Why attend?
Committed to accelerating innovation and investment in the beauty industry through brand growth, the Beauty Connect series is finally coming back to the East Coast!
Expect intimate networking opportunities amongst a curated audience. We’re bringing together 150 of beauty’s most sought-after brands and partners for one day only. Don’t miss your chance to be in this room.
Thank you to our Advisory Board
Dave Smith
Rich Gersten
Rich has spent the last 30 years investing and building great consumer brands at top private equity firms including Tengram Capital Partners, L Catterton, and North Castle Partners. Rich spent the last 9 years dedicated specifically to investing in the beauty industry, where he developed an extensive network of relationships that sourced many emerging growth brands with very limited access to institutional capital. Realizing the significant opportunity to address this underserved area of the market in beauty, Rich founded True Beauty Ventures.
Rich received a BS in Economics from Union College (N.Y.) and an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
Carla Ruiz
Ju Rhyu
Sandra Valesque
Alicia Sontag
Beauty Series Speakers
Andrea Harrison
Heather Wallace
Heather Wallace joined Curology in September of 2022, as the CEO and member of the board. She has vast experience leading brands and businesses across healthcare, CPG and beauty.
Prior to joining Curology, Heather served as the President of the Americas for Revlon, leading over $1B in sales across luxury, mass and professional beauty. She also served as the SVP & General Manager of Beauty Care for North America at Henkel. She joined Henkel in 2016, following the acquisition of Sun Products. Previously, Heather spent nearly 10 years at Novartis Consumer Health. She began her career in HR at Sysco and holds a MBA from University of Michigan Ross School of Business and a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from University of California, Davis.
Don Maree
Ron Robinson
Michelle Carnahan
Whitney Williams
Ethan Rigel
Amy Shecter
Amy’s business leadership success has transcended industries and operating environments, with a career spanning beauty, fashion and fitness across digital and physical channels in the domestic and international markets. As a senior executive, Amy has led DTC, wholesale and licensing, in startup, high growth and turnarounds businesses with a focus on delivering strong financial results.
An inspiring enterprise leader, executive team mentor and equally nimble strategist, operator, marketer and merchant, Amy leads the business through a discerning consumer lens and excels at galvanizing the organization to execute. She remains acutely focused on creating an emotional connection between the brand and the customer.
Currently the CEO of Ever/Body, a haven for high-tech beauty services that serves to demystify cosmetic dermatology and make it more available for everyone, Shecter offers a bold vision to revolutionize the industry and lead an ambitious growth strategy focused on accessibility, market expansion, strategic partnerships and more.
Prior to Ever/Body, Amy was the CEO of Glamsquad, CEO of CorePower Yoga and also served as the President of C. Wonder. Earlier, Amy operated in several senior executive capacities at DKNY, Cole Haan, and Tory Burch. Amy advanced up the merchandising, marketing and operations ranks in various leadership roles and began her career at Bloomingdale’s.
Rachel Liverman
Sharon Leite
Steve Welch
Steve started his first big entrepreneurial success, Mitos, in 2001 with hardly a cent to his name. Without ever raising outside money Steve built Mitos into a global company in the biotech manufacturing field prior to selling it in 2007 at the age of 29 to a Fortune 500 company. Under Steve’s guidance Mitos developed several critical innovations and patents which transformed the manufacturing process of biological drugs and vaccines and allowed Mitos to develop a global sales and distribution network. Following the sale of Mitos, Steve co-founded DreamIt Ventures, a new business accelerator model.. As a 2009 Eisenhower Fellow, Steve has spent time around the world studying all aspects of economic development. Throughout Asia, Europe and North America Steve has examined how economic development is impacted through 1) government policy 2) technology transfer institutions 3) funding sources and 4) culture. In 2010 Steve published “We are all Born Entrepreneurs” in which he uses his story and those of over a dozen other entrepreneurs to explain what drives entrepreneurs, while at the same time sharing lessons learned from the success -- and failures -- of entrepreneurs. In 2011 Steve started KinderTown as an educational app store for parents with children ages 3-8. KinderTown helps parents become their child’s best teacher by utilizing game-based learning on the tablet with learning in the physical world. In 2013 with almost 400,000 users Steve sold KinderTown to Demme Learning. In 2015 Steve founded Restore Hyper Wellness to expand the limits of personal health and performance, to help people do more of what they love through personalized, science-backed therapies. Restore has 225+ locations spread throughout the US. Steve lives in Austin, TX.
