The Girl Boss Files | Jessica Alba

A few weeks ago I got to sit down with the one and only Jessica Alba!

Jessica has been a dear friend for a while but also someone who I extremely look up to so I was so excited to collaborate with her! Beyond being an incredible actress and philanthropist, she’s a badass businesswoman and mommy. So naturally, in between takes, I just had to pick her brain and ask her some questions about beauty, motherhood business and everything in between. Keep scrolling to read her Girl Boss File:

Chriselle:  OK, First things first because you know we’re all dying to know. What’s your skincare Routine AM/PM and the secret to your glow?

Jessica:  Ok…so skincare routine AM is I wake up and I usually put the deep hydration face cream almost like an eye cream under my eyes and then I use the facial oil and I just rub that all over my face and that’s for the times I just need to wake up and I don’t want to look dry and dehydrated. Then before I put on my makeup, I’ll use the glow primer and the hydration mist and then go for it. For the times when I’m trying to matte out, I’ll use the matte primer.

For my nighttime routine, I always take my makeup off. If I’m lazy and traveling, I’ll just use the makeup remover wipes but usually, I’ll use a gel cleanser because it’s so gentle.

C: Oh really? That’s amazing

J:  Yeah! My kids like to use it too in the shower and so it’s fun to do “mommy and me” and I know what’s inside my products. Haven actually puts on the hydration and face oil every morning because she wants to do everything that I do and I know it’s safe, you know?

C: Start them young!

J: haha, yeah! And, I can trust what’s inside. I’ll always take my makeup off and then I’ll use the deep hydration face cream. I’ve been feeling very parched because I’ve been traveling a lot so I’ll use a squirt of deep hydration cream and a squirt of the oil.

C: so you’ll mix it together?

J: yeah

C: Oh, amazing. OK, next questions…did you change your skincare routine after you had kids?

J: Um…I mean, I think I just appreciated that me time more after I had kids. I sort of took it for granted.

C: I remember watching your stories and it was right after you had Hayes I think and you were giving yourself an at-home spa

J: Yeah, Sundays! So Sundays, we have family dinner early and the kids are in bed and I take a bath. I like to put a mask in my hair and my face. I also like collecting masks from all different places. Obviously, Korea is known for their masks and they have lots of great ones with great ingredients. I always try to go with things that don’t have petrochemicals or fragrances and so I’ll do a mask.  I’ll do a detox and a hydrating mask on my face and I have a little television in my bathtub (laughs) so I like to watch Fixer Upper…

C:  hahaha guilty pleasure!

J: the Voice or something else!

C: So you really live it up on Sundays?

J: Sunday night, yeah, I really like to just decompress and get then get ready for Monday and get back into the whole thing.

C: The grind. OK… next question. Do you have any words you live by?

J: *pauses* I don’t take no for an answer.

C: You’re relentless! *laughs*

J: I am relentless. I think you have to be to be successful. There are so many people who give up and it’s so easy to give up when someone says no. It’s so easy to just move on and I think if you’re doing something that’s making a difference, and if you’re doing something that will have an impact, you’re doing something that’s never been done before and you have to figure out your own path and your way of doing it.

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C: Yeah… Okay, what has failing at something taught you? I mean, if you feel like you’ve failed at any point in building your career…

J: I’ve met lots of challenges. My whole life really. And, I think with challenges… you can choose to let your challenges that you’ve faced define you or you can learn from them and you can look at it as an opportunity to be better for next time and that’s what I try to do.

In my relationship with my husband… in my relationship with my parents… in my career as an actress…  and then in business. And so, I try to learn from my mistakes. I usually learn the best lessons by trying it and it not working out and realizing hey, that’s not the right path and now you know for the better.

C: And that’s how you become better every time, right?

J: Yeah!

C: What’s the best advice for someone starting their own company?

J: I think you have to be realistic that it’s nearly impossible to do it alone. You have to really trust who you work with, bring in and partner with. You have to be aligned on what the goal is. If you all are working towards or for a different goal, you’re not going to get what you need to get done.

