Marla Malcolm Beck has been CEO of luxury beauty retailer Bluemercury, which was acquired by Macy's for a reported $210 million in February, for almost 16 years.
She recently shared the best and worst parts of being the chief executive with Business Insider.
The hardest part, she says, is taking a step back.
"As an entrepreneur who has touched every aspect of the business since day one, the most challenging aspect of being a CEO is letting go of every little detail and empowering others to bring my passion and ideas to life," Beck explains. "Developing a clear vision and strong team is critical. Otherwise, I'd never have the time to get it all done."
The best part: watching her company evolve - while staying true to its mission and vision.
"We started Bluemercury with the dream of disrupting the beauty industry with a new concept of being the best at giving friendly and honest beauty advice," she says. "Staying true to our original vision and achieving this multiplier effect has been extremely rewarding. As the CEO, continuously evolving our business and challenging ourselves to innovate on all fronts is what makes me excited to go to work every day and passionate about leading the team to make it happen."
Her advice for anyone who dreams of becoming a CEO one day is to "develop a clear mission that you can rally your team around.
"This will help your organization consider and stay true to the overarching strategy when making the day-to-day decisions that contribute to achieving larger objectives over time," she concludes.