Erica: Hey, girl. By now, you know I have Her Collective, my online community for ambitious women who are done doing it alone. Her Collective is for the women who are smart, capable, and driven, but they find themselves stuck on the sticky floors like self doubt, burnout, and waiting for permission that quite honestly never comes. Inside HER, you get more than motivation. You get real support, real strategies, and real momentum.

Erica: We work on things like clarifying what you want now and what's coming next, building confidence without burning yourself out, navigating hard conversations, career moves, and leadership moments with clarity, and surrounding yourself with women who actually get it. This isn't about hustling harder. It's about moving intentionally with the right tools and the right people in your corner. If you're ready to stop spinning, start choosing yourself, and build a career in life that actually feels aligned, I'd love to welcome you inside her collective. You can learn more and join us at www.joinhercollective.com.

Erica: Because honestly, girl, you were never meant to do this alone. Welcome to Glass Ceilings and Sticky Floors, the podcast where we get real about the challenges women face in work, life, and leadership. I'm your host, Erica Rooney, HR executive, keynote speaker, and executive coach, and I'm on a mission to get more women into positions of power and keep them there. This is the space where we call it the paradoxes, being told to lean in but not too far, to speak up but not too loudly, to be ambitious but not too ambitious. Does that sound familiar?

Erica: We are so over all of that. Here, we break down the sticky floors that keep us stuck from imposter syndrome and perfectionism to burnout and fear, and give you real strategies to shatter those glass ceilings once and for all. So if you are ready to rewrite the rules, own your power, and take your career and life to the next level, you're in the right place. Now today's guest is a powerhouse in the beauty industry, and her journey is anything but traditional. Natasha Cornstein is the CEO of Blushington, the luxury express beauty franchise that's redefining accessible glam.

Erica: But her story did not start in the C-suite, y'all. It started in the makeup chair as a customer. And from there, she's turned Blushington into a national brand, launched a game changing platform for beauty professionals, and expanded into franchising, ecommerce, and inclusive education. Now before Blushington, Natasha wore many hats, producing for Fox News, repping NBA athletes, and leading brand strategy at Circa. She's a working mom, a nonprofit founder, and a Glossy 50 honoree who's been featured in Forbes, Harper's Bazaar, and The New York Times.

Erica: So welcome, Natasha Cornstein. How are you?

Natasha: Erica, thank you so much for the warm welcome, and I am so happy to be here today. Having been a listener of your podcast, I can relate to a lot of what you talk about and what you've just described. So excited to dig in with you today.

Erica: I am so excited. But just hearing about this little tidbit of your journey, I want to start at the beginning. How did you go from being the customer sitting in the chair to the CEO of the company?

Natasha: I think you'll hear me say, and I maybe will be a broken record with this, but I really feel that your next hello can be your future. And that's how I look at life. That's how I've approached conversations and experiences my entire life, and that's just what got me to the C-suite. So I was in Los Angeles in another job. As you mentioned, I worked in global branding for a company called Circa.

Natasha: We were opening our Los Angeles office. I was doing a series of press appointments, and my publicist at the time said to me, you're of a certain age, no more iPhone pictures, you're grown up, go get a headshot.

Natasha: And she said, and I said, okay. She and I like when people say it like it is. We wasted no time. Off I went to Blushington, and I walked in, and it was love at first sight for me. I think beauty can be intimidating.

Natasha: I think getting your makeup done can be the most intimidating service. I know a lot of people have more stories and sometimes feel they leave the makeup chair feeling worse than when they sat down. And so it was something I sort of avoided, quite frankly. And I walked into Blushington, which was founded by Steffi and Nikki Marin, two sisters in Los Angeles. And they created this environment where everyone was welcome, where it was a very luxurious, uplifting experience, but not intimidating.

Natasha: And you sat down as we do today with your makeup artist, and it's a conversation. So I talked a little bit about wanting to look natural, wanting to recognize myself, had this extraordinary experience and walked out standing taller, feeling really confident. And it was just so magical. And the next day, I was at breakfast, as a courtesy to someone I worked with in New York, my boss actually, raving about Blushington, because when I love something, I encourage everyone listening, when you love something, talk about it. You never know where it will take you or who you can help in just that one sentence of praise.

