Anna Brightman

Co-Founder, UpCircle

Ingredients

TOPIC: By-product beauty: Upcycling leftover natural ingredients into skincare formulations

Anna launched UpCircle alongside her brother in 2016 and the brand has taken the beauty world by storm. UpCircle are the pioneers of the circular skincare trend.>Prior to launching UpCircle, Anna worked as an area manager of several supermarket stores. Despite the huge responsibility, this role afforded her, she was keen to forge a new path in an industry closer to her heart. Anna combines her passion for skincare and previous experience in logistics and management to single-handedly manage operations, marketing and new product development for UpCircle.

All UpCircle products are natural, organic, vegan, cruelty-free, palm oil-free, sustainable, handmade in the UK and housed in 100% recyclable packaging. But their key point of difference from other beauty brands is that each of their products is made with a core repurposed ingredient. “Natural” is the new “normal” – UpCircle go a step further with their waste-fighting formulations.

Amy Jeffries

Partnerships Director, Gleam Futures

Retail

TOPIC: Influencers and the beauty in the ‘new normal’

Amy is Partnerships Director at leading digital-first talent management business, Gleam Futures. Since joining Gleam Futures Amy has led the strategic career development of some of the UK’s biggest creators, entertainers and entrepreneurs who have emerged from digital platforms over the last ten years. Across a roster spanning entertainment, fashion, beauty, parenting, health and food, Amy has been instrumental in diversifying digital-first talent into the fields of publishing, licensing, media and entertainment.

Since becoming Partnerships Director in 2020, Amy oversees relationships with key commercial partners for the business on behalf of rostered talent including brands, social media platforms and media publishers.

Barb Paldus

CEO, Codex Beauty

Packaging

Panelist: Should we all get naked? The naked packaging implications for industry

Founder and CEO Barbara Paldus is a scientist, entrepreneur and passionate investor in natural beauty. Prior to launching Codex Beauty, Paldus spent two decades leading innovation in the fields of spectroscopy, telecommunications, and biotechnology.

By the age of 34, she had co-founded two Silicon Valley companies that, among many breakthroughs, helped pave the way for carbon cycle measurements, food integrity testing, accessible vaccines, personalised medicine and cell therapy. Paldus has been awarded more than 30 U.S. patents and numerous honours for achievements in science and holds a PhD. in electrical engineering from Stanford University.

Brian Allen

Global Marketing and Sales Director, Siltech

Ingredients

TOPIC:To be confirmed

Brian Allen is a Global Marketing and Sales Director for Siltech. He joined Siltech in 2018 to lead the personal care segment after thirteen years with Wacker Silicones. Brian’s tenure at Wacker included Sales Director for North and Central America as well as positions in marketing, sales and technical management. Prior to Wacker he served as a R&D Chemist for Intertape Polymer Group. His blended experiences across technical and commercial roles provide a diverse perspective. Brian has a MBA with a concentration in Marketing from the University of Toledo and he is a member of the Society of Cosmetic Chemists.

Dr Carol Treasure

Founder & CEO, XCellR8

Regulatory & Testing

TOPIC: From bathroom to ocean: Tackling aqua toxicity

Dr Carol Treasure is the Founder and CEO of XCellR8, an animal-free testing laboratory. XCellR8 conduct regulatory in vitro safety and efficacy tests for global cosmetic ingredient manufacturers as well as high street retailers including Lush and The Body Shop.

Treasure holds a PhD from the FRAME Alternatives Laboratory at the University of Nottingham, based on skin cell biology and reconstructed skin models for cosmetics testing. She has devoted her career to using innovative science to replace animal testing over the past 25 years. She founded XCellR8 in 2008 with a mission to accelerate the world’s transition to 100% animal-free testing and the company’s work has been recognised at a regulatory level by the OECD and by top funding bodies such as Innovate UK and Horizon 2020.

Carys Smith

Consumer Research Consultant and Regulatory Specialist, Ayton Global Research

Regulatory & Testing

TOPIC: Consumer validation: Trials and tribulations

Carys Smith has been at the forefront of developments at Ayton Global Research since 2012. She is a specialist in legislation that affects advertising standards and regulations which impact FMCG industries. This knowledge has been put to good effect when working closely with international brand owners and contract manufacturers including Walgreen Boots Alliance, Oriflame, Skinny Tan, Temple Spa, The Body Shop and many more.

Carys has designed, directed and managed studies for over 250 clients and is in a great position to lecture about global trends in FMCG industries, consumer research and claims testing. Carys has travelled globally to Asia, Europe, Middle East, USA and more to provide lectures and discussions on maximising your brand advertising, research methodologies, claim substantiation and legislation surrounding this process.

Elise Ngobi

Senior Brand Strategy Manager, Dash Hudson

Retail

TOPIC: The Power of Prediction: Why social shouldn’t be left to chance

Elise Ngobi is the Senior Brand Strategy Manager at visual marketing platform Dash Hudson’s London office. Her expertise draws from a stint in a scaling startup, and years in the social, digital, content and print marketing world.

Jo Chidley

Founder, Beauty Kitchen

Packaging

TOPIC: Refillables: Are they for you?

