Transcript

How Anastasia Soare built a beauty brand worth billions

0:01 The very best founders I know are brilliant at building systems. They connect teams, they remove bottlenecks, and they eliminate single points of failure. And yet When it comes to their own wealth. Most are running a disconnected stack. A tax accountant here and a state attorney there, a wealth manager who doesn't talk to either one of them.

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0:53 Hey folks, Jeff Berman here. I am thrilled to share some of the new names who will be joining us at this year's Masters of Scale summit. This may be our biggest stage yet. Reed Hastings, Meredith Whitaker, Van Jones, Amjad Masad, and more. Will be there with us October 20th through 22nd in San Francisco. If you're building something great, or you want to build something great, We want you there with us too.

1:20 Join us at masters of scale dot com slash apply twenty six. That's mastersofscom slash apply. twenty six. I met and I worked with so many celebrities. Банай мет Оправос.

1:45 Май Оскар момент. Oprah's production team called Anastasia Soiree. Would she come do Oprah's eyebrows live on the massively popular daytime TV show? And It was kind of scary because uh

2:03 to do live her eyebrows in front of a camera is very difficult. I knew she was coming today, so I haven't plucked yet. This is Anastasia, Clean of Brows. Anastasia was used to fixing up the eyebrows of famous people in her Beverly Hills studio, but To do it for Okra.

2:22 I mean it's Oprah. Live. On stage. On television. I wanted to cry, I wanted to jump, I wanted I d I don't even remember what

2:34 But Anastasia kept her cool on camera. She walked the audience through how to perfectly shape your eyebrows, and Oprah loved the result. You will not find anybody better than her on the planet for doing brows. I haven't. Ooh, look at that brow, baby. This was a different era. Daytime television.

2:55 Really mattered. And no one mattered more than Oprah. Her talk show was seen by millions and millions of people every day. So after the episode aired? The phone will not stop ringing.

3:21 And it hasn't stopped ringing ever since. The Romanian immigrants celebrity fuel beauty business grew from renting a room in Beverly Hills to a global brand that peaked at a valuation of no less than three. billion dollars. You gotta have incredible talent at every position. It's like this huge push. There are fires burning when you're going out. Can you believe it? And then you go back to this is totally gonna be amazing. There are so many easy ways. I have no idea what it is. Sorry, we made a mistake. But you have to time it right.

3:54 Oops. Working out of a three-bedroom apartment. Ten years later, but well that's just how you do it. We haven't made just how you do it. This is masters of scale. I'm Jeff Berman, your host. Anastasia Suare is the expert aesthetician responsible for the way everyone from Oprah and Michelle Obama to Kim Kardashian and Michelle Pfeiffer.

4:24 Shape their eyebrows. In this episode, she shares lessons in leveraging today's influencer economy and explains why she never wants to retire. I was thrilled to sit down with Anastasia in Los Angeles for this conversation, and honestly, a little bit shocked. By what she said. When we started talking.

4:44 You have good eyebrows, by the way. My day is made. Anastasia, welcome to Masters of Scale. Thank you so much for having me. I'm thrilled to have you.

4:57 You like so many of the founders we have on Masters of Scale are an immigrant, but most of the immigrant founders we have on the show came to the US as children or came here for college. You came a little bit later. Um, can you tell us about growing up in Romania and what brought you to the United States? So I grew up in Romania and after the communist regime um came to power Things slowly start changing. They start taking property from my grandparents.

5:31 My uncles, they were not allowed to own uh the restaurants anymore. They were taken by the government. it was very difficult they start cutting electricity. food was scarce and that was probably one of the m the reason why I wanted to to de fact to leave the country. And so you were you were thirty when you came to the US? I was thirty one, yes. Thirty one. And how did you how did you get here? So my husband was ship captain and he went to American embassy asked for political asylum.

6:05 And he came to United States, and I had to wait three years. the Romanian government didn't want to give me the passport. So you have this three year wait between your husband applying for political asylum and getting to the US and you landed in Los Angeles? Yes, I landed because I told him we need to move only in Los Angeles. We were restricted, we couldn't watch movies, Hollywood movies. Everything was black market, so we have to close uh

6:33 the drapes and and watch everything in the dark. And it was a dream. I remember watching a pretty woman in Beverly Hills Cups and I thought, I want to walk on that street. So what was it like when you got here? You land at LAX and what happens? Okay. So the rule was that I could not leave with one dollar in my pocket because every citizen Romanian citizen that owned any dollars would be put in jail. So I asked like can I have at least ten dollars that just in case my husband will not be there, I could make a phone call. Like no We'll put you in jail if you have one dollar. And my fear was that I will Walk.

