As someone who’s had the privilege of working across a variety of categories—beauty, consumer packaged goods (CPG), healthcare, and digital marketing—I’ve come to appreciate the power of cross-category leadership. When I first began my career, I never imagined that working in such diverse industries would be a strength, but today, I see how invaluable it is. Each category brings its own set of challenges, but it’s those very differences that foster innovation, push boundaries, and create opportunities for brands to resonate with consumers in new ways.
The Value of Cross-Industry Experience
The beauty industry has always been my primary focus, but I’ve had the opportunity to lead in healthcare and CPG as well, and those experiences have shaped my approach to brand strategy. What I’ve learned is that exposure to various sectors allows you to think beyond the confines of a single industry. Each category has its own set of best practices, consumer behaviors, and trends, but it’s often the overlap between them that creates powerful synergies.
For instance, beauty brands have traditionally focused on product innovation, packaging, and aesthetics, while CPG companies have honed in on scale, distribution, and operational excellence. When you bring these two worlds together, you create a unique blend of creative and operational strategies that can position a brand as both innovative and accessible. It’s about understanding how to balance creativity with efficiency—a lesson I’ve taken from both healthcare, where regulatory standards shape product development, and beauty, where trends drive rapid innovation.
Fostering Innovation Across Categories
Innovation thrives in environments where different perspectives and expertise collide. By working across categories, I’ve learned to approach problems and opportunities from multiple angles. For example, when I was working with Johnson & Johnson in healthcare, we were constantly looking for ways to make healthcare products more consumer-friendly and accessible. That mindset translated seamlessly into my work in beauty, where I focused on how to deliver high-performance products in a way that felt personal, accessible, and tailored to the consumer.
Cross-category leadership encourages you to look for solutions that are adaptable to different needs and contexts. When you’re exposed to different industries, you see how consumers respond to innovation in each space. For example, in the healthcare sector, I saw firsthand how technology could be leveraged to make products more personalized and consumer-driven—whether it was a new drug delivery system or a personalized skincare regimen. That experience later helped inform my approach to digital marketing and AI in beauty, where personalized experiences have become a major trend.
One of the key lessons from working across industries is that innovation doesn’t have to be category-specific. Whether you’re in beauty or healthcare, the principles of great design, user-centric thinking, and technology integration remain the same. By bridging the gap between different sectors, I’ve been able to create strategies that are not just industry-specific but can transcend categories and create new value for consumers.
Building Adaptable Brands That Resonate with Diverse Needs
One of the most significant advantages of cross-category leadership is the ability to build brands that are adaptable. In today’s world, consumers’ needs are diverse and ever-changing. They want products and experiences that cater to their personal lifestyles, values, and preferences. As a result, it’s no longer enough to have a brand that only speaks to one segment of the market. To truly stand out and resonate, brands must be adaptable, able to pivot and evolve with changing demands.
In my experience, brands that work across multiple categories have a better understanding of these shifts and are more equipped to respond quickly. For instance, when working in CPG, I learned how vital it is to track consumer behavior in real-time, which allows for more agile decision-making. This lesson has been incredibly useful in the beauty industry, where consumer trends often shift quickly. Being able to apply insights from one category to another has helped me develop more holistic strategies that anticipate consumer needs, even before they are fully realized.
Beauty brands, for example, are increasingly being asked to not just sell a product but to tell a story. Today’s consumers expect brands to have a purpose, whether it’s supporting social causes, promoting sustainability, or providing transparency. In healthcare, similar expectations are emerging, with consumers wanting greater transparency in how products are developed and how they impact their well-being. By working across these industries, I’ve been able to integrate values such as transparency, purpose, and authenticity into brand strategies that resonate with a wider audience.
Cross-Functional Leadership: Strengthening Your Team
Another benefit of cross-category leadership is the way it strengthens cross-functional teams. Every category has its own set of specialists—whether in marketing, sales, digital, or operations. When you work across categories, you learn how to bring different experts together, fostering collaboration and breaking down silos. This approach has been invaluable when it comes to leading teams, as it encourages people to see beyond their own roles and think more strategically about the overall brand vision.
I’ve always believed that the best ideas come from diverse perspectives. Cross-functional teams have the ability to bring new ideas to the table because they aren’t confined by the norms of a single industry. These diverse teams are better equipped to solve complex problems and drive innovation. In my career, I’ve learned that the more diverse the team, the more adaptable and resilient the brand becomes.
The Bottom Line: Why Cross-Category Experience Matters
Cross-category leadership offers brands a unique advantage in today’s fast-moving market. The ability to think beyond your core category and apply insights from other industries fosters innovation, enables brands to adapt to diverse consumer needs, and creates stronger, more collaborative teams. As industries evolve and consumer expectations continue to shift, it’s essential for leaders to embrace cross-category experience and leverage it to build brands that not only survive but thrive in an ever-changing world.
Whether you’re working in beauty, healthcare, or CPG, the principles of leadership and brand strategy remain the same. The key is to understand how to adapt and apply them in ways that create lasting connections with consumers, no matter the category.