If you do not dare to be bold, you cannot achieve your dreams and secure long-lasting success. Dr. Sylvia Morris and Dr. Angela Walker sit down with Carlista Conde, whose boldness shaped her work as a true global innovator. She shares how her experiences as an ex-pat honed her multicultural fluency and plays a key role in her current work as R&I Worldwide Leader for Hair Care at L’Oréal. Carlista unpacks her philosophy of holistic innovation, the power of cultural curiosity to unlock product breakthroughs, and the right way to navigate multicultural leadership. Gather pearls of wisdom on building authentic connections, championing diversity, and developing the next generation of innovators from this eye-opening discussion.
Music courtesy of Dealer’s Choice Sound Recordings, Inc.
Music artist: djezi
—
Watch the episode here
Listen to the podcast here
Boldness Of A Global Innovator With Carlista Conde
We are well into our second season, so excited and actually very excited to have our first interview of the season. We are talking with a true global innovator who’s spent 25-plus years building billion-dollar brands across three continents. From Singapore to England to Paris, she’s led R&D and innovation in beauty, personal care, biotech and consumer electronics.
She is a proud FAMU graduate. She’s passionate about using STEM to drive transformative change while championing diversity and developing the next generation of innovators. She’s also embraced life as an expat and global citizen. She’ll tell us why Paris has her heart. Silvia, before we dive in, let’s just do a quick check-in. How are you doing?
I am super excited. I’m excited about our conversation with Carlista Conde, but I’m equally as excited for our second season. If you haven’t read any of our previous episodes, we have 63 episodes that you can check out at BossLeapPodcast.com. I’m just very excited about this season of my life and all of the opportunities that are upcoming. I want to encourage everybody to stay tuned and please follow us on Instagram and LinkedIn. How are you?
I am good. This has been, quite honestly been a tough week for me. I lost a cousin this week, a hard-fought battle to cancer. I was very reflective and part of what we talked about, our love of travel, our love of embracing different communities. This cousin, my cousin Norm, just had a passion for life, a passion for people. He was an anesthesiologist and he was my big cousin. We’re only children and so he actually was more like a big brother to me in my adult life, just a wealth of knowledge. By far the absolute best anesthesiologist I’ve ever worked with in my life.
Also, one of my best friends. I confided in him quite a bit and he gave really great advice. In this episode, what I’m reflective about is his love for travel. He traveled around the world. He would do solo travel and absolutely loved it. Traveled with his family, took his family places as well, but did solo travel and did it well.
I think one of his last trips when he was on and off chemotherapy, was to Medellin, Colombia. I’m like, “Oh, be careful” and he’s like, “Girl, you go. You got this. I’ll tell you where to go, where to be safe.” he was always that voice of reason. “Don’t be afraid,” that sort of thing. Yeah, he would talk about Anguilla, just all the sorts of travel.
He put all these dreams in my head and we’re living in a part of our life where we just can’t say I’m going to do tomorrow. Yeah, so already thinking about some of these destinations that I would travel to in his honor. I know you probably weren’t expecting this long of a, “How am I,” but I love talking about travel, love talking about my cousin and just being I think reflective and appreciative of life. I think that’s where I am right now, is just appreciative of life’s little pleasures every day and being grateful for family and friends.
We’re going to dedicate this episode to Cousin Norm. You’re right, I was not expecting that.
On a happy note, we are so excited to bring you Carlista Conde. She was an amazing guest with a wealth of information, beautiful spirit and lots of beautiful things to share about what she’s currently doing and what she’s actually doing in the future as well. Without further ado, we’d love to bring you Carlista Conde.
Carlista Conde, welcome to Boss Leap.
Thank you so much for having me.
We are so excited that you are here. We wish we were there with you in Paris. I think I can divulge that you live in Paris. We want to hear everything about your life as an expat and your journey. We’re just going to jump right into the questions.
Fantastic. Thank you. You both are such an inspiration to me. You really demonstrate how leading with your heart and mind and uplifting others around you is important and you’re doing it very well.
Carlista’s Educational Background And Career Journey
Thank you. Appreciate that so much. Your story is inspiring as well and we just really want to get started at the beginning, as a lot of times. We like to know where did you grow up and what first sparked your interest in science, as we know we’re going to hear more about your adventures in science.
