By Holly O'Neill
04th Nov 2017
04th Nov 2017
To be successful in the beauty industry today, you need to embrace the digital stratosphere, from e-tailing to social media. Ahead of our eleventh IMAGE Businesswoman Of The Year Awards, we introduce the women who are leading the way forward. Next up, Young Businesswoman of the Year nominee at the IMAGE Magazine Businesswoman Of The Year Awards 2017, Jennifer Rock.
THE EXPERT YOUNG ENTREPRENUER
WHO: Jennifer Rock
WHAT: Founder of The Skin Nerd and Cleanse Off Mitt
ESTABLISHED: 2017
PRODUCT: The world’s first online skin consultation
Jennifer Rock first became obsessed with skincare as a teenager while suffering with acne. “I started receiving facials as a teenager due to teen acne, and I became the most inquisitive and irritating client known to man. ‘Why?’ was my favourite word along every step in the protocol. My respect for skin and the industry began there and it developed over the years.”
Her first role as a beauty therapist involved a lot of facials. Next came working with beauty giants such as Image, Yon-Ka and Environ, setting up the Renaissance Academy and teaching at the IIAA: International Institute for Anti-Ageing and Bronwyn Conroy’s College and Beauty Academy. She took the skincare world by storm, lecturing for brands and professional bodies such as ITEC and CIDESCO in the US, London, Paris, Melbourne, Glasgow and Dublin. Despite attending skin conferences all over the world, working alongside plastic surgeons, dietitians, cardiovascular surgeons, aesthetic surgeons, nutritionists, and nurses, and lecturing with Image Skincare certified plastic surgeon Dr Marc Ronert and the co-creator of the esteemed London Harley Street Skin Clinic, Dr Aamer Khan, Jennifer was keen to develop the next big thing – a skin-friendly, affordable alternative to make-up wipes. Thus, the Cleanse Off Mitt was born and in order to facilitate its development, Jennifer took a risk and left her position with world-renowned cosmeceutical brand, Image Skincare.
In the beginning, social media was the primary platform for the marketing of the Cleanse Off Mitt. Jennifer trialled and gave demonstrations of the mitt on her Snapchat account, and as more and more influencers recommended their followers follow Jennifer, her social media numbers grew. IMAGE editor-in-chief Melanie Morris has dubbed her “The Graham Norton of skin”.
Her unbiased advice, trademark wit and charm, and clear wealth of skincare knowledge grew her a legion of loyal fans, and the Cleanse Off Mitt gained cult status. Jennifer was constantly updating her followers on the stockists who hadn’t sold out of the mitt, but the demand reached fever pitch when Jennifer had to put a call out to her own followers to ask if they had seen any stores where they were still available.
Despite the demand, it was still an all-hands-on-deck project; in the early days, when thousands of units of the mitts were delivered with the incorrect barcode label, Jennifer and her sister-in-law had to stick the new label on mitt by mitt to meet a delivery deadline. The Cleanse Off Mitt is now stocked in 1,200 retailers, including salons, pharmacies and websites, in Ireland, the UK and Australia.
With a clear eye for market niches, Jennifer’s new project, theskinnerd.com, is the first of its kind in the world – an online skin consultancy and cosmeceutical department. It’s an educational platform and advice forum offering unbiased advice on anything skin-related, from basic skincare to finding the right brands for your skin type. It includes a panel of highly qualified professionals – including aesthetic medical doctors, functional medical doctors, pharmacists, aesthetic nurses, nutritionists, beauty therapists, make-up artists, acupuncturists and semi-permanent make-up practitioners – to give impartial advice to help people along their journey to optimum skin health.
Proven results, client satisfaction and an enormous following via social media as the primary mode of commercial production has resulted in The Skin Nerd waiting list currently at four years long. Jennifer has been able to expand her team of Nerdettes to nine, and the team’s newest member has the role of working through the waiting list.
So what’s next for The Skin Nerd? Within the next year, she plans to launch the Cleanse Off Mitt into the UK market, attend trade shows globally and bring the Cleanse Off Mitt worldwide. In 2018, The Skin Nerd product range will expand to hold multiple new products and Team Nerd will grow from nine to 15.
Meet the ultimate winners at the IMAGE Businesswoman of the Year Awards 2017, sponsored by Samsung, Kuehne + Nagel, Grant Thornton, The Loop and No 7 and proudly supported by Newstalk, Independent.ie, Enterprise Ireland and Marks & Spencer. Winners will be announced at a gala dinner, on Monday, November 20, at the Clayton Hotel, Burlington Road, Dublin 4.
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