BRANDS WE PARTNER WITH

About the Founder

Bridgette Howard is the founder of Parlor West Ventures, an incubator for early stage beauty brands that provides growth capital and strategic guidance across product development, manufacturing, distribution, financial management and customer acquisition. She launched the incubator after recognizing the challenges that indie beauty brands face across funding and growth. Parlor West Ventures has strategic partnerships with contract manufacturing labs in the U.S. and packaging manufacturers in China to provide their brands with vertically integrated product development. The incubator focuses on brands with unique positioning and dynamic founders. 

Prior to launching Parlor West Ventures, Ms. Howard honed her passion for the  beauty industry in various roles across brand management, business development and product development. Her career in beauty started at Birchbox where she was an early employee, helping to shape their brand partnerships and merchandising strategy. Next she went on to Bluemercury (luxury beauty retailer acquired by Macy's Inc) and lead brand management and product development for their proprietary brands (M-61 skincare and Lune+Aster Cosmetics). She launched M-61 on Home Shopping Network (HSN) and helped to aggressively grow the brand's SKU count. Other roles include launching Time Inc's Essence Beauty Box into the US Market. 

Ms. Howard holds a B.A. in Public Policy Studies from Duke University. She is on the advisory board for Global Cosmetic Industry Magazine and is the founder of the Multicultural Women in Beauty Dinner Series which brings together women across retail, brand and editorial. She has been invited to speak at various events including Cosmoprof Bologna, BeautyXCapital, Duke University and The Harvard Club. Her writing is published in the 4-H National Curriculum on Entrepreneurship and her work has been spotlighted in Tribe Dynamics' quarterly reports and various Time, Inc publications (Essence, InStyle, People). She is bicoastal, splitting her time between Washington D.C., New York and Los Angeles.