Recognizing Subcultures in Beauty

Notes from Alicia Romero

For many women, particularly Latinas, a red lipstick is a powerful symbol. One of my earliest beauty memories is watching my mom magically transform from a working-class single parent into super woman with a simple swipe of bold red lipstick. I remember being in such awe at her transformation. When I think about my career path and my passions, this distinct memory marks the beginning of my love for all things beauty. To this day, it amazes me how beauty products can literally transform how a woman looks and feels by investing in herself.

One thing led to another and Marilu offered me an internship as a Presidential Associate with the company in New York City. This move was a huge investment and risk for me and my family; yet as I look back, it was the beginning of my exciting career in beauty.

I believe in signs, and as I reflect on my career, there were many experiences that led me to where I am today. It was early in my first assignment as a Presidential Associate that the notion of cultural relevance surfaced, although I probably didn’t realize it right away. I was fortunate to be working in product development for the Estée Lauder brand on a new product, when to everyone’s surprise, I recognized one of the components as an ingredient that I grew up with as a child — a tree bark found in Mexico and South America that is used to heal burns or similar ailments. It definitely was a clue that I was heading in the right direction with my career.

I then had a rotation with Origins, where I first met Susan Akkad who is now SVP, Local and Cultural Innovation at ELC. Next, I joined Bobbi Brown where I worked on a Hispanic outreach initiative and ended up working on the brand for a few years. We tailored Bobbi Brown’s 10-Step makeup guide for young women who were preparing for their coming-of-age Quinceañera, and it was a huge success, attracting major media attention. Working on this campaign and the locally executed events is when I began to feel that satisfaction of creating culturally-relevant storytelling that allows a woman to see herself in brands and products.

I then returned to Arizona, where I worked in private equity focusing on the strategic development and sale of brands across sectors, including beauty.  This entrepreneurial work was very gratifying and it included my forging a relationship with QVC. So, when BECCA cosmetics approached me to be its QVC on-air talent, I knew I was ready to try a role that would diversify my experience from strategic brand development to on-air sales. For two years, I helped develop BECCA’s business and became the face of the brand on QVC — it was an exciting experience where I learned a lot professionally and personally.

After The Estée Lauder Companies acquired BECCA, I felt that I was ready to return to New York to advance my career and to contribute in a larger way. I reached out to Marilu Marshall and as destiny would have it, there was a great opportunity to work for Damon Burrell, SVP Consumer Engagement Global and U.S., and Susan Akkad on local cultural relevancy for our North America region. For me, this role has allowed me to come full circle in my career doing what I love: to contribute from a cultural perspective, and to make a difference in how we speak to women of color such as myself.

In my current role leading our North America Local and Cultural Relevancy Center of Excellence, it’s my mission to help ensure that all women see themselves through our brand experiences, whether they're Black, Asian, South Indian, Hispanic or otherwise. How do I ensure that we respect their culture and represent it in a manner that allows them to see themselves authentically? Storytelling of real women and their cultural lenses is a key approach. To game-change cultural relevancy with consumers, I believe brands have to move beyond just focusing on the surface level of cultures and focus on subcultures such as generations, ages, language preferences, cities, cultural codes/cues, and regional beauty preferences. Recognizing granular subcultures allows individuals to see themselves in a more meaningful manner — moving beyond superficial ethnic stereotypes.

We filmed at her house, Casa Marcela, to create content that was bilingual and in English and Spanish. The content had amazing paid and organic engagement for the audiences in the specific demographic areas in which we targeted the campaign. It was a great example of how you can reach people on a culturally relevant level — authentically and simply.  What I mean by authentic is that we made a personal, relevant and relatable connection.  I think the consumer senses that. They don’t always want something super polished and perfect and overly beautiful- they just want the acknowledgement and that they see themselves.  I think they want a little grit, a little emotion and honesty. At Marcela’s house we had food, Spanish music, her family and kids running around in her garden — all these cultural cues that may seem mundane but are super important to Latino culture. Authenticity has to go beyond translation. It connects on a different cultural level that simple translations can’t, and we have to remember that all Latinos don’t speak just one language.

I am honored to be featured during Hispanic Heritage Month. There are so many talented Latinos in our organization from different professional and personal backgrounds.  It’s enriching to work for a company that recognizes and embraces employees’ significant contributions to the business both professionally and culturally.  I’ve really enjoyed getting to connect with the diversity of our culture through my own professional role, as well as through ELC’s Employee Resource Groups, including Hispanic Connections.

At The Estée Lauder Companies, nurturing and investing in inclusion and diversity are not only a core value, but a priority. To have a role in driving these efforts, allowing individuals to see themselves and see their cultural nuances, is an incredible honor.

Alicia Romero is Executive Director, North America Local & Cultural Relevancy, The Estée Lauder Companies. She has spent more than 15 years working on global beauty brands, and has expertise in marketing, brand positioning, sales, business development, consumer promotions and new product launches. She began her career at The Estée Lauder Companies as a Presidential Associate, and left the company for a few years during which time she gained extensive experience working with Private Equity firms in developing brands. Her career highlights include working on multiethnic campaigns for Bobbi Brown Cosmetics, creating and launching an exclusive prestige color cosmetics line for a major beauty brand, and serving as the Global Brand Ambassador for BECCA Cosmetics. In addition to her formal role, Alicia is a co-lead of the company’s employee resource group Hispanic Connections.