The Business of Fashion is pleased to reveal that integrative medicine pioneer Deepak Chopra, make-up artist and entrepreneur Gucci Westman and trans actress, comic, and content creator Dylan Mulvaney are among the speakers who will be joining us at The Business of Beauty Global Forum 2024, taking place from June 3-5, 2024 at Stanly Ranch, in Napa Valley, California.
Our unique, invitation-only beauty industry gathering, now in its second year, will bring together 140 hand-selected senior executives, entrepreneurs and creatives to reimagine the beauty and wellness landscape, build meaningful relationships and create new business opportunities.
The full list of confirmed speakers includes:
- Deepak Chopra – founder of The Chopra Foundation
- Gucci Westman – founder of Westman Atelier and New York-based creative beauty director and makeup artist
- David Neville – chief executive of Westman Atelier
- Dylan Mulvaney – trans actress, comic and content creator
- Priya Venkatesh – global chief merchandising officer of Sephora
- Colette Laxton – co-founder of The Inkey List
- Brian Bordainick – co-founder of Starface World Inc
- Sandra Lanshin Chiu – acupuncturist and founder of Lanshin
- Dr. Chrystle Cu – co-founder of Cocofloss
- Dr. Elsa Jungman – founder and chief executive of HelloBiome
- Vasiliki Petrou – executive vice president and group chief executive of Unilever Beauty & Wellbeing
- Mory Fontanez – founder of Eight22 Group
- Manoj Dias – meditation teacher, brand consultant and co-founder of Open
- Alexandra Carmody – vice president of brand strategy at Front Row
- Michelle Cassandra Johnson – author and activist
For the full list of confirmed speakers and detailed bios, please see below.
The Business of Beauty Global Forum is an invitation-only event. To request an invitation to attend, click here.
The Business of Beauty Global Forum 2024 is made possible in part by our partners Front Row, Unilever Prestige and Stanly Ranch.
Deepak Chopra MD, FACP, is the founder of the Chopra Foundation, a non-profit entity for research on well-being and humanitarianism, and Chopra Global, a whole health company at the intersection of science and spirituality. Chopra is also the Clinical Professor of Family Medicine and Public Health at the University of California, San Diego, an Honorary Fellow in Medicine at the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow and serves as a senior scientist with Gallup Organization. Chopra is a pioneer of integrative medicine and author of over 90 books published in more than 43 languages. Chopra has been New York Times bestsellers in both the fiction and nonfiction categories and is one of TIME magazine’s 100 most influential people.
Gucci Westman is a New York-based creative beauty director and makeup artist. With a career spanning over two decades, Westman has contributed to publications like Vogue, W, and Harper’s Bazaar. She is known for creating dewy, supernaturally glowy looks for clients including Jennifer Aniston, Anne Hathaway, Reese Witherspoon, and Gwyneth Paltrow — and lives by the ‘second-skin’ makeup philosophy. Westman launched her eponymous beauty collection, Westman Atelier, in 2018. The cosmetics line that merges skincare ingredients, safe formulations, and an extraordinary eye for colour.
David Neville founded Westman Atelier in 2018 with his partner Gucci Westman. He serves as the company’s chief executive. Neville is a fashion entrepreneur and co-founded apparel brand, Rag & Bone. With Westman Atelier, Westman and Neville hope to push the boundaries of what it means to be a clean, luxury beauty brand. Neville is based in New York.
Dylan Mulvaney is a trans actress, comic and content creator. Mulvaney rose to stardom through her “Days of Girlhood” series on TikTok, a diary series documenting her transition. For this series, she was awarded the TikTok Trailblazer Award, the Queerty Groundbreaker Award, a THEM Now Award and a Webby Special Achievement Award. Pre-pandemic, Mulvaney worked as a Broadway actor and had a role in “The Book of Mormon.” She holds a degree from the Cincinnati-Conservatory of Music.
Priya Venkatesh is the global chief merchandising officer for Sephora. In her role, Venkatesh is responsible for leading the merchandise strategic planning, as well as the makeup, skincare, fragrance, hair and wellness categories. While overseeing the full scope of Sephora’s merchandising teams globally, Venkatesh works to curate differentiated assortments for each region. In her 18-year tenure at Sephora, Venkatesh has focused on category development, as well as the initial introduction of K-Beauty in prestige retail. She is also behind the launch of Skin IQ, an instore skincare solutions diagnostic tool.