I’m a Southern girl. I grew up in Northwest Florida on the Gulf Coast. What was very exciting about my small town was that it had a Naval Air Station based there. I had a lot of international influence. I think that helped shape me because I come from humble beginnings, but I was this little girl with these big dreams. These big dreams of being an international ambassador. I had no idea how I’d accomplish it, but I had it.
I love math and chemistry. I did not like blood and needles like my sister. I did not go the doctor route. She’s a doctor, but not me. I also had this desire to always understand the why and the how behind things work. I remember taking this brain class and understanding how the brain works and what we know and don’t work. I think all of this helped fuel my love of STEM, science, technology, and engineering. I also had a practical element. Coming from humble beginnings, I remember thinking in high school, “What degree makes the most money with a bachelor’s?”
Not a lot back then, so tell me what you found because it’s sometimes hard to find that if you don’t see it, if you haven’t had it modeled.
Exactly. I remember with my guidance counselors looking through the list and I saw Chemical Engineering and I was like, “Voila,” as we say here in Paris. Combine math, combine chemistry, I can do this. Yeah, so that’s one of the reasons why.
I’m sorry, are you from Pensacola? You said naval flyers, Northwest Florida.
I am. I’m from Pensacola, Florida, with the Blue Angels, Naval Air Station base. I grew up ten minutes from the ocean. Absolutely loved it.
Now, you attended Florida A&M University, which we know is a historically Black college. I think of them as the Marching 100. A friend of the show, Denise, also your classmate, also went to FAMU. Can you talk about your FAMU experience and how that has shaped you as a leader?
The FAMU University.
Excuse me. I’m sorry. No disrespect. I’m in trouble.
I am a proud FAMU-an. I’m proud of the stem legacy of my university. I’m so blessed because I went to FAMU on a full scholarship, a full NASA scholarship, and because of that, honestly, the education there, the grounding that I got there helped send me around the world, three continents. It changed the trajectory of my life. FAMU is known for sciences, agricultural sciences, and engineering sciences. Outside of education, what I love to talk about is what else I got at this HBCU, Historically Black College and University.
What I got in one word is this boldness. What I mean by this boldness is there, I learned that I’m good enough, I belong, I come from a great lineage of African excellence, tracing all the way back to the beginnings of modern humans in Ancient Egypt. I must admit, before going to FAMU, I didn’t really know that fully, the education I had before going there and that connection.
I’m just incredibly proud for not just the education at FAMU, but what it did for self-confidence. If I may, ladies, can I add something? I tell you in my career, I’ve seen a difference in recruits that start their corporate careers, some difference in their confidence, those that come from, say, HBCUs versus not. It’s just a pattern I’ve seen, not all the time.
There’s this element of comfort, this boldness, this when they show up in Corporate America, they tend to go towards their colleagues that look like them and don’t go away. They embrace the boldness of who they are. It’s just something I wanted to highlight as well and it speaks to a bit of my experience. The other thing is that in these expat assignments, there was an over-index of folks coming from HBCUs. It’s like the crème de la crème of America.
There are more HBCU grads who are expats as far as with their corporate assignments. There are more HBCU graduates.
I reflected on this and I’m like, “HBCUs are great institutions. They create great professionals that have ability to stand on the world stage.”
Good insight there. We’d never have thought that. This is probably not a question we can answer in this episode, but I’m curious, other than have all of our children go to an HBCU, how we can instill that feeling of greatness and the education piece, particularly if you don’t get it at home. Not because of maybe your parents’ lack of desire to teach, but just from their sheer ignorance and knowing a lot of the greatness in our history.
That really is the question, Angela, because I only highlight to say not everyone has to go to an HBCU, but I do believe everyone should benefit from that knowledge, that confidence, that boldness that comes from really knowing your history and your lineage. It’s that lineage is beyond maybe some of the trials we often hear in America and are taught in the textbooks.
