Karla Davis
Full Name
Karla Davis
Job Title
Vice President of Integrated Marketing and Media
Company
Ulta Beauty
Speaker Bio
Karla Davis is a high performing leader whose innovative spirit, influence and partnership is helping to change the face of beauty. Karla leads the Integrated Marketing Communications and Media Team for Ulta Beauty, and in her 5 years tenure, she has built the Integrated Marketing Communications function for the company, overseeing Category Marketing, Equity Communications, Media Strategy, Brand Partnership Development, Grand Openings and Local Marketing. She helped establish the brand’s positioning, brand identity and brand purpose and launched Ulta Beauty’s first ever national advertising campaign.

Karla’s love for beauty marketing started early; in fact, she was inspired to pursue a career in the industry after seeing the movie ‘Boomerang’ in the 90’s. That passion for the diverse and inclusive beauty space has led her to continually advocate for research development, cross functional initiatives, and communications strategies that ensure all beauty lovers can feel seen, heard and valued at Ulta Beauty . Her efforts helped determine a new value for the organization – Champion Diversity. For her work in Multicultural Strategy, Karla was recognized as a Hispanic Marketing Thought Leader by HispanicAd.com.

More recently, Karla was named to Essence Magazine’s Pretty Powerful List of Influential Black Beauty Executives and became an inaugural member of 25 Black Women in Beauty. From a broader industry perspective, she has been featured in Adweek’s Innovators Series for Inventive Marketing, on the mainstage for the ANA’s Multicultural Summit, and in AdAge’s Retail Summit. In response to her career-long impact in the marketing industry, Karla will be inducted into the prestigious American Advertising Federation’s Hall of Achievement, as part of the Class of 2020.

Prior to Ulta Beauty, Karla has held various roles in marketing at Fortune 100 companies, such as PepsiCo, Johnson & Johnson and Kraft Foods. She began her journey in the beauty industry at Fashion Fair Cosmetics.

Karla holds a master's degree in Design Strategy from IIT's Institute of Design, and received her bachelor's degree from Hampton University. She is a proud member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated.

Karla is the loving wife of Demetrius, the proud mama of Laila and an avid traveler – having visited 5 of the 7 continents and counting…