December 15, 2022 • 23 mins
The CEO of Wella Company, a global leader in the $100 billion beauty industry, Annie Young-Scrivner discusses her inspirational American Dream story and how it has shaped her as a leader, the importance of mentorship and representation, and why empowering women in the economy is part of Wella Company’s mission.
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
My parents left for the US so I could have
a bigger opportunity. They always felt that America was full
of opportunities, but particularly for women. And I think what
my parents instilled is always dream big, define your own destiny.
(00:29):
That was an a Young Scrivener. As a child, she
came to the United States from China and grew up
to embody the American dream. Her career has included jobs
with famous companies like Starbucks, Pepsi, and Godiva, and today
she is CEO of well A Company, a global leader
(00:50):
in the one hundred billion dollar beauty industry. I'm a
land Drevere and this is senecas one women to hear.
We are bringing you one hundred of the world's most
inspiring and history making women you need to hear. Annie
Young Scrivener has been CEO of well A Company since December,
(01:12):
the first with expertise and hair, nails and digital tech
styling tools. Well A Company includes well known brands like
well A Professionals, O p I, ni Oxen, and clar All.
As a CEO, Annie is something of a rarity. Although
(01:32):
we think of the beauty business as focused on women,
Annie is just one of seven women's CEOs in that industry.
Prior to joining Wella, Annie was CEO of Goodiva Chocolates.
Listen and learn why Annie Young Scrivener is one of
Seneca's One Women to Hear. I'm speaking today to an
(02:00):
exceptional corporate leader, Annie Young Scrivener. Annie, I'm so excited
about this conversation. Thank you for joining us. Thank you, Milan,
I'm so excited to be with you. Well you just
have an amazing and inspirational life story. It's really the
American dream story. I remember when I first heard about
(02:20):
how as a child you moved from China going on
to a remarkable career at some of the top companies Pepsi, Starbucks,
Goodiva and now CEO of the Wellness Company. Can you
tell our audience, our listeners about your journey? How did
you get where you are today? Did you imagine that
(02:40):
one day you'd be heading a global beauty company. First
of all, again, thank you so much for having me.
You know, growing up, I have been very fortunate. My
parents left for the US so I could have a
bigger opportunity. They always felt that America was full of opportunities,
(03:04):
but particularly for women, and I remember landing in Seattle seven,
I would look at myself and I knew I was
just a little different than everybody else. But I think
what my parents instilled is always dream big, define your
(03:25):
own destiny. And through my early childhood I always had
a fascination with fashion and beauty. I worked early in
my career in retail, and one of the unknown facts
is I did people's hair at home. I used to.
I used to cut my friend's hair. Now I never
(03:47):
made any money, but I had returning customers, and back
in back in the seventies, I did perms. I had
my own perm rods. If I close my eyes, I
could still see them. And I've always felt that beauty
was transformative. It was so but not just about the external,
but it was also about the internal. When you can
(04:09):
match the two, I think you become really powerful. And
so I've had very good teachers and mentors through my
career and growing up. I've always worked really hard. I
started work when I was fifteen, and I think that,
you know, America allows you to define your destiny and
(04:32):
then you get to find a whole bunch of people
that help you along the way. And so I feel
really privileged to be in the beauty industry, particularly what
we do on the Professional five. Yeah, so fascinating and
really an inspirational story, no matter how you define it.
I want to come back to how things are going
(04:53):
at the well A Company a little later. But since
you talked a little bit about your American dream journey
and you did mention mentors, I want to ask you
about those who inspired you along the way championed you.
What kinds of lessons did you learn and how have
they impacted your leadership style because we know that mentors
(05:14):
and those who inspire others can make such a difference
in one's life. They can and I think you know
mentors are able to see things that you don't see
and they could help guide you. When I was going
through undergrad I had a professor and she told me, Hey,
you're putting yourself through school working in retail, but you
(05:35):
should really get an internship with a fortune fifty company
and here's who you should go interview for. And that
was PepsiCo, and I ended up having a twenty year career.
