The beauty industry has never lacked successful entrepreneurs. Many multinational businesses in the beauty ecosystem were built by passionate founders who put in long hours, made sacrifices, and took risks to scale their nascent ideas into scalable businesses. The consumer's seemingly insatiable desire for newness has created a flywheel for founders with big ambitions. Starting a business is relatively easy, but it is the ambitious, charismatic founders who instill excitement about their ideas, build a culture that attracts talent, and possess business acumen that creates demand that breaks through.
Entrepreneur of the Year: An entrepreneur who has built a business that matters through inspired innovations, demonstrated vision, leadership, and success.
Meet the BeautyMatter 2024 NEXT Entrepreneur of the Year finalists:
Arnaud Plas, CEO & Co-Founder, Prose
Arnaud's founding vision to redefine the industry standard means focusing on a culture that fosters creativity, collaboration, and social responsibility. The direct-to-consumer (DTC) beauty-tech company is pioneering the next generation of consumer packaged goods (CPG), one that offers truly customized products and counters mass production. As a certified B Corporation, a public benefit corporation (PBC), and climate neutral, Prose proves that good business is always sustainable. With Prose, there’s nothing sacrificed to deliver high-quality products—not trees, materials, wages, or performance.
Arnaud’s overall goal for Prose is to create a customized beauty destination, powered by AI. In 2023, Plas led the company through its first category expansion with the launch of Prose Skincare. The goal was bolstered by Prose reaching profitability in May 2023, demonstrating a well-executed DTC model. Profitability followed in 2023 and mid-single digit-positive EBITDA in August.
To further Prose’s positioning as a global leader in AI-powered personalization, Arnaud also aimed to define the technology enabling Prose to provide personalized products at scale. Most recently, the company unveiled Singular, the AI-powered BeautyTech platform that allows Prose to offer custom beauty at scale through both innovative software and hardware technologies.
Plas has built an energetic team that collaborates to deliver creative solutions transforming how people think about beauty. Prose operates with humanity at its core, the company assumes good intentions, fosters a culture of kindness and authenticity, and prioritizes sustainability in both its business practices and environmental stewardship, striving to create a positive impact on people and the planet.
Carolyn Aronson, Founder & CEO, It’s a 10 Haircare
Once solely a stylist and salon owner, Carolyn worked tirelessly to achieve her dreams and beyond. It's a 10 Haircare was founded in 2005, and Carolyn announced full company ownership in 2017 after buying her partner’s stake. From its inception, It’s A 10 Haircare was born out of Carolyn’s vision of a product for everyone that delivered full, salon-quality results in just one bottle. She began with a star product, Miracle Leave-In, and the line quickly rose to fame through pro hair stylists who shared the cult-favorite product with their clients. Since then, over 10 million bottles of Miracle Leave-In have been sold annually.
It’s a 10 started entering international markets just three years ago and is now sold in 100+ countries. The brand’s international sales were up 80% year-over-year (YoY), representing 10% of its overall sales and expecting triple-digit growth in this market this year.
She has transformed her success with It’s a 10 Haircare into It’s a 10 Enterprises, a globally recognized name in the beauty industry and beyond. The portfolio includes It’s a 10 Haircare; It’s a 10 Tools; It's a 10 EX10SIONS; Be a 10 Cosmetics; and Rewind It 10, a new celebrity-supported men’s grooming venture. She also recently acquired Nisim, a hair growth-focused company, which she will rebrand to Arise Haircare in 2024. This is made even more monumental because this is Carolyn’s first-ever brand acquisition.
When Carolyn came onto the beauty scene, it was still at a time when men led most beauty brands. As a Latina, Carolyn broke the barriers being an owner, founder, and CEO. Today she continues to dominate male-dominated industries. She started with beauty and has now grown her expertise to include the worlds of yachting, real estate, and aviation. Carolyn is a master of entering arenas where she is a novice, learning all there is to know, and creating businesses she hopes will inspire others.
Eric Pressly, Founder, epres
Eric first discovered his talent for innovation while pursuing his PhD in materials science, working on everything from developing lifesaving pharmaceuticals to inventing the bond-building category in haircare. Eric's journey began with the development of Olaplex. His innovative work earned him widespread recognition and profoundly impacted the haircare industry revolutionizing the category by setting new standards for repair and strength at a molecular level.
Fast-forward ten years, and Eric holds over 100 patents in bond-building technology and has created the next generation of high-performance haircare, launching epres. Powered by his cutting-edge chemistry, epres is dedicated to creating scientifically advanced haircare solutions in patented, professional-grade formulas that are easy to use, easier on the environment, and truly perform.
A tight assortment of products features the patented Biodiffusion technology, which accelerates drying time and repairs hair even after it dries, distinguishing it from competitors. The epres formula excludes quaternary amines, which are large, sticky molecules that coat each strand and burden the environment, highlighting a commitment to clean, high-performance ingredients.
Since launching in Q4 of 2022, epres has secured over 20 global distribution partners and launched multiple brand sites running in country e-commerce. From 2022 to 2023, the company achieved double-digit growth, a testament to Eric's strategic vision and innovative products. This impressive growth trajectory is expected to continue, with projections indicating strong double-digit growth in 2024, driven by a global salon rollout.
