Leila Velez

Serial Entrepreneur & Founder/CEO of Beleza Natural; Inclusive Beauty Pioneer; Young Global Leader from the World Economic Forum

New York, NY, USA
Live Event: Please Contact Virtual Event: Please Contact More Fee Info
Art & Design, Beauty, Business Coaching, Business Leadership, Entrepreneurship, Executive Leadership, Female Leadership, Influential Women, Social Entrepreneurship, TED, Women in Business
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Leila Velez Biography

Leila Velez is founder and CEO, strategic advisor and advocate for women's economic equity. Velez's story begins not in a boardroom, but at a McDonald's counter. She started working at 14, became the chain's youngest manager in Brazil at 16, and at 19, with little more than determination and a clear-eyed understanding of who the market was failing, founded Beleza Natural in Rio de Janeiro.

Velez then led one of the most remarkable entrepreneurial journeys in Latin American history. Beleza Natural became Brazil's largest specialty beauty services chain, purpose-built to serve Black and mixed-race women with curly hair, a community that mainstream beauty institutions had long ignored. Over 26 years, Velez grew the company from zero to $100 million in annual revenue, 4,000 employees, 120,000 monthly clients and more than 55 locations across five states, including a cosmetics manufacturing operation. She did not just build a business; she built a new market, a workforce development pipeline and a cultural movement around dignity, inclusion and belonging.

That mission-driven foundation has shaped everything Velez has done since. She has been a voluntary mentor for women entrepreneurs across Brazil and Latin America and has been deeply engaged with initiatives at the intersection of gender equity, racial justice and economic empowerment, including Endeavor, CEO Champions, Brazil's Women, the Dell Women's Entrepreneur Network and E&Y's Winning Women program.

Velez's board service reflects the same values. She serves on the advisory board of Columbia Business School's ECLA program, the board of COPPEAD Business School at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro and the board of Motriz, an NGO supported by the Lemann Foundation focused on education and social mobility. Past governance roles include the Presidential Advisory Council on Economic and Social Development of Brazil, the Coca-Cola Social Institute, the ETHOS Institute for Business and Social Responsibility and Endeavor Brazil.

Recognized as a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader, an Endeavor entrepreneur and a Rising Talent by the Women's Global Forum for the Economy and Society in Deauville, Velez has received the Veuve Clicquot Business Women Award and was named one of the eight entrepreneurs to follow by Forbes Brazil. She has been featured on the covers of Exame and Americas Quarterly and has delivered keynotes at TEDx, MIT Sloan, Columbia Business School, the Milken Institute Global Conference, the Women's Forum for the Economy and Society and YPO.

Velez is strategic advisor at Cultivate Advisors, where she works with founders and CEOs navigating complex growth and organizational challenges. She also serves as investor and strategic advisor to Curl Lab, an AI-powered beauty-tech company continuing the legacy of inclusive innovation she pioneered.

Velez brings to every room she enters the rare credibility of someone who built something that mattered, from the ground up, for people the world had overlooked. She is fluent in Portuguese and English and conversational in Spanish, French and German.

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Speaker profile last updated by AAE Talent Team on 05/25/2026.

Leila Velez Speaking Topics

  • From Zero to Scale: Building What the World Said Was Impossible

    What does it actually take to build something from nothing — in a market that doesn't believe in you, with resources that shouldn't be enough, for a customer everyone else has ignored?

    In this 60-minute keynote, Leila Velez draws on 26 years as the founder and CEO of Beleza Natural — Brazil's largest curly hair beauty chain, built from $200 and a vision into a $100M+ enterprise with 4,000 employees and 120,000 monthly clients — to answer that question with rare specificity and honesty. This is not a story of overnight success or inherited advantage. It is a masterclass in what disciplined leadership, relentless execution, and an unshakeable belief in your market can produce when most people are telling you it can't be done.

    Leila takes audiences inside the decisions that defined her company's trajectory: how she built a culture that retained talent at below-sector attrition rates in one of the world's most volatile labor markets; how she designed operational systems that scaled across 55+ locations without losing brand integrity; how she navigated institutional fundraising as a young woman of color with no pedigree; and how she turned an overlooked community into a loyal customer base of 120,000 people a month. She also speaks candidly about failure — the leadership mistakes, the growth traps, the personal cost of building something at that scale — because that honesty is precisely what makes her insights actionable rather than just aspirational.

    Audiences leave with a clear-eyed framework for scaling with intention, leading through complexity, and building organizations that create value for their people and their communities — not just their bottom line.

    This program is ideal for: entrepreneurship summits, executive leadership conferences, women's leadership forums, corporate innovation days, private equity portfolio events, and university business programs.

    Tone: Inspiring, rigorous, and deeply practical — equal parts keynote and executive masterclass.

Leila Velez Videos

Leila Velez at TEDxJardins

Leila Velez at TEDxJardins

Beleza Natural

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  • What topics does Leila Velez speak about?

    Leila Velez is a keynote speaker and industry expert whose speaking topics include Art & Design, Beauty, Business Coaching, Business Leadership, Entrepreneurship, Executive Leadership, Female Leadership, Influential Women, Social Entrepreneurship, TED, Women in Business

  • Where does Leila Velez travel from?

    Leila Velez generally travels from New York, NY, USA, but can be booked for private corporate events, personal appearances, keynote speeches, or other performances. For more details, please contact an AAE Booking agent.

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Leila Velez is a keynote speaker and industry expert who speaks on a wide range of topics such as From Zero to Scale: Building What the World Said Was Impossible . The estimated speaking fee range to book Leila Velez for your event is available upon request. Leila Velez generally travels from New York, NY, USA and can be booked for (private) corporate events, personal appearances, keynote speeches, or other performances. Similar motivational celebrity speakers are Donna Karan, Marina Cançado, Joy Buolamwini, Kavita Shukla and Kristie Kennedy. Contact All American Speakers for ratings, reviews, videos and information on scheduling Leila Velez for an upcoming live or virtual event.

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