Entrepreneur Academy is Cosmoprof North America’s dedicated education platform designed to support beauty founders at critical stages of their journey, from launch to scale.
Entrepreneur Academy 101 is built for early-stage brands entering the market. It delivers practical, tactical guidance across the fundamentals: product development, go-to-market strategy, marketing, digital media, Amazon strategy, customer acquisition, and retail readiness. The focus is clear: how to launch with intent and avoid costly missteps.
Entrepreneur Academy 201, newly introduced, is designed for brands that have already launched and are now focused on growth. This advanced track addresses the realities of scaling: expanding distribution, optimizing retail partnerships, building operational infrastructure, and driving sustainable revenue in an increasingly competitive environment.
Together, 101 and 201 create a structured pathway for founders, supported by industry experts and partners, to move from idea to execution to expansion.
Entrepreneur Academy series is designed to equip brands with the knowledge, access, and strategic clarity needed to win in the U.S. market.
ENTREPRENEUR ACADEMY 101
Entrepreneur Academy 101 is a one-day, intensive, classroom-style conference built for early-stage brands designed to equip beauty entrepreneurs with the practical tools needed to launch and grow successfully in the United States-the world’s largest and most competitive beauty market.
Now celebrating its 10th anniversary, this milestone edition marks a decade of empowering founders with actionable insights, industry access, and proven strategies to build enduring beauty brands.
Through expert-led sessions and interactive Q&A, founders will explore product development fundamentals, digital growth and performance marketing, creator and community strategy, marketplace and Amazon navigation, brand positioning and storytelling, and retail go-to-market execution. Each class is designed to move ideas into action, giving entrepreneurs a clear roadmap for building their brand and successfully entering-and winning in-the U.S. market.
PACKAGE: $796/ $140 per class
Crafting Great Products
Karen Young, CEO, The Young Group
Developing and creating your products will be one of the most challenging (and expensive) parts of your brand journey. Global regulations seem to change monthly; the restricted ingredient list gets longer and longer; packaging must not only be environmentally friendly, but also Instagrammable!
Beauty Bytes
Emily Rose Campbell | Head of Performance, Iced Media
In this session, you’ll get the must-have playbook for building and growing your beauty brand online. We’ll start with digital strategy fundamentals: from selecting hero products and identifying trends to capitalize on, to ensuring your foundations are set up for success across your website, email marketing and data tracking so every marketing dollar works harder.
From there, we’ll break down where and how to invest on paid media platforms like Meta (Facebook & Instagram), TikTok and Google Ads. We’ll cover the ad creatives, messaging angles and campaign formulas leading beauty brands use to acquire and convert modern beauty shoppers.
We’ll also explore AI Search, and how indie brands can show up where consumers are increasingly discovering and researching products.
Packed with practical, tactical insights, this session will leave you with a clear roadmap to drive sales online and future-proof your beauty brand’s digital growth.
Storytelling That Creates a Brand That Lasts
Agnes Landau | Principal, AML Consulting
The number of new brands entering the beauty category has more than doubled in the past 5 years. A unique product and a meaningful story that has human resonance and connects with a particular segment of consumers in a profound way can be the difference between the brands that have the power to stay and those that pitter out in a few years. Powerful stories that are unique, when executed across all the consumer touchpoints in a consistent and unique way create a moat around the brand that is difficult for competitors to replicate. More importantly, it also creates a multiplier effect in A+P dollar spent. In this session, you will learn how to craft your story in a powerful way. You will also get strategic insights on how to turn your story into a cohesive narrative that touches every piece of the brand and throughout the consumer journey .
Why Creator Marketing Matters, and Where It's Going Next
Alex Rawitz | Director of Research & Insights, Creator IQ
Savvy beauty brands know that creator marketing is a necessity. But in an increasingly competitive market, how can leading brands stay ahead? In this session, Alex Rawitz, Director of Research & Insights at CreatorIQ, will share a historical perspective from his 10+ years in the influencer marketing space, charting the creator economy’s evolution over the last decade. Touching on platform shifts, the rise of AI, and more, he’ll explain how the world’s top brands have future-proofed their influencer marketing strategies—and how your brand can do the same.
