403. Building a people-first culture in modern retail with Ulta Beauty

Retail is an industry built on people, emotion and constant reinvention, and few leaders embody that reality more fully than Ulta Beauty President and CEO Kecia Steelman. In this episode of Retail Gets Real recorded live from NRF 2026: Retail’s Big Show in New York City, Steelman explores her remarkable career journey, leadership philosophy and how she’s guiding the nation’s largest specialty beauty retailer through one of the most transformative moments in retail history. (00:00:00) From the sales floor to the CEO seat (00:05:48) How retail creates opportunity at every level (00:09:14) Why beauty retail is about emotion, not just products (00:12:52) Why the future of retail has no finish line (00:16:24) How culture drives performance at Ulta Beauty (00:19:28) How Ulta Beauty localizes a global brand (00:22:14) What retail needs more (and less) of right now The National Retail Federation is the world’s largest retail trade association. Every day, we passionately stand up for the people, policies and ideas that help retail succeed. Resources: • Become an NRF member and join the world’s largest retail trade association • Learn about our retail education platform, NRF Foundation, at nrffoundation.org • Learn about retail advocacy at nrf.com/advocacy • Find more episodes at retailgetsreal.com Related: • 380: How Vera Bradley transformed a legacy brand • 376: How Target’s consumer-first strategy drives success

You can listen to 403. Building a people-first culture in modern retail with Ulta Beauty online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

403. Building a people-first culture in modern retail with Ulta Beauty is an episode from Retail Gets Real by National Retail Federation.

This episode is 28:17 long.

This episode was published on Jan 27, 2026.

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