On Monday, November, 12 2012, members of the U.S. beauty industry gathered at New York’s Waldorf-Astoria for the CEW Achiever Awards, the Corporate Empowerment for Women award and the Great Idea Award.
A tradition that is nearing its 40th year and a cornerstone of Cosmetic Executive Women (CEW) as an organization, the Achiever Awards celebrate and honour female executives with unique backgrounds and paths to the tops of their fields. Each year, the honourees are selected by their peers to be recognized at the ceremony for their achievements in business. This year, Jill Belasco, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of CoScentrix, Laurie Black, EVP, General Merchandise Manager, Cosmetics at Nordstrom, Karen Buglisi, Global Brand President at MAC Cosmeticsn and Alina Roytberg, Co-President and Co-Founder of Fresh, joined the ranks of the 90 other industry female personalities already honoured by the CEW.
In addition to honouring top female executives, CEW also recognizes companies that demonstrate a commitment to leveraging female talent through the Corporate Empowerment for Women award. This award honours a company that demonstrates its commitment to establishing female talent through leadership development opportunities, mentoring programs, flexible work/life options, and women’s employee resource groups. This year, the award was presented to L’Oreal USA.
Eventually, the second annual new Great Idea Award honours a breakthrough concept as well as the woman behind it. Sponsored by IFF, the award acknowledges women who have impacted the beauty industry by creating a new product category- or revolutionizing an exiting one, satisfying an unmet consumer need, changing consumer buying habits, or cultivating an untapped market. The second recipient of the Great Idea Award was Laurice Rahme, the Founder and President of the iconic and New York-Centric Bond No.9 niche fragrance brand with a fiercely loyal following. Inspired by the tragic events of September 11, Rahme harnessed her infatuation and love affair with New York City to “make New York smell good again,” and to create fragrances to celebrate the neighbourhoods, the city’s unbreakable spirit and its dynamism.
