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When you walk into a beauty store and find your favorite makeup, skincare, and fragrances, it’s not by accident. Every product on every store shelf is the result of hard work from experts in beauty sales, like Louis Jimenez, manager of national accounts at L’Oréal Luxe, L’Oréal’s luxury products division.
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Jimenez’s career in beauty sales didn’t happen overnight. He’s been strategically — and confidently — building his own path over the better half of a decade. While studying finance in college, Jimenez began working as a fragrance sales representative at a department store. “I was an eager sales rep for several top brands, consistently hitting sales goals in my space,” he tells Her Campus. “I knew I wanted to execute to the best of my ability on the sales floor when I was in fragrance, because that meant I would get recognition and create those early mentorship relationships that helped guide me in the right direction when I was entering the corporate scene.”
With a newly-found passion and talent for beauty sales, Jimenez then applied and was accepted for a position as a sales intern at L’Oréal, working on the L’Oréal Paris brand. The 11-week program gave him a strong foundation for his eventual career, teaching him a variety of sales fundamentals, from analytics to project management.
After graduation, Jimenez pursued an additional internship with L’Oréal Groupe, where he was placed on the NYX Professional Makeup team in Los Angeles. Building upon the skills he developed in his previous internship, this experience took it a step further, helping him understand retailer relationships and learn how to build partnerships with retailers that maximize growth.
And then came the time for Jimenez to pave his own path. Thanks to L’Oréal’s commitment to maintaining accessible leadership throughout the company, Jimenez had the opportunity to approach leadership with his own idea for the next step in his career: a role that would marry his passion for luxury beauty and analytics. This led to his first full-time position as a business analyst for Youth To The People — a role that didn’t previously exist in the luxury division. “Here, I got to truly hit the ground running with my strong analytical skills [and] profound understanding of retailer partnerships,” he says. Youth To The People had just recently been acquired by L’Oréal Groupe, giving Jimenez a unique opportunity to gain a rich understanding of the brand and build a sales strategy from the ground up. “I was able to gain so much visibility, step in during a time the brand needed support, and put on different hats.”
A year later, Jimenez was promoted to assistant account manager at Youth To The People, where he focused his efforts on one retailer. “Being eager in this role, I got to help manage the relationship with [the retailer], craft compelling activation plans for new product launches, and get more involved in top-to-bottom planning for the account, including spend management, forecasting, and driving insights with my analytical skills.”
As Jimenez approached his 12-month mark in the assistant account manager role, he pursued (and landed!) a promotion to national sales manager at Lancôme, the position he holds today. “In this role, I’ll be focusing on managing full spend for Lancôme, achieving retailer executional excellence, and leading with data-driven insights that help move the business towards growth,” he says.
As a national sales manager, Jimenez’s typical day involves running reports for the team, building insights to bring to calls with retailers, executing business plans, managing Lancôme’s spend at specific retailers, and much more. His daily work allows him to tap into the analytical, account management, and sales planning skills he’s been developing since college — many of which started at L’Oréal.
Want to start building your beauty skills at L’Oréal? Apply now for L’Oréal Groupe’s internships and early career opportunities!
In fact, Jimenez says that the mentorship, learning opportunities, and leadership support at L’Oréal have been some of the best parts of his job. The company’s emphasis on people has also helped him navigate challenges throughout his career, giving him the freedom to seek mentorship opportunities and prioritize what’s most important to his work.
Drawing from his experiences, Jimenez offers valuable advice for anyone aspiring to work in beauty sales, and it’s all about committing yourself to your role. “Be reliable and fully commit to what the business needs are,” he says. “You don’t need to know everything at once. Be patient with yourself. Lean on your talents and skills. Be curious, and don’t be afraid to ask for advice!”
Of course, working in beauty also means looking ahead to what’s next. And when it comes to up-and-coming trends, Jimenez is all about body mists. “With top brands dominating the category here, you have to have a winning juice to gain market share. [I’m] excited to see where this space is going,” he says. For him, the body mist boom is the perfect mix of unique formulas and fresh opportunities, with plenty of room for creative branding, innovation, and strong retailer partnerships to shape the future of the product category.
From intern to manager, Jimenez’s journey at L’Oréal is a testament to the power of following your passions and having the confidence to create your own path. Now it’s your turn: take the first step toward building your dream job in beauty by exploring current internship and early career opportunities at L’Oréal Groupe here!