05.15.2024
Episode 257: Chris Collins, CEO and Founder of The World of Chris Collins
Summary
From modeling for Ralph Lauren to crafting intoxicating perfumes that weave tales of their own, Chris Collins, CEO and Founder of the World of Chris Collins, certainly knows what it takes to be the narrator of your own story!
This week we’re so excited to sit down with Chris and dive into the significance of seizing opportunities, seeking mentorship, and unwaveringly following your dreams.
From London, to New York Chris Collins is no stranger to making bold leaps of faith. As we unravel the threads of his journey, from a childhood steeped in a passion for sports to navigating the world of social media, it becomes clear that Chris is not just a narrator but a maestro.
Chris illuminates the winding road that led him to the fragrance industry – a path filled with serendipitous encounters and unforeseen twists that ultimately revealed his true calling.
For more on Chris Collins’ inspiring journey, tune in to this episode on your preferred podcast platform!
Thank you Chris Collins for sharing your career journey with us! Follow us @wherebrainsmeetbeauty on Instagram for updates on new episodes and exclusive off-air content.
Sometimes the things that are meant for you are right in front of you. But sometimes you can’t see it. Maybe because it’s too close. Maybe you need to step back a little bit.
Chris Collins
Transcript
| Announcer | Welcome to WHERE BRAINS MEET BEAUTY™ hosted by Jodi Katz, Founder and Creative Director of Base Beauty Creative Agency. |
| Aleni Mackarey | Hi Jodi, how are you? |
| Jodi Katz | Good morning Aleni it's nice to see you on a rainy day. |
| Aleni Mackarey | Nice to see you as well. When this episode comes out, hopefully you'll be in much better weather in Miami for the WWDC CEO Summit. Are you excited? |
| Jodi Katz | I am so excited. I'm like giddy and weird about it. Because it's always such a milestone for bass beauty. It's a very significant event in our industry. It holds a lot of meaning for me in terms of like tracking the growth of our business. We know so many people in the room now. We have clients in the room. And I'm like, really just I can't sleep. I feel like it's like almost like first day of school. |
| Aleni Mackarey | That's amazing. But network is one of my favorite parts to watch. Its growth over the years having been here for a while and your team as well, your business development team, which is so fun. Yeah, it looks like it's gonna be a great trip. I'm excited for you to get there better bring your sunscreen, of course you always do. |
| Jodi Katz | Of course, multiple versions of sunscreen. It's totally already set aside. And I mean, I guess that's an okay segue to talking about Chris Collins because when I think about his career, it kind of makes me giddy to it. He was for 20 years a model and brand ambassador for Ralph Lauren, which is really an unheard of term for anybody to be a model working model, let alone to have such a significant relationship with one brand. |
| Aleni Mackarey | That's amazing. That's an incredibly long stretch in the modeling world while |
| Jodi Katz | he has amazing memories. This is such a great episode he shares about modeling. He talks about what you would expect to find in his wardrobe closet but what isn't there and of course he loves collecting fragrance. |
| Aleni Mackarey | Interesting that goes well with his scent line the world of Chris Collins |
| Jodi Katz | Yeah, so we talk a lot about memories in this episode, specifically scent memories. And you know, a fragrance is so powerful. It can like take your brain right back to a time or place in an instant. Do you have any significant set of memories? |
| Aleni Mackarey | I totally do. I have many I think probably the strongest one that comes to mind is L'Oreal Elnett hairspray I love with big volume looks for styling my hair and this was the first bottle of hairspray I bought when I discovered that you needed to put hairspray and when you were teasing your hair and getting into hold. And I've used so many hairspray since then. But every time I have a fresh bottle of this I'm totally brought back. |
| Jodi Katz | Was that like a high school hair teasing? Yeah. |
| Aleni Mackarey | It was it was and I still use my hair and I love and it's still my favorite hairspray about you. |
| Jodi Katz | I think most significant scent memory is a fragrance my mom used to wear when I was high like in my middle school and teens High School. It's YSL Paris, I think they still sell it and maybe she started wearing it in elementary school because that would be the 80s which would make a lot of sense. Like she wore a lot of fragrance and that was like you know, everyone had their own scent. So it says her sense. And if I walk past somebody and they're wearing it, I know it in an instant. |
| Aleni Mackarey | That's amazing. It's so powerful with the sense can bring us back to well let's get to this lockdown sent memory lane here is episode 257 with Chris Collins. |
