Real skin results start with one daily ritual. Meet Daily Microfoliant from Dermalogica. This iconic exfoliating powder activates with water to gently polish away dullness and uneven texture. It leaves skin instantly smoother and more luminous while supporting your skin barrier. Formulated with professional expertise to deliver visible results daily, even on sensitive skin.
Discover your healthiest skin today. Visit Dermalogica.com and use code SMOOTH at checkout for an exclusive gift with your $65 purchase. Let's check in on the Certa Counting Sheep. Why aren't we counted anymore?
Well, the all-new Certa Perfect Sleeper has the Q4 support system that helps relieve aches and back pain. We'll never get counted again. Uh, nope. Certa, we make the world's best mattress. This is Jane Pauley.
She's a star. She's married to SNL's Colin Jost, and now she's started her own business. Scarlett Johansson is talking with Sunday Mornings Tracy Smith.
So how's business? Business is great. Yeah, business is great. We just launched a new product that's our most. Active product, I would say.
It's a dark spot serum. And so there's like a lot of newness there, which is exciting. We have a new resort collection of Colors in Our Lip Oasis product, which is a hero product of ours. And so, yeah, I think that draws a lot of new customers because. There's newness happening, which is fun.
Which is always exciting, right? Which is always exciting. Take me back to the beginning. This is a very personal project for you. It came from a personal place.
It does, yeah, it does. Grew up, I had very sensitive skin, I had acneic skin forever. And then I think at some point. It sort of switched for me where I was like, Oh, I'm now gonna have acne and wrinkles. Like, this is just my skin forever.
I know that feeling. Um, yeah. Um, and there, you know, at the time, there were, you know, the. Vocabulary around acne and skin sensitivity, but particularly around acne, was just, you know, like you have dirty skin, you need to keep cleaning it and resurfacing it. And I think I just had this cycle of breakouts and then dryness and breakouts and dryness.
And I was terrified to use any products that had any kind of oil in them. And I think it wasn't until I really was at that sort of breaking point of like, this is something that I'm just going to have to deal with for the rest of my life that I thought, well, maybe I'll try something I've never done before, which is, you know, a routine that was, you know, really consistent and involved products for sensitive skin as opposed to just drying out my skin and resurface, trying to resurface my skin all the time. And that's actually when my skin began to heal itself. And that was like a huge aha moment for me. You know, so many people that I know have sense, I think most of the population has sensitive skin, you know, whether it's from just like environmental reasons or, you know, Of just the products that we're using or consistently changing our skin routine.
And so, you know, I think. For me, it was about create, there was a need, and the outset came out of this need. And honestly, the outset products are the only ones that I use. They're the only products that I would feel comfortable recommending to. Any of my friends, but certainly anybody with sensitive skin, but they're really products that are meant to be part of your daily essentials.
So we say we're kind of the white t-shirt of skincare. We play well with others.
So if you're using, if you like experimenting with different lines or different actives, Or, what have you, you can always return to the outset or incorporate the outset so that your skin is really kind of. back to basics, like back to its best self. I like that, the white t-shirt. The white t-shirt of skincare, yeah. What was the goal when you started the company?
I think the goal when I started the company was to create a line that as many people could participate in as possible. And I really feel like we've achieved that. You know, clean is a nebulous term. You know, and so it's really like a standard that you set for yourself. And for me, I felt like, okay, I've started down this road for clean skincare.
I want to be as transparent with our customers as possible. And so it wasn't, it's not that we've made it necessarily easy for ourselves because we do have such high standards. But, you know, I really feel like, I feel incredibly proud of the fact that the line really stands up to the highest standards of clean skincare. And it's ever-evolving.
So we are also evolving as a brand, and we're evolving with our offerings to meet our own standards and the highest standards of the industry. Go back for a second when you talk about your own sensitive skin. Yeah. In the business that you're in, where all eyes are on you, where the camera's on you, how self-conscious were you about your skin? Incredibly self-conscious.
