At LOreal, where she worked in marketing after graduating from Boston University (she completed a masters in mass communication, at one point musing on a career in journalism), an entrepreneurial approach was encouraged. Can Nigeria's election result be overturned? As a frequent and dedicated customer of Mecca, and a long time admirer of Jo Horgan and what she has created within the Aussie beauty industry, it's so exciting to be part of the family. We would trundle down to the NGV and learn all about this incredible country and its art. : What I try and do day in and day out is to show that it is possible to run a female-empowering business in a positive, upbeat, fun way and demonstrate that you dont have to take on the traditional stereotypes of how to run a business or how to lead. Noah Cyrus Confidently Freed the Nipple in a Showstopping Mesh Look for Milan Fashion Week, Woody Harrelson Slams COVID Set Protocols as Nonsense, Urges Hollywood to Stop Forcing Vaccination: That's Not a Free Country, McDonald's Franchisees Say Cardi B And Offset Meal Broke 'Golden Arch Code'. Premier John Horgan, seen here on Oct. 2, said Thursday that a growth he found on his throat several months ago has been confirmed as cancerous. The family settled in County Meath, north of Dublin, where they had a turkey farm . It is incredibly impressive, and takes more work than most imagine.. As we enter an exciting period of growth, we look forward . A Victoria Supreme Court sided with Jo Horgan's business that the Unilever-owned cosmetics brand had acted unlawfully when it walked away from an exclusive deal with the retailer due to Covid-19 restrictions. Historical Person Search Search Search Results Results (Jo)Hannah Horgan (1854 - 1926) Try FREE for 14 days Try FREE for 14 days How do we create a person's profile? Mary Horgan. Our customers want the dermatological treatment, they want the product, they want the quick fix. "I try to recruit really strong people around me, and then give them enough rope to be able to learn in a way I learned. By turns breathlessly effusive and pensively introspective, Horgan speaks with speed and obvious delight and then, shifting gears, she talks slowly and deliberately, selecting each word as if from a shelf in front of her. Were taking an agile approach, because were very cognizant that the beauty landscape is ever changing at warp speed and its our job to predict where its going and to make sure we can continually adapt and evolve to always be ahead of the market. Jo Horgan: Women make up 50.2% of the population, but even before COVID represented only 37.6% of full-time employees. Basically I am, one, a master delegator and, two, I really encourage teams to give it a go and believe in themselves. John left Cork to come to Perth with his Protestant wife. We really tried to think through every way a customer wants to interact with product and brands. Welaunched in August 2020, during the pandemic, and have learned some super useful things. The only reason for us to expand more broadly is if we genuinely believe we can provide a differentiated and more compelling experience to customers and platform for brands. Her enthusiasm has not dimmed, he says. No! We also have, without question, the worlds most educated team. I wake up every day and say, Gosh, isnt there so much to do, isnt there so much opportunity to grow and build and expand and so much opportunity to improve what were doing in the here and now.. J.H. Jo received a first degree degree from University of Western Australia. The Family was Catholic - hence some family speculation for the reasons of the move. The other side was a little more realistic: to have 10 stores doing $30 million in sales within the first five years. Currently, the first is Meccas culture and that has become even more important coming out of COVID-19, at a time when there is culture erosion because we could literally not get together for two years. Ongoing team members receive about 80 hours to 100 hours. We want to be the worlds most loved beauty destination, said Horgan, during a wide-ranging interview with Beauty Inc. Weve learned over the last 25 years that if your customers absolutely love what you do and how you make them look and feel, and they want to be part of that community, you will prevail. J.H. The company was selling online as far back as 2001, and uses the likes of Facebook and Instagram to promote itself and connect to customers. Even if they dont buy anything. Both are ambitious and sprawling; works in progress that have no end point because, well, the world can always be more beautiful. He is survived by his son, Charles J. Horgan. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Sample it to their hearts content. Upon arriving in Melbourne to work for LOreal, she enrolled in a short course in Australian art run by Christies auction house. By the third time its clear to everyone that she has run out of excuses. I cant really be philanthropic, to the same degree, without Mecca firing on all cylinders.. Using funds from the sale of her house, Horgan, then 29, opened a small store in South Yarra in Melbourne in 1997, selling cosmetics by cult brands such as Nars, Stila and Urban Decay. Ms Horgan adds that much of Mecca's success comes from choosing the right people to be around her in the first place. The AFR BOSS 2019 True Leaders list celebrates the people who are changing Australia for the better. Not for me to enjoy, but, she squeezes her fists together, for everyone to enjoy! Now that she has achieved that and here, one must set all cynicism aside Horgan has a new goal. Nicole Imberger & Aaron Sevier. 