| Jodi Katz | Welcome to where brains meet beauty. We are a career journey podcast talking about what it's like to define success and reach for it in the beauty and wellness industries. Today we are continuing our influencer themed quarter. We are thrilled to be joined by Chris Collins, former 20 year brand ambassador for Ralph Lauren. The world of influencing runs deep for him. He's currently the CEO and founder of the world of Chris Collins, taking his appreciation for fine fragrance and scent storytelling to the next level. He's also the co founder of The League of gentlemen. I'm excited to dive into the conversation about his career from polo shirts to perfume on episode 257. Hey Chris, welcome to where brains meet beauty. |
| Chris Collins | Hi, Jodi, nice to be here. |
| Jodi Katz | I want to give a shout out to Asha Coco, who connected us together. She's a super connector, lovely human loves fragrance. So I'm very glad that she made that introduction. |
| Chris Collins | Very glad she's been a godsend since I saw her work with her. |
| Jodi Katz | So yeah, this is a career journey show. So we're gonna go all the way back to the beginning or middle beginning. And let's think about Chris at age 11. Do you have a fantasy about you know what your life what type of life you'll have in a career in the distance? What were you thinking about what was on your mind at that time? |
| Chris Collins | Live in sixth grade. At that time, it was just all sports. I grew up in a house full of athletes. My dad was my coach. I played everything from baseball, basketball, football. All I can think about eat drink, sleep Sports. So at that time, that was all that was I was consumed by. That was pretty good. It's pretty good athlete. So, you know, it was, it was a good time to be that age. |
| Jodi Katz | And through high school, let's say 11th grade, were you thinking I'm going to make a career out of sports? |
| Chris Collins | Well, I think I think all us as kids, we think that at some point, and then as you get older, the reality starts to kick in, and you're probably not gonna go pro. Yeah, I was like the captain and basketball team, and you know, play football and basketball, I squat, I'd like the leather letterman jacket, and all that stuff. So. But I was also I grew up in a household with teachers. So I was also pretty smart, not because I was just like, naturally gifted, smarter than my parents always had me doing exercises on how to study. So I learned how to study early. So I kind of started to figure out that, you know, the promos weren't in my horizon. And then I started leaving on the books, |
| Jodi Katz | that's very interesting that you were taught how to study, this is something that most kids aren't taught, right? They're just expected to figure it out. Right? What do you remember of that skill set in that toolbox that your parents gave you. |
| Chris Collins | I remember when. So I don't know if you know, but I have a twin, a twin brother. So him and I, we grew up doing everything together. Right. But we, you know, our parents were, you know, not lenient, but they let us go out and hang and play and stuff. But before we could go do anything, before we can go to the movies, before we can go out and play, we had to do it, like 12 times tables, right? So we had to, like, do the time tables chart. And I learned very quickly that through repetition by just writing, I was actually learning as I was, you know, remembering and memorizing it as I was doing exercise. So I think I learned how to study based on doing everything repetitiously as a kid, because my parents, we always had to do something, whether it was like vocabulary, or the dictionary, or the timetables, I was always writing. And that's how I learned how to study even in college, I will listen to my, I would write everything down, I would be I would video record the lectures like everything through repetition. For me, that's how I learn. |
| Jodi Katz | That's a really great philosophy for any parent, I have a 16 year old and a 13 year old. And I think COVID got a little bit in the way of developing the skills sort of in that middle phase, when my kids were sort of entering that phase that when you have a lot of homework, yeah, and no one teaching them this how to do it. So as a parent, I have to figure it out. Right. And I don't know that my kids at this age really want to hear from me about it. I sort of missed that window. But I really love this idea. It makes total sense. I would imagine that it's really applicable to just about anything, not even schoolwork, but you know how to learn the new skill at work, right? |
| Chris Collins | It's just you just have to actually spend the time it's not a magic bullet, figuring out taping my lectures and listening to it. That was just, I just figured out like, when I listen to music, I just learned all the words fast. So why don't I just listen to a lecture while I'm writing the notes and rewriting the notes again, everything through repetition, because some people are just naturally gifted studies. I wasn't. But I figured out a way. And then it just worked. |
| Jodi Katz | I want to also share with you that this varsity jacket I mentioned of a six year old this varsity jacket has not changed in design since I don't know when it was invented. It's exactly the same jacket that my son has that my husband had, you know, different colors. And that you know, in the 1950s in the movies that the kids are wearing, it's a wild how this one piece of apparel has not changed. And all these decades back in high school. |