7:19 in uh in the airport, Los Angeles Airport, and I will not my husband will not be there. And I will not have a coin to make a phone call. Thankfully he was there. And uh I just remember getting out of the airport in the car and I saw that bright light in the palm trees. The Los Angeles light. The Los Angeles light. Yeah. Yeah, was a magical But scary in the same time.

7:47 Tell me about the scary part. Oh my God, everything was scary. the first thing that I wanted to do to see was a supermarket. I start walking on those

7:58 Endless aisles in And I was thinking, oh my God. We didn't have I mean people will be in line for one chicken uh from twelve o'clock at night until the next day at three o'clock, and sometimes some of them they will still not be able to leave uh w anything so

8:19 I thought, Oh my god, the bonds. Right. You go from literal bread lines to lines of bread. Yes. Exactly. Yeah. You've got culture shock, you have everything was a shock. Everything. So what do you do then? So I found out from the church that was close to the apartment that they had the English classes for emigrants. So I um I went um and I started taking those classes. And um my husband

8:51 uh worked as a taxi driver. he met a Romani gentleman and his wife was an aesthetician and when we met uh she said I'm pregnant and I have to take three months off And I would love to introduce you to the owner. You could work in my place. Um you have to leave.

9:13 So for her was a good arrangement because she didn't want the owner to uh hire somebody and she could lose her job. Did you have a background in beauty at that point to work? While my husband came He So that eastern block uh women and they all were uh aesthetician. So he suggested I should go and get my license in Romania. So while I was waiting for my passport, I went to beauty school there. I worked there for two years and um I was kind of surprised that nobody in Hollywood paid attention to eyebrows.

9:49 And Of course in Romania we didn't have uh disposable cameras I bought a disposable camera and we start taking picture of Of us family. And I realized that I look surprised in the picture because my pen my eyebrow was pencil thin and round. So the shape of my eyebrows wasn't Correct.

10:12 And I remember my art teacher talking about how to draw a portrait and change an emotion and um using Gold and Ratio um change and emotion. Let me pause you there because I'm not sure that all of our audience is familiar with the golden ratio. Could you could you explain the golden ratio for us? It's a mathematical formula that is found in nature, plants and everything. that surrounds us. So it's a proportion um that uh the human eyes encoded to recognize

10:48 Because creates balance and proportion with everything. So the proportion is one point six one eight. um that create um uh harmony. And as you are seeing your own face in these photos from the disposable camera and looking at your clients, you're realizing the golden ratio needs to be applied to the brows. Yeah. What did you do with this realization?

11:12 So I start f I wanted to fix my own eyebrows. And once I did that My clients used to come and say, Wow, you look different, you look rested, what did you do? And um I of course I start sharing with them my discovery and I start shaping their eyebrows. And um I went to the owner and I said, Look, I I think we should do this as a service. And they said, Well we cannot charge more than ten dollar because it wasn't a service.

11:41 And it didn't make business sense for them. It didn't scale. Which didn't scale. But I really believed in it. And one Sunday I told my husband, I'm gonna open my own business. So this was two years after I came to America.

11:58 I said well Look. I came here To do something. I I have I have to

12:05 To do this. This is why we came here. Otherwise we could stay in Romania. Or we'll go back. If I will not be able to make it we'll go back anyway. So I looked

12:17 in a newspaper and I said I'm gonna rent a room in a salon only in Beverly Hills. Nothing to lose and everything to gain. So the boldness of the vision, the I'm gonna do this, I know it doesn't scale yet, but I see the opportunity I can feel it. I'm gonna rent a room Is a real leap of faith. Yes. Absolutely.

12:38 And this was the only country That's will allow me to do that. So in the course of most of the nineties then. Yes. You go from one room rented in someone else's salon

12:51 Two Oprah. Oh yeah, that was so how how do you go from renting renting a room and and just starting to working with the biggest most famous talent in the world. That's a very good question. So the moment I rented the room, which was scary in a way, what I wanted to do was to master my skill.

13:17 I cannot tell you how many free eyebrows I've done at the beginning of my career. Every shampoo girl, every hairstylist, every makeup artist, everybody, because I want them to believe in my skills and talk to their clients, send me their clients. If they were happy And what's important for me that they will be happy. They will send me their clients. Soon Anastasia was working with some of the biggest names in Hollywood.

