Glonary Awards

Cassandra Thurswell is the Founder and CEO of Kitsch, a self-funded, woman-owned global beauty brand she launched in 2010 with $30,000 in life savings and grew into a $300M+ business sold across 27,000 retail locations in 27 countries — including Ulta Beauty, Target, Walgreens, Whole Foods, Selfridges, Boots, Shoppers Drug Mart, Sephora Asia, and Mecca Australia. She has been honored as EY Entrepreneur of the Year 2024, named a 2025 CNBC Changemaker, and recognized among the World's Most Innovative Companies 2024. As a Colombian-American certified woman-and-minority-owned founder, she leads a team of approximately 200 employees, of whom 78% are women. And these are just a few areas of her work that bring significant value and demonstrate her contribution to global business leadership, women-led international brand building, and the rise of self-funded, founder-led companies competing on a global stage.