Everyone should benefit from knowing your history and your lineage. Share on XFollowing Your Passions And Solving Problems Strategically
I just think it’s crucial, particularly now, for us to find ways to elevate the voices of those in our history, our ancestors, and just the sh
Following Your Passions And Solving Problems Strategically
eer excellence that’s been around in our culture and not let that go. I appreciate you sharing that and I hope that we can share that in all avenues of education. I’m curious. You are such an innovator and I think we’ll get into more of that. Can you give us one innovation lesson that maybe that has held true for you? We know you’re in Paris now. You’ve traveled to London and Singapore. Maybe one lesson that’s held true throughout your travels.
One thing’s for sure is following your passions. I’m very passionate about beauty and fashion. Honestly, just about solving problems. One of the things as I solve problems, I work in the consumer goods industry, various sectors, as you just mentioned, is there’s a couple elements that just stay the same. One element is around being focused on the consumer. Who are you designing this for? What is their unmet need? What is their tension? What do they require? If you really define that, it is your guiding light for what you create.
The other thing, the second piece that is true across cultures is anchoring in the technical requirement, the science, the invention that’s required, to meet that consumer requirement. As an engineer, as one that loves science and technology, I absolutely love this. I’ve been doing it over 25 years, but this process of connecting what a consumer wants with a solution is just fascinating.
The third part and I think this is where my love of beauty and fashion comes in is it needs to be holistic. If it doesn’t look good, feel good, sound good, smell good, it hinders its appeal. This is what I’m known for a bit, which is this element of holistic innovation that I love. The fourth piece for me is business. You got to have a bit of business acumen.
Meaning, it’s got to make money. It’s got to sell.
Make money, targeted to the right people in the right way at the right time because the worst thing is to create things that flop or go nowhere. Now you learn from them and in some instances, maybe that was the strategy. It was intended to be tactical, intended to be short-lived, but you always have to have a view, a business mindset. Honestly, that separates some of the great innovators from the rest.
Carlista’s Experiences In Her First Ex-Pat Assignment
Peel back a layer and tell us actually what you’re doing now. I jumped into the because I’m so interested in everything you’re doing, but maybe for the readers to know.
I’m going to add on one thing because we also want to know and our audience wants to know, how did you get your first expat assignment?
That’s a good one. I love to talk about this. Okay, so alright, so two questions, ladies. What do I do now, I work at L’Oreal.
Put in the work and build your track record so you will be able to take global roles. Share on XThat’s the beauty company, people. The internationally known beauty company.
The number one beauty company in the world. We sell hair care, we sell skin care, we sell fragrances across all price tiers. I lead the Global Hair Care Product Development division. I’m based here in Paris, but I have teams around the world. I lead the development for brands like Kerastase, Garnier, L’Oreal Paris and different ones. CeraVe hair care was just launched in the US. Voila, it’s about twenty brands. Now the question about how did I get my first expat assignment is a very good question and I love talking about this because there’s something about intention. There’s something about going towards your passions.
I mentioned as a little girl, I used to dream of being an international ambassador. I didn’t take that form, but I did do it in my own way. I remember when I first started with my first job at Procter and Gamble, I would write on my performance review from day one, “I want an international assignment.” I would do that every year.
Carlista, the first time you wrote that, this is your first review, you’re a year in, what did your leadership team, your boss, say to you?
With a little bit of a smile and a smirk, “That’s nice.” I’m exaggerating a little bit, but it’s a bit around expat assignments, there are not many. They’re selective. They’re for leaders with proven track records. I had none of that.
Yet.
It’s a very good point because as I fast forward 15 years, it took me 15 years to actually live and get my first expat assignment. Before that, I put in the work. It’s one of those things I tell folks. You put in the work, you build your track record. You take global roles that have you travel and do global assignments and deliver global products even though you may not have an expat assignment. You nurture your relationships.
When they ask you to go to, I don’t know, Tibet, or they tell you you’re going to Djibouti, going somewhere, you say yes because that helps to prime the pump for an expat assignment.
Absolutely. You demonstrate your willingness and you demonstrate your effectiveness in roles. On top of that, because I am still a minority in many of the rooms I’m in, being a Black, a female, an engineer, the other piece is the type of relationships you have, the type of mentors you have, the type of sponsors and advocates. The leader of the division that sent me on my first expat assignment had been a mentor of mine for fifteen years. This mentor happened to be one of the first Black males at that level.
