Anastasia Soare
👤 PersonPodcast Appearances
So excited.
Well, my mother was an entrepreneur.
Living in a communist regime was quite difficult to own your own business.
For some reason, my mother was able to own her own business.
She was making clothes for the elite, the wives, and you know, happy wives, happy husband.
Amen.
And my mother was able to have this business.
She had few people working for her.
And my father passed away when I was 12.
So to be able to keep the business, she pulled me one evening.
We sat together at the table.
And she said, well, I can't do this by myself.
You have to help me.
And I looked at her.
I'm like, mom, I'm 12.
I don't know anything about business.
And very nonchalant, she said, no, you are so smart.
I will teach you everything.
And after school, every day, I will go in the atelier.
I will do my homework between the sewing machines.
I have my little table.
And this is how I learned everything about how she marketed herself, how she was able to do all her finance.
She was very savvy, and I was lucky enough to learn everything from her.
I had to become confident and independent because there was no other way.
You will try to find ways to survive.
Of course, I still want to enjoy my life and being independent because to me, having money means being independent and being able to do things that you want and you love.
To me, this is what gives you that freedom.
Financially independent woman is a woman that calls her shots.
Whatever she wants, she could do it.
You don't need to worry, oh my God, I don't have money to pay my electrical bill.
I don't have money to pay my rent.
My car broke down.
I don't have money to fix it.
I had that.
Yeah, I had it too.
And my goal was to find a way to not have that worry anymore.
Of course, a lot of money brings you happiness.
When people said money don't bring happiness, I don't know.
I don't think they experience the both side of not having or having happiness.
Having is better.
Absolutely.
It was even hard for me to get credit in 1990.
People don't understand today it's so much easier to get that.
Very revolutionary, yes.
Well, every day I was learning.
I was like a sponge.
I wanted to learn everything from them.
And I've done jobs that were not on my job description list, but I wanted to learn.
So...
By doing, you learn.
Making mistakes, you learn.
Super rare.
No, I didn't know how to write a check.
So a friend...
One day I invited him to dinner.
I'm like, you need to teach me.
You need to teach me how to write a check.
You need to teach me what is important.
And he said, you have to get a credit card.
What is a credit card?
Well, you go to the bank.
And so he walked me through the process.
I went to the bank, Wells Fargo Bank in Beverly Hills.
And this was in 1990 when you couldn't get credit cards that easily.
And they didn't want to give me a credit card because I didn't have history.
My parents didn't have a history, a credit history.
I wasn't qualified.
And I said to the teller, can I talk with the manager?
A gentleman came and I used everything that came in my mind to convince him.
I said, well, I work hard.
I am successful because at that time it was 1992.
I already start working with a lot of celebrities, rented a room in a salon in Beverly Hills.
So he still didn't want to give me a credit card.
And I said, look, I have $2,000 in my checking account.
Can you give me a credit, $500 credit card?
And I proved that I'm going to pay every month and I'm going to be such a great customer and I'm going to be a Wells Fargo customer forever.
To this day, I'm still banking.
Correct.
At that time, the cover of magazines were the supermodels.
Cindy Crawford, Stephanie Samer, Naomi Campbell, Heidi Klum.
Yes, those were the covers of magazines.
And then I was working with Michelle Pfeiffer, Faye Dunaway.
I was kind of the best-kept secret in Hollywood, I have to say.
This is what Marina Ross that wrote an article in 1994 in Vogue magazine.
Very important.
So my goal when I started was to do the best job.
I wanted to master my craft.
I wanted to do the best eyebrow ever.
It didn't matter if you were a celebrity or you were, I don't know, a student.
Because in my mind was...
This is my advertising.
It's a walking advertising.
And in early 90s, nobody was doing eyebrows as a service.
Of course, we didn't have social media.
As well, I was on TV.
I was on every beauty editor start kind of coming and getting their eyebrows done.
So that was my way of promoting myself, my service.
But in the same time, I wanted to be the best in shaping eyebrows.
We are neighbors.
She's such a wonderful and supportive, wonderful young woman.
I really admire her a lot and Justin.
They are so beautiful together.
I started working with Jennifer Lopez in 1992 when she started the Selena movie, if you can believe.
Wow.
And through these days, she's still my client.
How do you cultivate that?
I used to work the salon from 8.30 in the morning until sometimes 8, 9 o'clock at night.
And then I will go home, take a shower, change and go out.
used to go out with a hairstylist that was working with me.
Her room was next to my room.
And we used to promote our business.
