Nick Stenson: Cancer, Clarity, and What It Really Takes to Build a Brand
He left one of the most powerful jobs in the beauty industry to bet everything on himself. Then he got cancer. This is that story.
Recorded live at ABS Chicago with co-host Geno Chapman, Corey sits down with Nick Stenson, celebrity hairdresser and founder of Nick Stenson Beauty, for a conversation that earns every minute of your time. Nick has been a creative director at Matrix, rose to Senior Vice President of Salon Services and Store Operations at Ulta Beauty, and spent seven years quietly building his own hair care line before leaving corporate life entirely. Months after walking away, he was diagnosed with Stage 3 Hodgkin Lymphoma. This episode covers all of it.
Seven Years to a Bottle
Nick started developing his product line before he even accepted the job at Ulta. The brand, built around a three-step philosophy covering what you do in the shower, out of the shower, and before you walk out the door, currently sits at 12 SKUs. Every product was designed to be a hero. Nick spent 19 formulations on his hairspray alone. His goal from the start was to create a brand complete enough that he'd never need another one. The line is now available in Ulta, Nordstrom, Macy's, and Amazon, with more retail partnerships coming. He put his name on the bottle because he wanted his reputation attached to everything inside it.
Building a Brand in the Wild
Nick breaks down what marketing a hair brand actually looks like from the inside. TikTok rewards hooks and speed. Instagram builds community and brand culture over time. Google runs differently from both. He's learned that most founders pull the plug on a marketing channel too early, before the algorithm has had enough time to respond. Six months is the minimum before you can evaluate whether a platform is working. Each retailer also operates in its own ecosystem, and breaking through to their consumer requires its own strategy layered on top of your own.
The Diagnosis
Nick had been in pain across his chest and back for months. Chiropractors, x-rays, adjustments three times a week, up to 20 Advil a day. He wrote it off as a workout injury. The fatigue he attributed to stress. Then a lump appeared on his collarbone and a doctor friend spotted it at a weekend trip. Four weeks later it had doubled in size. He found out through his patient chart, sitting in a car with that same friend, who started to cry. By Monday he was in a doctor's office. By Thursday he was in surgery. He had cancer in his lymph nodes around his shoulder, vocal cords, chest, armpit, and back. His doctor told him clearly: we are going to cure you. Those five words changed everything.
What It Changed
Nick describes going public with his diagnosis as a deliberate choice to be a safe place for people who didn't have his network, his doctors, or his support system. He spent hours in bed responding to DMs from strangers going through cancer. He calls that healing. On the other side of treatment, he is calmer, more generous when things go wrong, and quicker to celebrate his team instead of spiral. He also got clear on who belongs in his life. Some people who showed up during the hardest moments were removed not because they did anything wrong in that moment, but because their access to him had already expired. Cancer just made it easier to see.
Presence, Meditation, and the Hard Conversation
The episode ends somewhere unexpected. Corey opens up about experiencing suicidal ideation every day of his life until two years ago, and the realization through meditation that it was never really about wanting to die. It was about pressure. Seeing it for what it was made it stop. Nick picks up the thread and talks about learning to separate the hard moments he created in his own head from the ones that are actually real. Both men land in the same place: the world is happening for you, not against you. Doing the hard things now is the only way to earn the easy later.
