This week, Madeline chats with iconic beauty mogul and eyebrow queen Anastasia Soare. From Romanian immigrant to billionaire businesswoman, Anastasia personifies the American dream. Today, her namesake brand, Anastasia Beverly Hills, is synonymous with her revolutionary eyebrow shaping technique, and her products are worn by the most well-known celebrities across the world. Anastasia will discuss how she faced the challenges of getting a business started and her formula for success. She'll tell us why she's never afraid to fail and why she considers the customer her boss. Additionally, Anastasia shares how she developed her revolutionary brow shaping technique and how you can apply it to your own beauty routine.
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On The Madeline & Becca Podcast, we chat with leading women from a variety of industries about their career journeys and how they developed professional self-confidence.
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Episode #33: Cultivating excellence with beauty mogul Anastasia Soare
Anastasia [00:00:00] I consider myself doing good job, I do something that I love. I think I'm very secure for who I am and what I do, I know exactly how good I am. I wanted to be the best. This is how I started doing eyebrows. Remember, I came here. I never did eyebrows, but I thought I have to be the best. I didn't care to be famous. It just happened. I didn't care that, oh my God, I want to make gazillions or like no it wasn't. To me the most important thing was to be the best at what I do. Excellence is to me is everything.
Madeline & Becca [00:00:53] Welcome to The Madeline and Becca Podcast. The mission of our podcast is simple, to inspire professional self-confidence in women everywhere. I'm Madeline. And I'm Becca. On our podcast, you will hear stories from real world influencers, women who have experienced tremendous success in their careers by building self-confidence. Thanks for joining us.
Becca [00:01:28] This week, Madeline chats with iconic beauty mogul and eyebrow queen Anastasia Soare. Today, her namesake brand, Anastasia Beverly Hills, is synonymous with her revolutionary eyebrow shaping technique, and her products are worn by the most well-known celebrities across the world. However, Anastasia grew up in communist Romania, where the government took her family's farm, business and eventually her home. Anastasia was able to attend school for art and architecture, where she was first introduced to Da Vinci's Golden Ratio and the importance of eyebrows and portraying facial expression. Faced with the prospect of few opportunities, Anastasia immigrated to the US, where she arrived with no language skills or financial means, but a fierce entrepreneurial spirit and unmatched work ethic. Anastasia's, American success story started when she filled in for a friend who was on maternity leave at a beauty salon in Los Angeles. Her work as an esthetician led her to recognizing a gap in the beauty market - eyebrows. Drawing on her education in art and architecture, she developed a revolutionary brow shaping service for her clients, later patented as the Golden Ratio Eyebrow Shaping Method. Her technique would launch the eyebrow revolution and create a new and enduring category in modern beauty. Anastasia's early clients included beauty icons such as Cindy Crawford and Naomi Campbell - her original brand influencers. In 1997, Anastasia's resilience and work ethic led her to open her flagship salon in Beverly Hills. A year later, she shaped Oprah's eyebrow's on live television, which launched her technique into the national spotlight. By 1999, she had developed her first collection of eyebrow products. Over the course of the next twenty-five years, Anastasia built one of the most innovative and fastest growing beauty brands. Today, she will discuss how she faced the challenges of getting a business started and her formula for success. She'll tell us why she's never afraid to fail and why she considers the customer her boss. Additionally, Anastasia shares how she developed her revolutionary brow shaping technique and how you can apply it to your own beauty routine. Here's Madeline.
Madeline [00:03:59] We are so excited to welcome Anastasia Beverly Hills, the beauty pioneer, creative, visionary, powerhouse entrepreneur who reinvented the eyebrows. So, we're so excited to have you here today, Anastasia. And we want to start by discussing the beginning of your story and your background. So, we read about your childhood and the hardships you experienced growing up under Romania's communist government. And can you just tell us about those challenges and what daily life was like before you immigrated?
