Rare Beauty Chief Product Officer Joyce Kim Talks Her Career Journey

A beauty brand’s success hinges on several factors, chief among them the strength of its leadership team. It’s clear Rare Beauty’s founder, Selena Gomez, understood this well, as she tapped the most talented minds to help shape her line. More specifically, she recruited Joyce Kim, a seasoned exec with tenure at NYX Professional Makeup, to be the brand’s chief product officer.

Since 2019, Rare Beauty has been known for its award-winning, viral launches like the Soft Pinch Liquid Blush. Kim and her team are the powerhouses making sure these products make it to market, focusing on everything from developing inclusive formulas in the lab to conceptualizing innovative packaging. Ahead, Kim shares deeper insight into her unexpected entry into the beauty industry, what she’s learned from working with Gomez, and her in-office beauty routine. Keep reading to get to know more about her story.

On How She Broke Into Beauty

“I began my professional journey at Sole Technology, an apparel and footwear company. There, I wore many hats, mostly handling production/purchasing and merchandising, which gave me a full 360-degree view of the product lifecycle and helped develop my operational skillset. After a stint living in Amsterdam, I moved back to Los Angeles and was approached by a recruiter for a purchasing role at a small cosmetics brand (at the time) called NYX Professional Makeup. That was my official start in the beauty industry. Over time, I rose to become vice president of global product development, where I helped develop thousands of SKUs. During that time, NYX went through a period of explosive growth until we were acquired by L’Oreal in 2014. I then stayed on for another four years to help globalize the brand and learn how a massive organization like L’Oreal functions. It was a great learning experience and I’m incredibly proud of the work I did during that time, but around 2018, I decided it was time to move on and work on something new.” 

On Landing at Rare Beauty

“After I left NYX Professional Makeup and L’Oreal, I took some time off to disconnect for a bit and recharge. Around this time, I was meeting with many people who all wanted to either start brands or were existing brands that wanted to grow their teams with seasoned executives. One of the opportunities I heard about was that Selena Gomez had a concept for something new in the beauty space and wanted to build out a team. A few of my colleagues, whom I worked with from NYX, all got together and met with Selena, and we hit it off immediately. We were fully aligned on the vision of what this brand could be. And that’s how Rare Beauty was started.” 

Her Day-to-Day at Rare Beauty

“As for my day-to-day, it’s a mix of art and science. Some mornings I’m working with my team on formulations, swatching shades on every skin tone imaginable, tweaking textures until they’re just right. Other days, I’m reviewing packaging prototypes, making sure they’re not just beautiful but functional and inclusive. I spend a lot of time connecting with my team, too, because product development is such a collaborative process. It takes creativity, technical expertise, and a lot of passion.”  

“And of course, I work hand in hand on everything with Selena. She’s so hands-on, she’ll test formulas, give honest feedback, and always bring the conversation back to how our community will experience the product. She’s one of the hardest-working people I have ever met, but she’s always thinking about Rare Beauty and what’s coming next. There have been times when she will FaceTime me while she’s in New York filming Only Murders in the Building with a new idea for a product or a new fragrance she’s loving. I’m really very lucky!” 

The Challenging and Rewarding Parts of Her Job

“Product development is a very technical job, and there are a million steps for a product to go from concept to market. In each of those steps, something can go wrong, so I spend a lot of time problem-solving very challenging technical issues that can come up in the process of scaling up production. Especially for a brand like ours, where we are always trying to innovate on packaging that’s more accessible for people, it can be quite challenging to bring a new custom component to market in a way that works well with the formulas. But the most rewarding part of my job comes right after that, when I get to see the reaction from our community, especially when they love a product.” 