Was that a chosen mentor or were you chosen? How did you go about finding that mentor?
Mutual because in big companies like Procter and Gamble, there’s an element of you have affinity groups that welcome in new recruits, whether you’re Hispanic or Native American or Black, to help nurture you and set you up for success in your career. Of course, I was part of that. This is what you do and then over time, your relationships develop and you develop connections with some mentors more so than others. Yeah, it’s a bit of mutual.
Thank you for sharing that with us. I think that our readers will get a lot of value from understanding that you need to put in the work and fifteen years seems like a long time, but then once you’ve broken through, then the whole world opens up.
Absolutely. It was fifteen years to live, but before that, I had global teams. I was traveling to my global organizations. I just didn’t live there.
A Cultural Insight That Led To A Product Breakthrough
Can you share a moment when a cultural insight from one of the countries that you were leading in led to a breakthrough for a product that you were developing?
Yeah. I have 2 or 3, so I’ll start with one and share as much details as I can versus not. I’ll start with one when I was working and responsible for Latin America hair care and I was doing some research in Brazil in the favelas.
Falo Português?
Oui. I have a small team in Rio, so I love it. This was years ago and I was with a team, and the only Black person on this team. While doing the research, we came in with this idea that these ladies don’t have a lot of money, we just have to innovate cheap products for them and they’re not spending maybe as much on their beauty routine.
What we learned is absolutely the opposite. The absolute opposite because they don’t have the money for the cars, all the fancy electronics, they do spend the money on how they look and their beauty routine. The fundamental paradigm shift is it is not about innovating cheap products for them. It’s innovative products with absolutely the things that they value and eliminating the things they do not value, particularly for their hair types, curly hair types or what have you.
We had to go back and fundamentally shift our product development strategy to make sure it was less about just reducing and cheap, but ensuring what’s the must-have is there and what’s most valuable is part of the economical equation versus the things that they can do without that are second tier. I think it was very enlightening for many. It was one of the mantras that we used as we went back. Being in the favelas was fascinating and to see all the routines and how they do their hair in their homes is just amazing.
That was one example, and I’ll give you another one from my time leading China hair care development. There’s a brand I was leading in China. It was about $500 million at the time, well known for its equity in delivering smooth, natural products, smooth hair, natural products. What had happened is this brand had become a bit outdated, a bit not connecting to the current trends or semiotic codes.
We did some research. You go back to the consumer. That’s where you start. You go back to the products you use, you look at the external environment. What we realized is if we’re able to tap into a culturally relevant, aspirational standard of excellence to reframe smooth and natural benefits, it could win with the consumers.
We found this concept in Chinese is called ling dong and this concept this concept of ling dong was more dynamic, more fluidity, smooth, more culturally relevant. Just anchoring in this ambition and this reframe for this brand, for this product, led to a refreshed product and technology pipeline. It led to refreshed positioning for our products and actually, the brand started growing again. I’m just sharing that it is anchored in going back to understand your consumer, going back to understand the cultural context and then translating that into technical product strategies, product positioning as well.
That was a bit eye-opening as well for that brand in China. I have many more but I’ll stop there but I hope you can sense I absolutely love this connection of technology, holistic innovation, business sense and anchored in delighting consumers and serving all consumers, not just those who buy Kerastase, which I love working on that. If you haven’t bought our new Kerastase Gloss Absolue, the new oil product, please do. It’s doing excellent. We love it.
Jessica Osborne has turned me on to that. All the words that you said like, “Refreshing,” this is just refreshing to hear that there are people behind the scenes that actually have the cultural curiosity. Obviously, the bottom line is making money but we all know that there are many brands that are making money without really caring about the actual finessing the product for the actual people that are using it, but being curious enough about the culture.
I’m fascinated by hearing this and so knowing that there’s someone like you behind the scenes, definitely much more confident in using a product by your company, L’Oreal, because I know that there’s actually some intention behind making the money. You actually want to develop something that is for me and what matters to me. Yeah, kudos. This is fascinating.
