. Whenever I felt overwhelmed or hit an obstacle in the building of Miles (which happened pretty often because I was trying to build a brand during the pandemic and an unprecedented supply chain crises) I’d find an episode of a female founder and that became my therapy.
You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)
Teen mental health is in crisis. Our teens and tweens today experience pressures in so many ways — this is not new news. Starting your day feeling confident in your skin is the first step to having a great day. I want Miles to contribute to positive teen mental health by helping teens & tweens to develop good hygiene habits with safe and natural products that have been created especially for these critical teen years.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
At a particularly low point in my professional life, my dad told me, “You can control two things — your attitude and your effort.” That has stuck with me for the past 10 years and helped me navigate through a number of difficult moments. There are so many things that happen that I could take personally, or judge negatively, or blame. I continually remind myself, of the 2 things I can control.
How can our readers follow you online?
https://www.instagram.com/heymiles_brand/
https://www.tiktok.com/@heymilesbrand?lang=en
https://www.linkedin.com/in/carlybroderick/
This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for joining us!
