Evelyn Lauder attended New York City public schools. As a freshman in college, she was introduced to Leonard Lauder, the son of Estée and Joseph Lauder, owners of a then little-known cosmetics start-up company. Shortly after her marriage to Leonard, now Chairman Emeritus of The Estée Lauder Companies, Evelyn Lauder was persuaded to join the family business by her mother-in-law, Mrs. Estée Lauder. Her teaching background with the New York City schools was an excellent springboard for one of her earliest jobs – creating the Company’s initial training programs and she still participates in training to this day. She enhanced the Estée Lauder range by adding many colors and treatment products that appealed to a wider range of complexions and skin types. More than 50 years later, Evelyn Lauder remains a driving force in the success of The Estée Lauder Companies. In 1999 and 2007, she was featured in Crain’s New York Business magazine as one of New York’s 100 Most Influential Women in Business, and in 2008 she was nominated to the International Best Dressed List.
Mrs. Lauder has held many different positions while contributing her invaluable insights about new fashion trends, consumers’ rapidly changing needs and new approaches to the development of innovative skin care, makeup and fragrance products. She also helped to create and to name the Clinique brand. In the last 25 years, she has focused on fragrance – an interest shared with her famous mother-in-law and one that stems from her lifelong passion for flowers and gardening. As part of Mrs. Lauder’s travels as the Company’s “ambassador,” she delights in discovering the occasional exotic flower and using it to create a novel fragrance note. Her rare ability to visualize unique fragrance combinations or impressions drives the Company's creative efforts in New York. There, as the Head of Fragrance Development Worldwide for The Estée Lauder Companies, she works at bringing these concepts to life in uniquely distinctive yet globally successful fragrances.
Mrs. Lauder’s energies and enthusiasm reach outward, too. She is a leader in New York City’s cultural and philanthropic life. As a member of The Lauder Foundation, she was instrumental in presenting a whole new concept of Adventure Playgrounds to the City of New York. From 1967 to 1973, The Lauder Foundation replaced outmoded facilities by building three creative play areas in Central Park that were designed to challenge children’s skills and stimulate their imaginations while placing a strong emphasis on safety and physical fitness. Mrs. Lauder currently serves as Vice President of both The Lauder Foundation and The Leonard and Evelyn Lauder Foundation, and continues to contribute significantly to city parks through her active participation as a board member of the Central Park Conservancy and New Yorkers for Parks (formerly The Parks Council). Many other charities have also benefited from Mrs. Lauder’s thoughtful guidance and renowned generosity, including not-for-profits devoted to health and human services, education and inner-city schools, the environment, women’s causes and the arts.
It is for her formidable role in the battle to defeat breast cancer that Evelyn Lauder is perhaps best known. In October 1992, she and Alexandra Penney, then editor of SELF magazine, developed the Pink Ribbon, which has become the worldwide symbol of breast health. Mrs. Lauder spearheaded the distribution of millions of Pink Ribbons and “Breast Self-Exam” instruction cards at Estée Lauder counters across the United States. That effort placed Breast Cancer Awareness at the public forefront. Seventeen years later, more than 100 million Pink Ribbons and millions of educational brochures and bookmarks have been given away around the world. The Estée Lauder Companies’ Breast Cancer Awareness Campaign presently extends to more than 70 countries and represents the most significant and influential campaign ever instituted to educate women worldwide about the need for early detection and treatment of breast cancer. In 2000, Mrs. Lauder and The Estée Lauder Companies launched its annual “Global Landmarks Illumination Initiative,” in which historic landmarks are illuminated in pink lights during the month of October to focus global attention on this issue. Each year, hundreds of prominent landmarks around the world participate, including famous sites such as The Empire State Building, Niagara Falls, Tower of London, the Leaning Tower of Pisa in Italy and the Tokyo Tower in Japan.
Mrs. Lauder’s leadership in the fight against breast cancer extends beyond the Company. In 1989, as a member of the Board of Overseers at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, she successfully initiated a fund drive that raised in excess of $18 million to equip the first-ever breast and diagnostic center, the Evelyn H. Lauder Breast Center at Memorial Sloan-Kettering in New York City, that opened in 1992. The newly constructed and expanded Evelyn H. Lauder Breast Center opened in September 2009. The new Breast Center is three times the size of its predecessor; provides the most up-to-date breast cancer prevention, diagnosis, and outpatient treatment services; and serves as a worldwide model for offering coordinated supportive services under one roof for one disease, a concept which has been replicated in other institutions and for other diseases.