Thank you so much. One of the things that I would tell anyone interested in such a career or path is protect your voice, bring your unique voice, your unique experience, because many of us have lived experience where we’re even more attuned to the importance of deeper understanding of motivations of different consumers. Some of us have had to do that for survival or to be heard or what have you, or just to be prepared when you’re in a room. That’s a superpower of cultural understanding, that superpower of looking for the true needs and finding solutions for those, bring it to life. Bring it to life in your corporate careers.
Carlista, what would you say is your superpower?
What I love and I’ve been told I do very well is I see patterns. It seems simple, but seeing patterns quickly, seizing them, enables you to be strategic. It enables you to influence. It enables you to connect the dots when maybe others cannot, so there’s a bit of seeing patterns. Another superpower for me is you’ve heard a little bit of it, but it’s holistic. It’s holistic innovation. It’s this space of beauty, of science, of the love of culture and wrapping that all together in something that can delight but also make business sense. I absolutely love this. What’s another superpower? It’s my faith, actually. Is being anchored and guided and driven by my spiritual beliefs which direct how I interact with others and lead.
Working Across Beauty, Biotech, And Consumer Electronics
You just mentioned across beauty, biotech, and even consumer electronics, I understand. What surprised you most about moving between these worlds or I guess maybe incorporating them in some way?
Angela, the one thing that surprised me is what’s the same across them. What I mean by what’s the same is this element of transversal needs and skills. What I mean by the needs, every industry, you still focused on who you are trying to delight or satisfy? Going deep with that person, consumer, regulatory body, what have you. The other thing is this element of delivering performance, deliver solutions that perform, and the evidence, the evidence to back it up. It’s very important given my STEM background and the need to be the person at the table with the technical support, the technical strategy.
We can’t just feel that something’s going to work or my gut or I have a vibe that it’s going to work. You want the data.
Exactly. Verify because there are others that do a bit of the feel better than me. The one thing I will tell you is what varies a bit across these industries is how big a voice are the different cross-functional partners.
What do you mean about cross-functional partners?
What I mean by cross-functional partners, at the table in beauty, your marketing team has a huge voice. They play a big role in positioning or what have you. The other functions are there, R&D, sales, supply chain, finance as well. In consumer electronics, particularly in regulatory spaces, you have a huge voice of your safety and regulatory team.
Your marketing team plays a big role in positioning what you have to offer that others do not have. Share on XOf course, that voice is there in every industry, but it’s a different tone, it’s at a different level in the consumer electronics. In the biotech field, what I found is because oftentimes, you’ll deal a bit more with scientific institutions, you do a bit more with mergers and acquisitions or partnering or investing in different companies, and so I sense a bit more of that voice.
This is just my experience across these industries. What changes a bit is the strength, the weight of the voices across some of the functions at the table. What stays the same is you still need to have great leadership skills. You still need to know how to drive alignment. You still need relationships to get anything done, and strong relationships to get things done.
Those are the things that stay the same. As an innovator who loves innovation, it just helps you innovate even better. The fact that you’ve seen different sectors, the fact that you’ve worked on way I call it upstream, breakthrough, new benefit spaces, new categories, or working with new raw materials, or you’re working downstream. You’re working on a product that’s been there a long time, but you need a new positioning or you need to innovate it a little bit but not annoy or run away your loyal users.
This just helps you do all of that when you have a broader experience. I must admit, it’s not for everybody, because some people prefer and have personalities where they just like to anchor and they go deep. They can go deep in one category, one space for 20, 30 years. Ladies, that’s okay too. We need those people too. That just wasn’t my calling.
I’m going to say if I have a product idea or need to make a change, you are the first person that I’m going to come to. You just sound like the person that I would want on my team developing or redirecting how my product is moving in the market. I love to hear people who love what they’re doing. You’re very much explaining why that’s a passion for you.
Thank you so much. I would love to help you. Anytime.
Advice For The Next Generation Of Innovators
We are at Boss Leap show, so any notes you have, we will accept. Carlista, as you mentor the next generation of innovators, what would you have liked to have heard 25 years ago as far as just a piece of advice?
