Gather five twentysomethings in a room for three hours and you’ll get more than a few mentions of a “sweet treat”; a comprehensive analysis of the most recent season of “Love Island USA,” and a mutual affinity for kitten heels.
But also: a shared vision for a beauty industry that is more personal, more meaningful and more innovative than it has ever been. Having entered the workforce at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, these young professionals have had to master adaptability from Day One, and as a result, they approach their work differently than most, which has proven to be a strength.
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As Maham Ayaz, a 25-year-old senior makeup chemist at L’Oréal, put it: “It’s an advantage to be able to see something without the boundaries of what it’s supposed to look like.”
For the 2025 Women‘s Issue of WWD Beauty Inc magazine, we gathered five rising women beauty professionals across disciplines to discuss their perspectives on the direction of the industry, their biggest challenges and how they’re thinking about innovating moving forward.
The Panelists:
Rachel Simons, 26
Glow Recipe’s manager of influencer marketing, Rachel Simons joined the skin care company in 2023. She obtained her bachelor’s degree in 2021 in communications and cinema digital media at the University of California, Davis.
Maham Ayaz, 25
Ayaz is a senior chemist in makeup innovation at L’Oréal, where she began her career as a diversity and STEM intern in microbiology. She graduated college in 2021 from Baruch College with a bachelor’s degree in biology and public health.
Amber Tien, 25
Amika’s manager of influencer and partnerships, Amber Tien oversees the hair care company’s influencer campaigns, public relations and events. She graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles with a bachelor’s degree in communications and professional writing.
Guzal Yakubova, 28
Having garnered her bachelor’s degree in public relations with a minor in marketing at the University of Southern California, Guzal Yakubova is now manager of E.l.f. Beauty’s Amazon North America business.
Madison Reynolds, 26
Native New Yorker Madison Reynolds is a graduate of Ohio State University, where she obtained her bachelor’s degree in industrial and systems engineering. Currently, she is a lead on the AI and emerging technologies team at The Estée Lauder Cos.
What sparked your interest in beauty, and what has your career trajectory been thus far?
Rachel Simons: My mom is an aesthetician and makeup artist, so she’s always brought beauty into the home. Growing up, I was always trying out makeup products — probably a little too young — and during my senior year of college I got an internship at Curology, which was my entry to the industry. After that, I worked on the social team at Peter Thomas Roth and then transitioned to Glow Recipe.
Maham Ayaz: Art has been a passion of mine for the longest time, and in high school I discovered my second passion: science. When COVID-19 hit and I was thinking about what I wanted to do with my life, I stumbled across this beautiful field of cosmetic science that marries my two passions in a way where I didn’t have to sacrifice either one. I’m a L’Oréal baby — I started at L’Oréal as a microbiology intern and I’m still at L’Oréal.
Amber Tien: I have always been a fan of the OG beauty YouTubers — Jacqueline Hill, Desi Perkins, Jackie Aina — and watching them was what sparked my interest in beauty in middle school. I come from a small town in Kentucky, where most people pursue very traditional career paths, so working in this industry wasn’t something that felt realistic for me until I went to school in Los Angeles. I landed a few internships at PR agencies and I was like, “OK — this is what I want to do.” I interned at Dermalogica, then worked at Murad Skincare after graduating, and now am at Amika.
Guzal Yakubova: Growing up in Los Angeles, I always thought that my career would be in entertainment. I started my career in special events production, but I always had a passion for beauty. There was even a moment when I was a Korean Studies minor because of what a big phenomenon K-beauty was. When the pandemic hit and we couldn’t really do events or entertainment, it gave me an opportunity to reconsider other opportunities. I got an internship with GHD, and it was essentially a crash course into the world of beauty and hair care. Two and a half years ago, I moved to New York, and I’ve now been at E.l.f. for two years.
Madison Reynolds: When beauty truly felt mine was when my cousin passed down to me one of those Y2K flip phone compacts that had glitter eye shadow in it — I would bring it everywhere with me. Then as I got older, I started doing my friends’ hair, makeup and nails for prom and homecoming dances, and it became this personal passion. My college major was very math- and science-heavy, which I absolutely loved. I applied for an IT internship at The Estée Lauder Companies during my junior year of college, and I loved it. For five years, I’ve held a couple of different roles at the company, all focused on building digital products for our brands, regions and functions.
