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Long before founding two businesses at the intersection of beauty, aesthetics and wellness, Nicci Levy was the college student who genuinely could not wait to go to work at the Benefit Cosmetics counter. Her early career took her from Benefit to MAC Cosmetics and an innovative beauty personal styling role at Nordstrom, where she learned firsthand how experience, storytelling and human connection could transform the way consumers engage with beauty. Those lessons became even more powerful when Nicci was recruited by Allergan in 2009 to represent Botox and Latisse in Beverly Hills, giving her a front-row seat to an aesthetics industry that delivered results but, in her view, was missing the aspirational experience consumers already expected from beauty. That insight ultimately inspired Nicci to create Alchemy 43, a branded medical aesthetics concept built around making injectables feel elevated, positive and consumer-friendly. She opened the first location in 2016 and grew the company to nine locations before deciding that her strength was building businesses rather than operating them indefinitely. Throughout the journey, Nicci relied on a mindset that has followed her since childhood: “Why not me?” She talks candidly about raising outside capital without a track record, learning the regulatory realities of medical aesthetics, knowing when a company needed a different kind of leader, and ultimately making the difficult decision to step away from the business she created. Now Nicci is building again with Clume Health & Wellness, inspired by what she learned after bringing GLP-1 medical weight loss services into Alchemy 43. Nicci believes GLP-1 care is evolving from a short-term weight loss conversation into a much broader lifestyle and wellness experience, touching everything from nutrition and muscle mass to skin, hair and everyday social life. Her vision for Clume combines telehealth, community, education and relevant brand partnerships to make that experience feel more personal and less transactional. Alongside Jodi and co-host Dawn Hilarczyk, Nicci explores the future of telehealth, the importance of preserving human connection in medicine, and why she sees herself as an “experience architect,” someone who takes an underwhelming experience and asks how it could become exceptional. This episode is presented by Beauty Connect.

For Dr. Marnie Nussbaum, becoming a dermatologist traces back to childhood. After losing her grandfather to melanoma and later seeing melanoma affect both her mother and husband, she developed an early fascination with medicine, science and skin health. But her career took an unexpected turn during dermatology residency, when cosmetic dermatology was still dismissed by many in academic medicine as frivolous. Marnie saw something different. She recognized aesthetics as an emerging area of innovation, sought out conferences and education on her own, and eventually went from being discouraged from studying cosmetics to teaching it at Cornell. Marnie joins Jodi and co-host Dawn Hilarczyk, COO of Borghese, for a conversation about the intersection of beauty, medicine and confidence. She explains why her approach to aesthetics is not about telling patients what is “wrong” with them, but helping them look on the outside the way they feel on the inside. That same philosophy eventually led her from physician to entrepreneur. During COVID, Marnie saw patients overwhelmed by complicated routines and bags filled with skincare products, so she taught herself the fundamentals of business, developed a plan and launched Dr. Marnie Skincare around a simpler idea: consumers do not necessarily need more products, they need better, more effective ones. The conversation gets especially candid as Marnie talks about putting her own family savings into the business, facing rejection while fundraising and learning an entirely new language of entrepreneurship. She also shares what her patients are telling her about the future of skincare, including demand for effective multitaskers, simplified routines and science-backed peptide technology. Then, in a rapid-fire look at today’s biggest skincare trends, Marnie weighs in on LED masks, microcurrent devices, gua sha, makeup at the gym, retinol irritation and one trend she would like to see disappear: injectable salmon sperm. It’s an engaging look at what happens when a doctor, beauty expert and entrepreneur approaches skincare with science, curiosity and a willingness to challenge convention. This episode is presented by Beauty Connect.

Noah Bricker’s path to becoming General Manager of BaBylissPRO was anything but traditional. After beginning his career at Deloitte, he moved into private equity at American Securities, where he embedded himself inside portfolio companies undergoing major transformations, often working directly alongside CEOs. Noah joins Jodi and CEW President Elana Szyfer to talk about what it takes to earn a CEO’s trust, why careers can be made during a crisis, and how his years advising businesses ultimately showed him that he was an operator at heart. Now running BaBylissPRO, part of Conair, Noah is taking a professional heritage brand and pushing it toward its next phase of consumer growth. He gets candid about competing with powerhouses like Shark, Dyson, T3 and Bio Ionic, dramatically shifting the brand’s media investment toward social, and obsessively studying everything from Amazon reviews to competitor products. He also digs into one of the biggest challenges facing the hair tools category, delivering the performance consumers want while responding to the growing focus on hair health and the “skinification” of hair. The conversation also explores Noah’s intense but people-focused approach to leadership. He believes careers are built by getting as many experiences, or “reps,” as possible, and that leaders have a responsibility to challenge, support and develop the next generation of talent. Then Jodi and Elana get personal, uncovering Noah’s highly disciplined 4:30 a.m. routine, including coffee, email, the gym and a protected morning window he calls his “intense thought” time. It’s a conversation about ambition, transformation, leadership and what it really takes to turn an established professional brand into a modern consumer beauty business. This episode is presented by Beauty Connect.

