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It wasn't, oh, I want to be famous, I want to be a millionaire. It was nothing like that. I wanted to be the best on doing eyebrows. I had to master my craft.

Welcome to Makers Mindset. I'm your host, Nancy Twine. Makers Mindset goes beyond the surface to explore the personal journeys of female founders and changemakers. And in this episode, I'm in conversation with Anastasia Soiree, founder and CEO of Anastasia Beverly Hills.

After immigrating to the U.S. from Romania in 1989, Anastasia revolutionized the beauty industry with her golden ratio eyebrow shaping method. Starting in a small salon room, she built a fast-growing brand and continues to push boundaries with the company's leading brow and color lines.

Anastasia also established the Anastasia Brighter Horizon Foundation to support young adults exiting the foster care system, reflecting her commitment to transformative beauty and social impact. Let's go ahead and jump in.

Welcome, Anastasia. I'm so excited to be in conversation with you today. And I've got to tell you, you are one of the most inspiring brand founders I know. I mean, talk about, you know, taking something small and, you know, just having a strong vision, discipline and focus and turning it into something amazing. You're just such a prime example of possibility and

And typically I start my interviews by just diving right into questions. But with you, I want to do things a little bit differently. I want to just start with your story because I just want everyone to know this remarkable journey that you were on coming from Romania to Los Angeles, starting your first business. So let's start there. Just kind of walk us through what that journey was like.

First of all, thank you for having me today. It's a pleasure to be here. Second, let's dive a little bit into my story. I always love to talk about my journey because I hope I will inspire at least one person. Because if I was able to do it, I think everybody could do it. I think what stops us from doing greatness is the fear that we have of failing.

I came here in 1989 and at the end of the year I didn't speak the language. I didn't know people, friends, my family, my friends. Everybody was in Romania and I really wanted to leave the communist regime, the very, very difficult time, the

The 80s were probably the most difficult in Romania. And I arrived here with hopes, with a big hope, with big dreams, I should say. The American dream. The American dream. After six months, I realized this is not that easy. This American dream wasn't that easy to achieve. But I started working in a salon because I got my license in Romania before I came here. So you were working in someone else's salon.

When I arrived here. When you came here, it was someone else's business you were working in. Yes, I worked from 1990 to 1992. I work in somebody's salon. I bought myself a camera and we start taking picture of the family. And I realized that I look surprised in the picture. And I realized that was my eyebrow shape that kind of make me look surprised. And my art teacher in classes was a very big believer in

talking about the Leonardo da Vinci theory and study on how to draw a portrait. And he always emphasized the importance of eyebrows. And we really practiced and we learned about his theory that golden ratio applied to the human body. And he did several studies on that. So I started going to the library to revisit that and kind of find a formula to fix my own eyebrows because

With my eyebrow, I was a victim of the 80s, pencil thin and round. Palate tweezing, yeah. Okay, over-tweezing. So after a few months, I was able to do that, fix my eyebrows, and my clients start asking me, what is different about you? You know, the human eye is encoded to recognize balance and proportion, and bad eyebrow brought that balance and proportion to my face.

So I started doing eyebrows. The owner didn't want to allow me to do eyebrow shaping because it was not considered a service. So

Two years after working there, I decided to rent a room in a salon in Beverly Hills and start doing eyebrows. Wow. It was really crazy, including my husband. I thought, no, this is impossible. There's no way you could do this.

But, you know, I had that American dream back in my head and I had to do it. So I did it. And you had that vision. And I think, you know, if you look at any of the stories of some of the most successful entrepreneurs,

Sometimes the vision seems maniacal. Like, how could you start your own? Where are you going to get clients from? How are you going to fund it? But you just, the vision and the passion was so strong. And then for me, I found that that actually translates into something called flow state.

When you have laser-focused vision, you're passionate, the universe starts to conspire on your behalf, and all the things start happening. And I guess that's obviously what happened to you. And then eventually you transitioned from just being in services to actually having your own product line. And one of the things I'm so curious about is...

How did you figure out that innovation piece and how were you able to bring the precision of what you were doing yourself to your clients to equip them to do that on their own with product? That's a very good question. Well, it started all with starting shaping the eyebrows of my clients. And I used to mix, create myself a pomade mixing eye shadow with Vaseline and aloe vera.

to fill in the perfect shape. And after the client will go home, they will come three weeks later or a month later and they will say, well, we need that product because when I leave your room, your chair, my eyebrow looks perfect. But after I take my shower, I don't have that perfect shape.