Had she not gradle me and shared with me an
alternative plan on how I could grow myself, it would
(05:55):
never have happened and her name was Judith Edwards. And
through my career, I've had amazing mentors and I think
of you as one of them, just teaching me the
global landscape, helping me how to navigate. Equally, there were
leaders like Inernui, who was a previous chair person and
(06:15):
CEO of PepsiCo, Power Schultz, who was instrumental on teaching
me about the importance of community and owning people's hearts,
and Craig weather Up who was on the board of
Starbucks and help guide me. I think my parents have
played an incredible role on teaching me values and teaching
(06:41):
me hard work and being humble as well. And I
think that learning from adversity. You know, my first job
at PepsiCo when I graduated, it was in the management
training program, and my first job was to drive a truck.
I had to load the truck myself deliver products to
(07:04):
the store. And what I learned was the intention to detail,
understanding everybody's role and the importance of teamwork. And that
has taught me so many lessons that I've continue to
gain benefits from. And those are such important lessons. I
(07:26):
think for all of us that no job is too
small that you can't learn from it, and especially the
importance of working and collaboration, because I know those have
stayed with you throughout your exceptional career. Now you're also
just one of seven women's CEOs in your industry. You've
(07:46):
been a role model as an Asian American leader, and
I know you are deeply committed to diversity, equity and
inclusion as an important business imperative. You've always manifested that
and especially to see more diversity at the top. So
how are you incorporating those principles which you've always held
(08:08):
dear and have mattered to you so greatly. How are
you doing that now at the well of company. That's
a great question. You know, it's so important because I
think that we all want to create a culture where
people could bring their best self to work, and in
order to create that culture, the importance of diversity and
(08:30):
inclusion has to be there for businesses. It's not just
a nice to do, it's the right thing to do.
Businesses that are more diverse ethnically have outperformed their competition.
I think there was a Mackenzie study and the percentage
was like thirty six percent better performance. I think for me, personally.
(08:54):
When you look at the beauty industry, eight of the
workforce is men. When you look at the leadership at
the top, it's very different. For the well A company,
We've been very focused on making sure that we hire
the bus candidate, but our slate has to be diverse,
(09:16):
and our slate and our population should represent that of
the consumers that we serve, which are mostly women. Our
total organization we're proud to share is over fifty. Our
directors and above are pretty close to that. Do we
have more opportunities? Absolutely, We're very focused on ensuring that
(09:43):
every position lawn that we hire is with a diverse slate,
and then we will always hire the best candidate. No
one wants to get higher because of their gender or
because of their race. And I think one of the
most important things is also, and we lead a global company,
we're in a hundred country across the globe, is leadership
(10:06):
style differences to recognize that. And I think that there's
not a perfect person. Everybody has your strength, everybody has
their opportunities, but when you create a team, you could
create that perfect person. So having people that are different
in style and the way that they think is critically important.
(10:28):
To any success for us. You know, we're less than
two years old, although we have one forty years of
history at the well At Company. We're very proud that
we signed on to the U N Compact, which is
not only about sustainability, but it's about diversity, equity, inclusion
(10:50):
and also belonging. And we are focus with goals and
metrics and also ensuring that we unlock potential of everyone
to be involved. Yeah, and and you mentioned that you
took over the helmet, Well, it just two years ago.
But for as long as I've known you any and
that's been over many years, you have been so committed
(11:14):
to accelerating women in the economy as part of what
you do, what you've done, and what you continue to do,
really recognizing both what a force they are for growing
our economies and creating jobs, but also to what they
are entitled in the difference they make. Can you talk
about that, because I think it's one of the really
magnificent unique features of your leadership. We're very focused on
(11:38):
equity and pay very focus on specifically the key leadership
role to ensure that there's gender balance. Sometimes I'll here
on boards, you know, we're doing a search and it
should be maybe not a diversely, there's no debate, and
I'm so proud of many of the public board words
(12:00):
that I've sat on, whether it's Macy's we had a
fifty fifty gender diversity, Tiffany and Company was fifty fifty
by the time it was at the end, and Young
Brands um. Since joining, we've also added more women leaders
onto the board. I think that's critically important because I
(12:22):
think that if you don't have role models, it's hard
for people to also see how they could do it.
