Show Notes

• A special bond
• Life lessons from Mally’s mom
• Path to a “real job”
• Working with A-list celebrities
• Love, Lashes and Lipstick
• Creating her own makeup line
• How Mally ended up on QVC
• Over 50 and fabulous

Connect With Mat Fraser

✩ Website – www.mallyroncal.com
✩ Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/mallyroncal

Additional Resources

✩ Book: Love, Lashes, and Lipstick

Summary

Mally Roncal is a celebrity makeup artist, entrepreneur, and TV personality. Her fearless approach and undeniable talent quickly earned her spot as a trusted artist for A-list celebrities including Beyoncé, Jennifer Lopez, Taylor Swift, and Celine Dion. In 2005, she launched Mally Beauty on QVC, selling out her entire line in just 36 minutes. Her brand now spans beauty, fashion, and home collections. Mally shares the source and story behind her inspiration, and how we can all live a gorgeous, happy life.

Full Transcript

Brian  

Welcome to another episode of LifeExcellence with Brian Bartes. Join me as I talk with amazing athletes, entrepreneurs, authors, entertainers and others who have achieved excellence in their chosen field, so you can learn their tools, techniques and strategies for improving performance and achieving greater success. Mally Roncal is a celebrity makeup artist, entrepreneur and star of the QVC television shopping channel, a true trailblazer in the beauty industry. Mally built her empire through the revolutionary practice of simply being herself. Inspired by her mother’s impeccable style and vibrant spirit, Mally shifted from a pre-med path to pursue her true passion, makeup artistry. Mally’s fearless approach and undeniable talent quickly earned her a coveted spot as one of Hollywood’s top beauty experts, becoming a trusted makeup artist for A-list celebrities including Beyonce, Jennifer Lopez, Taylor Swift and Celine Dion. Mally has been featured in People, O, The Oprah Magazine, Cosmopolitan, Allure and Style and Vogue. She has appeared on The Today Show, Good Morning America, the Dr. Oz Show and The View. In 2005 she launched her phenomenally successful Mally Beauty cosmetics line on QVC, selling out every item in just 36 minutes. Mally’s brand now includes Fierce by Mally and Fierce Home by Mally, both featured on QVC. Mally also hosts Over 50 and Fabulous and Mally Makes It Fierce, and she is the author of the book “Love, Lashes and Lipstick; My Secrets for a Gorgeous, Happy Life.” Through her beauty products, TV appearances and growing social media presence, Mally inspires everyone around her to embrace their own unique brand of beauty. I’m super excited for our conversation, and it’s an honor to have her on the show. Welcome Mally and thanks for joining us on LifeExcellence. 

Mally  

Thank you, Brian. Oh, my gosh. I can’t decide if I’m going to cry when I hear what you just said, or want to take a nap, or maybe a little bit of both. [Laughter.]

Brian  

I feel the same way. Well, don’t do either, because we have a lot to cover. Mally, you and I haven’t met in person. I haven’t had that privilege yet, but I already know two things for sure about you. First, you have an amazing energy and spirit that’s positive, upbeat and totally infectious. I feel that just in the short time that we’ve had together today. And second, I know that your relationship with your mom not only shaped who you’ve become as a person, but also heavily influenced the direction and maybe even the trajectory of your career. I’d like to start there at the risk of diving in too deep too early, if it’s okay. Mally, your mom was diagnosed with breast cancer when you were just a year old, and that obviously impacted your life in profound ways. What was your mom like? Tell us about the special bond you had with her because of the diagnosis she received so early in your life.

Mally  

Yeah, you really do dive right into it, don’t you?

Brian  

I feel like we know each other already. We can just peel the layers away and jump right in.

Mally  

My mother was the most effervescent, grateful, joyful, positive, loving, wild, spontaneous, exciting, happy human, and I was so lucky to have her for 17 years. When she was diagnosed with breast cancer before I turned one, they gave her six months to live, and she said to me – from the get go, from the moment I could remember, I have memory – she said to me, I am not going anywhere until I know that you are going to be okay without me. So she fought. She fought hard. She was a doctor herself. She was an OBGYN. She was very passionate about women, women power, about being a force for women and loving them and lifting them up. That’s definitely where I got that from, something that’s so important to me, and yeah, I mean the good and the bad, right? The good was I literally learned to live every single day as if it were our last, because it could have been. So we did live spontaneously. We lived with joy. We lived doing it. If we thought, hey, let’s do it, there was no question, Brian. It wasn’t like, well, let’s maybe do it next year, because we didn’t know if there was a next year. So we did live that way. And while I think that that is incredible and I wouldn’t change a thing, I do also think that it brought a lot of my other issues, maybe my abandonment issues that I have, or the things that I worry so much about, the people that I love I worry so much about, like are you okay? It obviously led to my people pleasing issues, which now – I’ll be 53 next week – I have worked on in a way that’s like, you know what, I’m done people pleasing. I made it. I made it. I made it this far. I’m still hanging in there, but I’m going to start worrying about myself. Ironically, my mom lived until she was 49, she died before she turned 50. That’s why I think when I turned 50 I had made a promise not only to myself but to her, that once I turned 50 I would not take anything for granted and that I would live for her, doing in her honor, to honor her legacy, to do the things that she couldn’t do. Which is why, since I turned 50, Honey, I’ve had my gas to the metal, and we have been going for it and doing all the things and I don’t regret it. I appreciate it. I appreciate the fact that this is very, very important to me, and I want to spread that message with other people, male and female, right? Obviously, I do tend to speak to women more for what I do with makeup and styling and all this stuff, but we’re a community, all of us, and if we can help other people to live their best lives, starting now, starting today, and not take a second for granted, then I think that that’s what we’re put on this earth to do, so absolutely.

