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Transcript

Bobbi Brown · The David Rubenstein Show

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: I think it's fair to say that I'm not an
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: expert on beauty or cosmetics, but I had a chance
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: racing to sit down with somebody who is an expert,
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: Bobby Brown. She launched an iconic company, Bobby Brown Cosmetics,
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: a number of years ago, and in twenty twenty, she
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: launched another company called Jones Road Beauty. I had a
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: chance to sit down with her recently to talk about
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: all of this and learned a lot more about beauty
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: than I knew before. Or let's talk about the cosmetics world,
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: which is not a world that I'm that familiar with.
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: When you built your initial company, it was, you know,
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: a gigantic success.
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: What was it like starting all over again?
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: One day You're in a big company, when a big parent,
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: and then you have to start all over again.
• 0:40
  Speaker 3: You know, it was really exciting and invigorating.
• 0:43
  Speaker 4: I felt like a young kid again when I started
• 0:45
  Speaker 4: Jones Road, and right before we launched, I definitely had
• 0:49
  Speaker 4: a sudden, like you know, like emotion of saying.
• 0:53
  Speaker 3: Uh, oh, what if I'm a one hit wonder.
• 0:55
  Speaker 4: I was a little scared, but then I just threw
• 0:57
  Speaker 4: it up into the wind and went for it.
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: Well, I can understand why you would have called your
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: first company Bobby Brown since that's your name, but Jones Road.
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: Where'd that name come from?
• 1:08
  Speaker 3: Well?
• 1:08
  Speaker 4: I sold the rights to Bobby Brown to Sdi Lauer
• 1:12
  Speaker 4: when we sold the company, so I couldn't use it again.
• 1:15
  Speaker 4: And why would I want to do something that I've
• 1:17
  Speaker 4: done before. So we needed a name because I wanted
• 1:20
  Speaker 4: to launch Jones Road the day my twenty five year
• 1:23
  Speaker 4: non compete was up. It was in twenty twenty, a
• 1:27
  Speaker 4: week before the presidential elections, and so I needed a
• 1:31
  Speaker 4: name and I didn't have one. And I was driving
• 1:33
  Speaker 4: to the Hamptons with my husband. My head was down
• 1:36
  Speaker 4: on ways and I looked down. I saw Jones Road
• 1:39
  Speaker 4: and he said. I said, Jones Road, Beauty. He said,
• 1:41
  Speaker 4: I like it, And that's how it became Jones Road.
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: Now, in my business, sometimes I'm familiar with non competes,
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: but I've never really heard of a twenty five year
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: non compete.
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: That's unusually long, isn't it.
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: Uh?
• 1:52
  Speaker 4: You know, I didn't know because when we sold the
• 1:54
  Speaker 4: company and my husband said, the deal is done, However,
• 1:57
  Speaker 4: they want you to sign a twenty five year non compete.
• 2:00
  Speaker 3: I was around thirty four years old.
• 2:01
  Speaker 4: And I had never heard of a noncompete, let alone
• 2:04
  Speaker 4: thought about a twenty five year one. But I thought
• 2:08
  Speaker 4: to myself, well, it's not a problem because I'm not
• 2:10
  Speaker 4: going to want to work when I'm in my sixties.
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: So in the cosmetics world, the giants over the years
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: have been Helena Rubinstein not related to.
• 2:20
  Speaker 3: It, right, Let's see Elizabeth Arden.
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: Elizabeth Arden, Charles Revsen, Max Factor, let's see who else,
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: Stay Lauder. And these were people that all invented something
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: novel all the time. Yes, and in your case, you
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: kind of invented what would you say?
• 2:36
  Speaker 4: I revolutionized natural looking makeup because it was not popular
• 2:42
  Speaker 4: at all. You know where foundations used to be white
• 2:45
  Speaker 4: and then painted in you know, cheek bones and all.
• 2:48
  Speaker 3: This artificial color.
• 2:49
  Speaker 4: Women looked better when they came in with no makeup
• 2:52
  Speaker 4: than after they had like a full on makeover. So
• 2:54
  Speaker 4: I started making products that were easy to apply and
• 2:59
  Speaker 4: just made you look better, like it was not complicated
• 3:02
  Speaker 4: to me.
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: Well, let's talk about why people put makeup on.
