How leaders at Rare Beauty and Calm put human connection at the core of their companies

Fast Company

13-05-2025

It can be tempting for business leaders to overly rely on data to drive their decision-making. But so often that approach can sacrifice the human connection that's needed between leaders and their employees and customers.
At Fast Company's annual Impact Council meeting last week, Elyse Cohen, chief impact officer of the Selena Gomez-founded beauty brand Rare Beauty; and David Ko, CEO of mental health and sleep assistance platform Calm, took to the stage to discuss why leading like a human is so important, particularly at a time of striking technological advancement.
Data-driven human connection
Although Calm leverages AI, the company predominantly uses those capabilities to democratize access to its app, which includes guided meditations, bedtime stories and soundscapes, and video lessons for movement and stretching. According to Ko, Calm is using AI to translate these features into other languages, expand content options, and increase people's comfort levels with the technology. Ko wants to employ what he calls 'human-centered AI,' which puts the user at the center of data insights.
'We want to use the data to continue to evolve, to make the product better, so that ultimately we can make you healthier and be with you in your mental health journey every step of the way,' Ko said.
For Cohen, AI plays a limited role in her day-to-day operations. Rather the data she looks to comes from robust customer interactions and feedback, which, in large part, stems from the company putting mental health advocacy at the core of their business from day one.
'We didn't anticipate a community like this. It really was launching this company at a time when a global pandemic was happening. Our audience was experiencing more loneliness than ever. And so by default, we created these virtual ways to connect, which then turned into this powerful community,' she said. 'As the brand grew, it became quite clear that our community was the heart and soul of this brand.'
Letting Gen Z lead
Many of the lessons that Cohen and Ko have learned from their customers and employees about human connection comes from younger generations, who appreciate transparency in the workplace and want to see their values reflected in the brands they work for or spend money on.
'The way everyone is so open about a therapy appointment, or being stressed, it's not the same moment of hiding those feelings,' Cohen said. 'It's a lot more of wearing them on your sleeve and opening up the conversation for a leader to then ask how they are—and they will tell you.'
As important as it is to allow employees to be open about their mental health in the workplace, Cohen also noted that it's important for company leaders to engage with 'kitchen conversations' across the board with their employees.
'When it comes to the personal part of their life, that's where they're open and willing to talk and wanting to talk,' Cohen said. 'I could tell you every employee that went to Coachella.'
To Cohen, it's about understanding 'the whole person' and who they're showing up to work as.
'Our employees come to the office ready to talk and ready to actually share,' she said.
Making mental health conversations company-wide
Cultivating an environment where people feel like they're actually being listened to can create space for vulnerable conversations, which build trust and are crucial to companies that create products and build communities centered around mental well-being. For Calm and Rare Beauty, that ethos originates at the internal level.
Ko said that he's dealt with panic attacks since the age of 14, but he didn't start to think about how his own mental health impacted the environments he worked in—including, initially, at Calm—until later in life.
'What I started to do was to open up dialogue around [my mental health], show my own vulnerability and talk about what I have been through,' he said. 'If we really want to have conversations around mental health and the workplace, it's got to be supported at all levels. If the conversation is just for HR [and] the benefit managers, it's not enough.'
Cohen agreed that the tone company leaders set permeates the business as a whole.
'I think we forget that it's how we show up every day,' Cohen said. 'We can bring in every benefit we want. We can say that we focus on mental health. But it is truly how a leader shows up that creates the culture, and it's the full ripple effect because it's what everyone is following.'