And the reality is, as women, even if you have
a spouse that works, we're still responsible for more of
the activities at home, and so making sure that we
(12:44):
could balance everything is also a fine art. It's certainly
a fine art, and it's one always to be mindful
of senecas one hundred women to hear will be back
after a short break. Now, we we all frequent our
(13:13):
wonderful hairstylists unsure, and I wonder if you could give
us a sense of women in the industry overall. Now,
what kinds of economic challenges do they face in the
salon industry? How are you helping them meet those challenges?
You mentioned some of the issues you're dealing with, But
can you expand on that, because I think it's important
(13:36):
for us to know, sir. You know, we are in
about hundred country across the globe and we support five
hundred thousand small businesses. Some of these small businesses could
have two thousand salon chains, or you could be an
individual salon owner, or you could be renting a chair somewhere.
(13:59):
And it's so critically important because the industry is flexible
in that it's a great career. You could call your
own hours, and you can monetize in a meaningful way.
But during COVID, if you'll go back a couple of
years back in parts of the world were completely shut down,
(14:23):
which meant if you're in the industry, you could be
regulated inability to open and your entrepreneur. So some of
the things that we did were making sure that we
had protective gear for folks. We extended terms on loans
and payments, but more importantly, we invested in technology and
(14:48):
also education to up level the skill set of the
beauty professional so that when the industry opened, it would
do so much better. So give you specific example April,
when the industry was still wonky, somewhere closed, somewhere open.
(15:09):
We took the best of the best across the globe
and made a digital training program and gave access to
everyone for free. We would usually charge three hundred euros
percession and we waive that enabling everybody to up level
(15:31):
their skill set, donating back over thirty million back to
the industry, and when the industry reopened a couple of
months later, it was huge. That's the livelihood. I would say.
The challenge that we're seeing not just in our industry
but everywhere is labor. How do we ensure that we
(15:54):
really paint the picture of how you can invest in yourself,
you could grow and you can make a very very
healthy living in the industry if I travel across the globe.
It's one of the biggest pieces right now that the
salon industry is facing is making sure that they have
(16:17):
the right people coming in. And then, particularly if you're
in Europe, you have the energy crisis that's happening right now,
so people are seeing energy costs rise much higher than
what we're experiencing in the US, and so helping them
think through a greener footprint on energy usage, on water usage.
(16:41):
Salon operation is also something that we're invested in as well.
You know, it's so interesting because I think we rarely
are aware of all of those environmental speaking more broadly
about the environment in which a salon industry leader works,
how all of those come to play. And it's so
(17:02):
interesting to Annie to hear about how you invested during
the lockdown in ways that really helped to upgrade the
folks in the industry. Just really terrific stuff. You know,
we never have enough time for these conversations, but I
want to end by asking you about your life at
the well A company, because it must be inspiring to
(17:25):
work at a company where many of the brands were
founded by women. You know, it's exceptional. It's pioneering in
many ways. And I know what kind of person you
are and how conscious you've always been about accelerating women's
progress as well. How has that shaped your thinking and
vision that you are at the company you're at with
(17:46):
the history it has, you know, I feel so inspired,
and I also feel such responsibility to ensure that we're
developing the brands in the right way. And fortunately, like
I have such an amazing leadership team um making sure
that we're galvanizing the organization. But let me just share
(18:09):
a couple of stories of these founders. We have the
ni ox And brand, which is founded by Eva Graham.
She started that business inn with five dollars in her
pocket and she developed the scalp category for hair lost
treatment with the ni ox And brand. Her father was
(18:32):
losing his hair. She just had her first child, and
we we've all got through that. We know what happens
after you give um your your baby, you kind of
lose your hair as well. So she was very dedicated
into the science and what was in the product. She
would go door to door to salons to do training
(18:56):
and she said to me, Annie, I thought I made
it when I was training two people instead of one.
And what she said, I love this quote. She said,
I think I faced every challenge someone in the industry
has faced, but I didn't see them as challenges. I
saw them as opportunities, as new beginning. And I think
(19:17):
as an entrepreneur, you have to know that these obstacles
you overcome and it's just a lesson and they make
you stronger. O P I our male brand. It's the
number one professional brand. It was founded by Susie Wise
Fleshman and she is amazing. You know. They started the
(19:40):
business as something very different. It became O p I
and she was the person that's the inspiration behind each
of the names Big Apple Read and she is still
a part at the well A Company today. Our most
recent acquisition is Briaggio Nancy Twine. It was the largest
(20:05):
African American owned independent upscale beauty company and we purchased
her company because of the great formulation that she has
on etho ethical, sustainable, clean beauty and her story is fabulous.