• 3:06
  Speaker 4: I personally believe that women wear makeup to feel better.
• 3:11
  Speaker 4: However you choose to wear your makeup, there's many different styles.
• 3:14
  Speaker 4: I think it is such an amazing thing to be
• 3:17
  Speaker 4: able to make yourself look and feel better. So for me,
• 3:20
  Speaker 4: it's the way you feel even more than the way
• 3:22
  Speaker 4: you look, if that makes sense. I like a more
• 3:25
  Speaker 4: natural makeup. There are plenty of makeup brands that cater
• 3:28
  Speaker 4: to women that like a very strong aesthetic that's just
• 3:32
  Speaker 4: not me or Jones Road.
• 3:33
  Speaker 3: So it really does depend.
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: What age do you think girls or young women should
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: put makeup on. I have a young granddaughter seven. At
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: what age is she going to come and say she
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: needs makeup?
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: Well?
• 3:44
  Speaker 4: I think that young girls are always love watching their
• 3:47
  Speaker 4: moms put makeup on. They love the colors. I have
• 3:49
  Speaker 4: a three year old granddaughter, Lily is quite good with
• 3:53
  Speaker 4: the lip gloss and puts my miracle bomb on my cheek.
• 3:57
  Speaker 4: Does she wear at a school. No, but it's you know,
• 4:00
  Speaker 4: it's going to be in her blood, so I don't
• 4:02
  Speaker 4: think it's ever a big deal. However, I've written two
• 4:06
  Speaker 4: books about teenage girls, and the only time I ever
• 4:09
  Speaker 4: tell you know, mothers to really pay attention if your
• 4:12
  Speaker 4: kids are doing things like putting black lipstick on and
• 4:15
  Speaker 4: looking you know, goth, you might want to just you know,
• 4:19
  Speaker 4: stop for a minute and check and say you know,
• 4:21
  Speaker 4: are they okay?
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: So who is the biggest customer for makeup? Is it
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: women who are let's say, in their teenage years, women
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: in their twenties, their thirties, the forties, the fifties. What
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: age group is the biggest customer for cosmetics?
• 4:34
  Speaker 4: Well, I think any woman is a customer for cosmetics
• 4:39
  Speaker 4: of any age. Jones wrote, our target audiences thirty, you know,
• 4:44
  Speaker 4: just in the sixties and some seventies. But I think
• 4:47
  Speaker 4: it is definitely, you know, changing now the big thing
• 4:51
  Speaker 4: are is makeup for young girls.
• 4:53
  Speaker 3: I don't understand.
• 4:54
  Speaker 4: I don't think seven and eight and nine year old
• 4:57
  Speaker 4: girls should worry about what's in.
• 5:00
  Speaker 3: Their skincare products.
• 5:01
  Speaker 4: But there's so much on social media now that it's
• 5:04
  Speaker 4: becoming a thing.
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: Let's talk about social media.
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: Some people say that influencers on social media are driving
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: people to buy the beauty products.
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: Is that true?
• 5:13
  Speaker 3: One hundred percent true?
• 5:14
  Speaker 4: But you know the great thing about social media, it's
• 5:17
  Speaker 4: a freeway to market your products. We're back in the day,
• 5:22
  Speaker 4: you know, you had to spend a ton of money
• 5:25
  Speaker 4: and do advertising. In this new world, it's much easier
• 5:28
  Speaker 4: to get your messages out there.
• 5:29
  Speaker 3: I wanted to share my three favorite products.
• 5:32
  Speaker 4: It's hard to choose. It's like which of my kids
• 5:34
  Speaker 4: do I like best? It depends what day it is.
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: Cosmetics and beauty products are sold today. Is it mostly
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: online through Amazon or is it that big retailers like Walmart.
• 5:44
  Speaker 4: I mean, there's definitely different distributions. My first brand was
• 5:49
  Speaker 4: in higher end stores. We launched in Bergdorf. Then we
• 5:52
  Speaker 4: were in sacks and Bendels, and by the time I
• 5:54
  Speaker 4: left the company, we had just started opening Macy's doors.
• 5:58
  Speaker 4: And that's how businesses grow is distribution. Jones Road has
• 6:02
  Speaker 4: been following a different playbook. We are direct to consumer.
