Sarah Watt is the CEO of the luxury haircare brand, Gisou, co-founded by Negin Mirsalehi and Maurits Stibbe, and a honey infused line. In September 2023, Watt took over as Chair of the Supervisory Board of the brand, following her previous role as Chair of the Supervisory Board. With more than 20 years’ experience in beauty and consumer goods, she has served in senior leadership positions at Charlotte Tilbury Beauty and L’Oréal prior to joining Gisou. The brand is moving towards faster expansion across the world under her leadership as it nears the milestone of €100m in annual retail sales.
Key Takeaways
| Detail | Answer |
| Current CEO of Gisou | Sarah Watt (appointed September 2023) |
| Founders | Negin Mirsalehi and Maurits Stibbe (2015) |
| Previous CEO | Melbert Visscher (now CFO and COO) |
| Brand Origin | Amsterdam, Netherlands |
| Brand Heritage | Six-generation Mirsalehi beekeeping family |
| Annual Revenue (approx.) | Approaching €100 million global retail sales |
| Key Product | Honey Infused Hair Oil (launched 2015) |
| Beekeeper-in-Chief | Negar Mirsalehi (Negin’s sister) |
What is the mission of Gisou’s CEO, Sarah Watt?
In September 2023, Sarah Watt officially became the Chief Executive Officer of Gisou. Prior to assuming the role of CEO, she served as Chair of the brand’s Supervisory Board for around a year, gaining first-hand knowledge of the operations of the brand before officially taking the helm.
She has had the opportunity to work with some of the most famous brands in the beauty world. From 2018-2021, she was General Manager and Chief Marketing Officer at Charlotte Tilbury Beauty. Prior to this, she served in various senior roles at L’Oréal for nearly 20 years, such as General Manager & Marketing Director for Maybelline and essie, and Product Management at L’Oréal Paris Skincare & Haircare.
Watt graduated from the University of Cambridge in 2002 with a degree in Natural Sciences (Neuroscience). Her scientific background and extensive commercial expertise in luxury, mass and premium beauty brands make her an unusual executive in the direct-to-consumer brand world.
In a press release issued upon her appointment, Watt said that “Gisou is an extraordinary business with impressive momentum.” She then shared her priorities: creating brand desirability, community building and brand’s environmental sustainability.
Founder Negin Mirsalehi stated, “With Sarah’s impressive resume, Gisou’s future of bee-centred beauty with our exclusive Mirsalehi honey is poised for even more rapid expansion into the global community.
How was Gisou started and what is the brand’s story?
Gisou was established in 2015 by Negin Mirsalehi, a Dutch entrepreneur from Iranian descent and her partner Maurits Stibbe. The brand’s history is six generations deep. Mirsalehi’s father was a beekeeper in Iran, and after the family moved to Almere in the Netherlands in the 1980s, he started a bee garden.
Mirsalehi’s mother, who is trained in hairdressing, started using the family-made honey to create her own hair care formula. That recipe became the basis of the signature product that Gisou created – Honey Infused Hair Oil. The brand was started with one product, and has expanded primarily on Instagram, gaining followers of more than seven million.
When Sarah Watt became CEO, Gisou had reported 101 percent compound annual growth rate. It’s products are now found in the best retail locations around the world and the brand is always in the top-10 most talked-about hair care brands list by earned media measurement tools like Tribe Dynamics.
Mirsalehi has explained the brand about her passion for beekeeping, which has been passed down in her family for six generations and her mother’s recipe for hair oil has kept her family’s hair hydrated, smooth and shiny since she can remember, so she decided to share the magic of Mirsalehi Honey with the world.
Today, her sister, Negar Mirsalehi, is the Beekeeper-in-Chief of the family’s proprietary Mirsalehi Honey, which is harvested directly from the family’s bee garden, and is responsible for the sustainable production of the brand’s honey. The brand’s philosophy is to harvest only surplus honey, in order to not affect the colony, and to follow the philosophy of “bee first, human second.