Ron Gee’s career has taken him from chemical engineering and Kraft Foods to senior leadership roles at some of the biggest companies in beauty including L’Oréal, Coty and Shiseido. Now an Industry Luminary Advisor at Accenture, Ron joins Jodi and CEW President Elana Szyfer to unpack the unexpected career decisions that led him from engineering to finance, M&A and ultimately beauty and why learning the language of finance became one of the most important building blocks of his career. The conversation offers a rare insider’s look at beauty M&A: why major companies continue acquiring emerging brands, why some acquisitions fail to meet expectations, and why a brand’s relationship with its consumer can be every bit as valuable as its products. Ron and Elana revisit examples including BECCA, Prescriptives and Clarisonic while exploring what can happen when an entrepreneurial brand enters a much larger organization and why timing, corporate culture and preserving the people behind a brand can make such a difference. But the conversation ultimately becomes about what comes after a big corporate career. Ron shares why he’s increasingly drawn to helping smaller and middle-market companies grow, rather than simply taking another major operating role, while Jodi, Ron and Elana explore the rise of fractional executives and experienced leaders choosing work based on joy, relationships and impact. And in a revealing look at the next generation of beauty consumers, Ron shares what his 20-year-old twin daughters are actually buying, experimenting with and prioritizing from devices and nail art to NARS and Drunk Elephant. This episode is presented by Beauty Connect.

Shane Evans, CEO and co-founder of Heights Wellness Retreat, turned one disappointing spa experience into a business that has endured for more than two decades. After starting her career selling fitness memberships and later moving into medical sales, a frustrating birthday massage sparked an idea: what if high-quality massage could be professional, convenient and affordable enough to become a regular wellness habit? Four months later, the first Massage Heights opened and nine months after that, Shane opened location number two. Today, Shane is transforming that original concept into Heights Wellness Retreat, evolving 100+ locations from a massage-and-skincare model into a broader destination for wellness, longevity, technology and community. She joins Jodi and co-host Lindy Firstenberg for a fascinating conversation about the changing wellness consumer, the rise of peptides and compounding pharmacies, the importance of making wellness part of a routine, and why the future may belong to destinations that bring multiple modalities from red light and cryotherapy to sauna and vibroacoustic technology under one roof. But Shane’s story is also about entrepreneurship, leadership and knowing when to reinvent what you’ve already built. She shares why she returned to lead the company she founded, how she thinks about franchisee profitability and staying independent, and why her definition of success has shifted from money to something much more meaningful: freedom. It’s an inspiring look at what happens when an entrepreneur refuses to let a successful 22-year-old business stand still and instead asks what the modern wellness consumer will need next. This episode is presented by Beauty Connect.

Michelle Lee has built a career around seeing where culture is headed next. From Editor-in-Chief of Allure and Nylon to a global leadership role at Netflix and now CMO of Landing International and K Beauty World, her path is anything but conventional. Michelle opens up about feeling intimidated when she first reached the top ranks of publishing, learning to take bigger creative risks, and recognizing early that the traditional media model was about to radically change. Together with Jodi and guest co-host Lindy Firstenberg, Michelle explores what the modern beauty experience actually looks like as the lines between beauty, health and wellness disappear. They dig into personalization, the growing “pharmification” of beauty and wellness, and what Michelle learned overseeing global editorial and publishing at Netflix, including watching Squid Game become a worldwide phenomenon and seeing firsthand how culture can travel across borders. Michelle also gets candid about stepping away from an intense full-time executive career, building a fractional career through relationships and side hustles, and the three résumé bullet points she believes everyone should be intentionally building. Then the conversation turns to K-beauty: why its first U.S. wave faded, how TikTok Shop and Amazon helped fuel its resurgence, and why succeeding in the U.S. requires far more than simply bringing a successful international brand stateside. It’s a conversation about reinvention, cultural fluency and building a career and a brand that’s ready for what comes next. This episode is presented by Beauty Connect.

