July 2023

Milani Cosmetics chief executive officer Mary van Praag joined the sweetness brand during a difficult time for color cosmetics. It was 2020 amid COVID-19. “The category took a rapid 20 percent decline,” she said. “For a small company, that’s a reasonably large hit. Your inventory is in query, your strategy, your whole innovation strategy is in query.” Fast forward three years and it’s clear that van Praag has all the answers. The manager has turned the business around, rebuilding the basics of the brand in collaboration together with her team and partners. “We’re the one independent brand in the highest 10, meaning that’s not a multinational public company or a conglomerate of brands,” she said of Milani Cosmetics — headquartered in Culver City,...