Founder's Story - She Started Anastasia Beverly Hills Cosmetics in One Salon Room. It Became a Global Empire | Ep. 404 with Anastasia Soare Founder of Anastasia Beverly Hill Cosmetics

Episode Date: June 2, 2026

Daniel and Anastasia Soare start with Romania, identity, and the immigrant experience, then trace her journey from arriving in the US in 1989 to building one of the most globally recognized beauty brands in the world. Anastasia explains how she went from an esthetician job to renting one room and one chair in Beverly Hills, betting on an overlooked idea: eyebrows. She shares why curiosity and mastery mattered more than “manifesting,” how trust built her celebrity relationships, and why she sees ABH as a legacy she will never stop building, alongside her daughter. Key Discussion Points Anastasia shares how hard the first six months in LA were, crying daily because she left family, community, and certainty behind and arrived with no language or security.  She explains how life under communism trained her for entrepreneurship, constant problem solving, adapting daily, and finding solutions without expecting help.  Anastasia describes why she chose brows, using art, architecture, and the golden ratio to create a repeatable technique that made faces look balanced and lifted.  She recalls being told she was crazy by her husband, landlord, and community, but her mindset was simple: what do I have to lose if I believe in this.  The Oprah moment in 1998 became the turning point, her “Oscar moment,” because Oprah understood the concept and broadcast it to the world before social media existed.  She explains how celebrity relationships grew over decades, including working with Jennifer Lopez from early in her career, and why trust is everything at that level.  Anastasia shares her partnership with private equity in 2018, then reveals she personally invested $225M to maintain majority control when the firm exited after COVID disruption.  She describes ABH as pure legacy, saying she will never “retire,” because innovation and building products with her daughter is her purpose.  She explains product innovation as a loop of consumer insight, social signals, and chemistry advances, sharing how formulas like brow pomade became possible only when labs could make them waterproof.  Anastasia credits her daughter for pushing ABH onto Instagram in 2012 to educate customers digitally and reduce constant travel, which later fueled massive growth in retail. Takeaways Immigrant grit is transferable, the same mindset that helped Anastasia survive scarcity became the mindset that helped her build a brand under pressure.  You do not need a huge dream to start, you need obsession with mastering one craft, and for Anastasia that craft was brows.  Success is easier to achieve than to maintain, and long term winners keep working like rent is due even after the brand is iconic.  If you want to win as a founder, leave ego behind, ask questions, admit what you do not know, and learn directly from customers.  Legacy is a decision, and Anastasia’s $225M reinvestment shows how founders protect what they built when outside capital priorities shift. Closing Thoughts Anastasia Soare’s story is proof that category creation starts with conviction before the market agrees. She did not follow a trend, she created one, then defended it with craft, discipline, and decades of trust. This episode is a reminder that the American Dream is not a vibe, it is endurance, humility, and the willingness to bet on yourself twice, even after you’ve already “won.” Episode Sponsor: Thank you to our amazing sponsor, Shopify, who has changed my life. Sign up for your one-dollar-per-month trial today at SHOPIFY.com/foundersstory Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

I would die doing eyebrows and creating makeup. This is Anastasia Suarez. She came to America with no money, no English, and no connections. 30 years later, she built a billion-dollar beauty empire, earned Oprah and Jay Lowe as clients, and risked $225 million of her own money to keep control of the company she created. I think I broke every single possible, every barrier that you could think. In Romania, we had to solve problems.

We couldn't sit there and cry. Oh, my God, poor me, I don't have food. You didn't have time. Nobody would listen. You had to find the solution. And I think being an entrepreneur is kind of the same thing. Anastasia, I'm excited to have you on for a variety of reasons. But when I got to hear you speak at an event a few years ago, I was blown away by your story.

And there's some connection that we have. And I know you're from Romania. and my family's from Romania. What do you think about me going back to Romania to see the roots of my family? Oh, I think would be amazing. Absolutely amazing. First of all, you should go,

and I will connect you with the right people, but you should go when they have music festivals. I mean, Romania is like so, they have so many events, opera, but a lot of festivals, like half a million people at festivals and closed by Oradia, because your family is from Oradia,

a few hours by car. You should go there and explore. You could go to Sebyu, Brashov, very beautiful cities, absolutely. Have you been back? And if so, how does it feel going back now compared to when you left?

