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What does it actually take to stop hiding and start showing up as exactly who you are — even when the world is watching? In this episode of Get Authentic with Marques Ogden, former HR executive turned beauty entrepreneur Monica Walls pulls back the curtain on how she left a comfortable Silicon Valley career, launched her lipstick brand Keca's Usna, and built a community of women who lift each other up instead of tearing each other down. You'll hear why authenticity isn't just a feel-good concept — it's a competitive advantage. Monica breaks down the real challenges of starting a business after 40, what she had to unlearn from corporate life, and why showing the genuine, unfiltered version of yourself is the most powerful marketing move you can make. If you've been sitting on an idea out of fear, this episode was made for you.
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[0:00] Welcome & Sponsor — Carpa Dia Law Firm
Marques opens by welcoming listeners to another elite episode of Get Authentic and introduces episode sponsor Carpa Dia Law Firm, founded by Ilona Anderson.
Marques frames the sponsor message with the urgency every entrepreneur needs to hear: "Is your business name legally protected? Can someone else trademark it tomorrow and force you to rebrand everything you've built?" Ilona specializes in trademark registration, employee handbooks, and contracts that protect business owners at every stage — from bootstrapped startups to seven-figure companies. She works nationwide.
→ Visit carpadiamlawfirm.com or connect with Ilona Anderson on LinkedIn.
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[2:15] What Does "Authentic" Actually Mean? Monica Walls Defines It
Right out of the gate, Marques asks Monica the question that anchors every episode: What does authenticity mean to you?
Monica's answer is direct and grounded:
> "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 filter. No performance. Just your concrete pillars — intact.
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[5:40] From Silicon Valley HR Executive to Lipstick Founder — Monica's Origin Story
Monica's path to entrepreneurship wasn't a straight line. After years as an HR executive in Silicon Valley, she found herself working for companies that, as she put it, were "good people, but just didn't fuel my passion."
The turning point came from a childhood friend who had heard her talk about a lipstick idea since graduate school:
> "He just said, yeah, yeah, you'll figure it out. Like, you need to do it."
Monica gave every reason it couldn't work — single income, a mortgage, the timing. Her friend didn't budge. And that push made her recognize, as she describes it, that she had "an opportunity to do something that I loved and to do it authentically."
The brand she built — Keca's Usna — is deeply personal down to its name:
- Keca was Monica's nickname as a teenager
- Usna is Croatian for lip — a nod to her Croatian heritage
- Her favorite color, purple, runs throughout the brand
- Personal details she loves — a Tigger collection, her favorite church in Croatia — show up in the brand's visual world
Marques adds his own perspective here, drawing a straight line to his own experience: "I had a passion for speaking and coaching and all that. I did it on the side while being a football trainer or being a janitor or selling gold or the stuff that I did just to survive." The message is clear — if you have a passion, you find a way. You don't wait for the perfect moment.
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[14:20] Why Authenticity Is a Competitive Advantage in the Beauty Industry
Marques introduces a new question he's adding to the show's rotation: Why does being authentic give you an advantage in your specific industry?
Monica's answer connects personal honesty to something bigger than business strategy:
> "People are looking for people that they can relate to. They're looking to be around people that resonates with them."
She uses the farmer's market as a telling analogy — people support local vendors because they can touch the product and because someone's story resonates with them. That relational pull is exactly what authenticity creates.
Monica also describes a panel she sat on alongside two women she'd never met before that day. All three were completely 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." Afterward, women from the audience approached them:
> "Thank you for sharing. I've had this idea. I was too scared. You gave me the courage. I'm going to do it."
Monica's take: "If I get one person like that a year, I'm super happy."
Marques frames the business lesson plainly: being authentic in health, beauty, and cosmetics — industries built on how people feel — removes the fear of 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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[22:05] Building Keca's Usna — The Wins, The Hard Lessons, and the Two-Year Climb
Two years in, Monica doesn't sugarcoat what starting a business actually looked like.
> "In the beginning, I thought it would be a little bit simpler. I thought, oh, this will be a cakewalk. Not even close, not even close."
