Maesa Taps Molly Kennedy to Spearhead Kristin Ess Hair

Maesa, the world’s #1 beauty incubator in mass and a Bain portfolio company, is pleased to announce the appointment of Molly Kennedy as its new VP, Marketing, Kristin Ess Hair, and other brands including Koze Place.

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(Photo: Maesa)

Kennedy is a seasoned global marketing executive with a passion for building purpose-driven brands. Her extensive omni-channel experience spans multiple verticals, including brand strategy, design, positioning, content, and communications. Prior to joining Maesa, Kennedy spent 13 years at Unilever building a legacy of impactful work including driving exponential growth for Dove Men+Care through global innovation in personal care and launching the brand’s purpose of Championing Paternity Leave. In addition, she spearheaded Dove’s Courage is Beautiful and the CROWN Act programs, making Dove part of the cultural conversation. She also led lip care innovation strategy and implementation for Vaseline globally, taking cues from fast beauty.

“I am very excited to welcome Molly to Maesa. Her experience in building purpose-driven brands will be instrumental in elevating our brands’ position within the industry and achieving further success with our consumers and retail partners alike,” said Piyush Jain, Maesa CEO.

A dynamic leader, Kennedy has delivered several top-ranked beauty and personal care launches throughout her career and undoubtedly will bring curiosity, innovative thinking, collaboration, and creativity to her role at Maesa. Reporting into Chief Brand Officer Oshiya Savur, Kennedy will focus on accelerating growth through strategic marketing initiatives for Kristin Ess Hair – the first and still the only female hairstylist founded brand in mass, and Koze Place – a home fragrance category phenomenon that has become one of the most beloved brands at Dollar General in less than a year since its launch in February 2023.

“I’m so thrilled to be joining Maesa at such an exciting and pivotal time,” said Molly Kennedy. “I feel privileged to lead Kristin Ess Hair, Koze Place and other Maesa brands to a turbocharged growth trajectory, working closely with our internal teams and retailers, and bringing together my legacy of driving brand purpose and marketing rigor.”

About Maesa

Maesa is the world's #1 beauty incubator in mass, transforming the industry by incubating and growing meaningful, innovative brands and making prestige beauty accessible. We believe beauty ignites inspiration, creativity, imagination, and connection, sparking new ideas and possibilities, and meeting unmet consumer needs. Through best-in-class design, formulation, manufacturing, and marketing capabilities, we deliver new, better, and different products with an unsurpassed speed to market. Maesa works with mass, drug, and specialty retailers to cultivate both private label and exclusive brands, including Kristin Ess Hair, Hairitage by Mindy McKnight, Fine'ry, Being Frenshe by Ashley Tisdale, Flower Beauty by Drew Barrymore, TPH by Taraji P. Henson, itk Skincare by Brooklyn & Bailey McKnight, Mix:Bar, and Koze Place. For more information, visit www.maesa.com

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