Influential Woman · Medical skincare

Lama Mansour

Co-Founder and Chief Marketing Officer, Soteri Skin

San Francisco, CA

Certifications · Degrees · Memberships

Degree Bachelor's of Science in Economics Degree London School of Economics Degree MBA Degree Harvard Business School Degree 2006 Member Harvard Business School Angels group (Harvard Angels) Member CMO Alliance Member Northern California

Her Story

About Lama

I've spent 21 years building my career in marketing because I'm genuinely passionate about understanding the consumer mindset and how people make decisions. I wanted to combine consumer health with consumer psychology to understand what drives us to purchase and make decisions. I also love to build products, and as a brand manager in the consumer packaged goods industry and later in consumer health, I was very much leading innovation and product development on the brand management track. I started my first few years in financial applications at the Reuters News Agency on one of their rotational graduate programs right out of undergrad, spending time in sales and product management. But financial applications didn't really speak to me, it was a little bit on the dry side, and that led me to get an MBA and really think about what industry most suits me, which is something that's much more consumer and human-oriented. Three years ago, I co-founded Soteri Skin with my co-founder who is a PhD in biomedical sciences. He's the scientist, and I'm the business person, the marketer. We took Soteri Skin from a formulation to a product on the market that is helping thousands of people find relief, both children and adults. It's truly transforming people's lives, and I've been a part of the journey all along since the very beginning, bringing it to market and convincing people to try. What I love most is making a difference in people's lives by building products that relieve people from their uncontrollable itching. Working with influencers to spread the message, it's so rewarding to hear their before and after stories and testimonials about how our therapeutic product has really helped them and their families. I find it rewarding to be part of a process that's genuinely helping people live more meaningful lives, and I'm promoting a product that's good for people, which is different from past work where I promoted products that didn't really make any difference.

Her Interview

Ten minutes with Lama

01What do you attribute your success to?

I think it's a real belief that we could do it, that both my co-founder and I were a team that could take this to market and make it successful. So, belief in self is extremely important. And then I believed that this product not only works, but is differentiated from the competition. It's a crowded market, but I really believed that our product was different. I understood the science behind it, and I saw the impact on people, and I saw their complaint that they have tried so many things, and nothing has worked. So I really believed in the product. I believed in myself and my skill set that I could do this, that I had the energy to do it, and I believed in my co-founder. I think these are 3 fundamental things to build a new business.

02What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?

My advice is to pick a functional area or to pick an industry that they're passionate about. Maybe early on, they don't really know what they're interested in, but my advice is to find that. Find that passion, find your interest, because you're only going to be successful at something that you're truly passionate about. You're only gonna read that extra page, you're gonna really think about the message, you're gonna understand the industry and the competition if you enjoy it. If you don't, it's really, it becomes a job. So find something that maybe doesn't feel like a job, and then you'll succeed. Another advice I would give is try to find mentors, and if possible, female mentors. I think that's very helpful to find people that you can look up to, that you can get advice from, that can give you advice on your work, on how you're showing up at work. I think that's really important as well. I think another piece of advice I would give is to find passions outside of work. I think also sometimes when you have interests and hobbies and friends, you're spending time with family, you're spending time productively outside of work, it makes you a happier person at work as well, and that makes you successful and likable and more approachable. So I'd say that as well, like, don't ignore your personal life, it's very critical.

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