The Art of Developing a Breakthrough Product

Kevin Cureton is Chief Operating Officer of Solésence, a contract manufacturer and custom product developer that believes in enhancing lives through healthy skin. Kevin has spent over 15 years in senior management roles in the beauty industry and is passionate about defining how to develop technologies and products that delight consumers while enhancing a brand’s value. His diverse experience includes leading and advising a range of technology and product businesses, including ingredient companies, digital technology startups, and manufacturers and marketers of skin care, dermocosmetic, and beauty products. Kevin began his career in the beauty business while working for a mid-sized materials company, where he founded and later became the global Managing Director of AMCOL Health & Beauty Solutions, a manufacturer of private label products for brands and retailers. Kevin’s work has also included advising early stage companies, including helping launch one of the first applications of facial recognition technology that allowed consumers to receive personalized product recommendations based upon their skin type. Kevin is a graduate of Carnegie-Mellon University with a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering and received his MBA from The University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

Mary Fisher is Chair, Chief Executive Officer and Board Director at Colorescience, a former division of SkinMedica Inc., where she served as Chief Executive Officer from 2008 until 2012. She led the successful sale of the company to Allergan, Inc. for $350 million with the potential for another $25 million contingent on certain sales milestones. Ms. Fisher has more than 30 years in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries, including management and leadership positions at Acorda Therapeutics, Cephalon, Immunex and Boehringer Ingelheim. She serves on the board of directors of Sientra and MDRejuvena. In 2013, Ms. Fisher was honored as Ernst & Young's Entrepreneur of the Year for San Diego and also received the EY Venture Capital Award of Excellence. Ms. Fisher was also recently named a finalist for Most Admired CEO by the San Diego Business Journal in 2018.

Robyn Watkins is the founder of Holistic Beauty Group, a leading product development consultancy specializing in clean beauty and wellness that has provided product development expertise for leading brands like Pattern Beauty, Smashbox Cosmetics, and Skylar Body. As a product development thought leader, Robyn has been a driving force behind the industry’s trend towards clean, sustainable, and safe ingredients for nearly two decades. She has created product innovations for industry giants like Estee Lauder Companies and Arbonne, where she helmed the brand’s ingredient policy committee. In her work at Holistic Beauty Group, Robyn specializes in helping brands develop differentiated products that align with their values and core mission. With hundreds of consumer product launches under her belt, Robyn remains passionate about moving the beauty and wellness industry forward towards a cleaner and more sustainable future. Robyn was profiled as a top 25 Black Woman in Beauty in 2020, featured in Essence Magazine and regularly contributes her expertise to beauty industry outlets such as Beauty Independent, Cosmetics Design, and more. You can follow Holistic Beauty Group on Instagram here and learn more at holisticbeautygroup.com.

Tamar Lara Kamen is a product development, innovation and marketing beauty industry expert. She has worked in senior positions at companies such as Peter Thomas Roth, Estee Lauder and Dr. Brandt. She has been responsible for the development of hundreds of millions of dollars of products including many award-winning, first to market best sellers. For the last several years she has been a consultant working with clients to innovate and develop products with a specialty in small and emerging brands.

Kelly Kovack is the CEO and Founder of BeautyMatter, a noted beauty authority, brand advisor and strategist. She began her career in beauty as one of the original executive team members at Bliss, taking on the way women bought beauty as the Managing Director of the Bliss Catalog. This venture fundamentally changed the way beauty products were merchandised, distributed and marketed to consumers leading the acquisition of Bliss by LVMH. As Vice President of Marketing for Dr. Dennis Gross Skincare, she was at the forefront of defining the cosmeceutical category. Kelly also founded consultancy group Purpose Built, providing concept to counter solutions and strategic advisement for startups to Fortune 500 brand and everything in between. In addition, she's also built her own brands, most recently award-winning fragrance brand, Odin, which was co-founded in collaboration with the men's fashion brand. Kelly is the “lens” of BeautyMatter providing a fresh voice to the beauty industry with highly curated news and original content.