| Chris Collins | It was like a King's Row to wear a leather jacket and then in college, a leather jacket. I mean, it's just it was everything I still have. |
| Jodi Katz | So you cannot get rid of this. This is a very important memento. I remember in I went to different high school than the person didn't marry him. But we started dating in high school. So getting to wear his jacket even though it wasn't from the town like it was such a big deal. |
| Chris Collins | Movie like if you want to be my girlfriend, here's where my leather my varsity jacket. So cute. |
| Jodi Katz | It's the same. It's the same today, which is why I was I think somebody should study how this one piece this one style has been able to survive through so much change. Okay, well, we'll find someone in the fashion industry to do that research for us. I have some fun to teach it fit. So while I'm around. Okay, so let's talk about entering the career world. Yeah, by that time, what were your aspirations? |
| Chris Collins | So when I went to college, I was actually pre med I was studying biology and psychology at the same time I thought I was going to be Not to actually do the years like my junior year, I then started to kind of revert back to sports. So I thought about physical therapy. But you know, it was really hard to get into PT school, like I apply to maybe five to 10 schools, and I didn't get into any. So I said, You know what, let me just take a year off, you know, just take a break, because I was just like, going every year studying going to summer classes at universities back home. And then during that time that I took the year off, is when I met Ralph Lauren. So I said, Okay, well, you know, let me try. Let me let me let me try this for a little bit. I don't know where this will take me. You know, I'm a smart guy, I could just, you know, just do it for a little bit and go back to school and never ended up going back to school. |
| Jodi Katz | Okay, well, we need to hear that origin story. When you say you met Ralph Lauren, you met the brand new, you met the human. |
| Chris Collins | I met someone who work for the brand, and then eventually introduced me to Ralph. I sat in his office before I shot anything, and just had a conversation and he would ask me exactly what you're asking me, what were your aspirations? What do you want to do? Because he likes the people that he works with that just always be well rounded, and have other things that, you know, they have interest in. So when I told him my story, he, you know, he loved it. In 20 years, from that day, I was working with him. |
| Jodi Katz | That's wild, wild, the life of a model is not an easy one. You never know where you're gonna be tomorrow, until maybe midnight the night before? Were you working with other brands and campaigns at this time? Or was there some sort of exclusivity? |
| Chris Collins | For a while there was there there was an exclusivity, but for the most part, it was just working with Ralph, it was like an unspoken like loyalty between us for some reason that, you know, there were other companies that would want to work with me to offer, but then I had to kind of weigh what would it be worth to kind of mess up this relationship? Because I had worked with him from 21 until 4344. So it was like it was a long run, it was a long run a good run. Good long. |
| Jodi Katz | Let's examine this a little bit. Because a lot of you know, the platform that you have now, you know, is was built up because of this longevity that you had in a career that actually has ZERO longevity, right, like people would, then they flip out. What do you think, was the reason why the brand was loyal to you? And the reason why you were loyal to the brand, because you're speaking about a unwritten contract, you made it you made these decisions based on I really like this. I want to be loyal here, even though at some point, I don't actually have any exclusivity, but you didn't you wanted to maintain this, they wanted to obviously maintain something with you as well. Tell me what you think, outline that dynamic and allow that to happen? |
| Chris Collins | Well, I know my reasons what I can assume what their reasons were. And it was because, you know, I was I represented the brand. Well, you know, I would go to events, I went to the Met Gala. On behalf of Ralph Lauren, like 10 years ago, I would, you know, I spoke well, you know, I didn't get in trouble. You know, I was just like, I was just like, the guy who represented with Ralph Lauren with the ethos of his brand was. So that's why it was very important that I met him and had a conversation with him before I actually started working with him. And then for me, you know, to be affiliated with such a prestigious brand, it was just, you know, it was I couldn't have, you know, played out the scenario any better, you know, to say, you know, what do you do you know, I'm a brand ambassador for Ralph Lauren. I mean, one of the most prestigious American brands ever. And then it was also a learning experience, which I did not know what actually helped me in the career that I'm in now. But I took a lot from working with Ralph both indirectly, indirectly. So it was, it was all I guess, part of the grand plan, if you will, |
| Jodi Katz | if we look at this a little deeper, and we compare it to your aspirations as a kid you were on a team. Those were really strong player for this team. You're a leader, right? |