Well, it's a completely different country. When I left was the communist regime. Now the country, is free. It's a different country, different era. We are talking about 35 years. You know, things changed. So let's go back to when you first got to L.A. I heard that you cried every single day for six months. What was making you cry? Well, I left something behind. I left my family. I have a very big family there. I had security. I have a road. map, we knew everybody in town. I came here. I didn't speak the language. I didn't know anyone.

And it was quite shocking. It was very, very, very difficult. I felt like no security. No, I understood that this is a new life that I had to build, you know. So it was not easy, I have to say, shocking. I can only imagine. And I know that you had to separate from your husband for three years, I believe, while you were trapped in Romania with your daughter. And it kind of reminded me of my mom telling me about my family how one of them had to come and then wait and there was a lot of separation. How does one deal with that? I mean, you know, it teaches you to endure kind of emotional endurance. It teaches you to fight for something that

a dream, I had a dream, I wanted to come to America and that dream kind of gave me the power to constantly go through the hurdle. I mean, two years and a half, it was a long time. But again, it was a lot easier because I had all my family there. I was surrounded by them. I mean, the community, I knew everybody. Everybody in town knew me. So it was from that aspect, I had the support of the community.

Of course, having my husband far away, I think was harder for him than from me because at least I had the family. He was by himself here. So there were sacrifices. You know, I think every immigrant, everyone that decides to come to United States, they have to, you know, go through a lot. And I know you've said recently that being an entrepreneur was like finding food and meat in Romania. Do you think that entrepreneurs are so good when they are immigrants because of their experiences of before they got to the U.S. and then afterwards?

Because we lived, and when I was in Romania, at least the 80s, late 70s and 80s were very difficult. So you had to find solution. You had to kind of adapt every single day to whatever it was. Nobody was prepared for that. You had to find ways of providing food for the family, providing so many things for going to a doctor. You had to have, I don't know, a bottle of whiskey and a carton of canned cigarettes or Marlboro to bribe the doctor to get in. So it constantly was a struggle.

And if you ask me to be an entrepreneur, every day you have to go through challenges. Of course, not the same challenges I went in Romania. But, you know, you have to solve problems. And kind of the same I find in Romania, we had to solve problems. We couldn't sit there and cry, oh, my God, poor me, I don't have food. Poor me, I don't have heat. pool me, you know, you didn't have time. Nobody would listen.

You had to find the solution. And I think being an entrepreneur is kind of the same thing. It would seem that a lot of younger generations now, we talk a lot in the show about a terrifying moment right before you launch. What if I fail? What if no one buys anything? And I remember those doubts. Clearly, when I started my first business, I was selling skincare and I was like, I don't

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dot com slash founders story go to shopify.com slash founders story that's shopify.com slash founders story in the us are not necessarily enduring the same things that you went through right it's like you know generations each generation almost has it harder than the than the last generation and it seems like a lot of people it's getting much easier how do you think that's impacting and maybe you can speak from like, you know, your kids or other people that you've seen where their kids get into entrepreneurship. Do you think that not having that struggle makes it worse for them, better for them, neutral? I, you know, I think they are different types of struggles right now. Young generation, they have the pressure of social media. They have the formal. Oh, I wasn't there.

I had to be there. If to be relevant, I have to show. show up at this event or that event or I have to keep up with all my friends to be as cool as them to be accepted. So there are different type of struggles. Yeah, it's not about the food. It's the social anxiety, everything that you, they are different. You know what I mean? The point is, I think people that will be able to succeed are the people that could control their emotion. Yeah, no, social media. I'm not sure if social media is the best thing or the worst thing for humanity. I sometimes, sometimes I rack my head around. I don't know if in the end, the end result for humanity will be good or bad. When you think about the time when you heard J.Lo using your products, Kim Kardashian using your products, all these celebrities, and then you think about yourself growing up in Romania, did you have any of those like pinch me moments?

where it almost seemed unreal? Oh, absolutely. I mean, but remember in 1992, I started working with Jennifer Lopez. She was young. She just got the part in Selena. So she was beautiful and young. She was the, yet she wasn't the big movie star. And I felt very close to her and we became friends.

