Uploaded June 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
A Victoria's Secret Angel and a Goldman Sachs investor built one of the most talked-about luxury body care launches in recent memory without raising a cent or paying a single influencer. Jasmine Tookes spent two decades on the world's biggest runways turning down incubator deal after incubator deal, waiting to build something real. When she finally met Sabrina Carstensen—who spent years evaluating consumer brands at Goldman—they launched Brunel bootstrapped, profitable, and with a two-person team that pushed their chemists harder than any brand they'd ever worked with.
In this interview, the co-founders of Brunel break down how they built a luxury body care brand from scratch on a lean budget, why organic community came before paid ads, and what it actually takes to get suppliers and manufacturers to take a self-funded brand seriously.
What you'll learn in this interview:
• Why Jasmine turned down 15 years of incubator deals before building her own brand
• How they kept capital in reserve for collection two before collection one ever sold
• Why word of mouth and organic TikTok drove their entire early growth—no paid influencers
• Why the three-oil bundle outsold every individual product on launch day
• The packaging crisis four months before launch—and how sheer persistence solved it
• Why they stayed fully organic for six months before turning on paid ads
• How Sabrina's investor background shapes every capital decision at Brunel
• Why they didn't hire until they were ready—not desperate
• Why their chemists said no brand had ever pushed them this hard
• What Miranda Kerr's 11 years building Kora taught Jasmine about legacy brands
If you're building a beauty or lifestyle brand, trying to grow profitably without burning cash on paid ads before you're ready, or just want the real story behind what luxury brand building looks like on a bootstrapped budget, this conversation will change how you think about product standards, community, and building something that lasts beyond the founder's name.
SAVE 50% ON OMNISEND FOR 3 MONTHS
Get 50% off your first 3 months of email and SMS marketing with Omnisend with the code FOUNDR50. Just head to your.omnisend.com/foundr to get started.
WANT TO GROW YOUR BRAND WITH META ADS?
Join the Foundr Operators Waitlist → foundr.com/operators
HOW WE CAN HELP YOU SCALE YOUR BUSINESS FASTER
Learn directly from 7, 8 & 9-figure founders inside Foundr+
Start your $1 trial → foundr.com/startdollartrial
PREFER A CUSTOM ROADMAP AND 1-ON-1 COACHING?
→ Starting from scratch? Apply here →
foundr.com/pages/coaching-start-application
→ Already have a store? Apply here →
foundr.com/pages/coaching-growth-application
CONNECT WITH NATHAN CHAN
Instagram → instagram.com/nathanchan
LinkedIn → linkedin.com/in/nathanhchan/
CONNECT WITH BRUNEL
Instagram → instagram.com/brunel/
Website → brunelbeauty.com/
Jasmin's Instagram → instagram.com/jastookes/
0:00 Victoria's Secret Angel + Goldman Sachs Investor Build a Luxury Body Care Brand
0:53 Why a Supermodel and an Investor Were Speaking the Same Language
2:36 Building the Brand Identity: Timeless Over Trendy
5:17 Finding Chemists and a Launch Date Everyone Said Was Impossible
6:13 How They Self-Funded Without Burning Through Their Launch Capital
7:41 Why Jasmine Turned Down 15 Years of Celebrity Brand Deals
10:48 The Partnership Framework: Complementary Skills and Deep Trust
16:19 Launch Day: The Bundle That Surprised Everyone
19:39 Zero Paid Influencers — The Organic Growth Engine Behind Brunel
22:25 Why They're Not Scaling Paid Ads Yet
29:05 Running a Two-Person Team Without Burning Out
33:54 How Karate and Gymnastics Shape the Way They Run the Business
38:08 Standing Out in the Most Crowded Industry on the Planet
39:41 Pushing Chemists Harder Than Any Brand They'd Ever Worked With
43:02 Season One: 2am Calls, Scrappy Decisions, and Loving the Chaos
46:41 What Brunel Needs to Prove Before Taking Outside Capital
50:16 What Miranda Kerr Taught Jasmine About Long-Term Brand Obsession
53:21 Final Thoughts and Wrap Up
FOLLOW FOUNDR FOR MORE BUSINESS GROWTH STRATEGIES
YouTube → bit.ly/2uyvzdt
Website → https://www.foundr.com
Instagram → instagram.com/foundr/
Facebook → facebook.com/foundr
Twitter → twitter.com/foundr
LinkedIn → linkedin.com/company/foundr/
Podcast → foundr.com/podcast
A Victoria's Secret Angel and a Goldman Sachs investor built one of the most talked-about luxury body care launches in recent memory without raising a cent or paying a single influencer. Jasmine Tookes spent two decades on the world's biggest runways turning down incubator deal after incubator deal, waiting to build something real. When she finally met Sabrina Carstensen—who spent years evaluating consumer brands at Goldman—they launched Brunel bootstrapped, profitable, and with a two-person team that pushed their chemists harder than any brand they'd ever worked with.
