2024 Year in Review: A Very Good Year Indeed
For a long, long time, 2025 felt like a year that marked the distant future, didn’t it? And yet, here we are just weeks away from its beginning—wild! Before we officially enter into the future, I want to take a minute to reflect back on 2024, a year that was quite spectacular for me personally and share my gratitude to all of those who played a part in my success, growth, and happiness.
But before we dive into that, let me put this out there so that we can ground ourselves in reality: there were also some really challenging parts, tough conversations, and tearful therapy sessions that happened behind the scenes. The good comes with the bad, and we’re all humans trying to make our way, aren’t we? I hope this year was mostly positive for you and, if it wasn’t, that you see some light shining ahead.
Now please indulge me as I reflect back on a very good year indeed.
Winter Was Wonderful
This year kicked off with a bang as I wrapped up a big copywriting project I started with Briogeo in late 2023, and prepared for two new launches for Credo’s in-house brands. That looked like finalizing the brand refresh for Follain, traveling to LA for a shoot for the Follain x Fosters Sisters collaboration, and prepping for the launch of Exa’s High Fidelity Concealer. Eventful and exciting all around.
Spring Was Busy
Come spring, I was helping finalize the launch of Provence Beauty’s Soft Bisous Lip Mask (which is still one of my favorite lip products ever) and working with Blaine and Leala, the founders of UA Body, to create their verbal brand identity. Soft Bisous was an especially exciting launch because of the OOH aspect of the campaign (look at the truck we designed that cruised all over NYC!) and working on UA’s signature brand story was one of my favorite projects of the year. I love the angle we found for the brand and how we blended strategic positioning with evocative, almost poetic storytelling.
Because I believe in balance and that girls trips are good for the soul, I headed to Miami at the end of the month with my best friends. Our long weekend was filled with warm beach days, a very healthy dose of shopping, some dancing, and Carbone, obviously. (My hot take is that Carbone in Miami is the best location. Only one I’ve been to but I stand by this opinion—we always have the best time.)
Summer Really Summer-ed Hard
I won’t lie to you: I had an excellent summer. It was filled with travel, adventure, personal projects, park days, beach days, pool days, and a decent amount of time spent with the ones I love most. And isn’t that what we all want from summer?
Some of the best moments were: a 5-day trip to Sonoma and Sea Ranch with my boyfriend (a highlight of the whole year, TBH), launching Club Aries, visiting my bestie in NYC (and getting professional headshots taken!), and spending 10 days in Canada at my boyfriend’s cottage. Despite how it might seem, I did also work this summer.
I helped launch Provence Beauty’s Bare Lumière Moisturizer and, after wrapping up my contract with Credo, I found the time and motivation to finally. finish. the course I’d been working on for over a year. It was a beautiful balance of consistency and change, relaxation and hard work. Overall, this season marked a big shift in my business that carried over into the rest of the year and is still evolving now. What I’ve learned and now know for sure is that when I embrace change with open arms, the rewards come pouring in.
Fall Was My Moment
And that brings us to fall where I got to work. I launched said course (and then renamed it and perfected it a month later, lol) and it was a serious labor of love. Truthfully, it was the hardest thing I’ve done in a long time. I learned so many new skills including how to film and edit videos, how to speak in front of a camera, how to build lessons, how to translate what is well known to me into digestible content, and so much more. Sheeesh! There were moments where my brain was absolutely toast. Needless to say, getting it out and selling it was one of my proudest moments of the year. And the refined version (which is now called the Brand Story Masterclass) is even better than the earliest version.
This season also came with some exciting brand strategy work for SOSHE Beauty and SEEN Hair Care. It was a pleasure to help both of these brands identify their strategic positioning and tell their signature brand stories. And as you’ll see below both of these brands have entered in my beauty hall of fame for 2024—and that’s always an added bonus: working with brands whose products are really, truly exceptional. Sure does make my job easy!
3-Word Summary of 2024
A banner year.
2024 Superlatives!
Favorite makeup product: SOSHE Beauty Lip Silk in Speakeasy
Favorite skincare product: Paula’s Choice BHA Toner has transformed my skin
Favorite hair care product: SEEN Hair Care Shampoo and Conditioner
Favorite fragrance: Glossier You
Most played Spotify playlist: Jazz in the Background
Something new I learned: How to create video content!
A new habit I formed: Going to F45 almost daily. The physical element is great but the mental health benefits that come from working out several times a week have been even more impactful.
Favorite book I read: Tom Lake by Ann Patchett
What’s Ahead
First, rest, relaxation, a good dose of holiday cookies, and quality time with my loved ones. For the first time since starting my business, I’m taking two full weeks off this December—and that starts tomorrow. But before I officially close my laptop for the rest of the year, I have an exciting announcement you may or may not have already heard about: Work Friends is launching next month!
Work Friends is a Slack community for full-time freelancers, consultants, and business owners working in beauty. It’s a place to connect and collaborate with fellow service providers and experts—from copywriters to creative directors—in the industry and support one another through our entrepreneurial journeys. A bit of context: after searching for a community like it and coming up short, I decided to create the resource I was looking for. I soft launched Work Friends with 20 founding members in late October to pressure test its purpose and value, and it was apparent within days that it was going to be an amazing resource for many of us. We’ve shared advice and gigs, discussed industry trends, and shared referrals.
And now here’s the exciting news: we’re accepting applications for 25 new members now through January 3! They’ll be reviewed January 6–10, 2025 and invitations will be sent to those who are accepted the following week. Find more details and submit your application here. I’m excited to hear from you and hope to call you a Work Friend soon!
Okay, now I’m shutting my laptop.
Have a wonderful, healthy, and happy holiday season ahead, and I’ll see you back here in 2025.
Warmly,
Taylor