BIENVENIDO

Saludos! Happy Friday and welcome to Comprende, edition 064.

From Tucson’s desert heat to the global beauty stage, Reuben Carranza has worn many hats, sales leader, brand builder, turnaround expert, founder. But his first paycheck came from mariachi performances and his latest from steering private equity-backed beauty empires.

Today we’re telling the story of how a fourth-generation Chicano turned a talent for thriving in the “murky stuff” into a career building some of the most successful brands in beauty.

So, depending on where you are in the world, grab your cafecito or cervecita and dive in. If you enjoy today’s edition, please forward it to your gente or share it online. Let’s keep growing this comunidad together. ☕️

comprende 064: From Mariachi to Multi-Exit CEO: How Reuben Carranza Built Some of Beauty’s Biggest Brands

Reuben Carranza keeps a mariachi suit in his closet, not as a relic, but as a reminder. "If this didn't work out tomorrow," he says, "I could be a mariachi again and pay the bills."

It's the kind of grounded confidence that fueled a career from paying his way through college with an instrument in hand to leading multiple beauty brand exits worth millions, and now steering a private equity-backed beauty platform. Knowing he could always go back to his roots gave him the freedom to bet everything on what came next.

Growing up in Tucson as a fourth-generation Chicano, Reuben learned early that history moves in unexpected ways. His great-great-grandparents were ranchers in a valley that was Mexico before the Gadsden Purchase redrew the map.

"My family never immigrated to the U.S.," he explains. "The U.S. came to my family."

His parents, a hairdresser mother and a sheet metal worker father, spoke only Spanish at home until their twin boys started school. They believed education would be their sons' path to something bigger, though they probably didn't expect Reuben would fund his University of Arizona degree by performing in full mariachi regalia on weekends.

That mariachi money carried him into what seemed like a traditional corporate path: 24 years at Procter & Gamble, climbing from sales to running entire divisions. But Reuben was never the traditional type.

While others gunned for the high-profile brands like Tide or Pantene, he volunteered for the messy stuff, the acquisitions nobody wanted, the orphaned divisions that didn't fit the corporate machine.

When P&G bought beauty companies like Clairol and Wella, their professional salon divisions became corporate afterthoughts. That's where Reuben found his calling. "I loved the murky stuff," he says.

Three days after expressing interest, he became the new North American CEO for Wella, inheriting a business losing $20 million annually and 650 employees left adrift.

In eight years, he turned it into P&G's third most profitable division.

Despite the turnaround success, the corporate machine felt too slow for an industry where hairdressers were already three steps ahead, asking for innovations that might take years to launch.

So in 2014, he jumped straight into the startup deep end with Luxury Brand Partners, just as the company was spinning out to operate independently. He joined as one of only three people tasked with building a new portfolio from scratch, starting with R+Co Hair Care and $10 million in investment.

It was a crash course in entrepreneurial reality. Friday payroll was no longer automatic, it was a weekly sprint that many entrepreneurs reading this know well. "That's when you realize how different it feels when the money is yours, not a budget line from a Fortune 500," he says.

They moved fast, developing products in months instead of years, testing concepts directly with stylists. The hustle paid off spectacularly: they built and sold brands that attracted global buyers. With some notable exits including Becca Cosmetics, which went to Estée Lauder and Pulp Riot to L'Oréal. Each exit validated the bet he'd made on himself.

Later on when Olaplex called, needing someone fluent in both salon culture and the demands of launching in Sephora, Reuben signed up for the task. And? He delivered. It became the #1 brand in 30 days and revenue doubled in eighteen months. The pattern was clear: he thrived at the intersection of corporate experience and entrepreneurial hustle.

Today, as Group CEO for Bansk Beauty, Reuben operates a private equity-backed platform managing brands like amika and EVA NYC. He spends 60% of his time on the investment side—strategy, fundraising, M&A, but his real passion emerges when discussing talent development, specifically Latino talent.

"I can tell you every person I hired who grew their career," he reflects. "Nobody will remember my profitability numbers."

This philosophy drives everything: funding Latina beauty founders, mentoring emerging professionals, ensuring the next generation doesn't navigate these spaces alone.

Reuben is no longer just building brands, but rather committed to building an ecosystem where Latino and Latina professionals can access capital, connections, and opportunities that were scarce during his own corporate climb.

The mariachi suit stays in the closet, but its lesson endures: knowing you have options creates the freedom to take extraordinary risks. And sometimes, those risks create life changing careers and opportunity.

From weekend gigs in Tucson to boardrooms in Manhattan, Reuben's journey proves that the best business leaders never forget where they came from, they just use that foundation to build something bigger.

What will you build?

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