And the progression was like over 30 years, supported, validated my work, supported me. And kind of goes both ways. I supported her. I believed in her. You know, I wanted her to look the best. I mean, she's gorgeous. She's talented. And it's important for people at her scale, the more, the higher they grow,

to have people that they could trust, because trust is everything, you know. Was there a time where somebody broke your trust? No, from, I mean, of course, during, I'm not talking about celebrities, but of course you will, look, I'm not immune. I work with people. You will encounter like that.

But the key is I don't have high expectation. I do things and I don't. expect too much. You know what I mean? I do things without expecting because I understand people have a reason why they will do something and not that necessary they want to hurt you, but maybe it's who they are. They need to make some decision that probably are not good for me but are good for them. So I understand. Everybody needs to fight for their well-being and I understand. I don't. don't blame anyone. I don't judge. I don't blame. I don't do stuff like that. I love that mindset. Sometimes people let me down because maybe I maybe I need to change my mindset. Yes, for sure,

for sure. I like that. When you, a lot of people talk about manifestation and like seeing their dreams and going after it or or seeing, you know, I want to be the best and the best of this and then they see it. and they visualize it. You started one room, one chair in a salon in Beverly Hills. Did you have a moment back then when you look in the beginning, like one day I want to be a billionaire, one day I want to be the best, one day I want to have a massive exit? So the way everything started for me at the beginning,

of course I wanted to come to Hollywood. I wanted to come to United States to have a better life. for myself and my family. Then I had in Romania. And I had a pretty good life, but there was no freedom or speech. We didn't have whatever necessity. So when I came here at the beginning, success to me was to have a job and to do something with my life.

I didn't know what I wanted. I didn't know how I would get it. But I got a job as an aesthetician. After two years, I thought this is not why I sacrificed so much to come to the United States. I have to do something. I want to have my own business. So I rented the room in a salon in Beverly Hills, and I started my own business. And I believed eyebrows.

Eyebrows was something. Of course, I was doing facial, body waxing, but I thought eyebrows was so important. And working with my art teacher in Romania, I always. and learning about the golden ratio, the work of Leonardo da Vinci, I thought this is something that nobody ever thought and was a question that I was asking myself and I wanted answers. And I thought once I got those, I should share with my clients. So it was pure curiosity from my side.

I never thought that, oh my God, eyebrow is going to be like this incredible, a new category in the beauty industry, okay? So I started doing that. Then a few years later, when I became, so from 92 to 94, I became so busy, I realized that this is something. And I had to create products for my client. And this is how was the progression. I mean, that's amazing. When you think about going all in on something and you are at, especially when you're at the forefront,

are there people telling you like Anastasi? like this isn't going to be a thing like eyebrows like no one's focused on eyebrows this is crazy sure even my own husband thought that i'm crazy like you can't pay rent doing eyebrows even the landlord my husband all my friends that i kind of my romanian uh community everybody thought i was crazy but i really believed and i thought my answer was what do i have to lose if this doesn't work This is why I sacrifice so much. I have to do something that I believe in it. And I want to become the best.

I want to master my craft. This is what I did. What was the moment where you saw it clicked, where you were like maybe revenues jumping way up? Like you said, you're so busy. You had to hire tons of people. What was the moment where you said, I made the right decision with eyebrows,

but not only eyebrows, This is like you were talking about eyebrows as an art form. I think in 98 when I went on Oprah show, that was the moment because she understood and she she was the voice. Everybody Oprah will talk and everybody around the globe will listen. So she understood the concept and everything that was behind this golden ratio and my eyebrow technique. And I thought she understands, if she understands and she's being. behind me, I really, this is, this is going to work. Walk me through that moment when you stepped onto the stage with Oprah on the Oprah show.