Brian

A couple things. I suspect that you’ve been honoring your mom all along, not just in the two or three years since you turned 50. Certainly you are the person that you are because of that experience with your mom. What a blessing that, had she only lived six months you really wouldn’t have known her. You would have been maybe 18 months old. You had that blessing of 17 years with her, during that formidable time in your life. We’ll talk about how that played out and again, how you honored your mom, I think, and continue to do that today. It’s hard to put ourselves in the position of being told that we have a terminal illness, let alone know knowing how we would react to it or how we would live out our remaining time on Earth. Your mom was clearly a special woman, and she seemed to live bigger because of that diagnosis – more intentionally, for sure – but also, as you said, making the most of every moment that she had and making sure that you did too. I know you were an only child. Mally, what are your fondest memories around your mom’s decision to choose more – I know that was a phrase that she used – and around her passion for, as you said, living every day as if it were last?

Mally  

It’s funny. Obviously, it was the big things, right? Like, we have so many memories of… one day she’d say, I think I want to go to Europe and then literally, the next week – the next day, for God’s sake – we would be on a plane flying to Paris because she wanted me to see that with her. She wanted to experience that together. Of course, it’s the big things like that. She was very spontaneous, which I love, and even to this day, I am very that as well. I have no problem with just jumping in the car and going somewhere exciting and bringing our kids along and all of that. Holidays were very big, I am a holiday fanatic, a Christmas fanatic. We have 13 Christmas trees! Oh, my God, we do a lot of decorating, and that all really does come from her. She loved the holidays and I got that. Those memories I cherish, so much of us doing all those things together, and again, parties, just bringing people together. She was happiest when we were entertaining and we were laughing and singing karaoke and all of these… we just did that. Actually, we have an annual family sleepover every New Year’s Eve, Brian, and it is not for the faint of heart. You’ve got to have a lot of energy. Because, if you can imagine, my family is one hundred more of me, so it’s a lot, right? And again, there’s food and mahjong and and screaming and carrying on. It’s so funny. We were sitting there one day, because just recently we have lost some of our other aunties and some of our other elders, and we were doing all the things that they used to do with us. We were like, they’re so happy right now, we’re honoring them by following these traditions and keeping them a part of our lives. I think that those little those things that we do and the feelings that they bring into our hearts and our spirits and our souls, they fill us with so much joy and happiness that it then just keeps overflowing and multiplying. So we try to do things like that every single day in our family, and it’s not perfect and it’s not easy. We are all going a million miles an hour but I always suggest to my followers, or people that I communicate with on social, it’s like one little thing that you can do to bring joy to yourself in a day. It doesn’t have to be huge. It doesn’t have to be flying to Europe at the drop of a dime. It could be your favorite coffee or doing a little online shopping or meeting with a friend and taking a walk. Those little things are so special and so good, and they can give you that little bit of joy. I think that that’s something that my mom did so well and really did infuse into me and what I tried to infuse into my family.

Brian  

I think that’s important. We remember the big things and we think about big things, especially if you play big like you do, you want to do big things but we can’t do big things every single day. What we can do is the small things every single day, and that’s true not only of of joy or experiences or memories that we can create for ourselves but that’s also true in giving. Sometimes we want to make this huge difference in the world. You’ve made a tremendous impact in the world through your shows and your beauty line and your book, and those are great. What we also all have is the opportunity to make a difference for people in small ways every single day so it works for us and it works for other people too. I love that you’ve shared experiences and memories. I know that was really important for your mom to not only create those experiences and memories for you, but to have that for her too, to be able to experience those things with her and with your dad, with your extended family, the experiences are great. I wonder what are the most valuable life lessons you learned from your mom?