2023 BBC. That is pretty irreplaceable. Strong finance professional and graduated from Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand. That has given us enormous confidence for Melbourne. We were clear we didnt want to cannibalize existing business, which we havent. As the macro headwinds come to buffet us, if we stick with a laser-like focus to listening to our customers, and were agile in our response, well look to weather those headwinds. Read about our approach to external linking. Our signature line was originally built so we could do manicures and pedicures, and have product that we could get in bulk that matched at a back-bar level the type of product we were offering in our cosmetics realm. The murderer was Michael's cousin, Earnest Lee Hargon, 43, a former cattle truck driver who felt he had been cheated out of the family's will. Instead of markedly putting up prices Ms Hogan had to cut her profits. Theyre running bigger businesses than most managing directors in Australia and it is our responsibility to prepare them for that and make sure they will thrive. J.H. : It was both exhilarating and slightly daunting to have the magnifying glass on the map of the world, to go from hovering over Australia and New Zealand and to step back and back and back, and go wow, the world is a big place. The U.S. is an enormous market and a holy grail market and so many brands make the pilgrimage and the road is littered with those who have faltered and failed, because it is highly competitive. Living in Melbourne, Australia, she quit her project management job at French cosmetics giant L'Oreal, and launched her own company, which she called Mecca. The eldest of a family of four, he was just 16 when he was arrested on suspicion of raping and killing Rachel (22) on October 26, 2000. | Learn more about Tim Horgan's work experience, education, connections & more by . The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. in English literature from the University of Western Australia, Ms. Horgan pursued a Master's degree in mass communications at Boston University. Jennifer Aydin was involved in a verbal spat with Melissa Gorga and her husband, Joe Gorga, in the early hours of Sunday morning, and she threw a drink at them. Like most teenage girls she loved wearing makeup, but she never planned to work in cosmetics. The story that most people know about Mecca, and Jo, is about beauty, says Keenan, who has worked with Horgan, on and off, for close to 20 years. What Im doing is not what they have done. But, she adds, Its brilliant that they are being overt about what they are doing. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA Enterprise and the Google. Horgan's father Pat died when he was 18 months old, leaving his mother Alice to raise him along with his three siblings. Moreover, Australians love Mecca. Many brands have a higher brand ranking in this market than they do in any other market in the world, including their home market. Jo Horgan: Amazing. : The business is just as exciting and exhilarating a ride as Mecca. As were in the process of pondering what we should do, anything that differentiates us is a lever. That helped us say OK, in color, were going to have not only our entire offer, with big makeup stations on the ground floor for applications, but were going to have our Beauty Lab where 12 people can have half-hour beauty lessons on the hour every hour, like the Apple Genius bar. But you know, there is just so much to do! And the way customers interact with beauty has fundamentally shifted. Jo Horgan is like the Biblical King David of Israel who slew Goliath with a slingshot, said Leonard A. Lauder, chairman emeritus of the Este Lauder Cos. who first met Horgan when he toured her stores during a trip to Australia in 2000. J.H. If you look at 25 years ago versus now, the retail landscape has totally changed, the brand offer and category offers have multiplied out of sight, the players have diversified. J.H. Born in 23 Mar 1909 and died in 26 Oct 1975 Evansville, Indiana Mary Josephine "Mae Jo" Horgan McClurg More from WWD. Three times over the course of our conversation, politely inquiring members of her inner circle try to wrap us her up. Australian entrepreneurship Jo Horgan turned a love of makeup into 87-strong chain of cosmetics stores. How do we change the game in digital. Horgan is asked a lot about her future plans. : Jim Collins enunciated the spirit of Mecca when he said our mantra is wake up, breathe, innovate. 3 min read. And I see it as my role to ensure they are successful thats where the curling analogy comes into it.. You can bring your whole slightly flawed, slightly zany, slightly learning-as-you-go self with all of the optimism and joy and curiosity and slight astonishment of where you are with you. There is a great humility to her, underpinned by great positivity., Horgan and NGV director Tony Ellwood. If not me, who? she says. We see our role as acting as a lightning rod, where we take the brand DNA and deliver it directly to customers, and because we see ourselves as absolutely responsible for building both the brand equity and the sales performance, weve been able to do so to this ever-growing and captive audience. They are leading a necessary charge for others to follow; not only women but anyone who recognises that the arts are for everyone., Tony Ellwood is one of those people. Then it comes back to the disciplined march of being able to roll it out and execute