Ani Hadjinian is a visionary leader and entrepreneur in the beauty industry whose creative pedigree was shaped under the mentorship of legends like Tom Ford and Bobbi Brown. With an innate affinity for impeccable product quality, bold aesthetics, and cultural relevance, Ani has mastered the art of building brands that resonate across generations. Boasting over 20 years of executive experience, Ani has been at the forefront of transforming some of the most iconic beauty brands, crafting innovative strategies that have consistently driven market share growth and consumer loyalty. Her unique approach fuses rigorous data-driven insights with a finely tuned creative sensibility, allowing her to anticipate trends and tap into the evolving desires of modern consumers.
Since its debut, POV Beauty has achieved multiple sell-outs and earned critical acclaim for its fresh, inclusive vision. Before POV, Ani founded Pure Heart Labs, a creative consultancy that helps brands and founders define their voice and essence with authenticity and impact. Ani’s impressive portfolio includes scaling luxury skincare brand Augustinus Bader in North America and shaping the aesthetic direction of K18, a revolutionary haircare brand. She has also led transformative rebranding efforts, including the repositioning of Galveston Diet into the influential menopause-focused wellness brand Pause Life.
Her entrepreneurial spirit took flight in 2016 through her partnership with Jessica Herrin at Stella & Dot Family Brands, where she launched EVER Skincare and quickly rose to become President of Stella & Dot, overseeing fashion, jewelry, and skincare lines. Ani’s journey began with a decade-long tenure at Estée Lauder Companies, where she refined her expertise in the art and science of beauty. Originally from Los Angeles, Ani has cultivated a global perspective through her professional years spent in New York, San Francisco, and Paris. Now back in LA with her two teenagers and a Pomeranian, she continues to innovate at the intersection of style, beauty, and culture.
Every leader knows the weight of decisions. From small daily choices to career-defining calls, they accumulate, compound, and ultimately shape the life and business we build. In her recent Masterclass, The Decision Dilemma: How Leaders Can Cut Through Complexity, Ani Hadjinian, co-founder and CEO of Point of View Beauty and founder of Pure Heart Labs, shared her framework for making decisions with clarity, confidence, and speed.
Ani began with the simplest, but most overlooked, practice: remove minor choices from the equation. “If you don’t contain the smaller choices, they will overtake you and you’ll hit decision fatigue before your workday even begins,” she explained.
Her mornings are built on non-negotiables: a 6 a.m. workout, planned meals, and a clear start time for work. By setting routines in advance, she preserves her energy for strategic thinking. “My goal for the day is to outpace decision fatigue,” she said, noting that she spends two hours every Sunday planning the week ahead.
Big decisions become manageable when reframed. Ani illustrated this with an example from her own world. Instead of asking, Should we launch in Europe?, she broke it down: Should we test in one European country this year with a $100,000 budget to assess demand?
“It’s not about fully committing right away—it’s about testing, learning, and iterating,” she noted. This approach makes the decision more specific, time-bound, and actionable, while reducing the fear of irreversible missteps.
No decision is made in a vacuum. Complexity, bias, and emotion can cloud even the best frameworks. “Your mind will play tricks on you, and most of the time it is not on the same team as you,” Ani cautioned.
She urged leaders to notice when they’re falling into confirmation bias, analysis paralysis, or emotional reactivity. “If you’re writing an email in anger, don’t send it. Wait until tomorrow with a clear mind,” she said. Taking a pause does not mean stalling—it means creating the space to make a rational call.
In Ani’s view, speed is a leader’s competitive edge. “In a startup, your biggest race is against time. If you can’t make decisions quickly, you lose your advantage,” she said.
Most decisions, she argued, are reversible. “They are rubber balls, not glass ones—they will bounce back.” Waiting for perfect information only slows momentum. “If you’ve got between 50 and 70 percent of the information, stop there, make the decision, and move on.”
Ultimately, decisions are defined by values. Ani filters professional choices through OKRs and personal ones through her family’s priorities. “Every decision I’ve made has become the outcome of my life,” she reflected. Even seemingly irrational moves, like her family’s temporary relocation to Paris, made sense because they aligned with deeply held values.
She also stressed the importance of transparency. “I don’t just communicate what was decided. I share the why and the how,” she said. This practice not only builds trust but also teaches teams to strengthen their own decision-making muscles.