Mally  

Well, obviously, again, cherishing every moment you can, not taking for granted even just a single breath. I know that that’s impossible. You stub your toe, you have a crappy morning. You’re not really cherishing that part of your day. But I think it is also about gratitude and stopping and and looking at your life, like we said, in the little ways. It’s not necessarily about these giant things that we have to be grateful for, this house, this car, no, it’s about we’d get real tiny with our stuff that are not tiny things. We always say, Oh, thank you God, we made the wake up list today. These are those little things that we do, every step you take, every breath you take… you know, oh I really, love this lip gloss; those little things that can just… when you live with gratitude. So I think that that’s number one. Time, I think she always was trying to infuse… okay, here’s one thing, here’s a funny thing. I was pre-med. I wanted to be a doctor. I wanted to be a doctor because my mom and my dad are both doctors, and so in my mind, I was like, I want to be a doctor because I want to be just like them. Well, I went to pre-med; that was not for me. I started in my classes and I was like, this is kind of boring for me. Are there other fun things we could do? But I realized in that time – because when I went to college, my mom had died when I was a senior in high school – that I didn’t necessarily want to be a doctor, per se, but I wanted to heal people with my heart. My dad is a psychiatrist. He’s 85, thank you, Lord. He is rocking and rolling and you know what we call him? Confucius. He is our leader. He is our rock. To this day we have any problems we call Lolo. Lolo is grandfather in Filipino, and he’s just this very calm, beautiful, peaceful energy that can help you in any situation that you have. Anyway, I realized that and what she taught me was… because even before she died, she said, you know, you don’t have to be a doctor. You don’t have to be a doctor. It’s not necessarily the most fun job. She was like, but you can use your spirit to heal people, or use your spirit, use your soul, use your energy to love people, to bring positive energy into a room, to make people feel loved. One of my favorite quotes of all time from Maya Angelou is “people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” And that is something that I tried to live by every single day. It isn’t what you show up with. It isn’t the pound cake you show up with at the house. It isn’t the cheerleading or whatever. It’s how people feel when they see you, or did you leave them feeling better than you did before you got there? These are the kinds of things that she she taught me, and she also taught me how to walk in high heels when I was very, very young. Because we’re Filipino she said, Melissa, I’m going to let you know that you have bad news; you will never grow over five feet tall so just in case I die, we’re going to teach you how to walk in high heels. And to this day, I can run a mile in some stiletto heels, although, not going to lie, Brian, after COVID, when we were walking around in our sneakers and slippers all the time, my feet have gotten a little less in practice. But before that, she taught me all those things. That’s what I mean, though, it was those little things she wanted to prepare me for.

Brian  

Yes, great lessons. So how did you… you knew that medicine wasn’t for you. How did you end up in… because you graduated with a degree in fashion design and went into that industry. How did that happen and then how did that evolve into you becoming a makeup artist?

Mally  

Okay, so remember, this is in 1902, back in the olden days.

Brian  

So you invented makeup? 

Mally  

Yes, exactly. (Brian:  Or your mom did.) [Laughter.] The funny thing is the world has changed, obviously, so much, social media and YouTube and all that stuff. But back in the day, we didn’t have that. I always knew that I love makeup. My mother was very much a glamazon. She did her hair and makeup every day. She did not leave the house without lipstick on. It was the one thing she very much instilled in me. Some of my best memories with her forever were sitting in her dressing room while she was painting her face and I was in awe. I would just sit and watch and it was such an amazing thing to watch her transform into this beautiful butterfly. So maybe is that a reason why I loved makeup so much? Possibly, most likely, yes, but it was a different time. When I decided that medicine wasn’t for me, I was like, well, (****) now what am I going to do? Because I know I like fashion and I like makeup and I like all that stuff. Luckily, I went to Marist College in Poughkeepsie, New York, and they had a fantastic fashion design program. I would look at all of these students that were coming in and out, and they were so chic and they were always dressed in black and they had great haircuts. And I was like, oh, I want to go check that out. I ended up falling in love. I always loved fashion, but I ended up falling in love with the construction of clothing as well. The thing that was so interesting to me was, maybe we weren’t doing surgery, but it’s so funny when you think about constructing a garment, it has to be precise. It has to be perfect; the jacket, the shoulder pad, the sleeve, it has to be even, it has to be the same. There was something that I loved about that. But again, I always loved the world of makeup. I ended up graduating with a degree in fashion design. I was working for a fashion designer. But man, those runway shows, twice a year the designer would do a runway show, and the models would come in and the makeup artist and the hairdressers, and I was just in awe. Again, it was like I was back in my mother’s dressing room watching them create these beautiful looks, these works of art on the faces of these beautiful women. And I was like, wow, that’s what I want to do. It’s funny, I talked to the makeup artist, he [said], well, darling, you should be a makeup artist and I was like, that’s not a real job. And he said, honey, I just made $10,000 a day for three days in a row working on the Louis Vuitton campaign. And I was like, oh, that’s a real job!