I mean, any person. I think You know, when I talk to, you know, People that are like fans of the brand, or influencers that are fans of the brand that have sensitive skin, whether that's acne, or redness, or dryness, or a combination of any of those things, or dark spots, or whatever it is. You know, whether you're in front of the camera or not, if you've had skin sensitivity, you know how it feels. Your skin is the first. Thing that people notice about you.
You know, it's that like first impression that you make. And I feel like if you have something going on with your skin that, you know, is making you feel self-conscious about yourself, it's you know, it can really affect your Self-confidence. Did you feel that? Totally, of course. Yeah.
And of course, I was always covering up breakouts and, you know, working with makeup artists and coming to set every day. And I have all these new breakouts or redness or dry patches. And you do feel self-conscious. I felt like I had to wake up. And like cover up all this acne before I got to work, which is like.
It's a lot of effort, you know, and it doesn't, you know, I think it really, yeah, it weighs on you in a way that just. I Yeah. For me, friends of mine that have any kind of skin sensitivity, saying to them, okay, I'm just asking you to. Drop your products, use the outset for 10 days, use our daily essentials, and let me know what you think. Just see what happens and to.
Hear that they are experiencing skin transformation, and it's like, oh my God, I'm like, skin is healing itself, or like this is the best skin I've had in years. I understand what that feels like because I've experienced it too, and it's like. That's you know, that's what the goal really was, you know, because I do know how. how kind of debilitating it can be to feel self-conscious about the Quality of your skin, you know? Where were you in your career when you had that kind of aha moment?
Like, let me stop doing this to myself. I was actually, I think I was. pregnant with my daughter.
So it was about, yeah, like 11, 12 years ago. Yeah, in the middle of my career. But I mean, I'd been dealing with my own skin struggles since I was. 12, you know. And on the set of the horse whisperer, I remember the makeup artist being like, Oh, you've got, you know, like Mount Vesuvius on your forehead.
And I was like, you know, it's like a preteen adolescent, you're just so self-conscious, and then you have makeup artists pointing it out. You know, you're working on set and like people are trying to kind of light around it, and you know, that's it's just awful. That's a lot, for anyone, but especially a young actor. Or any kid. Yeah.
You know, any kid. Like, I mean, you know, now I think my daughter's about that same age. She's, you know, she's going to be 12 in a few months, but it's like, Kids are so, or I would say pre-do pre-adolescents are so The vocabulary and their knowledge of skincare and curiosity about it, and it's so much. broader than you know what I grew up with. What's the message that you try to give your daughter about beauty?
I always say to her, I'm like, your skin is, you know, your body's largest organ. Like, be gentle on yourself. You know, there's going to be a whole bunch of products out there that are going to make all these promises for you. And, you know, it can really disrupt your skin barrier. And, you know, just be gentle on your skin.
You know, hydrate your skin. Make sure that you're using products that you, you know, I look at the back of them and see what's inside because there's a lot of harsh actives and chemicals and products that are hidden that you wouldn't necessarily kind of know to look for. And, you know, so she's, she's. Making Conscious choices. I think that's important.
You know, of course, with all her makeup and all that, I'm like, that's so fun to experiment with, but I'm like, Do you beautiful baby skin? Don't like... Just, you know, just be gentle on it like you would for the rest of your body, you know. And while we're talking about your family, Colin has been, is it fair to say, a guinea pig for some of these products? He actually has been a guinea pig for, yeah.
Now, luckily, we have like a whole office full of guinea pigs. But, you know, at the beginning, when we first started formulating, it was in the middle of COVID.
So, my You know, my breadth of people that I had to work with was very, was reduced. And so, yeah, Colin was our guinea pig for like everything. And he, you know, it's actually helpful to have someone who he used his products, he had his kind of routine, but it was helpful to have somebody that didn't necessarily have a 14 care step skincare routine to try stuff out on. To have a guy try stuff out on and see kind of what his experience was of stuff. And just because we were trying to get a wider scope of.
Users. Yeah, but he was. He was my skincare guinea pig. I remember we had a product that had. Um it was like a face mask that had this kind of like um Like a tingling sort of sensation.
