PIONEERING SUCCESS IN THE BEAUTY INDUSTRY
A Visionary Leader in Beauty and Beyond
Janet Gurwitch grew up dreaming of the big time. Her years at The University of Alabama equipped her for that.
When it was time to go to college, Gurwitch wanted to travel – but not too far – from her home in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. With UA alumni as parents, she already had a love for all things Crimson Tide, making The University of Alabama the natural choice.
A harder choice was finding the right major. After forays into political science and elementary education, Gurwitch found her true passions.
“I loved business, and I loved fashion … and it’s been the right road ever since,” she said. The School of Home Economics (now the College of Human Environmental Sciences) became her academic home.
“We even negotiated with Coach Paul ‘Bear’ Bryant, who at the time was the athletics director as well as the football coach, to increase the amount for scholarships for female student-athletes.”
Influenced by role models like Dean Mary A. Crenshaw and Professor Wilma Greene, Gurwitch gained invaluable guidance that set her career in motion. Greene showed Gurwitch how to write a résumé and pick places to interview and helped her get her first job.
As Gurwitch’s teacher, Greene led an Interim term trip to New York City, a tour of the New York fashion industry that included a Bill Blass fashion show and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The trip gave the Mississippi native a life-changing perspective: she saw herself living in a big city and working for a major department store.
“I wanted a bigger life,” Gurwitch remembered thinking.
After graduating in May 1974 with a degree in fashion retailing, Gurwitch aspired to work for Foley’s Department Store in Houston, Texas. As Greene had taught her, she sent in her carefully crafted résumé and cover letter, only to receive a written rejection explaining that Foley’s interviewed only with a few select colleges. Gurwitch’s father insisted she travel to Houston to win the job in person, which she did. She eventually became one of Foley’s youngest senior vice presidents. And she framed the rejection letter.
After 15 years, she accepted the position of executive vice president of Neiman Marcus. While Foley’s was a regional powerhouse, Neiman Marcus was a national brand. The move took Gurwitch further down the road, both metaphorically and literally, giving her opportunities to travel extensively in Europe and the U.S. while meeting the founders and leaders of the world’s great fashion lines: Hermès, Armani, Hilfiger, Klein, Spade and others. Her dreams of a bigger life, sparked during that class trip to New York, were coming true.
While flourishing at Neiman Marcus, Gurwitch saw a business opportunity in an opening for younger cosmetic brands tied to living makeup artists. At age 42 she left the retail giant to go her own way.
She licensed the name of French makeup artist Laura Mercier, known for her work with celebrities such as Madonna and Julia Roberts, and her signature look of creating a flawless complexion. The two colaunched a cosmetics line in 1996, which grew to 400 employees and reached 27 countries. The company was acquired by a Japanese business group a decade later.
Today, Gurwitch leverages her extensive experience as an investor and board member. She focuses on the beauty and wellness consumer sector, where her expertise continues to drive innovation and growth.
She has served in board roles for influential consumer brands like Tatcha, Drybar, First Aid Beauty, Dollar Shave Club, Urban Decay Cosmetics and La-Z-Boy.
An avid sports fan since her days rooting for the Crimson Tide, Gurwitch is a minority investor in the Houston Astros baseball team and serves on the board.
When people marvel at the path Gurwitch’s career has taken, through the finest department stores to her years as a successful entrepreneur and investor, she said they sometimes assume that path started at an Ivy League school. The business legend said her response to that is, “I very proudly say I went to The University of Alabama.”