Meet Aila Morin, founding CMO at Merit Beauty, one of the fastest-growing beauty brands. Every product she’s launched has hit #1 in Clean at Sephora.

In just three years, Aila has helped drive MERIT past $100M in sales, earning over 50 awards along the way—including VOGUE Business 100 Innovators and Allure Best of Beauty. Before MERIT she was the first Director of Marketing at Mejuri and now advises brands like Cameron Diaz’s Avaline Wine.

This MADWOMEN episode is rooted in beauty, but it’s really about the anatomy of modern brand-building. Aila hands us the mirror and asks:

• Are you actually different—or just new?
• Can your customer intuitively use your product? If not, why?
• Just because it worked for your competitor (hi, Hailey Bieber pop-up), will it work for you?

She makes a sharp case for why brand matters more than product, how Merit’s pivot away from discounts is rewriting the playbook, and why the traditional definition of CMO doesn’t cut it anymore. Aila leads holistically—across creative, product development, marketing, customer experience, digital, and retail strategy. Her full-spectrum approach cuts through the digital noise.

This is: Anatomy of Modern Brand-Building

Welcome to the Madness.

Connect w/ Alia

https://www.linkedin.com/in/ailamorin/

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