Michael Marcano, CMO of ZO Skin Health, didn’t follow the traditional path to the C-suite. He grew up in Far Rockaway, Queens, dreaming of becoming a doctor, worked full-time while finishing college, and even auditioned for American Idol…twice…before finding his way into the beauty industry. His career story is a lesson in curiosity, persistence and being willing to pursue opportunities even when you don’t have the expected credentials. Michael shares how he deliberately built his career by raising his hand, asking successful colleagues to teach him, telling people where he wanted to go, and cultivating both mentors and sponsors. That approach helped him break into marketing at L’Oréal and ultimately build a 13-year career at The Estée Lauder Companies. His advice is refreshingly actionable: working hard matters, but you also have to advocate for yourself—and sometimes a move that looks lateral or even backward can lead somewhere much bigger. Now at ZO Skin Health, Michael is applying those lessons to an entirely different challenge: taking a respected professional skincare brand with deep physician credibility and building greater consumer awareness. He and Jodi explore the power of the provider voice, why skincare brands need to talk about the often-overlooked “during” between the before and after, and what it takes to lead a team through transformation. It’s a candid conversation about ambition, career reinvention, leadership and what can happen when you stop waiting for the next opportunity and start actively creating it. This episode is presented by Beauty Connect.

What happens when you stop accepting industry rules as fact and start asking, "Why not?" On Episode 313 of Where Brains Meet Beauty, Personal Day CEO Amanda Domaleczny and Co-Founder Dan Reich join Jodi Katz for a conversation about entrepreneurship, innovation, and building brands that challenge conventional thinking. Amanda shares how a career spanning operations, product development, sales, and retail strategy shaped her approach to leadership, while Dan reflects on his journey from technology entrepreneur to beauty founder and the lessons he's learned building multiple high-growth brands. Together, they discuss the importance of questioning assumptions, the power of surrounding yourself with exceptional people, and why some of the most meaningful opportunities come from being willing to take risks that others won't. They also explore the vision behind Personal Day and how the brand is working to reimagine the acne category by combining science, emotional connection, and a more approachable consumer experience. It's a thoughtful conversation about leadership, resilience, entrepreneurship, and the belief that sometimes the best path forward is the one that hasn't been tried before. Thank you to our partner CEW. If you're looking to accelerate your career and expand your network, visit CEW.org and use code WBMB20 for 20% off your first year of membership.

What does it take to build products that consumers don't just use, but genuinely love? On Episode 312 of Where Brains Meet Beauty, Shark Beauty Global Head of Marketing Julie Bailey Blanche and Vice President of Product Development Shannon McSweeney join Jodi Katz for a conversation about innovation, leadership, and the relentless pursuit of solving real consumer needs. Julie and Shannon share how Shark Beauty approaches product development differently, from identifying unmet consumer needs and challenging assumptions to creating a culture where teams are encouraged to evolve their thinking when new information emerges. Together, they discuss the power of consumer feedback, the importance of cross-functional collaboration, and why some of the most successful innovations come from asking a simple question: How can we make this experience better? It's an insightful conversation about product development, brand building, and the mindset required to continuously raise the bar in a competitive category. Thank you to our partner CEW. If you're looking to accelerate your career and expand your network, visit CEW.org and use code WBMB20 for 20% off your first year of membership.

What does it take to transform a highly engaged community into a lasting consumer brand? On Episode 311 of Where Brains Meet Beauty, Sincerely Yours COO & CMO Shelagh Wong and Coefficient Capital Partner Arpon Ray join Jodi Katz for a conversation about entrepreneurship, investing, and building brands that can stand the test of time. Shelagh shares how her background in management consulting shaped her approach to leadership, operations, and brand building, while Arpon discusses what investors look for when evaluating emerging consumer brands and the importance of finding businesses with a true competitive advantage. Together, they explore the launch of Sincerely Yours, the power of community-driven growth, the realities of scaling a creator-led brand, and why sustainable success requires balancing creativity, discipline, and long-term thinking. It's a thoughtful conversation about leadership, culture, growth, and what it takes to build a brand that resonates far beyond its initial audience. Thank you to our partner CEW. If you're looking to accelerate your career and expand your network, visit CEW.org and use code WBMB20 for 20% off your first year of membership.

What does it take to build a beauty brand that can grow beyond a single hero product while staying true to its purpose? On Episode 310 of Where Brains Meet Beauty, Mutha COO David Krzypow and Head of Brand Marketing Lauren Katz join Jodi Katz for a conversation about brand building, leadership, and navigating growth in today's increasingly competitive beauty landscape. David shares how his journey from engineering to beauty helped shape his approach to building brands through analytical rigor and creative thinking, while Lauren discusses the importance of deeply understanding your customer and translating authentic brand stories into meaningful marketing. Together, they explore what it takes to stay focused when faced with constant noise, how Mutha has evolved from a product created to solve a real need into a growing beauty brand, and why strong brand identity remains one of the most valuable assets a company can have. It's a thoughtful conversation about career growth, entrepreneurship, motherhood, and the balance between intuition and strategy that drives successful brands forward. Thank you to our partner CEW. If you're looking to accelerate your career and expand your network, visit CEW.org and use code WBMB20 for 20% off your first year of membership.