Understanding the A-Z's of Amazon Beauty: Best Practices & Tactics to Drive Top Line Sales and Bottom-Line Profit
Crystal Wood | Founder, Beauty AI
With a reach of over 100 million Unique Beauty shoppers per month, Amazon is on track to becoming the largest Beauty Retailer in the US. At the same time, there are thousands of beauty brands fighting to win and grow their revenue on Amazon. While Amazon has added many enhancements including pay to play marketing options, subscribe and save and even a dynamic creator community that beauty brands can leverage to exponentially grow their sales, founders & brands need to understand the full range of best practices and tactics in order to build impactful GTM strategies for their brands on Amazon. Attending this session will assist brand founders in assessing their current brand readiness to win on Amazon as well as what paid investments are most appropriate and when to make them.
Retail Go-to-Market Mastery: Strategies for Beauty Entrepreneurs
Louise Butler (Caldwell) | President and Founder, IGNITE Beauty Strategy
“Understand the path to retail success for your beauty brand. Identify the key elements and thought processes to navigate in today’s evolving market. This session will arm you with strategic thinking and a roadmap for decision making.
Key Topics:
What are the three key elements for success at retail?
Lessons from the last decade
Does omnichannel distribution make sense for your brand?
When and how to decide on retail partners
Refining your brand positioning and marketing strategy
What does it mean to ignite momentum for long-term success and profitability”
ENTREPRENEUR ACADEMY 201
Entrepreneur Academy 201, newly introduced, is a half-day intensive classroom style conference designed for brands that have already launched and are now focused on growth. This advanced track addresses the realities of scaling: expanding distribution, optimizing retail partnerships, building operational infrastructure, and driving sustainable revenue in an increasingly competitive environment. Today, building a lasting brand requires far more than a great product or compelling story. It demands operational discipline, strategic distribution, financial clarity, and the ability to scale in the world’s most competitive beauty market.
Created as a next step for founders who are ready to move beyond launch and looking to grow their brands in the United States, Entrepreneur Academy 201 focuses on the realities of building and growing a beauty business. Through practical insights from industry leaders, operators, and experienced founders, the program will explore the decisions that shape long-term success, from avoiding costly early mistakes and building profitable supply chains to preparing for retail expansion and operational scale.
PACKAGE: $429/$140 per class
Indie Beauty: The Standouts, the Challengers and the Exits. Understanding the Pathway to Successful Scale and Expansion
Over the past decade, indie beauty has transformed from a disruptive niche of challenger brands to into a dominant force leading global innovation and retailer revenue growth. This session presents a data driven retrospective analysis of brand winners and brand exits, distribution gains, challenger success stories and costly distribution mismatches. Also, highlights of the macro changes impacting the structural economics of cost to serve, regulatory compliance and product development to guide future forward strategy.
Early-Stage Strategic Decision Making: Critical Insights & Guidance from Growth Stage Founders
Many indie beauty brands struggle after initial launch not because of product quality or lack of right to win but because of critical strategic decisions made in the early stages of brand that were not fully informed as to P&L Impact. This candid session explores the myriads of decisions that founders make and the long-term impacts, unintended costs, domino effect time traps and financial consequences as told by Indie Beauty Brand Founders in Growth Stage.
What Retailers Want: Retailer Readiness and Understanding the Retailer Selection Process, Margins and Contracts
Retail expansion remains one of the most critical and misunderstood stages of brand growth. Buyers and industry leaders will discuss what they are looking for and their selection criteria for indie beauty brands as well as their expectations including operational readiness, marketing investment, inventory planning, and brand differentiation. Attendees will learn how to identify distribution opportunities strategically across luxury retail, traditional department stores and Independent Fine Retailers and then tailor their assortments and pitch accordingly to increase their probability of successfully being chosen.