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Dia memadukan Hollywood sepuluh tahun yang lalu untuk membesarkan keluarga dengan Ryan Gosling. Sekarang, aktris berusia 50 tahun itu kembali muncul sebagai pengusaha perlengkapan pembersih, dan bercerita mengapa mencuci piring adalah tempat bahagianya.
By Alexandra York, Karyawan Forbes
Saat musik Kuba bermain di latar belakang dengan aroma verbena di udara dan tumpukan piring kotor di wastafel—ini adalah malam impian menurut Eva Mendes. Meskipun sudah puluhan tahun menghadiri premier Hollywood dan berjalan glamor di karpet merah, dapur adalah tempat di mana dia merasa paling bahagia.
“Membersihkan untuk saya dan keluarga saya, bukan hanya membersihkan. Ini adalah pengalaman ikatan emosional,” kata Mendes tentang tugas rumah tangga. “Saat saya menemukan meditasi sadar, saya merasa, ini yang saya sukai.”
Eva Mendes mengenakan gaun oleh Monique Lhuillier; sepatu oleh Jimmy Choo; atas oleh Attersee; anting-anting oleh Nancy Newberg; Penata gaya: Masha Ossovskaya; Penata prop: Anne Ross; Riasan: Genevieve Herr dari Sally Harlor; Rambut: Serena Radaelli dari Cloutier Remix; Kuku: Ashlie Johnson dari The Wall Group.Jamel Toppin for Forbes
Untuk sampai ke tempat bahagia ini dalam hidupnya—di mana dia menghabiskan sebagian besar malam menemukan kebahagiaan di atas wastafel di rumahnya di California Selatan, di mana dia tinggal dengan aktor berusia 43 tahun Ryan Gosling dan kedua putri mereka—membutuhkan bertahun-tahun kerja keras, gen yang katanya dia dapat dari ibunya, imigran Kuba. Sejak Mendes masih kecil, ibunya akan menjelaskan bahwa kebebasan adalah saat Anda menghasilkan uang sendiri. Ia memimpin dengan contoh: Mendes melihat ibunya bekerja di berbagai pekerjaan—mulai dari menjual keranjang Paskah kepada tetangga sampai bekerja sebagai pembantu rumah tangga dan kemudian sebagai teller bank. Sekarang 50 tahun, satu dekade setelah karirnya di Hollywood, Mendes telah menjalani kehidupan dari berbagai peristiwa juga.
Sejak tampil di film terakhirnya, Lost River tahun 2014, Mendes menjadi seorang ibu, perancang mode, penulis buku anak-anak, dan rekan pemilik startup barang pembersih rumah yang sukses, Skura Style.
Setelah memiliki saham kepemilikan pada tahun 2022, Mendes telah membantu Skura—yang didirikan tahun 2017 oleh Linda Sawyer dan Alison Matz—memperluas jangkauan pemasarannya dan bahkan mencoba terlibat dalam desain produk. Forbes memperkirakan bisnis tersebut menghasilkan $7 juta pendapatan tahun lalu dan berencana mencapai $20 juta pada tahun 2024.
“Saya mulai menggunakannya dan saya suka, jadi saya menghubungi para pendiri dan saya menyukai cerita mereka,” katanya. Seperti Mendes, Sawyer dan Matz meninggalkan karir yang sukses—Sawyer adalah CEO untuk Amerika Utara di Deutsch Advertising dalam waktu yang lama, sementara Matz adalah penerbit majalah di Meredith dan Condé Nast, termasuk Brides—untuk menjadi pengusaha. Dengan peran kepemilikan barunya, Mendes menjadi tertarik pada setiap aspek perusahaan. “Saya ingin terlibat dalam panggilan investor tersebut, saya ingin membahas hal-hal membosankan, seperti seberapa tingginya kotak harus menjadi agar cocok dengan rak tertentu. Saya siap untuk semuanya.”
