Seasoned beauty executive Susan Kim has more than ten years’ experience working for global beauty brands and has held senior marketing positions at Huda Beauty, Benefit Cosmetics and L’oreal. She is known in the beauty industry as someone who pushes brands to achieve their growth ambitions in a highly competitive and evolving market. Susan spent nine years at Benefit Cosmetics developing a digital and strategic plan that catapulted the brand into the top ranks of the industry and was most recently senior vice president of marketing and digital at Huda Beauty.
“She is known in the beauty industry as someone who pushes brands to achieve their growth ambitions in a highly competitive and evolving market”
Susan recently joined Kopari beauty, the digitally native, clean, coconut-based lifestyle brand as CEO and will be leading the company to its next phase of growth. Known as one of the most innovative leaders in the beauty industry, Susan’s expertise lies in growing direct-to-consumer brands and managing brands’ omni-channel approach to fuel organic growth. With an energetic and friendly style, Susan is both a passionate creator and measured strategist. Based in Los Angeles with her husband and two children, Susan has an MBA from Harvard Business School and a Bachelor of Science from the University of Southern California.
“... one of the most innovative leaders in the beauty industry, Susan’s expertise lies in growing direct-to-consumer brands and managing brands’ omni-channel approach to fuel organic growth.”
Regardless of her stellar track record in the industry, Susan remains warm, friendly and quietly humble. Discussing the industry with her, it’s hard not to feel excited; Susan’s passion and enthusiasm for beauty is infectious and her wealth of knowledge regarding digital is impressive. We had a catch-up over zoom to discuss some of her past achievements and her plans for Kopari beauty.
Please can you tell us a little about Kopari Beauty and some of your favourite products from the range?
There are so many that it’s hard to choose from! Of course, the Coconut Melt is my favourite and how I came to know the brand. I have eczema patches in the winter time and I couldn’t find anything that wasn’t a crazy chemical steroid that would help it. Once I started using the Coconut Melt in those patches, I saw such great improvement.
“With an energetic and friendly style, Susan is both a passionate creator and measured strategist.”
I also love the Pink Souffle Body Mask, it has a gorgeous whipped texture that I fell in love with instantly. It has really helped me with some of those pesky bacne breakouts. I also have about 5 Lip Glossys’ that I carry with me at all times.
What avenues are you most excited about as CEO of Kopari?
I’m so excited about the potential of Kopari as a brand. We combine great actives with the miracle fruit, Coconuts, to provide luxurious and efficacious formulas and there are so many ways that we can bring that to life in terms of product innovation. I’m so excited about our future roadmap!
You have been an executive at some incredible beauty brands, please can you share some of your most rewarding experiences?
While seeing a campaign be a success or a strategy hit the KPIs is fulfilling, the most rewarding part of my career has been the people that I’ve had the chance to lead, work alongside and be mentored by. The beauty industry is like one big passionate family and it’s been rewarding to grow teams and serve as a mentor to such great talent.
“... the most rewarding part of my career has been the people that I’ve had the chance to lead, work alongside and be mentored by.”
How would you summarise your style in leading a team?
I learned a lot through my experience in the beauty industry from a lot of great leaders like Jean Andre Rougeot, the CEO of Benefit and Huda Kattan. I would have to say that authenticity and empathy has paved my road to CEO.
The digital landscape is constantly changing, how do you navigate an industry which is evolving so fast?
I love that beauty sits at the forefront of all things digital so I like to discuss with colleagues and friends the changing landscape, but the best way to learn about some of these digital practices is to do it myself. When Clubhouse first came out, I hopped on the app and engaged. When Instagram shopping first came out, I spent time on the platform and purchased a few items (that I probably didn’t need) purely to see the experience from a consumer standpoint.
“I learned a lot through my experience in the beauty industry from a lot of great leaders like Jean Andre Rougeot, the CEO of Benefit and Huda Kattan.”
What are some of your biggest learnings from over ten years in the beauty industry?
Whilst I love all the products that I’ve ever created, I will remember the impact that I might have had on teams and people the most. Not only is it gratifying from a personal standpoint, it’s also very good for business. I found that business results were significantly better when I focus on the team, the people and the culture.
Are you able to share how you deal with disappointments, whether work or personal?
I usually let myself wallow in the disappointment for a good while. But the trick is, to ask myself, “What could I have changed? Was the underlying assumption inaccurate? What would I do differently?” There is a great empowerment that comes from asking myself those questions, internalizing the answers and using those learnings to move on.
“I found that business results were significantly better when I focus on the team, the people, and the culture.”
What new product launches have you been working on since you became CEO at Kopari?
We have a robust innovation roadmap through to the end of 2022 already solidified and I have to say, these product launches are probably some of the best I’ve seen in the industry – from the ingredient profile, to the efficacy, to the clean standards they advance. Watch this space for more.
You must know all of the best beauty products, can you share a few of your favourite products with us?
My innate nature of beauty junkie and hoarder means that I tend to use a lot of products. The below are a few of my favourites:
- Huda Beauty Mini Nude Eyeshadow Palettes: Gorgeous editorialized combination of different formulas and shades for the richest payoff.
- Benefit Mascaras: Their Real Tinted Primer Mascara and BadGal Bang Combination are wonderful. I have some short stubby lashes and having tried so many mascaras on the market, my favourite combination is They’re Real! Tinted Primer Mascara + BadGal Bang. The mixture of these two products makes me feel as though I am going glam out the door.
- Peach & Lily Glass Skin Serum: Founded by Alicia Yoon, I’m a big fan of the Peach & Lily Glass Skin Serum. It will literally give you glowing skin day to night.
- Rare Beauty Foundation: A bit goes a long way but I love the Rare Beauty Liquid Touch Weightless Foundation – it’s super buildable with good coverage while it feels as though you’re not wearing any foundation at all. I also love how accessible the price point it at $29 US SRP.
- Kopari Tropical Coconut Melt: It’s the original Coconut Melt, but with a tropical scent – I could smother my entire body with this, it smells so good and is great as a hair mask too.
- Kopari Rose Toner: This is always my midday pick-me-up. I tend to get super dry skin around midday and I like to spritz this on as a midday moisturiser or even a quick pre-gym hydrator.
Are you able to share some of your objectives as CEO of Kopari?
One of the first goals I made for the brand was to establish a strategic roadmap and long-term plan to reach our KPIs. Ever since my days at Mattel where I worked on strategic product architecture, I was particularly passionate about healthy assortments and product architecture. Of course, as a marketer at heart, one of the first objectives was to grow brand awareness. I found that people love Kopari, but not a lot of people know about Kopari. In parallel, I would like to establish healthy KPIs around our e-commerce business and wholesale business.
You are such a positive and inspirational person, where do you find your energy/motivation from?
A lot of Redbull and ten minute power naps, but most importantly, my kids and my team
You can find out more about Kopari Beauty by visiting a retailer or at https://www.koparibeauty.co.uk/
Photographs contain clickthrough URL’s where appropriate
Photography courtesy of Susan Kim and Kopari Beauty