Yeah, it’s a very good question and I was thinking about this. I can’t even believe I’m saying 25 years. Life happens, ladies. One thing is nothing beats putting in the work. There are no free lunches. You must know that. One of the things I tell many mentors is what do you do when no one’s looking, when no one’s telling you to stay up the extra hour? When no one’s telling you to take on extra work? When no one’s telling you to work that Saturday or that Sunday to get it done? It’s about what do you do when no one’s looking. That’s what starts to separate folks. The other thing is particularly as a Black female American with that unique profile in many rooms, one of the things I’ve found I’ve had to do is work a bit extra harder to build familiarity.
Work twice as hard. I’m not going to say again to get half as far, but definitely work twice as hard.
Yes, and when you’re in rooms where folks may not have interacted with your way of thinking or your background, the onus is on me on us to make the effort to, as fast as possible, share your story. Invite them into your world. Build some connections because it’s human nature once there’s a bit of familiarity, you can be more effective, you have more fun, you get things done.
Carlista, how do you do that organically? Sometimes, if it feels forced, then it’s not a true connection or relationship. It also needs time to develop. Can you talk about that a little bit?
I’ll tell one story from early in my career. I said I came from Florida. I came from deep training around keep your space from folks that don’t look like you. Keep work at work, don’t bring it home.
It was a safety thing and a protection thing. I get it.
Safety, protection. You never know what people are like in the dark or in the midnight hour. I had all these things. I think for the first six years of my career, I still held on to those. What that does is it creates a wall. It creates no true connection with leaders in your colleagues that are responsible for vouching for you. Once I realized I was hindering my own growth, I looked for ways to organically invite leaders in. I took small steps. I had one senior VP. He’s retired and he took a liking to me. I don’t know why. I did some organizational development thing and he would just talk to me and say, “Come have lunch,” and all of this.
One day, I said, “Why don’t you come over to my apartment for dinner just so we can connect?” In my in my heart, I was a little bit like, “What am I doing? Mama told me not to do this.” I have a small townhouse. I don’t even have a full dining set. He’s the senior VP. Maybe he will say no, he will not come. It was one of the best dinners we had. He talked about how he’s doing the same with his son, how the food was great, how we connected. He helped me, I helped him. I realized at that moment, he was just another human being. Everything the same on the inside. He puts his pants on one leg at a time like everybody.
It’s a small, maybe insignificant example in some ways, but I only share that to say sometimes, we have to find the natural moments, sometimes we have to grab them and just welcome in others. Be smart, be safe and all of that, but many times, via no fault of their own, folks haven’t had the opportunity to interact with someone like myself. This helps that along.
That is sage advice.
The key is that you were in the room to even be able to invite. I think that how we need to continue to encourage industries to have the culture in the spaces so that we can get to know each other and then feel more comfortable with each other. Yeah, absolutely.
Oui. That is yes in French.
How Her Ex-Pat Experiences Shaped Carlista’s Multicultural Fluency
Speaking of French and Paris, how has being an expat made you maybe a better leader, you think?
In many ways. I tell you, you really develop your multicultural fluency is how I would say it. It’s a bit around learning the nuances of leading in different cultures, learning the concepts I have as an American leader that work and don’t work in other countries.
Please come back to that because that would be interesting.
The one thing I will start with is it stretches you to be very flexible in your leadership style and very attuned to when you need to change it, modulate it, depending on the environment. What do I mean by this? One of the things I learned in England, we speak the same language, but we don’t.
No, very different. Australian, New Zealand, that’s very different. The devil’s in the details.
What I mean by that, I call it British nice, but maybe not always nice.
Tell us more, so we know when we’re being insulted. Tell us more.
One example is I left a meeting. I thought the meeting went well, we had a good discussion, we shared our point of views. Voila, there was a little bit of different points of view, but we left with smiles, no fights or anything. This is a work meeting. Come to find out, the person left the meeting pissed, absolutely upset. I had no idea. It was the first time in my career where I didn’t even see the signals. It goes to show in some environments, we speak the same language but we don’t. It set me off on a learning journey to better understand the culture of the words that are said may not mean the actual meaning. The subtext. “Lovely” and “That’s nice” may not mean it’s lovely.
