In this episode, Isabella Rossellini explores three stories around the world that reveal the role beauty plays in business.

Did you know flowers grown for perfume must be picked at a certain time of day when they are at their most fragrant? In our first story, we travel to Grasse in Southern France, where Antoine Leclef, a farmer and ambassador for the earth, shows us around the organic farm, Domaine de la Rose, which grows flowers for Lancôme’s products, including the iconic centifolia rose. We also hear from Karine Lebret, L'Oréal Groupe’s Global Vice-President of Scent Science & Fragrance Design, who shares how these flowers get from field to bottle.

Next, we fly to India, where we hear from Manoj Kumar, CEO of the Naandi Foundation, an organization that seeks to eradicate poverty, and help women find work through cosmetology. We also speak to one of the program’s participants, Nagma, about how beauty work helped her become financially empowered and independent.

Finally, we hear from one of America’s wealthiest self-made women, Gail Federici, about her Color Wow founding story, how she accelerated her business’s growth through the Covid pandemic and how her company’s successful acquisition.

Links below:

• Le Domaine de la Rose https://www.lancome.fr/domaine-de-la-rose.html
• Naandi Foundation https://naandi.org/
• Naandi’s Beauty for a Better Life program https://naandi.org/2025/03/17/the-beauty-of-opportunity-naandi-and-loreal-bring-cosmetology-to-the-job-factory/
• Gail Federici Forbes profile https://www.forbes.com/profile/gail-federici/

Learn more about our upcoming episodes here: 

https://www.nytimes.com/paidpost/loreal-groupe/this-is-not-a-beauty-podcast-season-2.html