In 1993, Mrs. Lauder founded The Breast Cancer Research Foundation (BCRF) to address a crucial lack of funding for research. Under her chairmanship, the Foundation has grown to become the largest national organization dedicated exclusively to funding outstanding research relating to the causes, treatment and possible prevention of breast cancer. To date, BCRF has raised more than $260 million and supports 174 researchers across the United States and in Australia, Canada, Latin America, the Middle East, and throughout Europe. Mrs. Lauder was recognized for her many contributions to breast cancer and the field of philanthropy in New York magazine’s “The Influentials” 2006 issue.
As to her personal interests, wherever Evelyn Lauder goes, her IS30 Olympus camera goes, too. In the course of her extensive travels, she has captured rainbows rising from the Pacific Ocean, sculptural snow scenes while cross-country skiing in Colorado, extraordinary patterns created by light reflecting on water and landscapes from Chile and Tuscany to the South of France. The stunning results have led to many one-woman exhibitions. The first, in 1992, was mounted at the Holly Solomon Gallery in New York City and, as with all subsequent shows, Mrs. Lauder donates all of her proceeds to breast cancer research.
Her most recent photo exhibition, titled Perceptions of Beauty, opened at the John Berggruen Gallery in San Francisco in March 2007 and the Gagosian Gallery in Los Angeles in April 2007. Exhibitions of Perceptions of Beauty followed at Takashimaya in New York City in September 2007 and Rhona Hoffman Gallery in Chicago in November 2007. A limited-edition portfolio entitled “Ten Beauties” was published on the occasion of Mrs. Lauder’s exhibition at Pace/MacGill Gallery in November 2005, with all proceeds from the sale of the portfolio and all of her photographs benefiting The Breast Cancer Research Foundation. Mrs. Lauder has also shown her photographs at such prestigious galleries and museums as the Harley Baldwin Gallery in Aspen, Museu de Arte Contemporani de Barcelona in Spain, The Red Gate Gallery in Beijing, the Royal Opera House at Covent Garden London, the Boca Raton Museum of Art in Florida, and the Greenberg Van Doren Gallery in St. Louis. Her work has appeared in many publications, including Interview magazine, American Photo, House + Garden, O: The Oprah Magazine and Town & Country and can be seen in public and private collections in museums and medical institutions across the U.S. In October 2002, Harry Abrams, Inc. published An Eye for Beauty, Mrs. Lauder’s second collection of photographs of the natural world. Her first book of photographs, also from Abrams, was The Seasons Observed, which was published in September 1994.
In September 2006, Rodale Books published Mrs. Lauder’s third book and first cookbook, In Great Taste: Fresh, Simple Recipes for Eating and Living Well. This delightful book of more than 125 healthy and delicious recipes is inspired by Mrs. Lauder’s own personal eating instincts as well as her years of experience working with doctors and nutritionists at leading hospitals. As with her previous two books, all royalties from the sale of In Great Taste benefit The Breast Cancer Research Foundation.
Evelyn Lauder has received numerous citations for her outstanding achievements. These include the following:
2008 Elected to International Best Dressed List
2007 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) 2007 Partners in Progress Award for her lifetime commitment to breast cancer awareness
2006 Hall of Fame Lifetime Achievement “FiFi” Award, The Fragrance Foundation
2005 Lifetime Community Achievement Award, The Junior League of Los Angeles, Inc.
Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters, Hunter College, New York, NY
Inner Beauty Award, Cosmetic Executive Women (United States)
Lifetime Achievement Award, Cosmetic Executive Women (United Kingdom)
Brooke Astor Award for Outstanding Contributions to the Advancement of Science, Rockefeller University
Living Legend Award, American Society of Perfumers
The Alice Paul Award
2002 Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur, France
Gold Medal, The Spanish Institute
2001 Award for Excellence in Philanthropy, The Society of Memorial Sloan-Kettering
Ellis Island Medal of Honor, The National Ethnic Coalition of Organizations
Humanitarian Award, Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA)
Woman of the Year (shared), Glamour magazine
1996 Honorary Doctor of Humanities Degree, Muhlenberg College, Allentown, PA
1994 Woman Who Has Made A Difference, International Women’s Forum’s New York Forum
Philanthropists of the Year Award (with Mr. Lauder),The Greater New York Chapter, National Society of Fund Raising Executives
Mr. and Mrs. Lauder have two sons. William is Executive Chairman of The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. and Gary is Managing Director, Lauder Partners LLC. We are so pleased to present Evelyn Lauder as our latest Mover and Shaker!