One actress, her name was Poppy Montgomery, was doing a Marlee Monroe movie in Canada. And she said, well, I will be there for six months. I need my eyebrow to look perfect for every take. Can you do something? Can you teach my makeup artist? So I went to art store because there were no brushes. So I used to buy my brushes to fill in eyebrow from the art store. I bought some plastic brushes.

um, and vellum and I cut out the shape and I created a stencil for her. And I gave her that, I gave her some Vaseline, Dalo, Vera, and the eyeshadow. And I taught her, uh, makeup artist how to do it. Six months later, she came back. She was like, this was amazing. You should do this because you are only in Beverly Hills, not too many people, um,

could come here. So everybody needs this. So I went to Italy to Cosmoprof and I started working on the products. That story you shared, I think it really symbolizes how much of yourself is really infused in the brand. Like there is no Anastasia Beverly Hills without you. And I think a lot of entrepreneurs struggle with how much of themselves to incorporate into the brand. So

How has doing that for you sort of reinforced credibility of what you do? And then do you think it's a must to have or a nice to have when founders are thinking about, you know, making themselves more visible? So again, everything about Anastasia Beverly Hills was very organic. Every step

it was organic. So I started doing eyebrows. There were no products for eyebrows. Obviously the client, I wanted to make my clients happy. I wanted to give them tools to create the perfect eyebrow every day. Not only once a month they would come to see me. So forget about the clients all over the world, but even in my city, my clients that I used to shave their eyebrows. So obviously I had to do the products. Then

In 2000, because I had such an incredible celebrity clientele, Nordstrom approached me to sell the products in their store. In 2000, they were not really...

The clients didn't know why should I use powder in my eyebrows or how to use it. So it was very important for me to convince Nordstrom to open brow studios inside Nordstrom. So we have 80 brow studios all over the country in Nordstrom. Because it was important for the client not only to get the product, but to learn, be educated how to use the product.

And I used to work five days in the salon in Beverly Hills. And Sundays and Mondays, I used to travel around the country and train the esthetician. So the esthetician would train the clients. And this is how all grew. Because I realized I have two hands. Okay, how many eyebrows? I used to do 100 eyebrows a day, but no more than that. That's a lot. It's a lot, but there are more clients than 100.

So how I will scale the business, I will train this amazing esthetician and this is how they will train their clients. Then I created a field team. The field team will go and we'll train that. Then in 2007, we launched in Sephora and Ulta. And again, we start having the field team that they will go and train the people.

the salespeople in Sephora. So it was a ripple effect. You know, everything had a plan, was a plan. Not that I had the business plan, but it was what the customer needed. I'm a customer centric. For me, customer was very important. It's still the most important. It is. It's my boss.

It is. So I need to keep my customer very, very healthy. And I love what you talk about the ripple effect because essentially what you did is you took something which was essentially your first service shop

And you were able to scale it to be able to impact so many people. And I think that's the dream of every entrepreneur, right? Because there's only so much you can do on your own. And that's why it's so important to be, you know, very thoughtful and articulate about the visions that people get it right, right? And they can continue to have that impact. Yes. And...

On the topic of team, your daughter, Norvina, has played a big role in the brand as well. She led creative direction, and she really helped with bringing the brand into the digital age of social media, which we're going to talk a lot more about that. But many family members of entrepreneurs, when they try to get into business together, it can be really challenging. But it seems like you and Norvina have figured out how to balance your strengths. And so

What have been some of the biggest challenges working together and how do you navigate that? Well, when we start working together, I fire her after one month.

I mean, she was young. She used to come and answer the phone when she was still in school. And then when she finished school, she started working with me and she was late. She was going out with her friends at night. I mean, when you are that age, of course you want to go and party. And I gave her a warning after the second time that if she's late one more time,

I would fire her. I don't think she really believed me, but I fired her. And she got the job with an insurance company, I think. And after a few months, she came back to borrow some money because after taxes, she didn't have enough money to pay her rent.

And I told her that I will not give her the money because I came in this country without speaking the language and one kid and I figure out. But more importantly, I wanted her to come back because she was so good. She was multitasking. I mean, right now I have four people at the front desk.

