When Mary van Praag joined Milani just four years ago as its global chief executive officer and board member, she brought with her an impressive résumé that spanned mass, professional and prestige beauty, and companies that included Coty, Revlon to Johnson & Johnson. After three decades, she said she likes to come into situations that require change and transformation — which is exactly what she’s brought to Milani.
“I love to develop high-performing teams like bring the best minds around and I’m best as a change agent,” said Praag during fireside chat with Sandra Campos, industry expert and chief executive officer at Milani.
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Under Praag’s leadership, Milani has refreshed its strategy and seen exponential growth. Its turnover exceeds $200 million and Milani is celebrating 10 consecutive quarters of growth within its category. The company is also the only indie brand to earn a spot in the top 10 list of eyes, lips and face beauty at mass.
Praag’s first move when she joined the company was to assemble a strong team. “I architected a leadership team that I call one of the best in the industry. We architected the entire company so it’s representative of our diverse community,” she said. “By building the right team and setting the culture we adopted, we win as one culture — no more silos. I don’t need Michael Jordans on the team.”
From ideation to execution, everyone has a role. The team, she said, is writing the next chapter together, aligned on a common vision to make Milani the number-one multicultural brand and earn a place in the top five mass brands.
To drive growth, Praag said the number-one objective was to improve the productivity of Milani’s set, so that the brand could eventually earn more space and articulate its unique DNA. But to do this, choices had to be made and four years ago there were a lot of “shiny pennies” that could have been chased. While there were a lot of “no’s” that had to be said, ultimately Praag was able to say “yes” as Milani prioritized doubling down on building its core franchises.
“Milani has amazing names like ‘Make It Last’ and ‘Stay Put,’ that we knew had an opportunity to be reanimated and [made] bigger,” Praag said. “We focused on our core architecture and then went after innovation spaces that needed the velocity to win. Focusing on the core architecture helped build our productivity. In most retailers we’re in the top five productivity, while we’re the number seven in ranked brands. We’re really proud of that.”
Praag also credits Milani’s success to understanding the brand’s unique value proposition and partnering with the best manufacturers for superior products. It’s creating luxury quality for an inclusive audience within the mass space and the balance between ROI and the art of possibility, she said.
