Island Sun Times

Born in New Jersey to a father who was an entrepreneur extraordinaire, Brad Grossman aspired to succeed in business when he came of age. Possessing a drive to achieve as strong as any self-made man, Brad began building his empire early in life – at the age of 10, when most of his friends were at home, watching cartoons, Brad was helping his father in the family business every Saturday morning. His quest for success followed him through high school and on to college, where he started his first company – natural supplement maker BNG Enterprises – before he even earned his diploma and launched Designer Skin. While his drive has certainly taken him far, Brad knows that a life filled only with work is not an enjoyable one. These days, he has a new outlook, thanks to the love of his new wife, Michelle. Brad realizes that true success is a life with balance – with family and friends as important a barometer as professional accomplishments.

Brad Grossman is the President of Designer Skin, and as such, his duty is to do what he does best – strategize. He determines the direction of the company and its strategy to get there, and also manages relationships between Designer Skin and its largest distributors. He keeps his ear to the ground for what salons are looking for and the latest in the field of nutritional supplements in order to ensure Designer Skin continues to develop the high-quality, leading-edge products it’s known for. While he certainly does a lot for the company, Brad believes most of the credit for Designer Skin’s success belongs to the team, for it is they who create and produce the company’s award-winning and often-imitated tanning lotions.

Growing Up “Business”
Although Brad has lived in Arizona for a number of years, his life story began in Livingston, NJ, where he was born the oldest child of Jerry and Lynn Grossman. His early days were privileged, but not in the “silver spoon” kind of way. Instead, it was the opportunity to grow up in an environment rich with entrepreneurial spirit that Brad values most. “My dad had many business interests, including contract manufacturing of women’s clothing,” recalled Brad. “When I was 10 years old, I would go to the factory with him every Saturday morning to help bag dresses and send them out to the purchasers. My reason for choosing to help my dad back then was always to earn a few bucks, but what really benefited me was spending time with him and learning the dos and don’ts of business firsthand.”

In addition to clothing manufacturing, Jerry Grossman was also heavily involved in the commercial real estate industry. He had a mentor who helped him in this business, and a drive through New York City with his father and this man proved pivotal for young Brad. “While we were driving around, my dad’s friend kept pointing to buildings and saying, ‘Owned that. Sold that,’” Brad recalled. “This was very influential to me because it helped me realize that something like that – owning and selling these big buildings – was actually possible. It showed me that I could do something like that, too, if I put my mind to it.” And put his mind to it he did. In addition to Designer Skin and his other business interests, Brad also dabbles in real estate, including recent purchases in a small village in Mexico.

Success, however, did not come easy for Brad or merely gratis from his father. Brad struggled with learning disabilities throughout his childhood. Rather than a deterrent, though, it only served to strengthen his determination. It is his indomitable strong will and spirit that continues to propel Designer Skin as a leader in the tanning industry. The word “can’t” is not in his vocabulary, nor is it a word he accepts from his staff. “Rather than saying ‘can’t’, we always approach a business challenge with, ‘How can we do this?’” mused Brad. “My father basically drilled it into my head that I could do anything despite my learning disabilities and that pretty much served as the spring board for my subsequent business endeavors.”

While his father had a huge impact on Brad’s life, the influence of his mother was also significant. Lynn Grossman gave her son a more cultured, artistic side and stressed the importance of balance in life. “I love the creative aspects of my companies as much as the strategic, and this is directly due to my mother’s influence,” he said. “She epitomizes everything creative and artistic and was a wonderful teacher of such. So, essentially, my two parents exposed me to the best of both worlds – left- and right-brain thinking – for which I’m so thankful and hope to do with my own children some day,” he said.

Feeding His Spirit
Brad Grossman’s early years were spent learning business from his father, and this instilled in him the desire to be in business for himself. He took this entrepreneurial spirit with him to college, too, when he moved from his New Jersey home to the deserts of Arizona to pursue a degree in agri-business at Arizona State University. “Agri-business is the study of how agriculture drives the economy and feeds the world,” he explained. “The food, drug and cosmetics industries all rely on livestock and natural products. This led me to discover an emerging market at that time – nutritional products.” While he was never a competitive bodybuilder, Brad always enjoyed working out and in doing so, learned about the importance of nutritional supplements. Always one to see an opportunity and take advantage of it, Brad began developing a line of supplements in the forms of herbal teas and other natural products. In 1990, still a junior in college, he took all the money he could muster – about $800 – and started nutritional supplement company BNG Enterprises. By the time he graduated from ASU’s School of Engineering in 1996, he had plenty of real-life work experience to go along with his textbook education.