Natasha: And lo and behold, it was Blushington's PR firm that I was sitting across from. And so when I said I love Blushington, she said, well, I love hearing that, they're my client. Introduce me to them that day. I asked, can you please introduce me? And we spent three months getting to know one another by phone, by email.

Natasha: If I'm being in full candor, I would sneak out of my office and call them, and we would talk about ideas because I was thinking about my future and how could I move from this job into this magical opportunity. And so I did put myself first in terms of going out on my lunch hour and walking out of the office if I could have a conversation. And that led to an in person meeting in New York and to being hired as the president of the company.

Erica: That is just wild. That is the wildest story I think I've ever heard. We go to get our makeup done to get a headshot for something else, and we wind up getting a job.

Natasha: That's exactly right. And I think as wild as it sounds, it is part of what my life and career has been like. And that's why I always say over and over again to young people, to my peers, I'm in my fifties, it's never too late. You don't have to make any assumptions about the experience you should have had or have to have. Open your mind, put yourself out there, have those conversations, and be a really good listener.

Erica: I love that. Make no assumptions about the experience you think you should have. That's powerful, Natasha.

Natasha: I feel strongly about not assuming anything. It's something my team knows that I feel very strongly about. The moment I hear, I assume that, or we've always done it that way, or I assume she already has someone, I assume she already booked her wedding, for example, in our business of doing makeup and hair. No assumptions.

Natasha: You just never know. And so I think it's human nature that we hold ourselves back because of these preconceived assumptions. And I say to anyone listening, and I remind myself of it every day, don't assume anything. Don't assume anything. It can be a prison mentally and for your future.

Erica: Well, and I imagine that that one principle is really what has helped you pivot from sports and media and brand strategy, and now you're in beauty. And I would ask you, is there anything else that gave you that courage to keep pivoting? Because I don't know that I know too many other people that have had that many pivots.

Natasha: Well, I think it's probably becoming more common in 2025, that flexibility, to pursue careers. But certainly, yes, as I was coming up, people would stay with one company for ten, fifteen, twenty years. And it was just the way life took me. It was the people I met. It was the conversations that opened the door.

Natasha: And so I would say I didn't set out to become an executive with NBA players running a company with my husband, I had no idea I would be in the beauty industry. My career started where I had aspired for it to start. Growing up, I loved watching Connie Chung as one of the female anchors on broadcast television, and I knew that I really wanted to work in television. So my first job, I did set out for one of my first jobs. And I started, I would say, in probably the most menial position.

Natasha: I started on the overnight shift. So for anyone that doesn't know what that means, that means you get to work at eleven at night, and you go home seven, eight, nine in the morning, depending on what's happening in the news. But it's where I cut my teeth. It's where I had an opportunity to grow into an associate producer role over time. And then I fell in love.

Natasha: I got married, and my husband was an entrepreneur and was one of the first to bring international basketball players to the NBA. 9/11 happened. I was working. You can't imagine what was happening in the newsrooms at that time. And so I stayed through 2002 and lived through the entire 9/11 experience in the newsroom and living in New York City.

Natasha: And there came a certain point as my husband was developing his business and traveling internationally and growing that we looked at each other one day and said, let's build this together. Who are you going to trust more than your spouse? And so my pivot into sports really came out of who I chose to marry. And so that was a very special chapter in our lives.

Erica: Yeah. I love that. And so here's what I want to know next, because you've done so much. You've been in so many industries. You've really climbed your ladder from producer and newsrooms all the way to CEO and beauty. What is a sticky floor that you've had to overcome in that journey, whether that be the fear of failure or imposter syndrome or maybe just this pressure to do it all as a working mom?

