conversations
What’s in a conversation? It’s the beginning of new ideas. A sharing of personal stories.
A start of meaningful relationships. This Pulse section called Conversations
highlights opinions, ideas, visions and personal anecdotes of CEOs and leaders from across industries.
Join the conversation. Send your questions and suggestions on leaders you’d like Pulse to profile.
B Y M A E M A Ñ AC A P - J O H N S O N
B
etsy Olum is no stranger in the beauty industry. Before she began her role as General Manager,
Beauty and Merchanadising Strategy at Home Shopping Network (HSN) early this year, Olum
spent a decade with cosmetic retailer Sephora as Senior Vice President of Marketing, strategically positioning and building the brand.
She is proud of her humble beginnings, working in her earlier years as a makeup artist and later worked her
way into retail at Bloomingdales and Escada Beaute where she became General Manager for North America.
While her MBA at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania equipped her with the business knowhow, her enduring love affair with beauty is what keeps her dedicated to the industry.
“Beauty just called me,” she says. After a self-imposed hiatus, opportunity came knocking once again. “My intention was to work only on consultancy projects, but [HSN CEO]
Mindy [Grossman] was persistent, and I simply fell in love with the company,” she says.
Now back in the daily grind, Olum talks about the challenges of working in a 24/7
business, how to survive the “wild, wild West of retail” as well as points out growth areas
that offer the most opportunities for savvy entrepreneurs.
BETSY
OLUM
beauty event. We had an amazing team that worked on
putting together this event. Everyone was on-call, many were
on-site in case there was a glitch. To me, that was the most
aspirational and the highlight of the anniversary celebration.
General Manager •
Beauty and Merchandising P: With a multitude of choices consumers have in
Strategy • Home Shopping today’s retail world, what piece of advice can you give
Network (HSN)
to marketers to ensure that their beauty product
doesn’t get lost in the shuffle of choices?
PULSE: What is the most
O: Retail is like “the wild, wild West.” The competition is
challenging part of your
high and only the tough and smart survives. My advice is to
job?
go back to the basics. Start with a really strong concept.
Olum: TV shopping is a
Know your market. For instance, the HSN consumer is very
completely unique experience. It’s a 24/7-day-a-week business
savvy, has disposable income and looks for excellent and effiwhich makes it highly accessible to the public and the feedcacious product. To connect with this consumer, we look for
back process immediate. It is very dynamic which makes it
products that have a story; after all, TV shopping is storyboth challenging and exciting. For example, to celebrate
telling. The product has to be demonstrable, and we often
HSN’s 34-year anniversary, we launched the first-ever 24-hour
(CONTINUED ON PAGE 20)
18 PULSE
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October 2011
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