Brianne West

Brianne West is a microbiologist, entrepreneur and internationally recognised founder best known for creating Ethique, the pioneering beauty brand that helped transform solid, plastic-free personal care from a niche idea into a global consumer category.

Starting in her home kitchen in Christchurch, Brianne built Ethique into an internationally distributed beauty business sold across New Zealand, Australia, the United States, the United Kingdom, Asia and more than 20 markets globally, through major retail, distribution and e-commerce channels.

Her experience spans virtually every part of building and scaling a consumer brand: product development and formulation, brand strategy, manufacturing, supply chain, retail, e-commerce, capital raising, international market entry, sustainability and organisational growth.

Brianne is also an international keynote and celebrity speaker, regularly speaking to corporate, entrepreneurial and leadership audiences about building disruptive brands, entrepreneurship, sustainability, innovation and using business as a force for positive change.

Her work has received significant international recognition. Brianne has been named one of Foreign Policy's 100 Leading Global Thinkers, One Young World Entrepreneur of the Year, an Obama Foundation Leader, and one of WORTH magazine's Worthy 100 entrepreneurs creating global impact.

In New Zealand, she has been recognised as EY Young Entrepreneur of the Year, Women of Influence Business Enterprise winner, a BLAKE Leader, a Kea World Class New Zealand Award recipient, and has been inducted into the Women Entrepreneurs Hall of Fame.

The innovation behind Ethique has also received global recognition, including being named among TIME's Best Inventions, while the business became one of New Zealand's most visible examples of a purpose-led consumer company successfully achieving international scale.

Brianne now works with and invests in ambitious consumer founders building the next generation of brands. She also founded Business But Better, a free education platform providing practical resources to founders who want to build commercially successful businesses with positive social or environmental impact.

She is a Board Trustee of WWF-New Zealand and continues to work at the intersection of entrepreneurship, consumer innovation and environmental change.