Her mom was a chemist and instead of baking, they
(20:29):
used to make soap and emulsions and she unfortunately lost
her mother to an accident and just to get comfort,
she went back to making soap and shampoo and founded
the Brioggio company and it is such amazing products. So
each of our founders has story on brand doing something
(20:53):
great not only for the industry, but also for society.
And I think that's what or after we want to
do great things for the beauty industry. We want to
make sure that the small businesses and the big businesses
that we impact, we also do it in a positive way.
And we feel like the way that we look at
(21:16):
our ingredients, the way that we look at our footprint
is also going to be better for the earth. We're
very focused on our CEO two, our water footprint and
plastic and fiber and man, we're going to make a
big difference on d E and I as well. Just
terrific to hear all of this an a young scrivener.
(21:39):
You're not only a model of corporate leadership, Anny, but
you're a true inspiration. Thank you so much for being
with us today. I adore you. Thank you so much
for this opportunity. There is so much to learn from
any young Scrivener, from her life and her outlook. Here
(22:00):
are three things I took from that conversation. First, Annie
shows us that every job matters. Her first job after
graduation was at PepsiCo. She had to load a truck
and deliver the products. She learned about the importance of
attention to detail, understanding everybody's role, and of teamwork. Second, diversity,
(22:25):
equality and inclusion are good for people and for businesses.
It's not just a nice thing to do, says Annie,
it's the right thing to do. Finally, Annie reminds us
that women's representation and leadership can have a big impact
on companies and industries. Mentorship is also important for women. Mentors,
(22:48):
says Annie, are able to see things that you don't see,
and they can help guide you. Tune in next time
to hear about our next featured woman and discus over
why she's one of Seneca's one Women to Hear. Seneca's
one hundred Women to Hear is a collaboration between the
(23:09):
Seneca Women Podcast Network and I Heart Radio, with support
from founding partner PNG Have a Great Day.
My parents left for the US so I could have
a bigger opportunity. They always felt that America was full
of opportunities, but particularly for women. And I think what
my parents instilled is always dream big, define your own destiny.
(00:29):
That was an a Young Scrivener. As a child, she
came to the United States from China and grew up
to embody the American dream. Her career has included jobs
with famous companies like Starbucks, Pepsi, and Godiva, and today
she is CEO of well A Company, a global leader
(00:50):
in the one hundred billion dollar beauty industry. I'm a
land Drevere and this is senecas one women to hear.
We are bringing you one hundred of the world's most
inspiring and history making women you need to hear. Annie
Young Scrivener has been CEO of well A Company since December,
(01:12):
the first with expertise and hair, nails and digital tech
styling tools. Well A Company includes well known brands like
well A Professionals, O p I, ni Oxen, and clar All.
As a CEO, Annie is something of a rarity. Although
(01:32):
we think of the beauty business as focused on women,
Annie is just one of seven women's CEOs in that industry.
Prior to joining Wella, Annie was CEO of Goodiva Chocolates.
Listen and learn why Annie Young Scrivener is one of
Seneca's One Women to Hear. I'm speaking today to an
(02:00):
exceptional corporate leader, Annie Young Scrivener. Annie, I'm so excited
about this conversation. Thank you for joining us. Thank you, Milan,
I'm so excited to be with you. Well you just
have an amazing and inspirational life story. It's really the
American dream story. I remember when I first heard about
(02:20):
how as a child you moved from China going on
to a remarkable career at some of the top companies Pepsi, Starbucks,
Goodiva and now CEO of the Wellness Company. Can you
tell our audience, our listeners about your journey? How did
you get where you are today? Did you imagine that
(02:40):
one day you'd be heading a global beauty company. First
of all, again, thank you so much for having me.