Brian  

Pretty good one.

Mally  

Exactly. I think having that kind of naivete and going in and saying, like, well, I’m going to do that too. I’ve always been a little fearless that way. I’ve always had this feeling of like, well, why not me? Why can’t I do it? People would always kind of, I guess, say to me, well, why do you think you can do that? And I’d always say, well, why can’t I? Why not? I always had a little bit of that fearlessness. Again, maybe it was just me being naive, but I always thought, with everything I did, if I worked hard, I gave it my all and I gave it my focus, then why not? Even to this day, it’s very funny, Brian, raising three teenage girls in this day and age is a not for the faint of heart. So if you’re wondering why I have these dark circles, even my Mally Beauty sometimes… no, I’m just kidding, it helps. [Laughter.]

Brian  

I don’t see them. I don’t see any dark circles. 

Mally  

Well, thank you. It’s funny, there’s so much pressure on teenagers these days because of social media, because of everyone’s highlight reel being on their TikTok and all that. Everyone’s comparing themselves to everything. I tell them all the time, gosh, I wish you could have lived when I did. We didn’t know or care what anybody else was doing, because we didn’t know. We had our own. Even to this day, it’s funny, when you were reading that crazy list of the things… that up until this point – because I got some other things up my sleeve, sir, coming – I thought to myself, I say to them all the time, just so you know, mommy’s job, I didn’t follow anyone else. I just made it up. I made it up. I wanted to do this. I said, why not? Let’s try. I wanted to do this. Why not? Let’s try this. That failed. Okay, never mind. Let’s try this. You know what I mean. I think there’s something to be said about having a little bit of blind faith and trusting yourself and saying, let’s just go for it.

Brian  

You may have just answered this, but I want to talk a little bit more about that notion of hesitation, because maybe it’s not a real job or it’s self doubt. You mentioned naivety, maybe that was part of you just moving forward and really blazing your trail. What advice do you have for someone listening to or watching the show who can’t stop thinking about what they really want to do vocationally, but either has doubts about the opportunity, whether it’s a real job, whether they can succeed even if it is a real job, or maybe they’re being advised by somebody else that it isn’t a real job, or that that isn’t the course that they should pursue?

Mally  

Well, I know easier said than done, but you’ve got to block the haters, honey. You’ve got to block the haters. They’re everywhere. I call them the failure fuelers. They’re the ones who are just like, well, didn’t work for me so why is it going to work for you? Why are you so special? Why do you think that you have what it takes? You know, that’s never been done before. What you must do, whatever you need to do to block those people. Now, some of those people might be doing it or saying it because they love you and they don’t want you to be hurt, or they don’t want you to fail, or maybe they can’t see past their own vision, and your vision is just way too big for them, that they’re like, whoa, that’s not even possible. Where did she get that from? So, number one, you have to do your best to remove yourself from situations where people are going to try to discourage you from living your dreams. Number two, when it comes to educating yourself or maybe, you know, look, I’m going to be honest. I am a social media lover. I am maybe even slightly addicted to the social media, but I try to use it for my good. I mean, there are times where I will look at something and I’ll be like, I hate the internet, they are so stupid! And I will slam that phone down. Ten minutes later, I pick it up again. I’m like, okay, I’m back. But you know what I mean? Because I do believe that you can curate your feed to find things that are great for you, that can inspire you, that can be a positivity preacher for you. That’s another little side hustle I have called Positivity Preacher, which, by the way, is not about toxic positivity. I’m not here trying to tell you that life is perfect. It is not perfect. It is a (****)show a lot of the time. But your job is to find your joy, where you can find your inspiration, where you can surround yourself, if you can, with people that are going to lift you up and encourage you. That’s something that I would also say, is, if you are on social media like most of us are, curate your feed to feed you. Curate your feed to feed your passion, and then you just have to… I mean, I’m big on faith. I pray, I do. I love having, in my case, it’s God, but any creator, any higher power, any universe, that can help you to move forward when you feel like you can’t, because we all have that situation. We all have days when you’re like, you know what? I give up. This is not working. You’ve got to give yourself time to feel your feelings, and then you’ve got to dust yourself off and put that crown right back on your head and remind people of the queen that you are, or king, whatever it is.

Brian  

I love that. Thanks for sharing that. You obviously did that. You put your crown on. You left your doubts behind. You embraced your naivety, whatever it took, and you went all in and soon became one of the most sought after makeup artists in the industry. Your client list, Mally, reads like a who’s who in entertainment; Beyonce, Jennifer Lopez, Taylor Swift, Alicia Keys, Rihanna, Celine Dion, I could go on and on. What was it like working with a list celebrities who were depending on you to make them shine, whether it was for a movie premiere or a magazine cover shoot?