On Launching Rare Beauty’s Fragrance Category

“It always starts with Selena and whatever she’s inspired by. We’ve been working on makeup for a long time, but Selena is someone who has always been drawn to the sensoriality of the product. That’s why all of our initial launches when we first started the brand were based around liquid products—liquid blushes, foundations, concealers, luminizers, etc. During a certain period, she was inspired by the rituals of self-care, and that’s how we started developing our Find Comfort body care collection. As part of that process, we had to develop the scent profile of the products, which she had a lot of fun with. Once that was done, she decided she wanted to explore deeper in that space and asked us to work on a new, fine fragrance line that was unique to the space. We then spent years working on this exact launch, from the fragrance itself to the new packaging that’s more accessible for people with dexterity challenges, to the introduction of an innovation in the layering balms. I wish I could say there was some grand strategy behind the timing, but honestly, it all comes back to Selena and what she’s inspired by at any given moment.”

On Mentorship

“I’ve been fortunate to have people along the way who believed in me and pushed me to grow, even when I didn’t see that potential in myself yet. Early in my career, I had leaders who let me try on so many different hats—operations, merchandising, purchasing, sales, product development, etc. They probably could have kept me in a neat little box, but instead, they encouraged me to explore. That gave me a foundation I still lean on every day. And today, I learn so much from working with Selena. She’s one of the most famous people on the planet, but she manages to stay humble and treats everyone around her with such dignity and respect. She has a quiet leadership and an ability to inspire people, which I try to incorporate into the way I work every day.” 

How She Stays Motivated

“Stressful times are inevitable in this industry. Launching products on a global scale means there are always tight timelines, endless details to get right, and the occasional curveball you didn’t see coming. What helps me stay grounded is remembering why we’re doing this in the first place. When I zoom out and connect back to our mission, the day-to-day stress feels more manageable. I also lean on my team a lot. They’re absolutely the best in the industry, and I couldn’t do anything without them bringing our vision to life. I feel a responsibility towards them to stay positive and motivated even when we’re dealing with the most stressful times of crisis. I know they’re looking to me to lead in those moments, so I owe it to them to remain calm and rational.” 

Her Advice to Aspiring Beauty Leaders

“When I think back to when I was starting, I didn’t have a straight path into beauty. I began in apparel, moved through operations, and only later found myself in cosmetics. So the first piece of advice I’d give is: don’t worry if your path isn’t linear. Every experience you have, even if it doesn’t seem directly related, can give you skills and perspectives that will make you stronger once you do land in beauty. I’d also encourage people to know the consumer. It’s not about what you think is beautiful; it’s about how people feel when they use the product. Listen to feedback, pay attention to what excites people, and build with empathy.” 

On What Beauty Means to Her

“For me, beauty has never been just about how something looks; it’s about how it makes you feel. I think that’s why Rare Beauty’s mission resonates so deeply with me. Beauty, to me, is about self-expression without apology, whether that means a full beat because it makes you feel amazing, or just a swipe of concealer and lip balm because that’s all you need to feel like yourself. Beauty is confidence, self-acceptance, and joy. It’s knowing that you don’t have to look like anyone else to feel beautiful; you just have to feel comfortable and confident in your skin.” 

On Her Legacy

“When I think about legacy, I don’t measure it in product sales or the number of launches I’ve overseen. I measure it in how people feel. My hope is that my work in this industry has helped shift the conversation around beauty away from perfection and toward authenticity, inclusivity, and emotional well-being. And on a more personal note, I want to inspire future leaders—especially women who come from minority backgrounds—to know that there’s a place for them in beauty. I didn’t have a straight path into this field, but I found my way, and I hope that one day inspires someone who feels like they don’t belong to say, ‘She accomplished all that, so I can too.'” 

On Her Office-Day Beauty Routine

“Being Korean, of course, I have a 10-step beauty routine. But I’m also a mom of two young children, so it really depends on how well-behaved they’re being before I have to run to my first meeting in the morning. But generally, my non-negotiables in my beauty routine are obviously sunscreen, my Brow Harmony Precision Brow Pencil, Perfect Strokes Matte Liquid Liner, Soft Pinch Dewy Liquid Blush in Hope, and dry shampoo.”