She describes the emotional reality honestly: "There were these moments of, oh my God, what have I done?" followed immediately by, "No, no, I could do this." A rollercoaster — "fun and scary and rewarding, you name it, all the things."
What she learned to apply from her corporate background:
- It's okay to ask for help
- Build a team around you — "you're better off as a team than you are as an individual"
- Apply the same business principles you'd use inside a corporation to your own company
What she had to learn from scratch:
- Cosmetic formulations and how factories work
- Social media — as an HR executive, she deliberately stayed off social media; now, as she says, "this is where I'm living"
- How to show herself — something corporate life trained her to avoid
She describes a slideshow she now uses when speaking on stages — it's filled with photos of the people who showed up for her: "Girlfriends who come work expos with me and long hours of standing on concrete at a booth... people who've come to do pop-ups... people who've come help just put together presentations."
The most important lesson she had to take from the advice she used to give her own employees:
> "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. This is what you do. This is how you get better."
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[31:45] The Power of Showing Up as Yourself on Social Media
Marques pauses to highlight something important Monica said — and he wants the audience to sit with it.
In corporate HR, Monica stayed off social media intentionally. The nature of her role required a kind of professional distance. But as an entrepreneur? She's now showing the authentic version of herself — fully, publicly, consistently.
Marques calls this "huge" — and he's right. In a world where audiences can spot performance instantly, the willingness to show up as exactly who you are is both rare and magnetic. It's not just a marketing tactic. It's the foundation of a brand that lasts.
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[35:00] Keca's Usna — The Product Line and the Community It's Built
Monica walks viewers through the Keca's Usna product line and shares what surprised her most about building the brand.
What she didn't anticipate when she started: "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."
That community — women pulling each other forward rather than competing — has become, in her words, "far more than what I thought when I first started. It's been unbelievably fantastic."
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⚡ 3 Key Takeaways
> 1. "Being authentic is being true to yourself — your core values are intact." > Monica defines authenticity not as a personality type but as a structural commitment to your own concrete pillars. When those are solid, outside opinions lose their power.
> 2. "Don't let fear be the reason why you don't do it." > The single most common reason people don't start is fear. Monica and the women she's met on stage agree: fear is not a disqualifier. It's just a feeling you move through.
> 3. "I'll let you skin your knees, but not break your legs." > The advice Monica gave her employees for years, she eventually had to give herself. Mistakes are part of the process. Bruises mean you're actually in the game.
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Resources Mentioned
- Keca's Usna — Monica Walls' lipstick brand: kecasusna.com (visit site to verify current URL)
- Carpa Dia Law Firm — Trademark registration, employee handbooks, and business contracts with founder Ilona Anderson: carpadiamlawfirm.com
- Ilona Anderson on LinkedIn — Connect directly for business legal protection
- Keca's Usna on Social Media — Follow Monica's brand and community (find via Instagram and Facebook search)
- Get Authentic with Marques Ogden — Full podcast archive (search your preferred podcast platform)
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About Your Host — Marques Ogden
Marques Ogden played five seasons in the NFL with the Jacksonville Jaguars, Baltimore Ravens, Buffalo Bills, and Tennessee Titans. He then built a multi-million dollar construction company — and lost it all. From eight figures to $8.25 an hour. Bankruptcy. Rock bottom. But Marques did come back.
Today he's a five-time bestselling author, a sought-after keynote speaker who has shared stages and worked with organizations including Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, and PNC Bank, and the host of Get Authentic with Marques Ogden. He has spoken to over 750,000 people across 500+ events worldwide.
He teaches what he learned the hard way — on the field, in the boardroom, and at rock bottom. No theory. No clichés. Real stories, real tools, and frameworks that stick because they were built in the fire.
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Ready to Bring Marques to Your Stage?
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👉 Book Marques to speak at your next event →
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Want to Work with Marques Directly?
If you're a leader, entrepreneur, or executive who's ready to stop wishing and start winning, Marques works with a select group of clients one-on-one.
Ready to build a team that wins?
Whether you need a keynote for your next conference, a sales OS that tracks real KPIs, or a coaching program for your leaders — Marques has built it.