| Chris Collins | And I'll tell you something, my first ever photo shoot with Ralph Lauren. I had a sweater on with a big varsity p. So there you go. It all came around full circle, |
| Jodi Katz | right? So you're talking about being that person that's reliable being the person that the people the rest of the people on the team can know is going to play the game well show up, put their heart into it. Create a strong lasting impression all of this is what you want in a teammate in any sport, and you had much more longevity in the sport of modeling than any of your peers would ever have had in going to an actual sports team. |
| Chris Collins | When I talk to kids all the time. And especially the parents always say how important or or how good it could be to have the kids play sports because there's so many things that you learn things that you probably don't even realize that you learn in leadership, being a great teammate showing up on time, performing just like you said, like all those things, for me were very important. And I guess I took those things with me without even knowing that they were with me. But those are the things that you learn when you play sports, and I played them all my life. I mean, literally all my life. |
| Jodi Katz | Well,let's, let's talk about so you retired from that team? Why stop modeling? What? What reason did you have? Or was it even like a conscious decision? |
| Chris Collins | Well, I'm gonna tell you towards so towards like, year 20, I started to have this itch. But there's something else. I didn't know what it was. But I was starting to really get itchy. I was like this, I gotta, I gotta figure something else out. So I left New York, in 2014, I want to say I moved to London for a little bit thinking I was gonna go there and like, figure some things out, didn't figure anything out, came back to learn nothing. Actually, it was a great experience living in London. I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna downplay it. It was fantastic experience. But I knew that New York was the city I needed to be in. And then shortly thereafter, you know, I was walking down the street with a friend of mine, and her father was actually a father was a perfumer. And, you know, she asked me, she said, Chris, if there's anything that you would do, like, what would it be outside of like modeling? What would you do? And I said, Man, if I could figure out a way to to create my own fragrances, that would be really cool. And she was like, Yeah, that would be cool. But neither one of us knew how the hell to actually start or what to do. |
| Jodi Katz | Okay, pause you there. Yeah. Before your finances question was creating fragrances, something that was on your mind, like in the past? |
| Chris Collins | No, it wasn't. But I've always loved fragrance, like, even as a kid, you know, even back when my dad used to wear fragrance, I used to wear his fragrance. And I used to look at the packaging, and I used to be so into it. And then in college, I had my whatever level of collecting fragrances like now people got 300, back then I have like 1015, and I was a lot for college kid. So I was always in love with it. So the thing that I love ended up being my calling, and it was always in front of me. Sometimes the things that are meant for you are right in front of you. But sometimes you can't see it, maybe because it's too close, maybe you need to step back a little bit. Maybe you need to move to London for a year, maybe there's something that has to happen for you to realize, like, obviously holy, this thing was right in front of me the whole time. You know, so I just think it was always meant to be like it was written already. |
| Jodi Katz | Let's go back in time, one second, because you mentioned having a collection of fragrances in college. This might be a stereotype of young people in college, but often they're very heavy handed with the application of fragrance. Yes. How does one teach themselves how to put on the right amounts, not too little, not too much. |
| Chris Collins | First of all, you got to wear the right fragrance. Because if you wear a lot of the right fragrance, more times than not a lot of people are not going to complain. But you just have to wear enough. So it's not I mean, you're around a lot of people in college class, you study law, you're all these places team. And I was always the kid known on campus as the one that smell good. You know, I didn't really care about you know, so funny that I ended up in fashion because I don't really care about like, clothes. I'm not like a big shopper. Like if you saw my closet, you'd be shocked. You can like this is all the clothes you have. Everyone says the same thing. And I'm like, you know, I'm more of like pieces rather than like a lot, right? And to me smell good, which is more important than dressing well, or looking good or whatever. So you know, that's kind of like, like I said, this obsession was like in front of me the whole time and I didn't even realize it. |