After starting his nutritional supplement company, founding a tanning lotion company was a natural progression for Brad. After all, many of the industry’s top lotion manufacturers utilize the latest in vitamins, minerals and natural ingredients to enhance the tanning and skincare capabilities of their products. In 1997, while researching fads in the nutritional industry, Brad admits to stumbling onto the market for indoor tanning lotions. “I had tanned indoors before, so I was fascinated by the possibilities that this emerging market presented,” he said. “At that time, most of the tanning lotions were being marketed with a tropical theme, which was good; but I wanted our product to stand apart from the group, so we modeled our early advertising from a designer cosmetic standpoint, which is how we came up with our name, as well.”

Today, Designer Skin has evolved into one of the tanning industry’s most imitated lotion makers. The company, whose motto is “nutrition for the skin,” is known for producing stylish lotions with cutting-edge ingredients to help people achieve a beautiful tan with healthy looking skin. While Brad is proud of his company’s growth during the past 10 years, he knows he can’t take all the credit for Designer Skin’s runaway success. “While I work on business strategy, it’s the staff here that really makes the lotions as popular as they are,” he commented. “Beth Romero does a terrific job helping to identify the hottest trends and make sure they’re represented in our products, and my brother, Russell, is definitely more talented at relating to the staff than I am. Everyone here does a wonderful job, and as an employer, I feel very lucky to have them.”

The Sweet Life
Brad’s father taught him the ins and outs of business, and his mother taught him to enjoy life’s simple pleasures. After following dad’s advice for so many years, Brad has recently begun to practice his mom’s philosophy and enjoy more time with his wife, Michelle. “We met at the gym while we were both on elliptical machines. We started talking and had a very good conversation, and I was very impressed with her intellectual nature,” Brad explained. “She graduated from Pepperdine University with her juris doctorate and practiced law for many years before going into real estate. I have an interest in real estate, too, and we talked about that for quite a bit. While I enjoyed our conversation, I am an asthmatic, and that was the longest cardio session of my life!”

After the fateful day he met Michelle, Brad yearned to learn more about this lovely and fascinating lady, so he returned to the gym every day for an entire month hoping to see her again. The two resumed their conversation and became friends – friendship led to dating, and dating eventually led to marriage, which successfully ended Brad’s reign as one of the tanning industry’s most eligible bachelors. These days, the couple enjoys mixing business with pleasure and traveling to many exciting and exotic locales including Holland, Paris, Hong Kong, Russia, Estonia, Poland and Germany, to name a few. Brad’s other favorite pastime illustrates he’s a man on the move. “I picked up bicycling a few years ago and found that it helps with my asthma,” he said. “Now, a group of friends and I typically bike about 120 miles each week. It’s fun and relaxing and allows me to clear my head after working with three businesses.”

What the Future Holds
Brad’s never regretted his decision to start Designer Skin, and as to the company’s success, he remains quite humble. “I’m very excited about our position in the industry, and we’re very grateful for it,” he said. “While it would be nice to sit back and take the credit, I know that the real reason we’re successful is because of the great team at Designer Skin, and our loyal tanning salon clients. Their support has made us what we are today, and we plan to continue giving them a reason to make us one of the industry’s top-selling lotion brands.”

While he continues to work hard at directing Designer Skin’s future, his businesses haven’t been the only things on Brad’s mind lately – he also has big plans for his personal life. Brad admits that he and Michelle would like to expand the Grossman family. And, while they plan to have at least one child sometime in the future, no further plans have been made as yet. “I’ve worked very hard almost my entire life, but I’m beginning to see the importance of taking time to smell the roses,” he commented. “Now, I want to be able to do it all so that Michelle and I can enjoy life together.”

And so, it would seem that years of perseverance have definitely paid off for Brad Grossman. His tanning lotion brand – Designer Skin – is one of the most recognized names in both the U.S. and Europe. Add to that his other thriving ventures, new marriage and family plans, and the future looks certainly bright for the young man who came to Arizona with dreams of making it big.