Leslie Blodgett wins 2014 Visionary of the Year Award

LESLIE Blodgett has won Women’s Wear Daily (WWD) Beauty Inc.’s 2014 Visionary of the Year Award for her outstanding work in redefining the norm for a beauty company and transforming Bare Escentuals into one of beauty’s biggest success stories.

 

The recognition is a testament to Ms. Blodgett's unparalleled vision for Bare Escentuals, which joined the Shiseido group in 2010, and her legacy in the form of the breakthrough brand, bareMinerals, which is entering its 20-year anniversary. Ms. Blodgett’s leadership style comprises leading beauty’s first social brand. She introduced direct selling and unconventional marketing tactics, and by bonding with women worldwide, invented the idea of community.

 

Ms. Blodgett is the first female recipient of the award, which was given during the annual awards ceremony in New York last December 11, and announced by Shiseido Co. Ltd.

 

In accepting the award, Ms Blodgett said, “I am beyond honored to receive this prestigious award and I am so proud to have devoted my life to this work. I love this industry. I love what it does for women. I love the people who make it happen: driven people, competitors, innovators who push through barriers and create delightful products, new technology and new ideas that create new realities. At the highest level, this is life-changing work. For the people we serve and also for us.”

 

Speaking of the awardee, WWD Beauty executive director Pete Born said, “Leslie Blodgett is a pioneer in the beauty industry who ushered in the age of mineral makeup and envisioned the future concept of community based selling. She is a true visionary whose strategic insights of 17 years ago continue to reverberate today.”

 

This is the second honor for the Shiseido group. The company’s honorary chairman, Yoshiharu Fukuhara, received the Visionary of the Year Award in 2012.

 

Now on their fifth year, the WWD Beauty Inc. Awards are hosted yearly by the leading trade journal for fashion, beauty, and retail news. They recognize innovative ideas, initiatives, products, exemplary leadership, and significant contributions to the beauty industry. (Photo from Bare Minerals on Facebook)