• 6:06
  Speaker 4: Probably eighty five percent of our business is direct to
• 6:10
  Speaker 4: consumers through our own site, just online, and now we
• 6:14
  Speaker 4: have ten or eleven retail stores. We're in one account
• 6:19
  Speaker 4: department store, Liberty and London.
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: Well, some people say that the price of cosmetics and
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: makeup and beauty care products is relatively high because the
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: cost of packaging and the cost of advertising. Is that
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: a big factor in the pricing of your products?
• 6:35
  Speaker 3: Not my products, not our products? That is a big factor,
• 6:39
  Speaker 3: you know.
• 6:40
  Speaker 4: I come from a brand that spent a lot of
• 6:42
  Speaker 4: money on packaging and marketing, and teams Jones Road is
• 6:47
  Speaker 4: a different playbook. We spend money on marketing, but we
• 6:51
  Speaker 4: don't spend a ton of money on our packaging. Our
• 6:53
  Speaker 4: formula is our top notch, but our packaging is more
• 6:56
  Speaker 4: simple so we can keep the cost down.
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: What are your products made.
• 7:01
  Speaker 4: They're mostly made in the US, A lot of them
• 7:03
  Speaker 4: in New Jersey. They the pencils, like all cosmetics, pencils
• 7:08
  Speaker 4: are made in Germany. Our brushes are made in Italy.
• 7:12
  Speaker 4: You know, our packaging comes from Asia, not China. Mostly
• 7:18
  Speaker 4: it comes from Taiwan and other places.
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: So let's talk about for a moment the business of cosmetics.
• 7:26
  Speaker 2: Generally.
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: It's a business that's now really largely controlled by large
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: public corporations. I mean, your company's not public yet, but
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: is it mostly the large companies that are doing the
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: business of selling these products.
• 7:38
  Speaker 4: It's definitely mostly large companies. And you know, most founders
• 7:42
  Speaker 4: start these businesses for one reason to sell I mean
• 7:47
  Speaker 4: Jones Road, I mean, I never thought about selling Bobby
• 7:49
  Speaker 4: Brown cosmetics until we got you know, Leonard, we had
• 7:53
  Speaker 4: other people call. It was never in my mind that
• 7:56
  Speaker 4: that is something you would do. And so now I know,
• 7:59
  Speaker 4: evench someone the right person will come and honestly, it's like,
• 8:04
  Speaker 4: this is my passion and it's what I do.
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: So the trick and makeup is to look like you
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: don't have a lot of makeups.
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: Yes, what is the no makeup makeup? Look?
• 8:12
  Speaker 4: Well, it's choosing colors that work with your skin tone,
• 8:15
  Speaker 4: that don't make you too pale and don't make you
• 8:17
  Speaker 4: too bright. And if you are someone that is going
• 8:20
  Speaker 4: to wear a little bit of powder on camera, I
• 8:23
  Speaker 4: would probably just give you a.
• 8:26
  Speaker 3: Little bit and you're not going to look like you're
• 8:28
  Speaker 3: wearing it. And by the way, it's not supposed to
• 8:30
  Speaker 3: feel like you're wearing it. Who like, look, look at
• 8:33
  Speaker 3: how good you look?
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: So people are going to come up to me in
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: the next couple of minutes and say, wow, you look
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: so great.
• 8:37
  Speaker 3: Have you been on a vacation? Then I've done my.
• 8:39
  Speaker 2: Job, So what am I looking at here?
• 8:42
  Speaker 4: This is the famous product that started all this is
• 8:44
  Speaker 4: called Miracle Balm. And what you do it's a skincare
• 8:48
  Speaker 4: and makeup in one And what it is is you
• 8:50
  Speaker 4: dip your finger in it, You take it like this,
• 8:54
  Speaker 4: pat it on your cheeks. It gives you color, it
• 8:56
  Speaker 4: gives you a glow, use it on your neck, you
• 8:59
  Speaker 4: can even use it on your body. Comes in all colors,
• 9:02
  Speaker 4: and this is a miracle to most women because it
• 9:06
  Speaker 4: adds moisture and color to the skin.
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: When there's new product, do you have to look at
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: every new product and approve it before it goes out.
