Lara Schmosiman (00:12)

Hi guys, welcome back to coffee number five. And today it’s getting hot around the world, at least in this side of the world. And every time that it gets hot, know July is coming and I’m coming to Cosmo Prof and it’s gonna be really, really hot. And it’s gonna be hot because I get to see new products and the weather is super hot. So if you’re ready to come to…

 

Las Vegas with me and I hope you do and I see you there. I want to introduce you who is running the show and so it’s so timely to have her here and so we can get the dates of what’s going to happen this summer at Cosmoprof. Also to understand the Cosmoprof culture and well I have so many questions about all the events that Cosmoprof runs so welcome Lizard and nice seeing you again and

 

Liza Rapay (01:01)

Nice to meet you.

 

Lara Schmosiman (01:06)

Lisa, let’s talk, before we’re going to get into Cosmoprof, and yes, we’re going to talk about why it’s not in Las Vegas and why it’s so hot, because you already answered that to me, but I’m sure a lot of people want to know that answer too. But what I love about you is that today you’re doing this magnificent show, which is not easy to task to have, and you are having one in Vegas, one in Miami, and now you’re going to have one in New York, that we’re to be talking more about that too.

 

But your background is in publishing first, then you went to the brand side and now you’re on the event side. So I really would like to understand this transition, how it worked for you. And because I’m a true believer that everything that you learn in your life, you can reuse it. So I really want to understand what did you learn in publishing that you can use in events and what you learned. So tell us about it.

 

and tell us a little bit about your journey.

 

Liza Rapay (02:01)

Sure. ⁓

 

Thank you. Thank you. And again, hi to everyone listening, watching. Thank you, Lara, for this opportunity to chat in a platform like this. think it’s fabulous. So I think, let’s see. I was born and raised in the Philippines. I came here at a very young age. And when I was young, when, you know, I always loved

 

I have this thing that the love for books is something and storytelling and all of these things really was rooted in my upbringing. And when I came to the States, I finished school and my first job was at Random House. I mean, to me that was so… Yes. My first job at Random House, know, in corporate in the U.S., you know, I had only…

 

Lara Schmosiman (02:41)

And first Joe at the Grand Theme How would that say wow?

 

Liza Rapay (02:51)

been in the US for a few years at that time. So to me, was a, you know, I was very lucky and I’m still, I look at, still look at that opportunity and I’m grateful for everything I’ve learned. I think when you talk about what are the things that I’ve learned for each one, Random House for me taught me the very beginning of discipline, discipline at work, the standards.

 

the way that you have to love what you do and appreciate everything that you’re doing so you’re part of these bigger purpose and not just your pair of hands. And I think as somebody who was just starting in the corporate industry, corporate world, that was a big training for me. And truly it was that training and the love for storytelling.

 

that really resonated and understanding a lot of the, when you start climbing the ladder or at least you start beginning to understand the work environment, it’s all of these processes and things like that. I know it sounds not sexy, but these are the trainings that I think is, they’re very important in order for you to do the next thing that you’re going to be doing in your career.

 

I left Random House, my timing was perfect. It was before all of the Amazon sort of things happened. And a lot has happened since, I feel like I was in the gilded age of book publishing. And it was the best of times before a lot of the changes had happened. Amazon really changed the beauty of the business of books, but I was gone.

 

Lara Schmosiman (04:15)

Mm-hmm.

 

Liza Rapay (04:34)

by that time. And then I started looking for a job for that is, you know, when I started thinking, okay, what am I going to do next? And Clinique, you know, I landed a job at Clinique and it was purely for interviewing and interviewing. And I say this because back in the days, I know I say it back in the days, but it’s really difficult.

 

Lara Schmosiman (04:47)

Doing what?

 

Liza Rapay (04:56)

It’s not like these days you go on LinkedIn, you see a posting and you apply. It wasn’t like that before. You have to really look at listings and apply for jobs. Right? Yes. Yes. Yes. I mean, I, some of the listeners and watches, they might not, you know, thanks to like, you know, beauty products and taking care of your skin and self. yeah, we didn’t have LinkedIn. You know, a lot of it relied on.

 

Lara Schmosiman (05:06)

Yeah, of course. I remember those days. You had to look at the newspaper.