Tell me about that moment. It was, I call it my Oscar moment. In the book that I wrote, this actually is the book. I call it raising eyebrows. I call it my Oscar moment. I mean, in 98, Oprah Winfrey, she's still an incredible voice. But in 98, she was no Instagram, was no social media. Everybody was watching Oprah every single day at 3 o'clock.

And it was actually a moment where I was in Africa after a few months on an elephant and somebody that was writing with me, like, oh, you are, because they ask me, what do I do? I are like, well, I do eyebrows. I have some product. Like, oh, my God, my wife is obsessed with you because she's watching Oprah. So everywhere I went, everybody knew me because of Oprah. So she was a huge supporter, and she still is today as well. So very blessed, very blessed.

I got to, before the social media, I was lucky enough to work with so many celebrities that supported me. And everyday clients that they supported me, they came to the salon, and I'm forever grateful. Walk me through the moment when you heard about the exit, when you heard about the buyout. The buyout. What changed in your business, in your mindset, when you had to be. private equity come in now? Because as far as I understood, you did not ever raise money prior to this. No, I didn't raise the money. And I mean, because nobody wanted to invest in library. Nobody believed it. And in 2018, I had the private equity as my partner. And five years later was the normal exit.

And then because COVID and everything that happened, of course, our business was really decimated by the COVID because we couldn't sell for very long time. And then the private equity had to exit and I put 225 millions in the company of my own. Just to maintain a majority in the business. How do you look at decisions like that as an entrepreneur? because I feel like being an entrepreneur, you have to make very, very important decisions that are sometimes very, very difficult to the point where it could make or break something. And it's like you bet on yourself in the beginning. You proved time and time again.

And then you had to re-bet on yourself. Well, this was my baby. This was my life. This line is my life. It's everything that I built for 30 years. And I believe in it. Me and my daughter, we create the most beautiful products that I believe in it. So everything that we do is to preserve and to offer my clients the best of the best.

And of course, they are a decision that you need to make when you are an entrepreneur to be able to take that the brand to a different level. And it's not easy to take those decisions. You know, you need to surround yourself with smart people that will advise you. And it's at the end, you are the one that make the decision. But it's, yeah. A lot of people in the U.S., I don't think they look at legacy of a business. They want to create a business and they want to exit the business.

At least that's what it seems. Where when I travel outside the U.S., many countries, the business is passed down through many, many generations. I find it very interesting, the dichotomies of how people look at long-term business growth. You, it sounds like this is a legacy piece in a sense. Now your daughter is working with you. Is that how you see it?

Did you ever think like maybe I should just exit this business? because I want to go sit pinia coladas on the beach? No, never. I will never do that. I will work until my last day, number one, number two, I see that's like a legacy. I think me and my daughter, we work like we cannot pay the rent next month. And because we love it, not because we need to do,

not because somebody is with the gun behind my back. It's just we love every minute, every aspect of the business, the innovation, coming with a new product. We just launched Archibrow right now. This is an eyebrow product. You thought that all the products for eyebrows were already on the market. Well, I invented another one that's new and it's better and it's easy to use. Well, it's the best joy for me to go somewhere and introduce myself and they will start talking about,

oh my God, I'm obsessed with this product. I love it. Or I love your concealer. I went to a barmitsa not long time ago. And one woman started asking me, what's my name? What I like, oh, my God. And she started talking about so many products. I love your foundation.

I love your concealer. I'm number five. So she knew I could, I understood that she was using the products. This is the biggest joy that I have. You know, I love what I do. So it's my joy. I have a purpose. Me and my daughter, we wake up every morning.

And until we go to bed, we work nonstop because we love it. That's it. Some people have told me, you have to, you need to separate. Like, don't go home with work. And then you stop at 5 p.m. My wife and I worked together. And we've never had a time where, like, we tried it, I think, for one day. And then day two, we went back to it.

Because to your point, like, we love it. It's not like a job where I'm like, I want to leave my job. I don't seem like I'm working. I don't feel like I'm working. It's like, thank you so much life that I have this job and I enjoy every moment. So how do you know when it's time to launch a product?

