Elizabeth Faraut

For the past 15 years, Elizabeth Faraut has been the Creative Director and CEO of La LOOP, an eyewear business that has a cult-brand following in the US, Europe, and Asia. Elizabeth created a new category for optical retailers, and the products are now sold in over 1,000 stores across 28 countries. As an experienced fashion and luxury brand executive, Elizabeth brings passion, intensity and entrepreneurship to her products, her brands and everything she does. Elizabeth received a B.S. in International Studies from Kenyon College. At Kenyon, she studied Mandarin and Chinese History at Nanjing University, and also taught English to Chinese middle school students. Having spent her childhood in Paris, Elizabeth is able to use her fluency in French and familiarity with Europe to work as easily in Europe as in the US. Following college, Elizabeth joined the editorial team at Figaro Madame in Paris. From there, she relocated to New York where she marketed French fragrances at Guerlain (now part of LVMH) to the US market. Thereafter, Elizabeth became the Director of Licensing, Europe at GUESS in Los Angeles, responsible for European licensing and international retail development. Elizabeth’s passion for social justice and desire to strengthen women’s voices prompted her involvement with the Rape Treatment Center (RTC) at Santa Monica-UCLA Hospital where she now serves as Board Chair. RTC is a model program that provides free comprehensive treatment for child and adult victims of sexual assault. In her 15-year association with RTC, Elizabeth has brought her entrepreneur’s focus to the organization, and has been able to affect legislation to strengthen victim rights nationwide. For the last two years, Elizabeth has also mentored undergraduate students at USC’s School of Business, where she initiated a program for students to develop and present new business ideas to local business leaders. Elizabeth is a 2015 Henry Crown Fellow of the Aspen Institute and a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network.