Studio Eight Presents Beyond The Counter

What 20 Years Behind the Counter Taught Me About the Art of Making People Feel Considered.

When did the beauty counter become more about the sale than the person standing in front of it?

In Episode 02 of Studio Eight Presents Beyond the Counter, Chardé Smith examines the relationship between beauty retail, customer trust, and the pressure to convert every interaction into a transaction. Drawing on her experience as a beauty professional and the founder of Triple Eight Creative, Chardé shares the story of an event relocated less than 24 hours before opening, and a separate Credo Beauty activation where personalized product guidance helped guests make confident choices.

The conversation moves beyond the counter into independent beauty businesses: how booking systems, consultations, boundaries, content creation, hospitality, and thoughtful technology can build confidence before and after an appointment.

This week's Signature Beauty Focus is Eternal Classic, one of five Signature Glam styles within the broader Signature Beauty experience, which also includes four Signature Skin styles.

Questions From the Timeline features four questions Chardé answers spontaneously on camera, with no prepared answers.

Explore Triple Eight Creative: https://www.tripleeightcreative.com

The Founder Files | When Visibility Becomes Validation

How do you know whether you're building the success you want or chasing the version you think you're supposed to have?

In the first full episode of Studio Eight Presents: Beyond the Counter, Chardé Smith opens The Founder Files with a personal conversation about visibility, validation and the pressure to make a creative business look successful while you're still figuring things out. She reflects on the beginning of Triple Eight Creative, the rooms and relationships she once viewed as milestones, and the moment she recognized that other people's expectations had started shaping her own ambitions.

This is a conversation about defining success for yourself and learning to trust what you're building.

Welcome to Studio Eight Presents: Beyond the Counter, a podcast hosted by Chardé Smith, beauty industry veteran, creative entrepreneur, and founder of Triple Eight Creative.

After more than 20 years in the beauty industry, I've learned that some of the most meaningful conversations happen beyond the service itself.

Here, we're exploring beauty, business, technology, hospitality, creative entrepreneurship, and the experiences that shape how we build, connect, and show up in the world.

From personal stories about navigating entrepreneurship and reinventing yourself to conversations with creative founders, beauty professionals, and industry voices, this is a space to share what we're learning, challenge the way things have always been done, and figure out what's next together.

Because there's always more to the story than what happens behind the counter.

Welcome to Beyond the Counter. Let's get into it.

Follow the podcast for new episodes every other Tuesday, starting October 27.

Presented by Triple Eight Creative.

http://www.tripleeightcreative.com/

#BeyondTheCounter #TripleEightCreative #BeautyBusiness #CreativeEntrepreneurship #BeautyIndustry

Beyond the Counter 00.5 | The Thing in the Way Might Be What You Need

I went to Squarespace Circle Day expecting conversations about websites and technology. I left thinking about creativity, reinvention, and what it means to build something when you don't have everything figured out. In this bonus episode of Beyond the Counter, I'm sharing how learning UX and UI design helped me rebuild after losing my business, why everyone at Circle Day was talking about cupcakes, what Squarespace's early look at Forma means to me as a designer, and the advice from Andy J. Pizza that hit closer to home than I expected. I also connect it to the Signature Glam Test, my AI chief of staff Grey, and a conversation I hosted at CultureCon: “AI Isn't the Expert. You Are.” This is a personal reflection on building, adapting, and bringing your own experience into whatever comes next.

Before Beyond the Counter became a podcast, it started with a live conversation.

Recorded during LA Tech Week and Black LA Tech Week, this special Digital Discovery Edition brings together Triple Eight Creative founder Chardé Smith-Anglin and journalist Jade McCrary to explore beauty, technology, customer experience and what happens when discovery moves beyond the traditional beauty counter.

Originally streamed on DisBeauté and recorded at Kit Studios, this conversation helped inspire Studio Eight Presents Beyond the Counter.

Consider this Episode 00. The conversation is just getting started.