And how do you know when you should add another product to all the things that you have already? Well, there are so many, many parts in this business is the social media. is that you need to read the consumer what they want, what they wish, what they will have products that you will create, and they didn't even know that they would like it, but they will like it once they have it. And plus the technology, you work with the chemist. Now the manufacturer are creating amazing products

because the technology is different. So, for instance, we launched our line in 2000 from 2000, from 2000, so many, like we launched in 2000, just to give you an example, a pomade. And it was very difficult. It was so in advance that product that the consumer didn't understand why they should use this pomade on their eyebrows. And it wasn't waterproof. So in 2014, the chemist that we worked with another lab,

they could create waterproof products. So we relaunch the product. So you constantly have to be in sync. You need to understand what the technology could offer you, the chemistry, their new products, new innovation. Now all the manufacturer are investing so much in research and development. So everything gets much better for us. And we could recreate, probably change something about the products

that maybe we had, but it's a better performance. You were a pioneer of also being on social media as, you know, beauty, skin care, wellness, like this whole category, no one was really on social media talking about this stuff. Who got you into that? My daughter, she was the one, because we used to travel during the weekend around the country at Nordstrom to train the customer because nobody thought that they could use powder in their eyebrows. and it's, you know, it's a lot of education into eyebrows shaping. And she, I mean, we were working seven days a weekend.

Traveling during the two days in the weekends is not that easy. So she came one day and she introduced me to Instagram, hoping that we will post and we don't need to travel that much because it's easier to educate the consumer. So in 2012, we start posting pictures. was amazing. I mean, talk about timing, right? Because obviously that was like peak of malls and department stores.

And then obviously there's been a massive decline. And then everyone was scrambling to then go online. So did it did, were you impacted by any of this knowing that you were created such an online community already? Oh, was our, our brand exploded. We, we launched the. from the eyebrow, we kind of expand into color, eye shadows and all other type of makeup.

And we launched in Macy's. And they didn't even have time to open the boxes to put on the gondola. They sold out from the back room. It was that crazy. Yeah, it was amazing. I love that. When you think back to you crying in your apartment in 1989, If you think about that person what they could see of you now,

what do you think would surprise them the most? Well, imagine. It's like, yes, I came here because I wanted to do something significant. I wanted to do unthinkable. But I couldn't. My dream wasn't as big. I couldn't dream that I would be a global brand. And of course, the struggle and the work that I put in, I was prepared for.

I was prepared. I didn't ever knew that I could do that much and I could work that hard. But I guess once you have a purpose and you have something that you love, you have no limits. And I never dreamed that we get that big. Of course I wanted to be successful, but I never thought that I will build this incredible brand that I'm so proud of it. When you think about entrepreneurship now and you think about people looking up to you saying, I want to be her one day, I want to do that. Yes. You have the explosion of AI and AI tools.

You have social media. you have everyone under the sun creating some sort of beauty product. It seems like it's probably the most competitive space on the planet. If somebody asked you, should I start something today, would you suggest that they go for it? Or would you suggest that they maybe look to doing something else just knowing how difficult it can be to launch today? Or maybe it's easy, I don't know.

So in my book here, Raising Eyebrows, I put my... experience, I talk about my experience, what I went through. And it's, there are a lot of, it's not like, oh, look at me, how great I am. No, it's not about that. I talked about my failures because I had so many of them. So I took so many decisions that they were no good and I had to pivot and change. Being an entrepreneur, even if it was 30 years ago, 50 years ago, or it's today, is not easy. You have to make a commitment.

You have to be ready to compromise. You have to be ready to work nonstop. And if you want to be successful. And but you have to love it because if you don't love it will be very difficult. You will give up. And remember when I started, there were other type of difficulties. It was not social media. was worth of mouth.

I have to work at the salon, and at night after, I will go with my friend Larry, that was the hairstylist, to every club with credit cards, and she will talk about me. I will talk about her, and we hand our credit cards and come over, I will do your eyebrow for free, or she will do her eyebrow, her hair for free. So was it a different type of struggle? Today, it's a different type of struggle. There are so many brands online, how you separate. The key is you have to be authentic.

