Just call Jessica Alba Superwoman. No, she's not starring in a new flick about a superhero — although she is reprising her role as Nancy in the sequel to Sin City — but she's playing one in real life. The mother, wife, sister, and daughter is juggling her film career and a start-up business that's growing gangbusters. Though many wrote her off as just the pretty face advertising for the company, her hands-on involvement has earned her accolades like Self magazine's Women Doing Good Award and a spot on Fortune's 10 most powerful women entrepreneurs list. When we met with Jessica at the Honest Company headquarters to discuss the latest additions to the line and the company's sale on Gilt, she opened up about working for a start-up company and how it feels to be known as a businesswoman, as well as an actress. Here are some outtakes from the conversation.
On being involved in Honest's day-to-day operations even when she's on set: "The good thing about doing a movie is it's really a finite period of time. So I did an independent a couple of months ago and it was just a week in Atlanta, and for Sin City I think I'll probably work, all together, three weeks. It can be two days in one month in October, and it can be four days in a row in November, and another four days in December. It's really spread out, and it's not like I'm gone for six months traveling the world or something."
On working at a start-up: "We all have to wear many hats. We don't have a CMO here, so Christopher and I are kind of like the CMOs. We still have so many positions that we have to fill. It's never like, 'Oh, this is a 9 to 5 and I get to go home.' It never ends. [I] go home, I do bath time and everything with the kids, dinner, and then I'm back on the computer and back at work. It's just the way it is when you're part of a start-up. It's awesome that I get to spend my time here, because I feel really proud of what we're doing."
On spreading the word about Honest: "I mean, I don't really have to preach it. I do send people that I work with little care packages."
On being considered a businesswoman: "I'm a mom. I have to say, I feel like a mom and everything else I don't really pay attention to, but I'm just really proud of . . . where I get to spend my time and what I'm doing with my time."