Understand how the culture of words works. Some words that are said may not mean their actual meaning. Share on X“Bless your heart.”
That’s like my grandmother who would say, “Bless her heart, she tried.” The other insight I had and that made me a better leader is in Singapore in Asia. I call it embracing the silence. As an American, growing up in America, as soon as the question is asked, you speak up. It’s awkward if there’s a gap. You fill the space and you’re rewarded for that. You’re trained in this. That’s not the case in Asia.
There’s an element of equity, not wanting to speak up, hierarchy, but this was a multinational company. I needed to change things just a little bit. Over time, I created some practices where I would just say, “Okay guys, this is where we’re going to embrace the silence, give everybody a chance to speak.” I demonstrated a bit of comfort and fun and over time people started to speak up. It was a bit shocking to me at first, the strength of the silence, and I had to really work to figure out how to get the feedback and how to get the engagement from the team. Voila. British nice, embrace the silence in Asia. I can go on.
Immersing In The Beauty Of Paris
Can we talk about Paris? I am enamored with Paris. I have been fortunate enough to have been a few times. It is beautiful. I always have a wonderful time, the food, the clothing, everything. How has Paris influenced the way that you think about beauty and has it changed your self-care regime?
What I say is, “J’adore Paris,” okay? What do I love about Paris is living and breathing beauty in everything is the way I would describe it. The buildings, the food. I was so shocked. It was a Saturday morning and I was just going to the neighborhood market and folks were dressed. I was like “Oh my goodness.”
Tote bag, a little scarf, maybe a hat, lipstick.
No house shoes?
No house shoes.
No yoga pants?
No baggy pants, nothing off. They’re not dressed like they’re going to the opera or anything, but they’re dressed. I’m thinking, “I’ve got to readjust here,” but I loved it. The other thing that I appreciate about this living and breathing beauty in everything is the amount of museums here, the amount of expositions, the amount of different types of music acts that come through, and this obsession with detail. This obsession with details of everything.
This has elevated my way of thinking about innovating in the beauty space. It’s elevated my style a bit as well. I’ve picked up on some new practices. Also, just from a health standpoint. I’ve strengthened my exercise routine, I’ve strengthened the way I eat and what I decide to put in my body, and also self-care elements around taking time off, vacation, and all of that.
I love all of that. My experience in Paris was exactly what you said, just the absolute beauty of it all. The architecture, the appreciation for the arts. One thing that stuck out in my mind is just the appreciation for good company and conversation. I found it so interesting, my husband and I are at restaurants and in America, you sit down, you expect the waiter to come right over, get your order, you get your food out right away, you eat and then I want my bill.
What I found, people were talking, lingering and my husband was so frustrated because he’s like, “Where is the waiter?” I’m like “I think they may just be waiting on you.” he’s like “Where’s the bill?” I’m like “If you look around, people are actually having conversation still. They are they’re still appreciating each other.”
I loved everything about that, just the intention of having a meal with somebody and it be about the company that you’re with. The food was excellent, but not just that and not just the service and not just how fast they were. It was just the appreciation of everything and I found that the overall feel that I took away from there is just appreciation of life. That sounds like what you were you were speaking to.
It is an art form. It is like the cafe culture. You go sit and have a drink and relax. It’s very different. You can see the Americans or those who are not here, they’re anxious, they’re waving down the waiter. Part of me is just want to say, “C’est la vie.” It’s okay. The other thing that I’ve learned here is life is linked to this, life is more than just work. My colleagues have full lives with their hobbies or with their missions and honestly, that’s been one of the beauties for me as well, as I’ve tapped into more of how to give back, how to make a difference as well.
Discussion Wrap-up And Closing Words
Very nice. We look forward to having a Boss Leap Live from Paris. We’re just going to put that in the universe and set the intention for that. We appreciate you sharing your journey here as an expat, as an innovator and just giving our audience lots of real actionable tools to use for their careers in their lives. Carlista Conde, thank you for being our guest.
Thank you so much. It’s been a true honor. I cannot leave without saying one more thing, which one of the things that’s non-negotiable in this life as an expat, every day isn’t roses, every day isn’t peaches and cream. There are ups and downs, but if you find a way to be grateful, maintain your peace, have your routines, you really can thrive.
