For over 40 years, Presperse has been proudly represented as a trusted partner to some of the world’s top beauty brands with its transformational ingredients, breakthrough formula innovation and supply-chain excellence. The company has been recognized as a leader in providing its partners with quality, sustainability, research, green chemistry and providing a positive work environment for its employees.
Through its leadership, Presperse has made its name in the beauty industry as a transformative company, and importantly, as a company in transformation with the elevated goal to be more than a great partner, to be an organization that leaves the world more beautiful for people and the planet.
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Guiding Presperse with a purpose-driven approach is Joy Atkinson, President and Chief Executive Officer of Presperse, who joined the company in 2020 as one of the few female CEOs in the cosmetic raw materials market. In her nearly 3-years at Presperse, Atkinson has led with a purpose-driven approach, focusing on three key pillars (beauty wellness, regeneratives, and green chemistry) and bringing a forward-thinking mentality that aligns holistically with how the world is thinking today, and will be thinking tomorrow.
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The company, Atkinson said, is not driven by mission but by purpose. “Our purpose is clearly stated in all we do and is a key driver for strategic decision-making,” she said. “For all new activities, we ask ourselves whether we are working to make the world a more beautiful place. Are we helping humanity? Are we embracing our values and staying consistent with them?”
Under her leadership, Presperse has fostered diverse leadership and repositioned the company as a leader in corporate social responsibility by building one of the best CSR platforms in the cosmetic ingredient business. Presperse has completed year one of an EcoVadis partnership achieving Gold certification, established a baseline of carbon emissions, created internal KPIs to reach the U.N.‘s Sustainable Development Goals, and been awarded the Great Place to Work certification.
These certifications, Atkinson told Fairchild Studio, while impressive on their own, are about setting a benchmark, listening and learning from others inside and outside of the beauty industry, and inspiring the team for the work that still needs to be done. Achieving greatness, achieving a more beautiful world requires working together and with that, trust – building it and keeping it – is paramount.
“I’ve been in the industry for many years, in different positions from being a merchant, to marketing and product development and on the supplier side for most of my career,” said Atkinson. “Through all these positions and experiences, what I have found to be most important is delivering on my commitments to everyone with whom I come in contact. Trust is built over years and can be destroyed in moments. Knowing this, I make sure I understand the possibilities of my ambitions, and I am open and honest, even when the truth of a situation can be difficult. Being a trusted partner means I walk my talk and I deliver on my commitments.”
Hee Jeong Son, Vice President of Supply Innovation, said being a trusted partner means guaranteeing that both beauty brands and ingredient partners can count on Presperse. “We act thoughtfully with consideration for our partners to do what is best in our shared goals, to act with transparency and care, to help them (and us) bring their dreams to life, and to do so with integrity and care for people and planet.”
Darren Fritschy, Vice President of Sales at Presperse, added that “establishing trust in partnerships is how [Presperse] distinguishes its unique market position. The phrase may sound simple and obvious at first, but I can assure you it is nothing close to easy. Our way of honoring trusted partnerships means we are committed to focusing on our clients’ needs and the brands they serve before all other matters.”
Moreover, Fritschy said, this means always identifying the most exciting technologies and supplying them with the highest level of quality and service, at a competitive price. “Customizing the way we do business with every client takes enormous energy and strategic alignment, yet it is the most rewarding and exciting way to engage with the market.”
Son and Fritschy also noted that practicing trusted partnerships is done at Presperse not only with clients but within the organization, describing the culture as being inspirational and collaborative. This culture, they said, allows everyone to do their best work.
“The culture of Presperse is one of respect and collaboration,” added Lori Katz, Vice President of Operations at Presperse. “We have fun while working hard and do it within a team environment. We love to see the team thinking out of the box. We are not an organization that says no to new ideas, instead, we foster the entrepreneurial spirit.”
Importantly, it was this appreciation that led to Atkinson to take on the enormous task of offering smaller quantities of Presperse’s high-quality ingredients to start-up brands in a new initiative called, Creators Corner
Atkinson shared that during a CEW Founder’s Friday session, she felt inspired to ask the startup entrepreneurs where they buy raw materials and learned that common answers included retailers like Whole Foods, Amazon and Alibaba – or as Atkinson interprets it: wherever they could find them.
Understanding that when, or if, these brands were to grow or be bought by a large company, they would need to adapt to the high-quality materials that the big companies use, and would need to transform the formulation. But why not have that path to Presperse ingredients be available from the beginning? In short, Atkinson said, it’s hard and required an intense amount of work, but a journey that she said is ultimately worth it to achieve higher goals.
“I was given a lot of pushback along the way,” said Atkinson. “But I was also given support from people who saw the vision and understood it. These micro startups are where innovation is happening, so I had to stay true to that dream and together we were able to say, yes, this is important.”
Launching this month, Creators Corner by Presperse will give startup businesses the small quantities that they need while providing all the documentation and safety information that a major corporation is given.
“If we can help set up an environment where great ideas can come to fruition, and we encourage, mentor and coach entrepreneurial purpose-driven mindset along the way, we can give people what they need to succeed,” said Atkinson of her leadership style and its proven results. “It’s an extraordinary thing to watch, and our shareholders are enjoying the journey along with us, as well as all of the innovators of today and tomorrow.”
In addition to her work at Presperse, Atkinson helps tomorrow’s leaders grow as a proud board member of the Strickland Women’s Leadership Council at High Point University where she actively mentors young women.