Ulta CEO Kecia Steelman on Global Expansion, Marketplace, Partnerships

Ulta Beauty is firing on all cylinders in 2025.

As it celebrates 35 years in business as the largest beauty retailer in the U.S., Ulta, which started as a single door in the High Point shopping center in Lombard, Ill. that grew to 1,451 stores nationwide, is thinking bigger — and more globally than ever — under newly minted chief executive officer and president Kecia Steelman.

“We have the ability to be the beauty destination of a lifetime. I want to be the most-loved beauty destination for our guests, and I want to be the most admired retailer for our associates, our communities, our brand partners and our investors,” said Steelman from her spacious office in Bolingbrook, Ill., surrounded by pops of pink and sitting opposite a large painting of a woman’s lips by artist Koby Feldmos that she bought off Etsy years before she became a beauty CEO.

Just outside Steelman’s door, members of her newly built C-suite are excitedly shooting their new headshots for the corporate website. Inside, the softly spoken yet decisive and quick-moving leader, who was previously the retailer’s chief operating officer and president, discusses how she and her team will achieve these ambitious goals.

“You do that by creating a space where beauty is for everyone, and by creating experiences that only we can do authentically the way that we do at Ulta Beauty,” said Steelman. “We are very approachable, but we’re also aspirational, and the fact that we are able to take care of guests regardless of their income level, or if they’re heavily into beauty or not, means that we’re a place where everyone can really feel very special.”

As part of her Beauty Unleashed strategy, the guest experience is key, Steelman believes, to accelerating growth, which has slowed recently off the back of record highs amid an increasingly competitive retail environment and uncertain economic backdrop. Still, net sales increased 4.5 percent to $2.8 billion in the first quarter ended May 3 compared to the same period a year earlier. Analysts had penciled in $2.7 billion. For fiscal 2024 as a whole, net sales totaled $11.2 billion.

“It’s all about keeping the guest at the center of everything that we do, and listening to them and what their needs truly are as they continue to evolve and change, and staying very close to the heartbeat of beauty and wellness,” said Steelman.

It’s this beauty-for-everyone philosophy and customer-first strategy that resonates strongly with Ulta’s brand partners.

“For 35 years, Ulta has always known that beauty consumers want to explore all beauty possibilities, in an environment that is both helpful and welcoming,” said David Greenberg, CEO of L’Oréal USA and president, North America zone. “Over that time, it’s been a joy to watch them explore new beauty frontiers and thrill their guests each day with a sensational experience. They were pioneers 35 years ago and still are today.”

Lori Singer, president of Parlux, added: “Ulta’s 35-year legacy is rooted in making beauty feel personal for everyone. Whether it’s a younger consumer making their first fragrance discovery or a seasoned enthusiast continuing their journey, Ulta meets each guest with care and intention. That spirit of welcome turns transactions into relationships, and it’s why companies like Parlux see Ulta not just as a valued retail partner, but as a powerful platform to build and grow brands.” 

For Tara Simon, president, the Americas at the Estée Lauder Cos., Ulta’s journey is personal: As senior vice president of merchandising, prestige, in the early 2010s, she was a key part of the team that solidified the retailer’s positioning in luxury beauty. “Under Kecia Steelman’s impactful leadership, Ulta continues to raise the bar, staying relentlessly focused on the customer, elevating brand partnerships, and delivering joyful, boundary-breaking experiences that now reach beyond U.S. borders,” said Simon. “At the Estée Lauder Cos., we’re proud to call Ulta Beauty a partner and are energized by the bold future we’re building together.”

Rather than being overwhelmed by an ultra-competitive beauty retail landscape with Sephora, Amazon, TikTok Shop and more all vying for customers, Steelman views the current environment as a tool to breed innovation.

“For those of us that are in this competitive environment together, it just helps us all get better, which means ultimately the consumer wins,” said Steelman. “Those that are continuing to reinvent themselves and grow and learn will be successful. I like competition. It makes you get even better and look at how you’re going to do your business differently in the future. A dose of competition is good for all of us.”

Hand-in-hand with this is being disruptive in the beauty space. Since taking the reins in January, Steelman has shown a propensity for bold, decisive moves. Take, for example, the acquisition of U.K.-based retailer Space NK in July, a move that further solidifies Ulta Beauty’s international ambitions. Later this year, the retailer will also enter Mexico and the Middle East, two of beauty’s hottest markets, for the first time. Then there’s the new invite-only marketplace Ulta will debut later this year.

“We’re positioned to be a lot more disruptive than what we have been in the past,” said Steelman. “If you look at the marketplace that’s going to be launching in the back half of this year, we’re really leaning into wellness and bringing wellness to life and having a place where we can help solve everyone’s wellness needs.

“Then international growth — having a much more global footprint in the future,” Steelman continued. “By leaning into all those areas of business that we haven’t touched before, it’s going to help us continue to grow our business and be even more relevant in the future.”