 

Liza Rapay (05:25)

if you know someone contacts to get you in or an agency. And I went through an agency to interview and that’s how I landed a job. I landed a job in marketing. And at that time, one of my biggest role was, you know, I was helping with, I was in global marketing. I was also responsible, kind of like now you ask. This was almost like the other training that.

 

that was on the side was happening. I was pulled into helping the senior leadership team for all of the presentations, for all of the sales meetings to create and start helping with content creation and speech writing and things like that. So that sort of, it’s almost like, you know, there’s…

 

Lara Schmosiman (06:09)

I want to give you a pat on the back on this because for an immigrant, it’s a big deal that you landed in these big companies. It says a lot about you, but also doing communications when English is not your first language, it’s a big deal. I’m sure that you took it with a lot of responsibility, something we were talking about in the pre-show. It’s all about the responsibility that we have in our jobs.

 

Liza Rapay (06:37)

I, Lara, thank you. I appreciate you, you know, saying that because I still, again, I am grateful landing that job at Random House, somebody who just, I think I was four years into the US when I landed my first corporate job at Random House when I was a kid. To me, that was a wow. I still is. And then beauty and to be.

 

You know, I think what my if I if there are listeners that I can you know in part like a knowledge or an advice I could I could say is that you make the role as How you want the role to be you are you are hired to do a certain job But you have the power to make it Be better or whatever you want it to be and still do the functions that you’ve been hired to do so

 

Lara Schmosiman (07:27)

Yeah,

 

I mean, there is a responsibility and this not only speaks a lot about you, but I think you’re encouraging every person, every listener, that if you take responsibility for your job, you have the opportunity of growth.

 

Liza Rapay (07:42)

Yes, yes. It isn’t just like the, here are the bullet points of what you’re supposed to do. I mean, Laura, went at that age and I started as a marketing manager, as a manager role at Estee Lauder Clinique. And then I was already traveling with the leadership team through all of these sales meetings globally and domestically because you just.

 

make it however you think it could be. then before you knew it, that was sort of like the, you know, that was the beginning of my career at Clinique. And then I took this graduate program at FIT. I don’t know if you’re familiar with it, but it is the graduate program for cosmetics and fragrance marketing and management. And it’s only a very select few that gets in.

 

They are funded and supported by the beauty industry. And each year there’s about 20 students that are in the program. It is a fabulous program for people, the younger generation, the next generation of leaders listening. That program is fantastic because it is…

 

Lara Schmosiman (08:42)

I didn’t know about that program.

 

Liza Rapay (08:58)

Say for instance, Lauder, L’Oreal, Shiseido, all of those big brands, they can recommend several students within their portfolio, but Lauder is a big portfolio. So you could have 20 vying students to get into this program of 20 students, graduate degree students, but they only pick

 

two, maybe they’ll pick two from Lauder, maybe three from L’Oreal, two from Shiseido. So it becomes very competitive, but at the same time, I would recommend it to anyone who would have the opportunity to do it.

 

Lara Schmosiman (09:28)

Mm-hmm.

 

Yeah, that’s incredible. So yeah, I need to find out a little more about that. I mean, it’s not that I’m going back to school, but…

 

Liza Rapay (09:39)

Yes, you do. But you

 

should probably, think this program, so a lot of, there’s 250 of us now graduate alumni. And the alums, when you look at the industry leaders, they had graduated from that program. A lot of the people, Corey from ELF is a graduate of that program. Larissa Jensen, a graduate of that program.

 

Lara Schmosiman (09:50)

Amazing.

 

⁓

 

Liza Rapay (10:05)

And I could name so many more. I attended the WWD Summit ⁓ in Florida last year. And I think there’s seven or eight of us graduating students. And we ended up taking a beautiful photo with the professor.

 

Lara Schmosiman (10:11)

Mm-hmm.

 

That thing, see

 

this is what I love about this beauty industry. But okay, so then you end up in the brands and then how did you end up working at Cosmoprof? How was that transition?

 

Liza Rapay (10:31)

So, yes,

 

so in, oh my goodness, I can’t even remember, 20, so around 2018, early 20s, late 2017, my mother was actually in the Philippines, then she was older, a lot older, she wasn’t really doing that well, and needed to make a very tough decision. I left, I resigned without a job. It was…

 

Lara Schmosiman (10:51)

Mm-hmm.

