Angela kokshoorn speaks at the habb women's networking evening

With a career that's taken her from a dairy farm in New Zealand to companies such as P&G, L'Oreal and Aveda, Angela Kokshoorn knows a thing or two about the hair and beauty industry.

That's why Angela was the perfect choice of speaker for the recent Hair and Beauty Benevolent Women's Networking event, which took place in the Goldwell Academy in London.

After the opportunity to mingle and enjoy a welcome drink, attendees to the event sat down to watch Angela being interviewed by Hellen Ward about her experiences working in hair and beauty. 

Kiwi-born Angela, who grew up on a farm, explained that her first big break came working for P&G after her Marketing and Economics degree led to a place on the company's graduate scheme.

However, the small-scale nature of New Zealand business led Angela to be part of the country's "brain drain" - leaving for bigger and better things in the marketing department of L'Oreal in London.

The next big move for Angela meant leaving behind the safety and structure of a large corporate company to join the newly-emerging Charles Worthington brand - "I like change and I like learning" Angela said as she explained her decision to move.

A marketing role at Aveda followed, before Angela joined a hedge fund company looking to turn around the fortunes of failing hair and beauty brands. It was in this job that Angela accomplished what she calls her proudest achievement to date - reinvigorating the Batiste brand so that it went from a dowdy product on the bottom shelf at Boots to a funky festival must-have.

Now Angela works for Collection 2000 cosmetics (renamed Collection to update the brand), where she is Vice President Commercial. When questioned about the effect recession is having on beauty sales, Angela said the company had been having an easier ride than some thanks to its budget pricing, despite a difficult retail climate.

Angela's next mission with the company is to help Collection cosmetics flourish in new markets such as Thailand and other Asian countries. If her career so far is anything to go by, it looks like she'll have no trouble in succeeding.