Jane Wurwand
Jane Wurwand is an innovative business visionary, author, and small business supporter whose advocacy for economic empowerment has earned her a platform at The United Nations, The White House, and at speaking engagements worldwide. Childhood advice from her suddenly-widowed mum - “learn how to do something” - drove Wurwand’s career in the salon industry and propelled her life’s work as an entrepreneur who has inspired and supported business owners across the globe.
Wurwand is the Co-Founder and Chief Visionary of Dermalogica and The International Dermal Institute, game-changing brands that revolutionized the professional skin care industry. When Jane emigrated to the United States in 1983, she saw a gap in professional skin care education as well as a lack of US-based professional-grade skin care products. She first created the model for advanced industry education, upskilling skin professionals to be successful small business owners. In 1986, Wurwand launched Dermalogica with 27 innovative product formulations free of common irritants found in competitors. Today, Dermalogica is the number one choice of skin professionals worldwide, known for its #1 selling powder exfoliant and training more than 100,000 skin therapists per year.
In 2018, Wurwand launched FOUND/LA, a non-profit dedicated to providing funding and education to underserved entrepreneurs – particularly women, immigrants, and other minorities – to help them grow their businesses. Through partnerships with the Opportunity Fund, The Mayor’s Office, and key education institutions, FOUND/LA is shifting the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Los Angeles into a more inclusive economy.
In 2021, Wurwand released the book Skin in the Game: Everything You Need is Already Inside You (Harper Collins Leadership), which chronicles the many ways she’s unapologetically rewritten the rules of the beauty industry. Within Skin in the Game, Jane details how she’s been able to find authenticity, seize her potential, and live her biggest life — as well as how that can be achieved by others. The book’s message is one of resilience, never shrinking yourself, and always finding your “why” even in (and especially during) times of adversity. All proceeds from Skin in the Game will go to FOUND/LA.
Wurwand’s expertise on entrepreneurship is frequently sought out by the media, including Bloomberg, MSNBC, Inc, Entrepeneur, Sky News, People magazine, NPR’s “How I Built This” podcast, the Outspoken Beauty Podcast, and The Telegraph United Kingdom, among many others. She was recognized on the 2023 Forbes 50Over50 list, named one of “30 World-Changing Women” by Conscious Company media and praised as “The Woman Who Started a Cult” by The Sunday Times. President Obama appointed Wurwand a Presidential Ambassador for Global Entrepreneurship, one of a prestigious group of America’s top entrepreneurs who helped develop the next generation of entrepreneurs, both in the USA and abroad.
Wurwand travels year-round as a speaker, and lives and works in Los Angeles, where Dermalogica’s global headquarters are located. She rejects the word “beauty” as it relates to skin care, believing it to be objectifying and limiting, and continues to champion skillset training as a critical pathway towards financial independence. She and her husband, Raymond are parents of two children.