Panelist: Should we all get naked? The naked packaging implications for industry

Jo Chidley is a chemist and the Founder of Beauty Kitchen, leaders in effective, natural and sustainable beauty. Widely regarded as one of the pioneers of sustainable beauty, Jo is driving the beauty industry forward with better practise approaches, always. She is Beauty Kitchen’s toughest critic, inspecting everything from the efficacy of the products, to the way ingredients are sourced, right down to the packaging sustainability for each and every product. Sustainability in packaging is a subject that is close to her heart.

Karine Fleury-Richards

Co-Founder/Director, Flores Brand Works

Retail

TOPIC: Getting travel retail back on track

The early days of Karine’s career began in new product development within the global NPD team at Lancôme, Paris. Subsequently, she progressed to the UK with L’Oréal, Paris. Later, at Estée Lauder Companies Travel Retail, Karine enjoyed various positions in marketing, sales, brand management, passengers and consumers insights plus category strategy. Following a promotion to develop a new department for Shopper Insights and Category Strategy for EMEA, she was further promoted to Global VP Travel Retail to ensure its continuing success.

Laura Rudoe

Creator & Founder Evolve Organic Beauty and Adaptology

Ingredients

Panelist: Clean beauty: Hero or villain?

Laura Rudoe set up Good Ventures in 2008 as an ethical development company with the mission to create new organic personal care brands that make a difference. A former Management Consultant and Venture Capitalist, Laura holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and was a founding employee of NUDE skincare – so was well equipped to face the challenges of starting a skincare business.

Laura is a passionate advocate of ethical and environmentally friendly business as well as natural and sustainable living. Her deep appreciation for nature is at the heart of everything she does.

Lori Fiori

Co-Founder/Director, Flores Brands Works

Retail

TOPIC: Getting travel retail back on track

With a passion for marketing, Lori started her career with Estée Lauder UK, working with start-ups such as Prescriptives as well as the market leaders Clinique and Aramis. Following, as GM for Stila, she led brand strategy and managed financial, sales, PR and training. After a 5-year sabbatical living abroad, Lori returned to Estée Lauder Travel Retail, this time as Director of the EMEA Retail team where she quadrupled growth in sales and distribution. During her global COO role at Clive Christian Perfumes, she perfected her skills in sales, distribution, logistics and NPD.

Dr Mark Smith

General Director, NATRUE

Regulatory & Testing

TOPIC: Hyper-certification: How much is too much?

Mark graduated with an M.Chem (Hons.) and a PhD in chemistry. Following research positions in the UK and Canada, in 2014, Mark joined NATRUE and became Director-General of NATRUE in 2016. Mark is involved in the running of the association and takes the lead role in all political, regulatory and scientific affairs of the association.

Mary Kernohan

Head of Nurture, SnapDragon Monitoring Ltd

Regulatory & Testing

TOPIC: Black market beauty: Fighting the fakes

Mary Kernohan is Head of Nurture at award-winning brand protection agency, SnapDragon Monitoring. Mary works with brands on a daily basis, helping them find solutions to tackle online sales of counterfeit goods using registered intellectual property.

As one of the founding members of the SnapDragon team, Mary has been instrumental in its growth and success, which now sees the company defending businesses of all sizes, globally.

Nicola Kilner

CEO, DECIEM

Retail

TOPIC: Direct-to-consumer vs. omnichannel

Nicola’s journey into the beauty industry began at UK pharmacy chain, Boots, where she served as beauty buying manager for innovation, seeking out small independent brands and catapulting them to a UK audience. She later joined the late Brandon Truaxe in building DECIEM, which was, at the time, a start-up with limited resources. Now famed for its commitment to innovative formulas and honest pricing, DECIEM has become known as one of the most disruptive brands in beauty.

Renée Appel

Associate, Seyfarth Shaw LLP

Regulatory & Testing

TOPIC: Make America safe again: An update on US regulations

Renée’s work spans two sides of the spectrum: the proactive and reactive. She works with companies of all sizes on the development of lawful products and marketing tactics, while also assisting clients who are subject to litigation or government enforcement actions.

Her practice focuses on advertising and marketing, personal care and cosmetics products, consumer financial protection matters, and general regulatory compliance. Renée has a knack for problem-solving, which begins with asking the right questions of her clients, interpreting the rules and regulations that apply to her clients’ situations, and devising expedited resolutions.

Renske Gores

Segment Market Manager – Cosmetic Packaging, Specialty Plastics Eastman

Packaging

TOPIC: Can chemical recycling benefit business and planet?

Renske is a 10-year marketing professional with degrees in Journalism and Communications – reputation management. She has worked with numerous leading global brands. In her current role as a market development manager for Eastman’s Specialty Plastics business, Renske leads key sustainability projects in bio-sourcing and recyclability for both food and beverage and cosmetics applications.

Rouah Al Wakeel

Director, RAW Cosmetics

Ingredients Keynote

TOPIC: The current landscape of cosmetics ingredients

Rouah completed her degree in pharmaceutical science then went on to study cosmetic science. She has over eight years’ experience working as a formulator, product and project manager and scientific adviser within the industry. In the last few years, she has focused her attention to understanding the science behind raw ingredients, taking a particular interest in how and why they work.