Natasha: I think I would say check, check, and check to everything that you just listed. There's a lot of sticky, in life and in business. And I would say one of my biggest obstacles in my career was being a perfectionist and feeling like every single aspect of what I was trying to accomplish had to be perfect. And that was really paralyzing in completing work and accomplishing goals, and it took me a long time in my twenties to really understand that perfection, this is not an original statement, but perfection is truly the enemy of progress, and that it was more important to keep moving forward and keep progressing, whether it was a project, an idea, a proposal for some new service or new way to look at the business, but not having to get every piece of the presentation or every single thing figured out.

Natasha: But just keep moving. Keep moving forward, because if you stand still worrying about it being perfect, you don't get anywhere. So that was, I think, one of my biggest obstacles in my career, but also in my personal life. I wanted everything to be perfect, maybe to go into this new group, or if I was running for the PTA once I became a mom, I wanted to make sure, well, am I the right person?

Natasha: Would I get the role, overthinking it and wanting every condition to be perfect. So I would say perfectionism and overthinking were probably my sticky points in the beginning.

Erica: So, Natasha, I've got a question on the perfectionism. And one thing that I think I've experienced, and I have some perfectionist tendencies here and there, is that it will hit me at certain periods of my life. So for example, I noticed they are very strong when I have a brand new client or whenever I take a brand new role. And it's like, I have to prove myself.

Erica: Everything has to be perfect. They have to know they made the right hire. And then as time goes by, it's not so much that I don't care about my work, but it's like, I care less about being perfect. So it feels that way a little bit, but you know what I'm trying to say. So my question is, has that been your experience, or what are your thoughts on that? Hey there, listeners. If you have ever felt like you're stuck in a place, held back by self doubt, perfectionism, or that pesky inner critic, you're not alone.

Erica: We all face those sticky floors that keep us from reaching the heights we dream of. But guess what? It's time to shatter those limiting beliefs and toxic behaviors to uncover infinite possibilities. My book, Glass Ceilings and Sticky Floors, is your ultimate guide to smashing through barriers, overcoming limiting beliefs, and stepping into your full potential. This book has been endorsed by none other than the great Mel Robbins, best selling author and motivational powerhouse.

Erica: It's also been featured in Success Magazine, so you know it's packed with insights that work. Inside, you'll find real life sticky floor stories, practical strategies to help you navigate your own sticky floor moments, and a whole lot of inspiration to keep you climbing. This isn't just a book. It's your roadmap to success, confidence, and freedom. Grab your copy of Glass Ceilings and Sticky Floors today at www.ericaandersonrooney.com.

Erica: Whether you're in the boardroom, the classroom, or just starting out, this book is for you because no one, and I mean no one, deserves to stay stuck, no one deserves to feel small, and you have glass ceilings to shatter. Let's do this.

Natasha: My thoughts on that are, I totally understand, and I think it's human nature that any time we start something new, those perfectionist tendencies can creep back into our minds. I would say I've really tried to move past that and been very intentional about it because in my business, things move very quickly. Our company is known for innovation, for being first to market. For example, we just introduced wig styling services at Blushington, which I don't know if much of your audience is familiar with, but we do blowouts, makeup applications, and we're a franchise. We're in New York City.

Natasha: We're opening in Boca Raton. We're opening in Houston. So I have learned that to innovate, to introduce new concepts, take risks, I have to have those conversations with myself about saying, go away perfectionist tendency, and remember, and this is something I tell myself that maybe would be a helpful note for people listening with us today, that the journey is the destination. And I really linked that, once I understood that concept, it really helped me to overcome my perfectionist tendencies, which weren't sporadic.

Natasha: They were front and center and could be really paralyzing in the early years of my career. And I had a great friend when I was in my twenties, and she was in her eighties, and she would say to me all the time, the journey is the destination. And I didn't understand it. What are you talking about? And then all of a sudden one day it clicked for me.

Natasha: And I said, okay, it's about the journey. It's about ideating. It is about collaborating with the team and figuring out, do we go left or do we go right? And if we went right, should we maybe have gone left so we have to course correct?

Natasha: And it was very liberating to understand what that meant, that the work is on the journey, and it's not going to be perfect. So I've really let go of that. That doesn't mean I don't have high standards at Blushington. That doesn't mean I don't have high expectations for myself. But I think that as a leader, if I were to set out those perfectionist expectations or that mindset, I would paralyze not only myself, but my entire team.