Peachy Deegan interviewed Evelyn Lauder for Whom You Know.
Peachy Deegan: What inspires you in your efforts in Breast Cancer Awareness and Research?
Evelyn Lauder: What inspires me are all of the people whose lives The Estée Lauder Companies’ Breast Cancer Awareness Campaign has helped save by spreading worldwide awareness about the importance of breast health, early detection and getting an annual mammogram after the age of 40, which is still recommended by the American Cancer Society, The Breast Cancer Research Foundation and other organizations.
I’m also inspired by all of the people supporting the efforts of The Breast Cancer Research Foundation, which has now raised more than $260 million and has 174 researchers around the world working to find a cure for this disease.
Thirdly, I’m inspired by the doctors, nurses, and patients we are helping at the new Evelyn H. Lauder Breast Center of Memorial Sloan-Kettering’s Cancer Center. Knowing that we are making a difference in people’s lives inspires me to no end to continue fighting until breast cancer becomes a thing of the past.
Tell us about the first time you saw the Statue of Liberty please.
Shortly after I was born in Vienna, Austria, my parents and I fled the Nazi annexation to Belgium for 3 months, and then to England during the Blitz.
When my family decided to go to America, we boarded a ship in Glasgow and set off across the Atlantic Ocean. During our journey the ship in front of us exploded on a German sea mine and it sank. We took the survivors on board; we actually had a woman-survivor from the wreck in our cabin.
When we arrived in New York City early in the morning, I remember my mother waking me up to see the Statue of Liberty as our ship was coming into the New York Harbor. The sun was shining on her.
What are you proudest of in terms of your business career?
I have many things about which I’m proud in my career but my background in teaching has been instrumental in every position I’ve held at The Estée Lauder Companies. In the beginning, shortly after I married my husband Leonard, my mother-in-law Estée persuaded me to join the family business. It was then that I created the Company’s initial training programs -- and I still participate in training to this day. We have the finest training program in the industry. Since that time I have had many responsibilities, including selecting the Clinique name, along with creating the brand’s sleek, minimal counters and putting its sales consultants in white lab coats to match the clean, pure look of the Clinique products.
In the last 25 years, I have focused on fragrance – an interest I shared with Estée and one that stems from my lifelong passion for flowers and gardening. I am very proud of my contributions to fragrance. I take great delight in discovering the occasional exotic flower and using it to create a novel fragrance note. My goal is to visualize unique fragrance combinations or impressions that are creative and bring them to life in a uniquely distinctive scent. Did you know we sell more fragrance than any other company in the prestige market?
What do you attribute the great success of Estée Lauder to?
The success of The Estée Lauder Companies can be attributed to many people and things, including but not exclusive to: Estée Lauder; Leonard Lauder; the next generation William, Aerin and Jane; our senior management and employees worldwide; high quality products; high quality brands to answer the needs of today’s women; high manufacturing standards; the great training of our sales associates who come in contact with customers; our wonderful field executives and our fabulous business partners.
As you are among the best dressed, we would love to know who your favorite designers are? Any favorite particular items?
I have always believed that one’s personal style and presence shows the world who you are on the inside. I love to wear some of the latest trends but I also love to find classic pieces that stay in my closet and I can wear for years. My closet includes pieces from Chanel, Naeem Khan, Zac Posen, Giorgio Armani, Oscar de la Renta, Moschino, Michael Kors, Carolina Herrera, Leggiadro, Gap, and my New Balance sneakers.
Interesting accessories also play a role in my personal style. A statement piece with a chic black dress can be timeless and wearable on many different occasions.
If you could only live with any ten beauty products, what would they be and why?
My personal “Prescription” for a lifetime of beautiful skin is:
In the morning:
Cleanse face thoroughly with Estée Lauder’s Perfectly Clean Splash Away Foaming Cleanser.
To help repair the appearance of past damage and prevent future signs use Estée Lauder’s Advanced Night Repair Synchronized Recovery Complex.
To help prevent the appearance of lines and wrinkles, use Estée Lauder’s Perfectionist Wrinkle Lifting Serum Corrector for Lines/Wrinkles/Age Spots.
Follow this with Estée Lauder’s Idealist Pore Minimizing Skin Refinisher and Perfectionist Correcting Concentrate.