Anastasia [00:04:33] Well, first of all, it's a pleasure to be on podcast, Madeline. It's absolutely amazing for me to share my story. And I want to thank you for allowing me to share my story with your people. So, just to go back to my, the life that I spent in Romania, I mean, I grew up in the communist regime, so it was quite difficult. So, I saw my grandparents and my parents emigrated from Macedonia to Romania during the second war. So, I watched them building this incredible house and I mean life in the early 50s. And it was slowly with the communists because the communist regime started being more powerful in the early 50s. So, by the 60s, it really became very powerful. And my grandparents came to Romania to build the homes, to build businesses. And I remember being in probably elementary school that they took the properties that they have. They were able to hold only one home. Everything else was taken away and they gave the homes to people and other people and slowly everything that they owned, like they had a huge farm. They took away the farm with animals, with everything to the point that like every 10 years, they will take even more and even more. And I remember that my grandfather had to give away his home. He had probably like a huge property with like maybe 15 rooms. And he moved. They gave him a two bedroom apartment on the fourth floor with no elevator. And he was probably in his 80s and was nothing you could do. That was to the regime. And you couldn't say anything. You couldn't have a voice because they took everything away. And it became so bad that in late and early 80s, we didn't have electricity between 6, I mean, after 6 p.m., they will shut down the electricity and, in the wintertime, you didn't have heat and it was quite difficult. And then, no food. It reached a point where you couldn't buy milk for your kids because everything was on the black market and by probably '87, I mean 10 years before I wanted to leave, but I couldn't leave the country in '87. I kind of decided, like, I have to leave. And it took me three years to come here. And I think every week I will be at the police station there. You always knew what time you have to show up. You never knew what time, if you will ever leave the police station and they will try to convince you that you could not leave the country because you are a traitor, because you want to leave the country and come to the United States. It was three years of that pressure and you never knew that they will put you in jail or not. I had friends, male friends, that they were as well trying to come to United States. They have their paper waiting for their passports and they will put you in jail for like six months with no reason or they will find a totally different reason. So, when I was able to come here, I it wasn't easy, I have to say, because I left my entire family there. I didn't know people here. I didn't speak the language. It was very, very difficult. But I was so eager to leave that regime that it didn't matter. I was able to do anything possible to be able to do something. And I have to say the first probably seven years being here in the United States, it wasn't easy. I worked really hard, but I was so incredibly happy to be surrounded by people, my clients, people that I, I was working with them every single day. My team that they embraced me. They they helped me. They they supported me. They believed in me. So, I understood that America is a country that if you are willing to come here and work hard and want to prove that you, you want to build something, you will have support from every single direction.
Madeline [00:10:23] So, as a child, did you have an interest and did you, how did you develop your interest in art and architecture and in beauty? How did that come about?
Anastasia [00:10:31] I had some incredible teacher. My art teacher was the actually the man that introduced me to Golden Ratio to DaVinci work. And it was something that I loved since I was very little. We paint with Aquarrela, with oil with so, in Romania from that point of view was was really incredible. Our teachers were amazing, and the school system was excellent. Beauty, it came, I went to beauty school because I realized I didn't speak the language so I knew would be quite difficult to get the job here. So, because I was waiting three years to get my passport, I went to beauty school there in Romania. That is two-years full time school in Romania. It's almost like a like a college because when you go to beauty school, you have to learn chemistry. You have to learn Biology, because in Romania, if you are an esthetician, you need to custom make the cream. I mean, we didn't have creams in stores like we have here. So, you had to go to a pharmacy and make a cream for your customer. It was very interesting. So, it was very, very not difficult, but it was almost like a college two years.
Madeline [00:12:18] So, as you said, you arrived here in the US and you didn't speak the language and obviously you faced some huge financial obstacles and leaving your family behind. So, how did you get your start working as an esthetician in the U.S.?
Anastasia [00:12:31] Well, I made a friend here that was an esthetician. She was pregnant and she had to take three months off. So, I took her place with the idea that when she comes back after she had the baby, I will leave. Well, it happened that the owners of the salon liked me very much. I already, that time, the three-months period, I kind of build a clientele and I stayed there for two years.
