When Marla Beck, CEO, and co-founder of Bluemercury, started the beauty company more than twenty years ago, vegan and gluten-free beauty and skincare products were not exactly flying off the shelves. The mother of three built her empire with a very specific mission in mind: To sell luxury beauty products through smaller retailers because, at the time, high-end beauty was only sold in department stores. She wanted to create something more curated. "I've always been a beauty junkie," said Beck, who grew the company until she sold it five years ago, to perhaps ironically, the biggest department store in the world: Macy's, for more than $200 million. Beck remained on as Bluemercury's CEO and continues to supply customers with high-quality products, curated carefully to fill her vision of what beauty should be: An outpost where wellness meets gorgeousness, and "skin-care meets self-care." Beck says in the beginning, clients would walk in the store and ask for dermatologist-tested products formulated without toxic ingredients. There were few brands that fit this bill at that time, so she set out to fill the white space. In 2012 she launched M-61, a vegan, gluten-free skincare line, and Lune+Aster, a vegan, gluten-free makeup line launched three years later.