WIL & Shiseido (Canada) Speaker Series

Women in Leadership Foundation is very excited to present a special Speaker Series, presented with our Regional Partner Shiseido Canada "“Beyond Beauty - Innovation, Leadership and Resilience”.

Speaker Bios

Louanne McGrory, President , Shiseido (Canada) Inc.

Elaine Shigeishi, VP of Sales and Marketing – Skincare Division , Shiseido (Canada) Inc.

As Vice President, Sales and Marketing, Skincare Division at Shiseido (Canada) Inc., Elaine is a creative, strategic and results-driven leader, managing the Shiseido, Cle de Peau Beaute, and Drunk Elephant brands, which represent over 50% of corporate sales and profit. With over 35 years of experience in Sales, Marketing, Public Relations, and Training for prestige cosmetics and fragrances, she highly values building relationships on a strong foundation of trust, dependability, and open communication. Elaine develops and nurtures strong partnerships with retailers, editors, social media influencers, and sponsorships such as the Art Gallery of Ontario, Nuit Blanche by the City of Toronto, and Arterra Wines.

Motivated by upholding corporate vision and driven by growth strategies, analytics, and enterprising attitudes, Elaine champions new business opportunities and integration. As an agile change agent, she leverages her strong negotiation and communication background to evolve the business. Elaine mentors each individual on her team to accomplish their best every day. As Co-Chair Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Shiseido, Elaine advocates to support platforms for education, awareness, and communication to implement change. She is also on the Board of Directors for the Japanese Canadian Cultural Center, located in Toronto. Elaine holds an Honours Bachelor of Science Degree, with a Specialist in Economics and Quantitative Methods, and a Major in Sociology, from the University of Toronto. She is third-generation Japanese-Canadian and together with her husband Bryan, proudly encourage their two daughters, Nicole and Kristen, to live life to its fullest and dream big.

Leah Thelen, VP of Sales and Marketing – Makeup Division & DSS , Shiseido (Canada) Inc.

Leah Thelen is a seasoned Digital Leadership Executive with 17+ years of Beauty industry experience. In her current role as Vice President of Digital Shared Services + Vice President of Sales & Marketing, Makeup Division for Shiseido Canada, she is responsible for developing the team’s digital acceleration roadmap which includes leading consumer centric, digital marketing strategies across CRM, eCommerce, Retail & Media. As an award-winning digital marketing professional, Thelen has built her career in beauty by rounding out her experience across Sales, Finance and traditional Marketing functions. In her Digital roles she has lead the redesign and launch of several websites, managed global eCommerce P&Ls, as well as lead content creation and other digital marketing initiatives. Thelen has also managed web analytics and digital strategy for some of the most successful luxury beauty brands in the world. Thelen holds a BBA in Finance and a MBA in Marketing from Fordham University in NYC. She currently lives in Toronto.