Page 93 - Marie Claire Australia (January 2020)
P. 93
CAREER
“BRANDON
IS STILL VERY LEFT Deciem
PRESENT IN co-founder Brandon
EVERYTHING Truaxe before
his rapid decline.
WE DO. HE IS BELOW Kilner with
OUR DNA” her daughter Mila.
– Nicola Kilner
Instagram, unceremoniously dropped gave birth to her daughter Mila in
brands in posts without alerting them late December, she didn’t take any
first, and stripped team members of maternity leave and was answering
their titles. He binned his mobile phone emails from hospital. All the while,
and email, allegedly took psychedelic Kilner maintained her aforementioned
mushrooms in front of employees, and sunny disposition, despite Truaxe’s
fired the company’s human resources anger at being removed from Deciem, happy tears because we’re surrounded
director. When Kilner called him out, his increasing paranoia and obsession by what he built, his legacy,” she says.
he fired her – and then begged her to with US President Donald Trump. “He’s still very present in everything
come back six months later. She did, “It was horrible watching Brandon’s we do. He is our DNA – and that’s
mostly out of concern for her friend. behaviour during that time. I could see something that can never be deleted.”
“I was five months pregnant when he was struggling, and I would have Instead of remembering Truaxe for
Brandon asked me to come back. It given my life to make him better, but the tabloid headlines he made, Kilner
was a really hard time because I had I felt helpless and like there was remembers him as a friend. “He was
a human growing in me, but I could nothing I could do,” explains Kilner. just the best person to have in your
see how much Brandon was in a bad “We all had this belief that he’d get life,” she says, her eyes glistening.
place. He was my family and you better and that we’d all be reunited. Determined to honour him, Kilner
need to be there for your family.” It didn’t happen that way.” has taken Deciem from struggle to
Despite Kilner’s calming presence, In the early hours of January 21, strength. Today, Deciem has sold
Truaxe’s unpredictability continued. 2019, Truaxe was found dead after more than 65 million units. They now
He was reportedly committed to reportedly falling from his Toronto sell one product every second, have
hospitals four times in three countries. apartment. Kilner was breastfeeding 50 stores across the globe and are set
In October last year, he geo-tagged an her daughter when she found out after to become a billion-dollar-per-year
Instagram post at The White House journalists emailed one of Deciem’s business thanks to their legions of
announcing he was closing down publicists for comment. She is still devoted customers. She jokes that
Deciem until further notice, accusing dealing with her grief and has found Truaxe would have revelled in the
his employees of being involved in solace in keeping Truaxe’s Deciem brand’s triumph but hated the
“major criminal activities” including dream alive. “It’s difficult. I still have structure that came with it.
PHOTOGRAPHY BY JEROME CLARK; GETTY IMAGES; COURTESY OF DECIEM.
“financial crimes”. In the same post, sad days at the office, but we also cry Kilner puts her success down to one
he threatened people including Brad thing: kindness. “Everyone is capable of
Pitt and Steven Spielberg, and brands being kind and it goes such a long way.
such as It Cosmetics and Too Faced. You never know what someone’s going
Three days after shutting the through; look at what we went through.
website down, Truaxe was removed Last year was not kind to our team
from the company by a court ruling, and because they showed so much love
and Kilner was tasked with the role during that time, we want to give it
of interim CEO. At seven months back to them. We want them to feel
pregnant, she took on the mammoth safe and happy again,” says Kilner,
job of running a company with more who is excited to lead Deciem to
than 700 staff, who had felt the brunt greater heights in 2020 – and
of Truaxe’s turbulence. Kilner set launch her pet project, a baby beauty
about blending his creative genius with brand called Hippooh, in April. “If you
the structure the company desperately show people respect and kindness,
needed, introducing HR policies, plus ABOVE Kilner and Truaxe they show it back to you,” she says,
a legal and finance team. When she in an Instagram post from 2018. shining her trademark sparkly smile.
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