• 9:13
  Speaker 4: I don't want to call myself a micromanager, but I
• 9:16
  Speaker 4: date the product, I work with the team, I approve,
• 9:20
  Speaker 4: and then I am the one you know a year
• 9:22
  Speaker 4: later that says, uh oh, something shifted, what happened?
• 9:25
  Speaker 3: So yes, I am. I am very involved.
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: Let's talk about how you got into this business. So
• 9:30
  Speaker 2: were you.
• 9:30
  Speaker 3: Born Chicago, Suburbs of Chicago?
• 9:32
  Speaker 2: And what did your parents do?
• 9:34
  Speaker 3: They were twenty and twenty one when I was born.
• 9:36
  Speaker 3: My dad a lawyer.
• 9:37
  Speaker 4: My mom was always a homemaker, and by the time
• 9:41
  Speaker 4: they were twenty five, there were three of us that
• 9:43
  Speaker 4: lived in the house, you know, three three.
• 9:46
  Speaker 2: Kids, Okay, And so where'd you go to school?
• 9:48
  Speaker 4: I went to Nutrier High School, big high school in
• 9:52
  Speaker 4: the suburbs High Schoolka, Illinois, right Winetka and we'll met.
• 9:56
  Speaker 4: And really, what I think really taught me a lot
• 10:00
  Speaker 4: about life was being around my grandparents. Papa Sam, who
• 10:03
  Speaker 4: came from the Ukraine who came here not knowing anyone.
• 10:08
  Speaker 4: And by the time he was, you know, in his
• 10:11
  Speaker 4: elder years, he was very known in Chicago as Cadillac Sam.
• 10:14
  Speaker 4: He sold cars to all the big guys and some
• 10:17
  Speaker 4: of the gangsters, mayer Lanski, al Capone and work was
• 10:22
  Speaker 4: everything to Papa, followed by his family.
• 10:25
  Speaker 3: And so that's really what raised me.
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: So you graduated from Neutrier High School, then what'd you do?
• 10:32
  Speaker 4: I graduated six months early to follow a boyfriend went
• 10:35
  Speaker 4: to University of Wisconsin at Oshkosh because there was no
• 10:39
  Speaker 4: way I was getting into University University Wisconsin in Madison.
• 10:42
  Speaker 3: I didn't have the grades.
• 10:44
  Speaker 4: I was there six months and then transferred to University
• 10:47
  Speaker 4: of Arizona with all of my friends from high school
• 10:50
  Speaker 4: because school for me was about fun and not about
• 10:54
  Speaker 4: what I was going to learn. And at the end
• 10:56
  Speaker 4: of the year I told my mom I was going
• 10:58
  Speaker 4: to drop out, and she said, you can.
• 11:00
  Speaker 3: You have to go to college. She never did. Mom,
• 11:02
  Speaker 3: it's so boring, and.
• 11:04
  Speaker 4: She said, forget about anything, forget what you want to do.
• 11:07
  Speaker 4: If today's your birthday, you could do anything you want
• 11:09
  Speaker 4: to do. What would you want to do? And I said,
• 11:13
  Speaker 4: I don't know, maybe go to Marshall Fields and play
• 11:15
  Speaker 4: with makeup. She said, that's it. Why don't you be
• 11:17
  Speaker 4: a makeup artist? I said, I don't want to go
• 11:19
  Speaker 4: to beauty school. She said, I'm sure there's a college somewhere.
• 11:23
  Speaker 4: And through a friend of my dad's, I found Emerson
• 11:25
  Speaker 4: College in Boston, and they let me design my own
• 11:28
  Speaker 4: major and makeup.
• 11:29
  Speaker 3: It's Emerson Emerson, all.
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: Right, And so you majored in theatrical makeup.
• 11:33
  Speaker 3: Right with a minor in photography.
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: That's a very unusual combination.
• 11:36
  Speaker 3: Uh, it was my two things I liked, all right.
• 11:39
  Speaker 2: So then you graduated? Yes, and then would you do?
• 11:42
  Speaker 3: So I got a waitressing job.
• 11:43
  Speaker 4: I lied to get the job because I had no experience.