Madeline [00:13:06] So, tell us about your realization that there was a gap in the market with respect to eyebrows, how did that come about?
Anastasia [00:13:15] So, the owners of the salon, were very wonderful, German and Italian, excuse me, two ladies that they were, I learned so much from them. I went and I said, I think we should do this eyebrow, it's a certain technique because I learned in school that the eyebrow, a well-shaped eyebrow will bring balance and proportion to the face because I remember my art teacher always saying, if you want to draw a portrait and you want to change the emotion, you change the eyebrows, like from an angry person to a surprise person is just you draw different eyebrows. So, I start going to the library and really understanding exactly how the perfect shape, according to everybody's bone structure the eyebrows should be. So, slowly I start developing this technique. I start doing my own eyebrows, and then I realize that this is so important. I believed in it. Unfortunately, the owners, they don't want to let me do eyebrows. So, I rented a small little room in a salon in Beverly Hills and start doing eyebrows and of course, facial and body waxing. But slowly, by the end of '94, I was doing a lot of eyebrows.
Madeline [00:14:45] So, tell us, obviously, a lot of people today would look at your iconic success and the brow revolution that you ignited, and they perhaps don't understand just how challenging it was at the beginning in those first years. Can you describe for us how hard was it to start your business?
Anastasia [00:15:03] Business is a challenge. It doesn't matter where you are. If you are at the beginning, when you start and every step of the way, you have challenges. You have different challenges, but you have challenges all the time. Of course, at the beginning there were different challenges. I mean, the landlord didn't want to rent me the place because he couldn't believe that in Beverly Hills, I would be able to rent when I open my salon, I would be able to pay the rent on Bedford Drive, such a prestigious street in the Triangle of Beverly Hills, I would not be able to pay rent doing eyebrows. I couldn't get, at the beginning I couldn't get a credit card because I didn't have a history. My mother didn't have a history. So, I'm an immigrant. Of course, I don't have a history, but I always, I think I was so resilient, and it was nothing that will not, will stop me. So, I will go to the bank, want to talk with the manager and always use this, because I think everybody has a, if they are not immigrants, they would have a parent, a grandparent or whatever that was an immigrant, because at the end of the day, this country was built by immigrants. So, I always use this. I don't know. I think sensitivity of, look, I'm an immigrant, I, I want to prove you that I'm going to pay back. Give me five-hundred dollars a credit card. I promise you I will do it. You need to take a chance. You have to give me a chance. I'm sure somebody give a chance to your family so always I will, I will get my way. And always proved that I could work hard, and I could make something out of it, and this is how step by step I was able to reach the success.
Madeline [00:17:19] And I want to circle back and talk a little bit about your Golden Ratio Eyebrow Shaping Method. Because you really, you developed this transformative eyebrow technique and applying these age-Old principles and historical principles. So, tell us a little bit about what that actually is when you put it on the face.
Anastasia [00:17:40] Well, what exactly it is. If you look in the mirror, above middle of inside of the nostril where you meet the eyebrow, that should be the inner part of your eyebrows. Another imaginary line that connects outside corner of the nose, corner of the eyes and meets the eyebrow, that should be the end of your eyebrows and then tip of your nose, middle of the iris. Again, this imaginary line that when you meet the eyebrows, that should be the highest part of the eyebrows. So, when you connect those marks following the shape of your eyebrows, I created five stencils that are kind of ideal eyebrow shapes because the Golden Ratio technique, it's very mathematical. So, I, I had to simplify everything because if I would tell everybody, hey, measure this part, and one part like this should be one point six one...it's too complicated. So, I created the stencil. You connect the two marks, the three marks that you made, and you fill in this open space where is the stencil and you will find out based on your brow bone and your natural eyebrow, what exactly is the best shape for you? For easy access you could go on our Instagram. It's @anastasiabeverlyhills. We have so many videos, tutorials or on our website. And again, we explain exactly step by step how you could learn to do your eyebrows at home.
Madeline [00:19:26] So, it's tailored then to each particular clients bone structure and their natural arch.