You know, growing up, I have been very fortunate. My
parents left for the US so I could have a
bigger opportunity. They always felt that America was full of opportunities,
(03:04):
but particularly for women, and I remember landing in Seattle seven,
I would look at myself and I knew I was
just a little different than everybody else. But I think
what my parents instilled is always dream big, define your
(03:25):
own destiny. And through my early childhood I always had
a fascination with fashion and beauty. I worked early in
my career in retail, and one of the unknown facts
is I did people's hair at home. I used to.
I used to cut my friend's hair. Now I never
(03:47):
made any money, but I had returning customers, and back
in back in the seventies, I did perms. I had
my own perm rods. If I close my eyes, I
could still see them. And I've always felt that beauty
was transformative. It was so but not just about the external,
but it was also about the internal. When you can
(04:09):
match the two, I think you become really powerful. And
so I've had very good teachers and mentors through my
career and growing up. I've always worked really hard. I
started work when I was fifteen, and I think that,
you know, America allows you to define your destiny and
(04:32):
then you get to find a whole bunch of people
that help you along the way. And so I feel
really privileged to be in the beauty industry, particularly what
we do on the Professional five. Yeah, so fascinating and
really an inspirational story, no matter how you define it.
I want to come back to how things are going
(04:53):
at the well A Company a little later. But since
you talked a little bit about your American dream journey
and you did mention mentors, I want to ask you
about those who inspired you along the way championed you.
What kinds of lessons did you learn and how have
they impacted your leadership style because we know that mentors
(05:14):
and those who inspire others can make such a difference
in one's life. They can and I think you know
mentors are able to see things that you don't see
and they could help guide you. When I was going
through undergrad I had a professor and she told me, Hey,
you're putting yourself through school working in retail, but you
(05:35):
should really get an internship with a fortune fifty company
and here's who you should go interview for. And that
was PepsiCo, and I ended up having a twenty year career.
Had she not gradle me and shared with me an
alternative plan on how I could grow myself, it would
(05:55):
never have happened and her name was Judith Edwards. And
through my career, I've had amazing mentors and I think
of you as one of them, just teaching me the
global landscape, helping me how to navigate. Equally, there were
leaders like Inernui, who was a previous chair person and
(06:15):
CEO of PepsiCo, Power Schultz, who was instrumental on teaching
me about the importance of community and owning people's hearts,
and Craig weather Up who was on the board of
Starbucks and help guide me. I think my parents have
played an incredible role on teaching me values and teaching
(06:41):
me hard work and being humble as well. And I
think that learning from adversity. You know, my first job
at PepsiCo when I graduated, it was in the management
training program, and my first job was to drive a truck.
I had to load the truck myself deliver products to
(07:04):
the store. And what I learned was the intention to detail,
understanding everybody's role and the importance of teamwork. And that
has taught me so many lessons that I've continue to
gain benefits from. And those are such important lessons. I
(07:26):
think for all of us that no job is too
small that you can't learn from it, and especially the
importance of working and collaboration, because I know those have
stayed with you throughout your exceptional career. Now you're also
just one of seven women's CEOs in your industry. You've
(07:46):
been a role model as an Asian American leader, and
I know you are deeply committed to diversity, equity and
inclusion as an important business imperative. You've always manifested that
and especially to see more diversity at the top. So
how are you incorporating those principles which you've always held
(08:08):
dear and have mattered to you so greatly. How are
you doing that now at the well of company. That's
a great question. You know, it's so important because I
think that we all want to create a culture where
people could bring their best self to work, and in
order to create that culture, the importance of diversity and
(08:30):
inclusion has to be there for businesses. It's not just
a nice to do, it's the right thing to do.
Businesses that are more diverse ethnically have outperformed their competition.
I think there was a Mackenzie study and the percentage
was like thirty six percent better performance. I think for me, personally.
(08:54):
When you look at the beauty industry, eight of the
workforce is men. When you look at the leadership at
the top, it's very different. For the well A company,
We've been very focused on making sure that we hire
the bus candidate, but our slate has to be diverse,
(09:16):
and our slate and our population should represent that of
the consumers that we serve, which are mostly women. Our
total organization we're proud to share is over fifty. Our
directors and above are pretty close to that. Do we
have more opportunities? Absolutely, We're very focused on ensuring that
(09:43):
every position lawn that we hire is with a diverse slate,
and then we will always hire the best candidate. No
one wants to get higher because of their gender or
because of their race. And I think one of the
most important things is also, and we lead a global company,
we're in a hundred country across the globe, is leadership
(10:06):
style differences to recognize that. And I think that there's
not a perfect person. Everybody has your strength, everybody has
their opportunities, but when you create a team, you could
create that perfect person. So having people that are different
in style and the way that they think is critically important.