Natasha: So for anybody that is working to move into a leadership position, give yourself that gift, practice it in whatever seat you're sitting in, because when you get to the C-suite and to that leadership position, you're serving your team. And then I have found that in order to serve my team, to unleash their potential, to unleash our greatness at Blushington, it is about high expectations and meeting them, but it's never about perfection. And if we make mistakes, it's not about punishment or reprimands or making people feel badly. It's about lifting people up and acknowledging the humanity that we're not perfect.

Natasha: Again, we can't excuse moving away from perfectionist tendencies with lowered expectations. There is a fine line. But I feel that with time and with a lot of focus, I've been able to move past that in the best interest of myself and most importantly of my team.

Erica: No, I love that. And we've talked a lot about making the leaps and changing industries and doing all these other things. But is there anything that you would have done differently in your climb?

Natasha: Absolutely. I think in the journey, I've made so many mistakes. And I think the majority of them have been with being in a rush, being in a rush with my team, wanting also to be the one that got it done. And it was so important that my bosses would know I did it, it was my idea. And if I could go back to my younger self and show my younger self the beauty of bringing an idea together or bringing something to life as a team and as a group, and knowing that that is what true leadership is, I would say that was the biggest mistake I made in my career, always being in a rush and wanting to be first. And I am ultra competitive.

Natasha: I think that to sit in the C-suite, it does come with the territory. So I definitely am competitive. I want to do great. I want to win at what we're doing, how I define winning. I look at something like retention of our talent at Blushington as winning.

Natasha: In the beauty industry, where you typically see turnover every 90 days, our team at Blushington New York City, we've been together five, six, seven years. That to me is the biggest win in my professional career, and that would not have happened ten, fifteen years ago. I would have been in that place of having turnover. And so I would say that was probably my biggest mistake, and if I was to turn back the clock, something I would have done very differently, and worked hard to get to where I am today, with my leadership style.

Erica: to me because you come across right now as present day as someone who is very in the moment, very present, very intentional. So to hear you say, I was always in a rush and I always had to get the things done, it's like, really? So were there any big pivotal moments where that was a realization, and how did you kind of slow yourself down?

Natasha: Well, I would say there was a definitive moment in my career when I was brought to my knees by my boss at the time. So I walked in for my annual review. And after giving me a glowing review about the quality of my work, the quantity of my work, contributions to the company, he then told me in no uncertain terms, he said, you have all of the ingredients to become a CEO someday. You will never get there if you continue to lead your team in the style you are leading them. You don't know them. They don't know you.

Natasha: They want to be perfect for you. They want to please you. You are so demanding. You're demanding on yourself, but that demand is not just on yourself. It's on your team.

Natasha: And if you keep this up and don't get to know your team and bring them along with you, stop the rushing, stop the race, stop being so distant, you will never achieve that goal. And I kept a stiff upper lip because there were no tears in the office.

Natasha: And then I came home and cried my heart out to my husband because I had not seen that in myself. I didn't picture myself that way. I thought I was warm and bringing my team along with me and just competitive and wanting to get things done. But in the style I was leading, I was alienating my team. So that really brought me to my knees, Erica, I have to say.

Natasha: So yes, it was a defining moment where I had to really look in the mirror. I had to really reflect and take in what I was being told. And I'm pretty introspective in general, but that was the moment that really changed the course of my career.

Erica: So when you got that feedback, did you take that as fact from the jump, or did you have to sit with that and marinate on it for a while? Because I feel like I would be real defensive at first, and I'd be like, absolutely incorrect information here.

Natasha: So I was just speechless, and I was trying to hold the tears in, having gone on this roller coaster of this fabulous review to this incredibly personal assessment of my leadership style, my interpersonal skills. And I wasn't defensive, and I think I'm just not defensive by nature. I'm a real listener. But I just had no, I didn't see myself in that light.

Natasha: So I wasn't defensive. I was shocked. And I came home and really thought about it. And I think he was absolutely right about everything he said. I don't think he missed a point.