13:47 Didn't take long for women's magazines to take notice of this new beauty trend. She says that Alure magazine was the first to call her in the early 1990s. They asked me if they could um write about uh The best kept secret in Hollywood? and um use a celebrity client. So

14:08 I ask um Michelle Pfeiffer. I called Michelle and I said, Can I Use your name. It's like of course. Of course. And at that time Remember people didn't talk about facials or or bikini, Brazilian bikini or uh

14:26 And I thought Yeah. It's a walking advertising. Everybody could see it.

14:37 And Everybody's happy to talk about. And what it sounds like is you built really a uh hand by hand, person by person, an incredibly devoted clientele to the point where within just a few years I mean I don't know that our younger audience members know that Michelle Pfeiffer in the early mid nineties was you know, I mean as as as big a star as the biggest star that existed. It's true. Yeah.

15:04 This is not a small thing. Not only can you call her, but she's going to say yes to being with you in a lore magazine. I have to say that my clients were Um The big support. They were the most wonderful people that helped me to learn the language better. If I had the question Hey, I don't know how to write a check. How should I do it? Where should I like

15:28 Okay, we'll help you. Yeah. No, I I have a uh photograph in my home that I love. Uh it's a sign and it reads something like um the words I love you are indeed beautiful and powerful, but there are no uh more important three words in the English language than can I help? And um that spirit of wanting to help is so so deeply powerful. And I learned from them that You have to ask.

16:01 Still ahead. How Anastasia's daughter helped her company reach new heights as an early adopter of Instagram. The Wired Newsroom is known for award-winning reporting on how technology shapes our world. On Wire's Uncanny Valley, we take that curiosity even further. Each week, journalists from Wired break down the biggest stories in tech while speaking directly with the people building, challenging, and reshaping the future.

16:31 Is the AI boom sustainable? How do you protect your privacy in an age of constant surveillance? Uncanny Valley tackles the questions driving today's tech debates and lighting up your group chats. Listen to new episodes every Thursday. Wherever you get your podcasts.

16:47 Humans will never be more intelligent than AI. There's gonna be two types of companies. Those were great at AI and those that went out of business because they weren't. How do we build a future? That is human centered. I'm Rana El Chayubi.

17:02 And on my podcast Pioneers of AI, we answer that question and so many more. As an AI scientist, entrepreneur, and investor, I know what it takes to build AI that works for everyone. Every week I sit down with the pioneers shaping our future. and we take you behind the scenes of the AI that's transforming our lives. Find pioneers of AI wherever you tune in. Hey listeners, Bob here. If you listen to Rapid Response on Masters of Scale, you may be missing half the show.

17:37 Because every Friday we release a second rapid response exclusively in the rapid response feed. The guests and topics are just as compelling and timely from Ford CEO to NASA's administrator to the lessons from The Devil Wears Prada. It takes about 10 seconds to find, just search rapid response wherever you listen to podcasts and hit follow to make sure you never miss an episode. I hope to see you there. Welcome back to Masters of Scale. You can find this conversation in more

18:12 On our YouTube channel. Anastasia went from Hollywood's best kept secret to a household name when she appeared on Oprah. They said, Well, Oprah wants to to get her eyebrows done by Anastasia live. And it was kind of scary because uh

18:33 to do live her eyebrows and doing live in front of a camera is very difficult. So course I said yes. I went there. And it was very powerful. Оправісь централь та Анастасія'з ідея в сус и Америка. And Remember, I came in this country. And we had only one TV, and my husband used used to watch Lakers and all the news, and I said I want to watch only one show.

19:07 This Three o'clock show. This woman called Oprah. And he's like, but you don't understand English. Like why do you want? And it's like I don't I don't know but I feel like

19:19 I want to watch her. This show, this is the deal. You could watch all day long, all day night. I need to watch at three o'clock. I need to understand how she asked questions because one day I'm gonna be on her show. My beginnings. I saw it. I put it in a universe. So when I went and I did her eyebrows was oh my God, I I couldn't I wanted to cry, I wanted to jump, I wanted I d I don't even remember what You know what I mean? It was one of the most powerful. woman on the planet uh the most influential woman

19:54 And um her power and her Energy, her aura was so powerful. What is the Oprah effect? What happens after you're on the show? The phone will not stop ringing. It changes everything. And so there's w one direction to go in building this business where you could

20:16 be franchising and launching Anastasia Browse all across America and what have you, there's another where you start launching consumer products. Which direction did you go? So I start I actually I I Work on both.

