CEW Achiever Awards celebrate the beauty industry’s top leaders
The Women’s Empowerment Award was presented in partnership with AAUW. The American Association of University Women was founded in 1881 and has been working to empower women and girls ever since.
As the association explains in the CEW Achiever Awards event program, “The CEW Women’s Empowerment Award recognizes a company that demonstrates corporate social responsibility and a commitment to empowering women in society. That’s why this award means so much to us, and to women everywhere fighting for equal opportunity in their lives and throughout the world.”
Unilever received the first Women’s Empowerment Award for their initiatives to be empowering and inclusive both inside and beyond the company. AAUW cites the #unstereotype campaign, noting that the company “recognized that the biases we are exposed to in the media influence our perspectives, and they developed new ways to use that influence responsibly.”
Other special awards
This year’s Achiever Awards ceremony also included a Lifetime Achievement Award. Karen Fondu has spent her entire career at L’Oréal and the past nine years as president of L’Oréal Paris USA. Now, after 37 years in the industry, Fondu is retiring. And CEW took the opportunity to honor her innovative vision, business savvy, and inspiring leadership with a Lifetime Achievement Award.
In partnership with IFF, the CEW also gave out the Great Idea Award for Fragrance. This year Rachel Field, co-founder and vice president of discovery at Vapor Communications, was honored for her work in digital fragrance. To learn more about her work, check out Cosmetics Design’s coverage of Vapor here and here.
The Achievers
Six cosmetic and personal care industry leaders received CEW Achiever Awards this year: Alex Keith, president of global skin and personal care for P&G; Sarah Hibberson, senior vice president of human resources at L’Oréal USA; Michelle Freyre, president of US Beauty for J&J Consumer; Beth Dinardo, global brand president of Smashbox Cosmetics; Marla Malcolm Beck, CEO and co-founder of Bluemercury; and Katia Beauchamp, CEO and co-founder of Birchbox.
In her letter for the event program, CEW president Carlotta Jacobson remarks that the Achiever Awards “celebrate women who have taken their brand, company or department to the next level by committing to a mission – and winning with it.”
