Most beauty events are designed around presentations and demos. The Beauty Biz Roundtable is different. Frances Mazur built it for actual conversation between the people running the industry, and that is why we keep coming back.
Last Friday, May 15, we joined 150 senior beauty executives at the Hyatt Centric Delfina in Santa Monica for BBR 2026. Market Defense sponsored the coffee bar, which turned out to be a great spot to meet just about everyone in the room. Every founder, CEO, and operator came through at some point, and the conversations around the cart were every bit as valuable as the ones at the tables.
A few moments from the day stuck with us.
Elizabeth Ashmun on letting the community lead
Elizabeth Ashmun, CEO of PHLUR, walked through how a niche fragrance brand grew into a global business now expanding into Mexico, Europe, Australia, and the Middle East. The most interesting part was how closely PHLUR listens to its community. The brand pays attention, and then lets what it hears shape the scents, the content, and the way it shows up. Influencer and community work is not a layer on top of the marketing plan. It is how the team decides what to make next.
That posture, more than any single tactic, is what has pushed PHLUR so much further than its size would suggest.
Aurelian Lis on what technology cannot replace
Aurelian Lis, Global CEO of Dermalogica, gave one of the most grounding keynotes of the morning. Dermalogica has spent nearly 40 years building its business around professional skin therapists, and Aurelian has steered the brand through every wave of digital change since. His point was simple. Even with so much investment going into automation right now, the thing people actually want from beauty has not changed. They want human touch. They want a real conversation. They want to feel seen by someone who knows what they are doing.
It was a useful reminder in a room where most of the other conversations centered on technology.
The thought leaders
Between the keynotes, three rounds of 40-minute roundtables put every attendee into small group conversations with the operators leading some of the most interesting brands and businesses in beauty right now. A heartfelt thank you to each of the thought leaders who shared what is working in their businesses and what is not:
Yoana Dvorzsak, VP of Innovation and Product Integrity, Solésence Beauty Science Beyond Wow: Why Building Successful Partnerships Builds Successful Brands
Blair Badge, CMO, Henry Rose Building Trends and Culture for Hyper Growth
Kelly Coller, Global Chief Retail Officer, Paula’s Choice Skincare Scaling and Growing on Retail, US to Global: Secrets and Must-Haves to Create a Unique Retail Revolution
Lorne Lucree, Founder and CEO, Wizard Wellness The Quality of Life Economy: Why Beauty is Shaping the Future of Health
Ashley Murphy, CMO, Rare Beauty Building Brands People Remember
Maria Price, CFO and COO, Saltair The Strategic Importance of Demand Planning Within the Organization
Sabrina Pun, Acting VP of Marketing, Lux Unfiltered AI and Commerce: How AI is Influencing Gen Z and How Beauty Brands Can Prepare
Aidan Shaw, CEO, AEO Labs AI and Commerce: How AI is Influencing Gen Z and How Beauty Brands Can Prepare
Paolo Rezzara, President, The Kirschner Group The Importance of Strategic Planning Before Exporting Beauty Products: Key Drivers for Successful International Expansion
Mara Roszak, Founder and CEO, RŌZ Building a Legacy Brand
Shannaz Schopfer, CEO, The Beauty Architects Longevity as the New Luxury: Redefining Beauty Through Performance, Ritual, and Results
Jessica Zeller, GM Global Marketing, Ultra Violette From Cult to Category: Scaling Marketing Across Brand Life Stages
Sampo Parkkinen, CEO and Co-Founder of Revieve, took the stage to share Revieve’s perspective on building an AI-native beauty commerce strategy.
What we took away
A common thread ran through the day. The brands growing fastest right now are the ones staying closest to their customer.
PHLUR is letting its community shape what gets made. Dermalogica is investing in the human relationship behind every product. Ultra Violette, RŌZ, and Rare Beauty have grown by serving a clearly defined audience really well. Even the conversations about technology, including Sampo Parkkinen’s keynote on AI-native commerce and the roundtables led by Sabrina Pun and Aidan Shaw, came back to the same idea.The tools are changing how shoppers discover beauty, but the brands that benefit are the ones using them to understand their customers better, not to replace the voice that earned the audience in the first place.
That is the work we do every day for the brands we partner with. Showing up wherever the shopper is, with a brand experience that feels consistent across Amazon, TikTok Shop, Walmart, and everywhere else they shop.
Let's keep the conversation going
If you are thinking about your strategy across Amazon, TikTok Shop, or the wider marketplace landscape, we would love to talk. Market Defense manages more than $400 million in GMV across Amazon, TikTok Shop, Walmart, paid media, and professional distribution, and we built our business around seamlessly connected commerce.
Reach out at aimee@marketdefense.com or visit marketdefense.com.