issue 8. Isabel Zancajo: a celebration of authenticity

01. Where do you see yourself in three years?

I loved this question on the screen that started the presentation. As a teacher, I know engaging your audience is key, so starting with a question everybody can answer is a good idea. I also liked it because I am not afraid of answering it: I know where I see myself and I know the things I can do, and trust me! I am getting there! It’s just that my path is not the usual.

I am a 28 year old art teacher and fashion lover, and I have realised that imagining my future has always come naturally to me. I have studied, worked, explored different interests and enjoyed my own decisions about what to do with my life. I have been building my own path for years, and it actually makes sense for me.

Sitting in that room, having someone speak about the world behind some of the most recognisable names in luxury beauty, I was reminded of many things. The most important is how much I love listening to ambitious people that can make the places you admire stop feeling like distant worlds and start becoming somewhere you can imagine yourself. The best thing is that I enter these places from a personal sense of fun, I really find it exciting, I feel like a kid playing in the park.

This was one of the ideas I took away from Behind the Brands: What Lies Behind L’Oréal Luxe, a talk by Isabel Zancajo, Corporate Communications Director at L’Oréal Luxe, held on 8 October in collaboration with UCJC, ElleEducation and Mindway (university from where I got a diploma in Fashion Styling last year!!). More than a presentation about a major beauty group, it became an opportunity to reflect on professional identity, creativity and the values that shape the brands we encounter every day. I felt so inspired, I asked her for permission to write about her talk, and not only she accepted, but encouraged me to keep doing what I love! So this is my personal way of thanking her.

02. Behind the brands: More than a product

One of the most interesting aspects of the talk was discovering what lies behind a portfolio of luxury brands. From Prada and Mugler to Lancôme and Yves Saint Laurent, each name represents a different universe, with its own identity, audience and way of communicating.

Although these brands operate within the same group, they cannot all tell the same story. Their roots, aesthetics and values require different approaches. For example, I liked learning that Armani is related to the cinema, while YSL works with music giants, like Dua Lipa, because she transmits the power of 21st century women. I saw her live last week on concert with Shakira, and I can confirm it. Understanding what makes each brand distinctive is essential to communicating its identity effectively (and that is golden advice for someone building something, like me!)

Shakira’s concert on the 3rd of October, Madrid. My friend Bea and I had so much fun.

This is what makes brand communication so fascinating to me. A product is only one part of the story. The rest is built through imagery, language, creative direction, heritage and the emotions a brand seeks to evoke. These are huge parts that make the experience unforgettable. Sometimes we are afraid of letting our own creative universe grow, but being complimented for the way you see things is the best thing ever.

03. Authenticity: Finding the right voice

Luxury, in this sense, is not simply about creating something desirable or expensive. It is also not just s’écarter, it’s not just about being unapproachable, it is about building a meaning and an experience around an object and giving people a reason to connect with it. For me, that I value artisans, writers, poets, … having a chance to step into someone’s inner world is my favorite thing to do. So, imagine if it is not just only someone’s mind, but thousands of people around the world working together to share certain values and ideas in the beauty industry!

Even though some brands are more accessible to the youth, L’Oréal doesn’t deliberately direct publicity to teenagers.

This way, we learnt that behind every campaign lies a series of decisions: what the brand wants to represent, which audience it wants to reach and how it can express its identity without losing what makes it recognisable. A successful campaign requires more than an attractive image. The people representing a brand must be able to communicate something that feels consistent with its identity and values. About this, Isabel shared something that really resonated with me. She told us L’Oréal doesn’t do campaigns with teenagers, because they believe this age gap should be focused just on solar protection and hydration, which has a huge message for society. I fully agree with her, as a woman and as a teacher to these ages. I think it is absolutely remarkable that someone with her position values youth so much that she wants to protect it and let it discover themselves instead of transforming them into a target audience.

I understood that the most compelling communication happens when there is coherence between what a brand says, what it represents and the people through whom it expresses those ideas.

04. Committed & Love Brands: Building meaningful connections

Recognition is built through visibility, but a lasting connection requires something more: a distinctive identity, a consistent message and values that people can relate to.

This is particularly relevant in the luxury industry, where the story surrounding a product can be almost as important as the product itself. Fragrance, for example, is not merely a physical object. It can evoke memories, suggest a personality or become associated with a particular moment in someone's life.

Through storytelling and creative campaigns, brands give these experiences a visual and emotional language. And this is my favorite part of this! I love finding out where everything started, all the obstacles, how they celebrate the achievements, what to do when something works worse than expected, and how we tell the world about it! Building a sphere of ideas and a certain style is, to me, completely mesmerizing.

That is why I am so obsessed with storytelling, books and biographies, documentaries… because since I was very young I always struggled to find inspiring people that shared their steps with me! That is why I do this blog, because I want my path to work for someone. It is so good to remember how brand's values need to be reflected in how it communicates and behaves.