We had a business card.
At that time, you used to hand your business card.
And this is how we used to promote our business.
So it was nonstop, not only during the day,
creating the most beautiful eyebrows, and the client will walk and she will send you.
You know, when somebody loves their eyebrows, they will send their best friend, their mother, their sisters.
So this is how it is.
Eyebrow is one of the most important features on our face and kind of brings balance and proportion.
So that is...
makes you feel so good about yourself.
Yeah, I mean, I was...
In America for two years, I barely spoke the language.
I didn't have a credit card.
I didn't know how to write a check.
So you were just buying everything in cash?
Yes.
And it was quite difficult for me to even think that I could open my own business.
And when they said no, after a month or two, I thought, I really believe in this eyebrow.
This is science combined with beauty.
I can't believe nobody even talked about how important eyebrows are.
In my art school, my teacher really emphasized, if you want to draw a portrait and you want to change an emotion, you change the eyebrow shape on the portrait.
I've been nervous this entire time.
Why?
You have beautiful eyebrows.
Thank you.
And you are doing great.
Thank you so much.
You have beautiful face, gorgeous cheeks.
You always need thick eyebrows.
It's Anastasia approved.
Yes.
In cash?
When I saved $5,000, I rented the room in a salon.
The first step in 1990.
And from 1992 to 1997, I worked and...
created an incredible clientele, and I saved $60,000.
But remember, I didn't have a cleaning lady.
I clean, I wash my clothes and my family.
I cooked.
I never went to a restaurant because I couldn't afford.
I had to save every penny.
And I drove my Ford that I spent $200 when I came here for probably until 95, I should say.
Was it a Ford Pinto?
You know those long station wagons with the wood on the side?
Yes, the owner didn't want to rent me the space.
But again, you convinced him.
I convinced him.
I couldn't leave that place without getting a yes from the owner.
And how did you do it?
I use every trick.
I went there with the article in magazines.
I went there, still wasn't impressed.
I went there and again, I pulled that trick.
John, I am
an immigrant.
I'm sure somebody in your family was an immigrant.
Somebody gave them a chance to do something.
You have to do this for me.
I am passionate about my work.
I work really hard.
And by the way, this place was empty for two years.
Give it to me for six months.
If it's not going to happen, if I cannot pay the rent, then I will leave anyway and I will go and rent a room.
What do you have to lose?
And he said, yes.
Like, okay, six months.
And you are so contagious, sister.
Like, I want to give you my wallet right now.
For two hours, trust me, he could.
He was like, enough.
The broker that I went there, this guy's not going to give a like.
No, we are not leaving this place until I get the... I'm obsessed.
I don't take no as an answer.
It doesn't seem like it.
What can I do to change your mind, John?
Tell me.
Please tell me what do you want me to do?
I will come and clean your office.
What do you want me to do?
He started laughing, but...
I didn't leave that room until I got there, yes.
Incredible.
Well, there were no products for eyebrows.
So I was mixing in my kitchen some aloe vera with the eyeshadow and Vaseline and create this pomade.
And I went to art store and I got the brush and I cut it to be angle cut.
And I start using that to create the perfect arch because, of course, there were a lot of women that they over tweezed their eyebrows.
And then after a while, they said, well, after I take my shower, my eyebrow disappears.
We need that product.
And you couldn't name it Anastasia at the time.
Well, I named it first Anastasia.
And I realized that it's so hard to trademark.
That was one lesson for me.
And I tell everyone, pick a name that is easy to trademark.
Because Anastasia, there are so many Anastasia.
It's a name.
I mean, I don't know any other.
It's very difficult to trademark.
So that's why I had to put Beverly Hills.
And you also invented the brush that you talked about making at the... Yes, it was the first brush because I used to have like probably 100 clients a day sometimes.
And...
I designed the caddy where my wax was there.
I had to minimize every single move to do eyebrows.
I had to master this in five minutes.
And I had the brush from the art store cut, angle cut, and then I will put the brush down and I will take the spoolie to blend the color.
So I will waste time by doing that movement.
So I went to a manufacturer and I said, can you put this together?
It was so much easier for me to move fast.
No, I didn't because I didn't know you could patent that.
I know that I inspire so many other brands that they have the brush.
So if you could go back to your former self.
Yeah, I would say hire a lawyer.
Rule number one when you start a business, hire a smart lawyer.
Not only for trademark, if you have inventions, but a lawyer to make any contract to help you to sign anything.
Now, I will never put a name, my name on a company.
