Meet Sara Bedau: Our Brand Director

Alima Pure is celebrating its 14th birthday! The good news for you is that our birthday is kind of like your birthday too. We're kicking off a month-long celebration filled with special offers, gifts, and other fun surprises for you.

Over the past 14 years, we've added new products, changed our packaging, expanded into 15 countries, and moved offices two times. Through it all, our core values have remained. This month, we’ll be celebrating all the things that make us Alima Pure. First up, we are so excited to share this interview with our brand director, Sara Bedau, who has been with Alima Pure for 12 years and also happens to be the daughter of our founder, Kate O’Brien.

AP: What was the impetus for Alima Pure? What are your most prevalent memories from that time in your life? 

SB: That’s really a question for my mom, though I will attempt an answer on her behalf. Alima Pure was born from a period of transition. We had moved back and forth across the country four times in two years, my brother and I were becoming more independent teenagers, and my maternal grandmother had just passed away suddenly. I think Alima initially served as art therapy, a creative outlet really, for my mom.

AP: What have been the greatest challenges for the brand?

SB: That’s a good question. We’ve been very lucky to be able to make most of our products in-house, but scaling production by working with outside manufacturers has proven to be tricky. We’re still such a small player.

AP: Did you imagine that you would ultimately land in the role of Brand Director?

SB: Not at all. As a child, I dreamed of growing up to be an actress and thought that there could be little worse than a desk job. I also wanted to have a Siamese cat named Ballerina-Garlic, combining my three favorite things at the time. Which is to say, dreams change, and I grew and evolved organically into occupying this role.

AP: What about your job do you enjoy the most? What parts do you find more difficult?

SB:  I love working with my mom. She is an incredible person and I feel so lucky to have spent most of my adult life working at her side. We’re a very small company. That ends up being the rose and the thorn sometimes.

AP: What about Alima Pure are you most proud?

SB: Our range of Satin Matte Foundation. I’ve been dreaming of ways to build upon it even more.

AP: What are your favorite AP products?

SB: I love our Satin Matte Foundation, Satin Finishing Powder, Natural Definition Brow Pencil, the Spoolie, and Lip Tint.

AP: When you imagine the future of the brand, what does it look like to you?

SB: Honestly, I spend so much time in the trenches, sometimes I forget to imagine too far into the future. My mom has always been the one with the vision. I think of her as the heart and me the hands of the brand. I do whatever is needed to make her vision come to life.

AP: When people think of Alima Pure, beyond high-performing makeup, what qualities do you hope they see in the brand?

SB: Purity of ingredients, environmental and social stewardship, inclusivity.

AP: Is there anything we can expect from the brand by the time our 15th birthday comes around next August?

SB:  Stay tuned to find out!

 

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