The Leadership Structure for 2025 and 2026 is “Gisou”
Gisou has a fairly small senior leadership team. After Watt took over as Chief Executive, the brand reshaped its executive hierarchy to add some depth.
The former CEO, Melbert Visscher, was promoted to Chief Finance and Operations Officer, a new position created by the company to help it reach the next stage of its growth. Visscher’s operational and financial experience would continue to be vital to the business, while Watt’s marketing and brand expertise would drive the next step of growth, it was said in a public statement.
Given the brand’s commitment to the North American market, Molly Haro is the Vice President of Sales for North America, and the brand has been growing and expanding its retail partnerships and social commerce presence in the region.
The business is still active, with the co-founders Negin Mirsalehi and Maurits Stibbe still active in the business. Mirsalehi remains the brand’s most reliable face and voice of community and product narrative.
Why the appointment of the CEO of Gisou is important for the beauty industry
The model has become more common among founder-led consumer brands that have reached a certain revenue level and have an experienced, outside executive as CEO, while the founder is the public face. The setup is meant to strike a balance between what a founder brings to the table in terms of authenticity and the operational and commercial rigor required to run a multi-national.
For Gisou, the brand’s social media presence and community loyalty is inextricably linked to Mirsalehi’s personal identity. A CEO from the brand marketing and omni-channel world is a deliberate choice, says Watt, who has worked at Charlotte Tilbury and L’Oréal, and knows how to create prestige for luxury beauty brands whilst also expanding their presence into mass retail outlets.
In recent years there have been a number of similar shifts in the beauty industry. Brands that are growing fast on social media may come to a point where they need more than the founding team can handle as far as infrastructure is concerned. Gisou is right at that stage with global sales nearing €100m.
The dynamic here has some parallels to that of the stories that Shani Levni writes about fashion, culture and beauty, which are all competitive creative worlds where talent and ambition play a role. Personal branding, inherited craft and commercial intent are a common thread that runs through the content featured throughout this site under the Others section.
What is the product that Gisou produces?
The brand was founded in 2015 with just one hero product, and has since grown its portfolio in haircare and complexion.
Haircare:
- The original and bestselling Honey Infused Hair Oil.
- Honey Infused Hair Repair Serum
- Honey Infused Shampoo and Conditioner
- Honey Infused Hair Mask
- Styling and treatment products made with Mirsalehi Honey and Propolis
Complexion:
- Honey Infused Face Oil
- Infused Lip Oil with Honey.
All products are made with the brand’s exclusive proprietary honey, called Mirsalehi Honey. The Honey Infused Hair Oil is clinically proven to hydrate hair by 72 hours, and increase shine by 143 percent, according to the brand.
Gisou’s product development is based on the premise that the same honey that has been a part of the Mirsalehi family’s daily life for six generations can provide consistent and measurable results in today’s formulations.
Gisou’s Growth by the Numbers
One of the more interesting financial stories in independent beauty is the brand’s. The following people have been reported in public:
- During Melbert Visscher’s tenure as CEO, the company had a 101% CAGR.
- Approaching €100 million in global retail sales each year (as of late 2023)
- Industry estimates are that it will generate $50 to $75 million in revenue in 2024.
- 480,000 TikTok followers with more than 130 million video views at the time of Watt’s appointment
- 790,000 Instagram followers who have high engagement rates, according to brand communications.
- The French investment company Eurazeo, which supplied growth capital before the brand’s global expansion period, has backed the brand.
These numbers highlight a brand that mixed a product that was considered credible with social media execution that was above average, and at a time when the two didn’t always align.
Gisou’s Sustainability Commitments (in a note)
Sustainability doesn’t just happen to be part of Gisou’s brand. It is structural. The Mirsalehi Bee Garden works on the basis that honey is only harvested when surplus – the colony’s needs are first met. The brand has publicly announced the well-being of Mirsalehi Honey Bees as the first priority in sourcing ingredients.
