Beyond Yourself, Entrepreneurship Edition
Mary Yee has driven marketing strategy for brands inside some of the world’s most iconic companies, including Johnson & Johnson, Neutrogena, and PlayStation. Now, as the CEO of Tatcha, she’s transforming the way people care for themselves through their skin.
You could say that marketing is Yee’s calling, though she started out in public accounting. In 2000, she reached out to Mike Chen, BS 97, then a Clorox marketing associate, for an informational interview. An exodus of MBA graduates leaving traditional marketing roles to join dot-coms created a golden opportunity for Yee to break into brand marketing.
“At the time, Clorox was open to bringing in marketing talent at junior levels,” Yee says. Despite not having much industry experience, Yee joined Clorox’s Marketing Associate Program—a pilot program for entry-level marketers without an MBA. Since then, her career has flourished
At Sony, for example, she helped transform PlayStation from “a game console to a cultural phenomenon, loved by over 100 million fans globally,” Yee says.
She joined skincare company Tatcha in 2021, bringing that same ingenuity and marketing know-how to help the company blaze its own trail in a market dominated by large heritage brands like Estée Lauder and buzzy newcomers like Sol de Janeiro.
Tatcha, known for “healing people from skin to soul” through its transformative Japanese skincare, is working toward becoming a household name. Yee’s influence is apparent. She’s driven consistent double-digit growth by building Tatcha’s loyal consumers in the U.S., while expanding abroad to 19 countries. “There’s nothing like Tatcha in the market,” Yee says.
https://linkedin.com/in/maryyee
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