The Team

Cynthia Decant is a marketing expert with an extensive marketing experience on international brands (Samsung, Mercedes, Nestlé, KPMG,  René Furterer). 

She has been working in the Beauty industry since 2015 and spent 6 years at Pierre Fabre Laboratory (Avène, Ducray, A-derma, René Furterer, Galénic) where she managed skincare and haircare brands. She also developed an expertise in Beauty Tech (AI-Artificial Intelligence, AR-Augmented Reality) and is passionate about the Indie Brands strategies. Today, she is a consultant in marketing and beauty working for brands such as René Furterer, Ducray, Juliette/Pimpant. She also leads courses and conferences on marketing strategy, beauty and innovation.

Cynthia has been a lecturer at ESSEC since 2020 within the Beauty Chair and is today the new Executive Director of the Beauty Chair, taking over from Véronique Drecq.

He teaches Marketing Management and Marketing Research courses in the Executive, MBA and PhD programmes. His academic research focuses on brand management and marketing communication efficacy. His work has been published in collective volumes and in leading academic journals such as Journal of Marketing, Journal of Marketing Research and Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science. In addition to his academic work, Marc has done consulting for companies from various sectors. He is Affiliate Researcher at the SAMS Institute (Sales & Marketing Strategy Institute). Marc has given several marketing research seminars in Europe, Asia, and Middle East.

Marc teaches advertising and integrated marketing communication strategies to the students of the Chair. He also coaches the students on various projects.

Under the responsibility of the Chair Professor and the Adjunct Professor, she assists the Chair in the administrative and operational organization of the educational and event activities (student recruitment, seminar, conferences, learning expedition, graduation...). 

Céline connects students, professors, ESSEC staff and different partners of the Chair.

The ESSEC Beauty Chair was founded by Véronique Drecq, Adjunct Professor, ESSEC Marketing Department. After graduating from EDHEC in 1981 and working in Communications at Havas for 10 years, Véronique became a marketing professor at EDHEC, in charge of the Marketing Majors. She created a luxury course track at EDHEC BS in 1996. In 2008 she started working at ESSEC with a specialization in luxury goods management and consumer trends. She was part of the LVMH Chair team for 5 years as program manager. 

She teaches Cosmetic Product Management and Luxury Brand Development within all ESSEC education programs.

Pascal Pollet has a 35 years experience in cosmetics. He spent 25 years at Clarins in various finance and operational positions. He was in particular General Manager of Clarins in Australia, in Canada and Vice President International. He was then CEO of Veld’s, a small innovative skin care company, and more recently CEO of Baobab Collection, a leader in decorative scented candles. He is today Senior Advisor and Consultant for private equity funds and SMBs operating in the cosmetics and luxury industries. 

Pascal joined the Chair team to teach mainly Pricing and Retail Strategy. He is also coaching student teams in various projects.

Passionate about brands and sustainability, Anne-Sophie is an ESSEC and Sciences-Po Paris graduate with over 20-year experience in the beauty industry. With a 17-year career path mainly within the LVMH group she has become a seasoned international marketeer for prestige and retailer’s brands. At Dior and Guerlain, she also took on intrapreneurial responsibilities in Innovation and Sustainability, before becoming Global Marketing Director for Sephora’s own brand. Today, as a Consultant she helps her clients build a desirable future for their brands: focusing on their singularity to serve consumers needs in a sustainable way. 

Anne-Sophie joined the Chair team where she teaches courses on Brand strategy and New beauty insights, while coaching students’ field projects for the Chair corporate partners.