In this interview, the co-founders of Brunel break down how they built a luxury body care brand from scratch on a lean budget, why organic community came before paid ads, and what it actually takes to get suppliers and manufacturers to take a self-funded brand seriously.
What you'll learn in this interview:
• Why Jasmine turned down 15 years of incubator deals before building her own brand
• How they kept capital in reserve for collection two before collection one ever sold
• Why word of mouth and organic TikTok drove their entire early growth—no paid influencers
• Why the three-oil bundle outsold every individual product on launch day
• The packaging crisis four months before launch—and how sheer persistence solved it
• Why they stayed fully organic for six months before turning on paid ads
• How Sabrina's investor background shapes every capital decision at Brunel
• Why they didn't hire until they were ready—not desperate
• Why their chemists said no brand had ever pushed them this hard
• What Miranda Kerr's 11 years building Kora taught Jasmine about legacy brands
If you're building a beauty or lifestyle brand, trying to grow profitably without burning cash on paid ads before you're ready, or just want the real story behind what luxury brand building looks like on a bootstrapped budget, this conversation will change how you think about product standards, community, and building something that lasts beyond the founder's name.
SAVE 50% ON OMNISEND FOR 3 MONTHS
Get 50% off your first 3 months of email and SMS marketing with Omnisend with the code FOUNDR50. Just head to your.omnisend.com/foundr to get started.
WANT TO GROW YOUR BRAND WITH META ADS?
Join the Foundr Operators Waitlist → foundr.com/operators
HOW WE CAN HELP YOU SCALE YOUR BUSINESS FASTER
Learn directly from 7, 8 & 9-figure founders inside Foundr+
Start your $1 trial → foundr.com/startdollartrial
PREFER A CUSTOM ROADMAP AND 1-ON-1 COACHING?
→ Starting from scratch? Apply here →
foundr.com/pages/coaching-start-application
→ Already have a store? Apply here →
foundr.com/pages/coaching-growth-application
CONNECT WITH NATHAN CHAN
Instagram → instagram.com/nathanchan
LinkedIn → linkedin.com/in/nathanhchan/
CONNECT WITH BRUNEL
Instagram → instagram.com/brunel/
Website → brunelbeauty.com/
Jasmin's Instagram → instagram.com/jastookes/
0:00 Victoria's Secret Angel + Goldman Sachs Investor Build a Luxury Body Care Brand
0:53 Why a Supermodel and an Investor Were Speaking the Same Language
2:36 Building the Brand Identity: Timeless Over Trendy
5:17 Finding Chemists and a Launch Date Everyone Said Was Impossible
6:13 How They Self-Funded Without Burning Through Their Launch Capital
7:41 Why Jasmine Turned Down 15 Years of Celebrity Brand Deals
10:48 The Partnership Framework: Complementary Skills and Deep Trust
16:19 Launch Day: The Bundle That Surprised Everyone
19:39 Zero Paid Influencers — The Organic Growth Engine Behind Brunel
22:25 Why They're Not Scaling Paid Ads Yet
29:05 Running a Two-Person Team Without Burning Out
33:54 How Karate and Gymnastics Shape the Way They Run the Business
38:08 Standing Out in the Most Crowded Industry on the Planet
39:41 Pushing Chemists Harder Than Any Brand They'd Ever Worked With
43:02 Season One: 2am Calls, Scrappy Decisions, and Loving the Chaos
46:41 What Brunel Needs to Prove Before Taking Outside Capital
50:16 What Miranda Kerr Taught Jasmine About Long-Term Brand Obsession
53:21 Final Thoughts and Wrap Up
FOLLOW FOUNDR FOR MORE BUSINESS GROWTH STRATEGIES
YouTube → bit.ly/2uyvzdt
Website → https://www.foundr.com
Instagram → instagram.com/foundr/
Facebook → facebook.com/foundr
Twitter → twitter.com/foundr
LinkedIn → linkedin.com/company/foundr/
Podcast → foundr.com/podcast
