Jessica ABRAMS
- Biography
- Over the course of her 20-year career, Jess Abrams has navigated indie brands and global corporations to success through the ever-changing landscape of the beauty industry. She has spearheaded a broad range of projects across product innovation, package design and development, QA and regulatory, sales, and retail management. Currently, Abrams is the Senior Vice President of Innovation for the award-winning, eponymous founder-led cosmetics brand, Danessa Myricks Beauty. Tapped for her notable skills in building and scaling indie brands, along with her depth of success garnering trust with founders, she is working to build out the product, packaging, and regulatory teams, formalize processes, and enhance the innovation strategy to support global expansion. Prior to joining DMB, Abrams was the Vice President and Head of Product Development for the award-winning, entrepreneurial beauty brand Summer Fridays. She built the product and packaging teams, oversaw global regulatory affairs, created franchises within the portfolio architecture and enhanced product profitability, all while managing the development process from ideation to execution. Though Abrams is known for being scrappy, creative, and determined, it is her dedication to nurturing strong, loyal relationships that is at the heart of everything she does, whether that’s building a team, working with suppliers and vendors, or improving consumer experiences with her brands through innovative packaging design and product formulation. Abrams is recognized for her leadership, but she is not afraid to get her hands dirty—no challenge is too big nor too small. Having worked at both startups and global corporations, she is well versed in the unique obstacles that can present themselves along the journey from concept to shelf. Abrams thrives in fast-paced environments and uses her tactical, technical, and interpersonal skills to come up with artful solutions to a range of challenges, from identifying and resolving systemic organizational issues to supplier strategy. Abrams’ creativity is not restricted to her problem-solving skills: She holds a design patent for her invention of an innovative molded mascara brush and is credited with bringing some of the first at-home LED treatment devices to market during her tenure at Dr. Dennis Gross Skincare. Abrams’ love of beauty started as a teenager, when she started working at a family-owned beauty boutique on her native Long Island, then working for Bluemercury while pursuing her bachelor’s degree in psychology from The George Washington University. After graduating, she worked as New Business Advisor for Bumble and bumble., later being promoted to Counter Manager of Bb.StylingBar, a dry styling salon at Bloomingdale’s 59th Street. She went on to Dr. Dennis Gross Skincare, where she started as the Assistant Manager of Packaging, Quality Assurance, and Regulatory Affairs, consistently rising through the ranks to become the Head of Product Development. She then spent several years as Executive Director at Shiseido Americas, working across all brands in the corporation’s portfolio to drive innovation in formulation and packaging, and was then tapped to lead sustainability efforts for the Americas in partnership with headquarters in Tokyo, before moving to Los Angeles to grow and scale indie brand, Summer Fridays. Abrams graduated with honors from the Fashion Institute of Technology’s Cosmetics and Fragrance Marketing and Management master’s program; she has served as the president of the FIT Alumni Association and an executive mentor for FIT’s undergraduate Cosmetics and Fragrance program. She continues to guide future generations of beauty industry leaders, building their leadership skills while creating environments in which they feel seen and safe. She is currently a member of Cosmetic Executive Women (CEW), Cosmetic Industry Buyers and Suppliers, and the advisory board for Beauty Packaging Magazine. In addition to sharing her insights as a speaker and panelist at industry events and conferences like Beauty Accelerate, LuxePack, and Makeup In, her work has been recognized in publications such as WWD, Allure and Global Cosmetic Industry. In her free time, she enjoys traveling abroad, immersing herself in local culture and spending time with her nieces and nephew.
Featured on
Approaching the Gen Alpha Consumer-Responsibly
Conference
02/13/2025
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12:30 - 13:15