STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS · BEAUTY & SKINCARE
Your brand has a point of view.
Let's make sure it holds up.
EBD Comms helps beauty and skincare founders build communications that are compelling, credible, and compliant.
BRAND MESSAGING
·
COMPLIANT CLAIMS
·
PR STRATEGY
·
FRACTIONAL COMMS
·
BRAND MESSAGING · COMPLIANT CLAIMS · PR STRATEGY · FRACTIONAL COMMS ·
THE PROBLEM
Sound Familiar?
Your marketing is moving faster than your legal review.
Claims that made sense six months ago are now a liability — and nobody owns the line between creative and compliant.
Your brand voice is fragmenting as you scale.
Different founders, different agencies, different channels — and no single thread holding the story together.
You're heading into retail or a raise without a communications strategy
Buyers and investors will ask questions your current messaging wasn't built to answer.
WHAT’S AT STAKE
Ignoring this doesn't
make it go away.
It compounds.
An FTC warning letter over a claim your copywriter wrote at 11pm
A retailer raising questions about ingredient language before launch
A founder interview that contradicts your brand narrative
A crisis with no playbook and no one in charge of the response
WHAT WE DO
Communications built for
brands that are building.
01
Story Foundation Sprint
Your story, your claims, your voice — built to hold up under scrutiny and resonate with the right rooms.
Project-based from $3,500
02
Claims Clarity Workshop
Copy and marketing review against FTC and FDA guidelines — before it goes live, not after the letter arrives.
Project-based from $2,500
03
Launch Comms Package
Media-ready stories for launches, funding moments, and pivots. Built to land in the right publications.
Project-based from $4,500
04
Fractional Comms Leadership
Embedded strategic support for brands that need a comms lead without the full-time hire.
Retainers from $3,000/mo
ENTRY POINT
Messaging Audit
A diagnostic review of your current messaging with a prioritized recommendations report and debrief call.
Turnaround: ~1 week · Best starting point for new clients
$997
FLAT FEE
WHAT’S INCLUDED
Full review of website, social, packaging, and/or press materials
Written recommendations report with a clear action plan
60-minute debrief call to walk through findings
WHAT MAKES THIS DIFFERENT
Science that sells.
Without losing
what makes it true.
Many beauty brands sit on genuinely breakthrough science — and then watch it disappear into jargon, or worse, get oversimplified into claims that don't hold up. The translation layer between your lab and your consumer is where brands most often lose credibility.
I work closely with founders and product teams to understand the real science behind a formula — then build messaging that honors that rigor while making it accessible, believable, and compelling to the consumer who needs to understand why it works. Precise language isn't a constraint on great storytelling. It's what makes the story last.
WHY EBD COMMS
The discipline of a federal communicator.
The taste of a beauty insider.
Before working with beauty brands, I developed and ran communications programs for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services — programs subject to strict federal oversight. I bring that same precision to brand storytelling. Your claims are clean, your narrative is defensible, and your audience believes you.
HOW IT WORKS
What to expect when
we work together.
01
DISCOVER
A focused discovery call to understand your brand, your gaps, and what's keeping you up at night.
02
BUILD
A communications strategy scoped to where you are now and where you're heading — messaging, claims framework, narrative architecture.
03
PROTECT
Ongoing retainer support that keeps your communications consistent, compliant, and ahead of whatever comes next.
"
[Blakely] came fully prepared — having studied everything publicly available about my brand. She presented five clear PR angles we could build on immediately. It was fascinating to see how she thinks and the depth of her suggestions.
- FARZANEH REZAEI, FOUNDER FAFABIOTIC
ABOUT
I'm Blakely Despres,
founder of EBD Comms.
My career arc runs from federal health communications to commercial PR to building my own practice in the beauty vertical. My point of view is that regulations aren't the enemy of good storytelling — they're the edit. Constraints make you specific, and specificity is believed.
I think like a regulator. I work like a creative partner.
Former communications lead, U.S. HHS & DHS
Cushman & Wakefield · WM commercial experience
Publisher, The Beauty of Comms on Substack
RECENT THINKING
From The Beauty of Comms
CLAIMS & COMPLIANCE
What happens when a creator goes viral with your product, and the claim that travels isn't the one you wrote
BRAND VOICE
How the most science-forward beauty brands can stop letting their rigor work against them, and start building messaging that's as precise as their formulas
FOUNDER POV
Why founders stop trusting their own brand voice — and how to get it back
FREE RESOURCE
The Beauty Brand Story Spine Guide
The messaging foundation beauty founders use before they scale. Yours free — no strings, no pitch.
Ready to build communications your brand can grow into?
WORK TOGETHER
I take on a limited number of retainer clients each quarter. Let's find out if we're a fit.