It was like a little bit sort of supposed to be. Yeah, just have a little bit of more experiential use where it was kind of waking up your skin. And I forgot to tell him about that part of it, that it was maybe gonna have a little tangling effect. And yeah, I think he thought that I had basically given him.
some sort of like I don't know that he was having an allergic reaction to the skin was going to burn off. He was like, It's burning, it's burning. Like, is it supposed to be doing this? I was like, Oh, yeah, I forgot to tell you about that. Um, yeah, just let's use some cool washcloths and it'll go away.
Yeah, I don't think it made it past that stage, but that was. While we're talking about self-consciousness. Do you think it's fair to say that early in your career People were a little too focused on your looks. Um Yeah, I don't I mean I think Uh I don't know. I mean, I think it was, you know, it was such another time, too.
The um You know, as a growing up in, you know, in the entertainment industry and then. being a woman, you know, a twenty something year old in the like early 2000s. I it w You know, being a 20-year-old woman in the early 2000s in the spotlight, I think in general, Um you know it was it was just a it was a really hard Harsh time. I think women were just pulled apart for how they looked in a way that was, yeah, it was socially acceptable at the time. And it was just, you know, it was tough.
I think it was tough. There was a lot placed on. Um on how women looked and um What was offered at that time for women my age, as far as like acting roles or opportunities, it was, it was. much slimmer than it is now. You know, I think there's much more empowering roles available to young actors now than when I was in my 20s.
It was like Slim Pickens, I would say. Slim Pickens. Slim Pickens. Were you offered the same sort of parts over the years? Yeah, you would get really like pigeonholed and offered the same.
Like it would be the other woman or like the, yeah, the side piece, the like, you know, Yeah, they're kind of like The bombshell, like that was very, you know, that was an archetype, I think, that was. that we s like there was just a lot of Um when I was that age. Um and it was you know it was a it was Kind of tricky to navigate around that because there was a lot more I wanted to do. And I found that doing theater actually coming, you know, doing theater in New York. Um was a great way for me to You know, work different muscles and kind of get out of that pattern.
And also, just I think being. learning to be uh okay with You know, waiting for the right roles to come and, you know, just not. Feeling like this pressure to Work constantly and like keep all the balls in the air, I think, and just being okay with like the quieter moments, you know, it's something that I learned over time. But it's hard, it's a big, big adjustment. I think also because actors, once you start working, you really feel like every job is going to be your last, and that if you get opportunities to work, you know, you have to kind of keep taking them.
even though they might not be as like varied as the jobs that you're that really give you Um pleasure that you can like learn from. And challenge yourself with, but it's uncomfortable to not work, I think, at the begin at the end. into those moments where you're really at the height. You know, I was I was able to Kind of Like Crest that wave and make it on the other side, but it's definitely. You know, it's it's it was uh It was a time that was, you know, I was, I was, it was unsettling, you know, I think.
Did you ever worry that, oh, if I don't take this job, maybe this will be the. Last offer? Yeah, oh my gosh, forever. I felt that way for so long. Every actor feels like that.
Because it is so competitive. And I think once you do have The spotlight, you know, you want to keep it on you. I mean, that's the instinct, I think, for a young actor or any actor. you know I've just now now that I've got the you know everyone's attention I have to kind of You know, keep their attention. And then at some point, I realized: oh, yeah, I've actually got a foothold and it's okay.
I can. Work on the things that challenge me, and I can work, you know, stuff will come out when it comes out, and people won't. forget about the work I did before and you know but it it took a while to Get there. Do you remember, was there a certain turning point? Um I honestly I think and this is just for me of course in independently but I think having uh my first child was a big turning point.
Um Because my, you know, of course, my priorities shifted, and, you know, you kind of realize, I realized anyway that. I couldn't, that like nothing, you can't really control anything, and everything changes all the time. And it was, I found that to be. liberating. I think it had affected how I approached the work that I did.