it effectively across your suite of stores to make sure the innovation touches every customer and sweeps up every brand in some way, shape and form. Jo needs to dream, and keeping the company as it is allows her to dream big, on her terms.. That would be a compliment., Working with Jo is like having your fingers stuck in an electrical socket, says Keenan. Log in or sign up for Facebook to connect with friends, family and people you know. The uncommonly busy writer and actor on her mysterious next project, the evolution of television, and singing for the first time in Amazon's 'Everybody's Talking About Jamie.' Our role is to make sure our customers have everything they need for a comprehensive shopping experience. I love the stores, the edit, and the staff are a . B.C. That gave me the confidence that I could problem-solve, she says. For Horgan, leaning in and giving back are one and the same. Stars develops long-term, shared-value partnerships with organisations that have a commitment to empowering Indigenous girls and young women through education. Beauty is meant to be fun and fabulous and empowering. We have these values that we genuinely live by. A former heroin addict who had nowhere to live, he has cleaned up his own life and gone on to help others. She is one of a small but mighty coterie of female philanthropists whove made it their mission to prop up the Australian arts industry: Judith Neilson, Gretel Packer, Gene Sherman, Naomi Milgrom, Krystyna Campbell-Pretty. Australian beauty seller Mecca has walked away triumphant from its legal battle with the US' Hourglass Cosmetics over a breach of contract. Sue Mitchell writes the fortnightly Window Shopping column for the Financial Review and has covered retailing for over 30 years. M-Power grew out of a partnership that began in 2015 with the NGV. The numbers bear out the accolades. "I was the customer," she says. We all know them because the meeting rooms are named for them. At Mecca HQ you can book Fake It Til You Make It for your weekly team work-in-progress meeting, or If You Dont Ask, You Dont Get for performance reviews. Ms Horgan's relationship with cosmetics began early, when she was a little girl who enjoyed watching her mother apply makeup at their home in London, England. His Orana Foundation, founded in 2016, has compiled Australias first database of native foods. When was Joe Horgan drafted? J.H. Height. Ms Horgan says she has always welcomed the competition. You need to have boots on the ground to know the market. Mecca was one of the first beauty businesses to embrace e-commerce, launching an online store in 2001, and mecca.com.au is one of the largest players in the online beauty market. : I believe retail is going to go further to seamless transaction on the one end and absolutely completely experiential on the other. San Jose State. "You know what, I don't think I'm such a great boss," she says. Robbie Fimmano. Her words come more slowly now. Five persons linked to this address. ", Bakhmut attacks still being repelled, says Ukraine, Saving Private Ryan actor Tom Sizemore dies at 61, US lawyer jailed for murdering wife and son, The children left behind in Cuba's mass exodus, Xi Jinping's power grab - and why it matters, Snow, Fire and Lights: Photos of the Week. It has since profiled 1500 ingredients for their nutritional properties and identified potential uses. Owner of the Mecca Cosmetica chain, Jo Horgan, in her Mecca Maxima store. She built her empire on the idea that great customer service delivered in sumptuous spaces filled with luxurious products can make women feel not just more beautiful but also more valued, more confident. I wake up every morning and I feel I have to put my running shoes on and run fast and run hard. 1.73m. "Given the sheer size of the industry, Mecca has a market share of less than 3%, despite its 70-plus stores," she says. I feel my role is to furiously shine the ice so as many [stones] hit the target as possible, she says. Mary Jo Horrigan Dever. Two, I try and surround myself with incredible people who have the agency to debate whether that is the right flag and once we agree were all in, I watch them go forth with profound admiration for what as a team is done and delivered. Jo is quietly powerful, he says. Perhaps the biggest contributing factor to Horgans success as a founder and empire-builder, she says, was her choice of life partner. Its incredibly exciting and exhilarating and slightly astonishing to look back on an action-packed 25 years of events, activities and incredible milestones. J.H. Photograph by Gareth McConnell for The New Yorker. Sign up for beauty news straight to your inbox every day. One of the joys of having the best product in the world is that we can allow customers to experience it. Naomi Hobson, the 2020 winner of Meccas artist commission. This was about 45% of all the recorded Horgan's in United Kingdom. So building and driving our signature line business has not been a priority. It is actually the number-one customer recruiter into Mecca and a very different customer profile. Read More . And I think that if you said that to her, shed actually be really happy. "I used to sit with her at one of those old-fashioned dressing tables, and we'd just chat," she says. See Photos. Jo Horgan was 14 when her family decided to leave behind the genteel streets of Wimbledon and move to Australia. We collect and match historical records that Ancestry users have contributed to their family trees to create each person's profile. 