Actress and entrepreneur Jessica Alba is leaving her baby and beauty products brand, The Honest Company, after 12 years running it as its chief creative officer. Alba founded The Honest Company in 2012 and took it public in 2021 at a valuation of $1.4 billion. But the company has shed most of its worth since then and currently has a market cap of $337 million.
Alba made the announcement in an Instagram post on Tuesday (April 9). She said she will still be a part of the company in an advisory capacity on its board of directors. The Honest Company’s CEO is Carla Vernón, who previously worked as an executive at Amazon and General Mills. She joined The Honest Company in 2023 and is the first Afro-Latina to lead a publicly traded company.
“While there would never have been an easy time to make this decision, I know we have a leadership team in place with Carla Vernón at the helm to advance our founding vision and strengthen Honest’s legacy as an industry change-maker,” the 42-year-old actress said in the Instagram post. It’s unclear who will succeed Alba as chief creative officer.
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Vernón also posted a farewell message to Alba on Instagram, sharing how the two met when she was still at Amazon and Honest was partnering with the e-commerce giant.
“Jessica is a true visionary who broke barriers and changed the personal care and baby care industries through the power of the small,” Vernón said. “As Jessica steps into her next endeavors, our Honest team is proud to carry her vision forward.”
The former CEO of Honest is Nick Vlahos, who left the company in 2022. He was appointed co-CEO of Hailey Bieber’s skincare brand Rhode in February.
The Honest Company had some highlights in 2023, breaking a revenue record and posting a profit at the end of the year. In the last quarter of 2023, the company brought in $90 million in revenue, up 10 percent from a year prior, and posted a $1.1 million profit, reversing a $13 million loss in the same quarter of 2022. Full-year revenue came at $344 million with a net loss of $39 million, narrowing from the previous year’s $49 million.