Natasha: And I think, looking back all these years on it and reflecting, that's a moment that stays with you. And it was a defining moment for me, did me the biggest favor in my life. And so as the CEO of Blushington, as I work to bring my team along, you do have to have the tough conversations. I don't have them in the same style perhaps as I, and maybe he knew I could take it. But that comes down to that point of knowing your team, understanding their life, what's happening in their life so that you can have a conversation that is productive about their development.

Erica: I love that. And I feel like that's the raw, that's the real deal. You know?

Natasha: That's the real deal.

Erica: I love it, and I appreciate you for sharing that because nobody loves to talk about those moments. But you went through that where your leadership was questioned and you had to rethink all that. And we have this moment that I love to define as the glass ceiling moment, and that is the one where you knew that you were truly leading on your own terms. What has been that glass ceiling moment for you?

Natasha: I think if I'm understanding the question correctly, it was probably when COVID hit. When COVID hit March 13, 2020, I closed the locations that I had spent years building. I had a team of over 120 people. We had a country in disarray, a world in disarray. And being in the beauty business and doing makeup applications as our primary business, wow, were we in the wrong place at the wrong time?

Natasha: Nowhere to go. Everyone was wearing a mask. Everything was sort of riding against the brand. And I woke up, having thought I would close the stores for two weeks while we were buying disposable brush sets and getting HEPA filters. And I woke up that Sunday morning and realized not only were we not opening, we may never reopen in the Blushington that we had so put our hearts and souls into building.

Natasha: And in that moment, I realized if we at Blushington are in this position, my competitors are in this position, peers are in this position. And I reached out to all of our competitors, and I said, let's come together and solve these issues that are all in front of us. Let's figure out how are we going to handle crisis communications? How are we going to protect our teams, handle a lot of HR issues, handle severance, handle, if you're in multiple states, what are the employment guidelines in New York, in Texas, in California? How do we deal with our landlords and negotiating rent relief or even exits from leases?

Natasha: How do we access PPP emergency funds from the government? So I organized speakers on every single topic. I went to the top people in every one of these disciplines, brought in an amazing HR executive, and this group grew to a 100 plus executives. And it was a moment in my career where I said, faced with the greatest crisis of my career, I took these definitive steps immediately in the leadership style that I have come to own and embrace, which is to serve other people, to solve problems, and that the collective good benefits everyone. And so I think that was a pretty defining moment for me, that as a leader, I had maybe crushed that ceiling.

Natasha: And then it was in making the decision, Erica, of are we going to give up because of this or are we going to pick ourselves up and start over? And I chose with my team to start over. And what that meant for us was a very painful period where I shut all of our locations to really redefine our strategy. And at the time, all of our Blushington locations where we did makeup applications, most of them were co-located next to a company called Drybar that does blowouts, an amazing company that we have a lot of respect for. But we knew that we wanted to add blowouts, that our customers were clamoring to have both services done under one roof.

Natasha: That from a business standpoint, this would be a better utilization of our talent who does both services. So we were precluded from adding blowouts because of lease exclusivities. And I'm getting a little in the weeds here, but that's to say that made the painful decision to close, reorganized as a franchisor, and are now bringing the business, with this concept of blowouts, makeup applications under one roof, to cities across the country and opening the opportunity for people all over to become Blushington owners. And that is, I think, something that is really the pinnacle of my career, to not only create jobs and growth for our artists, but for those women that maybe their feet are sticking to the floor, and they've had crummy bosses, and they're fed up with it, or they're sick of office politics and commuting and building wealth for somebody else, to become a franchisor opens up the opportunity to open Blushington to owners, to create that ownership opportunity. So maybe somebody out there that's listening that's stuck, maybe this is a moment, which is what we had when we learned about franchising, that you can own your own business while being part of a team in a community.

Natasha: And it's very powerful. I'm actually working with some executive recruiters who are now bringing us candidates as franchise owners that are realizing maybe they don't want to continue climbing that corporate ladder, but they're ready to become their own boss. So there are a lot of different ways to break the glass ceiling. But I am particularly excited about Blushington franchising, and franchising in general for your audience and for those that maybe have their feet stuck and the ceiling really thick, that franchising is an option to consider.