Mally  

Everything. It’s funny, Brian, I have always just loved makeup. I have never necessarily wanted… I didn’t set out to become a celebrity makeup artist. It was not, it really wasn’t my intention at all. I just loved makeup. I loved making people feel beautiful inside and out. I loved the artistry. I loved the adventure of being a makeup artist. But I never set out to become a celebrity makeup artist. That was my agent. My agent, Jim Indorado, who is still very much a close part of my life and just a genius man, he was the one who said to me many years ago, he said, you know what Mally, you’re like a cup of coffee in the morning. You’re just like pure caffeine and joy and excitement and happiness and honestly, I feel like that’s what celebrities need. They need something if they’re going to go out there and sing in front of 80,000 people or walk a red carpet, they need somebody like you to make them look great and to feel great. And I was like, okay, whatever you want. Just send me out there and let me know what to do. And it worked. It worked for me. Pressure? Oh sure, lots of pressure. But that’s where I would use a little bit of my dad’s kind of Zen calmness. It’s funny because I am such a, I guess, loud, big personality that people always think, you’re just like that all the time. I am like this most of the time, not going to lie. But I do need time to focus and I do need time to strategize and do so. I would always, always, always prepare. I’m a preparer. I’m a list maker. As spontaneous as I am, I also really like to be prepared and have a to do list that’s very precise. I actually am struggling, because even after all these years of putting everything [on paper], everyone’s like, you have to only use a Google Calendar or a calendar on your phone. I’m like, but I’ve got to write it down. I’ve got to write it on paper. It’s just, it’s still so important to me. But anyway, I would do what I needed to do. I loved it. Also, another thing that I tried to do is I tried to learn and I tried to listen. I did not take for granted that I would be in the room with these very brilliant artists, brilliant artists, hard working women that were changing the world. I remember, while I was always very professional, there were times, Brian, I tell you, where there would be very intense, important conversations going on in the room, and I would be like, I’m going to leave because I don’t want to be in here. If this gets out to the US Weekly magazine, I don’t want anyone to think that I was the one doing it. But even more than anything, I would watch how these women would work, how they would advocate for themselves and for the things that they felt passionately about. When I started Mally Beauty, I took that with me, and I said, these things are important to me and they’re the non-negotiables. Again, working with these women was just a very, very, very amazing learning experience, aside from the fact they’re all pretty gorgeous and pretty easy to make look good. I wish I could say that I had a hard job, but not really. It’s pretty perfect.

Brian  

Well, but you added tremendous value to them, and they are playing at the top of their field, and you were able to enhance that. When did you realize that you were adding value to very recognizable and well known clients? I’m curious, who were you working with when you realized you were doing exactly what you were meant to be doing professionally, at least at that time? 

Mally  

Hmm, well, I’m going to say that I met Beyonce when she was probably 19 years old – there was something about her – right before she was going to drop her debut album. And there was something, obviously, you notice that just some people, when you’re near them or you see them, you know they have an “it” factor that’s unlike anyone else on the planet. There are very few people like that, and she was definitely, is definitely, one of them. And I had the pleasure and the honor of meeting her right before this really big explosion that she was going to become, this mega solo artist, because she was with Destiny’s Child, which was her band before that. I think that it was one time when we were on the road, we were doing a world tour, we were going everywhere and just watching how she navigated her career. She was very particular in how she treated her fans. That was very important to her. Watching how everyone kind of knew that she was going to be something very, very special; it was undeniable. At one point I remember we were in London and we were walking out from a hotel and somebody screamed, “Beyonce!” and then they go, “we I love your makeup!” And I was like, I bet you did. At that point, I was like, that’s probably not what most people are saying so I thought, wow, this is pretty cool. And another thing that I realized after that was that I was then getting… I’d always been very… how do you say… the press, the press, the beauty magazines, the beauty TV shows, all that kind of stuff. I was always saying yes to them, because I always knew that communicating and teaching was the thing that I loved the most, which is why I ended up going to QVC. But that’s a whole other story. When it started getting really, really big, that every single time one of my clients would go out, do a show, do a movie premiere, do a red carpet, people would call my agent and say, we want to interview Mally on how she got that look. What products did she use to get that look? That’s when I was like, wow, okay, we’re building something here. We’re not just doing makeup on beautiful women, on celebrities. We are now educating women all over the world on how they can achieve the same joy, the same excitement, the same beauty inside and out. And that’s when I was like, this is what I am meant to do.