They are doing the job that she did herself. So she was very efficient and I think was a great lesson for her to learn how to deal with clients. Nobody knew that she was my daughter because after she came back, the deal was, look, I'm going to be tougher on you than everybody else because I will give an example. Second, the moment you walk in, you are an employee. Mm-hmm.

I'm not your mother. You are my employees and you have to do what you have to do. So the clients will come and will say, well, I need my eyebrows done. I don't have an appointment. But Anastasia squeeze me in all the time because I'm her best friend.

And Claudia was like, wow, that's interesting. I'm her daughter. I don't know you. So how you tell those clients that or, you know, you need to develop skills, how to please the customer, how to help the customer. Because I always believe that the customer is right.

So that was a really incredible lesson for her in so many ways. So many ways. But I think also just helped to build her foundation for what it's like to work and show up and do all of those things. And at the beginning, I don't think she really liked it because she was probably insecure on, I'm not good enough. I mean, I'm Anastasia's daughter. You know, she's Anastasia's daughter. It's not that easy.

When she started going to the corporate office and started working in every department, because I wanted her to understand absolutely everything, marketing, sales, finance, product development, she then started working.

And working on marketing and product development. And in 2012, she came with a brilliant idea to not, we didn't need to travel that much because we could post on this app, new app.

Yeah, and I want to talk more about that because I feel like you all were at the forefront of these beauty brand on Instagram platforms and have really sort of created the blueprint for now how beauty brands, you know, get the word out today. But talk to me about some of those early days of influencer marketing and why did you take a bet on social? First of all, I always like to surround myself with young people.

Because I am, I came from Romania with strong, very conservative value and things doing business.

But I wanted to know and I always believed in the new generation. Like we used to employ one guy that was a sneakerhead. He used to love sneakers and collective and he used to say, well, do you remember? This is what Nike did. This is what marketing technique they used to do. And I'm like, OK, let's do it in beauty.

So when we start having the Instagram, we start kind of following the Nike, the big guys in beauty. Nobody did it. And at the beginning, the iPhone camera wasn't that good. And we start following some people that in the closet, they used to put makeup and plan after they put their kids to sleep.

And we start sending them products. We used to kind of get those, the beginning of the influencer era. And we used to send them products and never ask them to do anything, whatever. They could talk about whatever they want, what they like. And after a while, we went to China and I discovered the ring light. They were there before we had it here.

So we start buying the ring lights and we start sending some of them. And later on... So you would send the ring lights to the influencers so they could create better content. Yes, yes. Because the light was very important. So we used to say, well, don't you do videos where you don't have the lights? Or if you have a window, stay in front of the window. The light should be in front of you. So...

Step by step, because now if you're an influencer, you have to be a good photographer and videographer, okay? But those days at the beginning, they didn't know. Then my daughter found a Sony 6 camera that had a Wi-Fi. So the quality of the picture were amazing and they could download on iPhone.

So we used to buy them and send them the camera. So this is how it all started. So innovative. And I mean, who would have thought that those early beginnings would turn and talk about ripple effects, right? And sort of this massive platform for you to build awareness and really know the brand. Yes. And I want to just pivot to today because obviously so much has changed. Yes. With social media. It's just so different. So...

What do you think is important for entrepreneurs that are launching beauty brands today that are trying to leverage some of those platforms? What advice do you give to someone in today's world? I think the time is totally different than when I started. But today, I think you need to pay to play. Customer acquisition is so expensive if you think about it.

Social media is not inexpensive anymore. You have to pay every way you have to pay. Right. Whereas before you were just sending products and Instagram will not charge you to put you on explore page or.

So now everything is you have to pay to pay. Yeah. So then what does that mean, though, for, you know, trying to differentiate yourself and scale? I mean, if everyone's paying to play, like, how do you really stand out? Well, I think that's why you need to have a budget for marketing, a big budget for marketing. Otherwise, how you are able to do that. Right.

Right. So basically kind of what you're saying is there was a time in which sort of building that awareness organically was something that was up for grabs because the landscape just allowed it. Yes. So now if you're thinking about launching a beauty brand, you've got to really think about, okay, how am I going to get the funds? What is my budget for marketing? That's right. You know, that is very important. What is my budget? I need a budget to make the products. I need the budget to sell the products.

