WellaCompany Hosts Founders Forum With Briogeo and Nancy Twine. Her first function as the chief executive officer at Wella Company, Annie Young-Scrivner joined OPI’s Suzi Weiss-Fischmann and Briogeo’s Nancy Twine for a founder’s forum aimed at inspiring.
Young-Scrivner has only recently entered the realm of beauty. Before joining Wella in December of the year 2020 and the time when the company was an independent entity (now under the control of KKR), she was Godiva’s CEO. Chocolatier. Before that, she was a part of an extensive seven-year tenure at Starbucks. At Wella, she oversees the company’s portfolio of more than $3 billion in retail and professional brand names for nails and hair. Alongside OPI and Briogeo, Wella Professionals, Ghd, Sebastian Professional, Clairol and Nioxin.
In the company’s Headquarters at the company’s Headquarters in Calabasas, California, on Nov. 10th, The two founders spoke about their story as a brand and the keys to success. They were moderated by Stephanie Mehta, CEO and chief content officer at Mansueto Ventures.
“We realized that artificial nail extensions have the same chemistry as making dentures,” Weiss-Fischmann explained of her and her business partner, the brother of her in-law George Schaeffer. They started a small dental supply business before moving into an industry based on nails (OPI was short for Odontorium Products Inc.).
“We saw all these nail salons popping up on Ventura Boulevard in the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles, doing artificial nail extensions called acrylics,” she said. “We put three items together, including the primer, liquid and powder, and called the rubber band special. George was driving the car, and I went to every salon, dropped it off, and said, “Please give it a try. I’ll see you again. This is our group of focus. I returned two weeks later as the manicure technicians had one question to ask: “Where can we purchase it?’ That’s the reason why OPI was born.”
She encouraged entrepreneurs to mix imagination and discipline in their business plans, highlighting the necessity of acting swiftly to stay afloat and sustain growth.
There is no requirement to have “too many executives,” Weiss-Fischmann stated. “We were George and me, and we had the management beneath us, ready to handle meetings. Things were accomplished. ….We had concepts, and we implemented them. Speed-to-market was among OPI’s greatest achievements. In the world of beauty it’s impossible to have time to be thinking too long because trends change and change.”
Twine Her first job was in finance.
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“When I started my career, it was actually the start of the financial crisis back in 2007, 2008,” Twine declared. “It was a very insane time. My friends were laid off. Additionally being a woman working on Wall Street was really, very difficult, especially at the time. In the middle of my time in Goldman Sachs, I lost my mother. It was a reason for me to contemplate what I wanted to do with my life. Then I realized that I was going to pursue what I was passionate about.”
During the process of discovering, she remembered the childhood she had with her mom, a doctor and chemist who grew up creating their skincare products.
“I decided that’s what I wanted to do,” she explained. “I wanted to take this childhood memory and transform it into something more. This was also prompted due to the fact that market was changing. Consumers were increasingly seeking organic and clean products. Therefore, it seemed sensible to me to concentrate on this segment of the market.”
During CosmoProf in Las Vegas, she met buyers from Sephora who thought Briogeo could fill a gap in the field of hair care. Briogeo- created with “clean” ingredients in mind and recycling materials for the packaging- is designed to suit all hair types and textures.
“Once I got the deal with Sephora, I quit my job at Goldman and here I am now,” she told me.
The discussion turned to Young-Scrivner. Mehta told her: “You’re in the unusual position of sort of re-founding a company that is 140 years old, and you’re about to celebrate your second anniversary as a standalone company.” What’s this new Wella? Mehta asked.
“We get to focus on hair,” Young-Scrivner explained. “We can focus on the nails. I truly believe in the spirit of entrepreneurship in the founding team and elevating them to the level we’re fortunate to work with, and to build their brand names.”
The founders talked about having been “scrappy” in their early days, but they had a startup mindset, a clear goal and an unstoppable drive to succeed.
“When I meet entrepreneurs that don’t end up finding the success that they were looking for, it’s not because they didn’t have a great product or great service, it’s because they let the challenges stop them too soon,” stated Twine. “And so, staying positive and figuring out creative solutions to solve problems is really critical.”
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