Bespoke Beauty Brands, an incubator for new beauty lines, has named longtime Heineken executive Stacey Tank as its CEO, effective on December 1.
Tank is set to replace founder and entrepreneur Toni Ko, who launched Bespoke Beauty Brands in 2019, helping fashion designer Jason Wu create an eponymous makeup line and RuPaul’s Drag Race season eight runner-up Kim Chi establish KimChi Chic Beauty. Ko will remain a key investor.
Tank said that after years working at large businesses, she is excited by the prospect of leading a newer, high-growth company, adding that the beauty industry is particularly compelling.
“Beauty is such a wonderful industry in the sense that you can bring a moment of happiness and joy to so many people every single day,” she said. “It’s an emotional category, and I really liked that.”
Bespoke Beauty Brands supports companies with services including research and development, packaging design and inventory management and helping brands land their products in retailers such as Target and CVS. The incubator also helps companies manage their social and owned media channels.
Bespoke Beauty Brands works with Los Angeles-based PR agency The Defiant. Tank said earned media is an “essential” part of the company’s operations and will continue to be a priority under her leadership.
Tank aims to scale Bespoke Beauty Brands as it builds on years of “triple-digit” growth, potentially teeing up a Series A funding round or acquisition, similar to how Ko sold her other company, Nyx Professional Makeup, to L’Oréal in 2014 for a reported $500 million.
“Right now, there’s no outside capital in the business,” Tank said. “I think down the road there [may be] an opportunity to do some type of exit to a partner who may be in a better position to keep the company growing.”
Tank most recently served as chief transformation and corporate affairs officer at Heineken, based out of Amsterdam, where she established the company’s global transformation network, which optimizes Heineken’s strategy and major projects.
She left the world’s second-largest brewer in August to rejoin her family, who moved to the U.S. a year ago. Her role was split into two positions upon her departure. Joanna Price was hired from The Coca-Cola Company to oversee corporate affairs, while Jasper Hamaker was promoted to lead transformation.
Tank first joined Heineken in 2012, where she ran the corporate relations function at Heineken U.S.A. until 2015. She moved to The Home Depot, serving as chief comms officer and president of the home improvement retailer’s foundation.
In 2018, she was promoted to lead Home Depot’s multi-billion-dollar installation services and measurement services businesses, managing more than 5,000 employees.
Tank, who has featured on PRWeek’s Power List numerous times, began her career with 10 years at GE in finance, audit, marketing and communications roles.
This article originally appeared on PRWeek US.
