WWD Voices Podcast Gives Listeners a Peek Inside the 2024 WWD x FN x Beauty Inc Women in Power
Following the fourth annual WWD x FN x Beauty Inc 50 Women in Power, which took place in September at the 1 Hotel Brooklyn Bridge, the WWD Voices podcast curated five conversations from the event to share with its listeners. The conversations are each moderated by WWD’s team of editors and go deep on women in the workforce today with insights on leadership, vision and success.
In the first episode, Eugenia Richman, editor in chief of WWD, interviews Tiffany Dufu, president of Tory Burch Foundation, on reshaping work culture for women. Dufu’s focus, she said, is on women entrepreneurs, which the foundation aims to champion nationwide by lining up access to capital, education and community. “My life’s work is advancing women and girls. It’s not just my job. It’s why I wake up in the morning. It’s why I’m here on the planet.”
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During the conversation, Dufu discussed the foundation’s biggest challenges being tied to revenue and working with financial institutions to partner in getting capital into the hands of women. Reflecting on her own journey, Dufu spoke about her book , “Drop the Ball: Achieving More by Doing Less,” sharing that it is important to start by getting clear on what matters most, separate and apart from what matters to advertisers or in-laws or maybe the people you grew up with.
During the second episode of the series, WWD’s West Coast executive editor Booth Moore interviewed Erin and Sara Foster, cofounders of Favorite Daughter, on fame, authenticity and the perils of hustle culture. Whether it’s in entertainment or fashion, the sisters said they have learned to live by a golden rule: stay true to themselves.
“We have to make sure there’s not too much of a disconnect between who we are and what we think is cool,” said Erin Foster, who said she doesn’t subscribe to trends and would never make a kitten heel, for example. (Her husband calls them cat heels.) “There are some ugly things out there and people are like, ‘Oh my god, I’m dying,’ and I’m like, no you’re not.”
Taking a look at beauty, in the third episode in the series Jenny B. Fine, editor in chief of Beauty Inc and executive editor, beauty, WWD, interviewed Christina Oster-Daum, president and founder of Cosnova Beauty, on the company’s passion-driven success, her journey as a perfectionist, the importance of female leadership and mentoring the next generation.
During the conversation, Oster-Daum shared key learnings from her own career including a struggle with perfectionism. As an optimist, she said her unshakable confidence has helped lead Cosnova Beauty to success as the world continues to shape the new needs of the consumer.
Cosnova Beauty was founded on a mission to make everyone feel more beautiful by offering the best quality and innovative cosmetics at the most affordable prices in the industry. Oster-Daum said she has seen the message resonate with her female employees firsthand, explaining that they have shown a genuine passion and expertise in their roles. Today, women make up 70 percent of Cosnova Beauty’s employees, and as such have driven a great deal of success through passion.
Oster-Daum added that it has been of high importance to her to see Cosnova Beauty implement ways to also support the women working at the company to become female leaders including help with childcare and mentorship programs. Mentorship, especially, is an area where Oster-Daum said she sees huge potential having received great mentorship herself.
“Having a mentor and a companion makes it [easier] to be very open and to get smoothly into the company,” Oster-Daum said. She explained that it has been important for her to participate as a mentor to young women as well and just recently took on guiding a 19-year-old student for the summer. “It was a great experience [and showed] how important and fruitful it is to have ambitious young people, and in this case, a young lady bringing new ideas, not being afraid to speak up and to make us think about what a very ambitious and a person from our target [consumer] group has to say.”
In the series’ fourth episode, Moore interviewed Gabriela Hearst, founder and creative director of Gabriela Hearst, on putting women’s empowerment at the heart of Hearst’s namesake brand. Inspired by her mother, who competed in rodeos in rural Uruguay and always challenged the status of what a woman should be, as well as myriad historical figures, Hearst ensures that women’s empowerment is reflected in all her collections.
During the conversation, Hearst also shared a behind-the-scenes perspective on the dress she designed for actress Gillian Anderson to wear at the Golden Globes in January of this year. Now known as the “vagina dress,” the design importantly shows an example of sex positivity.
Ending the special series, the fifth episode features Jane Lauder, chief data officer and executive vice president, enterprise marketing at The Estée Lauder Cos., interviewed by Fine on the intersection of leadership and AI. Lauder said she believes that AI supports products and the consumer experience.
“Sometimes we think about data being impersonal and taking away from that personal experience, but what I actually found is that beauty is personal and personal is really driven by data,” Lauder said. “I share with my team that the technology of the past was that vertically integrated tech companies had the advantage. Now, AI is driven by vast amounts of data so the more proprietary data you have, the bigger the advantage you’re going to have.”
During the conversation, Lauder also highlighted the importance of women being able to see themselves in leadership roles. She learned several lessons from her grandmother, though the biggest is that you can be everything you want to be.
To listen to WWD Voices and these five special episodes, CLICK HERE.
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