Cosmetic Laboratories’ Jackie Pack Reflects On 50 Years in Beauty

“Love the industry you’re in and it’s never just a job – it’s the way to celebrate your life’s choice.” A conversation with industry veteran Jackie Pack, VP of Sales & Marketing at private label manufacturer Cosmetic Laboratories. 

From regulation to globalization, digitalization, social media, AI, so much has changed in the beauty industry in just recent years that harking back half a century is to glimpse a world that is barely recognizable. 

For one, “you really didn’t hear about an indie company,” said Jackie Pack, VP of Sales & Marketing at private label manufacturer Cosmetic Laboratories, who’s achieved the striking milestone of 50 years in the beauty industry. 

“Even if you did get somebody who wanted to be in the business, you had very little to formulate with – kind of the same old thing, over and over again. There was nothing really for us to choose from as a manufacturer. The only botanical extract we had was aloe vera.” 

Pack was introduced to aloe vera through natural herbal remedies expert Dr. Ivan Danhof, known as the “Father of Aloe Vera,” who passed in 2021. His legacy lives on at family-owned Danhof Aloe of Grand Prairie, TX. 

Today, “every kind of botanical extract you can imagine is out there, and they all do phenomenal things. The suppliers of today are all about science, and there’s just so much that we have at our fingertips that we didn’t have back then,” Pack said. 

Modern-day beauty entrepreneurs also enjoy a spectrum of accessible sales channels. “People didn’t know really how to even sell their product,” Pack recounted. “What were they going to do? Maybe they could sell some products in a beauty salon.” 

Pack began her career owning and operating hair salons in Florida with her husband before becoming an aesthetician, which provided opportunity to train novices in the field in the Pacific Rim. Later, a friend who had been working in network marketing started her own skin-care company and asked Pack to join as head of sales, a role she’s owned since across various businesses. She’s been at Cosmetic Laboratories now for 17 years. 

“I’ve always been in sales of some sort or another,” Pack said. “I know that if I believe in something, I can sell it. I think everybody is a salesperson, one way or another.” 

For Pack and her peers, opportunities began opening up with a boom in multi-level marketing, along with home shopping networks and direct mail catalogs, in the 1970s and ‘80s. 

“People – women especially if they had children – really didn’t have a way of selling something or getting in business. But now if they were with a Mary Kay or a BeautiControl or one of those, they could do parties at night, and that’s how they made their money. Now you have TikTok, social selling.” 

There may be a greater diversity of channels for selling beauty products today compared with years past, but that doesn’t mean innovators have a clear-cut plan when they come knocking at Cosmetic Laboratories. 

“I always say to customers, our job in manufacturing is easy – we do it every day. But the customer’s job is very difficult. They have to sell it. I’m going to help with the product, I’m going to help design the product, and so on. But if I ask them how they’re going to market, and they say to me, ‘I have a website,’ I go, ‘Ok, so how are you going to drive people to your website?’ Some don’t know. But the ones that come in that know exactly what they’re going to do – oh my, they can be so successful.” 

Cosmetic Laboratories prides itself on its custom manufacturing, part of its robust menu of turnkey services. “When we customize something for our customer, we won’t use that formula for anybody else but them,” Pack said. 

She noted that while 10 years ago, natural and organic beauty were all the rage, nowadays the prevailing ethos is “clean, clean, clean.” Meanwhile, heightened eco-consciousness and new regulations for extended producer responsibility (EPR) are impacting packaging. 

“We’re having more and more client clients that want to have recyclable materials.” This has further complicated packaging choice. “Some come in and say, ‘I want all my packaging to be shocking pink.’ Well, you can get shocking pink, but you’re going to have to order maybe 25,000 or 50,000 of those. Everything’s available, it just depends how many you want to buy and how much inventory you want to have.” 

A widow now with a daughter at Cosmetic Laboratories – Shelley Strowd, Vice President of Operations – Pack has no interest in retiring anytime soon. She called Cosmetic Laboratories a “magnificent” company to work for, which she attributed to its leadership, people and culture. 

That culture is shaped from the top, starting with President Douglas Johnson. “His door is always open. Everybody in this building – and there’s 150 of us – if I go to any one of them and ask them to do something, they’re happy to do it. They never say, ‘That’s not my job.’ And if they went to Doug and asked Doug, Doug would do it. That’s the kind of company this is.” 

Pack’s advice to the younger generations? Never stop learning, be honest and transparent with your customers, and, most of all, discover a passion for what you do. 

“Love the industry you’re in and it’s never just a job – it’s the way to celebrate your life’s choice,” Pack said. 

Jackie Pack
VP of Sales & Marketing
Cosmetic Laboratories
jackie@cosmeticlaboratories.com
972-986-9098