Leslie Marino, President of L’Oréal’s Professional Products Division, shares her unique perspective on the brand’s mission and its future.
In a candid discussion, Leslie Marino provides a compelling insight into her role as President of the L’Oréal Professional Products Division in the USA. She discusses how the brand balances a rich heritage with forward-thinking innovation, and she also explains its commitment to supporting hairstylists and small business owners throughout the country.
How do you balance honoring L’Oréal’s legacy while driving innovation?
Our Professional Products Division, which was founded over 110 years ago by a chemist named Eugène Schueller, actually established the L’Oréal group. He had an entrepreneurial spirit and formulated the first-ever hair dye, which he then sold to Parisian hairdressers. It was with this that the founder created the original link of L’Oréal’s DNA: “research and innovation in the service of Beauty.” Today, we continue that legacy by partnering with professionals and supporting our small business owners to help them perfect their craft and create the best hair services in the industry.
As we spend a lot of energy modernizing to become what we consider the “most cutting-edge” beauty brand, our efforts are paying off, with Redken becoming the number one professional hair brand in the US today. We are also a catalyst for change, helping to prepare stylists for tomorrow’s clients by identifying trends and pioneering the next generation of talent.
How are you prioritizing education and inclusivity for stylists?
At the Professional Products Division, stylists are at the heart of everything we do. We lead with education because we are a division of artistry focused on empowering salons and stylists. Our goal is to train and upskill approximately 75,000 stylists across the country with technical education, hands-on application, and color theory. As a leader in the industry, we must always be a driver of change for inclusivity, preparing all stylists for all clients. Hair is deeply personal, and all individuals deserve to be welcomed and cared for when they seek hair services.
For too long, the care of textured hair has been left out of required training, leaving over 65% of our US population underrepresented. As with everything in our industry, the future begins with education, which is why we launched Texture Mastery in 2021—the first free cosmetology curriculum program that upskills instructors and students. In 2023, we were proud to increase our efforts through THE TEXTURE OF CHANGE™, a powerful movement that’s transforming our community and helping to pass state legislation requiring textured hair education.
What sustainability initiatives are you implementing at the salon level?
Early on, we became aware that we needed to respond to environmental challenges. As a manufacturing company, tackling the environmental impact of our factories and distribution centers was the most obvious first step. Today, we are proud to share that 64% of the making of our products takes place in plants using 100% renewable energy. We endeavor to not only improving our products’ environmental and social footprint but also to sharing this information with our community. So, we developed the Hairstylists for the Future program, which empowers our partner hairstylists to embrace sustainable practices in their workspaces and salons. As water scarcity concerns rise, we also launched Water Saver, which is powered by a Swiss start-up called Gjosa. This innovation supports salons by providing a solution to reduce their water consumption by up to 69% compared to standard salon showerheads.
How is L’Oréal innovating in retail and e-commerce?
An omni-channel approach is at the core of all our brands, with digital driving our customer service and our relationship with salons and stylists. Our goal is to be accessible wherever stylists and consumers choose to shop, which is essential to seamlessly connecting with a diverse customer base while staying ahead of social media trends. To support our pros, SalonCentric’s SalonInteractive serves as the foundation of their omni-channel business. More recently, we launched SalonCentric’s loyalty program, ProRewards, which allows professionals to earn points that turn into savings. Our dual-market approach has been successful. It has allowed us to capture consumers and drive significant retail revenue. Redken, a ten-year industry leader, became the number one professional hair brand in both pro and consumer channels.
What are the most exciting opportunities shaping professional beauty’s future?
With a forward-looking lens, I am confident that the future of beauty is exciting! By using digital tools and data, we can change how we look at our $70 billion professional market, which will allow for performance advancements in our products and services. Our focus will be on on serving stylists more personalized options enabled by data and technology. We also have the opportunity to increase our reach by using AI as an extension of our network. This will boost the personalization and quality of education that stylists need for the evolving client.
What advice would you give aspiring leaders in the beauty industry?
My career has been a 35-year journey at L’Oréal, as I have touched every beauty category. I believe that diversity stretches and helps you grow. The most defining moments of my career were during our toughest business cycles, which were real challenges but also real confidence builders. They were instrumental in my future as a leader. My leadership style is also natural and approachable, which exposes vulnerability and humanity. I believe that sharing with your team is a powerful thing to do, because being open with your employees about a choice that did not turn out well can be a learning moment for everyone.