We'll have more from our Sunday morning extended interview after this break. At DSW, we ask the important questions like, what shoes are you going to wear? Whether you're prepping for wedding season, festival season, or just planning the ultimate vacay, the right shoes can make or break an RSVP.
So own the moment. You've got big plans and we've got just the shoes at the perfect price, of course. Get ready to get ready with Designer Shoe Warehouse. Head to your DSW store or dsw.com today. And let us surprise you.
You know that feeling when you're standing in the grocery aisle staring at a wall of plastic-wrapped chicken and gray-looking ground beef? For years, that was my routine. I'd grab whatever looked fine enough, toss it in the cart, and then spend the rest of the week trying to season the life back into it because it was just bland. But then I tried Omaha Steaks, and it completely flipped my script on quality. The first time I pulled a vacuum-sealed steak from my freezer, I realized I'd been settling for store grade when I could have had steakhouse grade.
It's the ultimate convenience. I don't deal with the what's-for-dinner panic anymore because I have a custom plan delivered right to my door on my schedule. No more food waste from forgotten fridge meat, just high-quality proteins ready to go. Plus, it's a risk-free move. They have a 100% satisfaction guarantee.
Taste the Omaha Steaks difference and never settle for grocery proteins again. Get flavorful, high-quality proteins delivered by visiting omahasteaks.com, plus $35 off when you use promo code T-Bone at checkout. That's omahasteaks.com. Code T-Bone. Terms apply.
See site for details. Did you have a life-changing role if you had to point to one? Um I mean I've had I've had Life-changing roles in different ways. I mean, I've had roles where I really did work that. I felt you know The work really challenged me in a way where I had a lot of growth as an actor.
Um you know, I certainly doing a View from the Bridge on Broadway was that for me. Doing a film called Under the Skin was like that for me. Working on marriage story felt hard and relentless in a great way that I felt really You know, strengthened certain muscles of mine as an actor. You've sort of surprised yourself in ways that are. you know, encouraging.
And then, you know, I've had big career. uh changing roles like Certainly, working for Marvel and doing, you know, playing Natasha Romanoff was like a massive opportunity for me. It enabled me to do a lot. All kinds of work that I might not have had the opportunity to do before because I had this, I had a lot of visibility from that. And yeah, there's been different films I've done and different jobs I've done along the way that have really.
Yeah, have affected the trajectory of my career. A lot of different life-changing roles. Yeah, life-changing in different ways, like I, you know, either career-changing or also professionally or artistically. Um like revelatory, yeah. You were nominated for two Oscars the same year.
You've won a Tony. For a time you were the highest grossing actor in the world. You have this thriving business. Do you allow yourself to say, hey, Nice, Scarlett. Um I'm getting better at it, um, I think, but I.
Yeah, it's hard for me to have perspective. Right now, I think maybe because I'm in the thick of all of it. But I'd like to get better at. Uh you know I don't know, patting myself on the back. It's a probably, it's a good habit to have.
I don't know that that's like ingrained in me as a person.
So it's probably something I have to like learn how to do more of. Yeah. How do you look at? your success. Are you somebody who's always waiting for the other shoe to drop?
Or, you know, how do you view it? Am I waiting for the other shoe to drop? Not. Not not anymore. Not anymore.
I ha I yes, I am I am a person that in General is waiting for the other shoe to drop. But that part of me is, I'm able to let go of that part. more now because I think it's not it doesn't serve me Um At this stage of my life. But I think, you know, success to me is. you know, it's it's changes.
The definition of it changes as I you know, as I as I Move along. And Uh you know, I think I You know, it's and it's different in my different You know, it's success as a Parents, success as a partner, success as an actor, success as a business owner. Like there's. There's a different definition for each one of those parts of my life, I think. If you could boil it down, what's success to you now?
If I think of it in a professional way, I would think It would be Um offering a product Whether it's an actual product we have here at the outset, or offering a film or whatever content it is that. is appealing to a large audience of people. And that feels like it respects um you know, people's patronage delivers, gives back that the that the audience or the consumer feels connected to. For me, that that is success, I think, is like that when things like that work. Um you know, but I mean that's different than of course my how I successes view successes a As a parent, You know, as a parent, you know, you're not always the most popular.
