When it comes to facing a challenge, there’s no one like Elsa Jungman. When she was 18, she suffered from toxic shock syndrome, which had her under intensive care for some time. This syndrome made her lose skin layers all over her body, making her skin extremely sensitive.
After recovering, she tried numerous skin-care products, but all of them were too irritating. That made her start her journey as a skin health expert.
Elsa has a Ph.D. in Skin Pharmacology, and began her professional career in R&D for L’Oréal in Paris. After that, in 2015, she moved to San Francisco, where her journey as an entrepreneur started right away. She learned about skin microbiome and its importance for skin health.
At this point, she decided she had two main missions in this world: promote a healthy skin ecosystem and empower women to build a strong future for themselves.
This is how ELSI Beauty was born, a conscientious skin-care line that promotes skin health and empowers women.
The challenge: being a woman CEO and a scientist at the same time. It might seem easy, but Elsa told us about her experience.
What is the biggest challenge of being a woman leader in your sector?
What has been really challenging is being a scientist and a woman CEO. The “Beauty market” is mostly seen as a pure marketing business for “ladies” or “my wife” whereas I believe in the total opposite. Without strong science, we can not develop safe and effective solutions for anyone.
What is your organization doing for women’s equity?
We tend to have the opposite problem as we are mostly women in the company from diverse nationalities and backgrounds. As we grow I would like to involve more men in the organization. My priority today is to make sure everyone feels safe and confident in the company and give the space to speak their mind if there is something we are not comfortable with.
What advice will you give to women who want to become leaders in their industry?
Surround yourself from mentors and sponsors who believe in you and support you for who you are. Do not change to please someone or an investor, always stay true to yourself, that is your strongest differentiator and strength.
Also understand what makes you unique: whether it’s a technical expertise, a personal or professional experience and use it in your elevator pitch. Networking is also key, luck exists but only if you make it possible for yourself. Nothing will happen if you stay on your own. So go out and attend events, it is as important as working hard on your computer. If you work for a large company, I used to, my rule was to never have lunch alone. I would plan a lunch with a different person or team every day so in a few months, I had built an amazing network and also made new friends.
What advice would you give YouNoodle, to help present better opportunities to the founders such as yourself?
To target maybe more consumers and biotech startups as well as presenting startups competition in this space.
For more information write to us at info@younoodle.com