And in selling the products is the marketing budget. Right. And I guess I'm curious to know your thoughts on this, because some people could take the route of just sending product and doing organic things, but that's going to take a really long time to scale, right? And with...

so much competition in the market, there's also like a speed aspect, right? And it allows you to just go further quicker. But let's go back to what is the most important thing when you launch a brand. Your product needs to be exceptional. If you do not have an exceptional product, don't you even bother.

So exceptional. The quality, you have to be different. You have to innovate. You have to come with something that, wow, everybody's like, really, I tried this and really works. Because you could fool a client once. You cannot really fool a client twice unless you pay a lot of money. Right. Right. And it's still not worth it, I think. I totally agree with you.

So let's talk a little bit more from like a global perspective, because one of the things that you've done so brilliantly is you took, you know, this brand that had just developed in the U.S. so well, and you found a way to create that overseas in different global territories. But obviously there are challenges with launching in certain regions. There's cultural differences that you have to navigate. So how were you able to maintain that?

the brand while also being sensitive to some of those global nuances? It indeed is very difficult to expand

Because we talk about two continents. Europe, let's say it's a lot easier because it's very close to U.S. But we are talking about Asia. We are talking about Middle East. We are talking different languages, different people, people that you need to hire that speak the language. It's not easy. I have to say it's not easy.

Fortunately, we are partner internationally with the Sephora, most of the countries. So it's a lot easier to do that, to do the business. They are wonderful partners and it's easier. They have the formula and you need to find PR and marketing in the region just to promote the brand in that language and to translate everything, the tutorials and everything you do.

But again, it's not easy. It's not easy at all. And I think the key for entrepreneurs is it can be so tempting to want to expand your brand because it means more revenue, more opportunity. But there's so much that comes with it, right? I remember the first time when I launched my brand, and I'm sure a lot of entrepreneurs will think like me. I thought, oh my God, I have my first order with Nordstrom's.

But that's just the beginning. That's the easiest part. That's right. You need to sell it. If you don't sell it, you have to take them back. Right. Or if the shelf life is not anymore okay, you have to take them back. So it is way more complicated. Many times I am asked that, what advice you give to somebody that wants to start a brand? Do your homework.

Work for a company that does almost the same thing you do and learn and see how many challenges are. So just understand and when you plan your business, you know exactly what to expect.

I think that's so, so important. And I want to talk a little bit more about retail relationships because they're very nuanced. I mean, you're in Sephora, Ulta, Nordstrom. You're no longer exclusive to just one. So what's been part of your secret sauce to really building best-in-class relationships with these retailers? Well,

Well, my first retailer was Nordstrom's, then was Sephora, then was Ulta. I think every retailer has a different demographic, has different area. Like Ulta has those little stores that are not in the mall. Sephora has the stores that are in the mall. So you have customers everywhere, I think.

And you want to make sure they are able to buy your products, whatever they are. I think when you walk in a store, in Sephora or Ulta, you as a customer, you are a little overwhelmed because there are so many products. And of course,

There are two ways the customer is going to know what to get. They will check their phone. They will watch TikTok or Instagram. It's a different way of retailing right now. I mean, back in the days, you walk in a Neiman Marcus and makeup artist will greet you and she will do your makeup and talk to you for two hours. Well, that's gone. Exactly. It's like hard to get even like 30 seconds of someone's time, right? Yeah. Yeah.

And I think one of the things that you said, you talked about sort of, you know, being where your customer is at and Sephora and Ulta, they serve different purposes. But you also have to time when it's right to start expanding because when you're scaling, your customer isn't everywhere yet. And if you start opening up retailers everywhere before you've actually gotten to a point of wide enough brand awareness, it can almost be dilutive, right? Yeah.

Well, I think if you expand when you are not ready enough, there are several problems. Number one is the inventory. You have to invest a lot in the inventory. So let's say you went and you sent products in Sephora and Ulta. Remember, Ulta has 1,200 doors. Remember the amount of products that you have to supply for the first order.

Forget about the repeated order. The first order, Sephora and Ulta. So we are talking about $1,700 right there, at least. You have to pay for the gondola.

