INTERVIEW: Love Squad Founder, Peloton Instructor, And Brooklyn Nets Host Ally Love On Becoming REN’s First US Ambassador, Why She’s Excited For This Year’s Nets Team And More

The ever-busy Ally Love kicked 2021 off on a high note by becoming REN Clean Skincare’s first-ever US ambassador. In addition to founding and serving as CEO of Love Squad, the fitness influencer is also a Peloton Instructor, the Brooklyn Nets’ in-arena host, and committed to eliminating unnecessary waste in the beauty industry – making her the perfect ambassador for REN who has pledged to become zero waste.

“We are so proud to announce Ally Love as a REN Clean Skincare ambassador. Her mission of empowering, encouraging and uplifting her audiences is inspirational, and we are thrilled that she has joined us on our zero-waste journey,” said Arnaud Meysselle, Chief Executive Officer, REN Clean Skincare.

We caught up with Love to learn about her skincare routine, what she thinks about this year’s Nets team, Love Squad and much more.

What drew you to REN Clean Skincare?

AL: So for me, I think it was the intersectionality of clean skincare, having this concept be around for a very long time. And then of course, zero waste when it comes to my skincare routine, really seeing how I can give back to the planet, conservation of marine life, and be sustainable in another area of my life. I am passionate about sustainability. I focus on this initiative greatly in my company Love Squad. Once a year, we do plastic free July where we try to educate, encourage our community to commit to eliminating single use plastic, and then hopefully carry that routine with them throughout the year.

I also love that REN is all about and committed to zero waste. I think this is really important. They’ve pledged by the end of 2021 that all of the products will be recycled, recyclable and reusable, which is really important because to have a company be in the front of these initiatives is really encouraging not only to me as an entrepreneur, but also to other companies, especially in the beauty industry when there’s so much waste. And I think this partnership is really built around the concept of it not being perfection, but progress. Sometimes we as humans can think oh my god, well, if I’m going to commit to zero waste, then I have to change my entire life. And it’s progress. It’s more of saying here’s the small things, you’re not going to be completely sustainable in everything you do. But it’s little habits that we can break to continue to give back – and if everyone has something that no matter how small or how big the activism in itself is, if everyone has something, then therefore we’re all doing our part. The fact that REN Clean Skincare is committed to that is really important to me.

What does your daily skincare routine look like?

AL: Well, it just depends. I would say my post workout, usually because I work out with makeup, I’m a Peloton instructor and I’m also on camera virtually hosting for the Brooklyn Nets and then I do Love Squad events. So I’m on camera with makeup quite a bit throughout the day, whether it’s sweating or speaking. Post workout or post performing, I do a cleanse with the Evercalm Gentle Cleansing Gel. This is important to me because it removes dirt and pollutions without that harshness on my face, so it’s not causing me any irritation or any additional redness that I might already have from working out. One of my favorite products is the Clean Skincare Ready Steady Glow Daily AHA Tonic and that one is in an 100% recyclable plastic bottle, which I know is not a benefit to my skin, but it’s a benefit to the planet. It also gives me that glow that I probably need, exfoliation, brightness, tightness, hydration, smooths and even energizes my skin without, again, that redness that sometimes can occur. Then I do a moisturizer, so probably the Evercalm Global Protection Day Cream, that one is just like a moisturizer enriched with protection complexes. It’s really important that I hydrate my skin. Before I go to bed, most times I will cleanse with the Jelly Oil Cleanser, that’s to remove all of the makeup, SPF, the pollution. This one too is zero waste, recycled and a recyclable tube – which is again, these are all really big deals for me. And then I go back to that AHA Tonic, that Tonic I told you is my favorite. And then I end with the Overnight Glow Dark Spot Sleeping Cream. I always put on a sleeping cream – and I probably put on a little too much in the winter because in the winter my skin gets dry, especially in a heated room.

Tell us about your commitment to eliminating unnecessary waste in the beauty industry.