I will definitely put, I don't know, the Money News website.
How to make money.
No, because I spend so much money to protect the trademark.
I mean, it hurts sometimes.
Do you get annoyed?
Yeah, of course.
I mean, I made the brow freeze wax myself.
I love it.
Thank you.
It's great with the brush that we patent, the spatula with the spoolie.
And eight months later, somebody, of course, looks clear, looks the same, but it's not performing the same.
But it kind of hurts.
Because I spend a lot of time on creating innovating products.
I'm all about innovating products.
Even all my eyebrow products, when I started it, I had to start from nothing.
I will create a product based on the need of a client, what challenges she had.
She had curly hair.
She had over tweeze.
She never tweeze.
You know, every product was specifically for a challenge that one of my clients had, and I had to offer her a product.
But copying is like the best way of flattering.
Yeah, but sometimes.
I want people to acknowledge that I started.
I was the OG.
You were the OG.
I invented the eyebrows.
For instance, when we create a product for six months, they go to the lab to stability to make sure people are putting in their face, on their lips.
And as you know, the skin is the biggest organ, so you absorb everything in your body.
So be careful.
Yes.
No, I'm never.
Because I love what I do.
For me, it's not work.
This is my life.
I don't even know what to do if I will not work.
If you ask me, Anastasia, take a break for a month and go on vacation, I will really, I don't know what to do with myself.
And don't get me wrong, I like vacation.
But for me, a vacation is I have to combine with work.
And I will take three days for myself.
as a vacation.
But in a way, I will have dinners related to business, or I will have a lunch related or somebody with somebody that I do business.
But me and my daughter, we, in the last, myself, because she's way younger, for so many years, this is what we did.
And we don't feel we work.
And that's the key.
If you want to be an entrepreneur, you have to love what you do.
Otherwise, it will be hard.
If you don't love it, you will give up because it's hard.
Yes, it's not.
Okay, I'm cutting, and after 5 o'clock, I don't do, and I will stop doing business.
It didn't work for me.
I mean, if you are able to do it, good for you, but...
But you hired your daughter.
Yes, I hire and I fire her.
Tell me why.
Well, she started working at the salon.
She was in school.
And of course, like any teenager, she wanted to have fun.
This is what she used to say.
I want to have fun.
I don't want to work like you that much.
And I said, well, life is not like that.
If you are able to manage, you could have fun as well.
Or love what you do and you will have fun.
So she's supposed to be at work at 8.30 before the client will arrive at 9 o'clock.
And she was late one day because she would go with her friends out.
And she was late one day.
The second time I warned her and I said, if you are late one more time, I'm going to fire you.
I don't think she believed me.
And the third time, pack your bags, you're fired.
So she went and she got the job, I think, at the insurance company.
I never asked her.
And after three weeks, four weeks, she came to the salon and asking me for some money.
She wants to borrow some money because she didn't have enough money after taxes to pay her bills and rent especially.
And I said, I'm sorry, I can't do that for you.
And mom, I'm going to lose the apartment.
He's going to kick me out.
It's like, Claudia, I came here without speaking the language with a little baby.
You speak the language.
You don't have a kid.
It's like you should get another job or something else.
Even so, she was so good at the front desk.
My daughter used to do three jobs at the front desk, maybe four.
Now we have four people at the front desk.
She used to cover everything.
Very efficient, very good, and very good with the clients.
And I wanted to give her the job back, but I wanted her to ask me, to beg me for the job.
So she did, and I rehired her.
What did she say?
She learned from the best, clearly, not to take no for an answer.
You are very good in what you do, but we have rules here.
I'm not your mother when you come to work, number one.
Number two, I'm going to be harder on you than all the other employees because I will set an example.
Everybody will think, well, she's so tough with her daughter.
Imagine what...
She would say to me.
So, yeah, she came back.
She was perfect.
Today, to this day, now I have to reverse and say, I think it's time for you to take a vacation.
I mean, until last year, she never took vacation.
And, yeah, she works.
She loves to work.
My daughter is a workaholic.
But she loves what she does, so...
It's the best thing.
You have to have a purpose in life.
And if you are able to do that, you will be the happiest person.
Yes.
You really have to have strict rules with the kid because
Number one, other people will feel like if you give different treatment to your kid, they will feel, well, it's her daughter.
I'm sure my daughter worked twice as hard, everybody else in her position, just to prove that she earned that.
I remember we had an interview together and somebody asked her, do you feel like you are an imposter because your mother is the owner?
