“I struggle and still struggle with mental health,” said Ashley Tisdale. “I met with a lot of Eastern and Western practitioners thinking something was wrong with me and it was all anxiety.”
Tisdale, founder of Being Frenshe, sat down with Cori Murray, the multiplatform storyteller, for a fireside chat to discuss her Target-exclusive beauty brand and putting wellness at the forefront.
A year and a half after going through experiences with anxiety and depression, Tisdale created her lifestyle blog Frenshe (a play on her married name, French) as a platform to share vulnerable stories and connect with people. “I learned a lot through [this experience], and I wanted to share what I learned. Moderation is key and living a cleaner lifestyle is more beneficial for your mental health.”
Now the mother of a two-year-old daughter, Tisdale mentioned that she is happy that she went through a difficult time in her life before giving birth; she also briefly opened up about suffering from postpartum depression. Using the coping skills and rituals Tisdale learned whilst experiencing earlier challenging times helped her navigate life and come out on the other side.
While her initial intention was not to create a brand, Tisdale said Being Frenshe is an extension of her Frenshe platform. The clean beauty and personal care line launched in Target in 2022 with help from brand incubator Maesa. The brand is based on Tisdale’s rituals, aromatherapy and mood science.
“The mood science technology is a technology that uses the power of scent to evoke a certain mood,” explained Tisdale. “I noticed that lavender made me feel more relaxed and citrus made me feel more awake.”
Murray asked Tisdale whether it was true that she created a scent to mimic a Trader Joe’s smell, to the room’s laughter, to which Tisdale confirmed that the comfort she felt when making the grocery store’s jasmine rice helped inspire Cashmere Vanilla — the brand’s number-one scent.
Furthermore, Tisdale said her wellness brand’s philosophy is about wanting people to take a moment for themselves. By helping people think about themselves throughout the day and give themselves self-love, Tisdale hopes more will implement that into their lives.
Before the pandemic, people were “working nonstop and on a train that kept on going,” she said. The rituals created then helped ground Tisdale during her time staying at home. She was very used to being on set and doing different things — saying that as an anxious person, constantly keeping oneself busy is the norm.
“There are small things like opening a window or lighting a candle, which changes the energy in a room when I had a rough sleep,” said Tisdale. “It could be a 5-minute mood boosting or a 30-minute full-on spa.”
While as a society, people are taught to think that wellness is expensive, the goal of having the brand in Target was to maintain accessibility and affordability. Tisdale also noted that promoting community and connection is a huge part of Being Frenshe’s success and led the brand to double sales expectations.
“I know I’m not going to change someone’s life maybe,” said Tisdale. “But we get messages from people who talk about the physical pain that they’re in. To manage the pain every day, they use our soothing body serum stick, which has magnesium in it and it releases tension. It doesn’t take away the pain, but it helps ease it. To get a message like that, you get emotional, and it’s so cool that you get to make people feel good.”