Meri Baregamian to Helm Give Back Beauty’s Talent Division
Give Back Beauty is going bigger on celebrity- and talent-led brands, and has tapped an industry veteran to do it.
Meri Baregamian, who most recently served as the chief executive officer at Bliss, has been named CEO of Give Back Beauty’s indie and talents division, based in Los Angeles.
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Baregamian’s experience spans brand size and price points — she’s worked at Boscia, Stila, Soap & Glory and Laura Mercier, among others. Successful brands “always start with the consumer. It’s identifying a consumer need, then mirroring that with talent. Talent brings cultural relevance and connection to the consumer, but the key to success is authenticity,” she said.
She will work with Florence by Mills, founded and owned by Millie Bobby Brown — which Give Back Beauty creates, manufactures and distributes products for — as well as unspecified talent-led brands that are being developed. “There’s various opportunities with celebrity and talents,” she said. “There is a consumer need in each [category].”
Although founder involvement is key to partnership with the company, Corrado Brondi, Give Back Beauty’s CEO and founder, said the organization is flexible in how it works with talents. “We are tailors of business modeling,” he said, adding that each model depends on how involved its founder wants to be in day-to-day operations. “The importance for us to have a long-term journey. We aren’t interested in two-year or three-year journeys. The long-term can be licensing, can be joint venturing, or can be servicing as a global distribution partner or manufacturing partner.”
Brondi added that “those models can be tailor-made and evolutionary, which means they can be shaped in a way today, they can be different in two years. For example, we can start with licensing, then make it a joint venture.”
Baregamian’s appointment comes at a time of growth for the company. According to a statement, Give Back Beauty’s revenues multiplied by seven in the past three years; Florence by Mills grew 40 percent across brick-and-mortar and d-to-c channels in the past year. And in 2022, the company acquired the beauty license for Tommy Hilfiger.
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