You have to believe in your dream, and you have to keep working because it's not easy. This is not going to happen like this. Look at me, it took the 26 years. But I believe what I am so proud of is that I kind of rolled the red carpet and I told everyone, every young entrepreneur that wants to do something. It's possible. You could create the American dream. It's no way. But, of course, it takes work.

Discipline, focus. You have to master your craft, whatever you do, and you have to be authentic. What did you have to sacrifice? Oh, my God. I was never able to attend my daughter's any activity at school. She was home and I was sometimes my husband. My mom will come or my husband will stay with her. I was working nonstop.

That's why she started working with me because I was never home. There are a lot of sacrifices to be an entrepreneur. My wife told me something similar around the kids because they, she couldn't do things that it created a lot of guilt for her later on. And I wonder how it, like women's guilt of sacrifice versus men's guilt of sacrifice versus men's guilt of sacrifice around business, you think there's a difference? Yes, it's a different because a mother is a mother,

but I suggest we should not have, if you could afford to have help, get help, get as many nanny as you can to take care of your kids, and you have to work. And once the kids sees you how hard you work, they will not resent you. If you go to and you don't do the same things that they will be proud of you, I think will be more difficult to deal with. At least I didn't need, and my daughter kind of became me.

She started working with me. Of course, you didn't like it. As a young kid, you don't like to work. You want to have fun. And later on, she started loving the project. And she, you know, it's the only thing. that she ever does. She loves working. But I think mothers, parents, in these days, you have to work. You can't survive. Everything is so expensive. Look, in California, it's almost $8 gallon of gas.

How you have to work, husband and wife. Those times where the wife stays home, and even if you could afford, I think it's so much healthier for the kids to see. see the mom working, even if you have a part-time job, I think it's good or volunteer or something. I don't know. I know. I appreciate that. And there's something else. Two last, two final questions here. We recently had on the founder of ritual. I'm not sure if you're familiar ritual. I think last year they did like 150 million in sales. And she told me that she doesn't really see herself as like being successful yet. And I told her about how there was a study at Harvard that male professors submit papers

when they feel they're like 40%, where women who are professors have to submit papers when they feel they're 80%. Essentially, like men feel they're successful after like achieving a thousand dollars in revenue where women like you could be a billion, you still don't, like you still don't fear yourself being successful yet. How do you feel about that? No, I think I'm very successful, but to me, success, it's a continuing work. I'm working on my success. I'm still working on it because it's a lot easier to achieve success. It's harder to maintain success. So I'm working to maintain my success right now.

That's a good point. So when you get to a certain level, the next hard. part then is to how do you maintain that? I imagine too because everyone's watching now, everyone's seeing things. So there's added pressures. Absolutely. Absolutely. You want to. And I'm responsible. I have 300, probably 300 employees around the world, maybe more than that. And they have families. I'm responsible for them. You know, it's a duty that I wake up every morning and I have to think, people at the warehouse, people in the field, people, the office, you know, it takes a village to run something that you work on.

By the way, you said earlier that I need to darken my eyebrows. I think I like it. As I was thinking about darkening my beard, and now I'm going to get, I need to darken the eyebrows. As a man with for eyebrows, are you. seeing like men looking at eyebrows? Is this like a thing now? Absolutely. Men are doing their eyebrows. I, I forever, I've done, and I have worked with a lot of male celebrity and businessman. A man's eyebrow should be groomed. A man eyebrow should not be arch or shaped or, you know what I mean? But I think in your case, your beer is dark,

is very good color. I like that. But I think we balance better if your eyebrow is kind of a little bit darker. We have a tinted, volumizing tinted gel, and it's perfect because your shape is very good. Just needs to be a little bit darker, kind of the same color with your beard. But don't get your beard darker. It's perfect the way it is. It's going to look fake if you do it too dark. Coming from you, thank you.

So don't tell anyone, but I use tinted sunscreen. For like a decade, it's been my secret sauce. No, every man should. It's amazing. Yes. No, I think it's great. Men should use sunblood, tinted the moisturizer. It's you live in California.

