Elana Drell Szyfer, CEO, RéVive Skincare

A Startup Journey

ReVive Skincare was founded in 1997 by Dr. Gregory Brown, a plastic and reconstructive surgeon who crafted the luxury skincare company. Before its founding, Brown spent most of his time dedicated to researching how to accelerate the healing process of burns on people’s skin. During the span of his research, he discovered restorative benefits to speed up healing damaged skin. Building on that research Brown built a solid foundation creating specially formulated products that rejuvenate customers changing skin behaviors. Elena calls it the “twenty-three-year-old startup” , because during its lifespan the company has been owned by Amway, while I was on their venture board, acquired by Shiseido and then acquired by private equity firm Tengram Capital Partners.

Corporates To Startups

With a long corporate career, Elena decided to make the switch to working with startups. Like me, she found that she really enjoys the challenge of working on startups. She worked with L’Oreal, Avon, Estee Lauder, and spent some time with Kenneth Cole. Before joining ReVive, she also worked with Laura Geller, where she learned the ropes. In 2017, Elena joined ReVive Skincare, taking on the role of CEO, where she rebooted the company instilling a strong sense of company culture, while keeping true to the company’s roots. For those of weighing the pros and cons of corporates vs. startups, remember to look for what will keep you professionally sustained and stimulated—while you balance Fun-Money-Purpose.

How To Survive The Retail Apocalypse

2020 has accelerated the already in progress “retail apocalypse”! Elena shares some advice about how to always stay one step ahead in retail. As retail is being disrupted, companies need to establish their next steps as the shopping mix is everchanging, especially during COVID. China is a country to look to, especially in the beauty sector. They have been successful getting consumers back to brick and mortar shopping, and more importantly unbundled casual shopping. ReVieve came to this realization as they entered into China through cross-border e-commerce, which has been huge for the company and helped shape Elena and her team’s business mindsets.

Don’t Look Back

Getting caught up in the past is easy to do, but now it is crucial to hyper-adapt to change. In the ever-shifting world we live in today, it is important to let go of what was and look to what is. The quicker this is done, the more it can impact your business.