Hello, welcome to Women in Retail Talks, the podcast where executive women in the retail space share their stories of professional growth, leadership development, personal journeys, and more. I'm Melissa Campanelli, the co-founder of the Women in Retail Leadership Circle, which is a membership-based community of executive women at leading retailers and brands. In today's episode, I'm excited to be chatting with Kecia Steelman, the president and CEO of Ulta Beauty live from the Outstanding Mother Awards luncheon in New York City. Today, we're going to be speaking about Kecia's leadership style as well as being a working mom. Welcome, Kecia.
Thank you, Melissa, for having me.
I'm so excited to be here with you today, and I'd love to dive in a little bit. So, before we get started, tell me a little bit about your background and your family.
Yes, Melissa. Well, I'm currently the president and CEO of Ulta Beauty and I've been in retail for 30 plus years. I can't believe how fast time has gone by. I'm a proud mom of five kids and I have three little grandbabies that are just the joy of my life. You can imagine how crazy my life is between not only having a very big demanding job, but also trying to spend as much time with my family and loved ones as much as I can. I'm also proudly married to my husband, Gray, who is, I'd call, the backbone of our entire family and tries to keep everything organized and us all aligned and keeping things moving forward.
That's so great. So many women in retail, senior level women in retail I speak to are always talking about how great their husbands are and how they help keep the family together.
Yeah, absolutely. I could not do what I do without him and his support of just keeping our lives on track and having me be able to just focus on doing my job, which is fantastic.
That's great. So, today, since we're here for the Mother's Day awards, I'd love and you're getting actually one of the Outstanding Mother Awards. Is there a lesson from your mom or internal figure in your life that shaped the way you lead today?
Yeah, absolutely. You know, my mom is the one person I knew I could always count on. And in good times and in bad, I think that's one thing that I feel as a leader is really important, especially when you have a big responsibility in a rather large team, is that they know that they can count on you. If they make a mistake, you're still going to be there. Are you going to help coach, course correct, give them guidance, and when they have great things that are happening, you're also there to support and cheer them along the way. I'd say in some ways I think of my role as the big mother bear at the helm here because, you know, it's about people. We're a people business. While we're running retail, it's really the people behind the business that are helping make the numbers happen.
That's so fantastic. It is true. You're the mama bear of the team. So, what message would you share with working mothers who might be listening to this podcast who are striving to lead at home and in their careers? It's so challenging.
Oh, absolutely. You know, I would just say you can't do everything all at the same time. And you know, I often say you got to give yourself grace and prioritize your personal life on a calendar just as much as you do your work life. And things that are really important in your personal life, make sure that you make those a priority. Otherwise, you end up not being very balanced at all. You know, trying to be totally imbalanced. I would say you're setting yourself up for not being very successful because, you know, when you're a career working woman, it's totally imbalanced all the time. But when you got that free time, spend time with your family. And when the work is demanding, make sure that your family understands and they're supportive of that too at the same time. So, I would say give yourself some grace. Hold your personal calendar just as important to not miss those events with your kids or with your loved ones as you would a meeting with a boss or an important meeting at work. You got to make sure you're prioritizing both.
Perfect. Can you talk about maybe an example or offer an example of how you personally balance showing up fully for both your family and your team? Maybe you can give me an example of something that you've done around that personally.
Yeah, I talked a little bit about the calendar is a big thing. I actually have a personal calendar that my husband has a copy of, my family has a copy of the personal calendar and they also see like especially when I'm traveling a lot, they always know where I am and where I'm going to be. So, I think that transparency is really important. And then you know just making sure that there's a level set of expectation. If the family knows that I can't be at an event, they know exactly why. And if there's something that I need to be prioritizing my family over versus work, I let my work team know here's why I'm not doing that. I think it's important I set the example for everybody. So, you've got to make sure that you know, we talk a lot about work life balance, but if I don't live by those same values, I'm not setting a good example for my team. So, I try really hard to make sure that there's times where I prioritize my family over work and vice versa.
