The 2015 Executive Excellence Awards: Jane Park

Jane Park

Cofounder & CEO, Julep

From her time as an executive at Starbucks, Jane Park clearly learned a thing or two about creating a resonant lifestyle brand. The nail care business she cofounded, Julep Beauty, has developed a fiercely loyal following of more than 150,000 women through salons, retail partnerships and a robust online presence.

Ive always been someone who has valued the community of girlfriends, Park explains. That passion for sociability is at the heart of the company. Customers collaborate with Julep through social media to help choose which polishes to send into production. With full-stack ownership of the development of toxin-free products, Park says, We innovate much faster than anyone else.

The blend of beauty and technology has proven successful. Julep has quadrupled revenues each of the past few years, is on its sixth round of product development and has grown to 215 employees.

Park is high energy and driven, a child of Korean immigrants who owned a convenience store in Toronto and sent her to Princeton and Yale Law. But as a leader, she encourages staff to slow down in order to listen to each other, to assume positive intent as they work through problems. Collaborative innovation, she says, is central to Juleps mission.