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First Time Founders with Ed Elson – How Bobbi Brown Built A Beauty Empire
Sun, 02 Mar 2025
Ed speaks with Bobbi Brown, the founder of Bobbi Brown Cosmetics and Jones Road Beauty. They discuss her journey in the beauty industry, the impact of social media on the makeup world, and the importance of building a personal brand. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Chapter 1: Who is Bobbi Brown and what is her impact on the beauty industry?
Welcome to First Time Founders. I'm Ed Elson. In 1991, one woman forever changed the makeup industry with a bold mission, to enhance, not alter, a woman's natural beauty. Her approach redefined how we think about makeup, and her name became synonymous with innovation all over the world.
After building a billion-dollar brand, she stepped away from the company to return to her entrepreneurial roots. She has succeeded as a makeup artist, an entrepreneur, a television personality, and a writer. As a true legend in the industry, she continues to reshape the beauty landscape, this time with Jones Road, a new makeup company built on the idea of clean beauty.
This is my conversation with Bobbi Brown, the founder of Bobbi Brown Cosmetics and Jones Road Beauty. Bobbi Brown, welcome to the show.
Oh, thank you. Nice to talk to you.
Chapter 2: What was Bobbi Brown's journey to becoming a makeup artist?
I think most people know the name, Bobby Brown. I mean, you go into any department store in the world, you've seen that name. I don't think as many people know the story of Bobby Brown, the person. So I want to start there. Um, and I'd love to get a sense of your childhood to begin. So tell our audience, where did you grow up? What were you like as a kid? What were your kind of hobbies?
How did this all begin?
Well, I grew up in the suburbs of Chicago, and I just fell in love with makeup as a young kid. I used to watch in awe as my mother would get ready for dates with my dad, and she was incredibly glamorous. I never was. And how I was as a kid, I mean, pretty normal, I guess. I didn't really excel in anything. I had a lot of friends. I was very social.
And, you know, when I didn't get good grades, my parents decided they should stop punishing me because I probably wouldn't amount to anything. And I think what just that meant was they just didn't see my career as, you know, a businesswoman.
Were you excelling in makeup? I mean, where did this makeup habit start?
No, I did not excel in makeup. I just loved it. I just loved it. And I loved, you know, watching my mom do it. I loved playing with it. And as a middle school kid, you know, every middle school kid is insecure. And so I discovered that I could put a little bit of makeup on and look better. But I didn't want anyone to know I was wearing it. So I would mess around with it.
And then when I went to college, I transferred a couple times. I thought college was so boring and I didn't want to go to school. And my mother said, you can't drop out. You have to do something. Mom, I have no idea what I want to do. She said, OK, pretend it's your birthday. You could do anything you want. What would you want to do? And I just I thought for a nanosecond.
And I said, I'd love to go play with makeup at the department store. She said, there it is. Be a makeup artist. And I said, I don't want to go to beauty school. She said, I'm sure there's a college. And I found a college that let me make up my own major. And that's where I went to school. No idea what I was going to do with this major, a Bachelor of Fine Arts, but I got one.
And so then you moved to New York City, right, where you're working as a freelance makeup artist. Did you know at that point that that was going to be your career in the beauty industry doing makeup?
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Chapter 3: How did Bobbi Brown start her cosmetics brand?
I thought that was going to be my career. I never thought anything past being a makeup artist. And when I moved to New York, I didn't know anyone. And there was no internet to even figure out who anyone was. So I would go stand at newspaper stands and look in the magazines and see who were the people I should call.
which I did, and opened up the Yellow Pages and looked under makeup, and I started just putting a portfolio together, and I thought, you know, my dream is to have a Vogue cover. I wanted to do makeup for a Vogue cover. It took me seven years, and I got a Vogue cover.
So I started this great career, editorial career, being with all the fabulous people and traveling a bunch, and I made a name for myself. never thinking or knowing where it was going to lead.
And then you started your company, Bobby Brown Cosmetics.
But it wasn't really a company because I didn't really start a company. So what had happened was I fell in love and I didn't want to travel anymore because I would have missed my, you know, then fiance. And so we moved to New Jersey, believe it or not, from New York, which was pretty, you know... out of the box because no one did that back then. And I just said, I can't keep traveling.
And I met a chemist at a shoot and I said, I've always wanted to make a lipstick that looked like lips. And so I made a lipstick and I'm like, wow, this is cool. I bet people will buy this. And I started selling it. I never thought I would be a big brand. I never thought I would be a no name. I never thought anything. I just, wow, this is a cool lipstick. I'm usually in the moment.
Yeah, you mentioned that you wanted to make a lipstick that looked like lips, which today I don't think sounds like a very controversial statement. But back then, interestingly, it was. And I think the thing that you are known for in the industry, what you pioneered was this natural look. this idea of making your face not as made up as it used to be.
I mean, for those of us who, like, don't know about this, and I have to admit, I'm sort of one of these people, what did makeup look like before you? What was new about this natural look?
Well, first of all, a makeup artist would do someone's makeup for a magazine or if you went into a department store and you would put this foundation on that was whitish or pinkish or just ashy, and then you'd have to put all this makeup on top that was so bright and garish, you'd have to blend it. And by the time you're done, it just looked, the best way to describe it is artificial.
