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.
Scale your beauty brand with seamless logistics that lower costs, mitigate tariffs, and optimise supply chains. Learn how to future-proof order fulfilment and build resilient operations through real-time order data, inventory management, and reporting and analytics boosting omnichannel growth.
Casey Armstrong is the CMO of ShipBob, a leading global omnifulfillment provider specializing in premium beauty and personal care logistics supporting brands like CLEARSTEM, Arrae, Dossier, Barefaced and more. Prior to ShipBob, Casey was the VP of Marketing at BigCommerce and SVP at Watchmaster.
Nish Samantray is the Co-founder and Co-CEO of Arrae, a science-backed wellness brand he launched in 2020 with his wife, Siffat Haider. Drawing on his background in operations and growth, and Siffat’s passion for holistic health, Nish helped lead Arrae from hand-packing orders to rapidly scaling the brand. Recognizing the power of natural solutions to address everyday wellness challenges—particularly those affecting women—Arrae is on a mission to make effective, accessible remedies for all.
Uncover the future of executive talent strategy. Discover how visionary leadership, smart hiring, and operational transformation is turning brands into beauty powerhouses.
Liz Allison is the CEO of Tricoci, a modern beauty enterprise built around three distinct business units: Salon & Spa, MedSpa, and CPG Brand Incubation. Each business draws on Tricoci’s professional legacy while scaling through its own focused growth strategy.
With more than 20 years of experience transforming and scaling consumer businesses across beauty, retail, and wellness, Liz has held executive leadership roles at Milan Laser Hair Removal, Neiman Marcus Group, and JCPenney.
Since joining Tricoci in 2023, Liz has helped accelerate the brand’s evolution through talent investment, service expansion, the launch of Tricoci MedSpa, and the development of Nutrire, the company’s salon-born, science-backed haircare brand.
Liz holds a degree in accounting from the University of Iowa, has served on multiple advisory and organizational boards, and actively mentors rising female leaders in service, retail, and CPG.
Beauty consumers are counting on Chat GPT for skincare routines, product recommendations and well-suited brands. Explore the new Brand Discovery Playbook: getting products cited in AI responses, optimizing reviews for LLM visibility, and measuring success as user behavior evolves toward deeper brand loyalty.
Discover how coveted brands are expertly balancing continuous innovation with their core values and authentic identity. By embracing forward-thinking ideas, brands are securing and marketing 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.
Hugo Denton is the Chief Growth Officer at Devcos and the third generation driving his family’s legacy in the beauty industry. He works with brands around the world to bring new products to life across skin, color, SPF/OTC, personal care, and haircare. Focused on innovation, speed, compliance and quality, Hugo is passionate about helping brands grow while building on Devcos’ 60-year legacy.
Paul Phillips is the CEO of Flixmedia, a global leader in digital content syndication operating in over 100 countries and reaching more than one billion online shoppers annually. Under his leadership, Flixmedia’s cloud-based platform has expanded to over 1,800 retail partners, syndicating rich media content from the world’s top brands. By integrating AI, shopper insights, AR, and immersive brand experiences, Flixmedia is redefining how consumers connect with brands online, most recently accelerating growth within the luxury and beauty sectors.
With over 20 years of senior experience across media, technology, and retail, including at Virgin Media, Paul is recognized for leading large-scale transformation and driving operational excellence. At Beauty Connect LA 2025, he will discuss how brands can harness emerging technologies to elevate consumer engagement, express authentic brand DNA through retail partners, and unlock sustainable growth in the evolving digital beauty landscape.
Daniel is a Principal at Prelude Growth Partners, a New York City based consumer growth equity fund. Since 2017, Prelude Growth has invested in and supported leading growth-stage beauty brands including Sol De Janeiro, Naturium, Summer Fridays, Phlur, Tower 28, Westman Atelier, and OneSkin. Prior to joining Prelude Growth Partners, Daniel worked as an Associate Partner at McKinsey & Company in New York where he drove growth strategy for consumer and retail companies and conducted investment due diligence for private equity clients. Daniel began his career at The Blackstone Group as an investment banker advising companies on M&A and restructuring.
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.