When Kathleen Galvin joined beauty product house Helena Rubinstein at the start of her career, all of the company’s departments were housed under one roof, including labs, manufacturing and marketing.
“That gave me a wonderful opportunity to learn a little bit about everybody’s work,” says Galvin. “I was getting to see how [chemistry] was applied in the consumer products world. I really got a good picture of everything.”
At the same time, brand managers worked on multiple lines simultaneously, affording Galvin development opportunities in skin care, color cosmetics, hair care and fragrance brands that ranged from the mass market (ex: Ultra Feminine) to high-end offerings (ex: SkinLife and Heaven Sent).