20:32 I used to do master classes and teach people esthetician how to do eyebrows. And It was very difficult because they will get the certificate, they will put it in their salon and then if they will have have a client that wasn't happy they You've certified them. Yes. Yeah. So

20:58 To keep the quality was very difficult. But every face is different. Completely. And so the judgment of the person who's providing the service comes into play in a way it just doesn't in other kinds of businesses. Absolutely. Absolutely. So when I start doing eyebrows I used to mix some Vaseline with aloe vera and eyeshad to fill in the eyebrows to create that perfect shape. And the client will come back and say, Well, I know my eyebrow looks amazing when I leave, but after I take a shower I need that to product. So that was the reason why I wanted to create products. So was uh an authentic a normal thing for my business to do because I had such a long list of celebrity, uh Northstrom invited me to To launch the product there, and that was the perfect moment for me.

21:53 to launch the Brow Studios. Because in two thousand one I launched in Northstrom's women were not very familiar with filling their eyebrows with powder or pomad or so they needed to be educated. So partnering with Nordstrom was the best thing. We opened Brow Studios, aesthetician. I had at that time a team of um field team that will go and

22:21 will train the girls and myself every weekend I used to travel in different cities and and train the institutions. Did you need to raise money to be in the consumer products or were able to use the Nordstrom deal to fund the the consumer products? In nineteen nineteen, nobody wanted to invest in something called eyebrow product. So I had to Work. non stop doing eyebrows in the salon I had a part time job.

22:52 Flipping houses So I will buy a house, fix it, and after two years I will sell it and those money I will put in the company again. So it was quite A challenge. Mm-hmm. And going to Nordstrom's It really helped me.

23:11 uh way of doing the business. I mean, they were great partners. Even today they are still amazing and they helped me to build that service business. Right. And the service business marketed the products as well. Of course. It's a virtuocy. Absolutely. It's perfect. In that

23:30 Two thousand to two thousand ten, eleven, twelve range sort of the The consumer internet is starting to explode. But finally Instagram arrives and and and changes how beauty products are marketed. How did you grow the business in that phase before we got to the explosion of beauty on social media? I used to to be on every single show T V show that I could think about it. Because if you think about it, all the T V anchor, they wanted their eyebrow beautiful, yes. So they used to come to the salon, producers, uh and and everybody. So My my deal was okay, I will do your eyebrow, but I want to be on on the show to talk about my products.

24:15 So uh that was very important. Plus when I used to travel Sundays and Mondays around the country, before I will go at Nordstrom's I will go on TV, uh network in in the that specific area. If you're going to the Nordstrom Cincinnati, you're gonna exactly Chicago. Yes. So uh plus all the beauty editors. Mm. So I did everything possible the old way. Mm-hmm. Well, there's no question hard work has been a a core part of your story. And then this Cheat code arrives. In the form of Instagram when it comes to beauty.

24:53 So a lot of businesses that were established in the nineties and early two thousands were not able to take advantage of the opportunities. It just they didn't see it. They weren't nimble enough. They weren't um entrepreneurial or opportunistic enough. And a lot of companies that reach scale. Right, and have a founder who've done things one way for a long time. they miss it and that's where insurgents come and take over. But you caught that wave. You took that wave. So what what happened that let you do that? How did that happen?

25:24 So My daughter started working with me. Saturday night we'll take our carry on and we'll fly to different cities to promote the product. I used to shape the eyebrows and I will recommend the color and the products and she used to tell them how to use them. So after a while She said, Mom, I work seven days a week. I'm only eighteen. This is like is this app we should have

25:50 uh our products there, we should talk about them, we should Post we should do videos. And I said Claudia, I don't like Facebook. I I don't care how many uh coffees people will get like no no no this is not Facebook. This is a different uh type of uh social media. Like Okay, let's give it a try. So we posted one um video and uh it was incredible. Was a brow um our uh brow west that is one of mm our most popular pencil, mechanical pencil. And um

26:25 Of course we read every single comment and was one comment that said, Oh I wish I would have that pencil. I I could buy that pencil. And I answer, I said, Can you please send me your address? I will be I would love to gift you one. And um she said, Oh no, you can'cause I live in a small little town in or village in India. When I read that I thought Wow, this is something to pay attention to. I mean, I will never be able to reach a person in a small village in India. Yeah. So I sat down with Claudia like let's hire some younger kids and let's really do this. So

27:07 We were twenty four seven with the with the Instagram posting. And you you you caught the next wave of what we now call influencers, right? Whether it's Kardashians or what have you who We're native to that platform and so powerful on that platform. And so you built the business. quite impressively. I mean this became a very has become a very big business. To the point where

27:33 you took on private equity money. Yes. Can you tell us about the decision to take a private equity investment? Well in two thousand eighteen We were Unstoppable. How big was the business in twenty eighteen, give or take? Uh the business was three hundred and twenty million sort.