Brian  

I love that, and I love hearing you talk about learning too. One of my strengths is learner. I’m a learner. I learn every single day, and it sounds like you’re very intentional about that as well. I love hearing you talk about what you’ve learned along the way from successful women who are operating at a very high level, and how that’s helped you in your own career, in your life as a mentor, and, I’m sure, as a mom. I read a story in your book “Love, Lashes and Lipstick,” which is a great book, by the way. Now, full disclosure, I didn’t really pay attention to beauty tips in the book, just telling you, even the one about men, I didn’t read it, but I love the stories. There was a story about you working with Jennifer Lopez, and how she radiated confidence and caused you to feel like because she does everything she can possibly do to be at the top of her game, that you needed to do the same thing. Share, Mally, how your clients motivated and inspired you to play even bigger, and how that still shows up today in your career and in your life.

Mally  

J-Lo, she does not play. She is fierce and great and fabulous and such a spirit and really someone to be inspired by. That’s the thing I think, for me, every time I’m starting to feel like – I’m not going to say lazy, because I try not to be lazy – even when people try to tell… I don’t know about you, but Brian, people say to me, sometimes, just be lazy, just lay around or do whatever. I’m like, oh, okay, I can’t. Sometimes I will force myself to do nothing. Do you ever do that?

Brian  

Rarely, but sometimes.

Mally  

We have to, Brian. We have to, because someone actually…

Brian  

I know it’s important. 

Mally  

It is important. Somebody actually told me that the real inspiration, that the real big things happen when you’re bored, when you’re forcing yourself to be. I’m like, oh, okay, I’ll try that in 2025, I’ll try that. Maybe that’s what we should do in 2025, try to not do everything. 

Brian  

Well, that’s why we get such great ideas in the shower, because we don’t have – most of us anyway – I don’t have my phone in the shower. I’m not watching television, I’m not listening to a podcast. You’re showering and your brain is sort of shut down, right? You don’t think about how you’re going to wash yourself. And that’s why ideas come to us, I guess, the same in dreams, and, yeah, when we’re sleeping.

Mally  

That’s true. This is true. Getting back to Jennifer, I think there is something to be said for looking at these people who are such high achievers and taking a little bit of that for yourself. I guess that is one of the great things about social media, in the sense that, number one, we have to have enough strength in ourselves to, yes, keep reminding ourselves this is just everyone’s highlight reel. This is just everyone’s highlight reel. No one is happy all the time. No one is successful all the time. The real people that are achieving are also failing, and we have to remember that, because those are the times – and I can count on all fingers and toes and beyond, how many times I failed at something – but the one thing I didn’t do is I didn’t fail at something and then fail at that same thing again. I will always try to find a way to fix it and move forward in a way that is… what you achieve… you’re closer to your goal the next time and that’s the thing. The hard thing about celebrities is when you fail, it’s on the cover of newspapers. In a very weird way – and you know what I do actually kind of love about the world we live in now – failing is a lot more accepted in the sense that everybody’s sort of learning that when you do make a mistake or something doesn’t work out, that you can grow from that, or at least that’s like the people that I follow. It is not necessarily a terrible thing. It’s something you need to learn from.

Brian  

I think, in fairness, that’s you looking at the situation or looking at the world through your positivity lens. There are people looking at it very differently. There are people who are pushing people into failure, who are celebrating failure. But certainly just because of social media we see that how we process that and how we use that in our own lives is dependent on how we think about things. Again, that filter, are we looking at it through a positive filter, looking at it through a negative filter? So I think it just depends. But I do agree with you that we don’t have to celebrate failure. It goes back to what you were saying before, about just acknowledging that people aren’t perfect, and we’re all just trying to do the best we can and hopefully we’re making it work most of the time. And when we slip up or fail, hopefully it’s not too big and we can learn and grow from that. We have a phrase in our family – I have four children, two boys and two girls – and they all know the phrase; “always learning, always growing.” It’s constantly processing life experiences, the positive ones, the ones that we don’t really want to repeat anymore, and hopefully moving in a positive direction because of that. So you established yourself professionally, and you had other related work too. You were a spokesperson for Sephora. You had other things going on probably at the same time. What sparked the thought to create your own makeup line, Mally Beauty, and how did you end up – you mentioned this earlier, so now we will circle back to QVC – how did you end up working with QVC rather than partnering with, say, Sephora or other retailers that you could have worked with?

