The Female CEO’s bossing it in the world of beauty
It’s always a good time to be a woman, right? But right now is a really REALLY good time to be a woman in the beauty business. There are so many great beauty brands, both in the UK and globally, that were dreamt up by women, are owned by women and are manned, ahem, by women. Women really are bossing the beauty industry right now – and it’s about time. Roccabox is no different – as the brainchild of Tia Roqaa, Founder and CEO of Roccabox, we are just one example of a beauty business that was born out of the blood sweat and tears of a woman. So here’s a little insight into the female CEO’s who inspire us – the true beauty bosses.
Kate Somerville, CEO of Kate Somerville
In 2004, after working alongside some of the world’s top cosmetic surgeons and dermatologists, Kate Somerville opened her iconic Skin Health Experts Clinic in the heart of Hollywood. Today, she’s a trusted skincare guru for some of the world’s most photographed faces and her ability to custom cocktail highly active ingredients with soothing essentials is what makes Kate Somerville’s products such a Beauty Editor favourite.
Joy Howieson, CEO of Project Lip
Like many CEO’s Joy Howieson’s leap into the world of beauty bossing involved a career leap (hers was from make-up artist) following a life-altering experience. A spell in hospital following a pulmonary embolism when returning from a trip to Australia left Joy determined to create the product she used to dream of while working the MAC beauty counter in Selfridges. Cue her Project Lip unisex matt lip plumper, that, with its claims of plumping as effectively as filler, has earned itself a cult following of fans - including us.
Tiffany Masterson, CEO Drunk Elephant
What drove Tiffany Masterson to come up with the concept of Drunk Elephant is something we can all relate to: a myriad of skin issues that nothing seemed to fix for long, and cue lots of aimless brand hopping. In her quest to solve her issues she identified 6 ingredients – her ‘Suspicious 6’ – and eliminated them from her routine. The result? Her skin cleared up beautifully but she realized she didn’t own a single product that didn’t contain at least one of these 6 nasties. So she went about creating her own line, with a strict veto on the Suspicious 6: her theory is that it only takes one bad guy to spoil a party, something we can get on board with. Drunk Elephant now churns out sell-out products on the regular and has earned a reputation as a cult fave – and deservedly so.
Tata Harper, CEO of Tata Harper
Tata Harper credits her stepfather’s tragic cancer diagnosis with being the driving force behind launching a non-toxic beauty line: when she couldn’t find a beauty brand that was 100% natural and non-artificial she decided to create her own. Interestingly, her take on women making such great beauty bosses is that we know what we want and what we don’t want, meaning that when the businesses we launch are intuitive. We can’t argue with that.
Emily Weiss, CEO Glossier
Glossier’s CEO Emily Weiss was first seen by the world in a 2007 episode of The Hills, when she sashayed in to a slick LA office, dubbed the ‘super intern’. 14 years down the line the world has dubbed her the queen of beauty start-ups, as the CEO of Glossier, the disruptive beauty brand she founded in 2014, that has since gone on to be valued at a super cool 1.2 billions dollars. Her path from intern (Teen Vogue) led her to American Vogue, where she dreamt up her beauty blog Into The Gloss. Glossier was born in 2014 but it was arguably Boy Brow – which launched in the US in 2016 with a 10,000 waiting list – that catapulted it to cult status.
Maria Hatzistefanis, CEO Rodial and Nip + Fab
Former beauty writer Maria Hatzistefanis, founded her ground-breaking skincare group, Rodial, in 1999 by identifying a niche for treatments targeted to specific skin concerns. We’ve become so used to this sort of targeted ingredient-focused products becoming the norm it’s easy to forget how ahead of her time London-born Maria was in doing this, however the 3 brands under her belt– Rodial, Nip + Fab and Nip + Man – which are now sold through 20,000 doors across 35 countries worldwide are a pretty good reminder of how savvy and ahead of the game Maria was.
Robyn Rihanna Fenty (aka Rihanna), CEO Fenty Beauty
She’s not just bossing the beauty world, but, well the world, and who doesn’t love Rihanna? Her fame was a great launchpad into beauty – there’s no denying it – as Rihanna spent years experimenting with the best-of-the-best in beauty - but let’s not let her global domination blur the fact that the message behind Fenty Beauty (and in fact the entire reason for its existence) – inclusion for everyone- is significant, relevant and hugely important.
Sarah and Emma Cross, CEO’s CODE Beautiful
If there’s anything we love more than a female CEO it’s two of them – teaming up in true sisterhood style. And that’s exactly what you get from CODE Beautiful, which was founded by two women – sisters, no less – Sarah and Emma Cross in 2014. Their aim when launching CODE was simple, yet incredibly important: give women make-up that doesn’t fit the industry’s ideal, but allows them to remain individual. This pervasive one-size-fits-all notion didn’t sit well with the Cross sisters – plus they were fed up with products that over-promised and under-delivered – so they went about creating their own. Sisters not only doing it for themselves, but doing it for all the other women out there too. We applaud that.
Sarah Lee and Christine Chang, CEO’s Glow Recipe
Sarah Lee and Christine Chang, the Korean-American co-founders of Glow Recipe, have come a long way since they started their careers at L'Oreal. In 2014, the two friends decided to team up and create Glow Recipe, which has become one of the most sought-after skincare brands globally. Its product line aims to demystify the wonderful world of K-Beauty, and with its aesthetically dreamy signature packaging and beauty-forward formulas it’s hardly surprising Glow Recipe is globally one of the most coveted brands and its products frequently on our own must-buy list.
There’s no denying it, ladies. Female entrepreneurs are having their moment – and long may it last.