Guest Speaker Recap: Urban Decay, Janice Nickloff

By: Thuyvi Pham

Tables filled with students, anticipating the arrival of the first guest speaker of the semester for PRSSA Long Beach, Head of Urban Decay Global Public Relations, Janice Nickloff. Nickloff explained her journey and her experiences in the beauty industry. She explained that “more than anything, it’s a lifestyle” because despite not having experience in beauty PR before she started at Stila Cosmetics and later moving on to Urban Decay, she quickly realized that success in the beauty industry is largely shaped by attitude and lifestyle. 

“I was just like you guys at one point in the same position, where I attended PRSSA guest speaker events and eventually was able to get my first internship” Nickloff explained. 

She received her Bachelor’s degree in public relations at California State University, Fullerton and built her career around entertainment and sports before dabbling into beauty. She began at a PR agency, where she was able to learn a lot about the “business” behind PR and had the opportunity to work with a variety of clients, including Nike. 

Nickloff provided insight into how PR has changed across all industries and how it’s evolving. With the onset of social media and influencers, PR has drastically evolved to more than just press releases. Nickloff also admitted that at the start of her career, she didn’t fully understand the scope of PR because in addition to being able to communicate and write articulately, understanding the analytics, and sales and marketing behind it is also crucial.

She encourages students to be proactive in learning as much as they can about PR and expressed how in interviews, preparation, passion and confidence are essential. Nickloff explained that before her first internship, the only experience she had was being a bank teller and a waitress, she leveraged the skills she gained from those roles to shape herself as a suitable candidate.

​To conclude the night, Nickloff gave the students some key advice to stand out to any company: “bring what they’re looking for from your age––what they don’t already know” because trends and consumer behavior change through each generation so utilizing your knowledge and experience as a Millennial or Gen Z is an asset to companies that target that audience.