the goop podcast: Dianna Cohen

Host: Gwyneth Paltrow
Guest: Dianna Cohen (Founder & CEO, Crown Affair)
Date: November 18, 2025

Overview

This episode centers on intentional leadership, feminine energy in business, and the creation and growth of Crown Affair, a clean, high-performance haircare brand. Gwyneth Paltrow and guest Dianna Cohen discuss their journeys as female founders, building businesses with purpose, the challenges and scrutiny faced by women leaders, and the importance of daily rituals and self-care. Their conversation flows from the practical details of formulating and scaling a beauty brand to deeper reflections on authenticity, resilience, and wellness.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Building With Intentionality and Authenticity

• Dianna Cohen shares her early career working for other brands (Into the Gloss, Away, Outdoor Voices, The Wing) before starting Crown Affair in 2020.
• The genesis of Crown Affair came from Cohen’s obsession with hair care and the lack of clean, effective products on the market.
• Her early foray into sharing expertise began with a Google Doc of recommendations that went viral amongst her peers.
• Cohen emphasizes the importance of starting from authentic need:

  “If that thing that is that spark and your why is still there, like, you can always kind of get back to that.” (14:13)

2. Lessons From Female-Led Startups & Industry Scrutiny

• Both Paltrow and Cohen reflect on the "cancel female CEO summer," when several women-led companies came under public attack.
• They discuss double standards around leadership styles and the harsher treatment of women in the press and in business failures.
• Cohen:

  “For men, like, move fast and break things is like, sexy. And they make movies about this... But with women... those things are not things, they're people.” (11:55)

• Paltrow addresses the persistent sexism:

  “I felt it was sexist at its heart... not that everyone's perfect, but totally.” (12:41)

3. Creating Clean, Luxury Haircare

• Cohen details the clean formulation process, inspired by Japanese haircare, and the importance of retaining performance alongside clean ingredients.
• She describes working hands-on with chemists to design unique, thoughtful products—never sacrificing effectiveness for “clean” marketing.
• Cohen:

  “To me, it's never at the expense of performance, but it's really important that, you know, sulfates aren't great... it's actually more about what's in it than what is not in it.” (21:01)

4. Ritual, Wellness, and Feminine Leadership

• Crown Affair was designed to shift the haircare conversation away from “fixing” and “taming” to joyful ritual and daily self-care.
• Cohen underscores building brands from “feminine energy”—prioritizing care, creativity, and collaboration over traditional, fear-driven models.
• She brings therapeutic approaches (like EMDR and coaching) into her leadership, striving for a culture of grace and trust.

• “Can you create a successful business and also, like, take care of people and, like, put people first and put yourself first?” (26:17)

5. The Founder/CEO Transition & Ego

• Cohen discusses bringing in her longtime right-hand, Elaine Choi, as CEO, allowing her to focus creatively on brand and product while Choi handles operations.
• Cohen candidly discusses the ego challenges of stepping back and the importance of investing in team growth:

  “I'm the first 10% and the last 10%... but the other 80%—I was actually blocking it... the business has exploded since I got out of the way.” (33:41)

• On trust and letting go:

  “How do I show up for my team where, like, when I'm not there, they're actually working to make me proud and build this world?” (35:54)

6. Growth, Marketing, and the Product Itself

• Product excellence and word-of-mouth are the core drivers for Crown Affair’s growth—“the group text” effect among women.
• Cohen notes the challenges of retail growth, the importance of understanding different customer segments (D2C vs. retail), and the time it takes for customers to switch haircare routines.

• “The only way... to really grow right now is have excellent product... it's the girls at brunch being like, have you heard about this hair towel?” (37:49)

7. Internal Wellness and Hair Health

• Cohen connects hair health to nervous system regulation, nutrition, and stress—sharing how periods of stress led to noticeable changes in her own hair.
• She advocates for holistic health, blood work, rest, and balancing rituals as crucial for well-being and beauty outcomes.

• “My hair has actually gotten better as I've aged because I'm doing these things to take care of it... there's strand care, there's scalp care, and then there's the internal piece.” (46:45)

8. Personal Wellness and Creative Rituals

• Cohen’s daily wellness: morning journaling, stretching, therapy/coaching, balanced movement, and creative practices like collage.
• She and Paltrow discuss honoring feminine cycles—embracing softness, creativity, and rest as legitimate, powerful aspects of leadership and personal health.
• Cohen’s advice to friends and listeners:

  “Literally 30 minutes on your phone. Just, like, put a client timer on, grab a couple magazines. Like, use your hands... that matters, and I think it's really important.” (51:23)

• Paltrow shares her gardening and cooking as creative grounding.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On leadership double standards:

  “Move fast and break things... But with women, it’s like... those things are people.” — Dianna Cohen [11:55]

• On growth and the “why”:

  “If that thing that is that spark and your why is still there, like, you can always kind of get back to that.” — Dianna Cohen [14:13]

• On ego and letting go:

  “I'm the first 10% and the last 10%... but the other 80%—I was actually blocking it... the business has exploded since I got out of the way.” — Dianna Cohen [33:41]

• On feminine leadership:

  “Can you create a successful business and also, like, take care of people and, like, put people first and put yourself first?” — Dianna Cohen [26:17]

• On rituals:

  “The habits that you have are only as good as the ones that you do... how do you make it something beautiful to remind yourself, like, oh, I'm gonna do this tonight, and set yourself up for success?” — Dianna Cohen [24:14]

• On personal wellbeing:

  “I'm a big advocate... writing and collage are like a great way to like engage with art and your creative brain in a really low stakes way.” — Dianna Cohen [51:23]

Important Timestamps

• 02:34: When you’re pioneering anything... you get criticized.
• 09:40: Cohen on “cancel female CEO summer” and double standards.
• 13:52: Slow, intentional builds vs. rapid-fire growth.
• 14:32–18:43: Cohen’s journey: early career, the “Google Doc” of hair tips, testing & founding Crown Affair.
• 21:01: Defining “clean” in haircare—performance first, not just ingredient exclusion.
• 23:51: Crown Affair’s philosophy of beauty as ritual—not as “fixing.”
• 26:03: Feminine leadership and building supportive cultures.
• 31:13: Decision to hire a CEO and lessons about founder roles.
• 37:49: The importance of product excellence & word of mouth for organic growth.
• 46:45: The connection between nervous system, stress, nutrition, and hair health.
• 48:55: Cohen’s daily rituals for wellness and balance.
• 51:06: The impact of life stage (no kids yet) on her ability to maintain wellness routines.
• 53:14: Paltrow on the grounding power of gardening.

Closing

Dianna Cohen and Gwyneth Paltrow offer a nuanced, honest exploration of what it means to build, lead, and sustain a brand or self with care, integrity, and intentionality. Listeners gain behind-the-scenes perspectives on the beauty industry, practical entrepreneurial advice, and inspiration for daily rituals that support both professional impact and personal well-being.