How to love your 1st year on the job

Welcome to my CMO newsletter, where you will find insights about Marketing, Life, Family and Happiness. All the good stuff. I hope my stories will help inspire during these dynamic times.

Today's read time is ~4 minutes.

As the adage goes- time does fly when you are having fun. And boy, have I had fun being back in the beauty industry! Today, marks my one-year work anniversary at Ulta beauty and what a fabulous year it has been.

As I celebrate this milestone, I can't help but be grateful for my team, family, and all of the growth that one goes through when you change cities, companies and industry. So to them, I say a heartfelt thank you for everything over this past magical year. To you, my reader, I thank you for taking the time to read my reflections. This has been such a special year, and I am so grateful for every minute of it and all the learnings that came with it. Three of which I share ⬇️

☛DO SOMETHING YOU LOVE

Coming back home to Beauty. Since the beginning of time, beauty has played a role in shaping how people express themselves, through communities, one generation passes down the wisdom to the next, creating timeless rituals and love for beauty.

It is no secret (for my husband 😜), that Beauty has always been my first love—It’s always played an important role in my life and career. In fact, some of my earliest memories are linked to beauty. Watching my late mother apply Max Factor Pan stick or working for incredible beauty brands (P&G Prestige beauty and now Ulta Beauty). Since those early days, I have always believed that we all can create a more beautiful world by unlocking self-expression, self-care and joy.

The inherent joy of beauty gets me excited about the possibilities we can create for the future. As the CMO for the nation’s largest beauty retailer, I am super energized knowing that we have the power to shape how the world sees and experiences beauty. So, I am humbled and feel privileged that I am in a position where I can harness that power of beauty as a force for good, for all.

☛TRY TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE

As a mom, I naturally worry about what the future holds for my kids and the next generation, which is why I’m so committed to doing my part, no matter how small, to leave this world better than I found it. Kids are like little sponges that are absorbing everything around them, we have a responsibility to protect the joy and innocence that comes natural to young people.

You see, here at Ulta Beauty, we want everyone to feel welcome, accepted, and free to self-express, so they can show up as their best selves. So as I went on a tour of stores and met our instore associates, it became clear to me that there was something preventing our guests from experiencing the Joy they deserved.

We dug in further and found out through interviews and our national Joy Study, that the culprit was the negative self-talk. In fact, 91% of those surveyed believe negative self-talk as being their biggest obstacle to joy.  Any parent reading this, will agree with me. We never want any child to have their dreams held back just because of some negative self talk.

This is where purpose, and my job collided ✨. It was clear from all the consumer work, that Joy is a fundamental part of beauty, and we know we can help people experience more joy in their lives—so this inspired the creation of The Joy Project campaign. We partnered with Mel Robbins, to train our associates to unlock their own joy, so they can spread that joy to our guests. So, one person at a time, bring joy to each other, creating a movement called #JoyForward. Now, I can’t claim that we solved world peace, but if we made one person happier, one person find more joy, then mission accomplished. 🙏👌👊

☛IT TAKES A VILLAGE

All of the above, living on purpose and creating a movement for good for all created a real sense of community for my team. This sense of belonging to something bigger than us, was palpable and became a movement with our company, all in the matters of months. Everyone felt compelled to do their part and spread joy. The Joy Project was more than a campaign, it was the purest form of celebration of our unique culture and everyone’s contribution.

You see, at Ulta Beauty culture is everything. Since its beginning over 30 years ago, it has cultivated an environment where individuals from all backgrounds, identities, abilities, and age groups come together, each defining – and redefining – beauty on their own terms. We believe that there is a long-overdue need for greater representation and inclusion in beauty – and we take pride in fostering a multi-generational and diverse community. On this journey together, we celebrate not only our differences but also our shared love of beauty, uniting us in all ways possible. It truly takes a village.

As this year wraps, I am thankful for being back in beauty, but more importantly being a part of this wonderful Ulta Beauty family who believe that the Possibilities are Beautiful. You may call us a bunch of dreamers, that we may be…but there is nothing more noble than being there for each other and trying to help others realize their dreams and possibilities. For we, at Ulta Beauty believe that simply, we are bigger, better, together! 

#JoyForward #ThePossibilitiesAreBeautiful

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Author: Michelle is the Chief Marketing Officer of Ulta Beauty. Before that, Michelle was the Chief Marketing, Citizenship & Communications officer for Samsung Electronics America and spent 16 years at Procter & Gamble, most of her time in Prestige Beauty, then moved to become the CMO at Vertu, British luxury handmade mobile handsets. For upcoming posts, follow Michelle on Instagram, LinkedIn and twitter. All statements made, and opinions expressed in this article only reflect her personal opinion.