Career Highlights
- Has degrees from the Harvard Business School, Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government and The University of California, Berkeley
- Created a new inventory management system that saved U.S. Office Products $10 million
- Began her business online, then moved into actual stores
- Named the Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year® 2005
- Bluemercury is now a multi-million dollar chain and currently has 28 locations from coast-to-coast that carry over 60 beauty brands from around the world
Career Overview
Marla Malcolm Beck is the founder, CEO, and visionary behind bluemercury inc., the nation’s leading luxury beauty products and spa retail chain. Beck graduated with an MBA from Harvard Business School, an MPA from Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, and a B.A. in Economics from the University of California, Berkeley. While at Harvard, she heard a talk given by Washington entrepreneur Jonathan Ledecky and landed an internship and later a job with his company, U.S. Office Products. After a few months on the job Beck created a new inventory management system that saved U.S. Office Products $10 million. After graduation she launched a private-equity firm, Consolidation Capital, and decided she wanted to be on the other side of the business, as an entrepreneur, all she needed was an idea.
Beck’s frustration with the availability of her favorite beauty products eventually led her down the path to creating a beauty products and spa retail chain. In 1999 she took the opposite approach of most businesses and created an online store first. After bluemercury.com took off, Beck bought two cosmetic retailers in Washington, DC and renamed them Bluemercury. Beck had a vision of Bluemercury expanding into multiple stores across the country and that is what she has accomplished. Bluemercury is now a multi-million dollar chain and currently has 28 locations from coast-to-coast that carry over 60 beauty brands from around the world. Beck has been named the Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year® 2005 and she is on the Advisory Board of Harvard Business School’s Rock Center for Entrepreneurship and is an active member of the Young Presidents Organization. Bluemercury has been written about in Inc. Magazine, the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and has been the topic of numerous books, including Shopping: Why We Love It and How Retailers Can Create the Ultimate Customer Experience.
Our Interview
Marla Malcolm Beck will be joined ThinkTalk host Erika Thomas to share her advice for all of you aspiring entrepreneurs! We discussed how Marla began bluemercury, what role her education and experienced played and how she secured funding. Check out the interview for Marla's experience and advice on how to start your own business.