Mally  

Well, I always wanted to have my own makeup line. The original idea back when I was a teenager was I actually wanted to be a dermatologist so that I could ultimately start my own makeup line. When I tell you I was born with a mascara wand in my hand, I absolutely was. I loved makeup, and I thought that’s my way. That’s my hook. I’ll become a doctor and then make my own line of makeup. Well, as y’all know that that went topsy turvy and but I always had the passion of starting my own brand of makeup. Funnily enough, it was originally going to be a makeup line for teenagers. I wanted to start a teen line and I wanted to make a cartoon that went along with the teen line. I had this whole thing. It was all worked out. It was pretty good, I’m not going to lie. But when I went to kind of flush it all out, because I was a celebrity makeup artist and there were so many adults looking at me and what I was creating and who I was working on, it became more like, oh, no, we need to just make this for everyone. Why QVC? Well, first and foremost, yes, I was the spokesperson for Sephora. I love Sephora. I always have. But to be honest, I went to them with my idea, and they said, okay, great, yeah, let’s start a makeup line. I have to actually credit my dad again for wanting to go to QVC, because Filipinos love QVC, and they love shopping, television shopping. We do it all the time. I grew up watching it. So my dad says, why don’t you go on QVC? Because then you can teach people how to do your makeup. You can teach people how to make them look beautiful. And I said, actually, you’re right, because before that, remember Brian, this is 1902, there were no YouTubes. There was no Instagram reels, TikTok was not even a thought, okay. This was 2005 when we launched. This was before that, when we were planning anyway. So I went to QVC and I said, here’s the deal. Well, also, let me just side note; Sephora was not interested in working with me and QVC. It was one or the other. So here comes that naive girl again. I said, okay, well, I’m just going to choose QVC, even though I hadn’t yet had my meeting with QVC, which was probably not the best way to go. But there I went again, just believing it was going to happen. We went in, we had the meeting. I tap danced on the table for two hours, and I said, if you don’t make this line, it’s not going to happen, because this is the only place that I want to do this. And the buyer, at the time, rumor has it that she went back to her team after that, and she said, guys, I just met the next big thing, and that was 20 years ago. So QVC is my home. I love it so much. I love the communication that I can have with my customer. I love being able to teach and entertain and be silly and have fun. I had all my babies on QVC. I was pregnant, not pregnant, pregnant, not pregnant. They’ve been on this journey with me. Then with the launch of our home line, Fierce Home by Mally, and now my clothing line, Fierce by Mally, these things are just growing. And then we have Over 50 and Fabulous, which I host every Friday night, which is just, again, another blessing. I don’t know if I manifested it, but again, that whole 50 number just keeps coming up. Again, Over 50 and Fabulous; what are we going to do? Let’s build a community of people like-minded that want to lift each other up and have fun and embrace being over 50, not think of it as a death sentence. So it’s been an amazing journey.

Brian  

I love that, and that might be your biggest opportunity yet, because when you look at the demographics and the aging population and the challenges. My wife is over 50, and so the things that she talks about with her girlfriends are things that over 50 women experience, that nobody else experiences, so to be able to speak to that. I know there are podcasts that she listens to, there are books that she reads, there are personalities – I wouldn’t call them celebrities – but experts in certain areas of being over 50, and it really is a community. So if you can jump into that and create a sub-community, or join another community and add value to that demographic it has to be incredibly rewarding, and you know that you’re making a difference. Because you know the challenges of being an over 50 woman and having teenage daughters and everything else that comes along with that. I should get Heidi on the show, you would have a great conversation, I’m sure.

Mally  

I bet, give her my number.

Brian  

I will. Mally, what do you love about being at this stage in your life, and what are you excited about in the next season of your life and career? You mentioned earlier, you teased it a little bit, that you have some… I don’t know if there were specific things, or you just know that you’re on a roll and on a mission and accomplishing lots of great things. What is it that excites you right now?

Mally  

I am so excited because I know that the best is yet to come. I know both maybe specifically and then maybe even just figuratively, that the world has great things. Number one, it’s a mindset, right? It’s a mindset in the sense that I have never been more wise, I’ve never been more confident. I’ve never had more experience under my belt that I know I can use moving forward. I’ve never had more confidence. I’ve never had more – let’s be honest – failures that I’ve learned from that I can then, not only use for my own purposes, but to help other people that are going through things like that as well. Also, there’s a fearlessness that I have now embraced in the sense that when you’re younger, you tend to keep looking around a lot. You’re looking around. What are they doing? What are they going to think? And I’m sure your wife can attest to the fact that once you’re over 50, you just don’t give a crap anymore what anybody thinks. Okay, so I have some more wrinkles, sorry about it. Okay, so your boobs aren’t as perky. So what, things are just not the same. But man, do you have so much in here (mind) and in here (heart) that you did not have before? I think that that’s some of it. And I have ideas. My husband, who actually just came down and he saw me going at it and he just said, I’m going back upstairs… the joke is always, of course, the four words that scare him the most are, “I have an idea,” because that usually means it’s going to cost us money and time, and he’s going to be on the phone with some lawyer making some kind of a thing happen, poor thing. I’m 53 next week and he’s 63 so he is just hanging on for dear life, sir. He’s like, okay, because he’s always on the other end of my passions anyway. I think that’s what it is. I’m more excited about that. And again, yes, to your point, thank you for saying that the over 50 community is so hungry, starving for guidance, recognition, community, education, both with our bodies, our minds, our spirits. Our kids are getting older, our lives are changing. You know, it’s so funny this whole thing about, well, obviously, perimenopause and menopause and brain fog and hot flashes and the list goes on and on, how our bodies are changing but even just in the workforce, it’s so funny, I think it’s so interesting. I was thinking about hiring someone to work with me for a certain project. My daughter is 15. She’s like, oh, are we going to get like, a 20 something year old girl, that’s so fun when you bring them in because they’re so fun. And I said, no, if anything, you know what? Believe it or not, I think I want a 50 plus year old woman to work with me, because two brains are better than one, even if one of them has brain fog, let’s be honest. But we’ve been through some stuff, and let’s take that wisdom and that experience and really give it to them. So I think that’s what it is. I can’t tell you any other things right now, but I promise this, as soon as I can, you’ll be the first to know. 

