Anastasia Soare Built a $3 Billion Empire. Started With No English. No Money. | Ep. 404

0:00I will die doing eyebrows and creating makeup. This is Anastasia Soare. 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 J. Lo 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 a solution. And I think being an entrepreneur is kind of the same thing.

0:43Anastasia, 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 close by Oradia, because your family is from Oradia, a few hours by car, you should go there and explore.

1:39You could go to Sibiu, Brasov, 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 roadmap.

2:27We 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. I understood that this is a new life that I had to build. you know so it was was not easy I have to say shocking I can only imagine and I know that you were 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.

3:17It 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 was in 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 for me because at least I had the family. He was by himself here. So there were sacrifices.

4:05You know, I think every every immigrant, everyone that decides to come to United States, they they have to to, you know, go through a lot. And I know you 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.

4:55You 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 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 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. You didn't have time.

5:45Nobody would listen. You have to find a 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 the 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 know if anyone is even going to buy this. And then I found the most amazing software that I've used still to this day. That is Shopify. Shopify is one of the best partners I've had since day one.

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7:01It's time to turn those what-ifs into with Shopify today. Sign up for your$1 per month trial today at shopify.com slash founders story. Go to Shopify.com slash Founders Story. That's Shopify.com slash Founders Story. In the U.S. 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 last generation. And it seems like a lot of people, it's getting much easier. How do you think that's impacting? Maybe you can speak from like, you know, your kids or other people that you've seen where their kids get into entrepreneurship.

7:46Do you think that not having that struggle makes it worse for them, better for them, neutral? I, you know, I think there are different type of struggles right now. Young generation, they have the pressure of social media. They have the FOMO. Oh, I wasn't there. I had to be there. If to be relevant, I have to 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.

8:39Yeah, no, social media. I'm not sure if social media is the best thing or the worst thing for humanity. Sometimes I rack my head around it. 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.

9:23So 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 higher they grow, to have people that they could trust. Because trust is everything. Was there a time where somebody broke your trust? No. I mean, of course, I'm not talking about celebrities.

10:17But of course, 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 necessarily 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 blame anyone. I don't judge. I don't blame. I don't do stuff like that.

11:09I love that mindset. Sometimes people let me down because maybe I need to change my mindset. Yes, for sure. For sure. I like that. A lot of people talk about manifestation and seeing their dreams and going after it or seeing, I want to be the best in 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. to 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.

12:00I wanted to come to United States to have a better life for myself and my family than I had in Romania. And I had a pretty good life, but there was no freedom of 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 esthetician. 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 a room in a salon in Beverly Hills and I started my own business.

12:50And 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 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.

13:35And 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 especially when you're at the forefront, are there people telling you, like, Anastasia, 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 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've sacrificed so much.

14:34I 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're like, maybe revenue is 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, like you were talking about. eyebrows as an art form? I think in 98, when I went on Oprah's show, that was the moment, because she understood and she was the voice. Everybody, Oprah will talk and everybody around the globe will listen.

15:18So she understood the concept and everything that was behind this golden ratio and my eyebrow technique. And I thought, if she understands and she's behind me, I really, 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, there was no Instagram, there was no social media. Everybody was watching Oprah every single day at 3 o 'clock.

16:14And it was actually a moment where I was in Africa after a few months on an elephant. and somebody that was riding with me, like, oh, you are, because they asked me, what do I do? I'm 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.

17:05Walk 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 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 Ibron. 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 a very long time.

17:58And 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 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.

18:51And 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 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 it's yeah. A lot of people in the U.S., I don't think they they look at legacy of a business.

19:44They 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 that 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 sip pina coladas on the beach? No, never. I will never do that. I will work until my last day, number one.

20:23Number 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 a 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 Archi Brow 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 talk, to go somewhere and introduce myself and they will start talking about, oh, my God, I'm obsessed with this product.

21:14I love it. Or I love your concealer. I went to a bar mitzvah not long time ago and one woman started asking me, what's my name? 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 know, you need to separate.

21:56Like, don't go home with work. And then you stop at 5 p.m. my wife and i work 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 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 and i enjoy every moment so how do you 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.

22:39It's the social media. It's that you need to read the consumer what they want, what they wish, what they will have a product 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 the tech now the manufacturer are creating amazing products because the technology is different so for instance we launched our line in 2000 from 2000 so many like we 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.

23:30And it wasn't waterproof. So in 2014, the chemists that we worked with, another lab, they could create waterproof products. So we relaunched the product. So you constantly have to be in sync. You need to understand what the technology could offer you, the chemistry, there are new products, new innovation. Now all the manufacturer are investing so much in research and development. So everything is 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 beauty, skincare, wellness, this whole category.

24:20No 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 week and 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'll post and we don't need to travel that much because it's easier to educate the consumer.

25:03So in 2012, we start posting pictures. It 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 were you impacted by any of this, knowing that you created such an online community already? Oh, our brand exploded. We launched them from the eyebrow. We kind of expand into color, eyeshadows 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.

25:55It 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? um well imagine it's like yes i i came here because i wanted to do something significant i wanted to to do unthinkable but i i couldn't my my my dream wasn't as big i couldn't dream that i would be a global brand and and uh 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.

26:50But I guess once you have a purpose and you have something that you love, you have no limits. And I never dreamed that we'd get that big. Of course, I wanted to be successful. But I never thought that I would 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. 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.

27:40If 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 not good and I had to pivot and change. Being an entrepreneur, even if it was 30 years ago, 50 years ago or is today, is not easy.

28:28You have to make a commitment. You have to be ready to compromise. You have to be ready to work nonstop if you want to be successful. But you have to love it because if you don't love it, 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. It was word 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 hair for free.

29:20So it was 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. Oh, look at me. It took me 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. There's no way. But, of course, it takes work. Discipline, focus.

30:08You have to master your craft wherever 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 sometimes my mom would come or my husband would 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. in there. 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 of sacrifice versus men's guilt of sacrifice around business.

30:58You think there's a difference? Yes, it's a difference because a mother is a mother. But I suggest we should not have if you are if you could afford to have help, get help, get as many nannies 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 and later on she started loving the project and she you know this is the only thing that she ever does she loves working but I think mothers parents these days you have to work you can survive.

32:04Everything is so expensive. Look, in California, it's almost$8 a 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 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 with Ritual. I think last year they did like$150 million in sales. And she told me that she doesn't really see herself as being successful yet.