Samantha Freedman

CEO & Co-Founder, Curate Beauty

Retail

Panelist: ‘Buying to sell: The fundamentals of stocking brands’

Samantha started her career over 12 years ago, working as an award-winning beauty journalist across titles including Grazia, Tatler and Style.com. During Samantha’s time in publishing she witnessed the explosion of the indie beauty category first hand. Being in a position to meet, learn and understand the wants and needs of new indie brands, she quickly discovered that although their founders were filled with passion and authenticity, they all struggled with one thing – finding great stockists.

So, Samantha set out to bridge the gap between brands and retailers, starting Curate Beauty, Europe’s first wholesale marketplace designed predominately for indie beauty, grooming and wellness brands. Essentially a virtual trade show for the 21st century! Samantha regularly speaks at industry events sharing her passion for entrepreneurship, knowledge within beauty and her findings as a first-time female founder.

Sumaira Latif

Company Accessibility Leader, Procter & Gamble

Packaging

TOPIC: Avoiding ‘ableism’: Accessible packaging for use by all

Sam Latif is P&G’s Company Accessibility Leader and is leading the company’s thought leadership and commitment to making our products, packaging and advertising accessible for the ageing population and 1 3 billion people around the world with a disability.

Sam also is the global leader for P&G’s People With Disability network to enable all employees with a disability or a family member with a disability to perform at their peak.Sam is blind and the passion for what she is doing at P&G has been inspired by the personal access challenges she has experienced as both a consumer and an employee. Prior to taking this role, Sam has had a successful career in IT at P&G.

Tanja Bagar, Ph.D

Assistant Professor, ICANNA

Ingredients

TOPIC: Phytocannabinoids: CBD and beyond

Tanja Bagar is the CEO and Chairman of the Expert Council of the International Institute for cannabinoids. She is a deputy director in the company that operates in the field of research, development and trade and also the head of research and development in an environmental company. She has extensive research experience gained in the laboratory at the National Institute of Chemistry, the Faculty of Biotechnology, the National Laboratory for Health, Environment and Food, in the Topolšica Hospital and abroad at the Institute of Microbiology and Genetics at the Georg-August University of Gottingen in Germany and at the Institute for Cell Biology, University of Edinburgh.

She holds knowledge in the fields of microbiology, cell biology, biochemistry and molecular biology in conjunction with the endocannabinoid system and the functioning of cannabinoids, and laboratory analysis.

Dr Theresa Callaghan Ph.D

CEO & Founder, Callaghan Consulting International

Regulatory & Testing

TOPIC: Cosmetic Claims: Challenging the Fantasy

Dr. Theresa Callaghan PhD is a skin care scientist and cosmetic product claims specialist. With an international career spanning more than 30 years she has worked for a number of well-respected personal care companies at the senior level.

In 2008 she set up her own consulting business, anticipating a need for more discipline of cosmetic claims, and furthering scientific developments involved in that process. As a scientist and the author of the popular book Help! I’m Covered in Adjectives:Cosmetic Claims & The Consumer, Theresa is also very widely published.

She sits on the scientific editorial board of the International Journal of Cosmetic Science, and is an active member of a number of professional societies including the British Herbal Medical Association and the Society of Cosmetic Scientists.

Tom Szaky

Founder & CEO, Terracycle

Packaging

TOPIC: Striking the right balance in sustainability

Tom Szaky is founder and CEO of TerraCycle, a global leader in the collection and repurposing of complex waste streams. TerraCycle operates in 21 countries, working with some of the world’s largest brands, retailers and manufacturers to create national platforms to recycle products and packaging that currently go to landfill or incineration.

TerraCycle is also the lead company in a new circular shopping platform called Loop that enables consumers to shop for some of their favourite brands in durable, reusable packaging. Launched in May 2019, Loop is a key step in helping to end the epidemic of waste that is caused by ' single use' consumption. Tom and TerraCycle have received hundreds of social, environmental and business awards and recognition from a range of organizations including the United Nations, World Economic Forum, Schwab Foundation, Fortune Magazine and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Tonya Esposito

Partner, Seyfarth Shaw LLP

Regulatory & Testing

TOPIC: Make America safe again: An update on US regulations

Tonya has represented numerous clients in private litigation, as well as in several government investigations brought by the state Attorneys General, the Food and Drug Administration, the Federal Trade Commission, the US Department of Justice, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Her experience spans a range of issues, including: antitrust, advertising, financial services and white collar litigation and government investigations.

Wizz Selvey

CEO & Founder, Wizz&Co

Retail

TOPIC:From indie brand to cult status

Panel Discussion:Buying to sell: The fundamentals of stocking brands

Wizz is the founder of WIZZ&CO, a brand and retail strategy agency who help emerging brands scale and stand out and works with established brands and global retailers. Previously Wizz headed up Beauty Buying at Selfridges, she has an instinct for trends, how to build a disruptive brand and customer behaviour. Wizz regularly speaks about the retail industry, beauty and wellness trends and consumer insights.