27:54 Three hundred in sales. And with an incredible um margin. Incredible margin. And you had not taken outside investment up to this point? No, I own a hundred percent of the business.

28:08 To be honest with you, I didn't even know how much the company was uh worth it, but we wanted to expand international. I realize to do business international it's much more difficult and to establish every country was way difficult. And for me to do that will take me away from Doing what I have to do that nobody else could do, which is marketing and the products.

28:35 Yeah. And um was a decision that uh we wanted to to take a a partner to help us expand internationally, and this is how we um end up uh partner with TPG. Right. And they made a sizable investment in the business. Yes. Um How has it changed having a private equity partner in the business? Well. I mean they are great partners, very smart people.

29:02 Unfortunately there were some events, natural events that really hurt the business. Covid was probably the most difficult. Art. And it was very hard. Yeah. very hard because you couldn't touch the makeup. You stores were closed. Even when they opened, uh you couldn't use the tester. So it was

29:25 Hard. What keeps you optimistic? What keeps me optimistic this country I think is a country that could always recover. and always will win. I believe in America. America is a country of people that

29:42 Will not give up. I mean I I don't think it's another country like this. Anastasia, I want you to I want to ask you to imagine A young woman, uh young person. who um comes to the US much like you did. Uh

29:58 With nothing. Yes. And um, who finds a job in a salon and is starting. And has your work ethic and your ambition and your values What's your advice to her? for how to begin pursuing uh an entrepreneurial journey where she she has a chance to control her own destiny. I think the most important thing is do your homework.

30:23 First of all, what do you exactly you want to do? Because they are few options that you have You want to be a housewife? That's uh C of a household and it's a lot of work, okay? Do you want to have your own business to be an entrepreneur? That's a lot of work. So you need to have the support if you still have f have a family. So

30:49 See where you are, how how much time you could put into this. To be an entrepreneur Невестоний тайм і доворк із воню сліп. It's just period. And then if you

31:03 Check all those. then you have to think okay I believe in something You need to perfect your skill. Constantly. I am

31:15 in this business for thirty Two years, okay. I constantly want to be better every day. I want to learn more. I want to be better than I was yesterday. So Perfect your skill, master your skill. That's your foundation.

31:32 Then You have to market your skill. That's another important thing. as well you have to surround yourself with people that Share your vision.

31:44 And they will go with you. On this journey. And it's a lot of work, it's a lot of discipline, a lot of determination. But You have to love it because it's not easy.

31:57 But if you love what you do. You feel like you don't work. You have achieved so much and um done so well financially and built something and have a world class investor behind you. Um, many people in your position might say it's time to pass the torch.

32:13 What keeps you going? I think Is the desire of Being better every day and Doing something that I love.

32:25 I don't see myself doing anything. I I love to work. I mean I work like I can pay my rent next month. Um It is very important to have

32:38 Passion and to have a perpass. I don't think retiring for me it's not gonna happen. Never. I will never retire. I always said my retirement uh uh idea is to work nine to five.

32:58 Yeah, it's my retirement uh let us hope you're able to get there sooner than later. In the meantime, it's it's a great place to wrap. Thank you so much for being on Master Space. Thank you so much. I appreciate you inviting me. Thank you. Mm. Anastasia Suarez's scale journey is truly incredible. She landed in Los Angeles without a nickel in her pocket almost 40 years ago and built a brand synonymous with beauty around the world. It's a testament to how much hustle and heart can achieve in a country where immigrants are given a chance. Ha ha ha.

33:34 I'm Jeff Berman. Thank you for listening. Masters of Scales await what original. Our executive producer is Eve Tro. Our senior producer is Trisha Bobida.

33:58 The production team includes Tucker Legerski, Masha Makutunina, and Brandon Klein. Our senior talent executive is Stephanie Stern. Mixing and mastering by Aaron Bastanelli and Brian Q. Original music by Ryan Holiday. Our head of podcasts is the tall melad.

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