This week, the Midwest Chapter of the Society of Cosmetic Chemists (MWSCC) held its biannual meeting. TeamworkEvent held at the Donald E. Stevens Convention Center in Rosemont, Illinois. Focusing on ingredients and product formulations in the cosmetics and personal care sector, this year’s event’s quirky theme ‘Pure Imagination’ offers attendees the opportunity to explore industry innovations with a sense of wonder And even invite visitors to win golden tickets and win prizes.
This year’s event attracted more than 1,000 attendees and over 100 exhibitors, including Probiotics, Clariant, Mibel Biochemistry, Univar Solutions and Givaudan.
The event began with a keynote address by Chris Kanik, founder of Smart Cups Technology, who spoke about creating sustainable consumables during his talk, “The Fight for Progress: Smart Cups’ Willy Wonka-Inspired Innovation Saga.” I introduced my own experience.
teamwork 2024Participants will also have access to a wide range of educational opportunities, including a technical symposium presentation series. The series covered a variety of topics, including precision fermentation, patent protection, sustainable innovation, emotional intelligence in the workplace, and the relationship between AI and cosmetics development.
In addition, SCC will exhibit student poster presentations such as “Emulsion Characterization – Determining Emulsifier Feel and Type” and “Moisturizers and Lipsticks: Are Sustainable Ingredients Effective Alternatives to Synthetic Ingredients?” sponsored.
Cosmetics Design will discuss key takeaways from this year’s MWSCC teamwork with Kanik, technical symposium presenter Ellen Feldman Ornato, co-founding partner of Bolder Company, and exhibitor Beto Pino, Vantage Innovation; We interviewed the Vice President of Personal Care.
Main points of the keynote speech
When asked what is important? TeamworkAt the event, keynote speaker Chris Kanik said that “innovation is hard” and that “if you want to innovate, you’re going to struggle.”
This simple sentiment sums up the theme of the event and his discussion, where Kanik shares his emotional journey through the peaks and valleys of his experiences building the Smart Cup brand and becoming an industry disruptor. led the audience. He said the experience included “being pushed to the brink of insanity, almost losing my children and my wife, and now here I am.”
But he added: [Smart Cups] With all these applications in place, technology will have a positive impact on people’s lives. That’s why I do this job. ”
Smart cup technology is an innovative option for a variety of industries, including food and beverage, as well as cosmetics and personal care. The aim is to “eliminate liquid transport,” Kanik said, “which will reduce storage and transport requirements, reduce unnecessary packaging and, in turn, reduce carbon emissions.” .
Considering that cosmetics and personal care products are a significant source of pollution and packaging waste, “If we can offer smart cup technology as a solution, we hope that cosmetics companies will adopt it and start a domino effect.” ‘ he added.
He concluded that he will participate in events such as: Teamwork“Being surrounded by people who are committed to making a difference and who want to do that through science and who want to make the world a better place is a breath of fresh air for me.” To achieve these goals, he urged industry innovators to start with the need to “be honest with ourselves.”
Key points of the lecture at the technical symposium
Technical Symposium speaker Ellen Feldman-Ornato, in her presentation “Using Emotional Intelligence (EQ) to Inspire Imagination,” said, “Emotional intelligence and how it can bring more creativity and imagination to your organization.” We discussed the importance of “connecting emotional intelligence, creativity, and imagination to infuse.” ” she summed up.
Ms. Ornato draws on her background at The Boulder Company, a leadership development organization focused on “building critical skills that enable people to collaborate more effectively in the workplace,” as well as cosmetics and personal care product manufacturers. explained that this is one of the most important issues for companies. Today, workers “do not have high levels of emotional intelligence.”
When something like this happens, she explained: “Creativity doesn’t happen because people are most creative when they’re most relaxed. They’re least creative when they feel threatened and their ideas won’t work.” ” Please be cherished. ”
To address these challenges, Bolder Company is introducing leadership and other skills that increase emotional intelligence within companies by working with “supervisors and managers who have the most influence, especially those at the production level.” I am striving to do so. Ideally, the positive effects spill over to employees at the top and lower levels, improving overall working conditions, which in turn fosters creativity and increases productivity throughout the company.
Regarding the key takeaways from her talk, Ornato said: “Most importantly, emotional intelligence, the ability to understand how your body is reacting in any given situation (and the ability to gain greater ownership over your reactions and responses),” It’s something that can be learned.” It’s a skill that anyone can develop. “Another possibility,” she concluded, “is that there are known predictive cycles of how people repeat their emotional responses.”
Important points from an exhibitor’s perspective
After hearing from the keynote speaker and one of the technology symposium presenters, Cosmetic Design scoured the show floor for some key takeaways and met with Beto Pino, vice president of innovation and personal care at ingredient manufacturer Vantage. I was there.Attending TeamworkFor the first time, Mr. Pino emphasized that he was very impressed with the expo, saying, “It’s great to see so much agreement about what we’re experiencing as a personal care industry.”
Regarding key takeaways from the event, Pino said the concept of the show was exciting, adding, “I think at the end of the day, everyone wants a special treat, like a special taste.” and is behind innovations in product formulations.
“The beauty of personal care is that even though there is science and most of us are chemists, every time we think that if we are the raw materials, we are preparing a new product,” he says. added. Vantage, or rather it is the final product with our customers, we always want to add that extra magic and uniqueness that our customers experience when they open the bottle or jar. ” This is summed up in the spirit of the event. concept.
As a final lesson, he said: “Many of the proposals we saw in the hall were all about spontaneity, all about experience, and the most important thing was, ‘How can we satisfy the end user?’ They have a responsibility to the world. I feel satisfied that I am purchasing a product that is also responsible in its cultivation practices. [which] It’s a very essential value proposition. ”