• 11:47
  Speaker 4: And I did that for a year, and then I
• 11:49
  Speaker 4: moved to New York. I didn't know anyone. I opened
• 11:52
  Speaker 4: up the Yellow Pages and looked up makeup models and
• 11:56
  Speaker 4: I just started cold calling people, and somehow I figured
• 11:59
  Speaker 4: out how to put a portfolio together, and I started
• 12:04
  Speaker 4: working as a freelance makeup artist. Really, the main thing
• 12:07
  Speaker 4: I wanted was to be in fashion, so I did
• 12:09
  Speaker 4: a lot of fashion shows. I eventually you did all
• 12:13
  Speaker 4: the magazines I got a Vogue cover. You know, I
• 12:17
  Speaker 4: started to get a name for myself and then lo
• 12:20
  Speaker 4: and behold. While I was working, I also somehow was
• 12:25
  Speaker 4: a frequent guest on Oprah Winfrey to go on there
• 12:28
  Speaker 4: and do makeup, and I became a regular on the.
• 12:30
  Speaker 2: Today Show talking about makeup.
• 12:33
  Speaker 4: Talking about makeup, which I did for fourteen years. Never
• 12:36
  Speaker 4: once talked about my products or my brand. I was
• 12:39
  Speaker 4: the expert.
• 12:40
  Speaker 2: When did you start Bobby Brown Cosmetics?
• 12:43
  Speaker 4: Started Bobby Brown Cosmetics when I married my husband and
• 12:49
  Speaker 4: we moved to Montclair, New Jersey, because I didn't want
• 12:53
  Speaker 4: to be in New York City. And then I just
• 12:57
  Speaker 4: had this idea I didn't want to travel anymore for work,
• 13:00
  Speaker 4: because being a freelance makeup artist, you're always on a
• 13:02
  Speaker 4: plane going some exotic place. And I just said, you know,
• 13:07
  Speaker 4: why don't I know, think of something else. I met
• 13:10
  Speaker 4: a chemist at a shoot and told him how much
• 13:13
  Speaker 4: I hated lipstick that was in the market and what
• 13:16
  Speaker 4: I was looking for, and he said, I can make
• 13:17
  Speaker 4: it for you.
• 13:18
  Speaker 3: So he did. He made me a.
• 13:20
  Speaker 4: Lipstick and I thought, wow, this is like amazing. I
• 13:24
  Speaker 4: bet I could sell it to my friends, to models,
• 13:28
  Speaker 4: and I started doing that.
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: So you ultimately started a company which had ten different
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: shades from lipstick right M.
• 13:35
  Speaker 4: And I sold him out of my house and my
• 13:37
  Speaker 4: husband would mail them. They didn't even have a box.
• 13:41
  Speaker 4: They were in an envelope, so they were, you know,
• 13:45
  Speaker 4: very indeed. We put the ingredients on a card and
• 13:48
  Speaker 4: started shipping them. And then one day we were at
• 13:50
  Speaker 4: a party and I said, you know, thanked the hostess
• 13:54
  Speaker 4: for inviting us. I had never met her before, and
• 13:57
  Speaker 4: she said she was a fan of mine. I'm like, oh,
• 13:58
  Speaker 4: you know who I am. That's so nice. I said,
• 14:01
  Speaker 4: what do you do? She said, oh, I'm a cosmetics buyer,
• 14:04
  Speaker 4: a Birgdorf Goodman. I said, oh, I sell these cosmetics
• 14:08
  Speaker 4: out of my house. And she agreed to take them
• 14:11
  Speaker 4: and sell them at Burgdorf.
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: And the venture capitalist didn't come along and said we'd
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: like a piece of your company and we'll give you
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: some money, or did you just.
• 14:19
  Speaker 3: And you know what, we totally financed it ourselves.
• 14:22
  Speaker 4: And you know, I didn't know those people back then.
• 14:26
  Speaker 4: We had people reach out to us, you know, when
• 14:28
  Speaker 4: our business started to grow that wanted to buy us.
• 14:31
  Speaker 4: We weren't for sale until we got a call from
• 14:34
  Speaker 4: Leonard latter because I fell madly in love.
• 14:38
  Speaker 3: You know, at first sight I.
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: Did know Leonard a very impressive person. So he convinced
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: you to sell the company, right.
• 14:44
  Speaker 4: I think we were maybe four and a half years
• 14:47
  Speaker 4: in business when we sold the company to Leonard.
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: And so when you did that, you kept the name
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: Bobby Brown Cosmetics or did you say.