No way.
I worked twice as hard as everybody else.
After four years, we got divorced because my husband couldn't adjust and he went back to Romania.
Unfortunately, I wish now...
This time in my life, I wish I had more kids.
I wish my husband, we came here to build something.
I wish we were together and he could help me to build this company probably sooner than I did.
And maybe we could have more kids, but it didn't work that way.
So being not married is not the answer at the end of the day.
I think if you have a husband that could help you and support you, you are definitely a winner.
So in business?
Yes.
What's the bigger advantage, having a partner?
Well, you could do twice as many things.
I mean, I am a partner with my daughter, but imagine if my husband was working with us.
We'll have three people.
We'll be three people that could do even more, you know.
It's a lot to do in the company, so everybody will have a different role.
No, I have great people.
You can't reach greatness by yourself.
You have to have people that you trust and people that will work as hard as you do.
Yes.
So I hired a company that evaluated the business.
And at that time, we had incredible margin.
The business was doing incredible.
We wanted just to expand internationally because I was so immersed in doing eyebrows and working here was very difficult for me.
to expand internationally and I didn't have the expertise because it's a totally different way of doing business when you go in every single country.
Different language, different rules, different financial rules.
So I wanted to get the partner to help me to do that expansion.
Asia the same and Latin America.
TPG.
So I hire a company and they evaluated the business.
A banker, yes.
So we realized that the company was evaluated at three billions, a lot of valuation.
What did you think when you saw that?
I couldn't believe it because I never, you know, I never had investors.
I never sat down and, oh, let me see how much my company is worth.
I never cared for that.
What did you think it would come back at, approximately?
I never thought that I would sell the company.
So it didn't matter to me.
I wanted just to make amazing products, innovation, and to make the customer happy.
That was our goal.
You know, we wanted really to offer things that people didn't even know exist or products that are so high quality.
That was our goal.
Because I wanted to expand internationally.
So we found we couldn't sell to a strategic because the evaluation was too high.
I thought that strategic would be good only because they already have an infrastructure.
They know operation.
So that was probably ideal for me.
Like one of the makeup companies?
Yes.
Strategics?
Yes.
And then we partnered with TPG.
Well, private equity depends what do you want.
You see, I didn't know.
at that time, because I didn't know what private equity was or what they were.
I mean, I would ask exactly what I want.
I want help with the HR.
We didn't have a CFO, believe it or not.
So I needed a CFO.
I needed a lot of people, e-commerce.
I needed people in very important position and as well to help me to expand internationally.
And a company that
It's a private equity is super smart.
I mean, people are very smart, but I personally don't think they have operational experience.
So I think that is the challenge that you have with private equity.
They will give you the funds, but you have to find people that will help you operational.
No, no, I didn't.
But again, I think
Everybody that wants to get private equity or strategic, I think they need to understand before they will make a decision what exactly they want.
You know, they have to do their homework.
I would sell the company to a strategic one that was worth $1 billion, not $3 billion.
So way earlier.
But at that time, I didn't think I wanted to, you know, we were like so hot.
The Instagram, we're on social media, the hottest brand.
I never thought of getting an investor or selling.
The first beauty brand on Instagram.
Yes.
Yes.
Now a little more than 18.
I mean, when we started in 2012, and of course, give 100% credit to my daughter.
She was the mastermind behind the Instagram.
They were not influencers.
We kind of help each other.
with the people that we thought they have a talent.
We start sending them products and they will post, will repost.
The camera on the iPhone wasn't that great.
We start discovering the ring light and then the Sony 6 camera to get the better pictures.
So we help each other to grow and the influencer to become really big.
Today, I think you have such a wide range
Number one, the algorithm of Instagram changed, so everything changed.
But you have so much more.
You have TikTok.
You have so many other platforms that, of course, will spread your way of influencing and capturing more people that you want to capture.
When we started, it was totally very authentic.
Nobody was paid.
We kind of built a community that everybody loved makeup.
You know, everybody go there and they start doing makeup.
And I remember in 2012,
They barely kind of knew how to.
A mother of two in her closet, after she put the kids to sleep, she started applying makeup and talk about.
And then you see the progression.
She became more skilled, better and better every day.
So we kind of organically grew together.
Today, you have to pay to play.
So it's a different game right now.
I work like I can pay my rent next month, okay?
I feel that.
Yes, I do.
Nothing has changed with me and my daughter.
We work exactly the same.
I think we kind of ignore it.
I don't even think about it.
