Derek Maxfield and Melanie Huscroft founded Younique in 2012 as the first direct-sales beauty brand to exclusively leverage social media as a business platform for its brand representatives, or presenters as they know at Younique.
In early 2017, Coty bought a controlling stake in the platform, reportedly paying $600m cash for 60% of the business. At the time, the multinational beauty maker saw Younique as a good investment because, as Cosmetics Design reported, “Younique’s highly scalable technology platform is built for mobile-first ecommerce and seamless global expansion,” and because the company had “over 4.1 million consumers in 10 countries, including the US, Mexico, Canada, the UK, Germany, France, Spain, Australia, New Zealand, and Hong Kong.” But then in 2019, Coty sold it’s stake back.
A leadership transition plan at Younique replaces CEO Derek Maxfield with Kristi Hubbard
Kristi Hubbard is a well-known leader in the direct-sales industry. She advanced through the ranks at BeautiControl both before and after the cosmetics company was acquired by Tupperware Brands in 2000, spending nearly 10 years in the C-suite and 5 years as President of BeautiControl. (In 2017, years after Hubbard had left the brand, Tupperware shuttered BeautiControl.)
More recently, in fact for 8 years up until she joined Younique, Hubbard led the direct-sales household cleaning products company Norwex as CEO.
In July 2020, Hubbard took on a transitional role as President of Younique with the understanding that she would be the company’s next CEO. “I'm very excited to join the talented team at Younique,” Hubbard told the press at the time, adding, “I definitely share the team's confidence in Younique's future growth and opportunities, particularly around digital and product innovation. I'm passionate about advancing Younique's mission to uplift, empower and validate women and am excited to amplify this message to women everywhere.”
Younique’s new CEO Kristi Hubbard to lead operations for the color cosmetics and skin care company
While the projected timeline for Hubbard’s ascension to CEO was not publicized, Maxfield’s remarks suggest that she’s ahead of schedule. “In the relatively short time Kristi has been with Younique,” Maxfield says in this month’s media release, “she has quickly demonstrated the depth and value of her experience as a direct-selling executive leader.”
“Kristi is highly collaborative, engaging and a strong, strategic leader. Her transition to the CEO role has come even more quickly than I expected, which is a reflection of Kristi's capacity and talents,” states Maxfield. “I am particularly impressed with her engagement with our Presenters and her expertise in understanding the differentiators that make Younique impactful.”
As leader of operations at Younique, Hubbard is charged with putting the company on the historical beauty map as the (or at least one of few) social selling cosmetics and personal care brands to lead the industry’s shift to digital and social sales. “As Founders, my sister, Melanie, and I envision Younique as a generational icon, a brand that reflects and rallies others to our mission to uplift, empower and validate women everywhere,” says Maxfield, who goes on to explain that, “Kristi's leadership and dedication will drive us toward that vision and continue to position Younique as the global pioneer in digital and product evolution within the social selling space.”