• 14:53
  Speaker 3: Well, they bought it. I mean it was called Bobby
• 14:56
  Speaker 3: Brown Cosmetic.
• 14:57
  Speaker 2: It was, but it was still called that Bobby Brown Cosmetics.
• 15:00
  Speaker 2: To say with stay law.
• 15:01
  Speaker 4: Now we were the second brand they bought that they
• 15:03
  Speaker 4: didn't make internally. And Leonard's thing was to run everything independently.
• 15:10
  Speaker 4: Everything about Leonard was supporting the founder, supporting the integrity
• 15:13
  Speaker 4: of the brand. When we first joined S. D. Lauder,
• 15:17
  Speaker 4: I'll never forget, they wanted our lipsticks to be made
• 15:20
  Speaker 4: in their lab, and so it was, you know, we
• 15:23
  Speaker 4: started the project and it was terrible. I couldn't recreate
• 15:26
  Speaker 4: them properly. And finally Leonard got involved. He said, absolutely
• 15:29
  Speaker 4: not if you you know, if you do not, if
• 15:33
  Speaker 4: you change them, women are going to know. So note
• 15:36
  Speaker 4: we will work with the lab that makes your lipsticks.
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: Well, Bobby Brown Cosmetics, did they sell in the same
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: place at Stay later would sell, which is the big
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: department source.
• 15:45
  Speaker 4: Well, when Leonard approached me, we were the number one
• 15:48
  Speaker 4: line in Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf. So we were beating
• 15:51
  Speaker 4: STI Latter's in the store and we did not even
• 15:55
  Speaker 4: have a full line.
• 15:56
  Speaker 3: It was it was really a phenomenon.
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: So as you worked through Stay Lawder for some twenty
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: plus years, yeah, you were building the brand, building the brand.
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: And now when you left Stay Lauder, you decided to
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: start a new company, right.
• 16:10
  Speaker 4: Right, I left s D Latter? Did I quit or
• 16:14
  Speaker 4: get fired? To me, I got fired?
• 16:17
  Speaker 2: So why would they fire you?
• 16:18
  Speaker 4: Because there was a lot of angst in the year
• 16:22
  Speaker 4: or so before I left, And it's all in my
• 16:24
  Speaker 4: biography so or in my memoir, so it's all out there.
• 16:29
  Speaker 3: It was tough.
• 16:29
  Speaker 4: I mean, Leonard wasn't as involved, and when you know,
• 16:33
  Speaker 4: in the company and there was a new you know
• 16:36
  Speaker 4: CEO and a new you know, a lot of new
• 16:39
  Speaker 4: things were happening, and it was not a good time
• 16:42
  Speaker 4: at all.
• 16:42
  Speaker 3: And so it was it was.
• 16:45
  Speaker 4: It was honestly, really tough, and it's the best thing
• 16:47
  Speaker 4: that ever happened to me getting fired.
• 16:49
  Speaker 3: If you want to know the truth.
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: Okay, So because now you can start your own company
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: once to noncompete, right, yes, but why not say, look,
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: I already conquered the cosmetics world once.
• 16:58
  Speaker 2: Why do I have to do it a second time?
• 16:59
  Speaker 4: Why I wasn't planning on doing it? Like I didn't
• 17:02
  Speaker 4: you know when it first happened.
• 17:03
  Speaker 3: I know.
• 17:04
  Speaker 4: It was twenty two years of having a full calendar,
• 17:07
  Speaker 4: full schedule. Cars follow me around, pr people you know
• 17:11
  Speaker 4: with clipboards, follow me around, and all of a sudden
• 17:13
  Speaker 4: it was gone. I didn't know what it was going
• 17:15
  Speaker 4: to do, and I didn't think I was going to
• 17:17
  Speaker 4: start another cosmetics company.
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: If you could give advice to the twenty five year
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: old Bobby Brown, what would the advice be? You wish
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: you had known then something you know now.
• 17:29
  Speaker 4: She wouldn't have listened, but I would have told her
• 17:31
  Speaker 4: to chill and relax. It's all going to be fine.
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: When you have successful companies, you obviously get some money,
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: and you can have money you can give it away.
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: And are there particular philanthropies or charitable things that you're
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: engaged with.
