Jan 28, 2021
When Shekela Joseph got her first job as a cashier at Sephora, she was excited; however, hair had always been her thing. But her colleagues saw something different, they saw Shekela's face as a canvas, and they wanted to use her as their model time and time again. Along the way, she picked up the skills and moved to a beauty advisor role and was so proficient that she was recruited as a beauty educator for Too Faced Cosmetics.
In this role, Shekela traveled to more than a dozen stores in the NY metro area, teaching her team about new products and techniques. She moved from the boutique brand to luxury beauty as a Runway Makeup artist for Burberry Beauty. Always willing to up-level her skills, Shekela talks about how she became a Business Manager at Saks Fifth Avenue for Decorté Beauty, a Japanese skincare brand, which has been well-known in Asia for more than 50 years. She shares what it is like to recruit, hire and develop her team and how she encourages them to meet their sales goals.
Shekela talks about the impact Covid-19 has had on how she does business, particularly when it comes to virtual events and Zoom consultations and the challenges that come with them.
She shares how she thinks beauty companies need to advance their efforts in creating a more equitable industry, noting that while there have been great strides, more needs to be done.