As we are celebrating new beginnings and old traditions this holiday season, join us for our first iteration of the Art of RéTransformation series featuring RéVive CEO, Elana Drell Szyfer. Elana discusses the art of transforming one’s career, skincare routine, and more below.
The Art of RéTransformation with CEO Elana Drell-Szyfer
Q: What is the most rewarding part of leading a brand as CEO?
Elana: The most rewarding part of being a CEO is developing a strategy and then watching it come to life. The idea of "from strategy to reality" or from "paper to progress" is very exciting and rewarding. In 2020, it has been especially challenging – and therefore rewarding – to help our clients and our employees navigate the significant changes going on globally, both personally and in the industry.
Q: Being a leader in the industry, what is your best skincare tip?
Elana: Using a moisturizer with sunscreen, staying out of the sun and drinking water are the point of entry — I think a point of difference (in addition to great product) is eating healthfully. No amount of good skincare can make up for ingesting un-healthy food. Eat your fruits and veggies and stay away from overdoing salt, fried, sugar and too much white flour — it shows on the outside.
Q: How did you know that the beauty industry was the best career path for you?
Elana: I ended up in beauty by accident. I was seeking a career in marketing and got a job in beauty first because I spoke French. This set me up for my first marketing role and I never looked back. I was passionate about the product, the business issues, the different types of people we interacted with and the surrounding industries - media, fragrance suppliers, color cosmetics houses, etc.
About six years ago, I thought I was done with beauty and would give fashion a try. I’m glad I tried it, because it demonstrated to me how different the industries are and how much I really did love the beauty industry. I was thrilled to return less than a year after leaving and have never looked back.
Q: What is one piece of advice you would give to someone aspiring to transform their career path?
Elana: With the luxury of more than two decades of hindsight, I think the differentiating factor in people who have great careers is passion. If you want to transform your career, be honest with yourself about what you are passionate about and love to do. Write it down. Think about how you can incorporate those elements into your career. I think that’s the beginning of a career transformation and now is a great time to reinvent yourself as we all have had more time than before to ourselves.
Q: What does the Art of RéTransformation mean to you and was there a pivotal transformation point in your life you’d like to share?
Elana: I don’t think I had a single "aha" transformational moment, but I do think that one thing has made a big change in my life. I realized that I was a perfectionist - sounds good right? It’s not. It's like living on the edge of a cliff all the time and having a fear of falling off if you don't hit certain milestones you set for yourself.
That type of pressure makes you edgy to the point of feeling agitated far too often. Not fun - for you - or the people around you. So, since I learned and realized what that was, I try to practice progress vs. perfection. My goal is to measure how far I may be moving along with something vs. reaching the ultimate destination (which may in fact be unreachable).
