McIntire alumna Nancy Twine spoke with McIntire School of Commerce Dean Nicole Thorne Jenkins for the “Trusting Your Intuition” session, discussing her personal journey to success. Held on Oct. 10 as part of the UVA Alumni Association’s Retold Virtual Experience, Twine and Jenkins were featured guests for the digital conference celebrating the transformational impact of UVA women.
Twine detailed her entrepreneurial career trajectory, as well as the many challenges she faced balancing her past position while starting her “clean beauty” company as a solo founder. She spoke about the importance of following her passion when shifting from a background in finance into the beauty industry with no prior experience, how she built her personal network to produce and develop her hair care company, and how the pandemic motivated her to take on a daily wellness practice underscored by an approach focused on gratitude.
In addition to the Retold conference, Twine also recently appeared on Guy Raz’s “How I Built This” podcast on NPR, recounting her captivating journey that took her from mixing homemade beauty products with her family to the McIntire School of Commerce, to the trading floor at Goldman Sachs, and finally, to launching Sephora’s fastest-selling natural hair care line.
Briogeo has since become a global phenomenon by expanding its beauty and wellness lines and broadening its presence beyond North America, with recent launches with Sephora in the Middle East, South East Asia, Australia, and Europe. Considered a leading authority on “green beauty,” Twine is often sought out by high-profile women’s and beauty trade publications and has been profiled in Forbes, Women’s Wear Daily, Beauty Inc., New York Post, Marie Claire, Essence, and Refinery 29, and earned a coveted spot as one of Glamour’s 35 Under 35. And as an unexpected result of her business success, Twine was also recently honored by the company she left six years ago, Goldman Sachs, as one of the 100 Most Intriguing Entrepreneurs at its Builders + Innovators Summit.
Find out more about what Twine faced in launching her company by watching the Retold Virtual Experience “Trusting Your Intuition” conversation with Dean Jenkins here. And listen to the full NPR “How I Built This” podcast here (duration: 1:12).
