You might recognize Josie Maran from her bubbly TV appearances on QVC.
The former model — she served as the face of Maybelline for ten years — frequents the network as much as 20 days every month, selling her natural, luxury beauty line, Josie Maran Cosmetics. When she’s not hunkered down in the green room in West Chester, Pennsylvania, Maran resides in Los Angeles with her 11- and 5-year-old daughters. Here’s how she gets it all done.
On a typical morning:
When I’m home with my girls in Los Angeles, we wake up at 6 a.m. I get them dressed, make their breakfast, make their lunches, and then help them out the door to school at 7 a.m. At that point, my boyfriend and I have a little intimate time. I’m in a committed, serious relationship. Knowing now that I can have that part of life enriched and fulfilled is a big part of what helps me be healthy and happy.
Afterwards, I meditate for 15 minutes, I write for 15 minutes, I read for 15 minutes, and then I exercise for 15 minutes. So, I have this hour where I do a lot of getting ready. Then I shower and catch up on emails from the previous night. And then I do my skin care and my makeup and get dressed.
On office life and her company culture:
When I’m not traveling, I drive seven minutes to my office in L.A. I get there between 9 and 9:30 a.m. I’m probably in the office 30 percent of the time, so when I am there we have a lot of face-to-face meetings: creative brainstorming, strategic thinking, product development, marketing, operations. I don’t have a second to myself; it’s just running from meeting to meeting. I’m never really at a desk.
We also have a lot of fun in the office. We have meditation on Wednesdays, we have yoga on Thursdays, we have so many fun parties. We have tons of different kinds of lunches, and the culture is just really good. We have beer pong on Fridays, and we try to have fun and keep people happy.
On constant travel:
I travel all the time and work crazy hours. Most of that time is for QVC, and when it’s not, I come to New York for meetings — I have a place here. But my life is a lot of QVC. And that schedule … QVC is 24 hours a day, 364 days a year. I can be on TV at QVC for 36 hours straight. I have five of those a year, and then the rest of the year I’m probably on 10 to 20 days a month.
I don’t miss planes very often, but I get there at the latest point possible. I am TSA pre-checked, so I literally walk through security and go on the plane — that’s how I time it. Have you heard of Concierge Key on American? It’s this new secret society that American Airlines is doing. Certain people (we haven’t figured out who or why you’re chosen) are Concierge Key, and they call you and they walk you down to your seat. There’s only a few people who have it and I luckily somehow got it. You’re the first one on the plane. And if I’m not in first class, they give me free stuff in the back.
On her longest days:
I do this show called Today’s Special Value [on QVC], and on those days you’re selling from midnight to midnight. It’s 24 hours, and I’m on probably 10 to 11 hours of that day. Some of those are two-hour shows and some of those are 30-minute hits. You try to rest, but usually by the end you haven’t slept in 36 hours. I bring my Nespresso machine. Good coffee can really help.
On having a totally different on-camera personality:
It’s like Sasha Fierce and Beyoncé. It really is. I never wear my own clothes. For me to be able to carry that kind of show, and to inspire that many people, and to sell that much stuff, I really need to have this extra sort of superpowered energy.
I have shoes that I wear every single time. They’re my good luck shoes. I’ve had them since day one. They’re high heels that put me into this personality and character. And I always wear Bebe dresses that are kind of tight. It’s like a uniform. I just zip up into this other character, this vibrant, fun, charismatic, energetic personality, and at the same time try not to be cheesy or fake. And I have big hair. I have a philosophy that says big hair equals big sales [Laughs].
On how she’s inspired to create products:
I’m probably painful to my product development team. I’m a little inventor. My whole thing is Why? I need to understand how things work and why you do things. I’m always trying to learn as much as I can about skin, aging, and health. I believe when you have good questions, you get good answers, good inventions, good ideas. And then we have lots of products that come from people on QVC and my customers’ requests.
I also get some extra good creativity up when I’m flying thousands of feet in the air. I feel like somehow I’m connected to God or something [laughs] and I can come up with really good ideas and products, stories, writing. I have come up with so many business ideas up there. I have this whipped tanning body butter, and I was eating chocolate ice cream on the plane and I remember thinking This is delicious, what can I make with this?
On her future goals:
I would love to create a line for younger girls with my daughters that’s natural and fun and playful and empowering. I’m still not seeing good, natural, younger makeup and skin-care lines. I’m like Guys, I started this [natural cosmetics brand] and I would have thought someone would have caught up, but if you’re not going to do it, I’m going to do it. I’m excited to possibly go down that route eventually. My older daughter is totally into it. She’s like, Do I get an office at the office? I’m like, yep.
On motherhood and splitting custody:
I spend one month on and one month off with my kids — that’s my arrangement with custody. And the months that I don’t have [my daughters], I get them every other weekend. Our flow is very different than a lot of people, but when we are together, I try to be as empowering as possible. We meditate and do yoga together, which has been so wonderful. We cook together, they love it. We just try to be creative.
On evenings:
When I’m not traveling, I am out of the office by 5 p.m. The girls come home from school and we cook and eat dinner together and just have a chill night, and that’s our life. I put them to bed at around 8 p.m. We read books and I still get into bed with them and read and then pass out and then wake myself up at 8:30 p.m.
I’m usually up for about an hour more. I hang out with my man and we talk about our day and what we want to create in the world, and we go to bed by 10 p.m. I am very into at least seven hours of sleep. I am very sensitive to being tired.
This interview has been edited and condensed.