AL: I touched on this a little bit, but to really dive in a little deeper, I think that we are all committed to trying to be better versions of ourselves. And you can see that on social media, whether it’s using filters or trying new makeup products or positioning ourselves to feel our best. Sometimes that comes with making sure we prioritize our physical self, which is important. Working out, skincare, putting on our makeup to make us look good – all of these things are great additives to build confidence around ourselves. They’re not our self-esteem, but they build confidence and they suit us up. It’s like an armor where you suit up for your performance, whether it’s at work on camera, working out, wherever your performance occurs, being a parent. And in this, most times we get caught up in the outcome and the results instead of the process. Within the process, especially in the beauty industry, we forget that these products and all of these things that we’re using, once they’re done we’re not able to sincerely recycle them. It can get caught in land fields, in the ocean – and all of this while we are trying to better ourselves, we can be destroying something so important as the earth, as the environment. Again, I’m not eliminating or eradicating it from my entire life and all of a sudden I’m zero waste forever. I think it’s right now positioning and saying this is how we can all make steps. It’s encouraging and teaching my community, this is what we can do. These are small little changes that we can do, find products that work, find products that like REN Clean Skincare, that you’re able to not only take care of your skin, get a great outcome with clean skincare, but that you can, again, give back more than you take.

Love Squad is all about motivating and emboldening women. What inspired you to found the platform?

AL: It’s about motivating and inspiring women and non-binary and non gender conforming people. The reason for it was it was out of a sheer frustration and lack of resources. I, as a young woman in New York City, was trying to figure out my career, and if you don’t have resources to go to networking events, even post college or even your senior year of college, if you’re not in rooms where decisions are being made, or you’re not networking, sometimes it’s really challenging to make those life altering decisions, whether that means finding a career, changing a career, or how to climb a vertical, in my case, career ladder. Since that was the case, I decided to try to reconcile this problem on a small scale by creating a “love squad.” I invited those people that follow me on Instagram, at that time it was around 3,000 people and not all of them obviously live in New York City. It was a small amount of people and I invited them out to an event space that I partnered with to hold a conversation around branding. I was going to teach these folks and encourage them to have a conversation, and teach them about all the things that I had learned about branding. As someone who was a dancer, entrepreneur, a model, TV host, I was like, you know, these are the little things that I know. It’s not much, but this is what I know right now, and I want to share it. After that event, I realized that there was something here. It sold out and had a waitlist with so many people, and everyone came. I think from there, I decided to continue to do that. We do that now virtually where we have events, we’re able to scale so everyone can be a part of those events virtually. At this point, we offer information through conversation with my network of people, whether they’re in a vertical career, or they’re on the versatile career, entrepreneurs to offer insight into well-being and career building skills. We do a lot of that through our newsletters and then through our virtual events and then selling our apparel to support our small team of women. We rely heavily on sponsors and sponsorships through these events to pay our small team.

The NBA just began its season. How are the Brooklyn Nets looking?

AL: We’re looking great. It’s so exciting. We got some really cool key players: Kyrie Irving, we have Kevin Durant, Jeff Green on our team. And of course, we have some of our stars that are already coming back like Caris LeVert, Spencer Dinwiddie, Joe Harris, Jarrett Allen. So I think it’s really exciting, and I’m looking forward to the season, even if it’s going to be a little bit more virtual. But I’m going to be engaging with the fans, we have some really cool content coming out. And I’m looking forward to it. It’s exciting. I love basketball, ball is life. I cannot wait to get back in that arena. But of course, not until it’s safe.

What projects are keeping you busy at the moment?

AL: Well, I think at this point, I am sincerely trying to work on a book. I don’t think it’s going to come out anytime soon. But I’m gathering all the speeches that I’m giving, I give a lot of keynote speeches, all of the topics that we cover in Love Squad. I am also trying to scale my team. I’m looking for a personal assistant. I’m looking for someone who’s going to be a content manager for Love Squad who can produce content and build out our content on social and newsletters. I think it’s just taking my business to the next level. Finding great talent is sometimes time consuming and I’m looking right now. That’s what I’m keeping myself busy with – collecting all of the data and information and reactions and crowdsourcing from all the keynotes. So I can pull together those topics into a book, hopefully that people will be interested in buying and then scaling my immediate team.

Is there anything else you would like to add?

AL: Thank you so much for including me. I think, just keep in mind at this point we’re all in a pandemic and we’re all trying to do our best, the best we can. Most of my messaging around Love Squad, even with REN Clean Skincare, is that you’re already good enough. So, even when it comes to this concept of clean skincare, that’s the intersection of giving back to the environment or giving more than you take. Just know it’s all about small steps – progress not perfection, and you’re already good enough. With everything that I’m doing, I’m just hoping that I can always give more than I take and be a resource for those out there.

For more information about REN Clean Skincare, visit renskincare.com. For more information about Love Squad, visit www.lovesquad.com.