• 17:43
  Speaker 4: Well, we have an organization in our hometown called reaching
• 17:46
  Speaker 4: Out Montclair, our affluent town is not just an affluent town.
• 17:50
  Speaker 3: So that's like something.
• 17:52
  Speaker 4: And you know, my husband and I have given to
• 17:54
  Speaker 4: all of our colleges. You know, there's a Bobby Brown,
• 17:56
  Speaker 4: Stephen Ploffker, Jym at Emerson. We have something at and
• 18:00
  Speaker 4: at Harvard, and you know, different times we have different philanthropic.
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: So you ever go back to Emerson and say, see
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: what you get did for me? I graduated created this
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: big business. Are you very famous graduate? I guess you
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: were one of the more famous graduates.
• 18:16
  Speaker 3: You know.
• 18:16
  Speaker 4: I actually I do go back and I just went
• 18:19
  Speaker 4: back for a talk when my memoir when I did
• 18:22
  Speaker 4: the Boston the Boston Talk, and it was really we
• 18:26
  Speaker 4: did it in the in the gym, so it was
• 18:28
  Speaker 4: really nice.
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: People go into a free standing store to buy cosmetics
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: or beauty products.
• 18:33
  Speaker 2: What is the chance they're going to walk out not
• 18:35
  Speaker 2: having bought anything.
• 18:36
  Speaker 4: As long as they walk out with a sample that
• 18:38
  Speaker 4: we give them, I'm happy.
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: And the markups in this business are still reasonably good.
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: That the margins you'd say, resentably good in the retail products.
• 18:47
  Speaker 4: We make sure that we have a good, you know,
• 18:50
  Speaker 4: price point, and we make sure that we have a
• 18:52
  Speaker 4: good profit. I'm one of those weird people I really
• 18:55
  Speaker 4: believe in profit.
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: Now your new brand is focused more on I let's say,
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: healthy and wellness to some extent.
• 19:02
  Speaker 2: So why is it.
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: Healthier to put on Jones Jones Road than Bobby Brown
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: or what's different about it that makes it healthier?
• 19:10
  Speaker 4: Well, when I started Jones Road, I was on my own,
• 19:14
  Speaker 4: you know, path to really being the healthiest version of myself.
• 19:18
  Speaker 4: So I went back to school my degree as a
• 19:20
  Speaker 4: health coach. I started only eating organic when I can,
• 19:25
  Speaker 4: and I started cleaning up you know what chemicals are
• 19:27
  Speaker 4: in my products. And when I finally decided to really
• 19:31
  Speaker 4: try to create a new beauty product, I was not
• 19:36
  Speaker 4: going to do a traditional product. I really was curious
• 19:39
  Speaker 4: if it was even possible to create something out of
• 19:42
  Speaker 4: clean because the market has had shifted where women wanted
• 19:46
  Speaker 4: clean makeup. So I didn't do it because I didn't
• 19:49
  Speaker 4: believe in traditional I did it because I didn't know
• 19:52
  Speaker 4: if it was possible to do and I proved that
• 19:55
  Speaker 4: it was.
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: And can you tell if they're wearing one of your products?
• 19:58
  Speaker 4: Usually if there's a nice and a highlight on the cheek,
• 20:02
  Speaker 4: I could you know? And I know, And often people
• 20:05
  Speaker 4: come up to me and they like you know, point
• 20:07
  Speaker 4: to something and say Dusty Rose sun.
• 20:10
  Speaker 2: Kissed, and you say buy more.
• 20:13
  Speaker 3: No, I'd say great.
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: So today, if I wanted to start a company, I
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: wanted to be Bobby Brown and I want to start
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: a cosmetics company, what would you recommend that I do?
• 20:25
  Speaker 3: Well?
• 20:25
  Speaker 4: First of all, there's nothing easy in life in general.
• 20:28
  Speaker 4: But if you're a kid that is just coming out
• 20:31
  Speaker 4: of college or even business school, I'd say go work
• 20:34
  Speaker 4: for someone for a year, you know, go really like
• 20:37
  Speaker 4: learn what you can before you start something, and maybe
• 20:41
  Speaker 4: start ideating and thinking what your company would be before
• 20:45
  Speaker 4: you decide to do it. Don't start with the deck
• 20:47
  Speaker 4: and investment like people make that mistake.