| Jodi Katz | Okay, so now how does one actually start a business in fragrance? So you had this obviously, love affair and passion for fragrance for a long time, you had this change of scenery, it's going to London, right? Which is really important, right? Changing our scenery helps us change our point of view. Then you come back and your friend asks you this really important question that you answered in a really very honest way. Then what? |
| Chris Collins | Okay, so let me back up a little bit about London. So I'm a huge believer in like divine intervention, right? Wherever you're supposed to be. You may not know why you're supposed to be there, but you're supposed to be there at that given time. So I moved to London. I don't know anyone. And then a friend of mine that I played basketball with back in the city, just recreational. He said, man, you gotta be my aunt. You know, she lives in London American woman. She's so cool. Like she was in banking. As she was like, she became my mentor. And she was a she was the person that said, What do you want? What do you want to do? Let me help you let me help you figure it out, she helps a lot of people. Her name was India, she's, she's, like, incredible. And I said, I don't know how or why I want to do this, but I really want to start cream on fragrances. So she said, This is what you're gonna do. Here's the layout, you're gonna go to the south of France. And you're going to call these fragrance houses, and you're just going to show up. And that's exactly what I did. It's like, people ask me all the time, like, where do I start? How do I start? And the truth is, I don't know. It's different for everyone. It's a different journey. For every single person. For me, you know, I had to be a little crazy. I had to, like, you know, go to the south of France. And I had to go to grass. And I had to go to Amazon. And I had to say, Listen, I have nothing to show you. I have no concept. I have nothing. But will you talk to me and help me figure out how to start making fragrance and a couple of people slammed the door, which was expected. But then a couple of companies were like, I don't know why I want to do this for you. But come on, and sit down. And let's do this. And then that's how it all started. |
| Jodi Katz | Chris, I love the your ability to just accept that some doors are gonna close. I think Sports teaches you that right, that teaches you how to win and how to lose, right? And that's a gift to learn that so young, right? I would imagine in modeling the same or acting any performance, right? You're |
| Chris Collins | anything in life, everything, no matter what it is, you're gonna lose you, there gonna be some decisions against you there gonna be some for you. And that's that's the way I live life. But you can't be afraid not to be said told no, because then you'll be paralyzed. Right? |
| Jodi Katz | Then you won't take any action, which is, then you can't be whole. Right? Right. Let's talk about life as an influencer, because you have the the the world of modeling where people are, you know, putting you on a pedestal, but they can't back then 20 years ago, you they couldn't connect with you the way they can now on social, right. So it's sort of a different landscape. But you're on this pedestal as this known entity in modeling. Now you can bring that persona to social media, and people can meet you in a different way. While you're modeling. Now you have. So you have that platform. Now you have the brand. You have these other other programs that you're building to build a network and support other people. Yeah. Okay. So how much of your like, is there an influencer? Persona, Chris, that's different than the human on the other side of the screen, Chris? And do you have to sort of build boundaries and wolves to be whole in your real life versus your persona life? |
| Chris Collins | Well, I think, like for me, I had to kind of break it down. Because the word influences us so much. Like it almost becomes, you know, not meaningless, but it's just to us all the time. And what I had to kind of do was like, break it down to okay, what what does that mean? And I think I learned during my years at Ralph Lauren said, I had influence, right? I had people that will stop me in the street and say, Oh, I saw you in the ad. I remember the sweater you wore, and I bought it. And it was great. I felt good. And I mean, this will happen to me all the time, all over the world. And that's when I started to realize that I had influence. I wasn't an influencer. But that influence I had people would kind of listen to what I had to say people would follow some of the things that I did, or war or my advice. Enough, you know, that's, that's an honor. You know, that most of us now I don't know how many people actually understand that part of it. Now. Now, influencer is a being an influencer is occupation. I mean, people make a lot of money doing that. I did not make a lot of money in doing that. But I understood that people respected my opinion. And then, knowing that once I went into fragrance, or whatever it is I was going to do, I knew that I had a little bit of, for lack of a better word influence on people to understand, like, what part of this crazy world I wanted to talk about. And it just so happened, I just chose fragrance. |
