Allison McNamara was looking for a fresh start. After years of working in front of the camera as a host for outlets like ABC, Refinery29, and ET Online, she wondered if this was enough to satisfy her ambitions for the long haul. She loved it, of course. There’s a certain thrill in telling a story alongside equally-passionate peers, and she knew there would always be new stories to tell. But something was prompting McNamara to ask for more—and what that was, she wasn’t quite sure. So she booked a trip to Istanbul and thought it would help clear her head.
McNamara always had a passion for skincare and was much more educated about the ingredients in moisturizers, serums, and lotions than most. While she was in Istanbul, she reflected on this fact. As a digital influencer and beauty editor, she was constantly looking for products that were clean and effective, and she especially sought out those that were ethically made. And that’s when she came to a conclusion: Why not launch her own clean beauty line, and make sure that it was built on responsibly-sourced products she would use herself? The idea grew into MARA, named after the Sea of Marmara in Turkey, and its algae-based line was something shelves had never quite stocked before.
In the five years since McNamara took that fateful trip, MARA has grown into an award-winning skincare line that’s sold to a global audience. Its first product, the MARA Algae + Moringa Universal Face Oil, has illuminated celebrity profiles as much as its taken over Instagram #shelfies, and MARA’s three other products have been celebrated by Vogue, Glamour, and Allure. Her fresh start turned into a full-fledged business, and she’s only getting started.
How did you make your first dollar and what did that job teach you that still applies today?
My first job was at 15 at a store in Manhattan Beach, California called Girl Mania, which was a boutique clothing shop that also hosted birthday parties. I was typically in charge of doing the birthday “glam,” where we would do makeup, style hair, and teach the girls dances to Lizzie McGuire songs to perform. It was the dream job—really. I’ve held a job consistently ever since. What I think I learned most from my early jobs was the importance of showing up, being on time, and learning how to tackle whatever task is assigned to me, all of which still applies to my work today.
Take us back to the beginning—what was the lightbulb moment for MARA and what inspired you to pursue this path?
I was at a crossroads in my career. I loved hosting and producing content, but many of the TV shows I was getting casted on kept getting cancelled. And after a decade of digital work, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to commit to a lifetime of making Youtube videos. Beauty has always been my first passion, and on a trip to Istanbul, Turkey in the summer of 2015, I came up with the idea for a clean, algae-based line called MARA, named after Sea of Marmara in Turkey and also the last four letters of my last name. It also didn’t hurt that MARA also means “sea” in Gaelic, paying homage to my Irish heritage and dual citizenship, which nods to the idea of using efficacious algae. Once I found out that the name MARA was available to trademark, we secured matching social handles for the brand—very important pieces to lock in before you get your heart set on a brand name—and then the ideation and formulation fell effortlessly into place.
How are you making a difference with MARA and pushing your industry forward?
When we launched MARA, there was definitely a space for a clean-beauty brand that kept skin glowing and hydrated while also having incredibly luxe packaging. All MARA products contain our proprietary algae blend, but we continue to raise the bar by creating singular, clean, and active-based formulas that contain safe synthetics and natural ingredients. Our award-winning Algae Retinol Oil uses 1.2% clean retinol, which means we don’t use any of the customary ingredients—like BHT, BHA or parabens—to stabilize our retinol. Instead, we use non-GMO soybean oil, and then supercharge it with four rich, natural sources of vitamin A: cacay, hemp seed, black cumin, and fermented green tea.
Our newly-launched Sea Vitamin C Serum follows a similar format with 15% THD ascorbate and 14 vitamin C-rich fruits, herbs, and marine botanicals. It’s a really impressive formula! MARA is definitely a leader in this space, and we’re convincing those who don’t necessarily care or prioritize clean beauty to try our products. The more people who use good-for-us, good-for-planet products, the better off we all are.
We launched in the midst of the “10-step Korean skincare routine” trend, but that couldn’t be more opposite of my approach to skincare. Less is always more, and we’ve stood by that since day one. I’ve tightly curated the MARA range of products and formulated them carefully so you can get the best results without layering a million things. I also think our products are easy to understand. Even as an expert, I read other product’s names and I’m not sure how to use them. I never wanted that to be the case with MARA. Simple, effective skincare is the mantra at MARA. We clean, treat, and hydrate.
Entrepreneurship is all about taking calculated risks—What’s the most pivotal risk you’ve taken, and how did it change your path?
We took a risk launching Algae Retinol Face Oil as our second product in 2018. Even though the ingredient had been around forever, it still was still so polarizing. Many clean retailers weren’t even carrying retinol products at the time, so it took a lot of education and persuasion on my part to show retailers and consumers that retinol can be done in a gentle way while still being the most effective treatment for texture, aging, and clarity.