Anastasia [00:19:32] Absolutely, because we all have different measurements. I cannot, even if I will use the stencil, let's say there are five stencils, if I will use a high arch stencil on me and could be used on you as well. The eye, our eyebrows will look different. Why? Because our bone structure is different. The texture of the hair in the eyebrow is different. This space on the upper lip is different. The eye structure is different. The nose bridge is different. So, our faces are so completely different that the same shape look completely different on you than will look on me or everybody else.
Madeline [00:20:18] So by using this technique, then everybody can become balanced and in proportion, like art.
Anastasia [00:20:24] Well, what the perfect eyebrow does, brings balance and proportion to the face, because in an ideal and again in nature, because we are combined, we are mixed with so many people over the millions of years, we have completely different proportion of our face and somebody that is perfectly proportioned, it's rare. And by using this technique that you will create a very good balance between the three zones on your face. So, from the hairline to the eyebrow base of the nose and chin, those zones should be equal in the perfect world. So, by shaping the eyebrow perfect, you will create from the zone one and zone two a very good balance. So, you are ready to create this illusion of perfection and the human eye is encoded to recognize that perfection. Using makeup, when I start creating makeup, I'm jumping right now, but when I start creating makeup, I start creating products based on the same concept. Of course, there were not products for eyebrow's. I created eyebrow products. Then contouring. I realized, like in art class when my teacher would give me a flat piece of paper and will say, OK, let's start doing a portrait. So, you, you draw the line, the face, an oval face, let's say. And once you start shading, you create cheekbones, you create eyes with the sockets, you create lashes, you create thinner nose, thicker nose, longer nose, shorter nose, bigger lips, shorter smaller lips. So, by shading correctly, you create an illusion of perfection. And this is how we created a kit, a contour kit. Not that contouring didn't exist in Hollywood, but everyday consumer wasn't really introduced to contouring. So, it's this is what we did. We kind of combined science with beauty. So, we created all the products just to give the client the ability of creating her own perfect balance with her own feature. Because I believe women are beautiful. They have to use everything they can to create that perfect look. Whatever makes them happy, like makes me happy to when I do my hair and when I do my contouring correctly or like it makes me feel good. So, it gives me the confidence that I think it's amazing. And it took me a very long time to convince women that eyebrows are important because everybody like "what do I need to put powder in my eyebrows?" This is what I heard in 1990. But I knew the difference and I think very important at the beginning was that all my celebrity clients, because I worked with so many amazing celebrity clients, they kind of validated my work. And you know how we are. We want to look like a celebrity. We, everybody has like, oh, my God, I love the celebrity. I want, I want to know every single secret that she has. And I think they validated my work. And this is how I started getting so many clients and then my everyday clients, I owe them so much to them because they were walking advertising for me. You know, they were the real influencers. Then, of course, let's not talk about Oprah Winfrey that I went first on her show in '97 and she was, she invented influence. So, I think that was absolutely incredible was a boost. And it was a steppingstone, a big steppingstone in my career.
Madeline [00:24:49] And Oprah became an early mentor of yours. Tell us, what did she teach you?
Anastasia [00:24:55] Oh, my god. Every time I see her, I learn something else from her. Not only that you know, she's so super smart and incredible, generous, she is such a when you get to know her, she's such a warm, such a respectful person. I mean, she is so incredible, she always thinks of other people, she puts other people first and she is really so smart. I have never seen anybody that within five minutes being interviewing or talking with somebody she, I would feel like she slices that person, the brain in the middle and she could read. She knows everything about it, exactly what question to ask. Know what the answer is. I mean, it's incredible. It's absolutely incredible.
Madeline [00:26:10] And I know many of our listeners will remember when you went on to her show and you did her eyebrows in front of a live audience and then boom, it was sort of the blossoming of the eyebrow revolution that you had started.