| Jodi Katz | So let's talk about a topic that's really important in my career. And as I talk more about it with others, I see how it plays an important role. I'm curious if it's bubbled up for you, which is empathy. I, I'm a naturally empathetic person, I can just sort of automatically like zap into the shoes of that end user or customer or you know, as we're talking with clients and stuff about marketing. And what I found is that my team is awesome, pathetic. We've actually studied it. We did EQ testing to measure empathy. And what we saw is that these really rich, empathetic moments when we're thinking about the end user customer, that's what creates success for the work that we do. So I want to really start to unravel this for others and learn more about it. Since fragrance is so emotional, right? It's so abstract. I'm curious if empathy plays a role in your decision making your vision or the way that you build your brand. |
| Chris Collins | Well, empathy plays a huge role in my life period. I'm like you I'm what you call an empath. The only negative to being an empath is that you attract narcissist, |
| Jodi Katz | You know that I did not know that. Is this proven? |
| Chris Collins | It's proven? Wow. Can I can I go into my psychology days, please? Yeah. So in order for narcissists to survive, they have to feed. The only people they can feed off of our Empath because we're, we understand we're givers. We're sympathetic. We're all those things. So that's the only negative and I've come across a few little narcissists in my life. It took me a while to kind of figure out who was who. But yes, back to fragrance. You have to be, you know what, when I first launched, I was trying to make fragrance that make everyone happy, until I realized that that's impossible, you can't make everyone happy. If I made a fragrance for you, and your sister did not like it, then I would go back to the lab and try to change it so that your sister would like it, and you would like it. But what will happen now is your sister would like it, and you would like it. So I was like, Okay, this is not working. So then I just have to make make fragrance that I love, I had to tell stories that were true and honest. And hope that people will kind of understand and follow that. But I like to tell stories that people can relate to that people understand, you know, not being afraid to talk about sensuality, and fragrance. And I know that word is thrown around a lot. But you can really feel like in my fragrances like these are like either experiences or fantasies that I've had. And I like to bring it along the journey for you to tap into yourself. So I think that that played a huge role into my style of fragrance and the branding and the marketing and all of it. |
| Jodi Katz | You just taught me something new about empathy and the the feeder narcissist. And as you were telling me this story, I was thinking, wow, this is the equation for casting on reality TV. Right? You have to have the narcissist, but then you have to have that empathetic person, then you have then it will create conflict eventually, because it'll be too much right? It will be overload. And now I understand, like shows are cast? Because, you know, it's, it's an equation, right that way you just expressed as an equation. Yeah. Okay, let's do one more question for me. And then we'll move to our after show. We talked about being a model and this like the lifestyle, it's tough, right? You just really don't know, you can't plan your time, you have to give up a lot of personal things. So you probably ended up missing friends, weddings and things like that, because you had jobs. Now that you are an entrepreneur, you have more control over your time. What do you love to do when you're actually not working? Like how did you How do you shop for the work brain? And how you spend your time? |
| Chris Collins | So, you know, I've worked a lot. You know, it's there's some time that I take off, I love being with my family, I love with my friends. But I love what I do. I really don't. It's like, I think there are two types of people, when it comes to whatever it is that you decide to do in life. There are those who actually work really well under a system of working for someone that is not a Nazi to anyone, people. Some people just love structure and love order. And you know, I know people who have bosses who are way more successful than I am. And then there are those who know that they have to figure it out themselves. And I always knew that I never had a job. Job since I graduated from college. Even when you're a model, you work for yourself, you're self employed, you are your own boss, you could say no, you could say yes, you could say yeah, I want to go to Italy for a week. No, I don't want to do this. So I always wanted that for myself. So that was that was that was always well, I don't know if that was always the plan. But it was that was where I knew that I probably ended up when it came to Vegas, |
| Jodi Katz | Chris, I'd love this conversation. We could probably talk for hours. So I hope to get to spend time with you in real life soon. Okay, we have a few minutes for fan questions, Chris. Oh, gosh, there's so many good questions here. Oh, let's get to this one because I mentioned it in the intro, but we didn't have time to chat about it. Someone wants to know what is the League of gentlemen it sounds actually incredibly mysterious. What is that all about? |
