Meet Carmine Montalto

Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Carmine Montalto. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Carmine, we’re thrilled to have you sharing your thoughts and lessons with our community. So, for folks who are at a stage in their life or career where they are trying to be more resilient, can you share where you get your resilience from?

I love what I do and was fortunate to find that early in life! I’ve actually been a writer since I was a kid. I got my degree in English and became a copywriter soon after graduating. Then, I discovered a passion for skincare, of all things. In time, I was fortunate to be able to combine them and to wake up each day loving what I do, In skincare, you’re always learning. I thrive off of that!

Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?

I’m a Brooklyn-based writer, “skinfluencer” and brand builder. I’ve honed my expertise in beauty over 25 years across every consumer category: skincare, haircare, makeup, body and fragrance.

I got my start as a copywriter in LA working for high-visibility outdoor charity events, including the original AIDS Rides and Avon Breast Cancer 3-Day walks. The work was intense. And it taught me to appreciate the power of the written word to motivate and inspire. Coming so early in my career, that lesson has been something I’ve carried forward to everything I do today.

Before my work as a professional writer, I actually managed cosmetics departments in major department stores, including Barneys New York. It was there that I discovered Kiehl’s, the brand acquired by L’Oreal in 2002. At the time, Kiehl’s was a cult brand. The idea of working for Kiehl’s was irresistible and I moved back east to NYC to assume the role as their first-ever in-house copywriter. I named and helped conceive many of their most iconic products over the course of 8 years before venturing out to found my own brand agency, Carmine Montalto INK.

In 2016, I founded The Skincarma Blog®, one of the most objective and authoritative skincare blogs. The blog allows me to add an independent voice to the cacophony of voices from beauty experts, skincare junkies, and brand marketers driving the conversation in skincare today.

When I’m not writing a brand concept, naming a product, or evaluating (another!) Retinol serum, I’m a proud cat dad. In fact, I recently launched a “mewsletter” on Substack titled, The Purrspective!

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

Early in my career, I was a cosmetics department manager in an old-world flagship department store in LA. I barely knew anything about skincare; I knew nothing about makeup. There was a group of “lifers,” these amazing women of authority who managed iconic beauty brands. Recognizing my budding passion for the business, they took the initiative to teach me everything I needed to know about beauty products and consumer behavior. They ignited my passion for skincare.

I “put a pin in it” for several years when I left retail to focus on what I wanted to do from early childhood – become a writer. I was fortunate, again, to begin my career as a writer working for major fundraising brands, something which required me to put my soul into my work – and taught me to appreciate the power of words to inspire others.

Moving to NYC to work for Kiehl’s as the brand’s first-ever copywriter allowed me to combine these two passions and to recognize the importance of loving what you do.

My advice? Don’t stop until you find what you love to do. When you’re paid to love what you do, to marvel that “they pay me to do this!” – that’s when you’ve made it.

Is there a particular challenge you are currently facing?

One word: A.I.!

There isn’t a writer today who isn’t being affected by artificial intelligence. I think its effects (both negative and positive) are under-appreciated, under-reported and in many ways, simply unacknowledged. It’s not coming, not down the road, or in the years ahead. It’s here now! The effect is very real.

Perhaps I feel its influence most as a blogger. While I don’t actually use AI like ChatGPT or Perplexity in my work as a professional copywriter and brand builder, I do rely on it increasingly to navigate my world. And, I use it as a research tool for my skincare blog on Substack, the Skincarma Blog.

In terms of the effect AI can potentially have on a professional writer’s career, I’m constantly reminded of something Scott Galloway, Professor of Marketing at NYU Stern School of Business, said, and I’m summarizing: the danger of AI to a writer is not in being replaced by AI, but in being replaced by a writer who knows how to harness AI.

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