Inside Hulken: How Our CBO Built a $50M Community-Led Luxury Brand

We turned the mic around. For the first time on Unfinished Business, Alex and Lee are interviewing someone from inside Hulken, their own Chief Brand Officer.Tara Seruya has been working with Alex and Lee for over a decade. They first met at Ivy, their first company together. When Hulken came along, Tara came with it. She's the person behind every brand decision that resonates: the Supreme collab, the Oscars, the community of makeup artists, hairstylists, and set designers who carry Hulken everywhere and post about it without being asked.In this episode, Alex and Lee ask her everything. The things that worked. The things that surprised them. The expensive editorial shoots that didn't land. The authentic, messy UGC that outperforms everything.We covered:→ What luxury actually means: Hulken is "conceptually not luxurious." But it makes you feel unstoppable.→ The organic-first paid strategy: Hulken never runs content on paid until it proves itself organically.→ Obsession over content skills: Hulken find superfans who were already carrying the bag every single day and ask them to tell their story. Tara explains why that distinction changes everything→ The creative community told us where to go: Makeup artists, hairstylists, prop stylists, and set designers were using Hulken organically before there was a brand strategy around it.→ Solving a real problem: Alex on why none of the brand, the collabs, or the cultural moments would have mattered if the product wasn't genuinely solving a daily problem for real people.→ Brand content vs. paid content: How Hulken keeps these lanes intentionally separate→ Branding advice. In ASMR. Lee asked. Tara delivered.If you want to understand how a product goes from utilitarian rolling bag to cultural icon (without losing itself along the way) this is the blueprint.Listen and subscribe everywhere you get your podcasts!