L’Oréal Canada welcomes for the first time ever 50 of its worldwide rising leaders during the global One Young World Summit 2024

Press Release

MONTRÉAL, Sept. 19, 2024 – With this year’s One Young World Summit being held in Montréal this week, L’Oréal Canada is proud to welcome the One Young World for L’Oréal Program cohort. 50 employees from all countries and functions will join the brightest young leaders from more than 190 countries and 250 organizations, working to accelerate environmental and social changes. Three of these young L’Oréal leaders proudly represent Canada: Anne St-Onge, Jacob Bretton-Granatoor and Evita Cui.

L’Oréal Groupe has been partnering with One Young World (OYW) for the past 12 years, with the aim to foster responsible leadership by design. “It’s amazing to witness how they challenge conventions, push boundaries, and dare to dream bigger, bolder. The future of beauty is bright and is being written by each one of them. They strive for progress, embrace diversity, champion sustainability, and unite with a shared passion and a common goal to create the beauty that moves the world”, explains An Verhulst-Santos, President and CEO of L’Oréal Canada.

Since 2021, OYW is leveraged as a springboard for the L’Oréal For the Future sustainability transformation and a comprehensive internal 9-month enablement program has been built around this partnership. “This program allowed me to meet change makers from all over the world and different backgrounds and helped me grow into a responsible leader” shares Marc Dicko, Chief Digital and Marketing Officer at L’Oréal Canada and OYW for L’Oréal 2016 Alumni.

It’s in this context that the 50 L’Oréal participants have been working since February on various environmental and social impact projects. “We are thrilled to welcome to Montreal young L’Oréal collaborators from across the globe, deeply committed to respecting nature and people to build a more sustainable world. It will be heartening to discuss with them about how our business can ignite positive change such as decarbonation and circularity, and scale up a positive social impact, especially with indigenous communities”, explains Maya Colombani, Chief of Sustainability & Human rights at L’Oréal Canada.

L’Oréal Canada had the opportunity to share with these young leaders its local commitments on sustainability, such as the decarbonization of all its sites with 100% renewable energy and developing circular economy with a dedicated international fund of 50 million Euros to accelerate local and international startups. L’Oréal Canada is also deeply committed to having a positive impact on society thanks to brand programs benefiting more than 130,00 people in 2024 with different actions like skin cancer prevention, fighting discrimination or standing up against street harassment. Beyond all these actions, L’Oréal Canada also has a deep commitment with the indigenous communities.

L’Oréal Canada is delighted to be a founding partner of First Nations Executive Education (FNEE), propelled by Executive Education HEC Montréal, a business school for and by First Nations offering short qualifying university training programs in communities, online and in Montreal. It was as part of FNEE’s program that facilitators Jennifer O’Bomsawin of the Huron-Wendat and Abenaki Nations and Nadia Robertson of the Mi’gmaq Nation provided awareness training to develop business relations in an Indigenous context to young leaders at L’Oréal’s head office.

Montreal-based Anne St-Onge, Marketing Manager for Vichy, is part of the 2024 cohort: “It was so inspiring to work alongside fellow L’Oréal employees from around the world. This experience has allowed me to develop a global network with colleagues that share the same passion for sustainability. I can’t wait to attend the summit this week!”

To complete this program, L’Oréal will also have speakers at the 2024 OYW summit: Trevor Shah, Brand Sustainability Director, L’Oréal Professionnel and fellow Canadian OYW for L’Oréal Alumni, and Jehanne Fabre, Global Water & Biodiversity Strategy Director will speak at OYW on the water sustainability challenge.

About L’Oréal Canada

L’Oréal Canada is a subsidiary of the L’Oréal Group, the world’s leading beauty company celebrating 115 years, managing 40 iconic beauty brands. The Canadian subsidiary includes a head office, plant and distribution center in Montreal, and employs over 1,640 people from 82 different nationalities. Its products are available in all distribution channels, including hair salons, department stores, supermarkets, pharmacies, medi-spas and e-commerce. Its sense of purpose, to create the beauty that moves the world, defines its vision of beauty that is inclusive, ethical, generous and responsible. With ambitious social and environmental commitments set out in the L’Oréal for the Future program, the subsidiary also actively supports L’Oréal Foundation programs such as L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science. For more information, visit www.loreal.ca.

For all inquiries, please contact: Isabelle Randez, Director, External Communication, Isabelle.randez@loreal.com

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