Candace Cameron Bure on Staying Authentic to Your Fan Base While Building a Business: 'A Dollar Figure Will Never Get in the Way of What is True to Me' For the 'Full House' star, the key to business success is understanding that her fan base and customer base are the same.
By Emily Rella
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Growing up in the entertainment industry can be difficult for actors, navigating the difference between the characters they play on screen with who they become off-screen.
The importance of understanding how to connect with your audience is crucial in either arena — if you fail to stay authentic, genuine and responsive to what your fans or consumers look to you for, the trust and consistency in that relationship is lost.
For television star and business maven Candace Cameron Bure, practicing what you preach is the most important way to succeed in both endeavors.
"It comes down to hard work, to building good relationships with people and companies," she says, bubbly as ever as she dials in for a late-afternoon conversation amid a busy week.
It's a true nod to who Bure and her fanbase are — and have remained — over the past two decades and beyond: real women with multi-hyphenate titles just trying to fit it all in while enjoying themselves at the same time.
For years, Bure has been communicating with fans through the screen during her role as D.J. Tanner in Full House and the show's reboot Fuller House, which came to Netflix in 2016 and ran for five seasons.
"I know who follows me, I know who my customers are, which is quite a wide age range. I have a lot of young children that follow me because of Full House and Fuller House, but my main demographic is really from early 20s to 60s," Bure explains. "I know what they're looking for — I'm paying attention to those things. I've had opportunities to partner with brands that I absolutely love but if I don't think that it's right for my customer, meaning it might not be as relatable to them or might not work in the right price bracket for them, those are decisions that I take into account. I want it to be something that they're going to be able to use in their life and truly love and it's going to be worth it for them."
Most recently, Bure has starred as Aurora Teagarden in the Hallmark Channel's Aurora Teagarden Mysteries, as well as producing a handful of movies for the channel.
"It's what I do and it's what I love," she says.
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Many fans of Full House watched Bure's character D.J. grow up alongside them, experiencing the highs and lows of what it means to grieve, to fall in love and to make mistakes. Most importantly, D.J.'s character showed viewers what it meant to become the most authentic version of yourself.
"I know full well that today people look at D.J. Tanner still as their big sister or their best friend from television, but I feel like that is genuinely been a lot of who I am," Bure explains. "I've been a very open and honest person and I've stayed true to myself and walked my own walk so I really hope that seeing D.J. as a best friend or a big sister really blurs into the same line as Candace being that big sister or best friend. I want to be authentic and vulnerable in that way and openly share the good and the bad."
This notion bleeds into Bure's entrepreneurial pursuits, which range from successful partnerships with companies like Walmart and Canon, to being a New York Times bestselling author to even leading her own brand development company and her own production company, Candy Rock Entertainment.
Most recently, Bure debuted her first clothing line Candace Cameron Bure — Fashion, which was inspired by what D.J. Tanner would wear and what Bure would wear in her own personal life. The two tend to be one and the same, an easy California-inspired feel with bright colors and feminine sillhouettes.
Bure explains that the line is made to embody what the "real woman wants to wear" with many transitional pieces and mix and match options.
"Unless I'm on a red carpet, I'm in pretty casual clothes, but I always want them to feel elevated," she says of the brand's vibe. "Sometimes just wearing fabulous clothes that are made of quality but at a good price point, it just makes you feel good and it makes your day better."
A big part of this for Bure was making sure her debut line was size-inclusive.
Though exact sources vary, the average clothing size for an American woman is looked at as being between a size 14 to 16, with most brands referring to a size 14 and up as "plus size."
Bure's line ranges in size from triple extra small to 5x, with prices ranging from $16 pieces to the most expensive piece in the line being priced at an affordable $100. These prices go back to her philosophy of knowing your audience.
Both Bure's customer and fanbase are women from diverse backgrounds that still look to her as a role model for being the girl-next-door on their screens that represents middle class America, from young teenagers to mothers trying to balance it all.
"It's so incredibly important to me because these clothes are for real women, it's for all shapes and all sizes," Bure says. "Every woman deserves the chance to feel beautiful and comfortable and confident in their clothes, and that is really what I hope women will feel wearing my clothing line, and having that inclusive sizing was essential."
This, she says, was a big reason why she chose to debut her line with QVC (QVCC), a brand that she's worked in partnership with for over two years now.
"I've had such a wonderful experience with them not only as a company, but with the platform that they provide and the type of communication you get to have with the customer," Bure says. "It feels more satisfying to be able to engage with the customer, not only on social media, but on the live show and really talking about your product and the clothes, in this instance."
Bure knows that the shopping network's model works for her and her fanbase, explaining that all companies she conducts business with are "like-minded" to her in the sense that quality comes first, in terms of both reputation and product itself.
"A dollar figure will never get in the way of what is true to me," she asserts.
It's the notion of staying true to oneself and not selling out for any project or business deal that she hopes to pass on to her children — Natasha, 22, Lev, 21 and Maksim, 19.
Being a mom may be just another one of the many hats Bure wears, but she knows that having been and continuing to be a role model to millions throughout the years will have her continuing to want to lift up and inspire as many as possible as she continues on into the business world.
"I certainly want to be that helpful person as a mom in my children's lives but also give that opportunity to other young people," she says. "I want to be able to say "I'm going to take a chance on you and I'm going to give you this opportunity' and that's what feels pretty incredible, not only as a mom, but to give that opportunity to other young people as well."
Clothing or not, Bure just wants to empower and uplift her customer, something that comes across when she talks about her pursuits.
"I want [my customers] to know that their true beauty comes from the inside," she says. "That is essential for all of us. And I hope that these clothes simply reflect the beauty that each woman carries on the inside, and it's just an outward reflection of that … if I'm behind something, it means I truly love it."
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