Marla Malcolm Beck is an entrepreneur based in the United States. She is co-founder the beauty company

Bluemercury Bluemercury is a chain of American beauty stores founded in 1999 by Marla Malcolm Beck and Barry Beck in Georgetown, Washington, D.C. The stores sell cosmetics, as well as in-store facials and spa treatments. In addition to selling products from o ...

in Washington, D.C. alongside her husband, Barry J. Beck in 1999. Bluemercury was acquired by Macy's in 2015. Beck retained her position as CEO until 2021.

Early life and education

Beck is the daughter of a real estate developer. In 1993, she graduated from the University of California, Berkeley with a Bachelor of Arts in political economy and later was hired by the global management consulting firm

McKinsey & Company McKinsey & Company is a global management consulting firm founded in 1926 by University of Chicago professor James O. McKinsey, that offers professional services to corporations, governments, and other organizations. McKinsey is the oldest and ...

as an analyst. Several years later, she quit her job to get a joint graduate degree at Harvard University, earning both her Master of Business Administration and

Master of Public Administration The Master of Public Administration (M.P.Adm., M.P.A., or MPA) is a specialized higher professional post graduate degree in public administration, similar/ equivalent to the Master of Business Administration but with an emphasis on the issues of ...

from the

Harvard Business School Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate business school of Harvard University, a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. It is consistently ranked among the top business schools in the world and offers a large full-time MBA p ...

and Harvard Kennedy School, respectively, in 1998. After briefly entering the field of private equity, Beck exited the field to create

with her husband.

Career

In 1999, Beck and her husband founded

as an online-only cosmetics boutique, and in the fall of that same year, the duo opened their first store in Georgetown (Washington, D.C.). By 2006, the company had grown to 12 stores across the country, supported by New York private equity firm, Invus Group LLC. In March 2015, Bluemercury joined Macy's, Inc. through acquisition for $210 million. Beck remained Chief executive officer. At the time of the sale, Bluemercury had a little over 60 stores. In September 2019,

Chief operating officer Barry Beck announced he would be leaving, while Marla Beck would stay on during a transition period until a new CEO was named. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Beck remained in her position at

and moved the company towards skincare. Beck left the company in 2021.

M-61 Labs

In 2006, Beck began Bluemercury's own vegan skincare line
M-61
which launched in 2012 and refuses to use more than 100 chemicals common to the industry.

Lune+Aster

In 2015, Beck launched her own makeup line similar to M-61 in the brands commitment to vegan, gluten free, and paraben free formulas.

Appointed Positions

Beck currently serves in the following positions: The Children's Place Independent Director, Advisory Board of

Rock Center for Entrepreneurship, Leadership Council of Harvard Kennedy School Center for Public Leadership, Board of Trustees, Sidwell Friends School, Director Nominee

Chobani Chobani is an American food company specializing in strained yogurt. The company was founded in 2005 by Hamdi Ulukaya, a Turkish businessman. Chobani sells thick, Greek-style yogurt with a higher protein content than traditional yogurt and is one ...

, Board of Directors for Evenly Technologies, Board of Directors Beauty Health. She previously served as a Board Member for the National Retail Federation and as a member of the Global Leadership Board for EdX.

Awards and honors

2014 - Appointed Entrepreneur in Residence at the

2014 - Goldman Sachs' 100 Most Intriguing Entrepreneurs 2015 - Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year National Finalist 2016 - Cosmetic Executive Women Achiever Award Recipient 2017 - BeautyCares Dream Ball Honoree alongside husband Barry Beck 2019 - Inducted into the Washington Business Hall of Fame 2019 -

Alumni Achievement Award

Personal life

Beck resides in Bethesda, Maryland with her husband and their three children, Ariel, Sophie, and Luc.

References

University of California, Berkeley alumni Harvard Business School alumni Harvard Kennedy School alumni 1970 births Living people {{improve categories, date=October 2022