Page 59 - Beauty Prime Magazine

do yoga, ski fast, and try as hard as possible to decipher
a slider from a curve ball from her husband, 1990 MLB
World Series champion and partner at X10 Capital, Hal
Morris. Alyssa and Hal are the proud parents of Audrey
Margaret Morris and Henriette Daniella Morris.
Empower Aesthetics aims to inspire joy
and confidence through aesthetics. Can you
Alyssa Rapp exemplifies
visionary leadership and
entrepreneurial spirit, inspiring
women to achieve excellence in
business and beyond.
elaborate on what this means to you and how
you implement this philosophy within the
company?
There are two meanings implied by this tagline of
sorts. For one, we hope and believe that preserving
and enhancing one’s physical beauty can provide our
clients with more joy and at times, even more self-con-
fidence. This is part one of the meaning of this tagline.
In addition, we are partnering with primarily
women-entrepreneurs when we acquire their clinics as
part of the Empower Aesthetics platform. In so doing,
it is both fun and gratifying to shepherd these women
stakeholders through the mergers and acquisitions
process, inspiring them to join a platform that espouses
their shared vision for the category, which of course
we hope brings them joy and confidence via the
partnership.
As a successful entrepreneur and CEO, what
are the key challenges you face in the medical
aesthetics industry, and how do you overcome
them?
One of the key attractions to me of the CEO role
at Empower is the opportunity to acquire companies
founded and led by women entrepreneurs. Our target
seller is a 45 – 65-year-old woman, who deeply
values clinical excellence, the training of excellence
in her team, and delivery of it to her clinic’s patients.
It is a key opportunity and challenge to successfully
convince these terrific women entrepreneurs that now
is the right time to sell (partner) versus to continue to
“go it alone,” and why “us” versus a handful of other
private-equity backed Medical Aesthetics platforms in
the ecosystem. We have meaningfully differentiated
reasons “why now” and “why us,” but great entrepre-
neurs and clinical leaders don’t “have” to do something
today per se, so inspiring them to act and act now is a
challenge we look forward to continuing to addressing.
Your book, “Leadership and Life Hacks,”
became an Amazon bestseller for leadership.
What are some key insights from the book
that you apply in your role at Empower Aes-
thetics?
There are several leadership “hacks” from the
book that are relevant to me as the CEO of Empower
Aesthetics, as it would be in most CEO roles (if not
all). In my chapter on managing boards and other key
stakeholders, I share some truisms such as “breaking
bread matters” and “all relationships are bespoke.”
These insights and strategies for managing members of
my executive team and members of my board of dire-
ctors rings in each of my CEO roles to date. I am also
continually reminded of the importance of mentorship
and sponsorship as an organizational leader, which I
discuss at length in the chapter of the book entitled “Be
One, Get One: The Power of Mentorships.” Additio-
nally, I learned from one of my most important career
mentors and sponsors, Joel Peterson, that values-based
leadership is the kind to which the most talented people
and best teammates are attracted; I continue to strive
to follow in Joel’s best in class example with this type
of entrepreneurial leadership (to quote his book of the
same name). In sum, alignment of mission, vision, and
values is instrumental to any team’s success, and this
approach remains crucial to our approach at Empower
Aesthetics.
What role have your family’s values played in
your professional journey?
My inspiration and the reason I serve on wonderful
nonprofit or civic boards is due to the role modeling
and values instilled by my mother and stepfather. They
raised me and us to live a life of service. They both
serve as role models to me in their lives of service (my
mother having served as the former US Ambassador
to the Netherlands, my stepfather as a real estate deve-
loper in Chicago for over a half-century, whose work,
amongst many other things, not only shaped the city
PHOTO: The dynamic team at Empower
Aesthetics, led by CEO Alyssa Rapp, driving
innovation and excellence in the medical
aesthetics industry.
of Chicago, but brought best in class management to its
public housing). Through their actions and examples,
they role model that “giving back” is simply what we
do, with time and with treasure. And this has influenced
several of the choices I have made throughout my
professional journey on which nonprofit or civic boards
I serve. Since I have always deeply valued the early
childhood education and public education that I recei-
ved growing up, I currently serve as an elected member
the District 36 school board, for example.
What advice would you give to women aspiring
to become CEOs, entrepreneurs, or leaders in
their fields?
As Geena Davis said, “If you can see it, you can be
it.” As women are exposed to more and more great
examples of women a CEOs, and leading entrepreneurs
and executives, I am hopeful that the success of more
and more women will continue to inspire women to
keep striving, keep climbing, and keep leading at the
highest of levels, in corporate America and on corporate
boards. As for advice, there’s several “hacks” previous-
ly discussed that are directly relevant to your question:
• Find inspirational mentors to learn from
• Support flexible work environments.
• If you’re already in a leadership position, install
qualified women in your organization and “Demand”
(Strongly Recommend/Request) gender equity in the
executive leadership teams and on the boards you serve
E.g.: Walk the walk.
McKinsey’s Women in the Workplace study spotligh-
ted how women fall behind early in their careers, and
that they are at a disadvantage in their daily interactions
because they see fewer women around them. So, we
need to support women getting promoted earlier in their
careers and provide structures and environments that
overtly support mentorship. For any person in a leader-
ship role, but especially for a woman in a male-domi-
nated industry, a strong professional network of women
can help buoy you through proverbial storms.
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