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Chapter 4: What were the challenges and successes of Bobbi Brown Cosmetics?
So it was pretty incredible, and I'm not sure how I got through it, except I just am the kind of person, I get through things. I'm like, oh, that didn't work, let me do it this way. So I've always been resilient that way. It was exciting, it was fun, and I started doing less magazine shoots in favor of doing things that will promote the makeup.
So, you know, going on the Today Show, I became the beauty editor and I taught women how to be a makeup artist and they would end up running to a counter to buy makeup. So, you know, it really took off. And I guess it was four and a half years after Bobbi Brown Cosmetics started that we sold it.
Were you surprised by how well it did?
I was not. I was excited. I was thrilled. And I really thought what I was doing was better than anything on the market. I don't know if I'm cocky. I don't know if I'm naive. I just think what I do is better. I, you know, I can't help it until I think something really sucks. And I'm like, all right, that was terrible.
You know, I go both ways, but I was excited and I was really busy, really busy, both at work and at home.
And what's amazing is how quickly this all happens. So this was like around four or five years after you launched this company. Then you get this call from Estee Lauder who were looking to buy it. What happened there?
Well, we were beating them in the stores. You know, we were number one in Bergdorf and Niemann's. And, you know, Lauder always was. So they went and they said, who is this? What is this? And we weren't for sale, but we ended up selling the company. And I stayed as an employee, a corporate employee for 22 years.
And it was about almost $100 million. Was that a difficult decision?
No, it was not a difficult decision. My husband and I had business partners that were a little bit difficult. And so I never felt I sold to Estee Lauder. I sold to Leonard Lauder. And he just, you know, became my biggest supporter. And he just, I knew he supported me. I knew he believed in me. And I felt he was my partner. And he introduced us, my husband and I, to so many things.
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Chapter 5: Why did Bobbi Brown sell her company to Estee Lauder?
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Chapter 6: What ventures did Bobbi Brown pursue after leaving her company?
And, yeah, there's a market for makeup, you know, to contour and overline your lips and, you know, do all those crazy things. It's just not my market. But there's enough people that just want to look better. And, you know, the hashtag I started when we launched Jones Road, which no one uses except me, because I guess no one uses hashtags anymore, was how not to look like shit.
Like, that's why I wear makeup, because I'm like, I just look like shit. What am I doing here?
When you look back at Bobbi Brown Cosmetics, which you launched in 1990, and then you look at Jones Road, which you launched 30 years later in 2020, what would you say are like the main differences in the beauty industry back then compared to today? Like what are some things in your overall strategy that you had to change just because we're living in a new era?
Right. Well, so many things. First of all, distribution. You know, we're not in department stores. I'm in one store in the world. We are in one store in the world, and that's Liberty in London, because it's Liberty. I mean, there's no other store like that. And I think also just doing things differently. So our current CEO happens to be this mastermind of digital marketing.
Weirdly enough, he also happens to be my second son, which is just the weirdest thing to think that this kid who didn't really care a thing about makeup, but he just really made a huge difference. And now he's running the company. I mean, he has finance reporting to him. I'm not sure if he reports to me or I report to him. It depends who you talk to. And his wife is our head of brand.
So weirdly enough, we have turned into a family business. My husband is the head of our board. And my other kids are there when I need their opinion, which they very loudly give to me. And, you know, it's just the world is different.
And I think it's so interesting to do things different ways, to market it different ways, to talk to your customer the way you would talk to a friend and not have layers. That's the biggest thing. Not have layers and not waste time, energy and money on consultants that you don't need. What do you mean by layers?
Oh, my God, to get something approved, you know, at the height of my career at the big corporate company, there was people that you just had to get all these people's opinion on from all the different departments and corporate and internal. And now it's, you know, I make the final say on some things. Cody makes the final say on other things. And, you know, we work it together.
So you have a conversation, you hash it out, and then a decision is made.
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Chapter 7: How did Bobbi Brown launch her new company, Jones Road?
Yeah. It's also called incredibly good delegation. Yeah.
Yes, and micromanaging in the same way.
We'll be right back.
Hey, this is Peter Kafka, the host of Channels, a show about what happens when tech smashes into media. And this week I'm talking about Twitch. Not the thing my eye does when I don't get enough sleep, but the pioneering live streaming service that Amazon bought for a billion dollars back in 2014. Twitch is still a big deal in live streaming, but so are lots of other places.
So how is Twitch CEO Dan Clancy going to deal with that competition? And why exactly do I want to watch people talk live on the Internet anyway? I asked Dan Clancy all about that and more on this week's channels from the Vox Media Podcast Network.
We're back with First Time Founders.
You've also built, you know, in addition to these brands you've built in the beauty industry, you've also built this personal brand. Like, you know, people know Bobby Brown. They see you on TV. They read your books. For whatever reason, Bobby Brown, the person, is intriguing to people. I'd love to just know more about that. Was this... Do you think of yourself as a brand?
Do you try to brand yourself?
I don't try to do anything, and I don't think of myself as a brand. And I think why people relate to me is because I'm exactly the same way on TV and in interviews as I am if I was at your house. And I'm real and authentic. I mean, I talk about my three sons, you know, more than I talk about my business. Like if someone says, how are you doing? I mean, it's about my kids.
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