Shelley Sullivan

In February 2025, Sullivan announced her departure as CEO of her beauty brand, MCoBeauty, selling her remaining stake to DBG Health. At the time of the acquisition, MCoBeauty was valued at over $1 billion. This transaction marks one of the most valuable merger and acquisition ever ked by a female business owner in the Australian market.

Following the DBG announcement, Sullivan was signed by the world’s leading entertainment and sports agency Creative Artists Agency (CAA).

Before venturing into beauty, Sullivan ran a successful model agency for nearly a decade. She then founded her first makeup brand, ModelCo, in 2002, introducing groundbreaking products such as the first heated lash curler and, later, the world’s first airbrush self-tan.

In 2020, Sullivan launched her second brand, MCoBeauty, with a commitment to luxe-for-less beauty and a bold goal of cracking the masstige cosmetics market. Starting with just six products, MCoBeauty has become a household name, known for Sullivan's ability to tap into trends and forge innovative partnerships. Over the years, she has initiated highly successful collaborations with celebrities and creatives like Hailey Bieber, Celeste Barber, Elle Macpherson, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, and Karl Lagerfeld. In 2018, ModelCo partnered with Karl Lagerfeld to launch the KARL LAGERFELD + MODELCO limited edition colour cosmetics collection. Sullivan’s signature viral marketing tactics included painting Paris “ModelCo pink” for the launch, with a street activation featuring an army of Karl’s Beauty Butlers taking over iconic locations, including the Eiffel Tower, The Tuileries Garden, and Place Vendome.

Proudly female-founded, under Sullivan's leadership, MCoBeauty has experienced remarkable growth, rapidly expanding across top retail channels in Australia, New Zealand, and the United States, where it was recently recognised as a top beauty launch in Target US. MCoBeauty is now the number one selling cosmetics brand in Australia and New Zealand, with a billion-dollar valuation. The brand has successfully captured market share from global beauty giants such as L’Oréal, Maybelline, Rimmel, CoverGirl, and Revlon. Widely regarded as a true category disruptor, Sullivan and MCoBeauty have received numerous business accolades over the past two decades. Most recently, Sullivan was honoured with the retail category win at the Australian Financial Review Women in Leadership Awards in 2024.

Sullivan is celebrated as a visionary leader in business. As Fashion Editor of the Australian Financial Review, Lauren Sams states, "Shelley is a force, she sees opportunities and seizes them,and clearly works to build teams around her to bring her vast vision to life, she is an impressive business leader.”, AGL Chairman Patricia McKenzie also credited Sullivan on her success: “Look at what she’s done,” she said. “She’s taken it [MCoBeauty] from nothing to a billion-dollar turnover. And, she seems to have done it in a way which has been quite inclusive in her business.”

Fuelled by an incredibly strong work ethic that sees her in both the boardroom and the warehouse, Sullivan has an intuitive knack for what her customer wants. Sullivan states that her drive and tenacity has often come from being underestimated. “When I started MCoBeauty, the market was dominated by the big global beauty icons Revlon, Maybelline and Rimmel,” she recalls.

“We had just 6 MCoBeauty SKUs on the shelves and I told someone in the industry that my goal was to break into the global masstige beauty space. They told me it was not possible. This set the challenge in my mind — and I just went for it. There really is nothing like being told you can’t do something to give you drive, and for that I’m grateful.” - Shelley Sullivan

The Fordham Company represent Shelley Sullivan in collaboration with CAA, Creative Artist Agency.

Forbes: https://www.forbes.com.au/covers/entrepreneurs/australias-no-1-beauty-brand-mcobeauty-sells-on-1-billion-valuation/

AFR: https://www.afr.com/companies/retail/zero-to-1b-in-five-years-mco-deal-caps-meteoric-makeup-rise-20250130-p5l88t