Behind Her Empire: Dermalogica Founder Jane Wurwand on Developing a Skill

Yasmin Nouri

Yasmin is the host of the "Behind Her Empire" podcast, focused on highlighting self-made women leaders and entrepreneurs and how they tackle their career, money, family and life.

Each episode covers their unique hero's journey and what it really takes to build an empire with key lessons learned along the way. The goal of the series is to empower you to see what's possible & inspire you to create financial freedom in your own life.

Dermalogica founder Jane Wurwand

"Learn to do something."

Dermalogica founder Jane Wurwand credits her mother's advice for motivating her and her sisters into higher education and independence. Two of her sisters became nurses. Another became a lab technician. Wurwand studied skin therapy.

"She wanted to make sure that whatever happened, we would have an ability to earn money, to be financially independent with a skill set that we had learned and therefore it could never really be taken away," said Wurwand.

Today, Wurwand is the founder of a multimillion-dollar international brand with a dedicated following. On this week's episode of the Behind Her Empire podcast, she tells her story and what inspired her entrepreneurial passion.


After landing a job as a hairdresser in South Africa for a while, Wurwand found herself moving to California.

"If you've never emigrated to the United States, I will tell you, it was the golden ticket in Willy Wonka's chocolate bar. You did not say no, especially to a green card."

Wurwand soon learned California required a license to become a cosmetologist and found that few places provided the proper training for skin therapists like her. With only $14,000, she launched her own skin therapy courses in a small classroom in Los Angeles.

Those lessons would eventually become her company Dermalogica, one of the world's premier skincare brands.

"We started as an education company, and three years later, launched Dermalogica, because we realized there was no American-made professional salon product either. That's kind of crazy. I mean, who knew," said Wurwand.

Hear more of the Behind Her Empire podcast. Subscribe on Stitcher, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeart Radio or wherever you get your podcasts.

dot.LA Audience Engagement Intern Joshua Letona contributed to this post.

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LA Tech ‘Moves’: Mapp Gains New CPO and CTO, Prodoscore Taps Boeing Exec

Decerry Donato

Decerry Donato is a reporter at dot.LA. Prior to that, she was an editorial fellow at the company. Decerry received her bachelor's degree in literary journalism from the University of California, Irvine. She continues to write stories to inform the community about issues or events that take place in the L.A. area. On the weekends, she can be found hiking in the Angeles National forest or sifting through racks at your local thrift store.

LA Tech ‘Moves’: Mapp Gains New CPO and CTO, Prodoscore Taps Boeing Exec
LA Tech ‘Moves’:

“Moves,” our roundup of job changes in L.A. tech, is presented by Interchange.LA, dot.LA's recruiting and career platform connecting Southern California's most exciting companies with top tech talent. Create a free Interchange.LA profile here—and if you're looking for ways to supercharge your recruiting efforts, find out more about Interchange.LA's white-glove recruiting service by emailing Sharmineh O’Farrill Lewis (sharmineh@dot.la). Please send job changes and personnel moves to moves@dot.la.

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This Week in ‘Raises’: GITAI Lands $30M, Steno Gains $15M

Decerry Donato

Decerry Donato is a reporter at dot.LA. Prior to that, she was an editorial fellow at the company. Decerry received her bachelor's degree in literary journalism from the University of California, Irvine. She continues to write stories to inform the community about issues or events that take place in the L.A. area. On the weekends, she can be found hiking in the Angeles National forest or sifting through racks at your local thrift store.

Raises
Image by Joshua Letona

A local space robotics startup raised fresh funding to expand the flight model manufacturing facilities throughout the U.S. and increase employment, while a remote litigation platform raised more funding to continue growing its footprint in new markets across the country, develop service channels for its clients and continue expanding its tech team.

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Gitai Raises $30 Million to Expand Manufacturing Footprint in Los Angeles

Samson Amore

Samson Amore is a reporter for dot.LA. He holds a degree in journalism from Emerson College. Send tips or pitches to samsonamore@dot.la and find him on Twitter @Samsonamore.

Gitai Raises $30 Million to Expand Manufacturing Footprint in Los Angeles
\u200bPhoto: Gitai

Space robotics company Gitai raised a $30 million Series B extension this week, bringing the total value of the round to roughly $47 million.

The funding will be used to further develop Gitai’s suite of space robots as well as build out its manufacturing footprint in Torrance. Previously Gitai announced it raised a $17.1 million Series B in March 2021; this additional raise is still part of that round.

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