Amika’s Dr. Cicely Shillingford on Her Beauty Chemistry Profession

Practically 10 years up to now, Cicely Shillingford skipped her morning lab to attend a neighborhood commerce current, and her life modified eternally. As a Ph.D. candidate in Chemistry at New York School, she had been contemplating her future and considering magnificence chemistry when a colleague invited her to the New York Society of Magnificence Chemists Ingredient Commerce Current. For the first time, Shillingford felt out of her depth, immersed throughout the nuances of the sweetness present chain—information she couldn’t obtain from her Ph.D. program. Fairly than retreating, she embraced this newfound curiosity, igniting her passion for the superior world of magnificence. “I had no idea how even to ask the right questions or start the dialog, nevertheless I merely dove in,” she recalled. “That was a turning stage for me.”

Within the current day, Shillingford is the director of product enchancment on the award-winning haircare mannequin Amika, the place she leads the creation of formulations that maintain tempo with consumer traits whereas guaranteeing prime quality, safety, and efficacy. Previous her work at Amika, she has devoted herself to mentoring faculty college students and youthful professionals from underrepresented backgrounds, significantly women of coloration.

Preserve learning to search out how Shillingford navigates the intersection of science and creativity in product enchancment, helps the rising sample of “skinification” in haircare, and advocates for inclusivity and mentorship throughout the magnificence commerce.

You’ve got obtained had a formidable journey from structural biochemistry to product enchancment and sweetness. How did attending the commerce current spark your curiosity in magnificence chemistry?

“That day was momentous for me. As an educational, I’d been so centered on deep dives into explicit matters that I sometimes forgot how the rest of the world works. On the commerce current, I found myself asking naive inquiries to ingredient suppliers about being in magnificence and one of the best ways to get started. After that, I continued my self-education alongside my Ph.D. evaluation. Academic evaluation is one issue, nevertheless understanding the sweetness present chain and making use of your information just isn’t one factor you be taught in a Ph.D. program. Which have was a turning stage for me. My life has been a group of options given to me by mentors and suggestion I’ve taken. So that was a sort of moments. I would like I’d recognized earlier that I could receives a fee to make lipstick.”

In your place at Amika, you create merchandise that affect people’s regularly magnificence routines. What does magnificence indicate to you, every personally and professionally?

“I was pretty a tomboy rising up. As a toddler, I’d positioned on make-up for dance after which go play soccer on the weekends. A second that made me suppose critically about magnificence was at a cheerleading camp in South Texas. It was the preferred weekend ever, and definitely certainly one of my teammates was doing a full face of make-up sooner than the final word day of performances. I requested, ‘Why hassle?’ She said, ‘As soon as I look good, I actually really feel good, and after I actually really feel good, I perform increased.’ That caught with me. When you look good, you’re feeling good; everytime you actually really feel good, you do good. As a cheerleader, inserting on make-up helped me step proper right into a persona and perform increased. I certainly not felt like the conventional, beautiful youngster, nevertheless as I grew older and found additional about magnificence, it helped me re-establish my sense of self, confidence, and goal. That’s when it clicked that magnificence, confidence, and sense of self are interconnected.”

The intersection of science and sweetness is a charming home. How do you steadiness the technical factors of product enchancment with the sweetness commerce’s inventive and consumer-driven desires?

“At Amika, we work rigorously with our product promoting and advertising crew to assemble concepts that fill portfolio gaps, align with traits, and meet quite a few requirements. The product crew’s job—promoting and advertising and enchancment—is to co-create the claims and benefits and description the customer desires. In relation to magnificence merchandise, altering the texture and seem of pores and pores and skin or hair addresses an underlying physiological goal tied to a consumer ache stage.”

“As a scientist, I bear in mind what utilized sciences, components, or molecules assist that goal. For example, if the issue is flat hair and the customer wishes amount, I first bear in mind the physiological set off—is it thinning, ageing, stress, genetics, or additional oil on the scalp? As quickly as I understand the set off, I seek for choices by chemistry, whether or not or not it’s molecules that create texture or static on the foundation to make the hair strands repel each other and create amount.”

“Formulation is like baking a cake. It isn’t merely mixing components nevertheless reworking them into one factor new, the place science, consumer desires, and sweetness combine collectively. Resulting from that, there’s quite a lot of paintings and creativity in chemistry.”

What are some rising traits in haircare that you just simply’re smitten by?

“I’m sure some magnificence chemists will roll their eyes after I say this, nevertheless I’m genuinely excited regarding the ‘skinification’ of hair. Hair has many desirable properties, and there are quite a few goals to comprehend. The vary is immense, significantly for Black and Indigenous women of coloration, the place the categories are limitless. Watching skinification switch into styling is thrilling, focusing not merely on self-expression however as well as on hair nicely being and ageing. We now have accepted preventative skincare to stay away from wrinkles, nevertheless clients haven’t associated that ageing moreover happens on the scalp and throughout the hair. This shift in mindset might open a giant market for well-aging hair merchandise.”

