Nécessaire has tapped Chitra Balireddi as its new chief executive officer.
The role was formerly held by cofounder Randi Christiansen, who will continue to focus on the brand, its product and impact. Christiansen launched the brand in 2018 in Los Angeles with Nick Axelrod-Welk, introducing body care products made with “clean” ingredients and eco-conscious practices; the company is B Corp Certified, Climate Neutral Certified and Plastic Neutral Certified.
Balireddi, who is based in New York, was previously the chief commercial officer at Glossier, where she led the company’s omnichannel and international expansion. She was also CEO at Terez, an activewear and apparel company, and she spent five years at Chanel, first as head of customer insights across categories including beauty and fashion, followed by head of retail operations in the U.S. Prior to Chanel, she worked in marketing and sales at The Boston Consulting Group, as well as in consulting at Deloitte and Capgemini.
Related Articles
“I’m an engineer who found her way towards her passion,” Balireddi said. A Harvard Business School graduate, she also earned a master’s in computer science from the University of Illinois, after completing a bachelor’s degree in engineering at Birla Institute of Technology and Science in Pilani, India. “I’ve personally been a beauty devotee from when I was a kid,” she added.
You May Also Like
“It was really the products that have drawn me in,” Balireddi said of Nécessaire. “Randi, her formulations are excellent, and her scents are sophisticated, they have depth, and I just loved how they made me feel. So, to have the chance to join this team was felt very compelling.”
Balireddi plans to “continue to nourish the brand, the creative, the marketing, the products,” she went on, when asked of future plans. “I want us to be ambitious. I want us to be innovative, but I want us to be very much anchored in the ethos of what has been the foundation of this brand. And I would say from a category standpoint, there’s still a lot of opportunity for us to go deeper into body.”
Christiansen, in an exclusive statement, said: “At Nécessaire we set out to create a sustainable brand and business. Chitra joining us as CEO is an important milestone for Nécessaire. Chitra holds significant experience in scaling brands strategically and has a deep understanding of the beauty consumer and the omni retail environment in which we operate. With Chitra at the helm, I am confident Nécessaire will continue to pioneer the body care movement and lead environmental impact.”