Michele Henry
Michele Henry is the Founder and CEO of FACE FOUNDRIÉ. She leads the company’s senior
management team and oversees daily operations and nationwide expansion. Henry guides the
country’s most forthcoming focused facial bar.
Henry helps to lead the company in new innovations and expansion. The company was founded
in 2019 and now boasts six corporate stores with over 60 franchise locations sold.
At FACE FOUNDRIÉ, she led the company through the pivots required to survive the COVID-19
pandemic while simultaneously opening a third corporate location and launching the franchise
program. She has led the company through the pivots required to survive the COVID-19
pandemic while simultaneously opening a third corporate location and launching franchising.
Within four months of announcing the franchise expansion plan to the public, the company has
sold 50 franchise units across the country. Henry has been recognized by various media outlets
for her impressive business career and continues to gain recognition as FACE FOUNDRIÉ
franchises across the country. As a member of the Women’s President Organization, Henry
represents the beauty industry with some of the most prominent and well regarded women in
business throughout the world. In addition to this, she is a member of Young Presidents
Organization (YPO), a 2022 40 under 40 Business Journal Honoree and founder of Savant
Aesthetics Institute. Most recently named Entrepreneur Of The Year® 2023 Heartland Award
winner.
Henry holds two Bachelor's degrees from the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota
where she studied Business and Apparel Design. Soon after graduating she launched a series
of companies including PRIMP, a cheap chic boutique, that she started with just $8,000 dollars
in the middle of the recession. The company garnered over $25 million in sales during her
tenure. She sold her shares of PRIMP to pursue FACE FOUNDRIÉ. All of her businesses have
been self-funded, grown 100% organically and debt-free.
Henry is a mom of three residing in the Twin Cities area. When not with her family, the
entrepreneur enjoys rollerblading around the lakes, painting in her art room or digging into the
latest trends and innovations.
Nick Stanoszek
Nicole Chau
After searching high and low for a comprehensive skincare device, Nicole decided to create her own. Leveraging her science background, passion for beauty, and extensive experience in merchandise planning and development, she founded La Luer®.
La Luer® is the first company to patent and integrate 6 of the most advanced dermal technologies into an all-in-one at-home skin care device- delivering unparalleled efficiency and customization. The treatments stimulate the skin’s natural ability to regenerate, resulting in visibly firmer, smoother, and healthier-looking skin.
Ewelina Aiossa
Ewelina Aiossa is a noted beauty authority and brand architect with an extensive beauty pedigree. Proficient in scientific skincare and medical marketing, she has honed her expertise working with multinationals and heritage brands, including L'Oréal - Skinceuticals, Pierre Fabre Dermo-Cosmetics - Glytone, and Eau Thermale Avene, and Topix Pharmaceuticals.
Aiossa developed several beauty brands for retailers and investors and served as a strategic advisor to established professional-grade brands like Clarity Rx, Replenix, Osmotics Cosmeceuticals, Style Edit as well as mid-sized venture-backed companies.
Aiossa co-founded Clinical Skin and custom-developed award-winning formulas across many product categories by fusing corporate expertise with indie ingenuity.
Aiossa is a well-known thought leader in the field of scientific beauty and cosmetic marketing who frequently contributes to trade magazines, presents at industry conferences, and has work that has been peer-reviewed for publication.
Rich Gersten
Rich has spent the last 30 years investing and building great consumer brands at top private equity firms including Tengram Capital Partners, L Catterton, and North Castle Partners. Rich spent the last 9 years dedicated specifically to investing in the beauty industry, where he developed an extensive network of relationships that sourced many emerging growth brands with very limited access to institutional capital. Realizing the significant opportunity to address this underserved area of the market in beauty, Rich founded True Beauty Ventures.
Rich received a BS in Economics from Union College (N.Y.) and an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
Maya Benayoun
Maya Benayoun, the CEO of BeautyFix MedSpa, is a visionary leader with a diverse background in finance and beauty. With six locations spanning across New York, Connecticut, and Florida, BeautyFix is a pioneering MedSpa, Plastic Surgery, and Training Center offering innovative injectables, body contouring, and skincare services.
