Liza Bos

I attribute my success to my dad, who has been my biggest mentor for everything I've done in my life. He left Osco to start Ulta and had a vision of where he was going and what he was going to do with his life, and I've looked up to him from a very young age. He's really instilled in me the importance of being an entrepreneur and owning the business, understanding what that looks like and how to approach every situation as if it's your own company. That mindset of ownership has served me well in any career and any company that I've worked with. I've taken that value with me throughout my journey, and it has led to great success.

The best career advice I've ever received comes from my dad, who is actually writing a book called OQ, Leadership Quotient. He always tells me, and I tell my team this all the time too, to be an owner in everything that you do. Don't be an employee who just takes a task and does it. Act like it's your business, you're running it, and every dollar that you spend is coming out of your own pocket. Every gain that you have is a personal gain, and become an owner of everything through and through. This means exploring other options outside of the project scope and going above and beyond what your tasks are. He calls it the ownership quotient - you have your emotional quotient, you have your intelligent quotient, and then there's this ownership quotient of just being an owner in everything that you do.

I would say don't be afraid to go for it. I feel like so many people come in and almost come from a timid space, but you should always know that you're worth it and know your worth. Go for the job that you didn't think you'd be qualified for. Go for it and push the boundaries. Even if you don't have a ton of experience, digital is this huge new wave right now, and companies are looking for people coming into the business who just got out of college and have this huge digital knowledge that they gained in college. Now they can teach some of the people who've been in the industry for a long time on how companies build their portfolios up in the digital landscape. So know your worth. You might not have a ton of experience coming in because you're just starting out, but know what you can provide as a contribution to the company and hinge on that in your interview. Know your worth within a company and know what you could provide to them. Even if you don't have the experience, you're still a very important asset, especially in some of these new and up-and-coming areas and divisions within a company.

I definitely think tariffs and supply chain have been our biggest challenges. We've diversified our portfolio and pulled some of our business out of China to other countries, but with that comes longer lead times. In the fashion industry, this could be challenging because we're based on trends - I'll use tote bags for an example, which is a very fashion-driven business. But if you have a 60, 70 day transit on the water to get the goods over, and you're taking a longer lead time in manufacturing, you're late to the game. Our biggest challenge is making sure we're still on trend with a lot of our businesses like hairbrushes, accessories, and tote bags. The diversification we did during tariffs was the right call, but we're really trying to stay on top of inventory availability and how we can get the goods as quick as we can to the U.S. Tariffs are still ever-changing too - the Supreme Court just decided that they were unlawful, and all these conversations are being had. This creates challenges around the pricing landscape and what that means in the marketplace. We still want to make sure that every product we have is valuable and meaningful to the customer, and that we're still on trend and able to capture all the recent trends in the business. Companies are still trying to figure out the right mix between China and other countries, and whether we should move manufacturing back now that some tariffs might be rescinded. There are costs involved with all of that - molding costs, tooling costs, labor variances - so it's something we're still trying to figure out. I don't think anyone has really 100% cracked the code just because it moves so quickly.

The values most important to me are integrity, especially in sales - you've got to live up to your word and what you commit to. I think both personally and professionally, your integrity and reputation of delivering are crucial. I'm spiritual, so I always pray and look to God or an entity that can help guide me in my decision making. Confidence is also important, as well as what I call the power of knowledge - knowing more than the competition so that you have everything at your disposal. Preparation is definitely one of my core values as well.