Hillary Super helps Victoria’s Secret achieve a record-breaking turnaround

On June 2, 2026, nine days before shareholders were scheduled to vote on a board that activists had been attacking all last year, Hillary Super responded with a number. They had previously openly questioned whether she was suitable to lead a listed company. Victoria’s Secret reported first-quarter earnings of $0.60 per share. That was almost twice as much as the $0.32 expected by analysts. Net sales rose 15 percent to $1.56 billion. The stock rose 47 percent in one day to a record closing price of $80.06. This was the largest daily profit in the company’s history. For a brand that had already been written off as a relic, this was the clearest refutation possible.

Super, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the American lingerie company since September 2024, described the task like this from the start. In a conversation with Fortune, she recalled that she was “very aware of the positive and negative perceptions of the brand.” Her reaction was not one of caution. “This is the biggest transformational opportunity in retail,” she said. “That really appealed to me.”

Background and early career

Super is first and foremost a dealer. She earned a bachelor’s degree in humanities from the University of Southern California. In the late 1990s, she entered the industry as a buyer for American teen fashion retailer Wet Seal. There she learned the craft on the sales floor instead of in the boardroom.

Over the next three decades, she gained experience in merchandising and operations at a number of American chains. These included Gap, Old Navy, American Eagle Outfitters, Ann Taylor and Guess. At Guess she served as Senior Vice President for North America. This foundation shaped a belief that she repeats to this day: “It’s hard to have a sense of a category that you can’t wear on your own body.”

Way to the top

She rose to the executive level at Urban Outfitters Inc. There she was Global President and then Global Chief Executive Officer of Anthropologie Group between 2019 and 2021. She led the turnaround of the women’s fashion and accessories business. From there she moved to the side of disruptors in the lingerie market. In June 2023, she took on the position of Chief Executive Officer at Savage X Fenty, the inclusive brand founded by musician Rihanna.

Her appointment by Victoria’s Secret in August 2024 was a subtle irony: the established retailer hired the boss of its fiercest competitor in order to reorganize itself. Super succeeded Martin Waters and became the first woman to lead Victoria’s Secret & Co as a publicly traded company. She inherited a company in trouble. Since the spin-off from L Brands in 2021, the share price had fallen from around $57 to barely $20. The company has been weighed down by the founder’s ties to Jeffrey Epstein, a marketing realignment that was widely derided as “woke-washing,” and tariffs.

Vision and strategy

Super’s plan, called ‘Path to Potential’, is clearly that of a trader. It includes a renewed commitment to the youth-focused Pink brand; regaining authority in the bra segment; the growth of beauty, sports and swimwear lines; and shortening production lead times so the brand can respond to demand. To implement this plan, she restructured the organization with three dedicated brand presidents.

The more difficult task was positioning. Super has argued that some of the brand’s recent decisions have been driven by fear. “The natural human reaction is to avoid controversy,” she said. Their solution was neither a return to the body-shaming spectacle of the 2000s nor more performative self-determination. Instead, she relied on what she calls authenticity: focusing on diversity, as she says, “without being performative, where we have to check every box,” because that “is not authentic.”

The commercial consequence is a ‘promo detox’. Instead of training customers to wait for the next price drop, Super pushes sales at full price. “We are reducing promotions and discounts and replacing them with compelling emotional messages,” she told analysts. “The result is a healthier, more brand-led business.”

Impact and successes

The turning point was theatrical. The Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show returned in 2024 after a six-year break. For the October 2025 edition, the second since the revival, Super imposed her own vision on the show. The model Jasmine Tookes walked heavily pregnant in golden wings between experienced ‘Angels’ and new faces. The message was, as one report put it, the same wings in another world.

The numbers followed. The first quarter of 2026 was the fourth consecutive quarter of positive comparable sales. Super pointed to double-digit growth in new customer acquisition and Gen Z shoppers returning to purchase bras. The company raised its full-year adjusted operating income forecast to $550 million to $580 million. In the previous twelve months, the share price had almost quadrupled. Super itself was, as usual, reserved and described it to WWD as “a really nice quarter.”

However, the recovery has been anything but smooth, and headlines gloss over a turbulent path. Through much of 2025, the stock fell to a 52-week low of about $17.53. The reasons for this were fears of tariffs, a weak forecast, a security gap and the campaign by activists. Most of the dramatic gains came in a single earnings-driven week. This was reinforced by a short squeeze against the around 19 percent of the shares that were sold short. Victoria’s Secret still faces about $90 million in net tariffs on goods from countries including Vietnam and Sri Lanka.

In the headlines

A lot is reported about Super and her company, and it is rarely neutral. Their repositioning was hailed in some quarters as an ‘anti-woke’ victory. She has consistently rejected this portrayal and portrayed change as a question of authenticity and not politics.

The most consistent story of her tenure has been the battle on the board. The investment firm BBRC International, run by Australian billionaire Brett Blundy, built up a stake of around 13 percent. After the company adopted a poison pill in May 2025, BBRC launched a proxy war. She called on shareholders to vote against the re-election of chairwoman Donna James and a second director, Mariam Naficy. Naficy then decided not to run again. Another activist firm, Barington Capital, had also pushed for a board shakeup during 2025 and questioned Super’s limited experience with listed companies.

The exceeded profit expectations strengthened their position. On June 11, 2026, the shareholders decided the dispute clearly and re-elected all nine directors. James received more than 99 percent of the votes cast without the BBRC and over 83 percent with their votes. Tellingly, BBRC voted against all nominees except one – Super himself.

Personal dimension

Super is open about her leadership style. “I perform very consciously – 100 percent myself, mostly without a script,” she said. This contrasts with the reluctance she diagnosed with the brand she took over. She is similarly unsentimental about the pressure from activists: “You have to remember that none of this is personal, it’s business.”

Away from the company, she lives with her wife Michele Sizemore in Palm Springs, California. Her self-assurance has given the brand back a confidence it had lost – useful ballast in a year that tested it.

Despite all the noise, Super considers the work barely begun. Reflecting on keeping her leadership team together for a full year, she told analysts that contributions don’t add up until a team exceeds that mark. “We’re still at the beginning,” she said. A deliberately modest claim from a CEO whose first full turn has already turned one of retail’s most doubted names into one of its strongest comebacks.