Tag Archive for: women in marketing

Rachel Lockett: Vice President of Marketing, MAC Cosmetics

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Rachel Lockett“It might seem tough at first, but I’ve come to learn that you have to relax and enjoy the ride. No journey is linear where you must pass A and B, to reach C, or else you’re lost. That’s just not how it works,” says Rachel Lockett.

Lockett shares her thoughts on embracing a career pivot, building leadership skills through diverse experiences, prioritizing team development, and the importance of finding meaning in her work.

Pivoting from the Public to the Private Sector

Lockett’s path into marketing in the beauty industry took an unconventional route, beginning with a career in international relations. Working on the Mexico desk at the State Department while getting a graduate degree, she found herself intrigued by the macro subject matter and sense of altruism behind the work, but ultimately craved a faster pace and more control. This led her to pivot into the private sector, earning an MBA in marketing and finance and joining Johnson & Johnson’s international rotation program before landing a role at L’Oréal in New York.

She reflects, “I was interviewing at the UN while I was interviewing at L’Oréal, but the next phase for the UN was sitting for an exam. When L’Oreal offered me the job, I had to choose. I remember there being a lot of pressure to make a ‘right choice,’ feeling the weight of a decision that might be irreversible.”

Lockett recognizes that even though she felt the heaviness of the decision at the time, she is pleased with the way things turned out, particularly as she never even initially saw herself in the beauty space.

“Initially, I didn’t see myself as a ‘beauty girl,’ but my perception has changed over time. I’ve really grown to adore it. Throughout my career, I’ve delved into various roles in trade marketing, brand marketing, and consumer engagement, all within the beauty vertical. I’ve come to realize that I am, in fact, a ‘beauty girl’ and I proudly embrace this identity.”

Empowering Women to Express their Unique Individuality and Beauty

Lockett finds her marketing career in the beauty industry to be as dynamic as she anticipated, constantly offering new challenges and opportunities that energize her.

“The platforms, retailers and landscape of competitors are always changing…there is also the opportunity to work cross-functionally with retailers, media partners, and event activation vendors, making it both diverse and exciting.”

Her enthusiasm for the work shows through in what she has been able to accomplish, with her team winning an Ogilvy award and two Glossy awards for different brand campaigns. These achievements also reflect her commitment to finding innovative ideas to break through and “introduce MAC to a younger Gen Z consumer.” She continues, “a lot of these efforts have been specifically targeted around those goals and have successfully moved the needle in increasing our awareness among younger multi-ethnic consumers.”

Lockett’s aim for MAC is to continue to promote and expand diverse representations of beauty, whether it be body type, skin color and texture, sexual orientation, or gender, through thoughtful decisions around casting, who they feature on their story wall, influencers they work with, and people they feature on their social handles.

“All of those representations are really powerful, and they make a huge impact on how people see themselves and experience the brand’s transformative effect.” She continues, “it’s about encouraging self-expression and experimentation and affirming that everyone is beautiful in their own way.”

Becoming a Well-Rounded Leader who Uses Her Voice

Lockett emphasizes the dual importance of creativity and operational savvy in marketing leadership. While innovative ideas are significant, effective leadership also hinges on adeptly navigating organizational processes, securing resources, and assembling the right team. She advocates for cultivating leadership skills through diverse experiences rather than solely focusing on moving up the ladder.

“Success stems from a breadth of experiences. The broader your understanding and hands-on involvement across domains, the better equipped you will be to thrive in senior roles. Focusing on the richness and depth of experience versus the speed to get there will pay off in the long-term.”

As Lockett builds on her varied experiences to advance her career, she is committed to using her voice and point of view in how she shows up as a leader, particularly as a woman of color. Even though she finds the beauty industry to generally have more women in leadership roles, she notes that there are noticeably more men in the higher ranks of beauty.

She advocates, “As you move up, it’s important to bring your voice and your experience. Remember to speak up, because you bring a unique perspective and a richness to the conversation or strategy discussion that’s not always represented.”

Valuing the Development and Growth of Her Team

Building relationships and sustaining connections is another key element of Lockett’s leadership style, particularly when it comes to managing a team.