Brian  

Can’t wait to hear about it. I told you at the beginning of the show, I knew two things for sure about you. I now know three things for sure about you. The third one is that you have more to offer than you ever have before in your life because of your wisdom, because of your experience, and I can’t wait to see how that plays out.

Mally  

Thank you.

Brian  

My pleasure.

Mally  

That means a lot. 

Brian  

I mean that. Mally, as you know, our show is called LifeExcellence and I wonder, what does excellence mean to you?

Mally  

Excellence, to me, is surrounding yourself with positive energy that you don’t need to get from anyone else, that you can create on your own, that you can make on your own, and share it with other people. I am very much about, okay, maybe I’m a little competitive – surprise – but having experience and being great at something means nothing unless you’re sharing it with other people, unless you’re serving other people, and letting the world see light through you. That’s my thing, I’m always going to be true to who I am, in the sense that I’ve had lots of people tell me you’re too loud, you’re too much, you drive me crazy, your voice is too [much], your laugh is obnoxious, all that kind of stuff. And I have tried so many times, Brian, I can’t tell you, in my darkest moments, to quiet that, to change who I was to make other people feel more comfortable. And every time I tried to do that I didn’t feel okay in my own skin. So excellence to me is being able to be who you truly are, unapologetically, within reason. Don’t be a (****). That’s the one thing… I said… so you have that great one for your family, which is, keep growing, keep learning, or is it the other way around?

Brian  

Always learning, always growing.

Mally  

Always learning, always growing. You know what ours is? You can be anything you want, you just can’t be an (*******). So in a way, it kind of… anyway, whatever. I think that’s what excellence to me is, being who you truly are within yourself, being proud of that person and being able to share whatever light you have with other people and serve them and help them to grow and be better for who they are. I don’t know if that’s the right answer, but I think that that’s what I strive to do every day, and just leave the world like my mom wanted to leave the world, a better place. (Brian:  Yes.) and that’s what I want to do too.

Brian  

I love that, and that’s definitely excellence. Mally, I know you have a huge following on social media. Where can our listeners and viewers go to learn more about you and experience more of your enthusiasm and amazing positivity?

Mally  

Okay, so I am a big Instagram girl. I’m trying to be a TikTok girl, it is not easy. My Instagram is really my favorite place. It’s my home, so I’m always there. It’s @mallyroncal and that is where I am pretty much every single day. There’s also a Mally Roncal Facebook page, but it’s kind of just the spillover of my Instagram, so I would say that. Then, of course, on QVC, every Friday night, Over 50 and Fabulous at 8pm Eastern Time we have our live show. Afterwards, there is our little talk show where I’ve had – actually, it’s a streaming talk show on qvc.com and also on QVC Facebook – we’ve had everyone from Kathy Lee Gifford to Naomi Watts to Miss Patti LaBelle, Sherri Shepherd. I’ve had such incredible guests who, again, are all sharing their wisdom, their strength and their learning about being over 50. It’s a really, really special place to be. But if you go to @mallyroncal on Instagram, I pretty much am there every day, letting you know every move I’m making.

Brian  

Awesome, I appreciate you sharing that, and we’ll certainly include that information in our show notes too. Mally, thank you very much for being on the show. I’m so grateful for the opportunity to meet and get to know you, and I appreciate our conversation today.

Mally  

Me too. You are so lovely, Brian. You are so great, amazing at what you do. Thank you so much for the blessing and honor of spending this time with you. 

Brian  

It’s my pleasure. Thank you. Thanks for tuning in to LifeExcellence. Please support the show by subscribing, sharing it with others, posting about today’s show with Mally Roncal on social media and leaving a rating and review. You can also learn more about me at brianbartes.com Until next time, dream big dreams and make each day your masterpiece.