Process The Podcast

Aila Morin is the founding Chief Marketing Officer of Merit Beauty, one of the fastest-growing brands in the beauty industry. On this episode of Process, host Arielle Thomas sits down with Aila for a rare, in-depth conversation about brand building, marketing strategy, and product development, from Merit's earliest days as an anonymous Instagram account to its most recent Clean Volume mascara launch.

Aila walks through how Merit built a loyal community before the brand even had a name, why the company skipped paid advertising entirely for its first four months, and how a single UX fix increased sales by more than 100%. She also gets candid about product failures, the emotional weight of building something people trust, and why Merit has no interest in using AI in its creative process.

This conversation covers founder transparency, marketing strategy, brand building, product development, and the beauty industry from the inside, a masterclass for anyone building a brand, working in marketing, or curious how one of beauty's most consistent companies actually operates day to day.

INSIDE THE EPISODE:
00:00 — Intro
00:38 — How Merit Came to Be
03:15 — Finding the White Space in Beauty
05:10 — Building a Brand That Doesn't Need the Product
07:17 — Learning to Sell from the Shop Floor
09:46 — The Secret Instagram Account That Became Merit
11:33 — Skipping Paid Ads for Community as a Focus Group
13:12 — Why Great Brands Aren't Built on Virality
16:59 — Reinventing the Foundation Stick
22:13 — Data Over Market Reports: Building Clean Volume
26:11 — The Kaizen Approach to Product Development
29:24 — Story First: How a Launch Actually Gets Built
34:15 — Why Merit Never Starts With the Grid
35:20 — Casting With a Story: Whitney Leavitt & Karen Pittman
38:10 — Self-Doubt Behind the Confidence
40:28 — Owning Polarizing Reviews
42:17 — What Hasn't Worked
44:30 — The Unglamorous Reality of Running Merit
46:22 — Building a Brand That Lasts 100 Years
49:00 — Clean Volume's "See to Believe" Sampling Strategy
50:37 — The Future of Social & Why No AI Creative
52:41 — Arielle's Personal Encounter With Merit
55:36 — Beauty: Shame vs. Belonging

Connect with our Guest:
• Aila Morin on Instagram: @ailamorin
• Merit Beauty on Instagram: @merit
• Website: meritbeauty.com

Enjoyed this Episode?
Join our Community!
• Your host, Arielle Thomas, on Instagram,⁠@arielle.thomas⁠:
• Us, on Instagram,⁠ @processthepodcast
•Whatsapp Community @processthepodcast

Follow us to get notified every time a new episode drops every Tuesday. See you at the next one!

This episode includes third-party audio used for educational commentary and reference. All rights and ownership belong to their respective copyright holders. This content is utilized under Fair Use principles and does not imply endorsement or affiliation with Process The Podcast. For takedowns or copyright inquiries, please contact hello@cinemathom.com

Your showreel might be quietly costing you clients, and no one's telling you that.
In this solo petite episode, host Arielle Thomas walks through the exact framework she's using to recalibrate Cinema Thom: why clients now hire for problem-solving over taste, the real difference between a showreel and a case study, and the asset-mapping system replacing both.
Part life update, part masterclass in founder transparency; including the six months she went quiet online, why that was a mistake, and the Tyler the Creator clip that changed how she thinks about promoting her own work.
In this episode, you'll learn:
The real difference between a showreel and a case study and why clients now expect both
How to build a campaign asset map (Arielle's own team framework)
Why "Rome wasn't built in a day" should be a content strategy, not an excuse
The system Arielle's team uses to keep posting consistently without her being the bottleneck
INSIDE THE EPISODE:
00:00 — Intro
00:43 — Why Clients Hire Me Now
02:54 — Showreel vs. Case Study, Defined
03:35 — Building the Asset Map
05:15 — Put Out Your Work (Tyler the Creator clip)
06:19 — Systems & Processes
08:15 — Behind-the-Scenes Beats the Hero Shot
09:15 — The Recalibration Roadmap
11:04 — Who Do I Want to Be?
12:12 — Closing & Community

