Our Team
FOUNDER
David Pirrotta

From makeup counter to mogul, David’s career is nothing short of the American dream, beauty edition. The floor at Barneys and Bergdorf Goodman in NYC are what ignited the spark for sales, catapulting him into high level Sales, Director, and VP roles at Jeffre Scott, Red Flower, The Art of Shaving, and Sharps Barber and Shop. This culminated into 25 years of deeply intimate and extraordinarily passionate industry experience that left but one option— to open his own boutique agency. More than just a beauty bureau, David’s knowledge and experience about what makes a brand successful has created an altruistic niche. When he finds a small brand he believes in, he helps build them the foundation for organic growth. With this mutual success blossomed his eponymous firm, David Pirrotta Brand Management and Distribution, known today as David Pirrotta Brands. ILIA Beauty and RODIN Olio Lusso are just a few cult-favorite brands David has helped bring to the forefront of the beauty world. Sachajuan and Grown Alchemist both received pivotal backing while part of the David Pirrotta brands family. Today, he’s created a platform to share ideas from thought leaders in the skin care and makeup world, interviews with founders, and general industry intel and musings via his shoppable site and journal, MATERIAE. He leads his team in providing an array of customized services to each of his housed brands, all of which are tailored to help them grow their customer bases and expand into international markets.

Sales
SALES director
Chelito Villaflor

Chelito is no newbie to design and retail. He comes from the aesthetic worlds of merchandising and interior design, blessing him with a technical eye for the most nuanced details. He brings this skill and discernment to David Pirrotta, elevating our brands and the vibe to the next level as Sales Director, but it’s more than just an eye for good looks. He nurtures and cultivates genuine relationships with our stores and buyers to build up our brands from a sincere place. Outside of his role at David Pirrotta, you can find him at Eskina, a “tiny cornershop of needs and wants.”

senior sales manager
Catlin Miller

Catlin has an eye for both design and beauty. She studied textile and apparel design in NYC, found a career in interior design, and then made the swift decision to begin anew with aspirations here in Los Angeles. She quickly built up a dossier of knowledge from working in fashion wholesale and production, but while living in the land of wellness-plenty, she discovered her love of all things health and beauty. Her experience and drive was more than welcomed here at DP, where we support not only the growth of our brands, but of like-minded people like Catlin.

SALES MANAGER
Amanda Hamilton

Amanda Hamilton’s love for beautiful beauty brands and building lasting relationships has helped to grow dozens of independent brands nationwide for over a decade. Her work has lended her experience in many major US cities, perhaps the most interesting and charismatic is her time hosting beauty brands for TV. Her magnetism is not lost, even in her spreadsheets— it’s clear that her passion for cultivating sincere relationships with brands has always been more than a job, but a way of being in the world. She’s currently residing and exploring Texas with her husband and two daughters, but we love getting her in our Los Angeles location any chance we can… margaritas and karaoke are her only requests.

sales manager
Rylan Valdez

Rylan’s kind spirit and imaginative eye have led him down a direct path to beauty and makeup in the industry as we know it, even from a young age. This lends him a decade of experience with top luxury and niche brands that set him above the bar— a place where we like to think all of our team members reside. His focus has channeled into the transformative art of hair care and styling, and we know that his honed skills prolific experience give him the edge David Pirotta brands strives for.

sales manager
Juliany DeJesus Mercado

Juliany’s managerial experience following an education from the University of Connecticut makes him a great candidate on paper of course, but his earnest drive is what makes us so excited that he has taken his years in the luxury fashion, beauty, and wellness spaces and zeroed in on the brands we work with at DP. He’s worked closely in the world of skincare formulations, giving him a unique perspective at a molecular level to help clients and consumers better understand what they are using on and in their bodies— the kind of insider knowledge that rounds out our team. We’re excited he has taken the leap from east coast to west coast to enrich all we do.

Operations
COO
Ben Trust

Ben has worked at the intersection of creativity and management for a widerange of industries. His strong background in finance and operations gives Ben the ability to develop new strategies and business models to transform revenue potential. For David Pirrotta Brands, Ben’s role as COO focuses on corporate and financial operations as well as  working closely with the CEO on day-to-day operations and longer term strategic planning.

OPERATIONS SUPERVISOR
Erik Jimenez

We have a deep respect for people like Erik, who dive into sales in industries they love, and immerse themselves in every way possible. From retail management at Urban Outfitters to Wholesale at American Apparel and Industry of All Nations, and Receiving at Mohawk General, Erik has culminated 15 years of experience that spans both floor and product. Erik has an appreciation for clean, minimal design, ’80s post-punk and goth, and of course, skincare, so we admire his drive to position his career around the aesthetic with which he is aligned. HIs edge, his ambition, and his expertise make him a perfect fit here in the DP family.

Warehouse
WAREHOUSE OPERATIONS
Richard Crosby

Richard is a warehouse veteran. He spent his teenage summers working out of his father’s coffee warehouse. When he wasn’t hitting the streets from skateboarding to punk rock in the 80’s, to motorcycles and classic rock in the now, he’s been dedicating his time to startups in operations, and setting up manufacturing and distribution.  From candles to custom motorcycles, he has extensive experience streamlining and curating workflow systems that justwork.He’s taken his incredibly effective yet playful spirit to man our warehouse operations, including distribution and our new 3pl, being the perfect fit for the familiar vibe here at David PIrrotta.

warehouse clerk
Yesenia Velasquez

A Southern California native, Yesenia thrives in the salt and sun. A lover of a good book and the beach, she doesn’t have to chase her joy because she lives in it. And when it comes to shipping, all supplies and parties are in good hands. She has been in the shipping industry for 6 years, but it’s more than that—Yesenia knows how to deeply care. Having had her own childcare business for 4 years, raising her son is second nature for her and her husband of 18 years. Their boxer and French bulldog make it a full house, and she’s got TLC and eye for detail to spare for her shipping ventures at DP.

Warehouse Clerk
Julie Martinez

Julie and her husband of 32 years have 8 kids… 4 human children and 4 fur babies, that is. If you think that’s a household that requires a heap of energy, you’re right - and Julie’s full of just that! She loves to bead and craft, get out and play pool with her husband, and seek even bigger, fun adrenaline spikes, like skydiving. Her good energy has been poured into a career of massage therapy, and now she spends her time in shipping to make sure everything is handled with the utmost good vibes.