Do you live in California? Yes. Yep. Yeah. You need to wear. Absolutely. Maybe we're at night when we go out. Yes, little concealer.

There's nothing wrong with that. Little bronzer you could use that almost makes you look like you were for five minutes in the sun. I was going to say definitely don't tell people that I obviously right now I don't have it on. But let me tell you something. You are not the only one. So don't think you are special. A lot of men, they are probably uncomfortable to admit, but a lot of men are using light makeup, which I think great. I just started using a bronzer, but then I had to match it to like with the beard, then my neck.

Neck is very light. So you should use blizzard on your neck as well. I know, I have to. Final question for you. My wife and I wrote this book. It's called Unlimited Possibilities. And it's about the moment when you broke through a barrier that you never thought possible. Obviously, you've talked about a bunch today.

Is there something that stands out in your life when you think about an unlimited possibility moment for you? you. Wow. I think I broke every single possible, every barrier that you could think. Every single, I came here. I was an emig. I didn't speak one word of English. I didn't have money. I didn't have a credit card. It was hard for me even to get a credit card because 30 years ago, 35 years ago, it wasn't that easy to get a credit card. You had to have a family that at least will, will have a credit history. I didn't have credit history. I didn't have anybody that had a credit history. So I was able to do that. And I think every single barrier that it was in front of me I went through. And the best way, the way I handled was I will ask why is not possible and I will find ways

or I will try to understand why they don't accept or maybe it's not the right time or maybe it's not the right way. So asking question and I was never afraid to ask my clients, you know, I don't know. Can you teach me? I think people are a little afraid to admit that they don't know and I think it's the best thing you could do for yourself. I don't know.

Can you teach me? Can you help me? Yeah. Humility. Humility is the best. No ego. No. Ego, but no ego.

No, no. Leave the ego behind. If you want to win the bottles in this, to be an entrepreneur, you have to leave the ego behind. I think of a phrase when I first saw you talk. And I thought of like, if you see it, you can be it. Kind of like Oprah, right? like Oprah, a lot of people saw Oprah, then they wanted to become Oprah, right? They see you. They want to become you. They know it's possible because there's some stats. It's been a while since I look,

but I think it was like four, five or six percent of all businesses above a million dollars are owned by women, which means like 94 percent are owned by men. So it's not that many businesses owned by women who are getting to above a million dollars in revenue. And then I imagine if it gets five, 10, 50, 100, it starts to shrink more and more. So you are not only breaking molds, being a pioneer, but I think you're inspiring multiple generations that they can do it too. So when I saw you talk, I'm like, wow, one day I would love to have a discussion with you. So I'm honored today. I was so excited. And thank you. We over, we went over time. So thank you so much for continuing as well. my pleasure and I encourage every single woman and men as well to follow their dream and everything

is possible. If I was able to do it, anyone could do it. They should not be afraid and they should go for it. It's very important. Actually, in two weeks I'm going to go to New York because I made the 250 list of Forbes, self-made women. Goala. So one of them. One of them. Isn't that amazing? Wow. How was that moment when you found out? Amazing. Oprah is number one.

I'm 200 and something. But hey, doesn't matter. I made the list, 250 women in that list. It's incredible. Who were you looking forward to meeting there? Everyone. Everybody is an inspiration. Everyone.

I find interest in everyone. And not necessarily that if they are self-made millionaire, billionaire, everyone. I am very into, that's why I like customers. I believe in that old-fashioned doing business to ask the client what they want. I'm interested. I want to understand what is their need, what is their technique, what they want, what they don't want, you know, and create products that will make them happy and they will love it. I believe in that old-fashioned way of doing business.

Well, I can't wait to hear how your journey goes, going to New York, launching more products, your daughter taking over the business. At some point, I imagine she would have to take over the business when you retire at 125 years old. I'm not going to retire. I would die. I would die doing eyebrows and create. Even at 150, you're still being eyebrows. That is dedication.

Because we might live with technology now. We might live to very long. So who knows, right? But thank you so much. Anastasia Sware. This has been great. Thanks for joining us today. My pleasure.

Thank you so much for having me.