The Dressing Gown CEO | The Truth About Money, Marriage, and Building a Brand Nobody Asked For
There are people who build businesses. And then there are people who build entire categories that did not exist before they arrived. MJ Freitas is the second kind. She built Floractive into one of the most recognised names in the Oceania hair industry, introduced a technology to a market that had no word for it, trained over 3,000 hair artists through her online university, and did all of it beside her husband Sam while raising two kids.
On paper it reads like a dream. In reality it was 9,000 salons to convince, a product nobody had heard of, and a version of her business she genuinely was not sure would survive.
This is one of those conversations that stays with you.
What this episode is really about
Emily goes to the places most podcast conversations do not. The fights between co-founders. The copycats who arrived after MJ had already done the hard work of building the market. The moment someone looked at her and said, "Who are you? You are a nobody." And how she answered that question, not with words, but with what she built next.
MJ is one of the rare people who will give you the real numbers, the real panic, and the real price of building something from nothing. If you have ever wondered what it actually takes to create a category where nothing existed before, this is the conversation.
"Who are you? You are a nobody."
What someone said to MJ Freitas. What she did next changed everything.What they cover in this episode
MJ did not enter a market. She created one. This episode gets into what that actually looks like: convincing 9,000 salons to try something they had never heard of, and keeping going when most of them said no.
Building a business with your husband is one thing. Building one where you are both deeply invested, under pressure, and making high-stakes decisions together is another. MJ does not soften this part of the story.
Once you have done the hard work of proving a market exists, others will arrive to take a share of it. MJ talks about what that moment felt like and how she responded.
Someone told MJ she was nobody. This episode explores what that kind of comment does to you, and how conviction becomes the only real answer to it.
MJ is one of the rare people who will tell you the financial reality of building a business. Not the highlight reel. The version that kept her up at night.
Scale is not just about product. MJ built an education system around what she had created. This part of the conversation is worth the 54 minutes on its own.
About MJ Freitas and Floractive
Floractive is one of the most recognised hair product brands in Oceania. MJ Freitas is its founder and the person who introduced an entire technology category to the Australian and New Zealand hair industry. She built it alongside her husband Sam, educated over 3,000 hair artists, and is one of the most honest voices in the industry about what building a brand actually costs.
You can follow MJ on Instagram at @majilly.
About The Dressing Gown CEO
The Dressing Gown CEO is the podcast from Foil Me founders Emily and Ili Ciardiello. Real, raw, and no filter. New episodes biweekly on Thursdays. If this episode moves you, share it with someone who needs to hear it.
Hit play and settle in. This one is worth your time.
Follow Emily and Foil Me:
@foilme.thedressinggownceo
•
@foilmefoils
•
foilme.com.au
Leave a comment