Anastasia [00:26:21] Yes, I think she, everybody will listen. Whatever Oprah will suggest was like the new law. And she was, she really believed, she understood the importance of the Golden Ratio. She understood the importance of eyebrows. And I think she has a gorgeous eyebrow. She's such a beautiful lady. And her eyebrows almost like it's a crown on her head. You know, she's our queen. Doesn't matter what. But that eyebrow was like, I don't know, put everything together.
Madeline [00:27:03] It did, and she's so full of personality and expression and the eyebrows really, they draw that right out of her face is.
Anastasia [00:27:12] So you had your salon on Bedford Drive, and you started to grow your business. Can you tell us a little bit about the importance? I know you're so hands on and everything that you do in your business and customer feedback is so important. So, tell us a little bit about that process as you started to grow after you had been on Oprah and you've really developed a loyal fan base.
Anastasia [00:27:34] I started my business because I worked with customers every day, I would do to a point maybe one hundred clients a day, I would work nonstop. To me, the most important thing was to communicate with the client, what she likes, what she doesn't like. I needed to know what problem. I mean, I will create a product based on what her eyebrow needed, like maybe her eyebrow was full and she wanted to shape, maybe her eyebrow had some scars in it, maybe she over tweezed, maybe her hair grows down or like...so I will create products based on my clients and try them on the clients. So, that's the secret why I'm sure there are many products in the market and people are trying, but ours are a little different. It's like something more because I not only I started in '00 actually '97 to make those products. Even today I approve every batch, everything that we need to reorder, I have to approve it and then goes into production. It's very important to me to, to keep that quality, the color, the texture, because it's not that easy to, to achieve that being in the office, you know.
Madeline [00:29:02] So, tell us about the very first product that you developed when you actually went from just having clients in the salon to saying, jeez, there is a market for actually developing a product that a client can take home or wherever they are.
Anastasia [00:29:17] The reason why I started the product line was I used to mix eyeshadow with the Vaseline and aloe vera to fill in the eyebrow. So, when the client will leave, she will come three weeks later and will say, well, Anastasia my eyebrow looks amazing when you do them when I leave the salon. But after I take a shower, I still have some gaps. I need some products. I don't know what, what do you have, how you fill them in. So, I realized I have to create some products. I went to Italy and recreated the brow powder, the stencils, the clear brow gel. We had the full makeup line: pencils, tweezers, scissors, so was quite intensive, our product line. And in '00 we launched our products in Nordstrom's, in 20 Nordstrom's with the brow studios. So, I train esthetician to do the eyebrows because at that time people didn't understood why I need to use the products on my eyebrows. So, we had to have somebody that will educate the consumer how to use the products. And after that, of course, 2007, we launching the Sephora, ULTA, Macy's, Dillard's, Bloomingdale's and so forth. So, I mean, so we are really proud of where we are today.
Madeline [00:30:56] So, you personally then test all the products then before you bring it to market.
Anastasia [00:30:59] I test the eyebrow products. My daughter tested the makeup products. She works with me, so yeah.
Madeline [00:31:10] And thank you, by the way, for developing such amazing products, they make us all as women across the world and Becca and I feel so, so confident. And that's one of the big things that we talk about on our podcast. And you talked a little bit about it earlier in our conversation. But can you just speak to the power of putting on makeup and feeling that confidence when it transforms you.
Anastasia [00:31:34] I have to say that in the early years when I started doing the eyebrows, I would have a client that would sit in my chair. I would do her eyebrows and when I will give her the mirror, it didn't matter how she was, what she was going through. Maybe, you know we are women. We all have problems. So, like, "broke up with my boyfriend, I, I don't know what happened." You know, "I lost my job, or I got the new job" or always something or, "oh I'm getting married or..." She would sit in my chair and after I will finish and give her the mirror, you could see she would light up, she would be like a million bucks, like she won the lottery. I think it is, gives you...And that was only eyebrows. I think beauty and doing your hair and putting your makeup, I think, again, is that the human eye is encoded to recognize that balance and proportion that we perceive as beautiful. So, when you get that, the right hair color, the right haircut, the right eyebrow, the right makeup, then you perceive yourself as beautiful. And I think has a very important if you talk with all the psychologist, is like a very important for us if we feel beautiful kind of changes your whole day, I think is very, very important to feel that. It's a sentiment that I don't know who doesn't want to feel that way.
