Truth in Beauty 2026 E-Summit REPLAY
Thanks everyone who attended the Truth in Beauty E-Summit! As promised, here’s the replay! Click this link or the image below to access the YouTube replay video. Below you will also find the PDF slides of the presentations - more will populate in that Drive folder as they come! I hope you enjoyed the summit. Massive thank you to everyone who supported the event in one way or another! As you may imagine, this event was a labor of love from many people. Extra big thank you to our summit speakers, who are all people I have so much respect for on their respective topics. Thank you for donating your time and expertise to be a part of the day! And thank you so much to our summit partners, CIS, White Rabbit Social, and P&G Beauty/Pantene - thanks for helping us keep these events freely accessible to anyone!
Stay tuned, everyone who’s registered will receive an eBook version of this summit as soon as it’s ready - our current SciComm Cohort is hard at work creating that for you!
A call to action: the sustainability of this event series depends on reach, and that’s where you can help! If you’d like to see us continue hosting events like this, we would greatly appreciate it if you shared the replay with your network! Thanks everyone who’s already done this!!
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This e-summit is part of our greater free e-conference initiative to tackle the accessibility and quality issues with industry conferences. These include high financial costs to attend; registration fees for quality conferences often range from $1,000-2,000 USD (or more), and/or are often hosted in expensive city centers. Speakers are often poorly curated; “pay-to-play” models are common, often unbeknownst to attendees, and investment into speaker vetting is rare. This creates a host of issues for what information is shared, and to whom, and in terms of who gets a platform and who doesn’t. Conferences are critical spaces for knowledge exchange. As it stands, high quality information tends to be concentrated in the hands of few, while inaccurate and low-quality information circulates more broadly. We think this is a huge issue that has entrenched inequities in the cosmetics industry. This is what our e-conference series aims to address.
Summit Agenda
Chronicles of a Dermatologist Addressing Misinformation on Social Media. Andrea Suarez MD PhD FAAD (@drdrayzday)
A History of Cosmetics Safety; Where We Started & Where We’re At. Jonathan Reynolds
A Sunscreen Misinformation 101. Michelle Wong PhD (@labmuffinbeautyscience)
“Toxins in Beauty!?”, Bad Science and a Science VS Headlines with a Toxicologist. Joe Zagorski PhD (@toxdocjoe)
A Lay of the Land for Beauty Performance Claims; What they all mean. Rania Ibrahim PhD
PFAS, Microplastics & Sunscreen; Sorting Through Environmental Impact Discussions. Oliver Jones PhD (@dr.oli.jones)
Inside-Of-House Analysis of Beauty’s Misinformation Problem. Lisa Gandalfi PhD
Viral Beauty Myths: Drugstore Hair Care Edition. Jeni Thomas PhD, P&G Beauty sponsored session - THANK YOU for supporting this e-summit with the presentation!
What you should know about how misinformation is impacting the beauty sector. Akemi Ooka PhD and Meredith Petillo (Independent Beauty Association)
A 101 on Source Vetting; A How-To & Why it Matters. Jen Novakovich (@theecowell)
Thank you to our summit speakers for generously donating their expertise and time for this event!!
About our Summit Speakers
Dr. Rania Ibrahim Ph.D. is the founder and President of Skin Science Analytics LLC, a CRO on a mission to help brands and entrepreneurs obtain the scientific backing they need to grow their businesses. With a Ph.D. from the prestigious University of Cincinnati's Pharmaceutical and Cosmetic Science Program, she is the author of papers on skin permeation and drug delivery through the skin. Previously, Dr Ibrahim spent the last 10 years as Clinical Director of a leading CRO, and through her work with brands large and small established herself as a trusted expert, partner, and thought leader.
Dr Andrea Suarez M.D. Ph.D. is a Board Certified dermatologist based in Houston, Texas. Dr Suarez holds an MD and PhD from University of Colorado Anchutz Medical Campus. She completed her Dermatology training at New York Presbyterian Hospital Weill Cornell Medical College, as well as a post-doctoral research fellowship in the Houvras lab. Dr Suarez has built a large social media following on Youtube, Instagram, Tiktok, and Facebook, as “Dr Dray.” Her clinical interests are general dermatology and she is passionate about helping people understand skin problems and the importance of sun protection.
Dr Oliver Jones Ph.D. is an Analytical, Biological, and Environmental Chemist. He was awarded his Ph.D. from Imperial College London in 2005. He also holds a Master’s from Imperial and a Bachelor’s degree from Queen Mary University of London. Following his PhD, Oliver worked as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Cambridge before taking up an academic position at Durham University in 2010. He moved to RMIT University in Melbourne in 2012. Oliver’s research focuses on tracking the fate and behaviour of pollutants in the environment and determining their possible effects on biological systems. He has authored nearly 150 peer-reviewed publications and is an active member of several scientific societies. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry and the Royal Australian Chemical Institute and previously served on the Australian Academy of Science’s National Committee for Chemistry. Oliver is also very keen to communicate science to the public and debunk myths around chemicals in the environment. He has featured widely on TV, radio, podcasts and newspapers, discussing topics as diverse as drugs in water to plastic-eating enzymes, and everything in between. He can be found promoting science on X (formerly Twitter), BluseSky, Threads, Mastodon, Instagram, and TikTok as @dr_oli_jones.
