Portraits in Leadership
Wende Zomnir
Wende Zomnir is the founding partner and executive creative director of Urban Decay. Her creative vision and innovative ideas have helped propel the brand to success, setting an example for the entire beauty industry. Zomnir is also at the helm of Hard Candy Cosmetics. She has been its executive creative director since 2003. Zomnir is responsible for product development, packaging, and marketing for both brands.
Urban Decay is celebrating its 10th birthday this year. Today, the brand’s cosmetic products can be found in rock stars’ makeup bags and top makeup artists’ kits alike. The brand has even been an answer to a question on TV’s Jeopardy.
Looking back to when the company first began, Zomnir tells us how exciting it was. “I remember sitting down with Sandy Lerner and David Soward and bringing Urban Decay to life. I certainly never thought our little in-your-face indie brand would thrive for 10 years. Many industry insiders even wrote us off at the beginning,” she says. Experts predicted the niche brand wouldn’t survive past the “grunge” fashion trend, she says.
From the start, Urban Decay’s unique shades of lipstick and nail polish, with names such as Oil Slick and Acid Rain, caused quite a stir. It was one of the first companies to recognize the existence of a different type of prestige consumer. Zomnir knew that it would take a different type of product and package to appeal to this type of customer.
“In 1996, the prestige beauty world was a sea of pink, red, and beige, packaged predictably in gold, pink, or black boxes,” she says. “When we started, our mission was to kick down the door of the cosmetics department and give beauty customers high-quality options in new colors. We like to think we upped the creativity factor so other companies had to follow suit.”
The brand’s influence is still evident today. “We always played off the rock star glam and street style that was making such an impact on fashion, and from then on, it changed the way every company created its seasonal stories,” Zomnir says.
Before finding her true passion, Zomnir attended the University of North Texas and worked in marketing at the Leo Burnett agency. There, she worked on the Reebok and Nintendo accounts. She knew she was a makeup addict since the age of eight. “I loved playing with my mom’s makeup. I still remember the scent of her lipsticks and how crazy I was over her 1970s blue eye shadow,” she says. Zomnir even worked at the Elizabeth Arden counter during college, just to get the free samples.
Even after all these years, Zomnir consistently comes up with new ideas for packaging. “I meet with packaging suppliers from all over the world to learn about new technologies and what can be accomplished now in manufacturing. It is so important to understand what new materials are available and how they can be combined,” she says.
Zomnir credits her staff for helping her make Urban Decay what it is today. She takes pride in the
sisterlike bond she shares with her employees. Her leadership style can even be described as unique—she has a strict “dogs allowed” policy in the office. “I also have an unusually high tolerance for loud laughter and swearing,” she jokes.
Being able to anticipate what a consumer will want, long before anyone else, is a special skill Zomnir has always possessed. However, her courage to follow her instincts has led her to success and will no doubt continue to do so in the future.