Madeline [00:33:16] Oh, certainly that's how we feel with wearing your products. And it gives you the confidence to go out and face whatever it is like you said in the world, whatever it is that is in your, in front of you that day.
Anastasia [00:33:31] Yes, I think you could conquer the world if you, if you feel beautiful. And that makes you confident in my opinion.
Madeline [00:33:41] And you've worked with, I mean, some of the most beautiful women in the world. I mean, just, you know, people who are, you know, all just absolute pillars and icons of beauty. What have they taught you about beauty? And the industry?
Anastasia [00:34:00] What they taught me number one is that it doesn't matter who you are, how successful you are or how much money you have. You still want to feel beautiful and loved. That's the end of the story. OK, and if I could put that in a jar and give you a pencil and you could achieve that tiny little thing. I think it's important. It doesn't matter. I don't know one person. It doesn't matter how successful, how rich, how amazing and beautiful it is, still, you still want to have that little more that could make you feel better.
Madeline [00:34:47] It's so true, we do. We all want to feel beautiful and feel loved.
Anastasia [00:34:51] That's what it is at the end of the day.
Madeline [00:34:55] So, as you know, you look back on your incredible accomplishments, do you have a particular moment along the way that you look back and think of as a moment that was very pivotal, sort of a moment where you thought, wow, I've really accomplished something here and I am so proud of what I've done as an immigrant coming here without speaking the language or some of those financial obstacles and having to really have that "I can do this mindset."
Anastasia [00:35:23] When I was invited by Michelle Obama at the White House for a Christmas party, I was under that seal with the flag, the American flag that was in the middle. And I told my daughter, please take a picture because I need to remember this moment. I mean, twenty-five years, I think I was in the United States for twenty-five years.
Madeline [00:35:54] All that you've accomplished in twenty-five years.
Anastasia [00:35:57] It was an incredible proud moment to be there and to say, wow, this is amazing. This, I am in the best country on the planet, and I was able to achieve that.
Madeline [00:36:15] And in terms of, again, as you reflect back, your name is synonymous with eyebrows. Do you have a formula for success for all of our listeners who are being inspired by your story today? What is your formula for success?
Anastasia [00:36:33] I think, I don't know. I cannot give advice. I could tell you what I think was my formula because I think everybody is different. We all have a different formula, different chemical formula, but my formula was I worked really hard. I use every single thing that I learn. And I try to surround myself with smart people that I could learn from it, I was never ashamed to ask. I mean, I learned so much from my client. If I had something, I will ask my client, I would find somebody. They were always so incredibly helpful. So, I ask a lot of questions and it's not a shame to say, look, I don't know. I need to find out, can you teach me? Then I think I work really hard. I mean, I cannot even tell you how hard I worked, seven days a week nonstop. I still work like that. But when I began, I worked because I wanted to achieve my dream. Right now, I work because I love what I do. OK, it's a different kind of work. And I think I was a good strategist. I'm really good with math, I'm really good with my accounting, with my numbers. I was watching every penny I didn't spend. I mean, I remember when I came here, I used to iron my clothes, cook. For two years, I never went to have dinner at a restaurant, and I was working long hours, but I still did everything, I would clean my house because I couldn't understand why should I pay a cleaning lady? Because she will, I have to pay what I will make that day. So, I wanted to save my money. So, everything that I'd done, it was very well calculated. I did not splurge. I had to save money. I save every dollar to achieve what I wanted. I mean, I had to beat up car until, I don't know, I had the salon in Beverly Hills and my daughter used to say, "mom, you have to buy another car like I'm ashamed to drive with you. Don't drop me at the school because people..." Like I don't care. It doesn't matter. We, I need the money for something else, for the business, to invest in the business. And one day I went to her to have lunch at the Ivy and the valet parking didn't want to park my car. And I always, I went to the guy and I said, "you are so silly why you don't want to park. I'm such a good tipper." Because I always tip, because I lived, I remember when I started with tip was so important for me. I'm a good tipper. And why you will not to park my car? Because I was looking and my daughter, of course, said, "you see, I told you to have to buy another car." So, I bought a new car, but I felt like I never needed to to prove anything. OK, just working. I knew my goal what I wanted to achieve and that was very important. I didn't need to feel like, to drive. I don't know what expensive car for people to think, oh my God, I'm like, I didn't care. It wasn't important for me. To me, my dream was, I was like so focused like a bullet and that was my formula.
