Grace de Monaco, a subsidiary of the Princess Grace Foundation USA, has brought on Claudia Poccia as CEO to drive growth of the international luxury-for-good brand.
Grace de Monaco is a first-of-its-kind, purpose-driven brand offering products in fragrance, home, beauty and accessories. The brand is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Princess Grace Foundation USA, and all revenue directly supports the Princess Grace Awards program elevating emerging artists in theatre, dance, and film.
It is part of the strategy that was created under the Foundation’s CEO Brisa Carleton, when she took on the role in 2019.
“I was specifically brought on to usher in a new era for the Foundation, to revise the business model,” Brisa Carleton tells Monaco Life. “So, we landed on Grace de Monaco and did our soft launch here in Monaco in 2021, testing the market to see if it would be a viable business model. It has been incredibly warmly embraced, and now we have the opportunity to take it to the next level, so we are delighted to have found someone of Claudia’s calibre.”
Claudia Poccia brings an extensive background of industry experience having previously held C-level positions at notable companies including Estee Lauder, L’Oreal, Laura Mercier (Gurwitch Products), Avon Beauty, and bareMinerals for Shiseido.
Beauty Inc. named her one of the Top 50 Most Influential People in Beauty.
“I believe that any great brand has a DNA and a brand steward must understand that you are in the service to that vision, the DNA and the grounding principles of that brand. I believe it is a privilege to be a steward of Grace de Monaco,” Claudia Poccia explains to Monaco Life.
After launching in Monaco and then in the United States, Grace de Monaco sailed into the UK market in February with prestigious shopping destination Harrods in London. The brand’s fragrances and silks can now be found in both the coveted sixth floor Salon de Parfums and the iconic Beauty Halls.
“The partnership with Harrods is quite magical, they really understood and embraced the purpose – the luxury-for-good model,” says Poccia. “We hope that it becomes the benchmark for us as we progress our roadmap geographically.”
Despite the anticipated growth of the brand, the Grace de Monaco, its core will stay the same, explains Brisa Carleton – what Princess Grace herself would have likely created.
“The idea was to create something that evoked Princess Grace and the Riviera. She was very much ahead of her time, timeless in her style, she pushed the brands that she worked with to innovate, and it is something that she was known for, and so one of our key tenants as we develop our products is to think about if she were creating this now, what would she be creating? The products are very much inspired by her taste as opposed to trying to recreate anything that she would have had.”
Stay tuned to Monaco Life to learn of the exciting new developments of the Grace de Monaco brand throughout the year.
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Photos source: Princess Grace Foundation USA