Member Spotlight: Karyn Schoenbart
Meet Karyn Schoenbart, co-founder and Managing Director at Duo Partners, who is also an investor, advisor, and former CEO. Schoenbart is passionate about helping beauty brands and retailers grow by turning data, technology, and insight into action. A member of CEW for several years, as well as a valued Board Member, Schoenbart works closely with founders and executives to translate market intelligence into practical strategies that drive scale and profitability. Drawing on decades of leadership experience across the beauty and retail landscape, she partners with companies to navigate growth, sharpen their competitive edge, and unlock long-term value at the intersection of analytics, innovation, and brand building.
Career milestone: Karyn Schoenbart marked a defining milestone in her career after nearly four decades at The NPD Group, where she ultimately served as CEO. During her tenure, she helped shape how brands and retailers used data to understand consumers, including launching NPD BeautyTrends in the late 1990s, an initiative that brought deeper consumer insights to the beauty industry at a time when data-driven decision-making was still emerging. Following the company’s sale and its later merger with IRI to form Circana, Schoenbart chose to begin a new chapter, co-founding Duo Partners to invest in and advise early-stage, AI-driven data companies helping beauty brands and retailers better understand and serve consumers.
Key Advice: She urges professionals to not focus solely on their weaknesses but instead to identify the strengths that make them unique and develop them into true competitive advantages. By leaning into what they naturally do best, individuals can differentiate themselves and create greater impact in their careers. For Schoenbart, success often comes from recognizing those core abilities and turning them into “superpowers” that set someone apart in a crowded and competitive industry.
Mentors: Throughout her journey, Schoenbart learned that growth often comes from stepping forward before feeling completely ready and surrounding herself with people who believe in her potential. One of those influential figures was Tod Johnson, whose partnership and leadership shaped an important chapter of her career. Their shared belief that selling a company did not mean stepping away from impact helped guide Schoenbart toward her next phase, reinforcing the value of mentorship, trust, and collaboration in building a lasting career.
Five-Year Career Goal: Over the next five years Schoenbart aims to continue helping build and scale the next generation of data and insights companies that enable brands to better understand and serve their consumers. She is also committed to giving back to the industries that shaped her career by mentoring emerging leaders and supporting organizations such as CEW that champion women. Alongside her professional goals, Schoenbart hopes to spend more time with her growing family.
Best Networking Convo Starter: The seasoned networker likes to begin conversations by inviting people to share something they are excited about in the year ahead, whether in their professional lives or on a personal level. She finds that this approach encourages more genuine and engaging dialogue, allowing people to talk about the goals, ideas, or projects that truly motivate them. For her, focusing on what energizes others helps move conversations beyond small talk and creates more meaningful connections within the industry.