In order to achieve all this and more, Steelman has been busy behind the scenes building out her C-suite. The lineup now includes Chris Lialio, interim chief financial officer; Amiee Bayer-Thomas, chief retail officer; Lauren Brindley, chief merchandising and digital officer; Rene Cásares, chief legal officer; Erik Lopez, chief supply chain officer; Kelly Mahoney, chief marketing officer; Mike Maresca, chief technology & transformation officer, and Anita Ryan, chief human resources officer.

“It’s about the people first and having the superpowered, high-performing leadership team that I’m developing today, and having that love of talent filter all the way through to our stores,” said Steelman.

Also key to the store’s success: increasing the experiential and service side of the proposition.

When Ulta scored the first retail partnership for Beyoncé Knowles-Carter’s hair care line Cécred, it launched a first-of-its-kind integration at all 1,400+ The Salon at Ulta Beauty locations, including backbar product, a permanent menu of Cécred salon services, ongoing salon events and more. Additionally, Ulta’s 7,000 stylists were trained on the science and efficacy behind Cécred products to provide clients a firsthand experience of the benefits, starting at the shampoo bowl.

Further building on its exclusive with Cécred, Ulta was subsequently named the official beauty retail partner of Knowles-Carter’s “Cowboy Carter” tour, entailing tour-inspired beauty looks, curated product assortments, immersive experiences and a brick-and-mortar retail debut of the singer’s highly coveted fragrance Cé Lumière by Beyoncé Parfums, available for a limited time in select Ulta Beauty stores and on ulta.com.

“What we’re seeing with that Cécred application is that it’s such a unique, fun experience for all hair types in the salon. You’ll see even more of that coming in the future. It’s one of the places in our business that we can continue to unlock those experiences,” said Steelman. “We’ve talked a lot about eventing, and eventing to us is not only eventing in the store with brand partners, but it’s also activating that salon or brow services or skin services.”

In terms of celebrity exclusives, in addition to Cécred, Ulta recently became the retail partner for Isima, Shakira’s range of eight hair care products. “What I love about the celebrity exclusives is that the celebrities themselves are so passionately involved in the brand. It’s authentically them versus them putting their name on a brand,” she said. “What makes me so excited is that they have been working on these specific brands for a while. We’ve been working on these brands with them. For Shakira, the conversations began three years ago. So the engagement, the authenticity, that’s where the magic really happens,” said Steelman.

Part of securing exclusives in general — and not just with celebrities — is earning a reputation as a trusted brand partner, according to Steelman.

“It starts with that, and then you’ve got to win. If they come into your company, into your store, you need to drive the sales. We’re committed to helping these brands be really successful, leveraging our retail media network, our store associates and our social media expertise. When you have all of those hitting on the same levers, that’s that winning formula that brands want.”

In addition to exclusives, newness is critically important, too. “I love what I’m seeing in our pipeline,” said Steelman, “and how the newness is spread, not just in one category, but it’s across all categories.”

For the consumer, Steelman sees beauty as place to treat yourself in uncertain times. “In this macroeconomic environment we’re in where there’s so much unpredictability, it’s kind of scary. What’s going to happen to your 401k? This is a place where you can spend a little bit of money to feel good about yourself,” she said.

To make all this happen takes a lot of work behind the scenes, including building more fulfillment centers in the right locations and continuing to advance its omnichannel experience via machine learning. That’s where Lopez comes in. “Over the next three years, we are continuing to build buildings,” he said. “Our mantra in the supply chain is we get to support store growth, and online growth and to do that, we have to grow these DCS or fulfillment centers to do it.”

In terms of improving the guest experience, Maresca is focused on a seamless omnichannel experience. “We’ve made investments in digital ensuring that with our e-commerce platforms, if they choose to shop at home, we have capabilities that meet them where they need, and also if they choose to pick it up in our stores, we have great capabilities that provide that guest experience as well.”

As for its partnership with Target, Ulta is in pause-and-reflect mode.

“We are continuing our conversations with Target,” said Steelman. “We announced that we were taking a pause this year to really lean in and figure out how are we best leveraging this partnership for the consumer. It’s about putting the customer first and then making sure that it’s working for both of us. But I don’t have any updates right now. We’ve got 611 stores open. We’ve had a lot of successes along the way, and our objective is to figure out how we continue to maintain being successful in the future, and what does that take, and what does that look like?”

When it comes to fostering a positive culture at Ulta at its head office and in its huge network of 1,451 stores across the country, Steelman said it’s one of her most important priorities. “It’s what keeps us so special, unique. I’m big on everyone having a seat at the table. I believe the ideas come from everyone around you. I’m so excited about my leadership team that I have in place. It starts with that leadership team, and then it filters through the entire organization,” she stressed.

Reflecting on her first six months at the helm , Steelman said: “It has been the most fun that I’ve ever had in my retail career to be a part of a company that I know well, but to be able to do things a little bit differently. And then surround myself with people who are very like-minded and love beauty,” she said. “It’s very, very exciting, and it’s been fun to see some wins get behind us, yet look forward and know that we’ve even gotten more in front of us. That keeps us all really excited and passionate about the business. So to me, while it’s been almost six months, it feels like in some ways, I’ve been here for a long time, but in others, it’s like I feel like I’m just beginning.”