How Do You Keep a 78-Year-Old Skincare Brand Relevant? — with Margot Grant Witz

What does it take to inherit a skincare brand — and then prove that its future belongs in your hands?

This week, Carmine sits down with Margot Grant Witz, Vice President and third-generation steward of Elizabeth Grant Skin Care, the family- and female-led Canadian beauty company founded by her grandmother in 1948.

Elizabeth Grant’s remarkable story began after a World War II injury left her with significant damage to her skin. Her search for a solution ultimately led to the creation of Torricelumn™, the proprietary marine-derived complex that remains at the heart of the company catalogue today. Decades later, Margot’s mother, Marion Witz, persuaded Elizabeth to revive the business — transforming it from a deeply personal formula into an international skincare brand.

Margot’s own path was anything but automatic. After resisting the family business, moving to France and earning her MBA, she returned ready to begin at the bottom — working in customer service, public relations and eventually live television before earning her place as a leader within the company.

Together, Carmine and Margot explore why inheriting a name doesn’t automatically earn respect, how she learned to introduce change without abandoning the brand’s history, and what it means to disagree with your mother when she is also your boss.

They also examine why Gen X and women over 50 remain overlooked by much of the beauty industry, how skincare can promise visible improvement without turning aging into the enemy, and why getting older should be understood as an opportunity rather than a loss.

Finally, Margot takes Carmine inside the brand’s new Collagen Re-Inforce 3D MarineDNA collection featuring PDRN — sharing what attracted the company to one of skincare’s most talked-about ingredients, how the complete formula shapes the consumer experience, and why hydration remains foundational to healthy-looking skin.

Along the way, they discuss true resilience, manufacturing skincare in-house, the importance of earning your team’s trust, and why holding too tightly to who you once were can prevent you from discovering who you are becoming.

Key Takeaway

A heritage brand remains relevant neither by discarding its past nor by preserving everything exactly as it was.

For Margot, stewardship means understanding why customers trusted Elizabeth Grant Skin Care in the first place — then evolving its identity, formulations and conversations without sacrificing that trust. It also means recognizing consumers who