Mendes lahir di Miami dan pindah ke Los Angeles saat masih kecil. Saat masa kanak-kanak, dia tidak memiliki rencana untuk berakting. Barulah ketika dia berusia dua puluh tahunan, foto dirinya ditemukan oleh agen Hollywood, dia mulai mempertimbangkan industri itu, mengingat saran ibunya tentang mandiri. “Saya hanya ingin menghasilkan uang dan menjadi mandiri secara finansial,” ujarnya. “Tujuan saya adalah untuk membeli rumah bagi ibu saya, membeli rumah untuk diri saya sendiri—dan hanya menabung uang di bank.”
She began with roles in 1990s music videos—including Will Smith’s “Miami”—and made her film debut in the Children of the Corn franchise in 1998. Then, in 2001, she got her big break: a role in Training Day with Denzel Washington and Ethan Hawke. “I loved studying about the background of the character and what they want in a scene and breaking down a scene,” Mendes says. “That’s all still exciting to me.”
The Kitchen Sink: Mendes’ Skrubby Sponge collection had many inspirations, including her Cuban heritage, architecture she loves and photographs from her travels.
Skura Style
The academic approach paid off: Mendes went on to star in hit films such as Hitch, 2 Fast 2 Furious and the movie that changed her life, The Place Beyond the Pines, in which she starred with Gosling in 2012. Despite her success, she says she never loved being in front of the camera. So when her first daughter, Esmeralda, was born in 2014, Mendes put Hollywood on hold and never looked back. “My ambition was still there. It just was suddenly directed toward something else,” she says. “All my focus became my home. That’s where I derived my joy.”
And while Mendes has paused acting, she never stopped working. In 2015 she launched a now-discontinued beauty brand, Circa Beauty. And from 2013 through 2020 she partnered with New York & Company to design collections of wrap dresses and pantsuits. “It was a really ideal job for me, because I stayed creative and I love connecting with women,” she says. “I was really fulfilled while I was doing that.”
She doesn’t care that people think she sacrificed her film career for Gosling’s. “I don’t succumb to societal bullshit,” she says. Since she has taken on more responsibilities at home (she jokes that being a chauffeur is her day job), he has been nominated for two Academy Awards, including for his portrayal of Ken in 2023’s Barbie.
The decision to join Skura Style came to Mendes organically during her time at home with her daughters. She initially fell in love with the antibacterial Skrubby Sponge as a customer—she was hooked by its disappearing monogram design. “It actually fades with use, within one to two weeks, as a visual indicator when it’s time to throw it out,” Sawyer explains.
Mendes initially reached out to the cofounders in 2021 to see how they could work together. The three first met over Zoom and immediately clicked, they say. Plus, Mendes was excited about a female-founded team. “The roles I found most challenging were when I was involved in a very male-heavy cast,” she says. “I’m such a girl’s girl, and I need that female energy around me.”
Since she became a co-owner in 2022, her involvement has led to TV appearances and greater retail interest in the brand. “She’s been an amazing partner in the conversations that we’ve been having with retailers,” Sawyer says. “They say, ‘You can tell she’s in the boots of an owner of this company and this brand.’ ”
She’s also an integral part of product design and development. The Skura Style x Eva Mendes collection, which includes her beloved Skrubby Sponge, was inspired by Cuba. The collection is available at more than 220 Target stores across the country and is the brand’s first step toward big-box expansion. The cofounders say this heralds the start of attracting an entirely new market. Meanwhile, the company is continuing to produce microfiber wipes and kitchen towels, and Mendes is working on new products.
While Mendes knows sponges aren’t exactly sexy, that’s precisely the point. “I wanted to be the face of it. I wanted to take that chance and take that risk and be driven by people saying, ‘Why sponges?’ ” she says. “There was something about that that really appealed to me. I thought, ‘If we can make a sponge beautiful and fun and joyful and sexy, then cool.’ ”
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