My career choices have been driven by curiosity, continually learning, continuous improvement and applying that to new problems. I started in technology, which is what gives me this lens of user-first thinking, and moving backwards from user experience. The time I spent in Amazon, in the early days of the consumables business, gives me insight into what scaling a platform very quickly needs to look like from the brand and platform side. But the time I spent in CPG at Unilever gave me empathy for people in brand stewardship roles, because you have to grow the brand for the long term.
Amazon's growth as a mass and premium beauty retailer significantly raises the competitive bar for beauty industry players, particularly traditional retailers and department stores. Future success will depend less on brand exclusivity and more on convenience and enriched online shopping experiences.