You know, and that's okay. It's not about popularity as a parent, you know?
So what's success as a parent? Oh my god. I think, I don't know, somebody once told me they were like, if you're successful as a parent like 75% of the time, like that's good. You know, like if you're, if you're like, if you're, you know, doing 75% of it like right or whatever, that's, then you're winning. Which is probably true.
Yeah, do you feel? I'm sure you've talked about work-life balance. Do you think there is such a thing? Have you achieved that? Yeah.
I think actually admitting that there is no work-life balance is the first step to kind of getting there in a way, because it's just not possible. There's always something that is, you know, there's a deficit in some area. And I think you have to be I've learned to be more kind to myself in that way. Like, you can't do all of these things all the time. And so, you know, there's just like, is it good enough?
Yeah, good enough. Good enough. I like that. I like that. Yeah.
I always tell people, oh, I just do everything half-assed, but good enough is a better way to look at that. Yeah. Um you are not afraid of a fight. You took on Disney, you took on open AI. Were you nervous about doing that?
Um I don't think so. I mean, I I definitely Felt, I mean, both of those situations, um. you know, I felt right in my Yeah. Stance. And so then I didn't feel scared.
'Cause I was like, I'm this is I'm just in this, in this, and I believe in. Yeah. I believe very much in integrity and the importance of integrity, and I felt like. both of those circumstances. I felt like it was important for me to maintain integrity in the face of both of those circumstances, and so I didn't feel scared.
I mean, sometimes you feel a little kind of lonely in the fight. Did you feel lonely?
Some yeah, maybe a little bit, I think. Uh just because you're sort of doing something that you know, is potentially um you know, confrontational and not everybody is like Uh comfortable with the confrontation or like the what the risk, I guess, could be standing up against like a large corporation or, you know, the man. But that's okay. You know, I'm I'm I'm okay with that. I have I have A lot of support on my side as far as my team, and I can shoulder the burden, it's okay.
Have people thanked you? Um yeah. I I mean, you know, and and and Not that I need that or anything, but it's always nice to be for people to say this, you know, this changed. how I could negotiate my Contract or renewal, or whatever that is, or I felt confident to stand up for myself because. I saw you doing it and that's great.
You know, that's awesome. You won your fight with Open AI, with ChatGPT, but do you still worry about AI? Worry about it in what way? Just that it threatens your livelihood, threatens actors' livelihoods. Um I worry about.
AI because there's no regulation. Um Again, it's this kind of wild west. That's what that's what worries me about it. If there were regulations, then I think that. AI, I mean it's here, AI is here, so it's not going anywhere.
It's just I think we as a society are so unprepared for something that's like already here, and that's concerning. Like there's no turning it off, you know what I mean?
So and there's no going back. And so we have to accept that. AI is You know, this is the wave. It's like the industrial, it's a revolution, right? It's this mass before and after thing.
And so I think the most important thing is that we regulate it. You know, that's what worries me. is the Wild West element of it. more than anything. Getting back to this, where do you see the outset in five years?
Oh gosh. I mean, well, as far as our, you know, I see the outset. you know, where would I where's like my dre my dream for it? I mean, other than all the newness happening and product offerings and you know, we all we have lots of blue sky ideas of like where we're going in that in that um that element of it. I would love to see the outset as, you know, a The number one brand for sensitive skin, certainly.
I'd love to see one of our daily essentials on every counter. You know, I feel like. Our products are so universally, um, you know. appealing and also a necessity for people as skin sensitivity is on the rise that I would just love to be able to offer people their best skin yet. I'd love to see the outset everywhere.
It's has you know earned that Earn that place. You have a text chat with the Avengers, right? Yes. Does skincare come up in the text chat? Not in our text chat, but I get on my one-to-ones.
Of course it does, yes. What do people say? You know, male actors. By the way, male actors are like so much more vain than female actors are. Um, yeah, I get a lot of like, can you send me more products?