(10:28):
To any success for us. You know, we're less than
two years old, although we have one forty years of
history at the well At Company. We're very proud that
we signed on to the U N Compact, which is
not only about sustainability, but it's about diversity, equity, inclusion
(10:50):
and also belonging. And we are focus with goals and
metrics and also ensuring that we unlock potential of everyone
to be involved. Yeah, and and you mentioned that you
took over the helmet, Well, it just two years ago.
But for as long as I've known you any and
that's been over many years, you have been so committed
(11:14):
to accelerating women in the economy as part of what
you do, what you've done, and what you continue to do,
really recognizing both what a force they are for growing
our economies and creating jobs, but also to what they
are entitled in the difference they make. Can you talk
about that, because I think it's one of the really
magnificent unique features of your leadership. We're very focused on
(11:38):
equity and pay very focus on specifically the key leadership
role to ensure that there's gender balance. Sometimes I'll here
on boards, you know, we're doing a search and it
should be maybe not a diversely, there's no debate, and
I'm so proud of many of the public board words
(12:00):
that I've sat on, whether it's Macy's we had a
fifty fifty gender diversity, Tiffany and Company was fifty fifty
by the time it was at the end, and Young
Brands um. Since joining, we've also added more women leaders
onto the board. I think that's critically important because I
(12:22):
think that if you don't have role models, it's hard
for people to also see how they could do it.
And the reality is, as women, even if you have
a spouse that works, we're still responsible for more of
the activities at home, and so making sure that we
(12:44):
could balance everything is also a fine art. It's certainly
a fine art, and it's one always to be mindful
of senecas one hundred women to hear will be back
after a short break. Now, we we all frequent our
(13:13):
wonderful hairstylists unsure, and I wonder if you could give
us a sense of women in the industry overall. Now,
what kinds of economic challenges do they face in the
salon industry? How are you helping them meet those challenges?
You mentioned some of the issues you're dealing with, But
can you expand on that, because I think it's important
(13:36):
for us to know, sir. You know, we are in
about hundred country across the globe and we support five
hundred thousand small businesses. Some of these small businesses could
have two thousand salon chains, or you could be an
individual salon owner, or you could be renting a chair somewhere.
(13:59):
And it's so critically important because the industry is flexible
in that it's a great career. You could call your
own hours, and you can monetize in a meaningful way.
But during COVID, if you'll go back a couple of
years back in parts of the world were completely shut down,
(14:23):
which meant if you're in the industry, you could be
regulated inability to open and your entrepreneur. So some of
the things that we did were making sure that we
had protective gear for folks. We extended terms on loans
and payments, but more importantly, we invested in technology and
(14:48):
also education to up level the skill set of the
beauty professional so that when the industry opened, it would
do so much better. So give you specific example April,
when the industry was still wonky, somewhere closed, somewhere open.
(15:09):
We took the best of the best across the globe
and made a digital training program and gave access to
everyone for free. We would usually charge three hundred euros
percession and we waive that enabling everybody to up level
(15:31):
their skill set, donating back over thirty million back to
the industry, and when the industry reopened a couple of
months later, it was huge. That's the livelihood. I would say.
The challenge that we're seeing not just in our industry
but everywhere is labor. How do we ensure that we
(15:54):
really paint the picture of how you can invest in yourself,
you could grow and you can make a very very
healthy living in the industry if I travel across the globe.
It's one of the biggest pieces right now that the
salon industry is facing is making sure that they have
(16:17):
the right people coming in. And then, particularly if you're
in Europe, you have the energy crisis that's happening right now,
so people are seeing energy costs rise much higher than
what we're experiencing in the US, and so helping them
think through a greener footprint on energy usage, on water usage.
(16:41):
Salon operation is also something that we're invested in as well.