Kimberly Carney, Founder & CEO, GlossWire
With several years of experience in technology and over 17 years of owning a multibrand retail store, Kimberly leverages her deep expertise in retail, technology, AI, and data monetization to provide real-time data and actionable insights across The Wires portfolio of three high-growth global B2B2C platform marketplaces: FashWire, GlossWire, and PawWire.
Kimberly is an entrepreneur passionate about tech, supports emerging brands, and fiercely advocates for individual and company success, leveraging deep experience in building and growing successful businesses. She is committed to fostering education, conversation, and collaboration among the retail and technology community and supporting social and environmental causes through her advocacy.
Kimberly launched into beauty in 2021 with GlossWire, a one-stop technology platform solution catering to emerging beauty brands. GlossWire has grown to over 475 beauty brands, boasts over 350,000 downloads, and maintains a daily active user base ranging from 30,000 to 60,000. Kimberly is already making a significant impact in the beauty industry. She has revolutionized the way brands and consumers interact, leveraging advanced technology and AI to deliver real-time insights and personalized shopping experiences. Her contributions have significantly enhanced the efficiency and effectiveness of the retail supply chain, enabling brands to make data-driven decisions, optimize inventory, and reduce waste.
Kimberly is a rare mix of fashion, beauty, retail, and tech with an entrepreneurial spirit. She has an innate talent to identify market needs and delivers on those needs through passion, vision, drive, and authenticity. Simply put, she is a trailblazer within the retail digital sector.
Nyakio Grieco, Co-Founder, Thirteen Lune; Founder, Relevant
Nyakio is a beauty entrepreneur and advocate for clean, inclusive beauty that suits all skin types, tones, and needs. She is a veteran beauty founder and trusted industry voice, since launching her first successful business, the award-winning brand Nyakio, based on her family’s Kenyan roots and beauty secrets launched in 2002.
Nyakio co-founded Thirteen Lune in 2020 as a first-of-its-kind retailer that inspires the discovery and education of brands created by BIPOC founders. Thirteen Lune carries over 180 brands and reframes how Black and Brown beauty brands are perceived from both an industry and consumer perspective, giving each brand a platform to engage a wider audience and each consumer the opportunity to discover new brands. Thirteen Lune has since partnered with retailer JCPenney for inclusive beauty shop-in-shop locations in over 600 stores nationwide.
Founded in 2022, Relevant is a clean, high-performing, ultrainclusive line that prioritizes innovation and tech-led formulations to work on all skin types and tones. Relevant products are melanin-seen but made for everyone and effortless and joyful to use as the key part of a daily beauty regimen. As a veteran beauty founder and trusted voice in the industry, Nyakio has made Relevant a one-of-a-kind champion for inclusion in beauty.
Sarah Lee and Christine Chang, Co-CEOs & Co-Founders, Glow Recipe
Co-founded by beauty industry veterans Sarah Lee and Christine Chang in 2017, Glow Recipe pairs powerful yet gentle fruit antioxidants and clinically effective actives to create innovative and sensorial products that have achieved cult status among beauty consumers. Glow Recipe has paired first-to-market innovations with education to empower consumers to bring out their "glow," while remaining hyperfocused on the company’s core values of community, real skin acceptance, inclusivity, and sustainability. These values have allowed Glow Recipe to build an engaged community of Gen Z and millennial consumers who have embraced the brand’s core pillars.
Glow Recipe crossed $300 million in retail sales in 2023 helped by a few hero products, including its Watermelon Dew Drops. Every year, the brand is challenged to keep its core SKUs relevant in a saturated market. With so many products to choose from today, the brand is constantly thinking of innovative ways to keep its watermelon franchise at the forefront of the industry. As Glow Recipe grows exponentially as a brand and expands into new global markets, the brand wants to maintain relationships with its community as strong as it was when first building it. Glow Recipe prioritizes having direct conversations with followers, fans, and critics alike in comments sections and DMs.
Shai Eisenman, Founder & CEO, Bubble Skincare
Shai disrupted the skincare industry in 2020 when she brought Bubble to market. For the first time, consumers could purchase prestige-quality formulations for under $20 at accessible retailers. Shai works alongside Bubble’s in-house product development team of all-female chemists and developers to ensure they are bringing the best products to market for the most effective prices.
Bubble has been able to help fuel the younger generations’ desire to access skincare but use products and formulations that are safe and effective for their gentle skin. Shai knows that with this growth comes a great responsibility for continuing education and product development. One of Bubble’s most significant successes is building a community of 25,000+ ambassadors since 2020.
Under Shai’s leadership, Bubble has established itself as a trailblazing skincare brand for young consumers. Last year's achievements include six new product launches, an increased retail footprint, UK retail expansion, and exponential TikTok growth. These accomplishments resulted in Bubble’s online sales growth by an impressive 1,000%, while in-store sales saw an 800% increase in 2023. Bubble has an 89% retention rate for its products, with nearly 80% of repeat purchases being due to efficacy.
Launching with an initial five products in 2020, Bubble now offers 20 SKUs and has seen viral success for several of its products, including the cult-favorite, Slam Dunk, which sells at a rate of one every 15 seconds. They can be found in more than 12,000 stores across North America, including Ulta Beauty, Walmart, and CVS, as well as on Amazon. Bubble also expanded its community and distribution internationally launching in the UK at over 200 Boots stores nationwide and on popular e-tailer Beauty Bay.
Join us in Los Angeles, CA, for the NEXT Award and Summit on October 24, 2024 to find out who wins. Secure your space.
