This afternoon, Cosmetic Executive Women (CEW) honored eight female executives for their leadership and contributions to the beauty industry at its 42nd annual Achiever Awards Luncheon. The ballroom of the New York Hilton Midtown was filled with almost 1,000 guests who attended to support the remarkable accomplishments of the honorees, who represent a diverse range of talent and disciplines in the industry.

“When CEW first presented the Achiever Awards in 1975, there was just one honoree,” noted Jill Scalamandre, President, Global Makeup Center of Excellence, Shiseido Americas & CEW Chairwoman. “More than four decades later, we are honoring eight outstanding women. I think that dramatically underscores the growth of female leadership in our industry—and is a testament to the CEW mission.”

The 2017 Achiever Awards were presented to: Barbara Calcagni, President, NARS Cosmetics; Maureen Kelly, CEO & Founder, Tarte Cosmetics; Jamie Kern Lima, Co-founder and CEO, IT Cosmetics; Gemma Lionello, Executive Vice President, GMM, Accessories & Beauty, Nordstrom; Loretta Miraglia, Corporate Senior Vice President, Global Brand Product Development & Innovation, La Mer, and Kelly Vanasse, Vice President, Communications, P&G Global Business Units.

In addition to honoring the six aforementioned Achievers, CEW presented its first Philanthropic Achiever Award to

Linda Marshall, Founder of the James E. Marshall OCD Foundation. Linda established the foundation in memory of her son James, who battled the disorder his entire life, and it is the only organization dedicated to funding genetic research for obsessive-compulsive disorder. To date, Linda has helped raise nearly $3.5 million to support OCD research.

Judith Amores, PhD Student and Research Assistant, MIT Media Lab, was honored with the Scent Innovator Award, presented by IFF, for creating the first olfactory computational necklace, Essence. This award recognizes individuals whose innovations in scent research will impact the future of the fine fragrance category.

The room was filled with emotion as each honoree shared their personal and inspirational stories and explained the importance of receiving this recognition from the industry. According to CEW President Carlotta Jacobson, the Achiever Awards brings the mission of CEW full-circle.

“Cosmetic Executive Women was the first-ever organization to commit to the advancement of women in our industry,” said Carlotta. “We established the Achiever Awards not only to recognize women’s accomplishments and contributions, but also to inspire and empower other women to pursue paths to leadership.”

Added Jill, “We remain passionate about providing this particular platform for female leaders like today’s honorees to be acknowledged by their peers, colleagues, friends—and our industry’s future leaders” said Jill.

Attendees of the event received a keepsake Achiever Awards journal, designed for the third year by Badger & Winters. If you were unable to attend this year’s Luncheon, click here to view the online journal.