What excites you most about what you do?
Rachel Simons: The intersection of creativity and strategy. In influencer marketing, you want to encourage creativity among your creators and allow them to speak to their audiences authentically, but also be strategic about who we’re partnering with, why we’re partnering with them and how to utilize those budgets. Last year, I worked on a campaign for our Blackberry Retinol serum with 100 global creators who, for eight weeks, would send me weekly progress of their skin, and I would talk to each of them, like, “OK — what’s working, what’s not working,” and we made changes from there. Developing those personal relationships with creators is very special.
Maham Ayaz: Getting my hands dirty. Being able to imagine the technology I want to create, creating a first prototype, trying it out, changing things, trying it out again. You end up with this product that is super validating to see come to life in your hands, but also, on other people who wear it. Once, I formulated a color story for Essie and then stepped back and thought, people are going to be wearing this on their nails during special moments all around the world — proms, first dates, birthdays.
It made me think back to this time in college when I was doing my makeup and nails for a Zoom job interview, and I remember thinking, “Why am I doing this? They’re not even going to see,” but I knew it was going to make me feel confident. In a very Gen Z moment, I posted a video on TikTok afterward of me jamming out to a song with the caption, “POV: You just did the best interview of your life,” and that was the interview that landed me my first “big girl” job at L’Oréal.
Amber Tien: Being able to see the impact that our products have on real people’s lives. Making them feel beautiful, confident, and scrolling through TikTok and seeing that feedback — it’s something I always come back to if I’m feeling a little overwhelmed by the day-to-day.
Guzal Yakubova: Getting to launch new brands within the E.l.f. portfolio on Amazon has been incredible. One of my first projects was launching Well People on Amazon, and then Keys Soulcare. When we’re young in our careers, we don’t necessarily feel ready or worthy to be part of the bigger conversations, but getting to be integral in a lot of the decision making for those projects has been so exciting.
Madison Reynolds: For a lot of people, technology can be hard to grasp, and my job is to make it very easy for them to understand [and] to solve their challenge with our solutions, and that excites me. Another piece at Lauder is the CEO Reverse Mentor Program, which matches young talent with senior executives to teach them about Gen Z, new platforms and technologies. That is a huge part of my day to day. I’m paired with some of our brand presidents, and being able to teach them something new is very rewarding.
What is your assessment of the beauty industry today? What, in your view, is working, what’s not working, and what feels promising?
Rachel Simons: Right now, what’s challenging is just the saturation in the market. There’s so much out there. It’s like, there’s a different celebrity with a different brand and a bunch of different products every week, and we’re all competing against each other. In influencer marketing, it’s like, how do we stay relevant? Every brand is doing a marketing event, but how can we think in innovative ways? Maybe it’s a mailer that’s more impactful because it’s personalized, or maybe it’s an event that’s not just a regular party, it’s education-based. It is a challenge, but also rewarding when it’s done right.
Maham Ayaz: The direction I see the industry going from an innovation perspective is multiuse and multibenefit products. A product needs to provide a benefit that’s not just in the moment of a makeup look — what is it going to do for your skin? What is it going to do for your emotions? For your wellness? These are new territories that the industry is going to start to push further into.
Amber Tien: Agreed, so much is happening. So many campaigns, so many events, so many products — it’s overwhelming, both as a consumer and someone who works in the industry. I feel like as brands, we can get so excited about new ingredients and technology, but at the end of the day we need to evaluate what our consumer wants. Are we alleviating a pain point? Sometimes a product or technology sounds cool, but it’s like, OK, I work in beauty, and I don’t even know what that means.
Madison Reynolds: I literally wake up every morning to something new in the beauty world. There are so many fresh ideas, which I think the rise of generative AI is just going to help. You can never replace human creativity, but you can use technology to optimize and empower you in that process. We talk about personalization a lot in beauty, but I don’t think we have reached that hyper-personalized stage yet where, for every individual, we’re creating something that feels like it was made only for them. But we’re entering that era, and we’re going to be leveraging technology to get there.
Guzal Yakubova: There’s been this shift in how beauty brands communicate with their consumers, where consumers now have the agency to voice what they want and make brands more receptive to their needs. I’ll be curious to see how that continues to shift as we see the rise of hyper-personalization through AI. It creates this counterissue in terms of sustainability — you hear so much concern about the environmental impact of AI usage, but Gen Z wants to support brands that aren’t necessarily going to harm our planet. It’ll be interesting to see how we as an industry make sure these interests don’t clash.