Colette Laxton is the founder of The Inkey List, a skincare label she founded alongside Mark Curry. The brand’s purpose is to simplify the skincare routine thanks to services link askINKEY, a 24-hour skincare helpline. Prior to founding the brand, Laxton worked across marketing, branding and product development for Boots brands including No. 7, Soap & Glory and Liz Earle, and UK start-up, WAH Nails.
Along with business partner Julie Schott, Brian Bordainick is the founder of a number of brands across health, beauty, politics and entertainment, including acne care brand Starface and emergency contraceptive brand Julie. Prior to founding these labels, Bordainick served as the head of innovation for Hudson’s Bay Company where he brokered the relationship between HBC and WeWork. Bordainick began his career as an educator through the Teach for America organisation.
Sandra Lanshin Chiu is an acupuncturist, traditional Chinese medicine practitioner, and founder of Lanshin, a wellness label. Specially trained in traditional Chinese medicine and dermatology, Lanshin uses Chinese herbal medicine and acupuncture to resolve common skin problems like acne, rosacea, dermatitis, eczema, psoriasis. She holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Berkeley and a master’s degree from the Pacific College of Health and Science.
Dr. Chrystle Cu is a dentist and founder of oral wellness company Cocofloss. Since its launch in 2015, the company has sold over 5 million spools of Cocofloss and won an Allure Best of Beauty Award in 2022. She holds a bachelor’s degree from Wellesley College and a dental degree at the University of the Pacific Arthur A. Dugoni School of Dentistry.
Dr. Elsa Jungman is a skin barrier researcher and the founder of her namesake microbiome-friendly skincare line. Jungman is also the founder of HelloBiome, a B2B AI platform utilising microbiome data for personal care innovation, clinical research, and personalisation. She has also worked with beauty companies including L’Oreal, K18 and AOBiome in the research and development sector.
Vasiliki Petrou is executive vice president and group chief executive of Unilever Beauty & Wellbeing, the premium division of Unilever Personal Care and home to nine differentiated brands across luxury skincare and hair care, including Dermalogica, Murad, Tatcha, Paula’s Choice, Living Proof and Hourglass Cosmetics. Petrou holds an MBA from Columbia Business School, is a Fulbright Scholar, recipient of the Kellogg Foundation Fellowship recognising female leaders, and current chairwoman of Cosmetic Executive Women UK.
Mory Fontanez is the founder of Eight22 Group, a consultancy that helps organisations and public personalities elevate their consciousness. After a notable career as a crisis manager for Fortune 500 companies, Fontanez realised many leaders fail because they are disconnected from their intuition and purpose. As an intuitive leadership coach, Fontanez guides C-suite leaders, performers and other public personalities, to reconnect with their inner wisdom to successfully navigate change, challenges and growth. Her first book, “The All-Knowing You,” will be published by Harper Collins in February 2025.
Manoj Dias is a meditation teacher, brand consultant and co-founder of Open, a mindfulness studio based in California. His discipline is grounded in secular mindfulness, Buddhist meditation, breathwork and yoga training through the lens of trauma informed mindfulness and somatic psychology. His client roster includes athletes, executives, schools and Fortune500 companies such as Nike, NBA, Aesop, Netflix, Google, and the United Nations. Dias has worked at MoMA, Coachella, Warner Music and Art Basel Miami, and was featured in GQ, Vogue and Forbes. Dias sits on the faculty of The Esalen Institute as well as the Melbourne Business School’s Executive Leadership Program.
Alexandra Carmody is the vice president of brand strategy at e-commerce tech company Front Row, where she oversees brand collaborations. Prior to joining Front Row, Carmody held positions at Fortress Brand, Newsela and The Vitality Group with specialties in the wellness segment. She has collaborated with a number of Fortune 500 companies where she helped develop corporate-level wellness programmes. She holds a bachelor’s degree from The Catholic University of America.
Michelle Cassandra Johnson is an author and activist. As a racial equity educator, Johnson has worked with large corporations, non-profits, and community groups. She published her first book of “Skill in Action: Radicalizing Your Yoga Practice to Create a Just World” in 2017, and her second “Finding Refuge: Heart Work for Healing Collective Grief” in 2021. Her latest book, “A Space For Us: A Guide For Leading Black, Indigenous, and People of Color Affinity Groups,” was published in August of last year. Johnson has spoken at Wake Forest University’s 2019 Tedx conference. She holds a master’s degree from the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill.
