Why The Honest Company believes their customers are ‘brilliant’

Carla Vernón, CEO of The Honest Company, enters the BBC’s Executive Lounge to talk about why companies shouldn’t tell themselves corporate “fairy tales” if they want to succeed.

Carla Vernón believes in company transparency. “We don’t tell ourselves fairy tales, and we assume the people we make products for are brilliant,” says Vernón, chief executive officer of The Honest Company.

“For example, before we raise prices in-store, we let our shoppers know via social media which items will be affected. And to the best of our ability, we tell them why so they’re not surprised,” she tells the BBC. “We believe we’re in a mutual relationship that requires us to treat our consumers with respect and understand that they’re making smart choices.”

Co-founded by actress Jessica Alba, The Honest Company is dedicated to creating clean and sustainably designed personal-care products. Since assuming her role in January 2023, Vernón has led the company’s commitment to driving shareholder value, while also preserving its long-term strategy to continuously bring trustworthy products to the market. In their recent Q4 and full-year 2023 report, The Honest Company showed a 10% revenue increase, reaching $90m (£71.2m), attributed in part to strategic – and transparent – price adjustments. 

Vernón, who has more than two decades of leadership experience, and previously held executive positions at Amazon and General Mills, discusses the benefit of keeping standards high, and why “honest” is more than just a company name.