MCoBeauty founder: ‘I didn’t spend any time at home’

Following the sale of her billion dollar beauty business, Shelley Sullivan opens up in a rare interview about the true price of her success, admitting she doesn’t believe in good work-life balance.

Just months after her headline-making exit from billion-dollar business MCoBeauty, the company she founded in 2016, Shelley Sullivan has opened up about the realities of building and running her brand while also raising two daughters.

“I had [my two daughters] Lucy [now 19] and Emily [now 18] when I started ModelCo [launched in 2002]. I didn’t spend any time at home with the girls. I was working around the clock because I passionately loved what I did, but I wouldn’t have been able to do that without family helping,” Sullivan told Stellar podcast Something To Talk About.

MCoBeauty founder Shelley Sullivan opens up about the realities of building and running her brand while also raising two daughters. Picture: Steven Chee

“I was working around the clock because I passionately loved what I did, but I wouldn’t have been able to do that without family helping. Work-life balance is difficult. Anyone that says that they have a great work-life balance, I’m not sure I believe [them].

“As a woman, I found it very challenging: work-life balance, having great friends, [a] great family, it’s difficult. Plus, you’ve got this behemoth of a business that is almost running you, you’re not running it. I was fortunate when I started MCoBeauty; the girls were in their teenage years, close to finishing school, so they were more independent. I don’t know how I would have coped with the acceleration of MCoBeauty with babies.”

Shelley Sullivan is Stellar’s cover star.

Sullivan sold the billion-dollar business earlier this year. Picture: Richard Dobson

Listen to the full interview with Shelley Sullivan on Something To Talk About below:

Sullivan, who sold MCoBeauty earlier this year, points out that while the brand is valued at a billion dollars, she did not walk away with that amount of money.

“We all had a vision to create Australia’s fastest growing beauty brand. We just drove those sales as hard as we could and the valuation is a multiple of base earnings. So the beauty landscape and the beauty industry drives that valuation, not us,” she told Stellar.

“The business could be valued at $1 billion but that’s not necessarily a reflection on what the people that are exiting get... But I don’t think myself, the family and the team ever thought beyond our wildest dreams that that’s what we would create.”

For more from Shelley Sullivan, listen to her on Something To Talk About:

When asked what advice she would give to Hailey Bieber, who also recently sold her beauty and skincare brand Rhode for a reported billion dollars, Sullivan was gracious.

“I don’t know [Hailey Bieber’s] deal structure, so it’s hard to give advice. We did work with Hailey — Hailey was the face of ModelCo for a minute,” she said.

“She’s a great girl who was very much, from what I understand, involved in the product development [of Rhode]. That’s a great brand. I actually purchased some of their products. She’s done a great job.”

Read the full interview and see the shoot with Shelley Sullivan in the new issue of Stellar out today inside The Sunday Telegraph (NSW), Sunday Herald Sun (VIC), The Sunday Mail (QLD) and Sunday Mail (SA).

For more from Stellar and the podcast, Something To Talk About, click here.

Originally published as MCoBeauty founder: ‘I didn’t spend any time at home’