Estée Lauder has a new director of responsible sourcing

Boma Brown-West is joining Estée Lauder Companies as director of responsible sourcing. She brings two decades of experience in transforming supply chains from both an advocacy and a business angle, most recently at “clean beauty” retailer Credo Beauty.

Her track record of tackling toxic ingredients in consumer products includes leading the nonprofit EDF’s safer chemistry partnerships with Walmart and Sephora.

Brown-West will report to Vice President of Responsible Sourcing Mindi DeLeary. “We are excited to welcome Boma and are confident that her deep leadership experience across sectors will further strengthen the impact of our responsible sourcing programs and partnerships,” DeLeary said.

“I’m excited to join such a great team committed to #socialimpact, #sustainability, and driving positive impact across global supply chains,” Brown-West posted on LinkedIn on Aug. 14.

“Boma is known for her ability to create an effective bridge between business and sustainability by leveraging market forces to drive environmental change,” said Stacy Glass, co-founder and executive director of ChemForward, a safer chemistry nonprofit for which Brown-West has consulted.

Joining Credo two years ago as vice president of sustainability and impact, Brown-West led the Credo Clean Standard, which restricts more than 2,700 chemicals from products by more than 100 brands the retailer sells. She also engaged in the Pact Collective, which Credo co-founded to reduce packaging waste in cosmetics.

After one year at Credo, Brown-West was laid off, a first for her. “And after the initial shock I made some lemonade,” she wrote two months ago on LinkedIn. “Rather than diving straight back into high-performance mode, I gave myself permission to discover new places and things, have fun and rest (real, deep rest).” She also consulted.

Her career arc

The Yale-trained engineer holds a master’s in technology and policy from MIT. She spent a decade at Whirpool Corporation in Benton Harbor, Michigan, working her way up to lead sustainability engineer.

From there, she transitioned to EDF in Washington, D.C., first engaging in consumer health efforts and eventually directing EDF+Business, a division that collaborates with corporations on sustainability. In 2021, Trellis (then GreenBiz) named Brown-West one of 25 “badass women shaping climate action.”

As part of her work with Walmart, Brown-West was involved in its Project Gigaton, recycling playbook and sustainable textiles efforts.

As she steered from sustainable products into sustainable systems and environmental policy, she “realized over the years that not a lot of people were really talking about something that is such a big part of sustainability and is also very personal to everyone — our exposure to toxic chemical pollution and its negative impacts on our health,” Brown-West said on the Beauty + Justice podcast in 2022.

Where emissions and sourcing meet at Estée Lauder

Estée Lauder employs 62,000 people across its namesake brand and more than 20 others, including Clinique, Aveda, Bobbi Brown Cosmetics, Bumble and Bumble and various fragrance lines. It counted $15.6 billion in revenues in the fiscal year that ended in June 2024.

A transparent supply chain serves the corporation’s objective to slash emissions, 47 percent of which originate from purchased goods and services, according to the company’s 2024 Climate Transition Plan. The Estée Lauder Companies’ emissions reduction targets for 2030, validated by the Science-based Targets Initiative, include halving Scopes 1 and 2 emissions, and cutting Scope 3 by 60 percent per unit of revenue. The company provides resources, although not direct financial support, to help suppliers reduce their footprints.

One year ago, the company joined 15 other beauty brands as a co-founder of the Traceability Alliance for Sustainable Cosmetics. The Estée Lauder Companies recently achieved the highest mark on a scorecard by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil.

“Boma has played a critical role in driving toxic chemicals out of the beauty sector,” said Mike Schade, senior director of programs and strategy at the nonprofit Toxic-Free Future. “Estée Lauder will benefit greatly from her skills and experience as it works to strengthen the sustainability of its supply chain.”

Last year, Estée Lauder created a glossary for consumers of more than 100 ingredients across 14 brands. Its green chemistry team is refining data collection to highlight the climate and environmental impacts of ingredients. The company uses a Green Score tool to understand how chemical components in its ingredients affect the environment and the health of people and ecosystems. Its sourcing considers material type, geographic origin and sustainability certifications. Suppliers also provide data related to the emissions across Scopes 1 and 2 of ingredients.

Lauder has also recently expanded its understanding of the climate impacts of its packaging, introducing a fragrance in a refillable bottle and slashing 35 percent of the plastic packaging in its Origins brand.