 

That’s tough,

 

that’s definitely tough.

 

Liza Rapay (11:00)

It was something that I needed to do. You could probably relate to this, our culture is very much that, you know, the family ties is very, very, and I know it’s not just my culture, right? But it was very much important to me. And I left, remember. Yes, yes, yes, yes. So I left.

 

Lara Schmosiman (11:19)

Sometimes you just do what you need to do and what it feels right.

 

Liza Rapay (11:25)

I came back and then I said, okay, I need to start looking for a job. It was a moment of, oh my God, what am I going to do? Do I go back to the brand side or do I look at something else? Because at Clinique, I started as a manager and then I went into global marketing and then I was responsible for the…

 

Clinique business at Macy’s. We took it at that time. my God, less than three years from $576 million to $603 million in less than three years. That is one of my proudest moments at Clinique. So yeah, so.

 

Lara Schmosiman (12:12)

That’s amazing. ⁓ So then

 

you got this job at Cosmoprof and it was the same proposition that you have now or evolve over the time?

 

Liza Rapay (12:18)

What?

 

No, it evolved.

 

When I was hired to do this job, I was hired as the head of marketing, not the lead for sales. It’s literally for marketing. But one of the things that I’ve done in 2018 was look at everything. And this is where I will share this with you. And you asked me how. I looked at it and I wanted it to put on my brand side hat.

 

how can these platform be so important to these brands trying to enter the US market? And I could understand that because I have that sort of brand side thinking. I don’t come from events, I came from the brands. So to me, the shift since 2019 to now is this.

 

CosmoProf is not just a trade show. It is a show that is such an important part of the entire beauty ecosystem. And it is fueling innovation that the industry needs in order for it to continue to grow and create. Yeah, sorry.

 

Lara Schmosiman (13:29)

I have a question for you because as you said something very interesting to me that when you took this position was about to understanding brands to come to the US market. that’s one of the missions of CosmoProf, just to get brands from one market to another market.

 

Liza Rapay (13:47)

Yes, I think, you know, to say it really, you know, in a simplistic way, every single brand trying to enter the U.S. whether it be domestic or international, how can they, you know, find distribution, find retail, find, you know, that’s what Cosmo Prof is.

 

The other aspect of CosmoProf is as a part of the entire ecosystem of beauty, it’s the supply chain. We also have the supply chain within. So it’s really everything you’re looking under the sun in terms of beauty, you go to CosmoProf, you’ll find.

 

Lara Schmosiman (14:30)

Yeah. And there is, think there is a very interesting part of CosmoProf that you do really well that how you separate, you have CosmoPak, then you have part of ingredients. There is a lot of different parts. It’s very well segmented, depends what you’re looking for. But also there is a part that normally is in the back that is for new brands and it gives brands new opportunities.

 

Liza Rapay (14:57)

Yes. And it’s, I think we were talking earlier before we started and I love how you even said, you know, the whole being just genuine and be doing the right thing. Honestly, I feel like

 

Cosmo Profit is that if you do the right thing, if you bleed with purpose, profits will follow, growth will follow. And that is simply what’s happening. You do the right thing for the industry.

 

Lara Schmosiman (15:24)

So let’s talk for a second, what brands or anyone who exhibit at Cosmo Prof can expect? Because I feel like a lot of people that they’re going, they’re not having the right set of expectation. And we want people to come to an event, to sign up, to be part of an event and to be successful. And I’m sure that’s what you guys want. So they come the next year and next year. But there, I feel like there are a lot of people that I talk to that…

 

Liza Rapay (15:48)

Yes.

 

Lara Schmosiman (15:52)

Either they don’t know what to expect and if they should be doing it, or if they are, they’re doing it with the wrong mindset. And then they don’t come back and they said, Oh, it didn’t work out for me. And I feel like many times it’s not that they didn’t work out for them. It’s the same with platforms. I, I did that platform didn’t work out for me. And it’s just, you didn’t use it correctly.

 

Liza Rapay (16:01)

mindset.

 

Yes.

 

Yes, yes.

