With a sunny yet steadfast demeanor, Kim Wileman was born to lead. As co-founder and CEO of No Makeup Makeup and founder of growth incubator Galla Beauty, Wileman is putting her decades of industry experience towards creating beauty brands of tomorrow, managing over $1 billion in sales, to date.
The Los Angeles-based entrepreneur sat down with BeautyMatter to discuss her industry journey, encouraging others to embrace their own beauty, and her strategies for success.
"Birth by Fire"
Wileman’s career began in a rather unexpected place: as an assistant manager in the men’s department at Saks Fifth Avenue. When the luxury retailer’s cosmetic department opened up, she knew exactly where she wanted to apply. “I had one passion, and that was makeup, fragrance, and skincare,” Wileman told BeautyMatter. She went to management and begged them to let her be the acting department manager. “For some reason, they allowed a 20-year-old to do this,” she laughed. As the acting cosmetic department manager and buyer, she had 73 employees reporting to her overnight.
“I was in school part-time, working full-time. I was 20 years old and I had all these women reporting to me who ate me alive for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. It was birth by fire! I loved the glamour, learning about ingredients, and the launches,” said Wileman.
After meeting her husband in Hawaii, Wileman decided to put down roots in the Aloha State and became a buyer for Duty Free Shops, then a store manager at Barney’s New York, where she learned how to work with luxury clients. The entrepreneur then moved to Los Angeles when she had her daughter and became a consumer expert for Wella Sebastian where she quickly learned the dynamics of the salon space. She then became Director of Business Development at Mana Products, a New York-based manufacturer of cosmetic brands like Black Opal and MAKE Beauty.
After holding so many different positions, Wileman knew she wanted to be involved in every aspect of the industry. So she moved back to Los Angeles in 2006 and created Galla Beauty, her agency and brand incubator that has worked with brands like TULA, Farmacy, and DIBS Beauty.
A Creative Partnership for the Decades
Soon thereafter, Wileman met entrepreneur and philanthropist Victoria Jackson, who began her career in beauty as a makeup artist, then launched Victoria Jackson Cosmetics, the first cosmetics line on QVC, which brought “no makeup makeup,” to consumers in 1989. Jackson sold a million dollars of cosmetics in her first year on QVC, developing over 600 products and selling on the infomercial channel for a decade. When Wileman interviewed for an SVP of Sales and Marketing role at Lola Cosmetics, a prestige makeup line for 16-to-35-year-olds, founded by Jackson, an immediate creative partnership emerged.
“We've always had such a great working relationship,” Wileman explained. “We're both very intuitive leaders and all about the customer.” When Jackson started Kind Science with Ellen DeGeneres in 2018 (the brand launched in October 2021) under the Guthy-Renker helm, she onboarded Wileman. It wasn’t their last brand-building moment. When Victoria Jackson Cosmetics shuttered in March 2015, the duo knew they weren’t done. They had trademarked No Makeup Makeup in 1986, and it was evident there was consumer demand.
“I told Victoria that over 10,000 people contacted me about your foundation. So we were just going to do the foundation. Then, as we developed the foundation, we created an incredible brush with it, and we thought, ‘We have something here.’ Everything just fell into place,” she said.
Wileman and Jackson updated the formula, making it cruelty-free, vegan, free of fragrance, phthalates, and sulfates, and dermatologist-tested and suitable for sensitive skin. “I wanted to modernize the texture. Then we talked about all the pain points: makeup that doesn't last throughout the day; covering up hyperpigmentation; dealing with freckles, fine lines, and wrinkles,” she explained.
Over the course of a year and a half, they developed a cream-to-balm formula with an Italian manufacturer using FlexShade technology that adapts to the skin. The formula is available in 13 shades, with the co-founders working with African American makeup artists to ensure darker shades work for melanated skin. “We have so many incredible partners on this brand, from our manufacturer who gave us net-30 terms from the get-go, to our growth, social, and PR teams. Everybody who is involved is so passionate about the brand, which makes it so easy to wake up every day super excited,” she said. They launched the brand in July 2024
Marketing their creation to the brand’s primarily 45+-year-old audience also came with its own set of rules. “When I first started, it was all about being in retail, having major events, and advertising. Now there's a huge shift in that advertisers are now influencers,” Wileman said. “If you're a brand like us and you don't have that type of budget, then you work on getting a growth strategy together, work on digital spend with micro and UGC creators, but also getting your product in the hands of people that absolutely love it.”
