Estée Lauder names global communications lead for makeup brands

By Amara Osei

Estée Lauder Companies has appointed Rachele Testa Schaefers Executive Director, Global Communications, Make-up Brands, with MAC Cosmetics and Bobbi Brown Cosmetics inside her portfolio.

Schaefers will lead the global communications strategy across ELC’s make-up portfolio. Her stated mandate is to “create moments that drive conversation” and “relevance,” using a “social-first, culture-led approach” intended to lift brand relevance, consumer engagement and business impact.

She arrives from media agency VaynerX, where she has served as vice president of global communications since March 2025. The move brings an agency perspective into a portfolio built around two names that ELC’s own communications chief describes as influential in beauty and steeped in artistry and self-expression.

What does this appointment change for MAC and Bobbi Brown?

The immediate change is organizational rather than technical. The announcement specifies no reformulation, product launch, regulatory deadline, treatment-menu protocol or purchasing term. It gives the make-up cluster one executive for global communications strategy and positions Schaefers as a strategic partner to the brands and their internal teams.

For brand, agency and retail partners, the practical shift is toward a common planning framework built around culture, community and conversation rather than coverage alone. That does not erase MAC’s and Bobbi Brown’s separate brand identities. It asks their communications teams to translate distinct artistic legacies into social-first ideas capable of engaging consumers and supporting business results.

Diederik Koenders, ELC’s vice president of global communications for make-up, set out the expectation:

“Brands like MAC [Cosmetics] and Bobbi Brown [Cosmetics] are some of the most influential names in beauty, each with a strong legacy of artistry and self-expression.”

“In this role, Rachele will lead global communications and be a strategic partner across our make-up cluster, bringing her agency perspective and social-first, culture-led approach.”

“She has a modern view of communications that starts with culture and community, not just coverage.”

“In her role, she will help us create moments that drive conversation, relevance and business impact around the world.”

Schaefers brings nearly two decades of experience in earned media, cultural storytelling and integrated communications. She has led award-winning campaigns spanning global product launches and events, including the Super Bowl. Her experience also includes work with P&G, Rémy Cointreau, Dr. Martens and Uniqlo.

That background gives ELC campaign experience relevant to the stated objectives of consumer engagement and business impact. Whether the appointment changes performance will depend on campaign selection, creative direction and execution across markets.

Schaefers described the assignment in terms of movement and connection:

“Modern communications is about more than telling a brand’s story. It is about shaping conversations and creating moments that move people.”

“MAC [Cosmetics] and Bobbi Brown [Cosmetics] have extraordinary legacies in self-expression and artistry. I am excited to build on those foundations with fresh thinking, bold ideas and stories that connect with how people experience beauty today.”

Her arrival also forms part of a wider sequence of leadership changes at ELC. The company has appointed Krista Lee Berger, a Mattel executive, as senior vice president, global marketing, at skin care brand Clinique.

ELC has also named beauty veteran Gaétane Baudry senior vice president and global general manager, with a mandate to accelerate Bobbi Brown Cosmetics’ growth and “relevance across markets.”

The three appointments divide the work across complementary functions. Berger takes global marketing responsibility at Clinique. Baudry combines general-management responsibility with a growth mandate at Bobbi Brown. Schaefers leads the communications strategy across the broader make-up portfolio, including MAC and Bobbi Brown. ELC has not disclosed reporting lines, budgets, campaign launch dates or performance targets for Schaefers’s remit.

For professional partners, there is no compliance or formulation work to absorb from this announcement. The relevant operational question is how a single global communications strategy will sit alongside brand-level execution and Baudry’s growth agenda at Bobbi Brown. Any campaign calendar, agency brief or channel program will provide the first evidence of how that structure operates.

Because no launch timetable accompanied the appointment, the next checkpoint is ELC’s first named MAC or Bobbi Brown communications program under Schaefers, and whether its cultural platform delivers visible engagement and business impact.