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Chelsea Azrak started her first in-house role two weeks before the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the world. As she devoted herself to being Revlon’s senior counsel of legal and compliance and worked to establish cross-functional relationships, she was doing so during what many described as the worst moment in modern history.
But she managed to do it and to do it well. Azrak has been promoted twice since then and now serves as vice president of law and deputy chief compliance officer for the multinational beauty company.
Despite not having in-house experience before Revlon, Azrak’s résumé was impressively stacked. During her almost nine years at Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver, & Jacobson LLC, she practiced commercial, antitrust, securities, and real estate litigation, as well as white-collar defense work and assisted companies with internal investigations and governance projects. Azrak also represented clients pro bono in civil and criminal matters .
As she prepped clients for interviews and depositions, the young lawyer found that she thrived where the action was, where the people were. It was invaluable in-house training, whether she knew it at the time or not.
The Decision to Find a New Path
Her eventual decision to leave behind the world of billable hours didn’t come easily. She loved her work, but the job left her very little time for anything outside the office, including spending time with her two young daughters.
“I hadn’t found a lot of female partners in the business that I could model my career after, and I was really struggling with how I could progress as a lawyer and still spend quality time with my family,” Azrak says.
But soon, an opportunity found her. One of the partners at her law firm had witnessed Azrak’s impeccable governance and policy work and recommended her to Revlon’s general counsel. Azrak was already interested in compliance and found it particularly refreshing that many of the organization’s leaders, including the general counsel and chief compliance officer at the time, were women. She jumped at the chance to build out a new area of expertise with the iconic brand, and the timing was perfect—until it wasn’t.
A Fast-Track Education in the Business
Azrak joined Revlon on March 2, 2020, and two weeks later, everyone was sent home. Azrak would need to learn the ins-and-outs of Revlon without any in-person interaction. Then she was informed she would be leading the company’s global COVID Committee.
“I asked my supervisor what my responsibilities would be, and she just told me we’ll figure it out,” Azrak says. “It turned out to be a blessing in disguise because I was quickly able to meet and work closely with Revlon employees across the company and the world to tackle many unprecedented questions. How do we keep track of global COVID regulations? How do we close down offices? How do we track positive cases and vaccinations? How do we get back to photo shoots, marketing events, and educational classes for salons?
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“These were not issues I had dealt with before or that I could figure out myself,” she says. “I had the opportunity to work cross-functionally almost immediately after starting at the company.”
The role got Azrak visibility across the company. She went from being a new hire in compliance to helping lead the company’s efforts to stay COVID-compliant.
Compassion Can Remain in Compliance
Two promotions later, Azrak says she’s still learning. One of those significant lessons is that litigators can make great compliance officers. She says she understands that many companies may be hesitant to hire litigators in compliance because litigators are thought to be inherently adversarial. It makes sense on the face of it, but Azrak remarks that from her experience, this is simply not true.
“I hadn’t found a lot of female partners in the business that I could model my career after, and I was really struggling with how I could progress as a lawyer and still spend quality time with my family.”
Chelsea Azrak
“An overly adversarial approach reduces the likelihood that the witness will be comfortable opening up,” she says. “I realized that you can be persistent and ask the question in a few different ways to elicit a response without intimidating the witness.”
Now, in addition to leading internal investigations, Azrak conducts training, drafts and reviews policies and procedures, and covers artificial intelligence, conflicts of interest, charitable donations, cybersecurity, data privacy, global third-party risk management, and ESG, among other things.
Azrak’s adaptability and strategic use of technology are particularly praised by AI supply chain partner Exiger. “Chelsea led Revlon through complex risk and compliance challenges,” says Erika Peters, Exiger’s senior vice president and head of global markets. “This kind of dedicated leadership is critical to navigating today’s evolving risk landscape.”
It’s a sentiment shared by others in Azrak’s orbit. “Chelsea brings so much to the table, between her incredible business acumen, natural leadership instincts, and fearlessness when faced with new challenges,” says Jeannie Rhee, litigation partner at Paul Weiss. “Working with her and the Revlon team has been a pleasure.”
Azrak’s flexibility and ability to pivot is as strong as her ability to take on a new practice area, and the one lesson she’s had to learn most is that she can’t finish everything in a day.
“I received a piece of advice early on in my career at Revlon. It’s okay if you don’t cross off everything on your to-do list and leave some work for tomorrow,” Azrak says. “There is always too much to do and never enough time to do it. But you learn to prioritize and do what you need to do that day. That’s a lesson I desperately needed to learn, and I think I have.”
While Azrak has embraced the wisdom of pacing her workload, her relentless progression into uncharted territories and assuming new responsibilities suggests it will be an ongoing study. Her to-do list is incomplete without something new.
Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP is proud to celebrate the work and achievements of our friend and former colleague Chelsea Azrak. We share her, and Revlon’s, support for initiatives that make for stronger communities and a more vibrant New York. Fried Frank congratulates Chelsea on this well-deserved recognition.
Exiger is the market-leading, AI-powered supply chain and third-party risk management company. Our mission is to make the world a safer and more transparent place to succeed. We partner with companies at critical moments and empower decision-makers with AI solutions that allow them to navigate legal and regulatory complexities with highly relevant, automated, and actionable risk insights. We’re proud of our work with Chelsea Azrak and Revlon to establish and enable the rapid deployment of their supplier risk program, and excited to now support their supply chain initiatives.