“As your team grows and as your profile becomes more visible cross-functionally, simple gestures like walking around the office, asking about people’s weekends, and fostering personal connections can make a big difference in their engagement and commitment because they know you genuinely care.”

Creating engaged and high-performing teams by letting everyone in on the “why” can also go a long way in making people feel included and that they are an important contributing team member.

“As you progress into senior leadership roles, you may gain insight into the ‘why’ of certain strategies, yet this information may not always trickle down to every team. Pausing to communicate the overarching vision to the broader group and explaining the reasons behind our collective efforts fosters camaraderie, understanding, and an investment from the entire team.”

Beyond engaging her team in the vision, Lockett fosters a strong team dynamic in being accessible and open to hearing feedback, demonstrating that the team has a voice and can influence change. She also looks for opportunities for the team to bond outside the office, whether it be a graffiti class or mini golf, so that the team can get to know one another in a more relaxed atmosphere, as she notes, “it can go a long way when down the line they might be in a challenging conversation or have to work long hours getting ready for a big launch.”

Coaching Helps Connect the Dots

Lockett’s insightful reflections on her development as a leader are testament to the value of executive coaching, a recent experience for her.

“Having external perspective has helped me connect the dots between my experiences and approach to things by having someone externally mirror it back to me. Also, through targeted resources and exercises, I’ve gleaned more insights into how other people learn and how I may need to adapt and present information to effectively communicate and engage with others.”

Lockett notes that the benefit of having someone outside the organization facilitate that reflective process is that it helps reveal potential limiting beliefs or behaviors that may not be beneficial, opening new possibilities for how to approach an issue.

“I’ve seen the impact of leadership coaching reflected in my ability to dedicate more time with my team, listen to their perspectives and advocate for what they need in a way that I may not have in the past.”

Making an Impact with the Relaunch of VIVA GLAM

Lockett is an inspirational leader who not only hopes to make an impact with her team, but also on a macro level through the relaunching of the MAC VIVA GLAM campaign. The charitable arm of MAC, VIVA GLAM has given over half a billion dollars globally to support organizations in their mission to create healthy futures and equal rights for all. Now thirty years after its founding, MAC VIVA GLAM has an expanded mission with new pillars including sexual equality, racial equality, gender equality and sustainability that all markets can tailor with grant funding.

“Being involved with VIVA GLAM is one of my favorite parts of working on MAC. I get to oversee the programs that we will run and the charities that we support, allowing me to play a role in making an impact on something – and someone – that is much bigger than myself.”

Reflecting on where she started with aspirations to work in international relations, she realizes, “finding what’s important to you and how to bring that into your work” is what she values most, and she is excited to have an opportunity to continue to do that in her leadership role at MAC.

By Jessica Robaire

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Kate Kenner Archibald: Chief Marketing Officer, Dash Hudson

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Kate Kenner Archibald“The combination of expressing your needs and doing fewer things better is what I have learned in recent years,” says Kate Archibald, who shares on advancing in a workplace of women, creating a spherical life and managing up.

Growing as a Leader While Surrounded By Women

Having grown up in New York, Archibald idolized the big fashion house vibe. She was magnetized to how creativity and business merged together at Estée Lauder, where she spent 14 years specializing in luxury brands, including Tom Ford Beauty and Bobbi Brown, honing her career towards tech marketing. In November, she moved to Dash Hudson, an all-in-social entertainment insights marketing software platform that works across some of the most influential global brands including Apple, Amazon and Disney.

With three kids (currently, seven years, five years and ten months old) and a husband with a full-time job, maintaining her career through the family journey has been a choice she has committed to, partly because she derives great satisfaction from her work, and also because of the independence mindset she adopted early on.

“My father really impressed upon me the value of being independently successful as a woman and used to impress upon me that I could be a CEO,” she reflects, “He’s been a huge impact in my life, so being independent has always been important for me.”

At Estée Lauder, she was surrounded by a workforce of 85% women, so the vertical track to, and horizontal track across, leadership positions were well-accessible for women who wished to advance, and Archibald navigated across several cross-functional leadership positions.

“I was encouraged and enabled, and there were opportunities,” she says. “You still have to know that nobody is going to hold your hand, and you are the owner of your destiny. But it helps to be in a place where the growth mentality as a woman is appreciated.”