I'm talking about millions of dollars, okay? You need to be prepared to have the awareness before you expand and you are there that you will sell those products that are on the gondola. Because if you don't, you have to take them back. Completely. Which is not fun. It's huge. And so much of what you're talking about too is just managing the expenses of doing business with retail. And often that

That's the point where founders are thinking about, OK, well, where am I going to get this money from? And so they're making that tough decision. Is now the time to take on an investment partner? And in 2018, you partnered with TPG Capital as your private equity investor to help fuel capital and growth. And how did you determine that that was the right time to do it?

And what were some of the most important factors that you thought through when making that decision? So I started my brand in 1999. Until 2018, I didn't have a CFO. I had a controller. And me and my niece, Luca, we did all the finance. I signed the checks. I still sign every check right now. Okay? Okay.

And I will tell you why. I want to know why. Because it's the only way you go through every invoice and you know what's going on.

Okay, and because I did this myself, I know I have a crazy memory. I remember how much we pay on, I don't know what component for eyebrow powder, how much we pay for the product. I remember everything. So if they don't do a good job immediately, because I see the invoice immediately, I call. And everybody in company knows that I signed the checks and I looked through all the invoices.

So then I have a conversation. I need to understand why, why we did that. Do we do good business? Do we still keep in mind that it's important to save money? Every cent, when you place millions and millions of dollars in products, every cent counts. So, and when it's important for me to do that and to know what's going on in the company.

This is the only way because the company now is very big. The only way I will know what's happening is through the invoices. So I did the business until 2018 without this CFO. And we were in 2,500 stores in U.S. We were very few international stores.

And we wanted to expand globally because at that point, I knew that we had great EBITDA, an incredible EBITDA. I needed a partner because I didn't know too much the international business. We are talking about logistics. It's very difficult. That's why I said, if you want to open your own business, do your homework.

Because I didn't know anything about logistics. And you have to have entities internationally. You have to have the warehousing. It's very complicated. So at that time, it was important for me to pick a partner that has the experience, the international experience.

Yeah, it's so important. And so you talked about the fact that you're, you know, obviously very involved in the company because you remain the CEO for what, over two decades now, right? Yes.

How has staying on as the CEO allowed you to do things that maybe couldn't have been done if someone else was in the seat? Look, maybe if I had a CEO that was talented, maybe he would be able to do even more than me. But I couldn't find yet one. And I think I know very well the brand, the heart that beats at Anastasia Beverly Hills.

I will still work at Anastasia Beverly Hills till the day I die. Oh, I love that. Look, this is like my baby. It's something that... It's part of who you are. Exactly. And I love what I do. I think it's one of the most important thing that gets me up in the morning and keeps me going.

You know, I have my CFO right now keeps asking me like, "Anastasia, you don't need to work, okay? But why do you work that you can't pay your rent next month?"

It's like, that's a good question. Me and my daughter, this is how we do. But we love what we do. And so just on the topic of, you know, being a CEO for almost two decades, what are some of the most important lessons that you've learned as a leader of a global organization? I think you have to surround yourself with great people, number one. Number two, you have to be open and to change things.

The market, yes, you have plan A, but not all the time that plan A will work. You should have plan B already prepared. And if plan A doesn't work, you go to plan B. So I think one of the advantages that I had for so many years is just I didn't need a board meeting to approve my plan.

things that didn't work, let's change it. Let's scale. Let's move quickly. If you are able to do that, it's very important. You stop before the ship gets in the wrong direction. And I think you need to be open and listen to other people. I always, always think of Anastasia Beverly Hills and

And I always consult my people that I work with. I want to hear everybody's opinion because everybody will have a different way of seeing things. Everybody is a customer and then we'll take a decision that is the best for the business. Not that I think my decision is the best. What decision is the best for the business? Yeah.

Those are really great principles. And I'm so glad that you talk about that because for someone who is so intertwined with the brand, that could be the perception that, you know, whatever Anastasia says is what we do. And so being intentional about everyone has a voice and we're going to do what's best for the business, not what's best for me. I think it's really important. I always believe in logic. I mean, to me, it has to have a logic. Okay, let's...

We want to go to this department store. Okay, tell me why we need to go. What advantages Anastasia will have? How much money will make? How much money will lose? And in what time will we have a return on investment with everything? So it's not about me. I work for Anastasia Beverly Hills. It's about the brand. For me and my daughter, the most important thing is the brand.

Critical and very well said. So you've mentioned in past interviews that growing up in communist Romania really shaped your work ethic and your vision. And I think, you know, you shared a lot about that. How did those early experiences turn you into who you are? And how has that just impacted how you run your company today? I mean, I worked with my mother and my mother was...