05. Beyond beauty: The responsibility of the industry

The presentation also touched AI, introducing another dimension to the discussion about the future of luxury. The beauty and fashion industries have the opportunity to use AI to influence not only what people buy, but also how they think about products, consumption and the values associated with them. It is, of course, mandatory, to use these technologies to learn, as Isabel said, what people look for and which results come first in all these intelligences, but I personally hope beauty brands don’t continue filling up fashion magazine pages with AI images instead of collaborating with real directors, stylists or models (but this is my oppinion as a lover of artistries).

Responsibility also involves taking sustainability into account. If I could ask Isabel more questions about her position, I would like to know how L’Oréal works towards sustainability, what actions they take to protect the environment and how they see this part of production in the future.

I would also ask her if they contemplate celebrating individuals that we don’t normally see in advertisement, like writers, painters, journalists, and why not? Teachers! We may not fill a stadium, but that doesn’t mean we don’t have good values to share. It would also be a good way to learn about women around us that are also inspiring (as a teacher, I need my students to have good examples around). We don’t always have to look up to mega stars, I think my mom would do great too.

For me, this is another example of why looking behind the brands matters. The visible campaign is only the final expression of a much larger process involving strategy, decisions and responsibility.

06. From observation to creation: My Prada illustrations

After the talk, I approached Isabel and showed her my Prada illustrations. It was a small moment, but a meaningful one for me: I was bringing something I had created into a conversation about the industry I want to understand better. As I did with Palomo Spain or Yolancris days before, I wanted her to see my vision of a brand.

Fashion illustration is not simply about reproducing clothes. It can be a way of interpreting a designer's vision, observing the details of a collection and translating a brand's visual language into a personal response. Prada BBeauty is part of L’Oréal, so I explained her this was my analysis of Miuccia Prada’s defense of the skirt as a symbol of disruption. She says a skirt is feminine enough, but versatile and lets you break the sophistication through a T-shirt, for example. This is why I think my drawing style fits it very well, because I don’t look for the perfect lines, I want the spectator to finish them! This is my way of disrupting.

Drawing requires decisions. What deserves attention? Which details define the garment? How can a particular silhouette or atmosphere be communicated on paper? These questions are not so different from those involved in creative direction and brand storytelling. Both processes begin with observation and end with interpretation.

Showing my illustrations after the talk made me reflect on the relationship between learning about an industry and actively participating in it. I may still be developing my skills and defining my direction, but creating something of my own gives me a way to engage with fashion beyond simply admiring it.

Perhaps that is one way professional possibilities begin to feel more real: by finding opportunities to bring my own perspective into the spaces that interest me.

07. The person behind the professional

Listening to Isabel speak about her professional and personal journey added another dimension to the presentation. Behind a senior position in a major company, there is a path shaped by experience, decisions, challenges and opportunities.

It is easy to look at established professionals and see only the result: the title, the experience and the access they have to an industry. Some people just ask her about her normal day at her company, but I can’t ignore the process that leads to it. If I could interview her, I would ask her for every obstacle that she has encountered, every skill she has learnt, every person that has taught her something valuable. What she would write about if she had this magazine.

As a kid I struggled a lot to find people that showed me their paths, so this is part of what I try to do with this website. Maybe one of my students finds it useful, or my future kids, or a friend, or me in the future if I forget who I want to be. Something I particularly loved is that her niece was sitting in the audience and stood by her side while all of us asked our questions. If a 22 year old is there for 3 hours on a Tuesday after university, it’s because he is deeply proud of what you do, and of course, loves you.

That is why hearing people explain their journeys can be valuable. It reminds us that careers are built over time, rather than appearing fully formed from the beginning. It is the building of patience I always talk about.

For someone who is still exploring how creativity, fashion and communication might fit together professionally, this perspective feels particularly relevant.

08. Learning to imagine a bigger future

I keep returning to that question on the screen: Where do you see yourself working in three years?

At twenty-eight, I am beginning to understand that ambition does not always arrive as a clear plan. Sometimes it starts with curiosity, with the decision to attend a talk, with the courage to approach someone afterwards or with the willingness to show work that is still evolving.

I am beginning to explore my possibilities in the fashion industry more seriously. Not because I suddenly know exactly where I will end up, but because I am allowing myself to consider places I had never genuinely imagined myself belonging to.

I still have a great deal to learn. But I am learning that a professional identity does not have to be completely defined before you start building it. And it can be completely different to any other! And unexpected. I feel like there are no footsteps I am following, I have just started to walk and it feels great!

Perhaps the point is not to predict exactly where I will be in three years. It is to keep creating, observing, learning and putting myself in situations that bring me closer to the work I want to do. Sometimes, the first step towards a bigger future is simply allowing yourself to picture one.

For now, I can only keep creating my path, and thank Isabel for her talent, generosity and leadership. As a woman, as a fashion and beauty lover, as someone that works hard and has big goals, I am so happy to have attended this masterclass.

By Teresa Calderón @tescalderon