#SheInspiresMe - Meet my Women of Wella

WHO INSPIRES YOU? 

On the occasion of International Women’s Day, I am pleased to share with you several #WomenOfWella, wonderful leaders (amongst many!) who inspire and motivate me on a daily basis. They are each inspirational "wonder women" in their own right, and I feel grateful to have them on the team. 

Take the time today to recognize a strong female colleague that has inspired or empowered you. Tag her and tell us why. #SheInspiresMe #IWD2020

Laura Simpson is the Chief Marketing Officer of our Professional Beauty Division, and my right-hand woman. In fact, her efforts led to incredible strides in Wella’s color innovation, with the launches of Illumina Color, Blondor Freelights and Koleston Perfect Me+ just to name a few. Laura is a bright, positive and results-focused leader with a strong innovative spirit and learning mindset. What I see and admire in Laura is her great collaboration skills and her unique ability to integrate and make things simple. I absolutely love working with Laura ! Married with two kids, she’s a real wonder woman, balancing a great career and personal life, and always keeping her cool. It must be the regular Pilates classes that keeps her so chill!

Caroline Gudin is newly appointed General Manager of our business in France, after a career spent in Supply Chain & Operations. A self-made businesswoman, she has worked in beauty for many years, both in retail & industry. Caroline is an energetic and passionate leader, who maintains her career as a priority, but also dedicates time to her husband, three sons, golf, and yoga. As an executive, Caroline highly values teams and teamwork. ? If you can dream it, you can achieve it ? is a favorite quote of hers, a testament to her resilience and her ability to embrace and manage change.

Natalia Lisina is our General Manager for Coty Professional Beauty Eastern Europe. Natalia has a vast and diverse work experience in P&G and Coty in professional beauty and mass market across the CEEMEA region within finance, sales, strategy and planning. A Russian native and latin dance lover, Natalia currently resides in Warsaw, Poland. What amazes me about Natalia is her ability to combine a strong drive to a “go beyond” mindset with agility and high quality of execution. As she would say: “don’t think limitations, think opportunities!”

Nathalie de Gouveia joined the Professional Beauty division 6 months ago to lead the Brazilian market, bringing a strong experience in retail and beauty. A French native, she built her career between France, Portugal, Spain and now Brazil where she lives with her husband and children. Nathalie is a strong believer that, “you never know how strong you are until being strong is the only choice you have,” a mindset shaped by her youth spent dancing ballet which taught her perseverance, dedication, humility, and passion. In addition to her role as General Manager of the Brazil business, Nathalie has twin one-and-half year olds and believes that the last 6 months have been the most intense sport of juggling she’s ever had!

Next up is Mina Zandbar, our talented Vice President of Digital and eCommerce for our North American business, based in California. What I love about Mina is that she is not only a smart results-driven leader, but is a bastion of positivity, even in the hardest of times. She is a beauty lover and believes that “minds are like flowers; they open when the time is right.” A useful mindset as she drives her team to define flexible, scalable solutions to complex business challenges. Mina’s smile and attitude are infectious and a huge motivator to her colleagues.

Sandra Palm is our Education Director for Professional Beauty across Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, known for scaling mountains, both literally and figuratively! Sandra started with the business in 2004 as an intern and has been climbing her way up since, now leading a force of educators who inspire, develop and grow Wella stylists every day. Sandra believes that, “if you can dream it, you can do it,” as proven in both her professional and personal life. Proud to have such a go-getter amongst our ranks!

Athina Nikolaidu has been leading our Professional Beauty business in Greece since 2016. No stranger to hard work, even in difficult times, she lives by the motto, “whether you think you can or can’t, you are right.” Athina prides herself on building strong teams, in which everyone is encouraged and enabled to lead in their own area of expertise. A professional industry insider since the start, Athina sports a stylish bob, and loves testing out our most iconic Koleston Perfect ME+ shades. Athina is another super woman ! She lives in Athens with her husband and young daughter and in her free time enjoys contemporary and jazz dance classes.

Another inspiring #WomenofWella is Herminie Simonetta, our Legal #BossLady and General Counsel for Professional Beauty globally. A senior legal exec with 20 years of international legal experience, Herminie joined Coty in 2017 after a variety of senior roles in leading global companies. Herminie likes to say that, “creativity is intelligence having fun,” and I see this brought to life each day in the office with her creative approach in problem solving and with her fashion-forward looks! A French native and cinema buff, Herminie lives in Geneva with her husband and two teenage sons.

And to close this Inspiring #WomenofWella showcase, let me introduce you to Jessie Liu, our General Manager in China, who recently stepped into the country leadership position from her role leading the Coty Professional Beauty Sales and Marketing team. Strategic, pragmatic, and passionate about team development, Jessie is bringing positive change to our business in China. Always a cheerleader, Jessie’s philosophy is to “stand in one another’s shoes,” in order to seek win-win solutions. And if she wasn’t leading our team in China? Jessie says she would be a photographer for National Geographic, so she could look at the beauty of our world from different angles.

#WomenofWella #SheInspiresMe #IWD