Retail Distribution: Indie Brands Making Mass Work

As the Co-founder and CEO of Womaness, Sally is a consummate business builder specializing in retail and brand innovation. Her trend-forecasting Midas touch has benefited companies such as Target, Who What Wear and VERSED skincare, among others.

BYBI Co-Founder Elsie Rutterford always associated beauty with creativity. The London native identified its expressive potential as a child, experimenting with hair and makeup in order to emulate a zeitgeist of forward-thinking fashion. In many ways, this early experimentation set the stage for BYBI—the visionary skincare alternative she leads today alongside Co-Founder Dominika Minarovic.

“For as long as I can remember, I’ve loved beauty as a form of expression,” she affirms. “With BYBI, we endeavored to create affordable and clean skincare for all. We don’t want to put a price tag on skin health, but we do want to make natural skincare feel fun, fresh, and approachable.”

Elsie navigated her career through positions at Apple and Facebook, learning the ins and outs of some of the biggest technology companies in the world. While working in digital advertising, she met Dominika. The duo transformed a shared passion for clean beauty into the influential blog, book, podcast, and Instagram account, Clean Beauty Insiders​. Their D.I.Y. recipes and conscious approach to skincare galvanized an audience and set the stage for BYBI. With 100% clean ingredients and a staunch commitment to sustainability, the brand blossomed into an affordable and all-natural alternative available in
mega-retailers Sephora and Boots across the UK and Europe in addition to ASOS, Revolve, and direct-to-consumer. Bringing BYBI to life and entering the U.S. market in 2020, Elsie emphasizes the boutique brand’s hands-on approach as a key to its integrity, speaking to her own creative inclinations.

“We formulate everything in-house and have a chemist and lab in London,” she goes on. “It’s rare for a company of our size, but it was important to allow us to guide our formulations and ensure we’re consistently pushing for quality and innovation. This process also enables us to stay close to our ingredient suppliers, meaning we are the first to know about the most exciting progression in naturals.”

In addition to remaining on the cutting edge of beauty, Elsie is a committed fitness enthusiast and dog lover who enjoys cooking, baking, attending concerts, and visiting galleries. She is based in the BYBI London headquarters.

Charlotte Knight has never been one to fit the traditional mold of a businesswoman. Across her now 20-year career within the beauty industry, Knight has garnered international acclaim for her creative vision and innovation, as she continues to reach new heights globally with new to market and trend-setting formulas. Now, she stands at the helm of three global beauty forces; Ciaté London, Lottie London, and Skin Proud. Charlotte has grown her first brand, Ciaté from a ground-breaking innovator in nail art, polish, and treatments, into a global color cosmetics giant. From the MUA favorite, Dewy Stix to the world’s first transforming Glitter Flip Liquid Lipstick that broke the internet, Ciaté has earned a cult- status as a coveted indie brand, winning over 25 beauty awards around the world since its launch. Knight’s portfolio of boundary-breaking brands further expanded in 2014 with the launch of Lottie London, providing affordable and accessible high-street cosmetics to the digitally engaged millennial and Gen-Z consumer. Proving her unrivaled expertise in forecasting, Charlotte broke-away from the more traditional methods of product development. Lottie London’s offering is primarily influenced by the emerging trends found through its audiences’ leading source of inspiration: social media. With her fierce determination and fearless spirit, Charlotte is a truly ambitious woman. Whilst the world moved into unprecedented social and economic uncertainty, with the emergence of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, Knight was preparing to make one of her biggest, and potentially boldest, moves yet. Tapping into the immense consumer demand for skincare - a sector of the industry that was seeing triple-figure growth pre-
pandemic - Skin Proud was launched in the Spring of 2020, the same month that the global lockdown began. Skin Proud is more than just a skincare brand - it seeks to change perceptions about what skin should be and encourage realistic representations of skin. Charlotte pivoted to the Gen-Z audience’s demand for a brand that has founding values and drive beyond just product - to change perceptions of ‘real skin’.

Kelly Kovack is the CEO and Founder of BeautyMatter, a noted beauty authority, brand advisor and strategist. She began her career in beauty as one of the original executive team members at Bliss, taking on the way women bought beauty as the Managing Director of the Bliss Catalog. This venture fundamentally changed the way beauty products were merchandised, distributed and marketed to consumers leading the acquisition of Bliss by LVMH. As Vice President of Marketing for Dr. Dennis Gross Skincare, she was at the forefront of defining the cosmeceutical category. Kelly also founded consultancy group Purpose Built, providing concept to counter solutions and strategic advisement for startups to Fortune 500 brand and everything in between. In addition, she's also built her own brands, most recently award-winning fragrance brand, Odin, which was co-founded in collaboration with the men's fashion brand. Kelly is the “lens” of BeautyMatter providing a fresh voice to the beauty industry with highly curated news and original content.