C: Now…what’s in the bag? What do you always carry around with you?

J: All the things! It depends! *laughs*

C: I’m guessing diapers again now. *laughs*

J: Exactly! Diapers and teethers…I have a mix of stuff for the kids and I have a mix of stuff for me. I always have my wallet and my phone. I always have the magic balm. I always have hand sanitizer and wipes and then various other items that kids usually put in there. You know for work and even just running around, I like to always have a cream blush with me and if I can fit the cream foundation depending on the size of the bag, I like to have that just so that I can just freshen up.

C: Now that I think of it, I have almost all Honest products in my baby bag! I have the black backpack which is the only backpack Allen will EVER wear!

J: *laughs* Right? That’s exactly why I designed it because Cash is the same way and you don’t want them packing their own bag.

C: Noooooo!

J: Because they don’t put any of the right stuff in the bag!

C: Allen puts wine in his bag!

J: Yeah, Cash forgets diapers! I’m like how does that even happen? And bottles? It’s a diaper bag!

C: Hhahaha yeah! And then, I have the hand sanitizer and the Honest wipes and that Honest Acne Tube you gave me.

J: Oh yeah the spot treatment. It’s the best.

C: So… I carry around a lot of Honest too!

J: So awesome.

C: Okay…. Do you have any Girl Boss Tips?

J: Girl Boss Tips… You know… I think you have to not be afraid to ask questions. I think it’s actually worse if you pretend to know everything.

C: Yeah. I agree.

J: I think it’s actually better and the smartest people I know ask questions. That was something I felt a little insecure about what I first started.

I was like gosh, I don’t know what this acronym means or I don’t understand this model and actually the more questions that I asked, it revealed so much about what was happening in the business and where people’s intentions lied because they can say, “oh you don’t understand it” and hide things from you and actually asking more questions reveal where people are and how they go about running your business and so I think that’s important.

And then…I think it’s important to support other women in business. I think it’s so easy for society to make us feel like we need to be competitive and I think we all need to make a concerted effort to fight against that stigma and to be supportive.

C: Yeah that’s amazing. I always see you supporting all of your girlfriends and I find that so empowering and lifting one another up. Ok… so next question… coffee or tea?

J: BOTH! Depends on the day. When I was preggers, I couldn’t drink coffee. It hurt my stomach so much I had so much acid so I just lived off of tea. And I was a matcha tea person before I was pregnant, but then I moved to English breakfast tea with almond milk and agave and after I had the baby, I’m now getting back into coffee.

C: That’s so good. I miss it so much.

J: I love it so much. They say that you can have like 1 cup a day, but it just wasn’t sitting well with me when I was pregnant so I just did a cup of tea instead.

C: Yeah, I just completely gave up coffee because… I don’t know… I was so paranoid because I had 2 miscarriages before so I’m in the mindset where I’m not even going to risk anything but that was the hardest part – giving up coffee for me. It still is. But, I do take a sip of my team’s coffee sometimes.

J: But what about decaf?

C: But for me, I’m like, why would I drink decaf? It doesn’t feel right! I feel like I’m cheating on myself or something

J: I knowwwwwww!

C: So I just don’t do it.

J: Were you trying to get pregnant for a while?

C: I…. no.  So I had one miscarriage before Chloe and we were trying for a year so I guess a year can be kind of long for people who are really trying. But then, we tried for a second then I had a miscarriage again. So all within one year.

J:  So it happened really fast.

C:  Yeah. It’s so common.

J: I had two (miscarriages) as well. My doctor was like 70% of women have miscarriages in their lifetime

C: That’s so insane.

J: And they don’t even know. Like a lot of women don’t even know. But I’ve had two as well…

C: Well, we have a million other questions, but we’ll have to wrap it up here. Thank you, Jessica!

J: Sounds good!  Thank you, Chriselle!

Photography by Drew Scott