Enjoyed this Petit?
Join our Community!
Cinema Thom: @cinema_thom ( https://bit.ly/4fwwZI7 )

Your host, Arielle Thomas, on Instagram,⁠@arielle.thomas⁠ (https://bit.ly/4v21hby)
Us, on Instagram,⁠@processthepodcast (https://bit.ly/4xJ1EKl)
Whatsapp Community @processthepodcast (https://bit.ly/44pdcFf)
Follow us to get notified every time a new episode drops every Tuesday.
See you at the next one!

This episode includes third-party audio used for educational commentary and reference. All rights and ownership belong to their respective copyright holders. This content is utilized under Fair Use principles and does not imply endorsement or affiliation with Process The Podcast. For takedowns or copyright inquiries, please get in touch with hello@cinemathom.com

"If people want to work with you, they’re going to find you. So you've just got to create the work, be aligned with your own taste, and put it out there." — Ali Mitton
From a darkroom in the Gold Coast to shooting global campaigns in Los Angeles, photographer Ali Mitton has built an undeniable, sun-drenched career capturing freedom, raw movement, and elevated beauty. But what happens when the high stakes of commercial advertising pull you away from your artistic centre?
In this incredibly raw and transparent conversation, Ali opens up about building massive relationships with legacy brands like CoverGirl and Aerie, navigating the toxic comparison loops of Instagram, and how a devastating personal crisis, losing her dream home in the 2025 LA wildfires, sparked an existential creative reckoning.

We dive deep into the differences between the Australian and American industry landscapes, the realities of high-stakes commercial sets, and why true artistry requires the courage to say "no".

INSIDE THE EPISODE:

00:00 — Intro
04:32 — Owning the Title Before You've Earned It
07:46 — Protecting Your Signature as Jobs Get Bigger
12:06 — The No-Retouching Era
16:16 — Getting Dropped
21:10 — How Dream Clients Actually Find You
24:35 — Shooting Playboy for the Female Gaze
28:29 — Legacy Clients, Celebrities & Managing Egos
34:35 — Being the Client for Once
36:55 — Losing the House in the LA Fires
43:45 — Learning to Say No
48:04 — The Impossible Shot List
57:51 — Beauty's Nostalgic Rewind
1:01:28 — Instagram Rewind: Behind the Shots
Connect with our Guest:
Ali Mitton on Instagram: https://bit.ly/4vLjmuR
Website: www.alimitton.com https://bit.ly/3T12QJj
Enjoyed this Episode?
Join our Community!
Your host, Arielle Thomas, on Instagram,⁠@arielle.thomas⁠ https://bit.ly/4v21hby
Us, on Instagram,⁠@processthepodcast https://bit.ly/4xJ1EKl
Whatsapp Community @processthepodcast https://bit.ly/44pdcFf
Follow us to get notified every time a new episode drops every Tuesday.
See you at the next one!
* This episode includes third-party images and video clips used for educational commentary and visual references. All rights and ownership belong to their respective copyright holders. This content is utilized under Fair Use principles and does not imply endorsement or affiliation with Process The Podcast. For takedowns or copyright inquiries, please contact hello@cinemathom.com

