Pauline Bony (BSB'99) makes everyone happy!
Portrait of the Founder and CEO of Saeve, a successful cosmetics company
“For me, BSB represents emancipation. I took advantage of brilliant foundations in Dijon to look forward to my professional future with confidence. During my 4 years, I became aware of the possibility of combining pleasure and success.”
pauline is now Managing Director of Saeve, a company she created almost 5 years ago. Saeve is the brand that puts the superpowers of an extraordinary tree, birch, in a bottle! Its ranges of beauty and well-being products distributed on its site saeve.com, in pharmacies, at Galeries Lafayette or at Nocibé, were born from an idea that goes back a long way. ” When I was little, I walked with my grandmother through the volcanic lands of Auvergne and its birches force-fed with silicon.”
But let's start from the beginning. “I came to school with two great passions: cosmetics and botany. Joëlle Brouard, a professor at the School, introduced me to the charm of marketing, which combines creativity and analysis.”
Did we say creativity? Pauline's first transgression applies to the BSB curriculum. She is among the first to take a gap year to enrich her learning from the reality of the field. She made her first steps at Yves Saint-Laurent Beauté. And then everything became obvious: “I was going to devote my professional life to cosmetics marketing! ” Boots Healthcare, for her end-of-study internship, but especially Caudalie, where Pauline stayed for 11 years, strengthening her appetite and her disposition.
“Caudalie has been an extraordinary adventure. There were 5 of us when I arrived. And 400 when I left my position as Communication and Marketing Director.” It was obviously during these Caudalie years that Pauline added the entrepreneurial string to her bow. However, she still needed 5 years to take the plunge, and a position as International Marketing Director at L'Oréal.
Believe in your destiny... and your network!
She also owes this exemplary career to her network science. ” In my opinion, an active and constantly maintained network is an invaluable resource., valuable for recruiting, identifying a future partner or simply benefiting from support or sharing experience.” Alumni, of course, but also the network of digital entrepreneurs and those whose activity is focused on cosmetics.
Pauline and her husband, also BSB'99, have maintained close ties with a good part of their class. ” 25 years later, the flame is still not extinguished and the spirit of PB (at the time the BSB nightclub) remains with us! ” The botany enthusiast also maintained friendly relationships with some teachers, whose courses, and undoubtedly even more so the advice, were important to her.
What is certain is that Pauline is now ready to invest in the school. ” I am available to simply testify to today's BSB students that anything is possible, including accessing leadership positions. within a group like L'Oréal or finding yourself at the head of a successful SME. I would like to carry this idea that The most important thing is to believe in your destiny! ” Why not support this conviction by sharing around digital technology, entrepreneurship, marketing and... cosmetics.
