Sephora North American CEO on her first meeting with Selena Gomez’s Rare Beauty brand

Fortune

President and CEO of Sephora North America Artemis Patrick notes that people are eager to support sustainable brands from founders with a clear mission.

Transcript

00:00That is the secret sauce of Sephora, I'll tell you.

00:02So if you take a step back, and when Sephora first came to America in 1998,

00:07similar to me, it was a bit of an outsider.

00:10And a lot of the big strategics didn't wanna work with us.

00:14There was the big department stores.

00:15And so just by sheer survival, we had to work with these little indie brands and

00:20start in the kitchen.

00:21And we would start early, and we'd hear their stories.

00:23And we'd be in there trying the formulations and give feedback.

00:26And any brand that's ever worked with us, I see one in the audience here,

00:29knows that we really love getting in there and getting in the kitchen.

00:32And that allows us to build a brand together in many ways.

00:36So you think about, you take for

00:37granted brands like Too Faced, Urban Decay, Stila.

00:41These brands that were not household names 28 years, 26 years ago.

00:46So I think that, to your question, it's really about getting in early.

00:50I see a CMO of Rare Beauty here, and I remember our very first meeting.

00:54It was goop in a jar and Selena Gomez.

00:56And it was like, whoa, and her passion for the Rare Impact Fund and

01:01her belief in giving back.

01:03And so we were like, wow, great founder, great team, good product, wow.

01:07And they give back as well to an authentic cause that's very,

01:10very real to the founder.

01:12You could not ask for anything more as a merchant.

01:14Now let's get in the kitchen and figure it out together.

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