Welcome to the next instalment of the #beautyinsider Q&As, where you can find out who is behind some of your favourite beauty brands, what they are working on and how they got there. This month’s guest is Nichola Galletly, Trade Marketing Manager at [ comfort zone ], a luxury Italian brand dedicated to bringing you professional spa and wellness products. The beauty industry may seem like a huge maze of multinational brands, but in reality it’s a small world and you end up bumping into familiar names and faces, or at the very least having professional acquaintances in common with a beauty background. Nichola joined the fragrance distributor I worked for shortly after I left, and as I stayed in touch with my old colleagues for post-work drinks it was only a matter of time before Nichola and I met. Here Nichola shares details of the brand’s next big launch and her pride in working for a company with strong eco credentials.

1. Hi Nichola, thank you for being my Insider Q&A guest this month. Let’s get started with your role at [ comfort zone ] – what are you responsible for?

I am the Trade Marketing Manager for [ comfort zone ] and /skin regimen/ in the UK. I am responsible for the marketing calendar and tailoring the marketing campaigns to specific retailer, spa and hotel needs, ensuring we cover all touch points. This includes new product launches, special promotions, spa treatments and gift sets. I also oversee PR campaigns, social media activity and exclusive events.

2. What is the best and the worst thing about your job?

I love the variation in my job. As I do a bit of everything it feels like I contribute to a lot of the brand’s different activities, for example I can be involved in a new product launch from start to finish. We are a small team, so you can really get stuck in. Our beautiful head office is in Parma and we have our own working garden, where we pick ingredients from the garden and use them in our R&D lab on site. I love going over to our head office to be immersed in the brand and see all the new, exciting things we are doing.

The worse part of my job is probably filling out new line forms, where I have to input all the product’s details each time we launch a new line. And this has to be done for every retailer. After being responsible for this task for years, it feels like I’ll never be able to get away from them!

3. What do you love most about [ comfort zone ]?

I love the feel and the results from our products, but also love our sustainability approach to everything we do. We are CO2 neutral and next year are aiming to be CO2 negative. We are also a B corporation, a new type of company that meets high standards of overall social and environmental performance, transparency and accountability. We do business for good, which is reflected in our products, our projects and our team members. Everyone is so passionate in what they do, it’s a great place to work and learn.

4. What is the biggest project you are working on at the moment?

Later this year we have the re-launch of our Sacred Nature line. This is our ECO certified range, that will be completely redesigned using new technology and ingredients. This will involve new retail and professional products and a new facial treatment. The glass being used for the new packaging will be food grade quality and can be recycled or reused. This means that if you’re going to your local Wholefoods for example, or any other supermarket where you can bring your own container, you will be able to use one of our cleaned jars as a refillable food container. I love that we can take sustainability to the next level.

5. What does a typical day look like for you?

I’m normally looking at market reports and trends to see how we can work with them to support our spas and salons. I monitor sales and promotional results to make sure we have put together the right packages and provided the right information to our teams. I like to go out in the field with my Business Development Managers regularly, visiting our spas and salons to understand what kind of support they need from my team and I – this is a part of my job I really enjoy.

6. Insider tips! What are the key ingredients to look out for this year in beauty?

Conscious and clean beauty is a really big trend, with companies and consumers being more sustainable in what they buy and how they re-use and recycle packaging. This includes impactful beauty, looking at zero-waste, reducing environmental harm with beauty products.

7. And finally – what do you get up to when you’re not at work?

I try and do a bit of exercise. At our office we have some free fitness classes, so I try and pop along to one of these. I really need to take more advantage of this. I have a big interest in photography, I try and go to new places so I can take pictures and edit them. Got to love Instagram!

If you have any burning questions you’d like to ask Nichola why not leave a comment below? Or you can get in touch with her directly on Instagram.