Founders at all stages, this is your opportunity to engage directly with investors during a relaxed breakfast focused on funding. Come prepared with your questions and leave with actionable insights tailored to your brand's growth journey.
Quick Box // Leaders in Marketing Excellence // Leaders in Operational Excellence
QuickBox
Website: https://www.quickbox.com/
QuickBox is the omnichannel 3PL partner for high-growth brands in health, wellness, beauty, nutrition, and supplements. Scale with confidence through fast, accurate, and scalable fulfillment across DTC, retail, and Amazon, shipping 7 days a week and reaching 95% of the U.S. in 2 days with cost-effective solutions. Speak with a fulfilment expert today!
Our awards elevate visionary brands, disruptors, and sustainability heroes, hosting a celebration that empowers the entire beauty community.
Awards Committee:
Leadership & Founder Insights
Future Trends & Market Intelligence
Akshay Talati
Chief Innovation Officer
Supergoop!
Carla Ruiz
Senior Vice President, Global M&A
Shiseido Group
Carla Ruiz, SVP of Global M&A at Shiseido, brilliantly merges financial expertise with her passion for beauty. With an MBA from Columbia and a background in investment banking and global business development at Johnson & Johnson, she brings deep industry insight.
At Shiseido, Carla has spearheaded pivotal deals like the Drunk Elephant acquisition and the Tory Burch beauty license partnership. She leads her M&A team with a collaborative, founder-centric approach, seeing the industry's rapid change as an opportunity for respectful, accelerated growth. Beyond deals, Carla champions mentorship at Shiseido and supports first-generation college students through America Needs You.
Malena Higuera
CEO
NOYZ
Malena Higuera is a recognized leader in product innovation, culture and community-first marketing, and digitally-forward strategic vision, blending creative brand development, operational excellence with a passion for fostering diverse and inclusive cultures. With 25 years of experience on multiple brands at L’Oréal across all channels, key markets and categories, Higuera has built a reputation for fostering strong connections with consumers, retailers, and stakeholders, while always keeping a pulse on fast-paced business needs.
Aurelian Lis
CEO
Dermalogica
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.
Nicolas Geiger
Executive Board Member
L’Occitane
Nicolas GEIGER is CEO for L’Occitane au Bresil brand, Managing Director of the Brazilian Business Unit and Group Business Development Executive based in New York.
Prior to that Nicolas was the President for L’OCCITANE GROUP in Japan for 5 years where he operated a turnaround plan for of the largest operation of the group. He first joined the company as a Marketing Director in Brasil, and was then 3 years later promoted General Manager of the subsidiary for 3 more years before leaving for Japan.
Before joining the L’OCCITANE GROUP, Nicolas started his career in the Teach First program (a spin-off of the Teach for America program in the UK), teaching mathematics for two years in a challenging school in North East London. After the program, he joined joined Angel des Montagnes, a small decoration company based in Geneva that he contributed to develop internationally before joining the INSEAD MBA program.In addition to his MBA from INSEAD and a certification in Business Sustainability Management from Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership, Nicolas also holds a degree in Engineering Economics and Management from Oxford University and a Qualified Teacher Status for mathematics in the UK.
Cindy Deily
VP of Merchandising, Skincare
Sephora
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.
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.
Legal & IP
Marketing & Consumer Engagement
Funding & M&A
Growth & Scaling Strategies
Networking
Ilya Seglin
Managing Director, Investment Banking: Consumer, Retail & E-Commerce
Cascadia Capital
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.
Legal & IP
Marketing & Consumer Engagement
Funding & M&A
Growth & Scaling Strategies
Networking
Casey Armstrong
CMO
ShipBob
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.
Legal & IP
Marketing & Consumer Engagement
Funding & M&A
Growth & Scaling Strategies
Networking
Annabel Norman
Managing Partner
Norman Consultants
Liz Allison
CEO
Tricoci
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.
Legal & IP
Marketing & Consumer Engagement
Funding & M&A
Growth & Scaling Strategies
Networking
Adam Long
VP of Sales
Yotpo
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.
Leadership & Founder Insights
Growth & Scaling Strategies
Marketing & Consumer Engagement
Aurelian Lis
CEO
Dermalogica
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.
Danessa Myricks
Founder & CEO
Danessa Myricks
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
VP of Merchandising, Skincare
Sephora
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
Chief Growth Officer
Devcos
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.