Kia Ragland: Five Things You Need To Know To Succeed In The Modern Beauty Industry

As a part of our series about “Five Things You Need To Know To Succeed In The Modern Beauty Industry”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Kia Ragland.

Kia Ragland is an innovative beauty industry visionary, award-winning product developer, licensed cosmetologist and certified makeup artist offering 13+ years of expertise.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dive in, our readers would love to learn a bit more about you. Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?

You’re so welcome! Growing up as a biracial woman in a town that wasn’t diverse led to a lot of confusion, but mostly curiosity, especially when it came to hair and makeup. At that time there wasn’t YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, or influencers to teach me how to do all the tips and tricks there are today. It caused me to start experimenting with my hair in fourth grade, and makeup was soon to follow. It wasn’t until my junior year of high school that I started seeing hair and makeup as a possible career — eventually, I signed up for Cosmetology school in a Regional Occupational Program (ROP) for my senior year. After receiving my High School Diploma, Cosmetology License, and becoming a Certified Makeup Artist, I was determined to have a bigger impact on making the products that were needed in beauty. I attended The Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising (FIDM) to begin my journey of becoming a Product Developer receiving my Associates of Arts in the Beauty Industry of Merchandising and Marketing and my Bachelors of Science in Business Management.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?

One of the most interesting stories in my career was when Estee Lauder nominated me for The Fashion Group International Rising Star Award. In order to be nominated you have to be within the first five years of your career and have already made an impact on the industry you work in. There was an unfortunate misspelling of my email address, and I never received the acceptance letter containing the assignment to submit with a two month deadline. It wasn’t until it was passed due that the mistake was realized. I had just one week to submit the assignment, and to my astonishment, I received the good news that I made the top three and was being flown from Los Angeles to New York for the award ceremony at Cipriani. I was in disbelief when I won The Beauty Corporate Award and Linda Wells, founder of Allure magazine, presented me with the award. It was an amazing experience that I will never forget.

Are you able to identify a “tipping point” in your career when you started to see success? Did you start doing anything different? Are there takeaways or lessons that others can learn from that?

I started to see success when I was an Assistant Manager at Smashbox Cosmetics and my Director quit. I began working long hours and traveling all the time to labs, domestically and internationally, to work on formulas. It became a sink or swim time for me to prove myself. I went from having never left the country before other than just driving across the border to Mexico, to all of a sudden, I was being flown to Italy within a week’s notice. All of my hard work paid off, and these changes made me realize that I really had a future in Product Development. Within one year I was promoted to Manager and was managing some of the biggest project launches for the brand. My takeaway was that hard work pays off, and eventually the right people will notice. I also learned that experience and pushing yourself to strive for more is priceless.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person to whom you are grateful who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

It’s challenging for me to choose just one person. Julianne Pfister, the Beauty Director at FIDM, was the first person to really see something in me and helped me get my first internship in beauty, among many more things. An amazing product developer, Tiffany Mitra, taught me the foundation of developing formulas and colors/shades, which really helped me to see the process of product development in a new way. Jill Tomandl helped to create my first full-time position in the beauty industry, and our paths crossed again when she became my VP of Product Development at Smashbox Cosmetics where she continued to support me and my career. Jennifer Balbier was the SVP of Product Development for Estee Lauder when I started working in the corporation. Once she saw something in me, she started pushing for many opportunities for me including networking with some of the most impressive professionals in beauty. I am thankful for the great people I have met, but especially thankful for these wonderful women for believing in me and seeing my potential.

Ok super. Let’s now shift to the main part of our discussion. The global beauty industry today has grown to more than a half a trillion dollar business. Can you tell us about the innovations that you are bringing to the industry? How do you think that will help people?

The innovations that I am bringing to the industry are focused primarily on formula performance. I work with raw material suppliers, chemists, manufacturers, and more to discover the newest ingredients, technologies, and manufacturing processes to make the best high performing and innovative beauty products. These products solve problems, provide an experience, and make people feel more beautiful. One of my biggest passions is finding formula bases and pigments that appear true to color on all skin tones without leaving a chalky, ashy, or uneven finish on the skin.

Can you share 3 things that most excite you about the modern beauty industry?

1. I am delighted that consumers are becoming more knowledgeable on ingredients, because it pushes the industry to be held accountable for adding ingredients at an active/efficacious level and using better quality ingredients.
2. I am excited that the industry is becoming more inclusive and diverse, causing brands to consider everyone when launching a product.
3. What excites me the most is the constant improvement in technology and ingredients. Everyday there are new innovations in raw materials, manufacturing processes, pearls, and pigments, which helps us to constantly innovate and improve products. I love how impossible it is to get bored in the beauty industry.

Can you share 3 things that most concern you about the industry? If you had the ability to implement 3 ways to improve the industry, what would you suggest?

