Last week, Volition Beauty co-founder Patricia Santos shared her Five Rules For Life and this week, I’m featuring those of co-founder Brandy Hoffman (pictured below, right). Here they are, in her words.

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1. Wear “aggressive” as a badge of honor. 

If being opinionated, driven and fighting for what you want and what you deserve is “aggressive,” we all should proudly own that word.

2. Pet a dog (or cat) as much as possible.

Nothing beats coming home from a long day of work and being met with the unconditional love of my dog, Maximus. I immediately drop my bag on the floor and pet him for a while. My mood shifts from work mode to joy. It is the best part of my day.

3. Support fellow women.

Without sounding too cliché, we are stronger together. We need to support and raise each other up. If we are not going to do it, how do we expect others to. I constantly draw inspiration from my female friends and colleagues. They are smart, funny and full of surprises plus they understand what I am fighting for and against.

4. Challenge the status quo.

I love the beauty industry but always knew there were things I wanted to change. Sometimes making yourself “uncomfortable” results in innovation. Volition was born out of flipping the normal product development process on its head. My past bosses would have died laughing if I said, “Hey, let’s have the consumers come up with every product that we launch.” Now, I am so proud to say that we have built something that definitely is not the industry standard.

5. Be nice to the janitor, cashier, server, etc.

I worked retail from the age of 15 until after college. This experience with the public fundamentally shaped me. The service industry is hard work. Appreciating them for their contributions to our economy is critical. I try to recognize them because they deserve to be seen.

Thanks, Brandy! Stay tuned for more installments of Five Rules.

 “Five Rules,” is a series on Rouge18 in which I ask others to share their five rules for life about anything and everything. You can learn a lot about a person by reading which five things govern their actions, no?