The Estée Lauder Companies and Ulta Beauty have used a New York fireside chat between Tara Simon and Kecia Steelman to spotlight a shared agenda: leading with authenticity, scaling with purpose, and using their partnership to lift women across the beauty industry, not just inside their own companies. Hosted by The Estée Lauder Companies Women’s Leadership Network, the conversation was as much about careers and allyship as it was about retail strategy.
Two leaders, one long term partnership
Tara Simon, President, The Americas at The Estée Lauder Companies, oversees strategy and execution across the U.S., Canada and Latin America, driving growth and profitability in brick and mortar channels, including specialty multi partners like Ulta. She previously served as Global Brand President of Too Faced, and before joining ELC, held senior merchandising roles at Ulta Beauty itself.
Kecia Steelman, President and CEO of Ulta Beauty, leads the largest beauty retailer in the U.S., with more than 1,500 stores nationwide and a portfolio spanning mass, masstige and prestige brands, including a significant Estée Lauder presence. Their shared history supplier and retailer, but also former colleagues gave the discussion an unusually candid tone.
During the fireside chat, the two leaders reflected on their own paths:
- Kecia Steelmanspoke about starting on the sales floor and learning the business from the guest up, bringing that lens into her role leading a national retailer.
- Tara Simontraced her journey from merchant and brand leader to overseeing ELC’s entire Americas region, including steering transformation in a complex, fast evolving market.
Both positioned their careers as proof that non linear paths, operational experience and “learning in the aisles” can be powerful foundations for executive leadership in beauty.
Three core lessons on leadership
The conversation distilled into three key takeaways:
- Own your story
Challenges, setbacks and unconventional moves can become catalysts for growthwhen leaders claim them instead of hiding them. Simon and Steelman emphasised reframing obstacles as part of one’s value, especially for women who may feel pressure to present a perfectly polished narrative. - Lead through others
Empowered teams are the foundation of sustainable success. Both leaders stressed that scaling in beauty retail whether at a global group like ELC or a giant omnichannel retailer like Ulta depends on developing leaders at every level, not just driving individual heroics from the top. - Show up for each other
True leadership is rooted in allyship. For the speakers, that means advocating for colleagues when they are not in the room, opening doors for next generation talent, and treating partner organisations as extensions of one ecosystem rather than competitors for credit.
Women supporting women, industry wide
Grounded in a strong ELC Ulta Beauty partnership, the session reinforced a shared belief: when women support women, they don’t just advance their own careers, they shift the entire industry forward. With ELC brands among Ulta’s most important prestige partners, both companies have an incentive to ensure that more women rise into roles where they can shape assortments, marketing and guest experience.
In that sense, the fireside chat operated on two levels: an internal development moment for ELC’s Women’s Leadership Network, and a signal to the broader market that collaboration between brand groups and retailers can be a vehicle for culture change, not only for commercial growth.