To keep skin hydrated and comfortable, use Estée Lauder’s DayWear Plus Multi Protection Anti-Oxidant SPF 15 or DayWear Plus Protection Anti-Oxidant Lotion SPF.
In the evening:
Cleanse face thoroughly with Estée Lauder’s Perfectly Clean Splash Away Foaming Cleanser.
To help repair the appearance of past damage and prevent future signs of aging, use Estée Lauder’s Advanced Night Repair Concentrate Recovery Boosting Treatment.
To help prevent the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles, use Estée Lauder’s Perfectionist [CP+] Wrinkle Lifting Serum Corrector for Lines/Wrinkles/Age Spots.
Follow with Estée Lauder’s Idealist Pore Minimizing Skin Refinisher and Perfectionist Correcting Concentrate for Lips.
To fight signs of visible aging, use Estée Lauder’s Resilience Lift Extreme OverNight Ultra Firming Creme.
For extra dry skin, alternate Estée Lauder’s Re-Nutriv Ultimate Lifting Creme or Re-Nutriv Re-Creation one night with Crème de La Mer the next.
What do you enjoy taking pictures of the most and what do you like about that?
Beauty is everywhere; you just have to look for it. I love finding beauty in nature and I love the arts, which led to my passion for photography. During my travels, I have captured rainbows rising from the Pacific Ocean, sculptural snow scenes while cross-country skiing in Colorado, extraordinary patterns created by light reflecting on water, and landscapes in many places around the world.
What was it like to escape the Nazi annexation?
When my parents and I escaped from the Nazi attacks, we fled to Belgium and three months later we went to England. I was two years old then. In London I learned English and I survived the bombings. I was a little girl but I still could tell the difference between the British and German planes by the sound of the engine. I still remember bombs falling down. First you heard a long whistling sound which suddenly stopped and after a moment of silence there was an explosion. During the raids we would take shelter in a church basement in our area.
What would you like to be asked in an interview that you never have been asked, and how would you answer it?
I can’t think of a thing I haven’t been asked.
What or who has had the most influence on your pursuit of excellence?
My husband, Leonard.
What are you proudest of and why?
I’m most proud of my husband, children and grandchildren. The health and happiness of my family and my friends is the most important thing to me.
My life has turned out better than I ever could have imagined and much of that is due to my husband Leonard and all the love in my life.
What is your favorite place to be in Manhattan?
I love many places in Manhattan but I truly enjoy spending time in my garden when all of my flowers are in bloom. I absolutely love being surrounded by lovely flowers and fragrances. My garden is inspirational. As Head of Fragrance Development Worldwide for The Estée Lauder Companies I try to capture new fragrances from the garden.
What is your favorite shop in Manhattan?
There are too many to pick only one.
What is your favorite drink?
I truly enjoy my morning yogurt drink. My favorite alcoholic drink is called the Evelinda Cocktail. It was created for me by my friend Ellery Gorden who is a great cook. I love both of these so much that I’ve included them in my cookbook, In Great Taste: Fresh, Simple Recipes for Eating and Living Well.
What is your favorite restaurant in Manhattan?
The Four Seasons and Michael’s, both for lunch.
What is your favorite Manhattan book?
Here in New York by E.B. White
What has been your best Manhattan athletic experience?
Growing up in Manhattan, I’ve had numerous athletic experiences in Central Park. For example, I learned to play tennis on the public courts, I roller-skated all over the area near where I lived and my dad took me on nature walks there every weekend en route to the Metropolitan Museum and the Museum of Natural History. My husband and I have supported the Central Park Conservancy since we got married because as children we both experienced so many enjoyable moments in Central Park, which we consider the heart and soul of Manhattan.
We feel strongly that it’s important that public play areas for children are designed to challenge their skills and stimulate their imaginations while placing a strong emphasis on safety and physical fitness. That’s why we contributed to three playgrounds in the 60’s. That is the best athletic experience in my book.
What is your favorite thing to do in Manhattan that you can do nowhere else?
Going to Broadway theaters and certain museums.
What has been your best Manhattan art or music experience?
Seeing Margot Fonteyn and Rudolph Nureyev dancing in Romeo and Juliet.
What do you think is most underrated and overrated here?
The great spirit and kindness of most New Yorkers.
Other than Movers and Shakers of course, what is your favorite Whom You Know column and what do you like about it?
Yours is the only one!
What else should Whom You Know readers know about you?
I have great aim with a basketball and can catch a fruit fly in mid air!
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