Because we had so much success with our first formula, Universal Face Oil, which is still our global bestseller, people were willing to give Algae Retinol Oil a try. Just a month after launch, we were featured in WWD alongside heavy-hitters like Neutrogena and Drunk Elephant, and went on to win several awards, including Essence Best Face Oil 2020. It also really set the stage for who MARA is as a brand. We’re not playing around or creating marketing fluff—I’m here to transform your skin.
2020 presented everybody around the globe with new, unprecedented challenges. How did you #FindNewRoads + switch gears towards your new version of success?
What a year! Physical retail distribution was a core pillar for our 2020 plan, and we were lucky that the pandemic hit prior to any major retail launches. We redirected all of our attention to our own e-commerce, social media channels, and digital marketing. We’ve seen unprecedented growth with online sales, and we’ve had fun exploring new ways of reaching our customers with TikTok content, Instagram Lives, Virtual Hangs (our open-to-the-public Zooms with other experts), and Glow-at-Home gifting.
I also created a supplement inspired by what I was looking for early on in the pandemic. It’s an immunity-boosting beauty powder called Sea Vitamin C Glow that not only supports glowing skin, but also calms nerves, boosts the immune system with 500mg vitamin C, and tastes good to boot. It’s my first foray into the world of wellness, and it surely won’t be the last. It has been such a fun, new revenue stream for us.
Going after what you deserve in life takes confidence and guts. Does confidence come naturally to you or did you have to learn it? What advice can you share for women on cultivating confidence and going after their dreams?
Confidence has always come naturally to me! If you don’t believe you’re the best or most deserving, who else will? My background as a television host really honed this skill for me—it’s a career path where you are constantly told no and have to be able to handle tons of critiques on your appearance, what you say, and how you sound, which are things you can’t even control.
Because of this, being told ‘no’ with MARA, which still happens all the time, doesn’t really affect me. In fact, it makes me work even harder. I think of it more as a “not right now” instead of a permanent no. My advice to anyone trying to cultivate confidence is to learn how to be okay with rejection, and the only way to do that is to go through it. It doesn’t hurt any less, but you just learn how to bounce back faster and use that experience for next time.
It’s easy to celebrate the wins, but how do you handle failure or when something hasn’t worked out for you?
Take a deep breath, analyze what went wrong and why it did, figure out a plan of action to do better next time, and then move on. The biggest mistake you can make is to wallow in a failure for too long. No one is perfect, and mistakes will happen. It’s how you deal with the mistake that counts.
What's the one productivity tip or work hack that truly changed your life?
Creating a morning routine and scheduling my workouts like I would Zoom calls. After years of having to be at work for hair and makeup around 7 AM, my newfound freedom of working from home left me super out of whack back in 2016. I’m great when I have to be somewhere, but when that somewhere was my couch, I found myself working from bed, not brushing my teeth until noon, and just feeling meh. It’s a transition I’m sure many of those who now have to work from home experienced this year.
My current morning routine is: gratitude journal, skincare, dog walk, and coffee all before looking at my phone. I wish I could say I’m one of those women who also puts on an outfit, but I’m a sweatpants-at-home type of gal. I also commit myself to at least three work-week workouts that I schedule like I would any other call or appointment. Prioritizing exercise has always been one of my keys to success.
What is the #1 book you always recommend and why?
Sapiens by Dr Harari. It’s a book that truly changed my life and how I think about the past, present, and future. I’m currently reading his second book Homo Deus, which is great so far. For business, the best book I recommend is The Hard Thing About Hard Things, which is an incredible read.
If you could go back to the beginning of your career journey—with the knowledge you have now—what advice would you give yourself?
Enjoy working on someone else’s team, because you’re going to be alone for a very long time. Entrepreneurship is a very lonely experience, and I don’t think people talk about that aspect of it enough. As someone who came from a bustling office setting surrounded by friends, colleagues, and teammates, the pivot to working entirely alone two years prior to launch—and then another 1.5 years before I hired my first employee—was a humbling and isolating experience. Luckily, I thrive in it now. The core ideation, branding, formulation, and marketing copy is all handled by me, in addition to managing our retail orders and fulfillment.
Fill in the blanks:
When I feel fear, I…
Close my eyes and take a deep breath.
To be successful, you need to be…
Able to pivot when things aren’t working.
If there were more hours in the day, I would…
Read more.
The three qualities that got me to where I am today are…
I persevere, I’m driven, and I’m creative.
The change I’d like to see in my industry is…
More women and people of color in leadership roles at prestigious and mass brands.
