Post by SMART FASHION COUNCIL

NÉCESSAIRE HIRED FROM BUMBLE AND THE NEW YORK TIMES — AND THE COMBINATION SAYS EXACTLY WHERE PREMIUM BODY CARE IS HEADING Nécessaire, Inc. — the B Corp-certified premium body care brand founded in 2018 by Randi Christiansen, led since January 2025 by CEO Chitra Balireddi from Glossier and Chanel — has named two senior leaders as it enters its next phase of growth. Georgie Coupe joins as Senior Vice President of Marketing, coming from Bumble and bumble where she led global brand and culture marketing. Bumble built one of the most distinctive and values-driven brand marketing operations in consumer tech — scaling cultural resonance across demographics without losing the brand's core identity. That skill — maintaining distinctiveness at scale — is the central challenge for every premium clean beauty brand trying to grow beyond its founding community. Adam Okrasinski joins as Executive Creative Director, arriving after seven years at The New York Times where he led branded content initiatives for luxury clients including Chanel, Cartier, and Estée Lauder. Before that: live activations for American Express and T-Mobile. A creative director whose formation came through luxury narrative-building at one of the world's most trusted editorial platforms — not through a brand's own marketing department. CEO Chitra Balireddi's framing is precise: "As the company grows, we are investing in senior talent from across luxury, media and technology to expand our reach, sharpen our creative identity and strongly position Nécessaire for the next stage of the brand's journey." The combination of Bumble's cultural brand marketing expertise and the New York Times' luxury narrative capability is the right pair for a brand trying to take premium body care from cult status to cultural standard. Nécessaire has 120 beauty awards, B Corp certification, a skincare-grade approach to body wash, serum, retinol, and scalp — products that perform at the level the category has never previously demanded. The next task is making that performance legible at scale without losing the premium identity that built the following. The global beauty sector is navigating significant structural pressure — down in Bitcoin terms since April 2023. An investor in the beauty basket has $9,730 from $10,000, against $17,400 from the S&P 500, $26,510 from Bitcoin, and $23,170 from gold - https://lnkd.in/gBAp8s_h The brands building genuine category leadership now — Nécessaire, Rhode, Ôrebella, Rare Beauty — are the ones generating real value through the current cycle. 🏎️ Join the SMART FASHION COUNCIL Connect with like-minded builders, access real-time insights on how AI creates new layer value: https://lnkd.in/gBAp8s_h #ai #chrematistics #fashion #crypto #blockchain #innovation #defi #vc #angel #smart