• 20:50
  Speaker 3: Start with a product.
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: So today, if you are going to build this company out,
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: is it your goal to ultimately find another Esday lauder
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: or to take it public or just keep it private
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: owned by the family.
• 21:02
  Speaker 4: You know, I don't know. I you know, I'm sixty
• 21:05
  Speaker 4: eight years old. It's been five years. You know, the
• 21:09
  Speaker 4: business is growing. We do get a lot of calls
• 21:12
  Speaker 4: from probably people that you have lunch and dinners with.
• 21:16
  Speaker 4: We're self funded. I don't need any money. We have
• 21:18
  Speaker 4: enough cash in the bank to do what we want.
• 21:20
  Speaker 3: To do, you know, but I don't.
• 21:23
  Speaker 4: Know what's going to happen in the future. I'm not
• 21:25
  Speaker 4: opposed to the right situation on something. I just don't
• 21:29
  Speaker 4: know what it is, and that's okay.
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: And do you try to expand your products outside the
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: United States at this point or is it too small
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: right now to go outside the United State?
• 21:37
  Speaker 4: No, we are available in Canada, we are available in
• 21:41
  Speaker 4: the UK, and now we're available in Europe, so.
• 21:45
  Speaker 3: You know, not freestanding stores yet.
• 21:47
  Speaker 4: I really want a freestanding store in London because that's
• 21:51
  Speaker 4: one of our biggest markets.
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: So what are the most important beauty secrets you would
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: give to somebody?
• 21:57
  Speaker 2: Two or three beauty secrets?
• 21:58
  Speaker 4: Well, I would say, first of all, worry about your
• 22:00
  Speaker 4: inside more than your outside.
• 22:02
  Speaker 3: Take care of your health.
• 22:04
  Speaker 4: Number two is worry about your skin. Don't smoke, wear sunscreen,
• 22:11
  Speaker 4: and third just wear makeup so it just makes you
• 22:14
  Speaker 4: look better.
• 22:15
  Speaker 3: End a story.
• 22:16
  Speaker 2: Now, did your parents live to see your success?
• 22:18
  Speaker 4: My father, Yes, my father is still alive. My dad's ninety.
• 22:22
  Speaker 3: He has proven how proud he is of me.
• 22:27
  Speaker 4: He's told me and he just he always says, I
• 22:30
  Speaker 4: know you're not done, and I know I'm going to
• 22:32
  Speaker 4: keep hearing things.
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: So if you could give advice to the twenty five
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: year old Bobby Brown, what would the advice be? You
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: wish you had known then something you know now.
• 22:43
  Speaker 4: She wouldn't have listened, But I would have told her
• 22:45
  Speaker 4: to chill and relax.
• 22:47
  Speaker 3: It's all going to be fine.
• 22:49
  Speaker 4: She wouldn't have listened because I still haven't figured out
• 22:51
  Speaker 4: how to chill and relax now.
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: Presumably the most important thing in life is personal happiness,
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: which is also the most elusive thing in life. So
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: as a result of having built these companies, I assume
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: you're personally very happy with what you're doing now.
• 23:03
  Speaker 4: I'm so incredibly lucky because I'm married thirty seven years.
• 23:08
  Speaker 4: I still adore my husband. I have three sons, two grandkids.
• 23:11
  Speaker 4: We are, you know, all very close, and you know,
• 23:16
  Speaker 4: I have not only old friends, I have new friends,
• 23:18
  Speaker 4: people I've just met.
• 23:20
  Speaker 3: So I feel very very happy.
• 23:22
  Speaker 4: And my you know, Jones Road is a very young team,
• 23:26
  Speaker 4: but they're my new posse.
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: Well, you're young to worry about legacies, But what would
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: you like your legacy.
• 23:32
  Speaker 2: To ultimately be?
• 23:33
  Speaker 4: You know, I hope my legacy will be that I
• 23:36
  Speaker 4: was there to help people feel good. About themselves and
• 23:40
  Speaker 4: teach people how to be confident because I've figured out
• 23:43
  Speaker 4: the secret of confidence. All it is is feeling comfortable
• 23:47
  Speaker 4: in your skin.
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: Thanks for listening to hear more of my interviews. You
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: can subscribe and download my podcast on Spotify, Apple, or
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: wherever you listen.