Every day is not always roses. There are ups and downs. But if you find a way to be grateful and maintain your routines, you can thrive. Share on XFor me, one of the things that’s also very important is do something beyond work. I will talk about it separately, ladies, but I started a nonprofit foundation called Waka Social, and I just wanted to share that as well, because it’s about empowering the next generation leaders in AI and digital skills and it’s something I’m very passionate about. I would love one day to come back and talk more about that as well.
Absolutely. We already have a list of new questions for you. Maybe just make it all about that and the expat experience for you because obviously, we know you’ve shared a lot about how your line of work led to where you are. Living and being in a country outside of the US is a whole another topic and how you navigate that as a Black female, as a female, would be really enlightening for our readers. We will already put that down as a follow-up episode.
Chapter Two.
Sounds great. Thank you so much. Until we meet again. May you be well.
Likewise.
—
Angela, that was a fantastic conversation with Carlista Conde. I picked up so many pearls and I’m obsessed with Paris. Tell me, what did you take home from Carlista?
I think number one was just her passion. Her passion really rang through the entire episode. Her passion for STEM from a young age, young girl, her passion for her university, FAMU and the experience that that gave her, her passion for her discipline, her career. I think that’s really what spoke to me because I we find so many people that come on the show that are successful in terms of how we determine success in their careers and most of them are just really passionate about what they’re doing.
I think that rings so true to how we move in our lives, but how I think we should encourage others is find your passion. That curiosity that she has around innovation, for sure, and how it affects all of the disciplines she’s been involved with. Also, the curiosity for the cultures that she’s been involved with. How that translated into bringing about success in the different campaigns that she had, whether it was in Latin America or Asia. I found that fascinating.
I think lastly, and we talked a little bit of it offline as well, but just her intention of being a global citizen and being appreciative of the other cultures. The one thing that rang true for me that maybe the audience didn’t hear was the giving back to the communities that you live in, not just going and taking and exactly. I loved all of that and I think we can certainly see how this is going to be a popular episode for the people. How about you?
Without a doubt. When she talked about being bold and boldness and that’s the thing that has propelled her career, I was like, “Yes, absolutely.” the other thing, when she shared with us that it took her fifteen years to get her first expat assignment. Now she had other global appointments before then, but it is that reminder of the constant persistence that is necessary in order to live your intention. For going from writing it on her review, her first review, “I want expat assignment,” to actually living that. I was like, “This is it.”
Isn’t that the truth? If you don’t speak it, no one knows. Dare to be bold. I love that.
I love all things Paris and the food and the fashion and the beauty of just the city itself. Certainly, there are beautiful places in the US. I’m a huge fan of New York and always got to mention LA, but Paris, there is something really magical about the light in that city. I was happy that she was sharing a little bit behind the scenes of her experience in Paris. We want to invite everyone to read, like, share, follow and subscribe. Check us out on YouTube at Boss Leap Podcast. Please just enjoy the show.
Absolutely. Until we meet again, may you be well.
May you be well.
Important Links
- Carlista Conde on LinkedIn
- Boss Leap Podcast on Instagram
- Dr. Sylvia Morris on LinkedIn
- Waka Social
- Boss Leap Podcast on YouTube
About Carlista Conde
A global leader in R&D and innovation, Carlista brings 25+ years of international experience across 3 continents developing billion-dollar FMCG brands, including beauty, personal care, biotech and consumer electronics. She is passionate about diversity, equity, and inclusion, using her STEM expertise to deliver transformative product innovation strategies that drive business growth, and develop future innovators.
Carlista is an expat, who’s lived and worked in Singapore, England and now France. She spent 20 years at Procter & Gamble, based in Ohio and Singapore for 5 years. She worked at BAT in England for ~5 years and now Carlista works for L’Oreal based in Paris since 2023, as SVP R&I Global Haircare Product Development. She loves Paris, being an expat and a Global citizen.
Outside of the corporate world, Carlista brings her passion for STEM and developing our future leaders to her non profit Waka Social Foundation, which empowers Africans with education and AI and digital tools via Scholarships, AI Labs, and teacher upskilling.