Leah Kateb Isn’t the Face of Skylar. She’s the Boss.
In an exclusive interview, Leah Kateb shares how Skylar gave her the title, the control, and the ownership to move beyond the traditional creator partnership and help build the future of the brand.
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For years, the formula for creator partnerships was straightforward: find the person with the audience, build a campaign around their influence, measure the impact, and move on.
That model built an entire industry. But as the creator economy matures, the most valuable creators are proving they can offer brands something beyond reach. They understand communities, shape culture, and increasingly know how to build products and businesses from the ground up.
Skylar saw that potential in Leah Kateb.
One year ago, the California fragrance company named Kateb its Re-Founder and Chief Creative Officer, creating a role that goes beyond a traditional ambassador relationship. Instead of simply putting her name behind a product, Skylar gave her a role in shaping the company’s creative direction, product development, and long-term vision.
For Kateb, the distinction was the reason she said yes.
“I said no to a lot of opportunities because I never wanted to just be the face of something,” she says. “With Skylar, the conversation started with, ‘What do you want to build?’ not, ‘Here’s the campaign.’ That completely changed it for me. If my name is attached to something, I want to help shape it, not just sell it. That’s what made it an easy yes.”
The question was not what she could promote. It was what she could create.
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The Creator Becomes the Operator
Celebrity creative directors are no longer unusual in beauty and fashion. The difference is whether the title comes with actual influence.
At Skylar, Kateb’s role is built around decision-making, not just visibility.
“For me, it means protecting the brand’s vision while also pushing it forward,” she says. “I’m involved in everything from product concepts and creative campaigns to storytelling and how we show up just in general. I care about the details because that’s what people actually remember.”
That involvement extends into the product itself, where Kateb approaches fragrance with the mindset of someone building for the long term.
“I test everything, and I’m probably annoying about it,” she says. “I’ll push back if something feels trendy instead of timeless or if the scent doesn’t create an emotional connection.”
For Kateb, fragrance is not simply a product category. It is an experience tied to memory and identity.
“Fragrance is memory,” she says. “It has to make you feel something, not just smell good for five minutes.”
That level of involvement is what separates a creative leader from a campaign partner. Kateb is not looking at Skylar as a moment. She is looking at it as something she has a responsibility to help grow.
“That’s exactly what I didn’t want,” she says of the traditional influencer model. “This isn’t a campaign, it’s not a face of a brand, it’s not even a partnership. This is where I actually have ownership and a seat at the table. I’m invested in building the company, not just promoting it.”
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The Most Valuable Asset Is Trust
Kateb’s relationship with Skylar did not begin with a contract. It began as a customer.
Before joining the company, she was already purchasing the products and sharing her love for the brand with her audience organically. That history is part of what makes the partnership different.
In an era where consumers can quickly identify a forced endorsement, trust has become one of the most valuable assets a creator can bring to a business.
“My audience knows I don’t force things,” Kateb says. “If they feel like I’m reading from a script, they’ll call me out before I even finish the sentence.”
She believes credibility is earned through consistency, not messaging.
“I only wanted this role because I genuinely love fragrance and I actually use the products,” she says. “Before I even had anything to do with Skylar, I was already a consumer of the brand. So I was already making content with the brand naturally. That’s how they found me.”
Her definition of authenticity is simple.
“Authenticity isn’t something you announce,” she says. “It’s something people decide based on whether your actions match your words.”
That same principle shapes how she balances being a creator and an executive. Kateb does not see those identities as competing.
“I actually don’t think they’re that separate,” she says. “The reason this works is because Skylar wanted my perspective, not a different version of me.”
She still approaches decisions from the perspective of the consumer who first discovered the brand.
“I really treat it as, what would I want if I was still just a consumer to the brand,” she says. “Obviously, there are moments where I have to think like an executive instead of a creator, but I never want to lose the instinct that got me here in the first place.”
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Behind the Bottle
Moving from creator to executive has changed the way Kateb sees the beauty industry.
The biggest surprise has not been the creative process. It has been understanding how much work happens before consumers ever see a finished product.
“People see a launch and think it happened overnight, but there are months of conversations, revisions, testing, logistics, and strategy behind it,” she says. “It’s made me appreciate brands in a completely different way.”
That behind-the-scenes work has also changed her expectations of what leadership looks like.
“The glamorous part is maybe five percent of the job,” she says. “The other ninety-five percent is consistency, listening, making hard decisions, and solving problems nobody sees.”
Then she sums up the reality of building a brand in one sentence:
“Building a brand is a marathon with really good packaging.”
The experience has also reinforced the importance of having a strong foundation. For Kateb, that foundation comes from her family.
“My parents have always been my biggest inspiration,” she says. “They moved here in their twenties without even speaking English and built a beautiful life for themselves through hard work and resilience. They showed me that I could create my own path and that it didn’t have to look like anyone else’s.”
As she moves deeper into business, Kateb also recognizes the significance of representation.
“I want to be an example for Persian and Middle Eastern women,” she says. “There aren’t many of us represented in these spaces, and it means so much when people tell me I’m the representation they never had.”
For Kateb, becoming an executive was never about stepping away from what made her successful.
“The goal was never to become ‘less creator,’” she says. “It was to be more intentional about what I was creating and grow into something bigger while staying true to who I am.”
The Long Game
One year into her role as Re-Founder and Chief Creative Officer, Kateb sees the milestone as a reflection point rather than a finish line.
“Celebrating one year as Re-Founder and Chief Creative Officer feels like such a full-circle moment,” she says. “I started this journey by creating things that felt true to who I am, and I’m so grateful to now have the opportunity to build something bigger while staying connected to the creator in me.”
“I never want to lose the passion and authenticity that brought me here,” she continues. “If my journey can inspire even one woman to see what’s possible for herself, then it all means even more.”
Her definition of success is not tied to recognition or visibility. It is tied to whether the brand can stand on its own.
“Success is walking into a store, seeing someone pick up a Skylar fragrance because they genuinely love it, not because they know my name,” she says. “If we’ve built products that last and a brand people trust, that’s the biggest win to me.”
The milestones are meaningful, but Kateb says they are not the destination.
“Being recognized by Forbes twice was an incredible milestone, and makes me feel like I’m heading in the right direction,” she says. “Really, for me, it’s less about collecting titles and more about creating things that have real staying power.”
Asked what comes next, her answer is simple.
“More building,” she says. “I love creating, whether that’s products, campaigns, or businesses.”
After one year inside Skylar, Kateb represents a broader shift happening across beauty and beyond. Creators are no longer just distribution channels for brands. The most valuable ones are becoming builders, operators, and decision-makers.
Skylar did not hire Leah Kateb to borrow her audience for a season.
It bet on her ability to help build what comes next.
Skylar is available at skylar.com.
