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What You'll Learn in This Episode
What does it actually take to walk away from a stable corporate career and build something that's completely, unapologetically yours? In this episode of Get Authentic with Marques Ogden, Monica Walls — former Silicon Valley HR executive and founder of lipstick brand Keca's Usna — breaks down exactly how she did it. You'll hear how a childhood friend's challenge became the push she needed, why authenticity isn't just a buzzword in the beauty industry but a genuine competitive advantage, and what two years of building a cosmetics company from scratch has taught her about asking for help, making mistakes, and showing up as your real self. If you've been sitting on a passion project because the timing doesn't feel right, this episode is going to speak directly to you.
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Episode Show Notes
[0:00] Welcome + Sponsor: Carpa Dia Law Firm
Marques opens the episode and passes the mic to sponsor Carpa Dia Law Firm, founded by Ilona Anderson. If you're an entrepreneur who hasn't thought about brand protection yet, this is worth your full attention. Ilona specializes in trademark registration, employee handbooks, and contracts built to protect growing businesses — from first-time bootstrappers to seven-figure operators. As Marques puts it, most entrepreneurs don't think about this "until it's too late."
🔗 Visit carpadialawfirm.com or connect with Ilona Anderson on LinkedIn.
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[2:15] What "Authentic" Actually Means — Monica's Definition
Before diving into business, Marques asks every guest the same opening question: What does the word authentic mean to you?
Monica's answer is worth writing down:
> "Authentic means being your true self, regardless of what anybody else thinks, regardless of what is trending now, regardless of what is popular. Your core values are intact — your concrete pillars of who make you what you are. If you can really honor those concrete pillars and be authentic to yourself, that's my definition of authentic."
No hedging. No corporate-speak. Just a clean, grounded definition that sets the tone for everything that follows.
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[4:40] From Silicon Valley HR Executive to Lipstick Founder
Monica's origin story isn't a straight line — and that's exactly what makes it compelling.
She spent years as an HR executive in Silicon Valley, good at her job, respected in her field. But the last few companies she worked for, in her own words, "weren't perfect fits" and "didn't fuel my passion." She knew something was off. She just hadn't given herself permission to act on it.
Then a childhood friend called her out. Monica had been carrying an idea for a lipstick brand since graduate school. His message was simple and blunt: "If you don't do this now, you're never going to do it."
She gave him every reason why she couldn't — single income, mortgage, the practical realities of adult life. His response? "Yeah, yeah. You'll figure it out."
That conversation changed the trajectory of her life.
Marques reflects on this moment directly:
> "A lot of people unfortunately will work a job that doesn't fuel their passion. And I tell you what, it's really hard to work a job that fuels your passion. I couldn't imagine working a job that I did not like. But unfortunately, a lot of people do it."
His point — and Monica's story proves it — is that passion and practicality aren't mutually exclusive. You find a way. You do it on the side. You build while you survive, until surviving becomes building.
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[8:55] The Story Behind Keca's Usna — Why Every Detail Is Personal
The name alone tells you everything about how Monica approaches her brand.
- Keca was her nickname as a teenager
- Usna is the Croatian word for lip — a nod to her heritage
- Her favorite color is purple — visible throughout her branding and her background on camera
- She collects Tiggers — one sits on her shelf during the interview
- Behind her on camera: her favorite church in Croatia
This isn't branding by committee. It's a founder who decided that every corner of her company would reflect a real piece of who she actually is.
> "I get to do it honoring all the different pieces and parts of me."
And what she didn't expect? The community that grew around that authenticity.
> "I have now built this amazing community of women who lift each other up, genuine, supportive. Nobody's creating a dead body to stand on, to get taller than the next person. We're all saying, there's enough room on the stage. Come on, we're gonna pull you with us."
That community, she says, has been "far more than what I thought when I first started."
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[13:20] Why Authenticity Is a Competitive Advantage in the Beauty Industry
Marques introduces a new question he's adding to the show — one he pulled from an article he read that weekend: Why does being authentic give you a specific advantage in your industry?
Monica's answer connects directly to something real about where consumer attention is right now:
> "People are looking for people that they can relate to. They're looking to be around people that resonates with them."
