Rebecca Jefferd | Flawless foundation

Rebecca Jefferd’s resume is full of household brands from BP, L’Oreal, MECCA, the TOM Co, and now Ultra Violette, the sunscreen empire she co-founded with a former colleague. The pair spent two years perfecting their range before raising $200,000 each to fund the launch from Rebecca’s kitchen bench in Melbourne. Today, Ultra Violette is available in 30 countries and can be found in some of the world’s most exclusive retailers, including Harrods, Cult Beauty, Adore Beauty and Sephora.

The QUT Alumni team sat down with Rebecca to discuss her career, what’s happening behind the scenes at Ultra Violette, and who inspires her.

Can you tell us about your journey since graduating from QUT?

I took a graduate trainee role at BP straight after leaving QUT, and spent the next nine years building a generalist business career at BP in Australia, the United Kingdom (UK) and the United States (US). I always wanted to have a global marketing career, and found myself in the most consumer-facing part of BP which was in the Castrol Motor Oil division working on the launch of Castrol EDGE. That gave me a real taste for product development and building a global brand.

From there I managed to secure a role at L’Oreal in New York and I realised the beauty industry was for me. I really loved how creativity merged with commerciality and again found myself in a product development role liaising with the marketing teams and the research teams in France and the US. This was an excellent vantage point to see the global beauty industry and stood me in good stead when I returned to Australia a number of years later, to land a role at MECCA Brands running their private label division, incorporating product development with my background in beauty marketing.

What now seems like a linear trajectory to starting a beauty brand, most certainly wasn’t at the time. Although, I was always inspired by people who really put their neck out and built their own business from the ground up. I met my now co-founder, Ava Matthews, at MECCA. The opportunity for premium suncare that looked and felt like skincare really inspired us to leap off the career ladder and join the startup ladder. From there, Ultra Violette was born in January 2019.

What might a standard week look like for you?

As Ultra Violette is now in its 6th year, my work week looks very different from just 12 months ago. In a startup, things change rapidly and you need to adapt. I share the running of the business with my co-founder; however I have functional responsibility for finance, operations, human resources, legal and we share product development. Even though I majored in marketing at QUT, it's the only part of the business I don’t run! I am constantly grateful that I was given a broad business education as it's something I draw on every day.

A standard week involves many early calls with the US and Canada, either with our team based there or our main customer, Sephora. I have a weekly check in with my leadership team that covers our Chief Financial Officer, Head of Operations, Head of the UK, and Head of Sales. I then spend a lot of time in Product Development working with our team to plan a pipeline of new products out 2+ years, and evenings I often have calls with the UK or European customers such as SpaceNK or Harrods. No two weeks are the same, and as we are preparing to launch in the US very soon, I spend a lot of my time in press interviews, meeting candidates for team expansion, and also working with our US-based investors.

It took you two years to develop your first product – what tips would you give to those just getting started?

We really front-loaded our business development planning by starting with a thorough business plan. Both of us had a background in the beauty industry before starting Ultra Violette so we had seen a lot of things we wanted to emulate and avoid in our own business. Plus, it almost served as our own personal business case to leave a solid career and pay-check to take entrepreneurial risk. So I would suggest spending a lot of time thinking through your product market fit, being realistic about how much capital you require and how you are going to source it.

From there, you need a vision for scaling the business—grounded in realistic unit economics—to show how you are actually going to be profitable. All of this is theoretical of course, but we often look back on that plan we started in 2017 and it has fundamentally shaped how the business grew in those first few years. Being co-founders meant we had to have a lot of the tricky conversations early on, so we knew we were both on the same page from the start.

One of your strengths is having a deep connection to your customers. Can you explain what this means to an entrepreneur and the part it plays in gaining insight into your customer?

We have lots of customers at Ultra Violette. The first is the end consumer that buys directly from our website. They're incredibly valuable as they tell you exactly what they think! They give feedback on what they love, what can be improved, and also how willing they are to buy at a certain price. These insights help shape the future of the business. We also involve them in product testing and community forums, where they share input on everything from communication to fragrance in new products.

Our second set of customers are our retail partners, like Sephora, who buy our products wholesale and sell them to their customers. They have a different set of needs, and fortunately both my co-founder and I have worked inside one of these retailers so we have an clear insight into what they demand from their brands. For Ultra Violette, this means helping the retailer build a new category of prestige suncare combined with skincare. We support them by training their teams and educating consumers on why SPF is essential in any skincare regimen.

Retail partners also influence our product pipeline, providing insights that shape future launches. Plus, working with a global retailer like Sephora has helped us scale internationally. Entrepreneurs need customers—but not all customers are the same. Beyond sales, they can play a vital role in shaping and growing a business.

How many people do you currently have in the Ultra Violette team? What do you like to do to foster your team culture?

There are currently 32 people in the Ultra Violette team with headquarters in Melbourne, and team members in the UK, Europe and the US. Early on, we clearly articulated the values that we wanted to instil in the organisation. These now impact hiring decisions, how we celebrate achievements guide how we reward our team. For example, one of our core values is ‘We strive together to achieve big things.’ When we see someone living this value, we recognise them and their actions. This creates an upward cycle of momentum on further embedding these values into the culture of the business. I think having clear values is just one element of fostering team culture, but it is an important one as it makes any expression of culture feel genuine and purposeful.

Can you tell us why you chose Sephora to help launch your brand internationally?

Sephora is the world’s largest prestige beauty retailer that is owned by LVMH and has with stores in all the major beauty markets globally. Whilst they are not the dominant prestige beauty retailer in Australia, they are in many other markets, so a partnership with them here has unlocked many opportunities for us including Canada, the US, and the Middle East. They are also the experts in building brands, and have a track record for taking independent beauty brands and nurturing them into global mega-brands in the beauty space. We see that expertise in many touchpoints from marketing planning to digital merchandising through to product assortment. Ultra Violette has learned a lot from our partnership with Sephora and we now work with their global merchandise team to plan future expansions.

A parent shouldn’t have favourite children but what product do you recommend people start with?

I use different Ultra Violette products all the time—often testing unreleased ones—but for a starting point, Supreme Screen SPF50+ is a great all-rounder. Even the men in my life love it!

What is one goal you'd like to achieve professionally or personally in 2025?

With the upcoming US launch, our goal is to be the most successful skincare launch at Sephora US in 2025. I have deliberately narrowed that goal just to skincare so as to not have to take on Hailey Beiber’s Rhode when that launches in quarter four of 2025 (If you know, you know)!

Can you name some of the individuals who inspire you? What qualities in these individuals do you admire and seek to emulate in your own work/life?

My co-founder, Ava, inspires me all the time. She has amazing vision for our brand, and is constantly open to trying new and interesting things. She also never takes herself too seriously and is always ready to inject a dose of fun into any situation. If I have learned anything as an entrepreneur over the last six years, it is that this is a marathon and not a sprint, so injecting fun and a sense of humour into the everyday is a superpower for resilience and therefore longevity in business. A belly laugh is a really underrated business tactic.

What is one skill you couldn’t live without and why?

Prioritisation! You will never get to the bottom of your to-do list, and you will always have more on your plate than you can handle. So, learn how to ruthlessly prioritise and by that, I mean choosing the right things, and spending the right amount of time on them. Your productivity and therefore your effectiveness as a business owner depends upon it.

QUT degree - Bachelor of Business (Marketing), 1997

Do you have a question for Rebecca? Connect with her on LinkedIn.