# S01E12 · Shelley Hayes — Founder of Electric Lemonade <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_I6lrw29Tk" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img class="uv-poster" src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/X_I6lrw29Tk/maxresdefault.jpg" alt="Shelley Hayes on The Useful Podcast Episode 12" loading="lazy" /></a> Shelley Hayes was standing at a beauty counter listening to a seventeen-year-old ring up three hundred dollars of product, and that is roughly when Electric Lemonade got its shape: one SKU, made with chemists, positioned against a category that sells ten steps because ten steps means ten repeat purchases. She is clear-eyed that the product is not the differentiator on its own — the brand is. Everything from the black tube to the editorial styling to the mist tent she built for an activation is doing work, and she runs a separate interview platform alongside the brand because she does not think Instagram gives you enough of someone's attention to build trust. The positioning is the interesting bet. She is against anti-aging, in a category that is almost entirely anti-aging. Her test for a piece of content is whether someone sees it and wants to go learn to skateboard, or starts Googling surgeons. She came out of music, was signed and recording, and walked away from it twice. ## Listen <ul class="uv-linkrow"> <li><span class="uv-label">Watch</span><a class="uv-ico uv-yt" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_I6lrw29Tk" target="_blank" rel="noopener">YouTube</a></li> <li><span class="uv-label">Show</span><a class="uv-ico uv-sp" href="https://open.spotify.com/show/033DRed1adLXd1bg8honOl" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Useful Podcast on Spotify</a> · <a class="uv-ico uv-x" href="https://x.com/theusefulpod" target="_blank" rel="noopener">@theusefulpod on X</a></li> </ul> <a class="uv-btn" href="https://useful.ventures/podcast/shelley-hayes-electriclemonade/transcript">Read the full transcript</a> ## Key facts <ul class="uv-facts"> <li><span class="uv-k">Episode</span>The Useful Podcast, Season 1, Episode 12</li> <li><span class="uv-k">Guest</span>Shelley Hayes, Founder of Electric Lemonade</li> <li><span class="uv-k">Host</span>Gokul Bala, co-founder of Useful Ventures</li> <li><span class="uv-k">Company</span><a href="https://electriclemonadebeauty.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Electric Lemonade</a>, a one-SKU, science-backed skincare brand built against anti-aging and multi-step routines</li> <li><span class="uv-k">Topics</span>Building a one-product skincare brand, brand as the real differentiator, rejecting anti-aging positioning, running a separate interview platform, leaving a music career twice</li> <li><span class="uv-k">Length</span>About 48 minutes · Published August 2026</li> </ul> ## Guest <ul class="uv-linkrow"> <li><span class="uv-label">Shelley</span><a class="uv-ico uv-ig" href="https://www.instagram.com/ladyhayes/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Instagram (@ladyhayes)</a></li> <li><span class="uv-label">Electric Lemonade</span><a class="uv-ico uv-ig" href="https://www.instagram.com/electriclemonadebeauty/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Instagram (@electriclemonadebeauty)</a> · <a class="uv-ico uv-play" href="https://electriclemonadebeauty.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">electriclemonadebeauty.com</a></li> <li><span class="uv-label">Host</span><a class="uv-ico uv-x" href="https://x.com/GokulsVision" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Gokul Bala on X (@GokulsVision)</a> · <a class="uv-ico uv-ig" href="https://www.instagram.com/gokuls.vision/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Instagram (@gokuls.vision)</a></li> </ul> ## Key insights **The idea started at a checkout counter, not a lab.** Shelley was standing near a Sephora counter waiting for her daughter and overheard a seventeen-year-old ring up three hundred dollars in product. That moment crystallized what became Electric Lemonade's whole premise: most people don't need — and can't afford — the routine the beauty industry sells them. **One SKU is a business decision, not a limitation.** Shelley is direct about why the category sells ten-step routines: ten steps means ten repeat purchases. She also found that over-cleansing and over-treating her own skin made it worse, not better, because it strips the skin barrier that keeps moisture in and irritants out. Electric Lemonade sells a single, science-backed, chemist-formulated product deliberately — less to buy, less to do, and a business built to earn repeat purchases on results rather than routine. **The product alone doesn't differentiate — the brand does.** Shelley is explicit that a black tube, tightly art-directed editorial photography, a pink-and-black palette, and physical activations like the mist tent — a flower-covered arch she built for a Lululemon Make-A-Wish yoga event — are doing as much work as the formula. She calls herself a perfectionist about the visual world of the brand, to the point of shade-balancing her own Instagram grid. **Her test for content: skateboarding or a surgeon's Google search.