S6, Ep2 – In conversation with Bené Eaton
6 February 2025
Building and growing a business and brand as an entrepreneur ensures your role is constantly evolving. Through this podcast, Life & Smile, the conversation has advanced rapidly by bringing together some of the most successful leaders across many and often contrasting industries.
In this episode, we bring it back to healthcare, or more specifically, to a healthcare apparel and lifestyle brand that celebrates, empowers, and serves current and future generations of healthcare professionals.
Introducing Bené Eaton – the Chief Marketing Officer at FIGS. With over a decade of marketing leadership, Bené has spearheaded groundbreaking campaigns for iconic brands in sports and fashion. Renowned for her ability to drive business results, harness innovative marketing tactics, and foster meaningful social impact, she adopts a consumer and community-centric approach in her work.
Driven by the purpose of uplifting others, Bené’s mission is to inspire all individuals to be their best selves. Join the conversation now.
Conversation Show Notes – The Recap
As a globally renowned brand, FIGS is, of course, the pioneering direct-to-consumer brand transforming healthcare apparel. Dr Reena opens the show by asking how they ensure FIGS stays one step ahead when it comes to technical breakthroughs in the latest launches and styles. Bené confirms that before, FIGS scrubs were a basic V-neck top and drawstring pants, and they wanted to create a uniform that was highly technical, comfortable, and stylish whilst having a constant feedback loop with healthcare professionals.
Serving the world’s healthcare professionals, FIGS is instantly recognised and, since day one, has been on a mission to improve the lives of healthcare workers globally.
Revolutionising the healthcare space was key, but not just focusing on selling products, rather creating a movement and showcasing healthcare professionals in a way they hadn’t been showcased before, telling their stories, and actually putting these individuals on billboards in Times Square, for example.
FIGS believe healthcare is human and their mission is to celebrate, empower, and serve those who serve others. The core values start with the phrase “if it were easy, everyone would do it,” inspired directly by healthcare professionals and the healthcare community at large—their perseverance and how they do their work.
In an industry that is constantly evolving, FIGS ensures it is “More than a uniform,” remaining one step ahead in such a competitive marketplace. Bené discusses how they achieve this by aiming to reflect the standard of excellence of healthcare professionals in their work.
When it comes to her own career, Bené’s own career has been driven by a love of storytelling and being a people person through and through, with a love of connecting, learning the art of what it takes to build an iconic brand, to tell stories, and how to weave emotion into touchpoints.
Episode Key Takeaways – The Best ideas
If it was easy, everyone would do it.
As you get bigger and bigger as a brand, you have to keep the human connection.
Healthcare professionals are the most dynamic beings and functionality combined with the latest style is key.
Stay curious and be adaptable.
Focus on building skills across a wide range of areas – develop a broad skill base.
Have a relentless understanding of the community that you are serving.
You might also like
Previous episodes
S1, Ep6 – In conversation with Natalie Salmon
Renowned for empowering women in tech – Digital Editor Natalie Salmon joins Dr Reena on Harley Street to discuss life in the heart of the global media industry, having landed back in London as the Digital Editor for Hello! Fashion.
S3, Ep1 – In conversation with Honour Wainwright
Building a brand and building a business is right at the centre of daily life for Dr Reena founding RW Perio on Harley Street. She wanted to explore this further during this new season three to see how entrepreneurs and experts in their industry make it work and what their daily life really looks like.