Madeline [00:40:38] And did you have that dream early on when you came over here? Was that in the forefront of your mind from day one when you stepped foot into this country?
[00:40:47] I didn't know that I'm going to become what I am today, but I know I came to have a better life and to do more than I had in Romania because in my mind was like, if I don't have more than I had there, then I will go back. What was the reason to stay here? So, I was willing to work so hard and take really chances that because normally I think everybody could be successful. I think what stops them is they are afraid to fail, OK. I wasn't. I thought, it doesn't matter. Even if I fail, I will start something else, I will start all over again. I'm not afraid to do that. And I think that's another reason of my success. Don't be afraid of not succeeding. You could always come up with something else. You learn something from whatever you're going to do and try to not do the same mistake twice, you know. I think I learn about, in my 30 years being here, I learn more from my failure than my successes because I need to remember and never do that mistake again.
Madeline [00:42:07] Right, check that failure off the list and don't repeat it. So, I want to ask a little bit about your brand and how you get inspired and innovate. I mean, your brand is so synonymous with always innovating and what do you do to get inspired and to innovate?
Anastasia [00:42:28] We listen to our customers. You know, we have a huge presence on Instagram and social media. I read comments. I need to know. I ask questions. I think the consumer will tell you exactly. And again, because I was so connected when I had my salon with my clients, we have the same connection online because at the end of the day, you need to make products for the customer. She needs to be happy, and sometimes you give her what she likes. Sometimes you surprise her with something that she will like, but she never expected. So, that's something as well that we, I think we have that because we really, I mean, I know eyebrows better than anyone, OK. I know exactly that, why you would like my pencil, but that's my job. That's my job. You need to get the pencil like this is the best one. OK, I need to take care to make the best one. You will recognize it, because I think clients are so smart, they know very well, you know, it's a sense that she should use, and she will know from 10 pencils which one is the best one. She doesn't know why probably, but that's my job. To give you the best. Because you deserve the best.
Madeline [00:44:02] And you do your job so well.
Anastasia [00:44:09] Thank you. I try.
Madeline [00:44:09] And I want to ask you, you know, one of the things that has struck me is, is just how humble you are about everything and all of you just have so much humility in terms of being so hands on. Can you speak to that a little bit about the power of humility, even having experienced such incredible success?
Anastasia [00:44:27] Well, like you said, what did you learn from Oprah? Well, this is what I learned from her many times I used to look at her the way she was treating people. And I thought, she's Oprah Winfrey. And look at her how she, how she is like, how dare I would be different because she is Oprah. OK, me, Anastasia, I cannot even come close to, so you know, but remember, I consider myself doing a job. I do something that I love. I think I'm very secure for who I am and what I do. I know exactly how good I am. I wanted to be the best. This is how I started doing eyebrows. Remember, I came here I never did eyebrows, but I thought I have to be the best. I didn't care to be famous. It just happened. I didn't care that, oh, my God, I want to make gazillions or like, no, it wasn't. To me, the most important thing was to be the best at what I do. Excellence is to me is everything. And nothing makes me more happy than to read a comment on a post that says, oh my God, I can't live without brow pen or whatever brow powder or the palette. That's everything to me.
Madeline [00:46:03] And I know that you are also paying it forward with Anastasia Brighter Horizon Foundation. Can you tell us what is the mission and what you do?