What is your biggest challenge?
Rachel Simons: Because our generation values transparency, it can be a challenge to have creators speak authentically to their own experience, while still getting across the main message of what the brand wants to relay in terms of a product or talking points. It’s definitely a balance.
Maham Ayaz: Patience is always something scientists struggle with. Science takes time, and sometimes, the technology just isn’t there yet. That’s why it’s so important for companies to stay connected to academic institutions and biotech firms, so that when the technology is there, we’re ready to accelerate.
Amber Tien: I agree with Rachel — when you’re working with many creators for a campaign, you often want a product to be understood a certain way, but at the same time, the most crucial part of influencer marketing is giving creators freedom to talk about the product how they want.
Guzal Yakubova: We’re living through some very uncertain times — from tariffs to geopolitical issues and environmental consequences. All while there’s been so much technological advancement. It’s important now more than ever to stay nimble, and also to be empathetic. It’s this question of, how can we be there for our consumers in a way that is authentic and sensitive to what’s going on in the world at large.
Madison Reynolds: Balancing speed with intention. We’re not trying to innovate just for the sake of innovation — we don’t necessarily need to be the first to market in a certain respect, or chase after those shiny things. It’s about, how do you make sure that what you’re investing your resources and time into is going to provide value to your consumer, your end user, whoever that may be.
You all entered the workforce during the COVID-19 era. What have been your most important learnings through that experience, and how do you feel like it has informed the way you approach your work today?
Rachel Simons: I’ve never even worked in an office five days a week — I’ve always been hybrid. Learning how to work with people, I almost feel like I overcommunicate. But at the same time, I try to create boundaries with my home also being my workplace a few days per week. When it hits a certain time of day, I do need to shut my laptop, because my worlds just can’t be completely combined.
Maham Ayaz: I pretty much finished my last two years of college remotely, which is when you take all of your major science classes. You’re supposed to be in a lab, but I had to do that from a computer, so I lost out on a lot of that in-person experience that helps shape you as a scientist. A lot of Gen Z, including myself, feels this imposter syndrome where we have these huge jobs and people are trusting us to make decisions, and it’s like, “Am I worthy? Am I knowledgeable enough to give people the answers?”
I’ve shifted my focus away from telling myself that I’m worthy because I know everything, to thinking, “it’s OK to be uncertain and uncomfortable and not know the answers.” It’s actually more powerful to have the ability to ask questions and learn from the people around you. Like many Gen Zers, you will catch me getting a sweet treat when my prototype is working out or my experiments are going great. You have to be able to celebrate those small wins, because it gives you that confidence to embrace that, “OK, I don’t know everything, but I know this, and in the future, I’ll know that, too.”
Amber Tien: I’ve learned how important it is to go out of your way to form meaningful relationships with your coworkers. I’ve only ever been in an office two days a week at most, and it can be hard to work remotely and form bonds. Even if I’m just messaging my coworker who also watches “Love Island,” like, “what did you think of last night’s episode?” — it sounds silly but it goes a long way to form bonds, which elevates everything and allows for more collaboration and creativity.
Guzal Yakubova: I started in the workforce at the height of the lockdown, and it surprisingly created this window of opportunity where everybody slowed down. I never thought I was going to work in beauty at all, but that moment allowed me to envision my career path in a nonlinear way.
Madison Reynolds: Yes, we entered the workforce during a strange time. People view it as a disadvantage, but I think it is advantageous for us, because we never really knew what the grass was like on the other side — we grew up in this, and we’ve learned to work in an adaptable, flexible way. It shows how resilient we can be.
Much is said about how to reach and resonate with Gen Z. What are you each finding effective?
Rachel Simons: Gen Z is all about being aspirational but attainable. We value people that are relatable — even if they’re not personally relatable to our own life, if their content is shared in a way that’s funny, enjoyable, humble — it’s just more real.
Maham Ayaz: Gen Z wants to have fun. We want products that make our day brighter. We want multitasking benefits, fruity scents, gourmand scents, cute packaging — life is already so hectic, we want to put on a lip gloss and be able to control that small amount of happiness and go.
