Sephora APAC marketing chief departs after four years

Stuart La Brooy (pictured) has stepped down as chief marketing officer and vice president of marketing at Sephora APAC, ending a four-year stint leading the beauty retailer's marketing operations across the region.

La Brooy confirmed his departure in a LinkedIn post, noting 20 August as his final day at Sephora. He joined the company in April 2022 and was a member of its APAC leadership team, overseeing marketing for a business spanning 10 markets, more than 130 brand partners and 20 million customers.

During his tenure, La Brooy led a regional team of more than 80 people across integrated marketing, publicity and influencer marketing, content and social, brand partnerships, creative, media, CRM, loyalty and consumer analytics.

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Reflecting on his time at the company, La Brooy pointed to year-on-year profitable market share growth, gains in brand strength against competitors, the development of new marketing and partnership capabilities, record Beauty Pass sales and events, and brand launches that performed ahead of targets.

However, he said the transformation of Sephora APAC's marketing team was the achievement he was most proud of. When he joined four years ago, the team needed to rethink how it worked together, sharpen the role of marketing within the business and strengthen its use of insights to guide strategy.

La Brooy said the team subsequently worked to build greater trust and confidence across the organisation while developing the capabilities needed to support both internal and external partners.

In his farewell post, he thanked his former marketing team for its "energy, courage, collaboration, and resilience", adding that seeing team members grow in confidence, leadership and talent would remain more memorable to him than business scorecards.

He also thanked Sephora global president and CEO Guillaume Motte, global chief marketing officer Deborah Yeh and other senior leaders for the opportunity to lead the brand across APAC.

Prior to Sephora, La Brooy spent close to four years at Diageo, most recently as senior marketing director for strategic partnerships in Asia. In the role, he led brands including Johnnie Walker, Guinness, Tanqueray and The Singleton across nine joint venture and partnership businesses in the region.

Before joining Diageo, he spent 11 years as senior partner and founder of marketing and strategy consultancy 2D6, where his work included projects for brands and companies such as Mead Johnson and Netflix in Asia.

La Brooy also spent more than a decade at Procter & Gamble, holding a string of regional and global brand roles. These included director of worldwide partnerships and digital for SK-II, where he worked across creator partnerships, social media, content strategy and brand ambassador management.

He began his career at P&G as a brand management intern in 2005 before moving into roles covering personal healthcare brands and markets across Asia Pacific.

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His departure comes after Sephora ramped up its regional brand-building efforts in recent years. Last year, the beauty retailer rolled out "The perfect shade for you" with Virtue Asia across 10 APAC markets, as it looked to champion individuality, authenticity and inclusivity.

Building on Sephora's global "We Belong to Something Beautiful" brand signature, the campaign put the retailer's range of more than 1,500 foundation shades at the centre. It positioned makeup as a tool for self-expression and empowerment while reinforcing Sephora's inclusive beauty proposition across the culturally diverse region.

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