As for her strategy with creating a best-selling SKU, she said, “The formula for sure is important. I like to say it's easy to sell in, really hard to sell through. The key is really knowing your customer. We literally have a hundred-page manifesto [for No Makeup Makeup] about our customer and how to talk to her, what she's interested in, her complexities.”
The brand’s concept of embracing and enhancing a customer’s own natural beauty also speaks to the current beauty culture, where the pressure to maintain youth and beauty is becoming all the more pervasive. “I personally just want to show up as my best self. I don't think women should be tied [to the idea] that their beauty makes them worthwhile. Especially having a daughter, I'm so passionate about this because it's really difficult to hear a young woman say, ‘I need to get lip filler.’ To me, what we think is our worst aspect often is what makes us so unique,” she said. “For No Makeup Makeup, we want people to feel good about themselves in a very simple way. To know that they can wear our products, and that they will last all day.”
Wileman said the brand is planning to develop “highly unique and customized products, simple problem-solving items,” in the future. Keeping a concise team at the brand is another strategy moving forward. “When you have too many people making decisions, it gets crowded. If you and your team are still here talking about it [the product], and your customer says, ‘No, we've already made our decision and moved on,’ your brand is in jeopardy.”
Leadership Values and Key Strategies
When it comes to leadership and team building, Wileman bides by a few universal truths. “We have to treat people how we want to be treated, no matter what. The majority of my team is anywhere between 26 to 36 years old.” Wileman said she values their opinion and expertise. “As a leader, you have to hire people with skills and trust them to do what they need to do. I work with people for a period of time to make sure they understand our brand ethos and then let them go [off on their own to work]. If things come up that need to be course corrected, we course correct it and move on,” she said.
Speaking to her skillset, Wileman notes, “I’m known as an innovator, but I'm also an operator. It's all of these years of working with manufacturers and in stores, with PLs [private labels], and understanding the backbone of how something really works.”
As for retail strategies, Wileman emphasized the importance of in-store customer service and championing sales associates. “Shop experiences when I started were all about the direct connection the salesperson had with the customer. We’re very much committed to our salespeople to this day,” she said. “The customer experience has changed so much in the store because you're supposed to walk in, experience the store, and basically let the store speak to you to make your buying decisions.”
Future Industry Perspectives
Wileman’s long brand roster at Galla Beauty includes celebrity brands like Paris Hilton and JLo Beauty. In recent years, the scene has been booming with many new entrants. For these new celebrity brands, she offers up some words of advice. “Today is definitely a different scene. There are still some celebrities out there who could make products and be super successful. The way a celebrity can be successful is, number one, don't name it after yourself. Number two, because celebrities are so busy, it's important to be supportive but not rely on them as the only support for the brand,” she said. As for influencer-led brands, Wileman doesn’t think the brands coming to market in 2025 will last beyond two years. She said, “It'll ebb and flow just like things do.”
Wileman is especially optimistic about the rise of female leadership at companies like Sephora and Ulta Beauty. “When I was starting out, the decision makers were all male. What I recognized at that time was that straight men were making decisions for women without thinking of women. When you can see yourself in the brand and you have that connectivity—that is something you cannot buy. One of my predictions is that authenticity is going to rise to the top. We're going to see a lot of pivots with legacy brands.” She also predicted a simplicity trend as a counter-movement to the overwhelming product routines.
When asked about the challenges and triumphs of her career, Wileman said, “Everything is a journey, and I love the journey. Even in the things that at the time feel personal and upsetting, there are always lessons to learn. I've always stepped out of it stronger, with better ideas, and more connection.”
As for her own personal future, the entrepreneur remains as ambitious as ever for the road ahead. “It used to be that you entered your 50s and became unhirable. I am in my mid-50s, and I am just getting started,” she concluded. “As a brand and person, if I can inspire people in my industry, that is so meaningful to me.”