Dr. Akemi Ooka Ph.D. is the CEO of the Independent Beauty Association, a trade association that represents medium to small independent beauty businesses in the cosmetics sector. She has a Ph.D. in Chemistry and over 20 years in the CPG industry, from Fortune 500 companies to small startups. Akemi’s experience ranges from product development to sourcing and supply chain transformation at companies including J.R. Watkins, method, and The Clorox Company. Akemi previously served as IBA’s VP of Global Supply Chain and Sustainability Resources.
Meredith Petillo is the Vice President of Technical-Regulatory Affairs at Independent Beauty Association. She brings over 15 years of experience in cosmetic regulatory affairs, legal advertising claims, product testing and product development to support IBA member companies with regulatory and technical solutions to grow and thrive. She holds a BS in Biochemistry & Molecular Biology and an MS in Regulatory Affairs for Drugs, Biologics & Medical Devices. Meredith leads IBA’s Technical and Regulatory programming, education, and advocacy.
Jonathan Reynolds is Director of Scientific Development at Charlotte Tilbury Beauty and holds a Master’s degree in Biochemistry from the University of Pretoria. With 14 years of experience in the cosmetics industry, he has built a career across formulation, product development, ingredient innovation, regulatory, clinical testing and claims substantiation. In his current role, Jonathan helps shape the scientific direction behind product innovation, evaluating emerging technologies and ingredients and ensuring that new products are supported by robust evidence, regulatory compliance and meaningful consumer claims. A key focus of his work is scientific communication - translating complex research into clear, accurate and engaging information for both industry and consumer audiences. He has a particular interest in cosmetic safety, emerging skincare technologies and the way scientific evidence is interpreted and communicated within beauty. Jonathan is passionate about bringing greater context, rigour and nuance to conversations around cosmetic science, and about challenging both marketing hype and misinformation with evidence-led thinking.
Dr. Michelle Wong Ph.D. is a science educator and cosmetic chemist with a PhD in Chemistry. In 2011 she started the website Lab Muffin Beauty Science, where she explains the science behind beauty products for a general audience, and has expanded to YouTube, Instagram and TikTok. Her book The Science of Beauty was released in June 2024, and she is the co-founder of BeautySciComm. Through her science communication work, Michelle has worked with many brands on campaigns, and delivered invited talks at international conferences. Her work has been featured in Wired, The New York Times, ABC News, and Chemistry & Engineering News.
Dr. Lisa Gandolfi Ph.D. is a scientist-turned-executive who has spent 20+ years translating deep technical expertise into commercial growth. With a PhD in Polymer Science and Engineering, Lisa's career spans novel technology development for iconic Johnson & Johnson brands like Johnson's Baby and Neutrogena to executive leadership roles where she led teams focused on bridging the gap between R&D and market impact. At Clariant and Inolex, Lisa built her reputation on translating complex science into compelling market impact. She has transformed communications-centric marketing functions into strategic organizations, built technical marketing capabilities from the ground up, and led corporate strategy at the executive level. Her ability to connect scientific innovation with market-ready storytelling delivers measurable results, increasing the speed and size of innovation-driven sales. Today, as Founder of Sunhaven Consulting, Lisa helps science-based companies translate technical innovation into undeniable market impact. She is the author or co-author of multiple issued US patents and industry publications, reflecting the technical depth she brings to every strategic conversation.
Dr. Jeni Thomas, Ph.D. is the Senior Director & Principal Scientist at P&G Hair. Jeni has been studying hair and scalp science for more than 17 years. Her fascination with hair began at age 13 when her once straight hair mysteriously turned curly. More than a decade later and after completing her Ph.D. studies in Analytical Chemistry, she turned her scientific curiosity to the world of hair. She learned that her teenage hair mystery could be explained, yet many other unanswered hair and scalp questions remained. Jeni’s work at P&G Beauty has included research and partnerships with experts around the world to deepen our scientific and consumer understanding across all topics related to hair and scalp health. Throughout her career, Jeni has designed studies to answer common hair & scalp questions (e.g. does rinsing your hair in cold water really give you better shine?), published research on a range of hair & scalp topics, and co-founded a new brand focused on improving scalp condition to improve hair retention. She now leads P&G Hair’s Global Scientific Communication and Education programs to provide women and men with the information they are seeking for their best hair and scalp results.
Dr. Joe Zagorski Ph.D. is a toxicologist for the Center of Research on Ingredient Safety, doing SciComm on IG under the handle @toxdocjoe. He is dedicated to better understanding and supporting the safety of consumer products as they pertain to bettering public health. Joe completed a Ph.D. in Cell and Molecular Biology and Environmental Toxicology from Michigan State University in 2017. While at MSU, he studied the role of a cell stress pathway, activated by chemical toxicants, in the alteration of immune function.
Jen Novakovich is a science communicator, cosmetic scientist, and founder of The Eco Well, a scicomm social enterprise in the beauty space. Through The Eco Well, she hosts a regular cosmetic science podcast and free conference series. She also mentors prospective science communicators through a sci-comm mentorship cohort program that runs alongside The Eco Well’s free conference series. Since 2022, Jen has also worked closely with Independent Beauty Association to support their social media and in-person scicomm and education advocacy. In 2023, Jen co-founded BeautySciComm, a social enterprise dedicated to fostering better scicomm in beauty. Here, she has been responsible for creating briefing notes that feature relevant subject matter expert reactions to viral headlines. Outside her scicomm work, Jen is a PhD candidate at the University of Ottawa. Her research explores the relationship between misinformation and environmental outcomes, broadly and within the cosmetics industry.
Thank you to our event sponsors for helping us keep this e-summit freely accessible to anyone!
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