She uses the example of a farmer's market — why do people go out of their way to buy local? Because the story resonates. Because they can touch it. Because it feels real.
In beauty and cosmetics — an industry overloaded with manufactured perfection and filtered imagery — a founder who shows up as genuinely herself is rare. And rare is valuable.
Monica also shared a recent experience that captures why this matters beyond just sales:
> "A few weeks ago, I was on a panel and women were asking us questions. The three of us on the panel had never met before that day. We were so aligned: don't let fear be the reason why you don't do it. Do what makes you feel good. Do what fuels your soul. Women in the audience came up to us afterward and said, 'Thank you for sharing. I've had this idea. I was too scared. You gave me the courage. I'm going to do it.'"
Her benchmark for impact? "If I get one person like that a year, I'm super happy."
Marques adds the clean summary: being authentic in her industry solves the problem of worrying about the naysayers. And as he puts it, "people are going to talk about you regardless of what you do. So you might as well live your life."
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[19:05] Two Years In — The Real Highs and Honest Lows of Building Keca's Usna
Marques asks Monica to give the full picture — the good and the hard. What she says next is some of the most useful advice in the episode.
What she got wrong at the start:
> "I thought it would be a little bit simpler. I thought, oh, this will be a cakewalk. Not even close."
Even with a deep corporate background — startup experience, global companies, years of rolling up her sleeves — the reality of building her own company hit differently. There were moments of "oh my God, what have I done?" followed immediately by "no, no, I can do this." A genuine, honest rollercoaster.
What she got right:
She took her corporate instincts and applied them. She asked for help. She built a team — not a formal org chart, but a real network of women who showed up for her: friends who worked expo booths with her for long hours on concrete, people who came to pop-ups, helped build presentations, tried on colors.
> "When I get on stages and I talk, I have a slideshow and one of them is a slide of all the people who have worked with me."
She also had to learn entirely new domains — cosmetic formulations, factory relationships, social media as a distribution channel. As an HR executive, she kept herself largely off social media by design. Now, she says, "this is where I'm living."
The lesson she had to learn from herself:
> "I used to tell my employees all the time, I'll let you skin your knees, but not break your legs. And I had to take that on for myself too. I'm going to skin my knees and I'm going to get bruises and it's okay. This is how you learn. I had to really sit back and go — okay, I used to tell people this, time for me to take my own advice."
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✅ 3 Key Takeaways
> 1. Authenticity isn't a marketing strategy — it's a foundation. > Monica's definition: "Your core values are intact — your concrete pillars of who make you what you are." Build from those, and the business reflects something real. Skip them, and you're building on sand.
> 2. You don't have to sell your soul to do what you love. > As Monica says directly: "You don't have to sell your soul to do what you love. And a lot of those things aren't for sale." Authenticity and business success aren't in conflict — they reinforce each other.
> 3. Take your own advice. > Monica told her employees for years: "I'll let you skin your knees, but not break your legs." When she became an entrepreneur, she had to apply that same grace to herself. The lessons you teach are often the ones you most need to live.
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Resources Mentioned
| Resource | Link | |---|---| | Keca's Usna — Monica Walls' lipstick brand | Search "Keca's Usna" on Instagram and social media | | Carpa Dia Law Firm — Ilona Anderson | carpadialawfirm.com | | Ilona Anderson on LinkedIn | Search "Ilona Anderson Carpa Dia Law Firm" on LinkedIn | | Trademark registration resources (via Carpa Dia) | carpadialawfirm.com | | Get Authentic with Marques Ogden — full podcast | Available on all major podcast platforms |
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About Your Host — Marques Ogden
Marques Ogden is a former NFL offensive lineman turned keynote speaker, executive coach, and host of Get Authentic with Marques Ogden. After building a multi-million dollar construction company and losing it all — going from eight figures to $8.25 an hour — Marques rebuilt from rock bottom and turned those hard-won lessons into frameworks that Fortune 500 companies, sales organizations, and leadership teams now use. He's spoken for Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, PNC Bank, and hundreds of organizations worldwide. He doesn't teach theory. He teaches what he learned the hard way — on the field, in the boardroom, and at rock bottom.
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🎤 Bring Marques to Your Next Event
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Book Marques to speak at your next event → /speaking
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