| Chris Collins | So I was part of a, a group called fashion for development where they promoted, you know, Brene, you know, what's the word for the conscious, like, use less water and fashion and all those things. And in it, it was like most of these powerful women from all over the world was just incredible to be a part of. But then I decided to kind of, you know, create a league of gentlemen to kind of lift those women up within the group. So we had, like, you know, presidents from other countries be part of it. And it just sounded really cool. And League of gentlemen. So, you know, it was, it was, it was just, it was great. I mean, we went to all the events, and we spoke and we basically just kind of lean on the most powerful women in the world to try to promote, you know, sustainability and fashion around the world. So that was a great group. |
| Jodi Katz | Sounds like a movie title or book title. Yeah, |
| Chris Collins | the league. |
| Jodi Katz | Okay. These are really good questions. I'm gonna pick this one. What two things would you tell your younger self? If you could? |
| Chris Collins | Wow. What two things? What I told me, I'm gonna so I would tell him, don't be afraid, because you're gonna lose some things, you're gonna get hurt, in some ways, but don't be afraid, because it'll all be okay. And secondly, I would tell him, what you're going to end up doing in your life is right in front of you. Pay attention is their pay attention. Live your life, have fun around, but whatever is happening, just notice it. And make sure you remember it. Because now looking back, all the things were right in front of me that ended up being my life and love that. |
| Jodi Katz | Okay, last question. This is very timely. It's a good question. The year you went to the Met Gala for Ralph Lauren, what was the theme? |
| Chris Collins | Oh, I don't remember the theme. But I do know this was a golf. I think Golf was a theme. Golf was a theme. And I remember, there's a great story. Also, you know, I was there I was sitting at this incredible table like Alicia Keys was at my table, and Miguel and all these people and I get up and I go to the bathroom. And I'm walking around the room. And it's like, you're like in a room with like Giselle, and Tom Brady. And it's just like, it just doesn't really make any sense to be honest. And I walk in and Andre Leon Talley. When I'm coming back in a bathroom, he says, come here. And he says, Who are you? And I said, Sir, no, my name is Chris, you know, just see an artist. You know, I've been in the fastball for a long time. He was like as honey when you walk by the whole air got sucked out of this room. said thank you. Thank you, thank you. And then I ended up taking a picture with him. And Alicia Keys. And a few other Kerry Washington was she was in the picture. And that is my favorite one of my favorite pictures in my life when it came to fashion because we're all laughing. He's laughing so hard. His eyes were closed, I must have said something funny. And after he passed away, it was just like, wow, this is just one of these moments, you'll never be able to tell people never believe you. But now you can actually show this lamented. It's like in a photo. So that was my most incredible memory. Everything else was a blur. But that memory of the Met Gala. Never, ever, ever forget. |
| Jodi Katz | I love that story. It makes me think I'm watching your Instagram, you were in a pretty impressive room. I think it was end of January in LA and I remember what the event was. But when I was looking at the pictures that you were there, Ron Robinson was there has been a guest on the show. And so a lot of people in the industry were there. And I'm like, This is so crazy. What what was that? Do you remember what this event was? |
| Chris Collins | I think we were in a very fancy party. |
| Jodi Katz | It was maybe there are a lot of fashion people there. But I don't know fashion people. There are a lot of beauty people there. And it was like I just saw Ron the other night, too. It was like a real moment. So and it was ended January. Yes. |
| Chris Collins | Yes. It was the 15% pledge Gala. And everyone was like dressed up to the nines. And like everyone who's anyone in beauty was they were fashion. Yeah, that was that was incredible. And I think it's at the New York Public Library, I believe. |
| Jodi Katz | Yeah. That was an impressive room also. Yeah, Chris, you did it. We spent 45 minutes really well together. I think that was a very good use of our time. I love hearing from you. I love the story. Thank you. I would like to spend time with you in real life. So we'll find each other. And this is our 257 episodes. So thanks for being a part of our show. |
| Chris Collins | Congratulations to you. That's incredible. Wow. And for our listeners. |
| Jodi Katz | Thank you so much for joining us. If you liked this episode, please rate and review and as always makes sure you're following us on your favorite podcast platform, and Instagram to stay up to date on upcoming episodes and all the fun we have along the way. Thanks so much for joining us, Chris. Have a great day. Thank you. |
| Chris Collins | Bye bye, thank you, bye. |
| Announcer | Thanks for listening to WHERE BRAINS MEET BEAUTY™ with Jodi Katz. Tune in again for more authentic conversations with beauty leaders. |
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