Before joining medical aesthetics firm Hydrafacial LLC five years ago, Paul Bokota was told by the CEO during his interview that the job was geared for someone “comfortable with a little bit of chaos.”
Despite the warning, the recently out-of-work lawyer took on the role of general counsel and senior vice president anyway, as it presented an opportunity for him to do something he’d never done before—take a company public.
“It was super interesting to learn a completely different skill set,” Bokota told the Business Journal.
Previously, he spent the first part of his career as a trial lawyer followed by a stint protecting the global operations of local manufacturing companies. He had no experience in corporate securities.
“I could sue people or be sued and defend them, but all that corporate security stuff—I didn’t know it as well as other people,” he said.
He spent the next several months learning about initial public offerings and corporate governance while building the company’s legal team. A year later, in May 2021, Hydrafacial went public as The Beauty Health Company through a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) formed by former Allergan CEO Brent Saunders.
“What I learned is that you just have to be super comfortable saying what you don’t know and asking questions,” Bokota said.
He added that he’d never been more grateful for outside counsel during that time. Bokota recalls Googling various terms and rules during calls, then applying those learnings on a daily basis.
A month after the IPO, Bokota oversaw the acquisition of four international distributors of Hydrafacial products, establishing a direct presence in those markets. By the end of the year, he also helped The Beauty Health Company acquire the microneedling concept SkinStylus to expand its brand portfolio.
“The name of the company was very purposely chosen to reflect the company strategy, which is to be a company at the intersection of beauty and health,” Bokota said. “It’s not just lotions and potions.”
The Beauty Health company, which has a market cap around $170 million, reported 2024 revenue of $334.3 million (Nasdaq: SKIN).
On Nov. 6, Bokota won the Lifetime Achievement Award at this year’s General Counsel Awards held at the Irvine Marriott. He had previously won the General Counsel Award in the private company segment in 2018 while working as division general counsel and division vice president at Spectrum Brands Inc.
Going In-House
Bokota grew up in Chicago and ended up getting a bachelor’s degree in government at Harvard University before attending law school at Indiana University.
After working more than a decade as a litigator, Bokota decided to go in-house in 2004 as deputy general counsel at James Hardie Building Products in Mission Viejo. After six years, he jumped to Toshiba America Information Systems, where he spent the next two years as associate general counsel.
He said going in-house meant he could be more involved in business strategies beyond his legal expertise.
“I thought it’d be fun and interesting to see a wide variety of issues beyond litigation topic—and also learn how businesses are run,” Bokota said.
In 2014, he was hired as the first general counsel of the hardware and home improvement (HHI) segment, valued at $1.3 billion at the time, at Lake Forest-based Spectrum Brands.
Bokota built the division’s legal structure from scratch. Four years later, he won the Business Journal’s General Counsel Award in the private company segment.
When the pandemic hit in 2020, Spectrum went through a companywide restructuring and Bokota’s role was eliminated. While searching for a new job, an employee at Resources Global Professionals recommended an open position at Hydrafacial.
Bokota said he and the CEO at the time, Clint Carnell, hit it off upon meeting. And even though he was cautioned about possible chaos on the job, he told the Business Journal that disorder doesn’t bother him—and in fact, it “was super appealing to me.”
So, he joined the company.
He now leads a legal team of six, with half of the employees based in different countries.
In 2025, he kept busy protecting Hydrafacial’s intellectual property (IP) with a handful of cases involving patent infringement. The company holds 179 patents as of December 2024, according to filings.
“For me, protecting the intellectual property and protecting the brand is something that’s very important, because the brand is a well-known brand, and that brand has tremendous value to the company and to shareholders,” he said.
When he decided to become a lawyer, Bokota said he was drawn to the skill set and breadth of knowledge that the career could offer him.
“I also thought it would get me exposed to all sorts of different clients and industries and geographies, and all of that has been true through my career.”
Former “Cat in the Hat”
Outside of his corporate day-to-day, Bokota is also known for his work on the board of the Irvine Unified School District. He served from 2012 to 2024, dedicating his time to providing mental health resources in schools.
He said they worked to add mental health counselors, establish wellness centers on campus, set up online programs, and even partnered with healthcare organizations like CHOC.
Bokota said he first got involved when he became PTA president and all three of his children were attending the city’s public school system.
“We really liked the district, and it had given a tremendous amount to my kids,” he said.
One of his favorite activities while serving on the board was dressing up as “The Cat in the Hat” character from the Dr. Seuss book and reading to kids on Dr. Seuss Day.
“To spend half a day with young kids and goofing off with them and seeing them laugh and play and ask crazy questions—there was no better part of the job,” he said.
