Friendly competition
GlossWire hosted its first-ever virtual pitch competition on March 18, 2021. Nine finalists pitched in front of six influential leaders in media and beauty, moderated by Fashwire CEO and Founder Kimberly Carney, to win cash prizes, global recognition and invaluable mentoring.
The competition took place in two phases. The first took place in February, where GlossWire’s beauty brands applied and submitted videos pitching their brands. Moderators narrowed the field down to the top 10 finalists. The brands then had the chance to compete live at the virtual Global GlossPitch event March 18, 2021.
“Our inaugural GlossPitch competition allowed us to shine a spotlight on our beauty brands and award them with funds to help support their growing businesses,” stated Kimberly Carney, Fashwire Founder and CEO. “In these very unusual times, innovation and entrepreneurship are more important than ever. These winners will help to drive growth as we begin to come out on the other side of this pandemic and its related economic decline in the retail industry.”
Making the pitch
The second phase was the live competition. Fashwire hosted this virtual event. Nine of the finalists pitched to a live panel of six executives and influencers in the beauty and media industry. The panel included:
- Chloe Hall, Digital Beauty Director for ELLE
- Adam Glassman, Creative Director for Oprah
- Susanah Zeffiro, Client Partner, Beauty for Spotify
- Melissa Chataigne, TV Host and Beauty & Fashion expert
- Karen Ballou, Founder and CEO of Immunocologie
- Kimberly Carney, Fashwire CEO and Founder.
“It was an honor to participate as a judge in the inaugural GlossPitch competition. I was extremely impressed and inspired by all of the female founders and loved hearing how their unique experiences shape the products they create,” stated Susanah Zeffiro, Client Partner, Beauty for Spotify. “I look forward to advising Base Butter on strategies to best utilize Spotify to grow brand affinity and sensorially connect with customers via Audio.”
And the winners are…
She’Neil Johnson-Spence and Nicolette Graves, Co-Founders of skincare brand Base Butter, won 1st place, which included a $10,000 prize. Base Butter was born with a mission to help make skincare easy for oily and combination skin types.
“Being a part of GlossPitch was an amazing experience. My favorite part was seeing our Base Butter community show up and show out for us,” stated She’Neil Johnson-Spence, Co-Founder of Base Butter. “During this process I truly learned how to tell our brand story and value in a unique and cultivating way. Perfecting our pitch is something my co-founder and I have been working on for over a year and I truly felt confident when I got on the virtual GlossPitch stage. The Judges were amazing, and I am just so happy I could bring the grand prize home to our Base Butter team. The $10,000 will assist us in pushing our new product launches happening this year!”
Melissa Lis, Founder of skincare brand Jumby, won the 2nd place prize of $2,500. Jumby is all about creating deeper connections with its organic aromatic wellness and lifestyle products. “Jumby is so grateful to GlossWire, Fashwire and to the panel of esteemed judges for supporting our brand,” stated Melissa Lis. “We are so grateful to you for this incredible opportunity. Congratulations to all of the finalists.”
Ginger Kind, Founder of FanLoveBeauty and Scarlett Rocourt, Founder of Wonder Curl tied for the 3rd place. They won a cash prize of $1,500. FanLoveBeauty is a clean vegan beauty brand. Haircare brand Wonder Curl empowers anyone with curly hair to wear it in its natural state with confidence.
The value in recognition
“The GlossWire pitch competition allowed Indie Beauty Brand Founders an opportunity to express how our beauty brand differentiates from others and what impact we are making in the beauty industry precisely in two minutes in front of esteemed judges,” stated Ginger King, Founder of FanLoveBeauty. “Winning the award gives a tremendous emotional boost and a sense of community, which is important in the entrepreneurial journey as entrepreneurs are the backbone of the economy yet not being appreciated too often. Thank you GlossWire for recognizing us with your generosity in time and money by putting together this competition.”
About GlossWire
GlossWire is a two-sided global marketplace offering a one-stop solution for personalization, innovation and real-time insights. For the consumer, GlossWire offers organic discovery of worldwide beauty dedicated to curation, education and community through the same compelling experience. Beauty brands can leverage that feedback to further expand their offering to consumers to improve and streamline their strategies. For more information, visit www.glosswire.com.
About Fashwire
Fashwire’s high-growth app and web-based shopping platform provides its portfolio of 350+ designers from 40+ countries real-time data and actionable insights into consumer shopping behavior patterns. A two-sided global marketplace, Fashwire is a B2B data hub to navigate consumer demand and increase profitability. For consumers, Fashwire’s B2C shopping platform creates a compelling interactive experience by combining fun, immersive swipe voting with the ability to influence the designer instantly. Fashwire recently expanded into the multi-billion dollar beauty industry with its launch of GlossWire Beauty. For more information, visit: www.fashwire.com.
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