Anastasia [00:46:15] The mission is to, I team up with United Friends of Children. They are underprivileged children that are trained and held by this charity United Friends of Children to find jobs and to to kind of have a direction in life. And they hand-pick for us people and we put them in beauty school and train them, give them products, and they could find jobs and do what they love. And it's wonderful to see them from being in foster home, building the life. You don't give fish, you teach them how to fish. And it is very rewarding.
Madeline [00:47:00] Right, and to be able to give them the power to to have their own careers. And I know we'll have lots of listeners who are, you know just love makeup, who are listening to this, do you have one upcoming trend in 2021 that you might tell us about? I know everybody's at home and thinking, you know, what can I, what makeup can I wear out at some point in the world?
Anastasia [00:47:29] Well I think, first of all, during the pandemic I think was very important, I did so many tutorial because eyebrows always are intimidating OK. They are difficult. They are not easy. So, I think women being home, they had much more time. They wanted to learn how to do their hair, color their hair and do their eyebrows. So, I did many tutorial. Not not only that, but being on the Zoom call, you feel like you are you know, you need to put little makeup and eyebrow and eye shadow and little lipstick, I think is very important. So, women use makeup during the pandemic because everybody's on the Zoom call. And I think we all realize that, OK, I could be on my sweats every day for eight months, but I need to go out. I want to get dressed. I want to put my makeup. I want to do my hair. We want to because we are human. We want the interaction with others. I think once the vaccine will...and I hope, praying that will be soon in our life, we go slowly back to normal will be very extra, extra makeup, extra hair, extra dress. And we should because I think will make us feel better.
Madeline [00:48:54] Oh, I couldn't agree more. Becca and I said, we are never going to turn down another invitation to do anything ever again, ever again.
Anastasia [00:49:02] It's very. I mean, I can't believe eight months. But, we have, we are the end of the tunnel.
[00:49:14] And, you know, as we were saying, 2020 obviously has been a very challenging year, but also a year, I think, at least from many of the listeners we've heard from, of great opportunity in certain ways, because I think a lot of women who have had a chance to think about, "what do I want to do? Am I in the right career? Am I? You know, perhaps this is a time to start a business." So, for our listeners who are saying, you know what, I want to start something new, do you have a piece of good advice for them as they're deciding I'm going to start a business and they're in those beginning stages in particular, about perhaps your mind set that you had starting out?
Anastasia [00:49:53] First of all, I think a lot of people from the beginning, I mean, I think of myself, we start, I had like two weeks after the lockdown, I had to have a meeting with my team and start new things. You need to adapt to new situation. I think this lockdown created so much, so many other avenues of doing business, OK. We will never go back and do business the way we did. This is number one. And number two, of course, there are a lot of people that they had time to reflect besides remodeling their place and changing the furniture. They want to start a new job. And I think they should, they should do their work. They should do their homework. You cannot jump and leave your work and start something else. But I definitely encourage everyone they should start their own business or anything else that they feel like in their gut that they are ready to do. Absolutely. What do they have to lose? Always. This is what always I was thinking when I came here, OK, I will, I left the salon that I worked for a year-and-a half and I started a new business, rented a room. It was scary because I was the only one to pay rent and food and I was thinking, OK, what do I have to lose? I could go and get another job in another salon, but I have to try this because I will die and not, I will always regret that I didn't try.
Becca [00:51:52] We hope you enjoyed our interview with Anastasia. You can purchase her fabulous eyebrow and makeup products at AnastasiaBeverly Hills.com, Dillard's, Macy's, Nordstrom, Sephora, Ulta and select retailers in over twenty five countries. You can follow Anastasia @Anastasiasoare and be sure to join her 20.6 million followers @AnastasiaBeverlyHills for beauty inspiration and tutorials. You can also learn more about the Anastasia Brighter Horizon Foundation at AnastasiaFoundation.org. Thanks for tuning in, if you enjoyed our podcast hit subscribe and leave us a review. Thank you always to our home team of friends and family for supporting us in our mission. This episode was produced and edited by Madeline and Becca. Thanks for tuning in. And remember, you are somebody.