Earlier this year, Sasha Radic was promoted to managing director at Jefferies where she now leads the Beauty and Wellness practice, making her one of the youngest women to enter this role in investment banking. A graduate of Brandeis University who started her career in investment banking as an analyst at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Radic has played a role in headline grabbing IPOs and M&A deals—from Olaplex and Ouai to Honest and Hydrafacial, to name just a few.

We had the chance to talk to Radic about the beauty business, what’s shaping the future of the category, her all-female team, and what indie brands and founders should know about the deals that are made.

HAPPI: Tell us about your current role at Jefferies.

RADIC: I am a managing director at Jefferies, spearheading our beauty and wellness practice. I offer my clients a deep level of industry expertise, coupled with relentless execution to maximize the next stages of their business’ growth—whether that’s finding them a strategic partner, going public or raising capital. 

HAPPI: You have been involved in some high-profile IPOs in beauty and personal care–like The Honest Co. and Olapex, for example. What happens during this process that brand founders/indie brands should know…but don’t know.

RADIC: Deciding to go public is an incredibly exciting step in a company’s evolution. It’s an amazing opportunity to tell your company’s story and to leverage the public markets to fund future growth. My advice for companies that are considering this process is to start preparing early! There is a lot that goes into operating as a public company, and mapping out the path to getting ready begins months ahead of the IPO process. 

HAPPI: Same for M&A—what deals have you been involved in?

RADIC: I’m honored to have worked with incredible brands, amazing founders and management teams. I advised on the sale of Nutrafol to Unilever, Charlotte Tilbury to Puig, Ouai to P&G, Chantecaille to Beiersdorf and Hydrafacial to Vesper Acquisition Corp., among others. Selling your company is about bringing someone in that shares your vision, can articulate your value proposition and that you trust to be relentlessly in your corner.

HAPPI: What is your strategy when it comes to the beauty and wellness space in your role at Jefferies?

RADIC: In my practice, I tend to work with brands after they’ve achieved a certain size and growth profile. However, I like to build relationships early and act as a sounding board for founders and management teams through all stages of their growth. It’s an honor to play a role in the development of these incredible businesses, and help them prepare themselves to go to market in a more seamless way.   

HAPPI: What do you look for in a brand?

RADIC: I look for brands that have a clear DNA that is infused across every external touchpoint, whose vision is crystalized and clearly differentiated in the market. There has to be great product at the center, but also an understanding of the consumer’s needs that drives innovation and builds loyalty. These brands create and foster communities around themselves, which helps to amplify their message, and have strong productivity in their points of distribution. Finally, great brands are built by great people, so you have to understand the strengths of the team that is driving the brand forward. Sustainable growth, both top-line and profitability, usually falls out of that equation.  

HAPPI: What would be a red flag?

RADIC: There’s no specific red flags that I look out for in brands, as I’m more focused on whether they have a sustainable roadmap they can act on and replicate.

HAPPI: Tell us about your team [at Jefferies], which we understand is all women. How does that set your team apart?

RADIC: I think it sets us apart on many fronts. Our clients can see that our practice is about more than just transactional work – but rather a mission to support and enable an industry that we love, that we are truly passionate about. We can relate to the underlying consumers of Beauty & Wellness products, because ultimately, we are part of that target market. Our clients appreciate that we provide that intersectional insight. Showcasing more diversity in the industry only serves to provide our clients with a better perspective to further drive value.  

HAPPI: What do you see as some of the biggest trends in the beauty and wellness space, from your perspective, and what will shape the category in the final quarter of 2023 and into 2024? 

RADIC: Beauty and wellness is an incredibly resilient category which has helped to maintain growth even in more turbulent times for other consumer categories. 2023 has been an exceptional year for color cosmetics, and we expect that to continue into 2024. In skincare, I think we can expect continued focus on efficacy, with consumers looking for ingredients, procedures and tools that deliver results. Another really interesting wellness category that is coming into the spotlight is women’s health, whether that’s prenatal, menopause or mental health—it’s a category that is ripe for disruption.

HAPPI: Now, for fun—what’s your must-have beauty product?

RADIC: Mascara! I never leave the house without it. 

HAPPI: What is the first beauty product you remember buying?

RADIC: The first that I bought for myself was probably the Lancôme juicy tubes. I saved up for months and bought them in multiple colors. It was an unbelievable indulgence at the time—that I definitely could not afford!—but gave me my first taste of the incredible power of beauty to make life just a little bit sweeter!