We Spoke With This Model-Turned-Founder Whose Bodycare Brand Already Has Hailey Bieber’s Approval

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Marianne Fonseca has been a model since she was 15 years old. Now, she runs the Brazilian-inspired body care brand Gente, which already has the approval of beauty heavyweights like Hailey Bieber. 

In 2022, the model-turned-founder saw a gap in the market: in Brazil, where she’s from, lymphatic drainage is very common. In the US, the wellness industry is only scratching its surface. A serendipitous moment (which we get into later) led her to realize that instead of going the route of something more cliche (like starting a bikini line), she wanted to highlight something that made a difference in her beauty journey: lymphatic drainage.

ICYMI: Lymphatic drainage has quickly soared to the top of wellness trends because it helps stimulate your lymphatic system and helps drain any toxins and water retention with the right massage technique and ingredients. Celebrities have been flocking to the technique, especially before major red carpet events, and now it's becoming a bodycare ritual that anyone can tap into and learn, especially with brands like Gente hitting the market.

I spoke with Fonseca to learn more about how Gente came to be, that viral Hailey Bieber moment, and what’s next for the brand’s bodycare lineup.

But First: My Personal Experience With the Brand

I tested out a few of Gente’s best sellers, like the Lympathic Drainage Oil (Unscented and Scented). First off, I actually loved the scented version, which is a rarity when it comes to scented products. 

The body oil glided on very easily and didn’t leave a mess or any stickiness. Key ingredients included Pataua, which is an Amazonian oil that helps strengthen your skin’s barrier, Coffea Arabica Seed Oil (which is actually sourced from Brazilian coffee beans and is known to help reduce the appearance of cellulite and water retention), and Mulateiro Extract (known as "Tree of Youth," in the Amazon, thanks to its abilities to stimulate cell renewal). I used the brand’s Body Gua Sha while watching the brand’s how-to videos to make sure I was doing the lymphatic drainage movements correctly.

I also had the opportunity to try the brand’s Lymphatic Drainage Effect lotion. I was most excited for this product, which is meant to eliminate excess water retention when used with self-lymphatic movements. Key ingredients include caffeine, acai, and cupuacu butter. Like the oil, it glided on smoothly without any stickiness, and believe it or not, I actually did feel my body de-puff after using it. I felt less bloated immediately, but I do know that it would be a lot more visible if I continued to use it daily like Fonseca suggests. I did reach for the lotion a few times before some big events I had to attend over the course of a few weeks, and I felt a lot less puffy, which was amazing.

I haven’t tried the brand’s Bye Bye Cellulite just yet, but I’m intrigued. As Fonesca explains, “We have clinicals that proved 99% of women saw a difference in their cellulite while using the product.” That fact alone was very intriguing to me. More of our conversation below…

TQE: Tell us a little bit about your career as a model and how Gente started.

MF: “20 years ago, when I was 15, I started my modeling journey in my little city in Brazil called Uberlândia. After sending pictures to agencies in São Paula, I convinced my parents to take me there to visit, and I ended up signing with an agency!

After I got tired of modeling and didn’t want to do it anymore, I actually met someone who put the idea in my head that I should create these products. The person ended up being one of my investors later, and they already invested in other beauty companies. They showed me that I have a story to tell, and it  was kind of a right place, right time.”

TQE: Tell us a little bit more about why you chose to create products rooted in Lymphatic drainage.

MF: “I always used to do lymphatic drainage since I was 13 years old, even before I was modeling. I realized how much that helped before my modeling jobs, and it makes you feel more confident and lighter.”

TQE: Hailey Bieber’s shoutout of Gente went viral on social media. How did it feel having her support the brand?

MF: “I'm very grateful that some of my friends are down to help and post my brand, and Hailey is very genuine with the stuff that she posts. We kind of started our brands around the same time, and she's always been supportive and down to try the products. 

I also obviously love her brand [Rhode]. I know she loves the shower gel because I go to her place and see the shower gel sitting there. But anytime something like that happens with different celebrities, it's always great because it does give you credibility as a brand.”

TQE: What are some of the key Brazilian ingredients in your products, and what do  you love about them?

MF: “Guarana, Acai, and Cupuacu are all ingredients from the Amazon rainforest. They help stimulate your lymphatic system and microcirculation, which helps with water retention.”​

TQE: How long does it take to see results, or are they pretty immediate?

MF: “They're pretty immediate if you do it with intention. I have an event today, and if I spend 10 minutes on each leg, I will see a difference. We ideally want people to use the product for 30 days to really see the smoothness and the difference. It's not magic.”

TQE: What is the story behind the name of the brand?

MF: “I always say the world 'gente,' which means people. It's perfect for the brand we're building, which is for everyone. We wanted our brand to be unisex, and even though it's coming from Brazil, we wanted everyone to have access to it.”

TQE: The brand’s packaging is so fun! Tell us a little bit about that and how it came to be.

MF: “I didn't want the packaging to be stereotypically Brazilian, with it being yellow and green, but I still wanted to include some aspects of my country. On our packaging, we have a black and white pattern on the bottom, which is the sidewalks of Ipanema and Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro.”

​If you’re wondering what’s next from Gente next year, you’ll be happy to hear that there’s a lot of newness in the pipeline, but “bodycare will always be our priority,” Fonseca reveals. “Our oils, to me, are our most incredible formula, because they combine different oils from the Amazon rainforest that you cannot get anywhere in the world. I can’t say too many details, but like our Bye Bye Cellulite, we’re going to have more products to lift the body and tone your tummy flat for next Summer.” 

You can shop Gente at https://gentebeauty.com/