15. Especially because during the first year, I kept thinking of the statistic that nine out of 10 businesses fail in year one, so I knew I had better be pretty focused on how I differentiated myself from the average. Our ability to trade them into Meccas broader offers has been another silent winning lever. These stores make beauty fun and inclusive, like going to a party where everyone leaves looking just a little bit shinier. : Weve always tried to shoot bullets before firing cannonballs, test and trial, make small bets before really going for it. Mermaid-Core Beauty Looks at Milan Fashion Week Spring 2023 We have an incredible connection with our customers. : Europe is a thriving market and we would clearly have to consider it along with other markets and thats the phase we are in. J.H. I have recommended this to several family members; I got my brother Paul into the business and he owns and runs the . This was about 50% of all the recorded Horgan's in USA. The couple, who have two children, had met while both were studying in the US in their 20s. There are established philanthropists such as Krystyna Campbell-Pretty and Fiona Myer, and emerging members of Melbournes creative scene, such as cook Julia Busuttil Nishimura and jeweller Sarah Munro along with Oroton designer Sophie Holt. That will be our approach. Joe Gorga says the feud that led him to skip his sister Teresa Giudice's wedding is "ruining" his life.. Thats what were meant to offer our customers, so if we cant live that ourselves, what are we doing? How has that been manifested in the Sydney flagship that you opened during COVID-19? Women earn less, have fewer savings, make up 68% of the part-time workforce and are more likely to be part of single-parent households. : One, I try and plant a flag as to where I think we all should go. What that means for us is to ingegrate the incredible service our hosts offer in store and work out how to do that in the digital arena. Jo Horgan was the EY Entrepreneur of The Year 2018 Australia Award winner. But as she notches more than two decades of growth and success, Horgan has no interest in taking a victory lap. Its website gets nine million page views a month. Jo Horgan has spent the last 25 years building the business she founded, Mecca, into Australias largest prestige beauty retailer. The Horgan family name was found in the USA, the UK, Canada, and Scotland between 1840 and 1920. Go and ask the team and they will know them. I ask a team member who laughs, nodding. Owned by French luxury goods multinational LVMH, Sephora now has 13 outlets in the country. Premier John Horgan . J.H. Southern Utah. Not only that, day by day, year by year, she built her brand in such a way that it is today one of the largest beauty retailers in Australia. They call it Mecca magic has Jo mentioned that?. We then moved into sun care, because it is so highly regulated in Australia, and it built from there. How would you describe your leadership style? "I think I have enough self-awareness to know there are so many areas I'm not good at. Well, that and gin. Those are the two extremes that will prevail into the future. WWD and Women's Wear Daily are part of Penske Media Corporation. Jo Horgan's Phone Number and Email Last Update. It is so deeply embedded in our DNA that when people join Mecca, they are slightly stunned by the whirling dervish nature of continual evolution and innovation, and the willingness to try different things and the pace that the organization runs at. Mecca Brands ASIC statement for calendar year 2016 shows that the company's revenue was $287 million, up from $188.9 million in . Duncan Killick. Earnest Hargon had been adopted into the family as a youngster when his mother married a Hargon. 5 View gallery The family of murdered Eshter Horgan . Horgan won the 2008 British Comedy Award for Best TV . She was banking on the idea that beauty products were better sold by staff who were knowledgeable across various brands, instead of being incentivised to prioritise one brand over another the way assistants at concessions inside department stores were. Thats the Mecca magic, she says. He actually painted the future for Mecca I had not painted for myself, says Horgan. Horgan insists that she is not on the same level as the likes of Sherman or Neilson. Today, the customer is all-ruling. Silvia Hsieh & Alessandro Diamanti. Its also acknowledging that as you get bigger, you do need to bring a more disciplined approach to ensure that innovation remains in the business, so we have a concept innovation team working across everything from services and service providers through to categories to totally new concepts. The firm M.J. Horgan & Sons operated until 1st July 2009. But hold on to your hat, Dorothy. There is a saying at Mecca, she says, that its always OK to do the wrong thing for the right reason. I think our strongest levers are our obsession with the customer, our ability to build an extraordinarily knowledgeable and engaged team who provide a completely differentiated experience and to provide a shopping environment that feels more like a home interior that you would love to hang out in as opposed to a transactional retail environment. "It's pretty heavy going. : I think its really fascinating. 