In Episode 309 of Where Brains Meet Beauty, host Jodi Katz sits down with two accomplished sales leaders, Jeff Giordano Martinez-Fonts, founder of GIO Marketing Consultants LLC, and Liz Cavalieri, Vice President of Sales at Malin + Goetz, for a candid conversation about the evolving relationship between beauty, sales, and leadership. Jeff and Liz share the winding career paths that led them to the beauty industry, from early aspirations and unexpected career pivots to leadership roles at some of the industry's most recognized brands. Together, they explore the realities of driving growth in a competitive marketplace, the importance of innovation without compromising brand identity, and how consumer trust remains the foundation of long-term success. The discussion also dives into leadership philosophies, team empowerment, shelf strategy, product development, and the challenges of staying relevant in a rapidly changing beauty landscape. Whether you're building a brand, leading a team, or navigating your own career journey, this episode offers valuable insights on adaptability, resilience, and what it takes to thrive in beauty today. Tune in for an inspiring conversation about sales, strategy, leadership, and the human side of building successful beauty brands. Thanks to our partner CEW where you can discover how to accelerate your career - go to  CEW.org and use code WBMB20 for 20% off your first year of membership.

In Episode 308 of Where Brains Meet Beauty, Jodi Katz sits down with Michelle LeBlanc, VP Merchandising, Beauty, & Personal Care at CVS Health, to discuss the strategy behind merchandising beauty across more than 8,000 stores. Michelle shares how CVS approaches localization, balances legacy and emerging brands, and thinks about shopper behavior through the lens of speed, convenience, and accessibility. She explains why CVS sees itself as an “anti-destination” retailer, how customer feedback shapes assortments, and what today’s shoppers are really asking for. The conversation also explores Michelle’s 20-year career journey, her leadership philosophy centered on kindness and psychological safety, and the realities of balancing executive leadership with parenting three boys. It’s a thoughtful conversation about modern retail, beauty discovery, and leading with humanity. Thanks to our partner CEW where you can discover how to accelerate your career - go to CEW.org and use code WBMB20 for 20% off your first year of membership.

Episode 307 of Where Brains Meet Beauty wraps the “Power Duos” series with Rose and Ben Siard, co-founders of Rose and Ben Beauty. They share their 23-year partnership from meeting as teens in Texas to building a brand rooted in clear roles, mutual respect, and a community-first mindset. Before beauty, they were musicians, writing and performing together for over a decade, an experience that shaped their creative and business chemistry. Rose’s makeup journey began organically on social media, where a loyal, long-standing community became the foundation of the brand. Ben brought operational expertise from his career in oil and gas, creating a balance that allows Rose to focus on creativity while he handles execution. They discuss maintaining authenticity while scaling, staying personally connected to their audience, and navigating challenges with transparency. The episode highlights their partnerships, their problem-solving approach to business, and how their shared history continues to influence their growth. It’s a story of love, resilience, and building something meaningful together.

Episode 306 of Where Brains Meet Beauty continues the “Power Duos” series with sisters Allison and Jacqueline Taylor, co-founders of Le Prunier. What began as a fourth-generation Northern California plum farm evolved into a modern skincare brand rooted in sustainability, science, and family legacy. Allison and Jacqueline took very different paths - music and fashion on one side, wellness and culinary science on the other but shared a deep curiosity about ingredients. That curiosity led them back to their family’s farm, where they uncovered the untapped potential of antioxidant-rich plum byproducts and transformed them into a hero skincare ingredient. In this episode, they open up about building a business with siblings, dividing roles based on strengths, and creating boundaries that protect both the company and their relationships. They also share the reality of scaling a farm-based beauty brand from regenerative agriculture and proprietary production systems to navigating a sudden surge in demand after a viral celebrity moment after Chrissy Teigen mentioned the brand in 2020. Also joined by their third sister, the founders reflect on how their definition of success has evolved from chasing milestones to prioritizing team wins, longevity, and shared growth. The conversation ends with a skincare-inspired travel game, where the sisters choose their dream “skin reset” destinations, from Bali to Seoul to Kyoto, and a gentle reminder that skin does best when we do less: be consistent, be careful when switching products, and keep the routine calm, especially when life is moving fast. Le Prunier would like to offer our viewers 20% off just use code BEAUTY20 to try anything at leprunier.com.