“There are moreover thrilling developments in sustainability. Significantly, at Amika, now we have now an thrilling partnership with a regenerative agriculture agency known as Forestedbased in Ethiopia. Pushed by Jamie Richards, our director of ESG (Setting Social Governance), this partnership targets to mix their components into our present chain, primarily shea butter for now. By being regenerative, they make sure that the land stays healthful for future crop enchancment and staff in these communities are appropriately compensated. It’s unusual for firms of our dimension to have such funding, and I’m proud to be part of this initiative.”

Amika’s mannequin is all about inclusivity and group. How do these values align collectively together with your personal {{and professional}} mission in product enchancment?

“I actually like that Amika means buddy [in the Esperanto language]. A large part of Amika’s success, significantly being the best haircare mannequin at Sephora for almost a 12 months now, is the ‘All Hair Is Welcome’ advertising marketing campaign. Amika has always lived these values of being a buddy to all, and that message of inclusivity and group is embedded in our complete custom. We now have now 11 or 12 collections now for every hair kind and goal. It is important that after we are saying a product is for a specific hair kind, we validate that in a medical setting. We check out merchandise utterly to verify our promoting and advertising aligns with our testing so that we serve our shoppers efficiently. I simply these days started a Curly Coily committee at Amika, essential a roundtable of women with kind 3A to 4C hair, predominantly kind 4. We concentrate on product enchancment, check out merchandise, and mix insights all by way of our product enchancment life cycle and go-to-market campaigns to verify inclusivity in every part of our new enchancment. I’m excited to see how this group evolves and the best way we’re capable of convey all voices to the desk intentionally.”

All through your time at NYU, you carried out a pivotal place in rising the illustration of Black Ph.D. college students in chemistry. How have mentorship and advocacy fashioned your occupation, and the best way do you see this have an effect on having fun with out throughout the magnificence commerce?

“Advocating for Black women in STEM has always been a giant part of my academic life. As soon as I started grad faculty and realized I was the one Black particular person throughout the chemistry division—and could possibly be until I graduated—I knew that wasn’t okay. I labored onerous to recruit 4 new Black faculty college students into this method, which involved touring, mentoring faculty college students one-on-one, reviewing features, and serving to with scholarship features. I drafted petitions in June 2020 to eliminate the GRE, which we effectively did. It’s a check out that historically reveals underrepresented minorities do worse on it. Inclusivity is one factor I’ve always felt known as to advocate for. I see myself as a product of serendipitous various, luck, good mentorship, supportive mom and father, and a passion for science.”

“I’m fortunate to proceed this work at Amika, the place now we have now an lively DEI committee. This 12 months, I’ve been lucky to sit down on the donations committee to help the mannequin donate 1% of our earnings to different organizations all through key cultural moments. Some organizations now we have supported embrace Black Girls for Wellness, which advocates for nicely being equity for Black women, and Sorts for Youngsters, which helps trans adoptive mom and father be taught to deal with the hair of Black and brown children. Furthermore, our ‘Rooted in Progress’ mentorship program provides scholarships predominantly to Black female founders of hair companies to reinforce equity throughout the hair commerce.”

What suggestion would you give to youthful women, significantly women of coloration, who’re taken with pursuing a occupation in STEM all through the magnificence commerce?

“For individuals who’re taken with magnificence and academia, a Ph.D. is an outstanding path. There are packages for magnificence science within the US and globally, with additional popping up. The right-known ones are on the School of Toledo and the School of Cincinnati. Many don’t discover that you may receives a fee to pursue a Ph.D. throughout the U.S. with a stipend, making it additional accessible for first-generation or immigrant faculty college students for whom better coaching options will not be as accessible.”

“One factor influential for me in grad faculty was turning into a member of the Chemist Membership, a 160-year-old group in New York that connects faculty college students with chemical commerce careers. Whereas it’s a lot much less beauty-focused, I found one of the best ways to hitch with professionals and be an excellent chief. I even launched a conference assortment by that group and packed a room with 200 professionals three years in a row, along with the CEO of Dow Chemical and senior experience people from L’Oréal. There are numerous packages and events for publicity, too. There are numerous packages on Eventbrite—you merely should be resourceful adequate to go looking out them. The New York Society of Magnificence Chemists and the Nationwide Society for Magnificence Chemists are organizations every pupil taken with magnificence chemistry must be part of. Chances are you’ll make good connections, and they also have good conferences with pupil reductions.”

“Be gritty and attain out to people ready to talk. I get many LinkedIn messages and try and reply to individuals who resonate with me. I’m always blissful for folk to contact me for steering because of transitioning into this commerce as a scientist could also be strong. Be curious, ask questions, and be taught as rather a lot as you could. Don’t hesitate to reach out—you certainly not know whose door might open within the occasion you knock.”