“Bad Data Equals Bad AI”: Ekta Chopra, e.l.f. Beauty’s Chief Technology & AI Officer - Live from Retailclub

We pick up where we left off a year ago and get into what has changed since. Ekta walks us through how e.l.f. is structuring its AI work, what kind of person they’re hiring to do it, and how a public company makes the case for investing before the ROI is fully provable. The live audience jumps in with some sharp questions along the way.

We close by looking ahead to what Ekta thinks brands need to get ready for in the next 12 months. Hit play.

Highlights: 

• 𝗟𝗲𝘁 𝗶𝘁 𝗿𝗶𝗽 𝗼𝗿 𝗹𝗼𝗰𝗸 𝗶𝘁 𝗱𝗼𝘄𝗻: Ekta says companies tend to pick one of two AI philosophies, giving it to everyone or locking it down. e.l.f. has tried to do both so it doesn't kill innovation.
• 𝗧𝗵𝗿𝗲𝗲 𝗽𝗼𝗱𝘀: e.l.f. runs three AI pods covering agentic commerce/growth, intelligent operations, and the human-agent workforce. Each pod owns data, change management, integrations, and training. The agentic growth roles are now being hired as dedicated full-time positions across e.l.f.'s brands.
• 𝗡𝗼 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗵𝗮𝘀 𝗺𝗲𝗮𝘀𝘂𝗿𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗳𝗶𝗴𝘂𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝗼𝘂𝘁: "Anybody that tells you they have figured it out haven't figured it out." Ekta measures readiness instead, and focuses on the products where e.l.f. has the right to win.
• 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗺𝗽𝘁𝘀, 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆: Jason points out that most visibility tools rely on synthetic prompts. Google's new Agentic Insights tab in Merchant Center is the first look at what real people actually type, at least on Google surfaces.
• 𝗕𝗮𝗱 𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗮 = 𝗯𝗮𝗱 𝗔𝗜: Ekta's case for fixing the foundation first. If you don't solve the plumbing, you can't scale.
• 𝗘𝘅𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝘃𝗼𝗶𝗰𝗲𝘀 𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝗲: About 14 months ago e.l.f. brought in an outside search expert, and that put "fire in the belly." 
• 𝗦𝘂𝗽𝗽𝗹𝘆 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗹𝗲𝗲𝗽𝗲𝗿: e.l.f. has invested in Lyric for forecasting and demand planning. Its planners "are actually now engineers," and AP, AR, payroll and inventory teams are building their own AI workflows.
• 𝗔𝗴𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗿𝗲𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽 𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁: Ekta's prediction is that Meta wins the agent shopping race. She says brands need to put agent identity in place now, so they know which agent is arriving and which customer it represents. It's the next CDP/CRM-style plumbing project.

Huge thanks to Ekta for running over from the main stage, and to our live audience at RetailClub for the great questions. Enjoy the conversation.

Timestamps:
01:17 Live from Retail Club: meet Ekta Chopra & co-host Jason Goldberg
02:04 One-year reunion and a new title
02:38 e.l.f. Beauty: a house of brands, 30 straight growth quarters
03:19 Eyes, lips, face… and the Jeopardy! moment
03:43 Ekta's role as Chief Technology & AI Officer
04:02 From the main stage: let it rip or lock it down
05:04 e.l.f.'s three AI pods
06:14 Making agentic growth a full-time job
07:00 Who do you hire for agentic commerce?
08:33 Jason's "you've reached your quota" hiring hack
08:48 Selling AI investment to a public company board
10:06 Measuring readiness when no one has measurement figured out
11:31 "My board member couldn't find our product"
13:06 Synthetic prompts vs. real prompts: Google's Agentic Insights
14:00 Audience Q: build vs. buy
14:52 Where to start: external voices and fire in the belly
16:23 Foundation first: bad data equals bad AI
17:47 Back office, supply chain, and Lyric
19:52 Personal shopping assistants and agents
20:59 Serving a house of brands and working with retail partners
22:55 Audience Q: is governance keeping pace?
24:50 Next 12 months: Meta, agent identity & agent relationship management
26:20 Wrap-up 

👉 Connect with Ekta: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ektachopra/
👉 Learn more about e.l.f. Beauty: https://www.linkedin.com/company/e-l-f-beauty/

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