 

You know, I think you look we can’t make everyone happy we try that is the platform right that is our goal

 

However, it goes back to sometimes I see exhibitors, brands coming in, not ready, not even having the right giveaways, the right, you know, if it’s they’re coming from a different country, the labels are in a different country. How are you going to give a sample to a retailer and not be able to read what it is? So there’s so many aspects. And then we try so hard to be able to create these programs.

 

that we’d really elevate these brands, whether if it’s press appearances, buyers, we have buyer programs that we put in place. There are platforms that you can do a one-to-one, meaning schedule a call, but some of these brands, I think they really need to own it. Set up your profile.

 

Lara Schmosiman (17:17)

And yes, and let’s talk for a second for international brands, brands. First of all, international brands is a completely different conversation because you cannot get lost in translation. You need to make sure that you are ready to have a U.S. presence. we’re talking, two marketers are here people, so forgive us, but you need to be market ready. And for young brands, retailers are going to want proof of concept.

 

Liza Rapay (17:25)

Yes.

 

Yes.

 

Lara Schmosiman (17:47)

So it’s not that you can go and say exhibit show a beautiful product. don’t know. I mean, you know more the story of Cosmo Prof than me, but I don’t know if anyone went there and I wrote an incredible PO for a new brand. If there is that unicorn happen.

 

Liza Rapay (18:02)

So ⁓

 

there are some unicorns that happen at Cosmoprof. I mean, some of the brands that are even you wouldn’t expect it to be, and it does, it happens. However, I’ve seen so many great brands that didn’t have the storytelling that they need to be. There’s so many elements. There are so many elements and would probably

 

not enough time to do this. It’s probably another section to segment to literally how do you get your brains ready? But you do that. But Lara, you know, there’s a lot to it, what it takes.

 

Lara Schmosiman (18:33)

Yes, another time.

 

It’s a lot

 

of work. mean, having a brand is just not having the formulation and the beautiful package. It’s so much more than that.

 

Liza Rapay (18:47)

Yes.

 

Yes. And a lot of them think that like they have these, all great products succeed. It starts with the storytelling. What is the differentiation? The whys. What makes you special? What makes it different? Why should a consumer purchase you?

 

Lara Schmosiman (19:06)

Exactly. So let’s talk a little bit about geography here. ⁓ So you have five events now because I only was talking about the Cosmoprof that there is Hong Kong. Then you have Las Vegas, Miami and Bologna. I was trying to do them in order but I messed up from the beginning.

 

Liza Rapay (19:11)

Yes.

 

No, that’s

 

okay. There’s India as well.

 

Lara Schmosiman (19:29)

in India. those are five. And now you’re going to have a new event that I really want to hear about in New York in October.

 

Liza Rapay (19:33)

Yes.

 

Yes, yes,

 

yes. Okay, so I’m a storyteller just like you. This really, this concept’s been around since after COVID. I think, you know, like all of us, and you, I’m sure, you think of, my goodness, you know, what are we doing? What is, you know, what’s happening with our community? What does this all mean? And you start sort of…

 

Lara Schmosiman (19:46)

Mm-hmm.

 

Liza Rapay (20:02)

doing self-reflection during COVID. And then you look for inspiration. And my inspiration came about Beauty New York when I went to Milan for a team meeting with my Italian colleagues. They were preparing Milano Beauty Week at that time, but they were so far ahead of the planning for us. So when they told me that, I came back to the US and then started thinking, you know what? We don’t have Beauty Week.

 

in New York. don’t have something, think of Fashion Week for Beauty, doesn’t exist. So it is being dubbed as the Fashion Week for Beauty. That’s what we’re doing in New York. It’s exciting, it’s a lot of work, but it’s so, honestly, it’s so exciting.

 

Lara Schmosiman (20:34)

Mm-hmm. I like that.

 

That’s so much fun.

 

Liza Rapay (20:50)

It’s going to be in the fall. will be October 16th. It’s the kickoff again. It’s the kickoff to,

 

Lara Schmosiman (20:56)

Okay,

 

so you guys put away a week in October and let’s hang out in New York.

 

Liza Rapay (21:03)

Yes, because this is okay. So what is Beauty New York? Beauty New York, if you think of it as Fashion Week for Beauty, it is that. The difference is this. When you think of fashion and versus beauty, beauty is accessible. Beauty is inclusive, which means when we started, when I started thinking of

 

Lara Schmosiman (21:21)

Mm-hmm.

