Explore key areas of focus for beauty brands preparing for a successful exit, with insights on valuation drivers, timing, market dynamics, and positioning for acquisition or IPO.
Use real-time consumer insights from social media to shape product development, marketing, and trend forecasting. Learn how brands use social listening to stay ahead and connect more deeply with their audience.
Understand what the shifting priorities of strategics around formulation ownership mean for your brand & how intellectual property (IP) rights can impact your valuation.
Discover how coveted brands are expertly balancing continuous innovation with their core values and authentic identity. By embracing forward-thinking marketing ideas, brands are securing their differentiation in this hyper-competitive landscape.
Aurelian Lis is the global CEO of Dermalogica, a subsidiary of Unilever Prestige. For over 30 years, Dermalogica has been committed to elevating the skin care industry through providing world-class education to professional skin therapists and salon owners, as well as cutting-edge, professional-grade products that deliver results. Dermalogica is a standalone company headquartered in Los Angeles and is sold worldwide. Since 2016 the company has embarked on a digital transformation that has redefined the brand to new consumers seeking healthy skin. Dermalogica’s FaceMapping® technology is just one of the many examples.
As a makeup artist, photographer, and entrepreneur, Danessa Myricks is one of the most influential leaders in the beauty industry and is widely credited for leading groundbreaking product development for some of the most popular brands before launching her own brand, Danessa Myricks Beauty, in 2015. Referred to as the “Willy Wonka of Beauty”, Myricks takes a revolutionary approach to product development resulting in award-winning, innovative, multi-use products like the Blurring Balm Powder, Colorfix, and the viral Lightwork Freedom Palette System, earning over 80 accolades and recognition from Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies List, Allure Best of Beauty, and featured on TIME Magazine’s Closers List to name a few. As CEO, she continues to push boundaries, fostering a global community rooted in love, creativity, and inclusivity while connecting hearts and minds through beauty.
Cindy Deily serves as Vice President of Merchandising, Skincare for Sephora US. In her role, she oversees a team of merchants focused on the continual development and improvement of the retailer’s robust and diverse skincare product assortment.
Since joining the company in 2006, Cindy has driven the strategic development of multiple categories at Sephora and leading industry-wide trend curation, including skincare, hair, bath & body, sun, wellness, clean beauty, CBD, and intimate care. Managing 100+ brand partnerships, she effectively nurtures brands from infancy to industry dominance – such as, Drunk Elephant, Tatcha, and Summer Fridays to name a few – and has established products such as dry shampoos and face oils as key categories across prestige beauty. Cindly also spearheaded and continues to lead and evolve the ‘Clean at Sephora’ program, including updating the initial restricted ingredient list from 13 to more than 50 ingredient groups.
Ensure your beauty formulations are shelf-ready, going beyond efficacy to encompass crucial certifications and testing. Discover how to confidently position your products and craft compelling, marketable claims that augment your brand value with retailers and consumers alike.
Romain is the founder and CEO of The Detox Market. In 2010, he opened The Detox Market on Abbot Kinney in Venice, CA, as a collaborative, short-term pop-up shop aimed at providing education regarding the benefits of green beauty while also exposing consumers to hard-to-find eco-friendly brands. After the positive response and several more pop-ups, he opened the West Hollywood flagship in 2011. As one of the first purveyors of natural beauty products, Romain’s focus has always been discovering and incubating new brands and showcasing the brand founders’ stories, which reflect his own passion for offering non-toxic beauty choices. Now North America’s leader in green beauty, The Detox Market has since expanded to seven locations throughout Los Angeles, Toronto, and New York City, as well as several Beauty Corners in partnership with Café Gratitude, the plant-based restaurants in CA. The demand for the best in green beauty has also made the ecommerce shop www.thedetoxmarket.com a thriving platform, shipping worldwide.
Alison Kohlenstein serves as Vice President of Merchandising, Private Label Brands for Ulta Beauty. In her role, she leads a team focused on the development, execution, and growth strategy for the company’s owned brand portfolio.
Since joining the company in 2021, Alison has driven the long-term strategy for the owned brand portfolio, which includes makeup, skincare, bodycare, sun, and wellness. She led the strategic transformation of Ulta Beauty Collection—aligning it with the Conscious Beauty program through certified clean ingredients, cruelty-free formulations, and significant advancements in sustainable packaging—and continues to guide its evolution and positioning for long-term growth.
Neurocosmetics represent a transformative shift in skincare, merging neuroscience, emotional health, and beauty innovation. By leveraging the skin-brain connection, these formulations use clinically tested, emotion-responsive ingredients to influence mood, stress response, and overall well-being. This approach goes beyond aesthetics—targeting longevity, neurological health, and emotional resonance. By tapping into emotional wellness, neurocosmetics open new doors for innovation, consumer engagement, and brand differentiation.
Anne is currently the Technical Business Development Manager at Croda, Inc where she is responsible for identifying and driving strategic growth opportunities for Beauty Actives, leading customer engagement across North America, and translating technical insights into impactful commercial strategies. She has a wide range of experience in the beauty and personal care industry, with expertise in product development, technical sales, and global business development. She holds a Ph.D. in Chemistry from New York University, where she focused on peptide research. Anne has held strategic roles at BioCogent, BASF, Expanscience Laboratoires, L’Oréal, & J&J driving innovation and commercial growth across diverse markets.