62 years. I feel like everyone is out there trying to get their stone to hit the target and my role is literally to shine the ice in front of their stone so madly that, even though at times I might be a hot sweaty mess, if I do my job properly their pucks hit the target. She could have called it Horgans, or something. John William Horgan was a Solicitor in Cork in a firm called M.J.Horgan & Sons. Our goal for the next 25 years is to be the worlds most loved beauty destination. Utah State. Weve crafted a globally unique model that is proven where it is equal parts customer obsession, brand service and team engagement. jo horgan family. John Horgan was raised by a single mother after his father died, went "off the . When Ms Horgan was 14, her family relocated from the UK to Australia, settling in Perth. We had a top spa do a three-month incursion so they can connect with clients. The May issue of AFR Magazine, the Philanthropy issue, is out on Friday, April 29 inside The Australian Financial Review. And I do say so far, because Im now looking at the next 25-year horizon and knowing whats possible gives me enormous confidence for what Mecca can achieve in the next 25, with all of the learnings and brand relationships we have, and with the ambition, grit and determination that we have to redefine the way beauty is presented to consumers. That her empire is named Mecca is apt working for Horgan requires matching her level of faith and optimism in the world, or at least striving to. What impact is this having and how do you mitigate it? Selling her home to help raise funds, she opened her first Mecca boutique in the city's upmarket South Yarra suburb, selling cosmetics from cult brands such as Nars, Stila and Urban Decay. "Bring it on. : Nearly 95 percent of our sales are done with brands that are exclusive and sit in the Mecca brand management model. Jo Horgan founded Mecca Brands with one store front in 1997. Looking at Horgan now, it feels preordained that she would be here, at the top of a beauty empire that has all but toppled the department stores and has left LVMH-owned Sephora in the dust. As the business continues to grow even bigger, do you plan on remaining independent? Petes job at BCG gave me real independence and the space to be an entrepreneur. A new team member gets over 200 hours of education in their first year. Jo Horgan and NGV curator Simone LeAmon with the recipient of the Women in Design Commission, Mexican architect Tatiana Bilbao (on screen). Jo Horgan plans to make the whole world more beautiful. Bilbao wants to change that. For Horgan, the site came with a . : Our mission is to humanize digital. With health and wellness, we have a naturopath who comes in. Engage via Email. I dont wake up and say, Gosh, arent I successful, she says. Today, 21 years later, Mecca has 87 outlets across Australia and New Zealand, and reported annual revenues of 287m Australian dollars ($223m; 157m). Joe Horgan has not been elected into the Hall of Fame. Climbing up rocks on the side of a hill, covered in moss and mud, John Horgan has never seemed so sure of his footing. The 2022 Beauty Inc Awards took place on Wednesday, celebrating the year's standout innovations, launches and industry leaders. The Mecca magic that Horgan frequently intones stems from the idea that staff members should be empowered to make decisions to ensure their customers look, and more importantly feel their best. Staff receive 200 hours of training in their first year Meccas training budget is more than 2 per cent of sales and everyone from the shop floor up is encouraged to develop their skills. That is the Mecca magic.. In a ceremony hosted at . Krissy Johnson & Tony Raftis . There is so much volatility today in macro terms the economy, culture, politics, etc. But . A work by the artist would also be bought and displayed at the NGVs Ian Potter Centre. Jo Horgan Josh Robenstone/WWD. The beautician was a neighbour of the Horgan family. Jock Zonfrillo is a restaurateur with a big difference. Thats at the heart of what we obsess about every single day. Politician. Washing, for most of the world, is womens work. Its ever changing, ever innovating. But it goes much deeper than that. : The Sydney store is about 18,000 square feet, three times the size of our biggest store and nearly eight times the size of our average store. Robbie Fimmano. We bring our managers and sales team together twice a year and get extraordinary speakers, like Julia Gillard, Australias only female prime minister. But some of it is instinct. Thats telling the story of the founder, of why they came up with that name, whos used the product on the runway, how to use it. : In its first year, the Sydney store easily surpassed our goals, and it just shows that if you give customers what they may not ever know they want, but if you give them something they love, they will follow you. J.H. At this, Horgan shrugs. Find your friends on Facebook. Going back to Sydney, we put hairstyling in and that has grown into a burgeoning business of its own. Horgan is the best thing about it, undercutting any hoariness with a curl of her lip or a withering aside. Jason South. In September, the work by Bilbao will be unveiled at the NGV, and a new M-Power leadership team will be announced. Its pretty incredible, what shes done, said Mickey Drexler, the renowned retailer who headed up Gap and J. Right from the outset, I was really clear on what Mecca was, she says. Thats what I want to lean into., And then Horgans face lights up. "Because you watch your cost of goods double, and you can't go to the customer and say 'sorry, we need to double the price of the product'. There are other ways in which we invest in our teams. I love how smart she is in business, which the results speak to, and she is always looking for the next opportunity., Horgans vivacity also permeates her approach to the business.