** Electric Lemonade is positioned as anti anti-aging in a category that is almost entirely anti-aging. Shelley's bar for a piece of content is whether it leaves someone wanting to try something new — she picked up skateboarding herself, later in life — rather than making them feel broken enough to start Googling plastic surgeons or Botox deals. **Instagram gives you a millisecond; Radiant Rebel is built for more.** Because she believes social feeds only earn a sliver of anyone's attention, Shelley built a separate editorial and interview platform, Radiant Rebel, where she talks to other women about beauty, aging, and creativity in more depth than a caption allows — a deliberate bet that trust is built through depth, not reach. **Three breakups with music led her here.** Shelley left a signed, funded record deal because a pregnancy didn't fit what the label expected from an artist about to be marketed. A second project, shelved quietly under her own name. A third exit last year wasn't a choice at all — hearing loss in her left ear changed how she experiences music entirely. Two decades of building brands, products, and art on her own terms funneled directly into how she built Electric Lemonade: solo, deliberate, and only on her own timeline. ## About Electric Lemonade Electric Lemonade is a Canadian, female-founded skincare brand built around a single product, the After Hours Hydra Luxe Mask, made with chemists and positioned under the line "Radiance Without Rules." Founder Shelley Hayes — a musician, songwriter, and designer who previously performed and built brands as Lady Hayes — created it as a reaction against multi-step routines and anti-aging marketing, aiming instead for a science-backed product that fits into a busy life without a rigid regimen. Alongside the product, Shelley publishes Radiant Rebel, an editorial and interview section of the Electric Lemonade site where she talks with women such as Jill Barber and Dani Kind about beauty, aging, and creativity. Electric Lemonade markets itself through tightly art-directed editorial content and physical activations, including a flower-covered mist tent built for a Lululemon Make-A-Wish yoga event. Learn more at [electriclemonadebeauty.com](https://electriclemonadebeauty.com). ## FAQ <div class="uv-faq"> ### Who is Shelley Hayes? Shelley Hayes is the founder of Electric Lemonade, a one-SKU skincare brand. Before beauty, she was a signed musician and songwriter who toured across Canada and the US, and built an earlier business, a flower-crown line, under her performing name Lady Hayes, worn by artists including Ariana Grande. She is a mother of two daughters based in the Toronto, Canada area, and left her music career after a pregnancy didn't fit a label's plans and, later, after hearing loss in her left ear changed how she experiences sound. ### What is Electric Lemonade? Electric Lemonade is a Canadian skincare brand built around a single product, the After Hours Hydra Luxe Mask, developed with chemists and marketed under the philosophy "Radiance Without Rules." Rather than a multi-step routine, it is positioned as one high-impact product for people who don't have time for, or don't believe in, ten-step skincare. ### Why does Electric Lemonade only sell one product? Founder Shelley Hayes argues that many skincare brands sell multi-step routines because more steps mean more repeat purchases, not because customers need them — she also found that over-cleansing and over-treating her own skin damaged her skin barrier rather than helping it. Electric Lemonade sells one science-backed, chemist-formulated product deliberately, betting that a brand can build loyalty on results rather than routine. ### What does Shelley Hayes mean by "anti anti-aging"? Shelley positions Electric Lemonade against the anti-aging framing that dominates the beauty industry, which she believes profits by making people feel like something about them needs fixing. Her standard for content is whether it inspires someone to try something new — she cites her own experience learning to skateboard as an adult — rather than making them feel insecure enough to search for cosmetic procedures. ### What is Radiant Rebel? Radiant Rebel is an editorial and interview section of the Electric Lemonade website, written by Shelley Hayes under her name Lady Hayes, featuring conversations with women such as Jill Barber and Dani Kind about beauty, aging, and creativity. Shelley built it because she believes Instagram only captures a fraction of a second of anyone's attention, and a platform for longer-form conversation builds trust in a way a feed can't. ### What is The Useful Podcast? The Useful Podcast is a series of founder-to-founder conversations from Useful Ventures, hosted by Gokul Bala. Each episode digs past the highlight reel into the actual work of building a company. This is Season 1, Episode 12. </div> ## Related * [[podcast]] is the full Useful Podcast index. * [[manifesto]] is how we see the world and how we work. * [[notes]] is where we write about the world we see coming. * [Electric Lemonade](https://electriclemonadebeauty.com) · [The Useful Podcast on Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/show/033DRed1adLXd1bg8honOl) · [YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/@TheUsefulPodcast) · [@theusefulpod on X](https://x.com/theusefulpod) Back to [[podcast]].