How Amy Liu Is Modernizing the Beauty Industry Through Her Brand, Tower 28

Welcome to Second Life, a podcast spotlighting successful women who've made major career changes—and fearlessly mastered the pivot. Hosted by Hillary Kerr, co-founder and chief content officer at Who What Wear, each episode gives you a direct line to women who are game changers in their fields. Subscribe to Second Life on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or anywhere you get your podcasts to stay tuned.

Like many successful entrepreneurs, Amy Liu’s journey in the beauty industry began out of frustration. As someone who has struggled with sensitive skin her entire adult life, Liu constantly looked for beauty products that fit her needs and, disappointingly, turned up empty-handed. Thus, Tower 28 Beauty was born. Liu is the founder and CEO of the modern beauty brand, where she works to cut through the red tape of industry buzzwords like hypoallergenic and fragrance-free. In fact, Tower 28 is the first and only beauty brand to 100% follow the National Eczema Association’s Ingredient Guidelines. 

Tower 28 focuses on formulating products that are nontoxic, free of sensitizing irritants, and full of calming and nourishing ingredients without feeling overly clinical. Liu created products she believed in, and the rest of the industry did, too. Just one year after its launch, all of the products in the collection were recognized for awards, and the brand was picked up by one of the most covetable beauty retailers, Sephora.

It shouldn’t be a massive surprise that before Liu founded Tower 28, she worked in the beauty industry as the marketing director for mega beauty brands such as Smashbox, Josie Maran, and Kate Somerville. Liu was even L’Oréal’s first-ever recruit from USC's business school.

Listen to the latest episode of Second Life to hear how Liu’s former years in marketing within the beauty industry ultimately led her to start her own brand and discover all the lessons she learned in clean beauty along the way. And keep scrolling to shop some of Tower 28 Beauty’s best sellers like the ShineOn Lip Jelly and SOS Daily Rescue Facial Spray.