Maya's career began in finance, where she worked as an M&A Investment Banker at Lazard, collaborating directly with L'Oréal's CEO and executive team on strategic beauty acquisitions. This financial acumen, combined with her business education from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, laid the foundation for her entrepreneurial journey.
Maya's passion for holistic well-being is reflected not only in her leadership but also in her love for Pilates and her role as a dog mom to two cherished doodles. She finds inspiration in travel and embraces diverse cultures as she continues to elevate BeautyFix's mission of enhancing natural beauty and self-confidence.
Maya Benayoun's dynamic leadership has propelled BeautyFix MedSpa to the forefront of the aesthetics industry, reshaping the way people approach self-care and beauty enhancement.
Chris Payne
Chris Payne is the CEO of jane iredale – The Skincare Makeup®, the pioneering clean beauty brand best known for makeup that improves the health of the skin.
Having served more than 20 years in beauty executive roles, Payne has a proven track record driving brand growth and engagement with an eagerness to improve the status quo. Since joining jane iredale in 2019, he has worked to uphold the brand’s iconic role within professional beauty while fostering brand loyalty in a new generation of clean beauty enthusiasts, driving more than a 130 percent increase in new account openings within one year.
Prior to jane iredale, Chris served as CMO for PCA Skin where under his leadership, the brand more than doubled its revenue within two years and was successfully acquired by Colgate-Palmolive. Chris was also Senior Vice President at Arcade Beauty, Vice President at Clarisonic, where he was instrumental in its sale to L’Oréal in 2011, and held various previous roles with L’Oréal.
Allie Egan
Allie is the Founder and CEO of Veracity, a holistic approach to beauty targeting the root cause – hormones – with clinically-proven skincare and supplements and at-home testing for personalized care. Prior to founding Veracity, Allie was the CEO of Cynthia Rowley and has extensive experience in the beauty industry through her time at some of Estee Lauder’s best brands, including Origins, Clinique, and La Mer. She began her career in consumer investing at L Catterton. Allie is a certified Hormonal Health Coach and board member of the Global Wellness Institute’s Hormone Initiative. She holds a BS in Finance and Foreign Affairs from the University of Virginia and an MBA with high distinction from Harvard Business School.
Shereene Idriss
Board-certified Dermatologist and Founder of Idriss Dermatology in NYC Dr. Shereene Idriss is unlike her peers. In a time when top-name dermatologists have signed on as corporate-brand figureheads, joining in on false marketing hype to appear relevant Dr. Idriss has become a household name for doing just the opposite. She rose to organic fame through her #PillowtalkDerm series on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube for candidly speaking about skincare, sharing the science-based truth behind it all. In doing so, she amassed a following of 1.7 million+ “skin nerds” across IG, YT and TikTok, who called on her to create her very own skincare line minus any of the B.S. and with that, PillowtalkDerm was born.
Akshay Talati
Akshay Talati, a pharmacist, is an expert in cosmetic research and innovation, having championed hundreds of successful products at 22 multinational and indie brands at Estee Lauder, Unilever and L'Oreal over his 30 years career.
Currently, as head of product development for Goop, a trending wellness and lifestyle brand, he leads expansion by launching a new brand for mass retail channels as well as growing beyond skincare into several other product categories in makeup, haircare, and wellness essentials.
He also serves as Vice President on the board of the Society of Cosmetic Chemists, is an executive advisor, speaker, and writer for several trade shows and publications, co-founded Skindie™, and actively engages in mentoring professionals seeking guidance in the beauty industry.
Deborah Benton
Eddie Douglas
Partner With Us
Based on your objectives, we can create bespoke packages designed specifically for you – from presenting your expertise on the main stage, to hosting a private dinner. You can partner with us showcase your brand and make valuable new connections. Opportunities predominantly lie in 3 main categories: Thought Leadership, Branding & Networking.
To discuss your objectives and partnership opportunities please contact [email protected]
Interested in a media partnership?
We'd love to hear from you and how we can support one another to connect with the industry. Contact [email protected]
About Kisaco Research
Kisaco Research produces, designs and hosts B2B industry conferences, exhibitions and communities – focused on a specialized selection of topic areas.
Meet industry peers that will help build a career-changing network for life.
Learn from the mistakes of your peers as much as their successes—ambitious industry stalwarts who are happy to share not just what has made them successful so far but also their plans for future proofing their companies.
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