Iskra Lawrence built one of the fastest-growing body care brands in America,  ⁨Saltair , without paying herself a salary. That's not the beginning of the story. It's barely the middle.This episode traces one of the most honest founder journeys in beauty: a girl from Kidderminster UK told that she was too curvy for straight-size modeling and too small for plus-size. A model who cold-called brands directly, walked into a New York agency at 22 with a pitch deck, and made a veteran agent cry — because no model had ever done that before. A woman who challenged the retouching culture at Aerie, built one of the earliest honest communities on Instagram, and then found herself in COVID isolation with a newborn, not showering, barely holding on.SaltAir was born out of the pain she lived, and the hope she needed for herself, and millions of other women.Alexis and Iskra go deep on what it actually costs to build something real while mothering two young children — the guilt of clocking off at In this episode: How Iskra went from eating disorder to building a body care brand doing nine figures in retail The cold-calling strategy that bypassed modeling's gatekeepers — and what it actually means to outwork a broken system Why she launched Saltaire without venture capital and has never taken a paycheck What postpartum depression in 2020 isolation looked like — and the habit that started her recovery Her honest take on the "3-hour bombing" discourse and how she leads a flexible, family-first team at Saltair Why empathy — not hustle — is her superpower as a breadwinnerAbout Iskra Lawrence: Iskra Lawrence is a model, body image advocate, and founder of Saltair — currently a top-three body care brand at Ulta and one of the fastest-growing at Target. Named to Forbes 30 Under 30 and the BBC's 100 Most Influential Women, she spent six years challenging beauty industry norms as an Aerie model before building her own brand from the ground up. She lives in Austin with her husband Philip and their two children.Follow Iskra:@iskra on Instagram, YouTube, TikTok@saltair on all social channelsJoin The Breadwinners community:Subscribe on SubstackFollow on Instagram: @wearethebreadwinnersRate & review wherever you listen — it helps more women find this showLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices