Wisdom from the WISE x Ulta Beauty Event
Women Impacting Supply Chain Excellence attend ULTA event
Wisdom from the WISE x Ulta Beauty Event
Women Impacting Supply Chain Excellence attend ULTA event
In the middle of March, I had the opportunity to take three of our Miami University Farmer School of Business Supply Chain and Operations Management students to a WISE event hosted by Ulta Beauty.
At Miami University , WISE stands for Women Impacting Supply Chain Excellence, and is a relatively new student organization, stemming from efforts spanning multiple universities and founded at the University of Arkansas, by Dr. Stephanie Thomas. Three sophomore SCOM students from WISE - Miami University were chosen to attend this event -- Isabella Galullo , Natalie Suto , and Izzy Hainrihar.
Ulta Beauty has been a pivotal supporter of WISE since it's early growth in 2019, and this was the 4th year they hosted the WISE x Ulta Beauty "Building Your Path to Excellence" event. Students from 21 universities were invited to send students to this event designed to highlight different roles and pieces of the retail supply chain, and also provide career development and insights from many different people at Ulta Beauty.
Day 1 Recap:
Students and faculty were welcomed to Ulta's Market Fulfillment Center in Bolingbrook, IL. Anna Peckhart, VP of Supply Chain Planning and Compliance, kicked off the event with introductions to the Supply Chain leadership team. The students were then able to hear from Erik Lopez, Chief Supply Chain Officer, who shared advice on how to think about their career path. I've heard this at previous events, but think it is so good for the students (and us) to think about:
- Find your North Star. What is your bigger purpose (not just in your career but in life), and consider all of your decisions against that -- some opportunities may not be a fit for you, and others may push you outside your limits but help you get where you ultimately want to be.
- Know that your path isn't always linear. Erik explained thinking about your career as building a lattice vs. building a ladder. Some lateral moves may be critical for you to build breadth and depth of experience, which is important to be able to move up to more senior-level roles.
- Develop and foster your support network. Consider the role of connections, mentors, and advocates. Always work on building those relationships, and recognize that different people will have different roles in your life. It is important that you have people who will have your back when you are not in the room.
Students also heard from Carolyn Scafuri, Director of Supply Chain Strategy, who spoke about Ulta's different fulfillment approaches and the supply chain implications of each of them. Thank you to Carolyn for all your efforts in this event!
Next up, a panel on "Launching your Supply Chain Career", moderated by Gil D. Gutierrez and featuring experiences shared by Abigail Swantko, Madison Ogrey, and Roshni Pothireddy, who represented 2 months to 2.5 years on the job. Some key learnings shared from them:
- Go above and beyond what the company is asking in your internship project, so that you can find additional savings and new insights and this will help you stand out.
- You miss 100% of the shots you don't take-- put yourself out there!
- Make sure you look at the culture and values of a company, and choose a company and industry that you are passionate about, as this will help you bring your best self to work.
- Something that surprised them the most-- the pace of roles in supply chain management -- buckle up!!
The first day ended with a tour of the Bolingbrook Market Fulfillment Center (MFC). Austin Weaver, Director of the Bolingbrook MFC, spoke to them about the different types of fulfillment centers in the Ulta Beauty network and the role the Bolingbook site plays, especially in their new global expansion and distribution. On the tour, students were able to learn about all of the different areas of the MFC and how the Locus robots work with the teams to make it more efficient and effective. A big thank you to Austin's team for hosting all of our students for an amazing tour of the MFC!
Day 2 Recap:
On Monday we were hosted at the Ulta Beauty headquarters, which is an amazing, modern office space beautifully decorated in pink and orange of course!
After breakfast, the students were given an overview of careers at Ulta Beauty and the internship program that feeds into full-time roles. Next, Mark Hogan (Director of Supply Chain Operations) and Joanne Belber (Senior Corporate Recruiter) shared insights in the panel on hiring manager expectations, moderated by Kanesa Kanaganayagam (Director of Supplier Operations). They shared the importance of candidates taking ownership in projects and sharing specific outcomes on their resume and especially in interviews. Mark also shared with students the importance of influencing without authority, something he learned under Kanesa's leadership.
For the remainder of the morning, the students and faculty rotated to several breakout stations, including headshots (where they were able to get glammed up), product lifecycle review, loss prevention tour, and the opportunity to work on an AI use case in teams with students from other universities.
To round out the visit, after lunch, everyone went to tour the mock store, where students were able to hear from the teams there about all that goes into getting products on the shelf, including how they work with brand partners to get product info and create planograms, how that is connected to sales and operations planning, inventory analytics, and more. Students loved seeing this process in real life!
For final parting advice, students and faculty enjoyed a fireside chat led by Dr. Stephanie Thomas, featuring Natalie Fong (VP Digital Product), Anna Peckhart (VP of Supply Chain Planning and Compliance), and Rachel Belano (VP Supply Chain Operations). As they chatted about their progression throughout their careers, Rachel reminded students that before they worry about the next thing, you have to do your current job really well, and then other opportunities will come. Sound advice for our young professionals to finish the event on!
Thank you to everyone who made this event possible, and all of our alumni and corporate partners that give to our program and Center to make these trips possible for our students!!