She believed that her customers are the best and she wanted to cater to them making clothes. And she was a very hardworking woman. My father died when I was 12, so I had to help her even though I was 12 years old, not even knowing about business. And I watched her working really hard and being very passionate, super passionate about what she did.

And she became very successful because she loved her clients and she was so good. She mastered her craft. This is another thing that I learned from my mother. When I started doing eyebrows, to me, my first objective was to be the best in what I did. It wasn't, oh, I want to be famous. I want to be a millionaire. It was nothing like that. I wanted to be the best on doing eyebrows. I had to master my craft.

So again, for anyone that is out there and wants to start something new, master your craft, whatever you do. I mean, that's fundamental, right? And really...

Being very authentic with your why, because if the reason why you're starting as a brand is you want to sell it in five years or because you want to be in Sephora or you want to, it's not going to work, right? No. Because it's really the heart and soul that fuels. Remember that flow state that I was talking about? It's an energy that you cannot fake it. Right. You can't fake it. You can't fake it. You can't fake it. So I want to just paraphrase.

pivot a bit because we were talking just earlier about how crazy life is. We're running here and there. It's constantly nonstop. But how do you recharge and refuel? How do you, you know, create rituals or routines that help to fill up your cup?

First of all, for me winning and doing some great things. Like if I will go like tonight, we will go for dinner and somebody will tell me, oh my God, I love your eyebrow pencil I use right now. That's to me, that's all my hard work last week went away. It's worth it.

So when you see the results of your hard work, when you are rewarded, it's again, we talk about that energy that it's you get recharged. It's my battery. Yeah. Yeah. So that's so, so interesting. And I totally resonate with that. But is there anything that you do maybe outside of work? Oh, of course. Yeah, of course. I want to know what you're into. I have part of it.

I have, I like to entertain very much. I have dinners. I have events that I go. Usually I travel for work, but I always take like three days for myself. Yeah.

This summer I went to eat with a good friend of mine and her, I mean, a group of people in Forte di Marmi and in Tuscany and Monte Carlo. We had an amazing, amazing time. So I love to dance. I love to laugh. I love to enjoy life. So with me, nothing gets half the size. Like if I work, I work 110%. If I

Play, I really play. I go out or I entertain or we had dinners, good food, laugh, good friends, good wines, good champagne. I mean, life is short. So I live it 100%. It's such a great mindset to have. And that's why I love following you too on Instagram. It's so fun, like watching all the journeys. Yeah. Awesome.

So obviously your story is so, so empowering. And you talked early about the fact that your biggest advice for an entrepreneur is to do your homework. Is there anything else that you want to leave our audience with? And again, so much of the people listening are entrepreneurs, they're executives at companies. What's one of those Anastasia gems that you can leave us with? Never give up.

If you have a dream, if you really believe in it, remember it's not going to be easy. It's going to work hard, but you'll be rewarded if you really, really love it.

And has to be authentic, has to come from here. And it's that consistency over time and just keeping at it. Yes. You cannot give up midway. I cannot tell you how many nights I will go home and I will think, oh, I can't do this anymore. I will go to bed thinking this is too much. I cannot do it. And I will wake up the next morning. It's a new day. A new day. Yeah. Right. Newborn person.

Well, before we wrap up, we're going to pivot into five fire facts, which is a rapid fire interview just for our audience to get to know you a little bit more casually. Are you ready? Of course. Okay. One activity you cherish doing with family.

Cooking, I like to cook and entertain my family. Favorite memory from the early days of Anastasia Beverly Hills? Being in the salon doing eyebrows and I would have clients waiting and it was like a party almost. And one day I'm with a friend, I'm doing her eyebrows and the front desk is right there and I look up and I see

a line like four or five people waiting to pay. And it's this guy in a suit, it's like 12 o'clock noon, in a suit with the boots. And I looked and I said,

I don't know. Is that, who is this wannabe Tom Ford? And I don't want to scream at the front desk. I take my phone and I call the front desk and I said, "Elena, who is that wannabe Tom Ford?" And I was like, "No, it's Tom Ford."

