Bobbi Brown Cosmetics

Bobbi Brown had quite the experience getting to where she is today. It started off with her being inspired by her mother doing her makeup when she was growing up. Bobbi never felt glamourous like her mother though. The thing that changed her outlook on life was when she saw the movie Love Story with Ali MacGraw. It was the first time she saw someone who was successful look like her (more average and simple). Bobbi then saw herself as someone who could be pretty too.

Bobbi eventually went to college at the University of Arizona, but she didn’t enjoy it and found it boring. She talked to her mother about it where she decided to pursue something that she was truly interested in and that was makeup. Bobbi found Emerson college where they allowed her to create her own major and that’s where she studied makeup. There is where she discovered herself and learned all about entrepreneurial skills. She ended up studying to become a theatre makeup artist. A month before she graduates from college Bobbi is reading a magazine where she sees an article about a freelance artist that does makeup for models and fashion shows. Bobbi is intrigued by this and becomes in contact with this artist’s agent. Bobbi decides to move to New York while she is in contact with this agent. She starts to get jobs assisting people who do makeup for the T.V.

While Bobbi was doing all of this, these jobs weren’t able to pay her bills, but she did have help from her lawyer father who gave her $500 a month for rent. She then realized that she needed to stop sticking to a budget and start thinking how she was actually going to be able to start making money. Bobbi started filling her days with work and more bookings. She started to make more connections and build relationships with people. She was also unique. The thing that made her special was that she always did peoples makeup natural and “nude” which was the complete opposite of what people knew. Her work started to become noticed, and people liked it.

Bobbi then began to advertise and make more connections. In 1990 she started to create her own makeup. She met a pharmacist who made lipsticks of his own. She shared her idea of a nude or lip colored lipstick and the chemist agreed to make it for her. They began to work together. Bobbi used her connections and talked to the beauty editor of Glamour magazine and an article was written about her lipsticks. Bergdorf eventually got in contact with Bobbi and decided to sell her lipsticks which was a huge success. Her business began to grow and so she started to have friends who became business partners, including her husband. Bobbi’s makeup line became multiple makeup products and she began selling to bigger companies.

She eventually became known as a beauty expert on the Today Show because she wrote a book on cosmetics which helped put her brand and herself on the map. Large companies began to contact her to buy her company. She finally landed on Estee Lauder who bought her company for a large amount while she was still able to do all of her creative work with the brand while they did all the stuff she found boring, like finances.

Bobbi still feels like today she made the right decision because they grew her company with huge success. She loved her work for about 15 out of the 22 years she worked there but eventually she felt like she lost control with it. Business became difficult and she started hating going to work. She knew she wanted to be in charge and wanted to lead and that she could no longer deal with the stress of the business anymore, so she took a step back and parted with the company. She felt happy again and that there was a huge weight lifted off her shoulders.

Bobbi’s experience of being an entrepreneur showed me a few things. The first is that you need to love what you are doing. Loving the work that you do will lead to success because it’s something you look forward to doing. The second thing is that you need to take an initiative. If you just stick to the same thing you have been doing just to get by you aren’t going to get anywhere. Bobbi reached out to people, she changed schools, she looked for new learning experiences, and she looked for work connections. Lastly, I learned that relationships and connections are key. By reaching out to people she started to connect with them and build relationships that helped her business down the road. Without all these other people that helped her down the line, she wouldn’t have gotten to where she is today.

Something that I did notice though while listening to Bobbi’s story was that some of the experiences that she had were possible because she did have financial help from her family. I think that allowed her to live where she needed to be while not having to worry too much about how she was going to afford it. While money was able to help her a little bit, I know she was able to make her business on her own. She connected, she was unique and didn’t listen to the haters, she stuck to her gut and went for what she wanted. My largest takeaway from Bobbi’s story was to not give up and work towards your goals because they can be accomplished if you just do it. Make that call, send that email, and create those connections.