 

Liza Rapay (21:27)

this, what makes it different and the whys. Unlike Fashion Week, which I love, you need to be invited to be able to go and see these brands, new, know, that ecosystem, how it works. You have to be in the, correct.

 

Lara Schmosiman (21:43)

Yeah, you need to be a guest. So it’s

 

going to happen the same in Beauty in New York. It will be by invitation only.

 

Liza Rapay (21:48)

⁓

 

So the difference is this. It’s not by invitation. It’s for the consumers. What we’re doing with this is changing the platform so that the consumers, and I will quote Steve Jobs, they are our guests, so they have to have a seat at our table. So everything is shifted. There’s going to be a consumer show. And one of the things that makes it different

 

Lara Schmosiman (22:06)

Mmm.

 

Liza Rapay (22:16)

I think is that that’s just one aspect. But when you look at Beauty New York and what we’re trying to do is really how we’re going to continue to elevate beauty. How do we help the industry, not just the brand, not just so not a retailer, but the entire industry and why New York? So New York, a little bit of a, you’re a marketer.

 

Lara Schmosiman (22:40)

Well, New

 

York is a six hours from LA, three from Miami. You can get from Latin America. You can get from Europe. It’s really smart.

 

Liza Rapay (22:49)

And not only that, New York City is the birthplace of modern beauty. Helena Rubinstein, Elizabeth Arden, then followed by Estee Lauder. And as a marketer yourself, when you look at the New York City market alone and you compare it to the overall US market, in 2024, it grew faster than overall US. It grew up 5%.

 

Lara Schmosiman (22:54)

Of course.

 

Liza Rapay (23:15)

while the entire US market grew by 3%. So that’s why we’re here. That’s why New York City is so important. It’s also such a diverse group of people.

 

Lara Schmosiman (23:25)

So

 

when we’re talking about beauty industry, many, so who do we should encourage to come to Beauty in New York? Since it’s not gonna be only professionals, so we’re gonna, our retail is gonna be there. Why brands would go to Beauty in New York?

 

Liza Rapay (23:42)

Yes.

 

Yes. So on the October 16, there will be an industry only event. It’s really simply about, you know, it will also that night will be to kick off the event and it will also have a portion of that programming will have the impact awards. We are going to be honoring either a person, an organization.

 

or a corporation or a brand that is truly making an impact in the industry or their community. So that’s part of the whole, I always go to like, how do we, we wanna be able to inspire everyone around. And I think starting with an impact awards and having that conversation is the first place to be had, right? That we need to do. So that’s on the 16 and it’s only for industry.

 

Folks, retailers, press, influencers, brands, content creators. That’s what the first night is with the awards. On the 17 and 18, which is a Friday and Saturday, I cannot publicly say the location yet, but I will tell you later on outside of this because we’re under an embargo.

 

Lara Schmosiman (24:59)

Okay.

 

Okay, and then as soon as we can share you guys, the information will put it in the chapter notes.

 

Liza Rapay (25:10)

Yes, it is in a very iconic New York location. This location is the epitome of what New York City, New York is. It is the bridge between the old New York and New New York. And after all,

 

Lara Schmosiman (25:24)

Ooh.

 

Liza Rapay (25:25)

Beauty is that, right? It represents hope, it represents beauty. And I’m so excited when we’re able to announce this because you will understand why we picked that location. I can tell you it’s not a good job.

 

Lara Schmosiman (25:37)

Wow,

 

I’m really looking forward to hear that. So, Elisa, I have one last question for you because I talk to a lot of people about CosmoProf and I love to go to CosmoProf. I found that there is a discovery always that I can discover new brands, new technologies.

 

Liza Rapay (25:42)

Yes.

 

Yes.

 

Lara Schmosiman (25:58)

networking. love that part too because I get to it’s a big industry but it’s small at the same time. I have a question for you about what do you expect in each event? We talk a little bit about New York but

 

Liza Rapay (26:03)

Small, small.

 

Sure. Yes.

 

Lara Schmosiman (26:15)

I feel like in the United States, now it divided Cosmoprof in two parts, in Vegas and Miami. What are the difference of those two events and why they were separated or there was a need to create a different one?

 

Liza Rapay (26:19)

Yes.

 

Yes.