Amber Tien: There’s no need to overthink it — we really are just looking for things that are going to add joy into our lives. Hair care should be joyful, and Amika embodies that.
Guzal Yakubova: As much as we do want fun, we are all in the workforce now. We are navigating the same adult responsibilities that older generations deal with. There’s this misconception that brands need to speak to us as if we’re children, but we’re not, and it’s important to have that communication reflect that.
Madison Reynolds: We’re not a homogenous group — we’re a big collection of niches and micro-communities. Brands that are doing well know how to speak to these micro-communities and be part of the conversation, not just talk at them. Gen Z is not about smoke and mirrors — we can clock a facade right away.
Much is also said about Gen Z’s attitudes, motivations and values. What are the biggest misconceptions about Gen Z?
Rachel Simons: That we’re lazy. It’s more like, we just don’t glorify burnout. If anything, we’re more entrepreneurial.
Guzal Yakubova: I completely agree. The 9-to-5 job model was created over 100 years ago, and we’ve done things the same way even if it doesn’t necessarily serve us anymore. Times are changing, and we need to evolve the systems that we’ve become so used to. I think that’s where a lot of people see us as lazy, but no, we’re actually trying to innovate from the ground-up, not just from the top-down.
Maham Ayaz: There’s this misconception that we have short attention spans and “TikTok brain.” Gen Z knows our attention is a commodity, and if you don’t have it, we’re going to keep scrolling until we find something that does catch our eye. Our attention is valuable — you have to earn it.
Amber Tien: There’s also this idea that we’re overly sensitive, but we are just value-oriented. We put our full selves into the causes that we feel passionate about, and it’s a strength to be empathetic and feel strongly.
Madison Reynolds: People think Gen Z is obsessed with only the viral things. Virality is how we discover something, but how we actually purchase and then repurchase is not because something is viral — it’s because we truly like the product and it’s effective.
What moments and figures in beauty history inspire you?
Rachel Simons: The OG beauty YouTubers. I used to go home from middle school and binge videos from Michelle Phan, JuicyStar07, Bethany Mota — I was obsessed.
Maham Ayaz: There’s this incredible researcher, Dr. Rana el Kaliouby, and in her memoir, she lays out that innovation is not just technical, it has to be deeply human. When I think about the products that I want to create, I want them to elicit emotion — it’s not just about how the products make people look.
Amber Tien: I don’t know if I would be working in beauty without the OG beauty YouTubers, because I wasn’t surrounded by people who were doing their hair and makeup every day when I was younger. But I would watch the newest uploads from Zoella and Jackie Aina, and it was the thing I looked forward to most after school.
Guzal Yakubova: Being obsessed with K-beauty, I remember seeing Glow Recipe on “Shark Tank” and finding it so inspiring. Also, seeing Soko Glam bring K-beauty to the U.S. market was incredible. In my own work on the Well People brand, getting to work with Shirley Pinkson Mañas, who started the brand, has also been very inspiring.
Madison Reynolds: I’m going to go back to the OG influencer, Mrs. Estée Lauder herself. She touched the customer in a very unique way. When she was starting her business, she would go into department stores that were selling her perfume, and she would literally drop and crack a bottle on the floor so that people who were walking around would smell it and be like, “that smells amazing” — and that is how she influenced people to buy her products.
How do you anticipate the beauty industry could look different five to 10 years from now? What will be the key drivers of that change?
Rachel Simons: Beauty will continue to become more and more inclusive. Global beauty is becoming such a thing — working for Glow Recipe, both of my founders are Korean, and as more cultures come to and influence America, we’re going to see new ideas and innovations from there.
Maham Ayaz: With hyper-personalization, I think we’re going to get to a point, hopefully five to 10 years from now, where maybe you can submit samples of your skin or something, and there’s a tool that can tell you exactly what your skin concerns are and craft a hyper-personalized skin care routine.
Amber Tien: Currently, we can geo-target consumers with ads, but only to a limited extent. AI will allow companies to get so geo-targeted, even to understand what people like to do for fun or what they’re already buying — it will transform how companies are marketing to us.