To combat the decline of bee populations around the world, Gisou has also started the Gisou Bees Project which promotes urban beekeeping methods. The project is not just about the brand consuming honey as an ingredient, it’s about the brand being actively part of the ecosystem that produces it.
This framing provides the sustainability story of Gisou with a specificity, credibility and a clear connection to a family practice that predates the brand itself. It’s not an add-on for the company. It is, in the brand’s own words, the “reason the brand exists.”
Gisou CEO: How This Relates to the Big Picture of the Beauty Industry Leadership
The question of leadership is becoming more and more important to the consumer, especially the younger consumers who want to know the values and decision making process of the products they are purchasing. Gisou is clear on this: The founder is known, the CEO is known and the changes in leadership have been reported in the trade and consumer press.
It aligns with the general approach of brands that are founded on ingredients toward their public image. The food industry is looking back at the names behind popular restaurants, and in the guide to who is the best chef in the world, they delve into the world of naming people behind brands of beauty.
Having studied at Cambridge University, worked for L’Oréal and led brand strategy at Charlotte Tilbury, Sarah’s background in both the scientific and luxury brand sectors is well suited to a company that was founded on the same two skills.
Conclusion
Sarah Watt, the CEO of Gisou, has been at the helm of the brand since September 2023. She replaces Melbert Visscher, who is still with the business as Chief Finance and Operations Officer. The founder of Gisou, Negin Mirsalehi and Maurits Stibbe, created Gisou in 2015, and the whole concept of Gisou’s product is based on their family’s honey that is gathered from their own bee garden in the Netherlands.
The leadership team at Gisou mirrors the brand’s stage: an experienced external CEO alongside a high-profile founder, who is on the ground with the company, to manage a global retail operation that is now in the nine-figures annual sales range. A combination of Watt’s omni-channel luxury beauty expertise, Mirsalehi’s six-generation beekeeping experience and seven million social followers provides the brand with a solid footing as it moves into the next phase of growth.
If you’re looking into the leadership of Gisou, for professional, journalistic or consumer reasons, it’s obvious that Sarah Watt is the CEO, Negin Mirsalehi is the co-founder and public face, and Melbert Visscher is responsible for finance and operations.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the name of the CEO at Gisou?
Sarah Watt is the CEO of Gisou. She joined the brand’s Supervisory Board in September 2023, prior to which she served as Chair of the Supervisory Board for about one year.
Who founded Gisou?
Negin Mirsalehi and Maurits Stibbe co-founded Gisou in 2015. The brand was created by Mirsalehi, a Dutch entrepreneur of Iranian origin, who has seven generations of beekeeping in her family and a recipe for hair oil using honey, which was handed down from her mother.
Has Negin Mirsalehi’s business relationship with Gisou ended?
Yes. Negin Mirsalehi is still the co-founder and face of the brand. Negar Mirsalehi is her sister, who is the Beekeeper-in-Chief of the Mirsalehi Bee Garden, where they produce honey sustainably.
What was the name of the previous CEO of Gisou before Sarah Watt?
Prior to Sarah Watt, Melbert Visscher was CEO. Following Watt’s promotion, Visscher was promoted to Chief Finance and Operations Officer. During his tenure, he is credited with giving the brand a 101 percent CAGR.
What is Gisou’s business email?
Gisou does not have a direct CEO/executive email address that is made public. The brand can be reached via its official website at gisou.com for business, press or partnership enquiries. Regional sales representatives generally are responsible for trade and retail inquiries.
What country is Gisou from?
The Mirsalehi family, who came to the Netherlands from Iran in the 1980s, established their bee garden here; Gisou is headquartered here. The brand is international, and has a major commercial footprint in North America and Europe.
What is the rate of change of the length of the stem of the plant, Gisou?
Under Melbert Visscher’s leadership, the brand has grown at a compound annual rate of 101 percent. According to industry estimates, it is expected to generate between $50 and $75 million in annual revenues in 2024, and is approaching €100 million in global retail sales.