I mean moments like that or you will have clients and Oprah Winfrey will walk in with popcorns for all the girls and start talking with everyone. And one of my clients one day said like, "Oh my God, this woman looks like Oprah." And the client's like, "That's Oprah." No, it's not Oprah. Oprah will not walk like this. She would have like, "No, that's Oprah." So she got up, she went there, it's like, "Are you Oprah?"

- Yeah, so-- - Oh, that's magic, yeah. - That, this salon was magic. - All right, so one tradition from your home country that you still practice today. - I'm Macedonian, I was born in Romania, but my parents are Macedonian, so very old fashioned, very conservative family. So, I mean, we love our parents. My mother is 90.

And we live next to each other. It's my mom, my daughter, and myself. And I keep my mother like a queen. She has facial every day. She has a massage. She has red light therapy. She has a trainer. She's 90. You know, family is everything. It is. Family is everything. Everything. I love that so much.

a cause that you're passionate about. I have my own, it's called Anastasia Brighton Horizon, that we put young adults in foster home in beauty school and we give them all the tools to do whatever they want to be, makeup artist, facialist, or eyebrow artist, and they could go on their own. You change people's life.

and so many others. That's so beautiful. Now, on my way here, you are a friend of mine, and you're like, oh, you know, the rape center, every year you donate, and there are so many. Cancer. What can I tell you? That's amazing that you give back to so many. Oh, you have to give back.

You have to give back. Yeah. All right. Last one. The beauty product that you can't go a day without. Oh, my God. This is the hardest question for me because it's like, what's your favorite child? I mean, every product that I launch is my favorite, but I have to say that Brow Wiz is my ultimate. But now we just launched a new product for eyebrows that is my newest product.

product, volumizing tinted gel and brow freeze gel. I like those. They are very amazing products. Amazing. Well, I actually brought my brow wiz with me and I'm going to have you do a little touch up if you wouldn't mind for tonight. Tonight. That would be iconic. So where can people shop Anastasia Beverly Hills? Well, thank you for asking.

You could go to AnastasiaBeverlyHills.com. You could go to Sephora. You could go to Ulta. You could go to Macy's. You could go to Nordstrom's as well to get your eyebrows shaped. I have 80 amazing 80 brow studios. Oh, dealers as well. Oh. Yes. I didn't know that. We are in dealers. Yes.

So amazing. We are everywhere. You meet your customers where they're at. I love it. Yes. I love that. We wanted to make sure the customers has our products everywhere they are. Amazing. Well, this was so fun. Thank you so much for joining me. Of course. Thank you so much and congratulations for all your success and wish you the best and keep going. Don't give up.

So I absolutely love my conversation with Anastasia and I want to share just a few of my key takeaways with you.

So first, Anastasia stressed the importance of understanding your customer acquisition costs. She emphasized that you can't rely solely on organic marketing strategies, especially in the CPG industry. So if you don't have a massive built-in audience to start with, for example, you're not a mega Instagram or TikTok influencer, you're going to need a paid acquisition model. And it's really important to determine how much you'll need to spend to really move the needle.

But just having a budget isn't enough. What's even more crucial is how you use it. The success of your brand in any paid acquisition model you create really hinges on solid product quality. Your products need to stand out through strong quality, clear differentiation, and innovation.

Next, be cautious about expansion. Anastasia pointed out a common pitfall, which is expanding too quickly without sufficient customer demand. And this can lead to inventory chargebacks from your retailer if products don't sell through quickly enough.

And success shouldn't be defined by landing a big order from a retailer. It's really about ensuring you can actually sell through what's put on the shelves in a reasonable amount of time. So how you expand your distribution should be methodical and well-planned to avoid potential setbacks.

Anastasia also talked about the importance of team dynamics and adaptability. You want to surround yourself with really good talent, but also be willing to embrace change. It's really important to consult your team and be open to different opinions. You want to make decisions that are best for the company, not for your personal interests. And Anastasia really stressed the importance of maintaining agility, which I'm a huge believer in.

because having too many cooks in the kitchen can actually slow you down. So while it's important to gather diverse viewpoints, ultimately decisions need to be streamlined so that you can keep your business moving effectively. So those were just a few of the many key takeaways from my conversation with Anastasia. I always love these conversations because I get so much value out of them and I hope you did too.

To stay connected with Anastasia, the Makers Mindset community, and me, check out all the details in the description below. And don't forget to subscribe to this series, leave a review, and share this episode with your community. Thank you so much for tuning in.