Guzal Yakubova: Amazon has its own AI system called Rufus, and within product description pages, Rufus will say, “Oh, this is great if you have oily skin,” or “this is best for people who want to use this for a daytime routine.” It’ll be very interesting to see how brands will work with AI to get these kinds of personalized, real-time recommendations picked up by the algorithm, whether that’s through language changes, keyword search engine optimization and so on. I also think sustainability will be the future — as a baseline, not a buzzword.
Madison Reynolds: Machine learning and AI have been around for so long, but right now we’re on the precipice of the introduction of agentic AI, which you’ll not only be able to speak back and forth with, but it can do things for you. It can create reservations, book hotel rooms; that’s exciting because it’s going to further weave beauty into your everyday life, wherever you are, not just at your home.
There are also a lot of hardware technologies like Whoop, Fitbit, Oura and the Apple Watch that are coming out, but no brand has connected those technologies with beauty. Currently, it’s all about inner well-being. A lot of data is collected on those devices, so the question is, how can that data inform the skin care products that I’m putting on my face or my hair? I’m excited to see where that could go.
How is your vision for what your career is and could be evolving?
Rachel Simons: I remember starting at Peter Thomas Roth and having to convince my manager that we needed to post video content and start a TikTok. It’s crazy to see how we’ve evolved now to a point where content is mainly video, and less about polished content and more about creative storytelling, affiliate partnerships and even TikTok Shop. There has been so much change in five years. It’s like, will TikTok even exist five years from now?
Maham Ayaz: Coming from a biology and public health major background, I used to approach things in a very technical way; I thought, I create a product, and it does this. But as I’ve grown in the industry, I’ve redefined my approach to not just create a product, but to create an experience, to address a need and make someone feel beautiful while doing it.
Amber Tien: Working in influencer marketing, my job is evolving every day. New trends and platforms are emerging — it’s a very reactive field to be in. What’s been exciting is the intersection community and real consumers and influencer marketing. Finding ways to treat our consumers like influencers and give them VIP experiences is something I’m passionate about, and that I’d like to continue doing as my career evolves.
Guzal Yakubova: If my career has taught me anything, it’s that flexibility is a superpower. Being adaptable has given way to some of the most interesting opportunities of my life. When I first started off in beauty, I had a much more generalist role, and now being on the Amazon team at E.l.f., I’ve taken on a much more specialist role.
We often talk within the digital space about how the consumer is not loyal to any specific mode of getting their products. Digital commerce now is, how do we make sure that we are available everywhere? How do we create online experiences that are engaging for the consumer? I’m excited to help evolve that space.
Madison Reynolds: What began as a more tactical role in the beginning of my career has evolved into something a bit more strategic. That, plus the Reverse Mentorship Program, has shown me that my opinions do matter, and I can actually influence strategy. That kind of bigger-picture strategy focus and defining what innovation looks like is where I see my career going.
Knowing what you know now, what advice would you give your 22-year-old self?
Rachel Simons: I would tell her, less anticipation and more participation. Stop sweating some of the small stuff and try to just live presently. I remember people used to be like, “you’re only 22 years old?” Like, yeah, but I’m doing it. Growth can be uncomfortable; we’re dealing with real money and real businesses at the end of the day. But I would tell myself that I’m doing a good job.
Maham Ayaz: I would tell her not to feel stupid asking questions. Asking for clarification can actually make people see you’re coming at things from an interesting perspective. It’s an advantage to be able to see something without the boundaries of what it’s supposed to look like. Leaders often see you asking a question not as a reflection of your intelligence, but of your engagement.
Amber Tien: I’ve learned how important it is to be strong and speak up for yourself. Also, to take time to look back at everything you’ve accomplished. If my 11-year-old self, who was watching all these YouTubers in her bedroom, could see where I am today, she’d be so shocked and excited and proud of me.
Guzal Yakubova: I would tell her to trust her intuition. It’s so easy to sit in what’s comfortable and what’s easy, but there’s always going to be that little voice in my head that’s like, “but what if?” When I moved across the country to New York, I didn’t have a job lined up, I had never lived on my own before, but there was something that was telling me, “No — take the risk.” Now I look back and I’m like, “wait, I did that.” Trust your intuition and make those giant leaps.
Madison Reynolds: I would tell my younger self that the detour is the destination; every little twist and turn or thing that you think didn’t work out the right way is going to either teach you something or open up a door. I would also tell her not to introduce more than one skin care product at a time to her routine.
This discussion has been edited and condensed for clarity.