The Honest Company names Carla Vernón CEO

Jessica Alba’s clean beauty and lifestyle brand, The Honest Company, has named former Amazon and General Mills executive Carla Vernón as its new chief executive officer.

Vernón will join Honest on January 9, 2023, succeeding current CEO Nick Vlahos, who is stepping down from day-to-day operations after nearly six years in the role. Vlahos will remain on Honest’s board of directors.

Most recently, Vernón worked at Amazon, as vice president of consumables, where she led the babycare, household products, food, beverages, health and wellness, and beauty categories. She is also credited with being instrumental in invigorating Amazon.com’s beauty experience, including increasing the portfolio of emerging and prestige beauty brands, introducing a proprietary virtual lipstick try-on technology and creating the first-ever seasonal beauty merchandising event: Amazon’s Holiday Beauty Haul.

In her new role as Honest CEO, Vernón will be responsible for category growth, driving profitability, and supporting the company to become a leader of the clean lifestyle movement.

Alba, founder and chief creative officer at Honest, said in a statement: “I am thrilled Carla is joining The Honest Company as our next CEO. She is a strategic, visionary leader who will continue to build Honest as the legacy brand for tomorrow’s generation.

"What makes Carla unique is her innate ability to drive product innovation and go-to-market strategies that captivate consumers’ imagination, strengthen brand loyalty, and significantly impact the bottom line. I could not dream of a better person to take Honest into this exciting new chapter. With Carla at the helm, I am confident Honest will continue to redefine category expectations and pave the way for others to follow."

Jessica Alba’s The Honest Company appoints new chief executive

Commenting on her appointment, Vernón added: “As a leader of the clean lifestyle movement, The Honest Company is uniquely positioned to meet the needs of this era and I am thrilled to join Jessica and the leadership team with a fresh perspective as we enter a new chapter of innovation and growth.

“As I take my seat at the table as a woman, a mom, and one of the only Afro-Latina CEOs of a US public company, there are so many people and experiences that come with me. These are perspectives that can inspire our future growth and vision. That is what is so unique about The Honest Company. This brand was built to bring a rumble of change across industries, leading the way to bring clean and ethical products to the mainstream. And, we will continue doing that with products designed in new and better ways that meet today’s and tomorrow’s needs.”

The Honest Company launched in 2012 as a consumer-first, digitally native brand focused on the clean lifestyle movement. It offers personal care, beauty, baby and household products, which are available via honest.com, third-party e-commerce partners and approximately 50,000 retail locations across the US, Canada and Europe.