Premium Beauty News - Quite a long and compelling story that of the CEW!
Françoise Montenay - You are right! compelling is the word... I would be tempted to also add “exemplary”! The French CEW was created in 1986 on the initiative of Michèle Meyer and quickly focused on active solidarity with the creation in 1992 of the first free Beauty Centre at the hospital Gustave Roussy, South of Paris. Today, 31 beauticians hired, trained and paid by the CEW in the form of fees, provide beauty treatments to male and female patients, in 29 hospitals in Paris and France, and for 21 different pathologies. Through this action the CEW offers patients a relaxing moment, emphatic listening, gestures to sooth, beautify and fight against the harm caused by illness or treatments. In 2015, more than 30,000 cosmetic treatments were offered.
As you know we are an non-profit association, affiliated to the CEW Inc., a strong U.S. professional organization founded in 1954 with over 8,000 members and to the CEW U.K. founded in 1992 and with close to 1,000 members.
In France, our 500 members hold entry level, mid-level and senior management positions in the Beauty industry upstream or downstream of the chain, i.e., the perfume and cosmetic industry, and aesthetics and hairdressing activities. Our members hold positions in marketing, finance, or as communication consultants, in the industry or distribution sectors.
Premium Beauty News - 2016 will be a year of new impetus and your profile and nomination are, in a way, its first expression.
Laurence Moulin - Absolutely! This position of Managing Director for France that I have been holding in recent months was created at the request of the Board of Directors and voted by the General Assembly to meet the new challenges facing this network, namely, to strengthen its business dimension and its support to Beauty professionals at every stage of their careers.
2016, represents an important step forward in our development with the opening of the French organisation to men since January 1st (an opening already successful achieved in the U.S. and U.K.) and a strengthening of international exchanges.
The CEW as a whole brings together 8,000 Beauty professionals around three associations: CEW U.S.A., CEW U.K. and CEW France. With the beauty industry being global and its actors, international players, we want accelerate rapprochements and synergies between the three CEWs, because giving our members access to a global network is essential today. As our President, Françoise Montenay stated, the CEW is now also open to men with the aim to promote an overall vision of the profession and of those who embody it. To support this development you will soon discover our new website, clearer, more dynamic, more complete, more user friendly.
Professionally, I come from the world of Communication. I was Communications Director at the International Event Agency specialised in public relations and in the organization of events. I also served as Communication Director for Interdeco (now Lagardère Publicité) and then of the Figaro Group.
Premium Beauty News - This international network you represent is undoubtedly a strong asset!
Françoise Montenay - You understood that our aim was to build a stronger, more united and always more active CEW, with a foothold in all trades in the Beauty industry. This programme of course takes into consideration the rapprochement with the two other CEWs in the U.S. and U.K. In fact, we are only going to place more emphasis on what already existed. For example, we launched in June 2012 the first “Achievers Awards” Ceremony to honour women who are successful in our trade or who have helped members move forward in the profession (taking example on the Achievers Awards in the U.S. or U.K) . With the aim to make it a strong media event occurring every year. It is very important for the CEW to reflect this entrepreneurial atmosphere and culture that characterizes the beauty sector and to put it in the spotlight.
Premium Beauty News - You will need to recruit!
Laurence Moulin - A proactive recruitment policy will be launched to further strengthen the representativeness of our network and offer always more to our members. The aim is to contribute to their professional fulfilment by boosting their careers and promoting the enrichment of their network. We offer them opportunities for meetings and discussions with high profile professionals on business and strategic topics with a comprehensive platform of inspiring and rewarding events, but also partnerships with leading and innovative Beauty events like MakeUp in Paris.
It is also important to recall that the CEW is a unique network that boasts a dual business and solidarity vocation. A positioning that gives it a very particular spirit of conviviality and sharing. All CEW members are federated around the action of the Beauty Centres (but also of our Olfactory Workshops, another commitment of the CEW France) with this core idea that “Beauty is not trivial, it can help people live better.”
