FEATURED INTERVIEW:

Holly Fulger

Executive Director and Founder at True Beauty Discovery & Actress 

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Holly Fulger is an actress, producer, and writer and was born in Lakewood, Ohio. She began her acting career at the Great Lakes Shakespeare Festival, where she interned with Tom Hanks, with whom she has remained close friends. She moved to Chicago from Cleveland, working in the theater community there as a member of the Remains Theater Ensemble. She later moved to Los Angeles in the late 1980’s and was cast in the sitcom, Anything But Love, opposite Jamie Lee Curtis. She recurred on thirtysomething, The Practice, The John Larroquette Show, Café American, but is perhaps best known for her roles in the Disney Channel Original Movie series, Zenon, Girl of the 21 st Century, as Aunt Judy, and as Holly in the sitcom, Ellen. Being in the spotlight, Holly experienced the good, the bad and the misguided aspects of beauty in our culture. She has written numerous articles on beauty and an article she wrote for iCNN caught the attention of a CNN producer who interviewed Holly and seven other women on their perception of beauty.

 

To Holly, the most interesting part of this was listening to other women’s stories and hearing how difficult it was for women to really say what is beautiful about themselves. This began her exploration into true beauty. It began with Speaking of Beauty, a web series based on interviews with sixteen women of different ages, races, and backgrounds. Speaking of Beauty evolved into The Hollywood Beauty Detective web series, which was co-created and directed by her friend, cinematographer and director, Michael Goi. The series was

dedicated to shining a light on the illusion of beauty in Hollywood. Ultimately, Holly wanted to make more of an impact to empower girls and women. Encouraged by her daughter, Sasha, Holly created the nonprofit, True Beauty Discovery, with the mission of empowering girls and women to understand that it is their individuality that makes them beautiful and powerful. In Holly’s words, ‘Beauty is our soul reflected outwards.’

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MEET THE PANELISTS: 

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Jaclynn (Jax) Brennan

CEO of Fylí & Founder of Creative Duality  

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Jaclynn (Jax) Brennan is a Creative Executive and expert on the connection between business and branding. With over a decade of experience as a Creative Director for a variety of luxury fashion brands, and having helped lead over 22 major corporations in executing branding strategies, she is an authority on taking brands, organizations, and entrepreneurs to the next level of success.

Jax is also the CEO and Co-Founder of Fyli, a Network as a Service (NaaS) business for early-stage female founders, offering education, accountability, peer-to-peer mentorship, leadership advancement and funding opportunities.

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Smitha Rao

Chief Innovation Officer & Brand Advisor

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Smitha Rao is a successful C-level, Senior Executive in Beauty and Wellness with a track record of using innovation to transform organizations while creating brands with stickiness to drive growth. Classically trained in Bio-Technology, Ms. Rao has 18 years of leadership experience with company revenues from $50M - $800M and omnichannel distribution across a variety of industry classifications & categories. She is recognized for demonstrating an intrapreneurial-driven innovative spirit, change agent, and collaboration, having built multinational, multicultural teams in different organizations. She has worked with 15+ brands, including StriVectin, SGX NYC, and Firefly. 

 

Two of the organizations that Ms. Rao supported resulted in successful exits.

 

Ros Simmons

C-SUITE EXECUTIVE, CEO & NED

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Ros is an industry distruptor imparting her 30-years plus a wealth of knowledge and experience to shake up the wellness industry as we know it. CEO and NED Ros Simmons, has a deep knowledge of the health, wellness, and beauty industry and has worked with many fast-paced and challenger brand companies. Former SVP of MONAT Global, co-founder and CEO at Virgin Vie at Home, and Global Brand Manager for The Body Shop, Ros continues to help entrepreneurs - namely start-ups - break new markets and has a wide experience in multichannel business.

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Ruhi Thakker

Director of PR and Influencer Marketing, FORMA Brands

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Ruhi is an award-winning communications expert with experience developing brand narratives, creative strategies, and impactful earned media campaigns. She has worked extensively with global brands and currently leads the global PR & Influencer Marketing teams at FORMA, a family of brands leading what's next in beauty. 

When she's not working, you can find her training for her next race, exploring a museum, or cooking to her favorite jazz playlist. 

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Carolyn Li Ming Geh

Founder & CEO, Li Organics

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Carolyn Li Ming Geh is an entrepreneur and founder of Li Organics, a beauty company leveraging antioxidant-rich and synergistic formulas for sensitive skin with a mission beyond skin deep. Prior to her career as an entrepreneur, Carolyn had over a decade-long career working in fashion as a model under FORD Models, working for renowned brands such as J Crew, Banana Republic, Balenciaga, Lanvin, MAC Cosmetics, Louis Vitton, Harpers Bazaar, and more. It was during her modeling career that she started to develop the formulas that have now become must-haves on Li Organics customers’ top shelves today. Through the brand’s partnership with Project Orphans, they are helping to give children better self-worth and hope for a brighter future through critical care and education opportunities. Carolyn’s mission-driven business has resulted in press mentions such as American Vogue, In Style, TODAY.com, British Vogue, WhoWhatWear, and Real Simple. She has also given workshops at MIT Sloan School of Management and has been a guest on the Forbes Books Audio podcast. To date, Li Organics has served customers nationwide, Canada, Australia, Singapore. and the brand recently launched in Israel via the country's largest distributor for beauty products. She has been featured by several industry journals for her insights on the beauty industry. She is formally trained in Neuromechanics Psychology, with a minor in Human Nutrition, and received her graduate degree at the University of British Columbia in 2009.

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Laura Dale

Global Product Education & Beauty Expert 

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Laura Dale is a master hair stylist, beauty expert, and Editor for Style Craze. With over 20 years of experience in the beauty industry and a cosmetology license, she has worked as a Global Education Director for top beauty brands, specializing in professional haircare. Laura has a reputation as a resourceful and effective leader, known for her high energy and attention to detail. She was a key player in the successful launch of 48 new products globally for MONAT, where she served as Global Director of Product Education. In this role, she led the education and product training for 200k Independent Sales Distributors in 5 countries. Laura is dedicated to sharing her extensive knowledge and expertise with others, driven by her passion for the beauty industry.