L’Oréal honors top tech founders

28-Oct-2015 - Last updated on 28-Oct-2015 at 16:14 GMT

Related tags Generation award Entrepreneurship

The company’s US-based Women in Digital initiative has announced it’s 2015 Next Generation Award Winners, recognizing the achievements of three original digital company leaders.

This year’s winners have innovated apps, mobile videos, and consumer information services that L’Oréal believes exemplify the sort of cutting-edge content and technology that women-run companies deliver.

“Through this program, L’Oréal is creating a strong community and conversation around the important topic of women in digital,” says Rachel Weiss, vice president of digital innovation and entrepreneurship at L’Oréal USA and chair of L’Oréal USA Women in Digital.

“These entrepreneurs have the potential to revolutionize the digital space, drive brand innovation, and become the next generation of leaders in the field. We are thrilled to be a part of their journey,” she adds.

Well-deserved recognition

Here are this year’s winners of the L’Oréal Next Generation Award:

Sian Morson, founder and CEO of Cast Beauty, a mobile app that makes skin care and hair care suggestions based on weather data
“Cast Beauty is designed to fill the need for personalized beauty recommendations based on climate and enables users to purchase appropriate products,” explains the L’Oréal press release.
Katherine Ryder, founder and CEO of Maven, a consumer healthcare information platform
“Maven has a network of hundreds of women’s and family healthcare providers and provides prescriptions and doctor visits via video appointment.”
Rachel Tipograph, founder and CEO of MikMak, a mobile video shopping network
“MikMak uses short, shoppable infomercials called "minimercials" to showcase innovative products priced below $100 across accessories, beauty, gadgets, jewelry, home goods, kitchenware and more.”

Bigger and better

One founder of the three will be selected to head a project at L’Oréal. All three winners have the chance to speak at the company’s internal marketing conference in November, known as Inspiration Day.

It’s a dynamic event that “brings together more than 450 marketing executives who represent all of L’Oréal’s brands and the Women in Digital strategic committee,” according to the press release. At the conclusion of the conference attendees vote to determine which Next Generation Award winner will be “guaranteed [a] pilot within the company.”

Historical precedent

This marks the fourth year that L’Oréal’s Women in Digital initiative has presented Next Generation Awards. And at its core, “the program promotes, supports and recruits female entrepreneurs, providing them with the opportunity to launch and scale digital innovations with L’Oréal brands,” explains the press release.

Past winner Melody McCloskey was quoted in the release. She’s co-founder and CEO of the online marketplace StyleSeat and has this to say about the experience:

“Being a part of the L’Oréal NEXT Generation Awards has been an integral part of growing the StyleSeat brand and community over the past three years….Partnering with an industry titan like L’Oréal has opened up so many doors for us, and we have been able to help raise brand awareness for its portfolio to a new generation of consumers by featuring their network of professional salons on our platform.”