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Lena Korres |
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Having completed my post-graduate studies in Business [MBA], after a degree in Chemical Engineering, I moved on to work at Korres, the Greek skincare brand, born out of Athens’ first ever homeopathic pharmacy. I was actually their first employee and was drawn by the early vision of George Korres, who is now my husband. As a pharmacist - and owner of the Korres pharmacy - he mixed natural ingredients to create herbal preparations, remedies and eventually cosmetic products. His passion and respect for natural ingredients as well as his deep knowledge of their properties was inspiring and fascinating. I wanted to be part of it literally from day one. Our core values have remained the same since our pharmacy days. Our aim is to deliver natural products that offer clear benefits to the skin. With their texture, their smell, even their packaging, we aim to put a smile on the face of people who use them! I work closely with our team of expert chemists and chemical engineers to create skin and environmentally friendly products with clinically tested effectiveness that are affordable for every day use. For our natural formulations we select high quality Greek herbs such as mastiha and saffron, pharmacy ingredients revered for their therapeutic properties and food ingredients such as yoghurt and honey in their pure form. Following the latest developments in the field of cosmetology we always enrich our formulas with the most efficient and well-documented natural actives. One of my most rewarding career ‘highs’ was working on a Korres team project to develop our yoghurt skincare line which contains edible yoghurt in its original form. The trouble lies in the fact that yoghurt contains thousands of live cultures and therefore does not take well to mixing in the lab. It was a real challenge for our R&D team to create a stable cosmetic formula preserving all the benefits of live yoghurt. The whole idea was inspired by our Greek tradition of applying yoghurt onto sunburned skin to cool and soothe it. Some of my earliest memories are of my mother slathering yoghurt onto my skin at the beach! Hence, the first product containing yoghurt, and one of my absolute favourites, was our Yoghurt Cooling Gel! The company has grown extensively since 1996 – Korres is now present in 30 markets around the world, there are 32 stand-alone stores and over 500 natural and certified organic products in the range. My role now encompasses working closely with the group’s 70-strong R&D team, being involved in the overall product development process, from the concept stage to formulation evaluation, to sample-testing co-ordination, to designing and copy-writing accompanying promotional and educational material. I also work as a brand spokesperson along with George. As you can imagine, my job includes a lot of travelling as I represent the company at various international exhibitions, consumer and trade fairs as well as media events and in-store appearances worldwide. So, in addition to being a mum, life is pretty hectic! Quick shopping fixes in between meetings when I’m abroad are one of my quilt-free indulgences, I passionately love discovering new beauty and fashion brands. My favourite city is New York so I love it when I have to go there, the energy is incredible and two of my favourite restaurants in the world are there, Cipriani’s and Balthazars. However, there is no place like home – curling up with a good book, catching up with friends and being with my children are the times when I am happiest. |
