In 1991, Bobbi Brown-a makeup artist who painted million-dollar faces for the likes of Vogue-plunked down $10,000 to launch her cosmetics company, Bobbi Brown Essentials, which grew faster than a supermodel can ask for sauce on the side. Within five years, the company was grossing an estimated $20 million annually.
Brown built her success on a simple yet paradoxical concept: "natural makeup." She cannily understood that many women want to accentuate what they see as their positive features, rather than cover up what they consider shortcomings. Accordingly, she manufactured skin-toned cosmetics in understated packaging. "Much of the 'perfect' makeup you admire on faces in advertisements and magazines should probably come with a warning: Don't try this at home," she wrote in her best-selling 1997 book, Bobbi Brown Beauty.
By 1995, suitors and sharks alike circled her company, which needed a cash infusion to expand. Brown-whose shimmery demeanor and five-foot stature can obscure the fact that she's a steely negotiator-sold the company to cosmetics giant Estée Lauder. No mere figurehead, Brown has retained control-if not ownership-of her company, as well as her title of CEO.
During a recent chat with MBA Jungle over a protein shake at her Manhattan office, Brown spoke frankly about her alliance with Lauder, some smart moves that helped her succeed, the importance of trusting her instincts, and the lessons she's learned from the occasional business blemish.
MBA Jungle: Did you ever consider business school?
Bobbi Brown: I don't think I could have gotten into any business school. I'm really bad with math. It's funny because now I get asked to speak at business schools all the time.
How did you get into the industry?
I graduated high school a semester early, and I went to the University of Wisconsin at Oshkosh because my boyfriend at the time went there. Then I transferred to the school my friends went to, the University of Arizona in Tucson. I hated it. I came home to Chicago and told my mom I wanted to drop out. She told me I had to get a degree. I said, "But, Mom, there's nothing that interests me." She asked, "If you could do anything in the world what would you want to do today?" I thought about it, and I told her that I'd love to go to Marshall Field's and look at makeup. She asked, "Why don't you be a makeup artist?" She was sure there was a college somewhere that had a makeup program. But there wasn't. A friend of my dad's suggested Emerson College in Boston, which let me design my own major in theatrical makeup.
Who were your mentors?
I have a very important role model: my grandfather. He came over from Russia when he was 14 years old. Five-foot-four Jewish guy. Nothing in his pocket. He ended up being "Cadillac Sam." He had his own car place and sold cars to everyone from Mayor Daley to ... what's the gangster's name?
Capone?
Yeah, Capone. My grandfather had the strongest work ethic you've ever seen. I grew up having dinner with him at eight o'clock every night after he came home, sitting on his lap while he was licking envelopes and sending his flyers out. Everything was business.
What lessons did you learn about women in business?
My mother worked for her father when I was a baby, but no women in my life worked. Women didn't work then.
Do you think you are underestimated as an executive because you're a woman?
Definitely. People get the impression that because I'm nice, I'm not tough. But you can be both tough and nice.
Any examples?
There's been a big back-and-forth negotiation with Lauder about where my office should be. I wanted it to be downtown. I told them that it would be the best thing for my company and for the people who work for me. And you know what? We're moving downtown. We found a compromise that everybody is happy with. Sometimes Leonard [Lauder] says, "Look, you've got to listen to me. I've done this a long time." And there are times when I say, "Okay, Leonard, I'll listen." But there are also times when I say, "You know what, Leonard? You've got to listen to me."
What distinguishes Bobbi Brown Essentials from the competition?
Our philosophy is not to change what a woman looks like, but to make her look like herself-only better. I think we're the only cosmetics company that tells a woman what's right with her rather than what's wrong with her. Also, we truly believe that the substance of our products is different. For example, our foundations are yellow toned, which means that the makeup looks natural, not like traditional foundation.
What about the packaging?
We make sure it reflects our ethics: simple, sleek, and understated, but at the same time high-end. And we do something else that no other company does: We don't discontinue products. One thing that drives a woman crazy is when she finds the perfect lipstick, and then it disappears.
You started your company with a $10,000 investment. What advice would you offer someone just out of business school with 10 grand in her pocket who wants to start her own company?
Feel it in the gut of your stomach. And I might need to explain that to someone with an MBA: Make a decision by feeling, not by thinking. I do almost everything by feeling-from hiring a baby-sitter to developing products. It's never, "Well, this is what the market research shows." Everything is gut. It always has been. I also believe in seeing the big picture. And then I believe in taking mini-steps. Because otherwise, you'll get overwhelmed.
What "mini-steps" did you take going from makeup artist to makeup mogul?
I remember sitting at a photo shoot in 1989 and thinking about lipsticks that didn't exist. And I thought, "God, what a great idea-a makeup artist creating makeup," instead of someone with, excuse my language, an MBA doing it. And next I started to think about what my ideal products would be and how to get them made. My first step was meeting a freelance chemist, a little guy from Pennsylvania, and convincing him to work with me on the project. Getting into Bergdorf Goodman was a huge step that came later. It was a really lucky shot, opening at Bergdorf. We were on a small table in the middle of the floor. We thought we would sell maybe a hundred lipsticks the first month, and we sold that many the first day. I later learned that a lot of those sales were to men with MBAs from other cosmetics companies, coming in to check my product out.
What do you do to protect your trade secrets?
I have no trade secrets. I have my vision, which is mine and nobody else's. I have my gut, which is mine and nobody else's. I also happen to be really good at gathering a team. I think that's gut also.
Has your gut ever been wrong?
Oh, yes. We call our original makeup Essentials-neutral and natural colors. My theory was that most women who wear our cosmetics dress very simply, with their perfect black dresses. Sometimes they want to wear a red scarf or a bright-blue sparkly bracelet, so we added a sideline called ColorOptions, which offered more alternative colors, more shimmer. My gut said, "Go for it," and I learned, through actually being at the counter, that I should have been more conservative. There weren't enough natural colors in the line. We did attract younger customers, but a lot of our regular customers didn't get it.
Aside from relying on your intuition, what would you hope that women learn from you about business?
If you have something that you believe in, it doesn't matter what other people think: Get it to market. It's pretty important to be first to market. How many Survivors have been on TV? All the other shows are stupid. How many Who Wants to be a Millionaires? I was lucky. I was the first in my niche. I wasn't the first cosmetics company, but I was certainly the first with natural colors designed by a makeup artist.
How do you appraise a job candidate?
I barely look at resumés. I like candidates who are comfortable in their own shoes. I've met some of the most famous people in the world, and some of the most insecure. If you're comfortable with yourself, I just think you can succeed.
Who are more difficult to deal with: models or board members?
Models.
Any truth to the rumor that your New Jersey neighbor Yogi Berra swears by your products?
Yogi likes our hydrating face cream. ... He's good friends with [former New Jersey Devils owner] John McMullen. I just got a thank-you note from John because he asked me for some creams. He wrote this nice letter about how he's using all the creams and learning to use the cleansers, and the very last line says, "Yogi and I are together every morning, and not a day goes by that we don't talk about you."