You know, it's so interesting because I think we rarely
are aware of all of those environmental speaking more broadly
about the environment in which a salon industry leader works,
how all of those come to play. And it's so
(17:02):
interesting to Annie to hear about how you invested during
the lockdown in ways that really helped to upgrade the
folks in the industry. Just really terrific stuff. You know,
we never have enough time for these conversations, but I
want to end by asking you about your life at
the well A company, because it must be inspiring to
(17:25):
work at a company where many of the brands were
founded by women. You know, it's exceptional. It's pioneering in
many ways. And I know what kind of person you
are and how conscious you've always been about accelerating women's
progress as well. How has that shaped your thinking and
vision that you are at the company you're at with
(17:46):
the history it has, you know, I feel so inspired,
and I also feel such responsibility to ensure that we're
developing the brands in the right way. And fortunately, like
I have such an amazing leadership team um making sure
that we're galvanizing the organization. But let me just share
(18:09):
a couple of stories of these founders. We have the
ni ox And brand, which is founded by Eva Graham.
She started that business inn with five dollars in her
pocket and she developed the scalp category for hair lost
treatment with the ni ox And brand. Her father was
(18:32):
losing his hair. She just had her first child, and
we we've all got through that. We know what happens
after you give um your your baby, you kind of
lose your hair as well. So she was very dedicated
into the science and what was in the product. She
would go door to door to salons to do training
(18:56):
and she said to me, Annie, I thought I made
it when I was training two people instead of one.
And what she said, I love this quote. She said,
I think I faced every challenge someone in the industry
has faced, but I didn't see them as challenges. I
saw them as opportunities, as new beginning. And I think
(19:17):
as an entrepreneur, you have to know that these obstacles
you overcome and it's just a lesson and they make
you stronger. O P I our male brand. It's the
number one professional brand. It was founded by Susie Wise
Fleshman and she is amazing. You know. They started the
(19:40):
business as something very different. It became O p I
and she was the person that's the inspiration behind each
of the names Big Apple Read and she is still
a part at the well A Company today. Our most
recent acquisition is Briaggio Nancy Twine. It was the largest
(20:05):
African American owned independent upscale beauty company and we purchased
her company because of the great formulation that she has
on etho ethical, sustainable, clean beauty and her story is fabulous.
Her mom was a chemist and instead of baking, they
(20:29):
used to make soap and emulsions and she unfortunately lost
her mother to an accident and just to get comfort,
she went back to making soap and shampoo and founded
the Brioggio company and it is such amazing products. So
each of our founders has story on brand doing something
(20:53):
great not only for the industry, but also for society.
And I think that's what or after we want to
do great things for the beauty industry. We want to
make sure that the small businesses and the big businesses
that we impact, we also do it in a positive way.
And we feel like the way that we look at
(21:16):
our ingredients, the way that we look at our footprint
is also going to be better for the earth. We're
very focused on our CEO two, our water footprint and
plastic and fiber and man, we're going to make a
big difference on d E and I as well. Just
terrific to hear all of this an a young scrivener.
(21:39):
You're not only a model of corporate leadership, Anny, but
you're a true inspiration. Thank you so much for being
with us today. I adore you. Thank you so much
for this opportunity. There is so much to learn from
any young Scrivener, from her life and her outlook. Here
(22:00):
are three things I took from that conversation. First, Annie
shows us that every job matters. Her first job after
graduation was at PepsiCo. She had to load a truck
and deliver the products. She learned about the importance of
attention to detail, understanding everybody's role, and of teamwork. Second, diversity,
(22:25):
equality and inclusion are good for people and for businesses.
It's not just a nice thing to do, says Annie,
it's the right thing to do. Finally, Annie reminds us
that women's representation and leadership can have a big impact
on companies and industries. Mentorship is also important for women. Mentors,
(22:48):
says Annie, are able to see things that you don't see,
and they can help guide you. Tune in next time
to hear about our next featured woman and discus over
why she's one of Seneca's one Women to Hear. Seneca's
one hundred Women to Hear is a collaboration between the
(23:09):
Seneca Women Podcast Network and I Heart Radio, with support
from founding partner PNG Have a Great Day.
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