How I started in beauty: Floral Street founder Michelle Feeney

Having worked with some of the biggest names in fashion and beauty, held senior global roles within the industry, and founded Floral Street in 2017, Michelle Feeney has helped shape the way beauty connects with consumers around the world.

In this interview, Feeney reflects on the moments that sparked her passion, the lessons that have guided her leadership and why creating products with purpose and longevity remains at the heart of everything she does.

Have you always had an interest in beauty? Why does it appeal to you and why did you want to work within it?

To be honest, I stumbled into beauty via fashion. My first job was in 1983 at Lesley Goring PR and Fashion Show Production; it was so exciting as it was at the advent of British Fashion Week. Working backstage at the time with major designers like Jean Paul Gaultier and Betty Jackson, I learned how fashion and beauty went hand in hand to create extraordinary looks. I was hooked on the creative process and the designers, make-up artists and hairdressers who made it happen!

Tell us about your first job in beauty. What drew you to the role? What this experience was like?

At my first job, we had a hairdressing client - Trevor Sorbie. He was very much a celebrity hairdresser (appearing on The Clothes Show) and was also loved and lauded in professional circles. He was unusual at the time as he had a product line (the first-ever professional products in Boots). I was then able to start working with beauty editors, hair industry professionals and send stylists on shoots, and that is when I truly got hooked on beauty as an industry and the power of products and the ability to make a difference in women’s lives.

What were the most valuable skills or lessons you gained from that first experience?

The gift of being in the room where it happens, experiencing masters of creativity at work and seeing the collaborative process that becomes excellence. This all showed me in the early days how to make an idea a reality and how, via product development in beauty, the idea can be translated into commerce. This all served me well when I arrived in NYC without a job but with confidence and openness.

What do you most enjoy about your current role?

I still love the creative process, so working with Jerome Epinette, our master perfumer, to realise a fragrance and then taking the essence of this into packaging and visuals. In perfume right now, I feel many brands have become completely transactional - cheap packaging, constant newness (not good for the planet) and trend-led scents for the sake of commerce. Call me old-fashioned, but the joy for me is creating an affordable luxury that feels special and performs exceptionally!

If you could go back and give your younger self one piece of advice at the very start of your career, what would it be - and why?

Wow, this is hard. I have lived my life and career like an open book, never having applied for a job but gaining career momentum via hard work and excellence. I think I would say to my younger self: you don’t have to do it alone. Take stock of your talents and perhaps let someone in to make sure your rewards match your talents!

What does the next chapter of your own career look like and how are you hoping to grow from here?

As a founder and CEO, every day I am confronted with new challenges and, in a time of immense change, new learning experiences. This means that for the immediate future, my goal is to be the best I can be every day and lead my incredible team to grow Floral Street. However, I have just become a Campaign Ambassador at Warwick University, which is opening up the possibility to inspire and create in a different way.

Has there been a person in beauty that you have always admired and why?

I have had the privilege of working with so many incredible professionals from all aspects of the beauty world, but I always come back to Leonard Lauder. In 1995, I was headhunted into ELC in NYC. I was only 32 and was a single mum. After 10 interviews, including with Leonard Lauder himself, I was given a senior global role at the jewel-in-the-crown brand at the time, Prescriptives.

Leonard and Evelyn Lauder were the ultimate beauty power couple and were extremely involved with all the brands and the charities and arts organisations they supported. Leonard and the organisation taught me the power of teamwork, the importance of detail, the absolute pursuit of excellence in product, and ultimately, to listen to the consumer.

He also never forgot to say thank you, usually with a famous handwritten blue note. He was a very human, very generous leader and mentor. With the advent of AI, the processes and information speed up, but for me, the principles are still the same.