Jesica Elena Billiet
Jesica Elena Billiet is a seasoned finance and business operations executive with 17 years of experience in the beauty industry, all within L’Oréal, where she has built a distinguished international career across four countries. Originally from Argentina, she has worked in Canada, Colombia, and currently the United States, gaining deep exposure to global business operations, finance strategy, and transformational leadership. During her tenure in Colombia, she supported a major M&A project that required extensive international collaboration and travel for four years. Unlike traditional marketing or commercial roles in the beauty industry, Jesica brings a unique finance-driven perspective, serving as a strategic co-pilot who translates financial insights into business opportunities and operational excellence.
Jesica currently serves as Assistant Vice President at L’Oréal, where she is leading a global transformational change initiative for the U.S. market, navigating complex business environments marked by uncertainty and organizational change. Throughout her career, she has held progressive leadership roles including Finance Director for Corporate Operations in the United States, Director of Administration and Finance for L’Oréal’s Colombia manufacturing operations, and Financial Controller in Canada. Her experience spans managing brands, supporting production plant operations, and driving financial strategy across multiple business units. She holds an Executive MBA from Université Paris Dauphine – PSL and an MBA in Accounting and Finance from UQAM | Université du Québec à Montréal, strengthening her strategic, analytical, and global business management expertise.
Known for her positive leadership style and adaptability, Jesica is highly regarded for her ability to lead through change while keeping teams aligned and informed during transformation initiatives. She is particularly proud of her ability to maintain a solution-oriented and optimistic mindset regardless of business challenges, consistently embracing new roles, unknown environments, and complex strategic projects. Jesica also holds professional certifications including The Science of Well-Being from Yale University and Agile Leadership training from the University of Colorado System. Fluent in English and proficient in French, she continues to contribute to L’Oréal’s global financial strategy while mentoring teams and driving sustainable business growth through a strong financial and operational lens.
• CFA Level 1
• The Science of Well-Being
• Agile Leadership: Introduction to Change
• University of Buenos Aires - Licenciatura, en Administracion
• Universidad Torcuato Di Tella - MBA
• UQAM | Université du Québec à Montréal - MBA
• Université Paris Dauphine - PSL - MBA
• School volunteering
What do you attribute your success to?
What makes me successful is, first of all, growth - for me, it's important to grow. I keep on getting challenges and keep showing up to those challenges and doing the best I can do with them. I wouldn't feel successful if I would be stagnant, you know? So for me, growth is important, and that makes me feel successful. Independently of the output, it's just the opportunity or the challenges to keep on growing that makes me successful.
What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The best career advice I've received includes don't take it personally, especially at the beginning of your career - don't take the feedbacks or even the discussions personally. Also, just have fun and enjoy it. You spend a lot of hours working, so it's important to have fun. And always do your best. There's also a saying that really resonated with me about having the power to accept the things you cannot change, being brave to push and change the things you can change, and having the wisdom to realize which one is which. So you're not trying to entertain things that are out of your power, but you do your best within your power.
What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
My advice is not to let anyone tell you you can't do it. Really, you are able to do whatever you really want, as long as you really want it, so just go for it. You will find many people, especially in the workplace, that will discourage you. If you really want something, I wouldn't listen to that - I would really listen to yourself and keep on going.
What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
I feel like there's a big change in consumers' habits, especially with everything that's going on in the world right now. We have to keep in touch with what's coming and still be able to embrace the old generation. I think the challenge is how to be inclusive and still be authentic at the same time.
What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
The values most important to me are authenticity - being yourself, being transparent, being authentic. Gratitude is also very important to me, showing up and being grateful for every day. And resilience - I feel like I've changed through many movements in my life, I've made changes, and just being resilient and keeping on going and showing up has been important. Maybe courage too, but resilience and courage can be together.