Summer Fridays began as an extension of the founders’ creator roots, said Lauren Ireland — who launched the brand in 2018 with Marianna Hewitt — in conversation with the brand’s president Kim Natale at WWD’s third annual L.A. Beauty Forum.

“That creator mindset gave us a strong foundation in storytelling,” said Ireland. “We felt like there was this bigger story to be told around beauty and self care and infusing this joy into what would normally be a really mundane part of your routine.”

Their first product, the Jet Lag Mask, launched at Sephora. “I was becoming a new mom at the time,” Ireland went on. “Marianna was traveling all over the world, and we really wanted a product that would make us look less tired than we felt on the inside.”

Immersing consumers in a cohesive, aspirational world has been key to Summer Fridays’ identity: “We’ve evolved so much over the last eight years, but what really hasn’t changed is this core belief in infusing more joy into people’s everyday routines. We try to invite them into this world that is Summer Fridays and all of the products we create and the colors we choose.”

Ireland credited much of the brand’s next phase of growth to strategic hires in 2020: chief executive officer John Heffner and Natale, whom Ireland described as “the heart of our brand…the best at allowing us to bring our creative visions to life while giving us order and structure.”

For her part, Natale said the partnership between founders and leadership happened organically, with everyone gravitating toward their strengths.

“Lauren and Marianna knew what they were good at — marketing, influencer marketing, social, digital and product development…I’m a very big organizer, if you will. So it’s really being able to take their vision and to turn it into an executable strategy, and it’s worked really well for us,” said Natale. 

“We know what we are good at and what we are not good at, and we’re very comfortable with that,” added Ireland. 

When it came to investors — first with Prelude Growth Partners in 2019, then TSG Consumer Partners last year — Natale said Prelude’s Alicia Sontag helped navigate early growth, while TSG represents a new stage.

“They really understand what makes this brand so special…At the end of the day, what it all comes down to is value creation,” said Natale, praising TSG’s operational support, from consumer insights to backend resources.

When asked how creativity coexists with investor expectations, Ireland said it’s about infusing that early brand magic into everything, but pairing it with discipline: “We never make decisions for ourselves or any individual person. We always make decisions for our company, our brand, our community, our team.”

Both executives advised brands seeking investment to prioritize cultural fit. “There’s definitely a sense of teamwork,” said Ireland of the partnerships with both firms. “It felt like a sense of home. You feel that in your gut. We didn’t have to over-explain our brand and brand vision.”

Looking ahead, Summer Fridays plans to expand globally while deepening innovation. Ireland said, “Global expansion has been a big focus for 2025, getting our products to more people, product innovation and getting more creative.” 

Natale teased, “2026 is going to be a banner year for Summer Fridays in some interesting categories and some really beautiful products.”

Ireland added, “We still feel really young in our journey. It still feels like a beginning in a sense. And I hope that we always hang on to this eagerness that we have. You never want to lose those happy butterflies and that motivation you feel during the first days and months and years of starting a company. You always want to hang on to that, but you want to pair it with the discipline that you’ve learned over the years to really become the legacy brand that we aim to become.”