I'm like, you can also, yes, of course, I'll ship you products. You could also like order them. Yeah, or it's like, you know, I had like one of our. One of the Avengers, who shall remain nameless, is like a huge fan of our night cream, and was like, Do you can make the little travel sizes? I was like, I'll send you the travel signs.
Okay, so Shower Main name is good. It's a male Avenger? Yeah, of course. Yes. Horse.
Yeah. Um What do you think is the biggest risk you've ever taken? Oh my god. Uh the biggest risk I've ever taken? I don't know.
Um. That's hard hard to It's hard to think of what it could be. Um I don't know. Are you someone who takes, who's pretty comfortable taking risks? Yeah.
I am comfortable taking risks. I think I Weigh the kind of gain and loss that come with the risk and Just you know sort of I I try to kind of mitigate as much loss as possible knowing that it's like impossible to To not have, right? Like anytime you go for something, you're always gonna lose something. Um and you know I try to kind of weigh that. As best I can, and then move on it.
Yeah, I. I've I don't think I could have gotten to where I am professionally without Being comfortable taking risks. It's just, I don't think it could be possible. You have to. Yeah, totally.
You have to. Yeah. With starting this company, what was your biggest worry. I think my biggest worry was that there would be, and there definitely certainly was at least a year of that kind of like. oh, like it's actually it actually works, like that people would see the celebrity and it would kind of like You know, not, it would, it would be, it would distract from the actual products.
And people would discount it almost because they would say, oh, you know, she's got, you know, a million people working on her face. Like, there's no way it's just these products or these, you know, like she's not being, she's just like slapping her name on this, and it's not an actual passion project. Like, there's, I think it's normal for people to be skeptical. when a person in the public eye is starting a completely new business, you know. But I think after a good year of that sort of like, oh, we called it like our actually phase, we were actually so much, and then the products started to really speak for themselves and win a lot of awards and like best of beauty and the reviews were outstanding and People could see for themselves, like touch and feel the product and see for themselves what it really was all about.
Now we've now we're like over that hump. But initially I was worried that that would be, you know, that we would kind of There'd be a lot of naysayers that wouldn't actually like try the products out, you know, because they were just like. This is, they'd have celebrity brand fatigue, you know? That makes sense. Yeah.
Um Last question here. when you were starting out Eyes on the prize being an actor. Did you ever dream you'd be a businesswoman? I think it's a very good idea. I definitely didn't think I would be a businesswoman.
I didn't know. what was I I don't know that Having a company like this was necessarily possible, didn't feel possible back. When I was starting out, You know, and that you could be like a multi-hyphenant as a woman in this in the industry. Thankfully you can and that's and that's changed and I think You know, you... I feel like While the beauty industry is definitely like a completely different industry that I had to learn and sort of just dive right into at the beginning of the outset, it It's an industry that actually I feel like it was really nurturing and supportive in a way that I hadn't expected.
And so that also made it possible: the people in the beauty industry. That you know, were that I had you know, was just depending on early early on to give me feedback and guidance really were as generous as they were. And it's it's a tight community, but it's it's really supportive, especially of female founders. And that's you know that's that made it all possible. I'm Jane Pauley.
Thank you for listening. And for more of our extended interviews, follow and listen to Sunday Morning on the free Odyssey app. or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Do you ever think about switching insurance companies to see if you could save some cash?
Progressive makes it easy to see if you could save when you bundle your home and auto policies. Try it at Progressive.com. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. Potential savings will vary. Not available in all states.
This podcast is brought to you by Carvana. Selling your car should feel like one less thing on your list, not one more. With Carvana, it is. Just go to Carvana.com, enter your license plate or VIN, and get a real offer down to the penny. No back and forth, no surprises, just an experience you can trust.
Like your offer, accept it, schedule a pickup, and we'll come to you with a check in hand. Your car, your timeline, your terms. Visit Carvana.com to sell your car today. Carvana! Delivery fees and terms may apply.
