She’s been an actor, a touring comedian and a body positivity advocate, all the while never shying away from the taboo topics – ADHD, anxiety and self-doubt – turning them into the fuel that has propelled her into the hearts of women across the country.
Now, she’s taking that same approach into almost unknown territory: launching a beauty brand. Booie is for women who are sick of being sold expensive products that promise to ‘anti-age’ them, or being left off the beauty shelves altogether.
In her cover story for marie claire, which is out on Thursday, Celeste Barber talks to her co-founder, Claire Greaves, about raising boys, ageism and defining success, and whether she’s nervous about entering the beauty realm with no industry experience.
“I’ve had as much beauty experience as Rihanna, Selena Gomez, Victoria Beckham or Hailey Bieber,” Barber quips. It’s the real-world experience that counts.
“We’re not all pop stars and supermodels. Some of us are awkward ladies but still know our shit. [We’re] middle-aged women who’ve been wearing makeup for a really fucking long time. We know what’s good and we know what we want.
“With women, you reach a certain age and you [feel as though you’ve] hit an expiry date, that you’re now boring or you’re invisible. I want my audience to know that we aren’t invisible.”
Beauty is new territory for Greaves too. The P.E. Nation co-founder recently stepped away from the day-to-day running of the activewear brand to focus on other ventures. It’s a match made in beauty business heaven.
“You’re the ideas, you’re the brand, and I’m building the business behind it,” Greaves says. “Absolutely, I couldn’t do you and you couldn’t do me,” Barber adds.
“[ADHD means] my brain jumps around a lot and it can betray me sometimes, but [you] really reassured me along the way and will tell me, ‘No, don’t worry you’ve nailed it.’ .., it’s] a beautiful thing to have with a friend in business.”
But it’s not all business talk when these two are together. Greaves asks Barber about her childhood, wondering if they would have been friends back then. “I was loud, I was nervous, I was anxious,” Barber says. “I wish we had hung out at school, that would have made the experience easier.”
School and adolescence may have been difficult for Barber, but it’s those experiences that forged what Greaves calls a “cutting through the bullshit” approach to life. “Your audience loves it because you’re real and that’s why they stay with you,” she says.
“I had a lot of self-doubt, so I wanted to make other people feel better,” Barber says. “I do these meet-and-greets, and there are so many women who’ll hide behind me for a photo. That breaks my heart. I’m like, ‘Get forward, there’s enough bad photos of me in the world that I’ve put out there.”
Despite appearing not to care what anyone thinks of her, Barber admits that she does care, but only when it comes to the people she loves. “Out in the world, I’m caring less because I know I have a good moral compass,” she says. “I can’t control how everyone feels about me – but that takes work.”
It’s a message she’s trying to impart in her sons, too. Booie is her sweet nickname for them. “I call them my little ‘bouy boys’, which gets confusing in meetings,” she says.
To read the full conversation including how they both had the courage to start a new life chapter, pick up a copy of the September issue, on sale Thursday.
