g lo w | While Clary donates often to organizations, Auerbach admits she misses the hands-on work. “I will say to my husband that I really miss working on trash sites and he’ll respond, ‘Your charity is at home now because you’re providing people with products that help them every day,’” Auerbach says, smiling at his consistent support. Following a brief stint in London, during which Auerbach helped to establish an office for Small Steps funded by a Vodafone grant, she made her way back to Australia where she ran charity projects remotely. One day, Auerbach received a fortuitous invitation from a friend in New York City to come stay for a winter in her spare bedroom. In the Big Apple, Auerbach spent three months networking and meeting other like-minded nonprofit people. She was in the midst of crafting a plan to move to NYC when she met her future husband at a bar. After Dan offered to buy her a drink, and she cheekily responded, “I can afford my own!” the pair spent the rest of the night talking. Auerbach believes they got married because of her cluelessness about— and lack of interest in—his storied music career. “In New York, everyone is a someone, and I’m no VH1-watching groupie,” she quips, remembering how she even forgot his name at the end of the night. Not too long after that, Dan asked that she relocate to Nashville, a city that she’d never heard of. Auerbach remembers getting picked up at the airport six years ago and seeing her Uber driver in a red pickup truck wearing a cowboy hat. Upon hearing her posh English-Australian accent, locals would ask if she knew the Duchess of Cambridge. But while the culture shock was intense, Auerbach found Nashville’s Southern hospitality to be charming. “When we moved into our house, all of the neighbors came by and asked if we needed anything, which, as a big city girl, made me suspicious at first,” she jokes. In reality, the greatest gift came the night Auerbach met her business partner, Adriel, who became an immediate comfort blanket in her new life. After living in Nashville for a few weeks, she asked her husband for phone numbers of old friends. “I said, ‘Listen, it’s awfully quiet around here, so provide me with some human interaction!’” That day, she sent a text message to fine artist Buddy Jackson, inviting him and a few friends over for BBQ and a game of Texas Hold ‘Em. In walked Adriel that night—proceeding, incidentally, to beat her at poker—with Buddy and her husband, musician Corey Chisel. At 8 ½ months pregnant, with a nonalcoholic beer in her hand, Adriel was a goddess in Auerbach’s eyes. The pair connected immediately, having lengthy conversations around motherhood and their inability to find nontoxic skincare. Not too long after, Auerbach found out she was pregnant and became even more attached to Adriel with her husband on tour and family overseas. “I was scared, but what better environment do I function in than a challenging one?” she remembers. Auerbach absolutely lights up when speaking about Adriel, who she describes as kindness and warmth personified. “She is everything that I’m not— rational, patient, and good at numbers,” says Auerbach, who, having failed math at school, instead handles the marketing, customer service, and design sides of their business. Like any great team, the pair brings different skill sets to the table. They also have a lifelong bond that comes from Adriel spending 26 hours at Auerbach’s bedside wiping her sweat during the birth of her first child. “She is the godmother of my child and sister for life,” gushes Auerbach, who sees their partnership continuing long after they go grey. Together, the two wild horses reined in their desires to create a slew of products and instead focused on making a desert island survival kit. With the market already oversaturated, they structured Clary for their own ideal consumer experience: an edited collection of safe, honest, and effective products. The company, which recently became SAFE Certified (meaning everything is scientifically tested and stamped organic), debuted after two years of formula testing [continued on page 142].
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