1. Oversaturation is a major concern for me. It seems that everyone wants a piece of this billion dollar industry without actually having a passion for the product, but more for the money. The overwhelming amount of brands and products in the beauty industry — especially the ones that are mostly fluff — makes me wish there were stricter rules and guidelines to produce and sell products. I think to myself on a regular basis how overwhelmed consumers must feel with all the products and mixed messages surrounding them.
2. Artificial Intelligence (AI) has come further than any of us could have imagined. Yes, of course there are some benefits, but I feel like the concerns outweigh the benefits. Corporations are starting to create teams specifically trained to use AI to speed up overall operations. While expediting testing on formulas is great, what happens to the chemists that went to school for a degree? Technology cannot simply replace creativity and expertise from years of studying and education. It also makes me wonder if it will cause there to be more mass production and accessibility without needing experts and as a result have less prestige and innovative products.
3. Sustainability — According to statistics from the Zero Waste Week, beauty packaging alone amounts to 120 billion units of waste every year. It’s challenging from the brand side to achieve the cost of goods — especially with inflation — and still have a lucrative business, but we need to take action on reducing waste for the good of our planet.

If I had the ability to implement three ways to improve the industry they would be as follows:

1. Stricter guidelines on the quality of products being produced and sold.
2. Restrictions on how Artificial Intelligence is being used in the industry.
3. Restrictions on the amount of waste each product produces.

You are an expert about beauty. Can you share a few ideas that anyone can use “to feel beautiful”?

• Self care is very important. I love doing a face mask at home or going to an infrared sauna. Finding something that makes you feel good and beneficial for your health is the best way to feel beautiful from the inside out.
• Skincare is the fastest growing category in beauty since COVID-19, and it’s not expected to slow down anytime soon. Prioritizing your skincare will help you feel confident, and make any cosmetics you use look better as you will have a smooth, healthy foundation. I highly recommend investing in your skincare now because not only will you protect your skin from any future skin concerns, but you will also be elevating your overall well-being!
• I always recommend accentuating your favorite feature when applying makeup. This technique pulls most of the attention to your favorite feature and as a result makes you feel more beautiful. If you like your eyes, focus on your eyelook. If you like your lips, maybe do a bolder lip with lip liner or a pop of color.

Here is the main question for our discussion. Based on your experience and success, Can you please share “Five Things You Need To Know To Succeed In The Modern Beauty Industry”. Please share a story or an example, for each.

1. You need to know the true beauty and history of the industry. The beauty industry is extraordinary and operates in its own world. Knowing its history and having experience in operating within it separates the good from the great. When you can speak about current and past products, campaigns, and brands, it allows everyone to speak the same language and use those references/learnings for future launches.
2. Goal setting and creating your development plan (IDP) and skill gap assessment are necessary. Developing a skill that makes you indispensable will guarantee you will always have a job if you become an expert in a specific niche and add a unique value. Early in my career, I realized that creating custom colors and traveling to labs to work on formulas were my biggest strengths. I began attending every lab onsite possible and making custom shades for 5 to 100 skus per product launch. This helped me be recognized in the Estee Lauder corporation and propel my career.
3. Forward-thinking — Always think ahead of where the industry is going instead of trying to catch up. Thinking outside the box is the only way to stay ahead of the competition and not be a “me too.” When developing products, it takes one year on average to launch a finished product concept to market. Therefore, you must predict what will be relevant, a trend, or innovation a year in advance.
4. Mentorship — The beauty industry is all about experience and relationships. Having a mentor that has years of experience to train and support you is priceless. I wouldn’t be where I am today without the help and support of a few great women along the way that trained me and informed me of opportunities.
5. Networking (build/sustain relationships) — The beauty industry is a small group of beauty professionals. These professionals are constantly exploring opportunities at other brands and the best talent is usually approached before the job is even listed. Therefore, networking and having a good reputation will have a major impact on your career.

You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)

Embrace your beauty — If I could inspire a movement, it would be for everyone to embrace their own beauty and do whatever it is that makes them feel beautiful and confident. Trends are fun, but individuality is timeless. I love when I see someone feel confident with minimal makeup or a full contoured face with false lashes because that’s what makes them feel beautiful, not because they feel any pressure to compare themselves to others. I would even push it as far as challenging people to find the beauty in one of their least favorite features, and create a makeup look inspired by that feature. If your makeup isn’t making you feel confident, then you aren’t creating the right look for you.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

No one will value you more than you value yourself.

Having the drive and determination to be proud of yourself and know you’re meant to be in the room or have a seat at the table is a lot of hard work. I’m constantly working on improving myself and being proud of who I am and my skills.. Knowing my worth has given me the confidence to always feel I did the best I could do with my current ability, whether it was an accomplishment or a learning lesson.

How can our readers follow you online?

https://www.linkedin.com/in/kiaragland

@kurly_kiki

Thank you so much for joining us. This was very inspirational.