Erica: Yeah, no, I love that. But to go back to what I found really interesting about your decision in COVID to bring everybody together is early on, you said your sticky floor was that you had to be the one to get it all done. And I'm imagining the old Natasha would have been like the one to get it done by herself alone.

Erica: Right? And then now there's this whole totally evolved Natasha of, we're gonna get it done, but we're all gonna do it together. And I just love that leadership evolution, and showing how you can still stay true to the ambition and the core of who you are, but do so in a way that is much more inclusive and just fulfilling.

Natasha: So fulfilling, so rewarding personally, and on a business level, so much more successful.

Erica: So much more successful.

Natasha: So much more successful, really, in every sense, not just to the bottom line, but successful in developing people and developing relationships and helping other brands. I mean, I will tell you that the hallmark of Blushington is really doing partnerships with other brands, some smaller than us, some peers, some much larger than us. And it is in these collaborations where the magic happens. And so it makes sense to the bottom line, but it also makes sense just from a personal fulfillment and from having fun.

Erica: Yeah.

Natasha: I mean, I'm having a lot of fun doing what I do.

Erica: Oh my gosh. There are the best.

Natasha: Moments and rough days. I mean, there are days where you have someone unhappy or something breaks in the store or everything that you planned maybe goes a different direction. But I can tell you, I have a lot of fun doing what I'm doing and doing it with the people I'm working with. And when I was in that Natasha mode of doing it myself, I wasn't having very much fun. I was stressed.

Natasha: I was annoyed. I was dreading things, and it just feels really good. It feels much better.

Erica: Yes. I was gonna say I know both of those feelings. But, Natasha, what's next for you? What's next for Blushington?

Natasha: So I think what's next for me and Blushington are really intertwined. They're one and the same. Our goal is to open 130 Blushington locations across the country in the next five years. So what's next for us is we've sold three franchises, one that will be opening in Boca Raton, two that will be opening in Houston, Texas. Both owners are Blushington customers that were on completely different career paths.

Natasha: So particularly excited that customers love the concept so much that they wanted to own it themselves. And I love their stories. One is a real estate agent that left a twenty year career in one office to become an entrepreneur. Our other buyer was an oil and gas trader for ten years, a very intense environment, and off-ramped to have a family. And now her children are in school and she's ready to get back into the workforce, but wanted to be her own boss.

Natasha: So my personal journey is to go out and find those next Blushington owners and empower hundreds of people across the country to be their own boss, and for makeup artists and hair artists to find these new job opportunities. So that's me and Blushington. Outside of Blushington, my husband and I are empty nesters for the first time. We have a son at college, and it feels like we're dating again. So I think a lot of fun nights out, a lot of hanging out, and just really enjoying each other's company.

Natasha: So it's been an exciting year in that sense, watching our son soar at college and having the chance to get back to what feels like dating.

Erica: Oh my gosh. A whole new chapter. I love that.

Natasha: Whole new chapter.

Erica: Natasha, thank you so much. This was such an interesting conversation. I love just hearing about the leadership journey, your stories through COVID. I never thought about the beauty industry and how it was impacted in that way, so you really opened my eyes up with a lot, but I appreciate your insights.

Natasha: Well, thank you so much, Erica, for having me, and thank you for being so raw and real with your listeners. Like I said, I've listened to you, and you're doing a great service to so many people because there's a lot of imagery out there. There are a lot of facades out there, and that can really be rough on mental health. So let's be real. Let's be honest.

Natasha: We all make a lot of mistakes to get to the seats we want to be in.

Erica: Oh, that is so true. Oh my goodness. Thank you. Thank you so much. If today's conversation lit a fire under you, here is your next move.

Erica: Do not keep it to yourself. Share this episode with a friend, drop me a review, and let's keep this conversation going, y'all. Now remember, your potential is limitless, and the only thing standing in your way are those sticky floors. But guess what? You have the power to break through them.

Erica: So go out there, take up space, and let's shatter some ceilings together.