Now at Dash Hudson, Archibald enjoys the mix of professional and personal life supported by the tech-like atmosphere and culture while still leveraging the leadership experiences she gained through her tenure in beauty and luxury.

Creating a Spherical Life and Reserving Family Time

“I am very direct in terms of what we’re trying to accomplish and what we need to do to achieve our goals. I try to get to the root of the problem and reduce the back-and-forth,” Archibald says, accrediting her need for work-family balance for the acute focus. “I also enjoy creating an environment of collaboration by enabling people to see outside of their silos, and to understand how the piece they are contributing is interrelated and contributing to the other teams. I’m a huge proponent of creating a structured collaboration framework and connecting the dots.”

Archibald has recently been inspired by the novel approach her CEO takes to hiring and culture at Dash Hudson: “The mentality is people first. Let’s find the best, smartest, most amazing people and figure out where they can add the most value. The strength of the talent and the true belief that diversity makes us stronger creates an incredible culture. The level of support felt between peers and teams is a real shift for most people when they join the company. Especially in a hybrid environment.”

Within a mostly female environment for over a decade, Archibald has had the benefit of sharing lots of honest conversations with successful women. She has often sought insight on managing professional and family demands, even the basics of keeping a household running. A recommendation she received along the way was to think of your life as a circle or a pie graph that includes everything that is important to you:- family, work, health, friends, spirituality, etc.

“If one part of the pie gets more dominating than you want it to be, you have to consider how to make that part smaller so you can ‘right-size’ your family life or your spiritual life, for example,” she says. “That has really helped me to compartmentalize what I’m doing and how it impacts the other parts of my life.”

As a traditional Jewish family, Archibald and her family observe Shabbat every week, reserving Friday night and Saturday strictly for time with family. Honoring this has been fundamental in helping manage her time, and because that time is a weekly fixed date, it’s also helped her feel more peaceful during the week when she needs to work. Additionally, it ensures that she is aligned with her partner on their collective family goals.

“I think a lot of parents feel guilty if they don’t have dinner every night with their family,” she says. “But for me, every Friday is a guaranteed dinner together with all the family and Saturday is family, all day. No exceptions. It has given me a supportive structure in my life.”

In addition to being influenced by her father’s outlook on independence and her supportive husband, Archibald attests that her mother is the hardest working person she knows. While Archibald went off to first grade, her mother went back to school and obtained her PhD in Neuropsychology. Inspired by her, Archibald wishes to model to her daughter and two sons that a woman can have a career and still be present for her family.

Managing Up and Knowing Your Own Expectations

As she’s grown more senior in her career, Archibald has found herself getting better at reinforcing her own brand of executive presence and managing up: “The transition over your career is toward managing up, and ensuring that you get what you need. I learned this the hard way when faced with health challenges, when I was doing too much and not telling people what I needed. I really have come to see the importance of don’t take on too much and do fewer things better, both of which I pass on to women just starting their career.”

When it comes to mentoring, she also tells everyone, but especially mothers with young children, that if you’re not happy at home, you’re not going to be happy at work.

“If your work is really impacting your home life, take that step back to figure out what and how you can fix it. Push for flexibility, which is becoming more common, or figure out what the issue is,” she says, “But if you’re not satisfied with how much time you have with your family, you’re never going to be happy at work, no matter how much money you’re making.”

Archibald advises women to go back to the sphere and consider the balance across areas and really understand “what does good look like, for you?” which is different for everyone. She says, you have to be able to manage life in a way that works for your expectations for your family and work life ― and honestly, check if your employer is willing to support that for and with you.

Changing Jobs Amidst a Remote Workplace

Having joined Dash Hudson well into the pandemic, and in the middle of her crossover maternity leave, Archibald has yet to meet her new colleagues in person. But in this exceptional context of our times, she has hugely valued a strong and communicative organizational culture, which has supported her onboarding and becoming part of the team.

Together, her family loves skiing in the winter and swimming in the summer in the Hudson Valley, where she loves being outdoors and active in nature. She has a real passion for ice cream and swears her ice cream place in Tivoli, New York is verifiably (just check Food & Wine Magazine) the best in the world.

By Aimee Hansen

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