From Rare Beauty to Chanel. From Ami Colé to Skims. These Moves Say Everything.

There have been some big industry shifts this quarter, and I’d love to share my perspective on how this impacts the creator economy.

TL;DR: if you want to know where marketing is heading, watch where beauty people go. Katie Welch is leaving Rare Beauty to lead the U.S. Brand and Communications at Chanel. Diarrha N’Diaye, founder of Ami Colé, is joining Skims to build its beauty division.

Both moves point to a new reality that’s shaping the industry: the future of influence belongs to leaders who understand how to turn community into capital. Let’s get into shall we?

P.S. I was just featured on Jullip with a fun interview on what creators wish they knew before starting. Check it out here! 

💡 Katie Welch | Rare Beauty → Chanel

Let’s unpack Katie Welch. Aside from being a communications legend who I have admired for a long time (okay yes, I’m a fan girl), she helped make Rare Beauty more than a celebrity brand; she made it a creator ecosystem. Under her leadership, influencers weren’t accessories to campaigns. They were casted to be the main character in campaigns. Every launch felt native, emotionally intelligent, and designed for participation.

Chanel hiring Katie signals a cultural shift: legacy houses are no longer allergic to influencer marketing (!!!). They’re realizing the most valuable marketing asset isn’t a muse, it’s a movement.

We’ll likely see Chanel experiment with more collaborative storytelling - moments where prestige meets platform fluency. Expect curated creator circles, social-first launches, and digital voices that add dimension to a brand historically defined by perfection.

In other words: Welch isn’t bringing Rare Beauty’s tone to Chanel; she’s bringing a new tempo for how the luxury brand shows up. Excited to see how this move transforms the brand’s next growth engine!

⚡ Diarrha N’Diaye | Ami Colé → Skims Beauty

Indie founders are now the new R&D department for corporate beauty.

N’Diaye built Ami Colé with community-first storytelling: authentic creators, clean visuals, and transparent product talk that built deep trust. That skill set is influencer marketing gold.

Now she is joining Skims, where her role is bigger than product innovation. She’s bringing insider fluency in how Gen Z and Millennial audiences discover, evaluate, and evangelize through social. Her track record shows she knows how to seed content that feels like conversation, not campaign.

For influencer marketers, this signals a new type of corporate hire: operators who know how to make content commerce across categories. We can likely expect Skims Beauty to blur categories, merging luxury aesthetics with creator-driven campaigns. It won’t just be a beauty line; it’ll be a broader influencer network of brand fans that lives across channels.

🧭 The Bigger Shift | Beauty Brains, Everywhere

Here’s the headline that’s buzzing in my head: Beauty experts are now running the culture economy.

The beauty category has become the proving ground for modern brands - community management, creator partnerships, visual storytelling, and real-time feedback loops. That’s why beauty talent are getting poached by fashion, tech, and even finance.

As marketers, we know how to transfer excitement and sell emotional transformation through key opinion leaders. We have an entrepreneurial background – rooted in beauty and transferable to other categories – and we have the skill set to determine customers’ needs. These are instrumental in driving business forward.

And that’s also where my work lives: translating brand goals into social fluency across categories. Whether I’m advising a wellness brand or a legacy fashion house, the playbook is the same: creators are your most dynamic sales force if you treat them like partners, not placements.

📊 What This Means for Influencer Marketing Teams

1. Community fluency is now a C-suite skill. Executives with deep creator relationships and empathy-driven storytelling are being tapped to lead brand communications. Influence is moving upstream.

2. Luxury is borrowing from beauty and lifestyle. Expect Chanel and other heritage houses to adopt more social-first partnerships. More aspirational yet accessible, less ivory tower.

3. Influencer teams need cultural range. The next era of influence requires cross-pollination from different fields. Teams that can blend those worlds will stand out.

What do you think of these shifts? Comment below and let me know your perspective.

And as always, thank you for being part of this community! 🚀