"If everyone draws from the same pool of images, but they don't know why they're drawing from that, the work becomes the same." - Zoë Yasemin
Welcome back to Process the Podcast. This week, Arielle sits down with Dutch-based creative director, researcher, and the brilliant mind behind the viral, globally ranked Substack: The Art Direction, Zoë Yasemin.
While previous guests have masterfully explored the mechanics of still-life curation and multimedia stop-motion, Zoë’s strength is the depth of her reference pool. In this expansive dialogue, Zoë and Arielle dissect "aesthetic flattening" - the dangerous cultural cycle where creators pull from the exact same surface-level internet algorithms, leading to an inevitable sameness in modern brand output. From bidding on rare, vintage indie magazines on eBay to studying the historical representation of the female form, Zoe shares an elite masterclass on how to bridge the gap between a beautiful mood board and world-class execution.
Inside the Episode:
00:00 — Intro
05:22 — Decades of Visual History
11:43 — What is True "Taste"?
17:10 — The 57K Substack Secret Blueprint
22:53 — Sourcing References Beyond Pinterest
28:22 — The Visual Curriculum Framework
33:10 — Finding Unexpected Creative Fuel
38:10 — Heritage Brand World-Building
43:49 — Inside a 3-Day Editorial Marathon
49:04 — Embracing Human Craft Over AI
Connect with our Guest:
Zoë Yasemin on Instagram: https://bit.ly/3TixD4k
The Art Direction School on Instagram: https://bit.ly/4vgZgrZ
Art Direction on Substack: https://bit.ly/4gsNWp3
Enjoyed this Episode?
Join our Community!
Your host, Arielle Thomas, on Instagram,⁠@arielle.thomas⁠ (https://bit.ly/4v21hby)
Us, on Instagram,⁠@processthepodcast (https://bit.ly/4xJ1EKl)
Whatsapp Community @processthepodcast (https://bit.ly/44pdcFf)
Follow us to get notified every time a new episode drops every Tuesday.
See you at the next one!

* This episode includes third-party images and video clips used for educational commentary and visual reference. All rights and ownership belong to their respective copyright holders. This content is utilized under Fair Use principles and does not imply endorsement or affiliation with Process The Podcast. For copyright inquiries, please contact hello@cinemathom.com

"The reason why I want to instill you guys to care about this... is not because I want you to care about basketball. It's because I want you to care about the shape of the story. It's the unglamorous, the hours and hours and hours that go into unrewarded work." — Arielle Thomas
Welcome back to another episode of Process the Podcast. We are sliding right back into the studio this week, and the way we are looking at our craft is getting a little bit sharper.
In this unfiltered, solo Petit, Arielle steps directly up to the microphone to strip away the soft, algorithmic romanticism of the creative life. This episode drops a massive operational framework: creatives must think and work like high-performance athletes to truly get ahead.
Pulling structural parallels from the historic 53-year championship wait of the New York Knicks, Jalen Brunson’s relentless work ethic, and Kobe Bryant’s obsessive midnight training methods, Arielle breaks down how to navigate the modern wave of AI slop and self-optimisation burnout. This is a raw, grounded look at how to get excited about the unglamorous reps, master the actual volume of your craft, and build an unbreakable work ethic when absolutely nobody is watching.
Inside the Episode:

00:00 Resetting the Outlook: The Creative Entrepreneurship Shift

02:04 The New York Knicks & The Half-Century Wait for Greatness

04:24 The Myth of the Short-Cut: Fighting AI Slop with Athlete Logic

07:51 The Unglamorous Reps & Staring Down Unrewarded Work

09:43 Borrowing the Engine: Inspiration vs. Disciplined Refusal

11:01 Kobe Bryant, Michael Jackson, & The Strategy of Deconstruction

13:50 Mastery in Volume: The Truth of the 10,000-Hour Privilege

17:16 Audacious Thinking & The Quest to Build the Best Creative Podcast

18:50 The Toxic Optimisation Wave: Resisting Algorithmic Laziness

21:51 Romanticising the Boring: Stripping the Workspace Back to the Greats

Enjoyed this Petit? 
Join our Community!

Your host, Arielle Thomas, on Instagram,⁠@arielle.thomas⁠ (https://bit.ly/4v21hby)

Us, on Instagram,⁠@processthepodcast (https://bit.ly/4xJ1EKl)

Whatsapp Community @processthepodcast (https://bit.ly/44pdcFf)

Follow us to get notified every time a new episode drops every Tuesday.
See you at the next one!