 

Yes, yes.

 

So Las Vegas has been around for 25 years now. Two years ago, we started sort of looking at what are our opportunities. So when you look at Las Vegas, there was the growth was like, it almost felt like, can we do more? Can we get more? Who’s missing? And by launching Miami,

 

It truly was meant to capture additional markets that usually we couldn’t go because of purely geographically. It is just easier for people from wherever region of the world they’re coming from to pick and choose. So if you look at Las Vegas, Las Vegas is tried and true. It’s still very much a lot of domestic exhibitors.

 

Lara Schmosiman (26:59)

Mm-hmm.

 

Liza Rapay (27:17)

One thing I could say is that in terms of the exhibitors between two shows, there’s not a lot of overlaps.

 

Lara Schmosiman (27:24)

I know, I saw that.

 

It was very interesting.

 

Liza Rapay (27:27)

It’s not a lot of overlap. So, but when you look at like Las Vegas, huge for the Asian market, like meaning a lot of Korean companies, even Australia, Canada, huge part of Canada come to Las Vegas. Yes, Mexico, they come to Vegas as well. But when you look…

 

Lara Schmosiman (27:37)

Yeah.

 

Yeah, that’s

 

I mean, you have a

 

little bit of every country in Vegas, but…

 

Liza Rapay (27:48)

Yes,

 

we do. There’s about 50 countries coming from Vegas, but when you look at the biggest chunk, then you can kind of separate. In Miami, it is the Lata market that we’re capturing, but the US exhibitors are still coming. The retailers are coming to both because the offerings are different. The education in terms of what we’re providing, they’re also different.

 

trying to capture each of the markets that they represent. So technically, you can go to different, if you’re an attendee looking for brands, for instance, or inspiration or trends, you can go to both and not have to feel like, I could have picked one because they’re.

 

Lara Schmosiman (28:32)

And I

 

agree with you 100%. ⁓

 

Liza Rapay (28:36)

Yes.

 

Lara Schmosiman (28:38)

So I have to ask this question before we go. And as we record this, we are in June, 2025. And that’s why I need to ask this question is how do you feel like all these tariffs are gonna be affecting the beauty industry and the exhibitions or the events coming up in July and in well, June and January, we still at all things can change, but companies are being affected already

 

Liza Rapay (28:47)

Yes.

 

Yes, yes.

 

Lara Schmosiman (29:08)

as they need

 

to order more inventory.

 

Liza Rapay (29:12)

Yes, it was a little challenging in the beginning because nobody really knew. It’s still sort of, okay, is it paused now that it’s paused? The difference about our business, and you could attest to this, Lara, it’s so resilient. It is, this industry is very resilient.

 

that yes, we are, you know, there’s potentially some brands that we’re missing or they have, you know, smaller representation instead of coming, you know, in a bigger booth. But honestly,

 

A lot of the brands that sort of like ask us that they’re going to, they signed up, they’re signed up, they’re coming. And Miami is a little bit, it’s a lot actually, is smaller in terms of size, although the number of brands is pretty huge as well. But our selling in Miami is pretty positive as well. The demand for Miami is really high as well. So I don’t…

 

Lara Schmosiman (30:12)

Mm-hmm.

 

Liza Rapay (30:15)

You know, I have to see how if I had a crystal ball, it would be the most amazing thing. But what I can say is that beauty is resilient. And we’re seeing this because we still have over a thousand exhibitors at this right now. That’s quite a lot of brands. It’s more of the, we will see who would be attending.

 

Lara Schmosiman (30:21)

yeah.

 

Liza Rapay (30:37)

But I think what I want to say is that it truly is very different. And every challenge rise some opportunities. It’s really how you look at the world and how you look at the puzzle and see how you could make something so difficult come up with something even more innovative because you don’t have a choice but to do so.

 

Lara Schmosiman (31:00)

Thank you so much, Lisa, for being here with us and for all the insight and for sharing your amazing trajectory because it really is.

 

Liza Rapay (31:09)

Thank you so much and I will see you. We should definitely connect and talk a little bit about Vegas offline. But thank you to everyone.

 

Lara Schmosiman (31:16)

We will.

 

And to you guys, I will see you next week with more Coffee Number 5. Bye.

 

Liza Rapay (31:23)

Bye bye.