You talk about it, and then I'm thinking, oh, yes.
don't pay attention of course I like my clothes of course I like my house or beautiful things that I work for it and I bought it okay you did but that's not everything it's my passion
And that power and purpose to wake up every morning and do the things that I love.
To me, that's worth more than any money that I have in the bank account.
Priceless.
Priceless.
I don't like it.
Bearish.
But hold on.
You could do bleach eyebrow just one shade lighter.
One shade lighter.
So a tint?
No, it's bleach.
Because if you have dark eyebrow, like I am a brunette, okay?
My eyebrow is black.
So because I am blonde, sometimes I bleach one shade.
When I do my hair, I put a little bit of bleach on my eyebrows, but I take it immediately out and I put some cream because the bleach still works.
Otherwise, I will end up being like my hair.
It doesn't look good.
So you could do that.
So I don't know how I could answer.
With the treatment?
Yeah, I have that.
I don't like that.
I will tell you why.
Because our eyebrows, hair, has to curl and move on a side a little bit.
That covers the hair and gives you a beautiful arch.
If you laminate it, it's going to stay straight.
And the eyebrow, I don't know.
Personally, I'm not a big fan.
If you use the Brow Freeze Wax...
you could still create that heaviness and gives you a fuller eyebrows, but is not completely straight.
But if you like it, how do you like it?
So you're bearish.
I'm bearish, yeah.
Look, at the end of the day, you should do whatever you like for yourself.
But really listen to you.
So soap brows, the reason why I created the brow freeze wax was because was the trend with the soap brow.
Everywhere during COVID, everybody, everybody wanted soap brow.
So they will take water with the spoolie and mix into the soap and put it.
So for a second, the eyebrow looked good, laminated.
Once the water will evaporate,
the soap will not hold on and will kind of give you little, I should say, little white cast flakes.
Yes.
So that's why I created the brow freeze wax.
The look was great, but it didn't work at the end.
After a few hours, it was performing when you applied.
So still bullish?
You like the look?
I mean, bullish, but the look, the first initial look, yes, but
Not after five minutes or ten minutes.
And 90s thin.
That's definitely a no.
Big bear.
Nice.
I'll just do what you say.
Speaking of that, in the 90s, everybody wanted to have Pamela Anderson eyebrows.
And I used to beg them, or I will never...
I would say, I'm sorry, this is not the service I could offer you.
I can't do that.
I would refuse taking their money because I knew that the eyebrow doesn't grow.
And you look at Pamela Anderson, I think she's so gorgeous.
Her skin is beautiful, gorgeous cheeks, beautiful.
But the eyebrows, it's so thin.
I wish she would have thicker eyebrows.
We change completely her look.
She will look so young.
She looks already so young and beautiful.
But I think a thicker eyebrow will be amazing on her.
Botox.
I used to love Botox.
I haven't done it in a long time because, I don't know, I don't like it anymore.
I don't like the fillers anymore and the Botox.
But if I will have a frowning area here, I will do it maybe.
But I try to do it...
At least.
Like here, I have wrinkles.
I don't care.
I don't want Botox.
Because changes, like I cannot even laugh or, yeah.
Don't you think?
Yes.
Like in the 90s?
Well, if you do the lip liner dark and you blend that lip liner, why not?
Okay.
Everything works.
First of all, you need to take your makeup at night.
Don't go to bed with makeup on and especially mascara.
When I was in my 20s.
That is very important.
Second, I love SkinCeuticals and I love their vitamin C products.
and so many other products from that brand.
And I like as well some other research, Biologique, and so many other brands.
And I like to alternate.
I don't use all the time one.
But the vitamin I use only from SkinCeutical.
That's my palette.
The brush is the best.
Thank you.
Well, we'll send you some products.
Thank you so much.
It wasn't easy.
You know, after that earthquake, when I lost the home, I was ready to move back to Romania.
I remember how devastating it is because an earthquake could be any time.
And I couldn't sleep for a long time, probably a year.
And you had the baby.
I cannot even believe what you went through.
But I believe find something else to think that is positive.
Did you find a new house?
Yes.
Don't put energy on what it was.
Because anyway, you cannot change it.
So what's the point?
This is how I live my life.
I'm not looking back.
Because you know what?
I will think for a moment, I will learn something from, and I will close that, write a letter, by the way, write a letter, start the candle, write a letter, and say everything you want to.
It's like, I'm angry because I lost that, and I want to release myself from this, and I don't ever want to think again.
And burn it, put it in whatever, fireplace.
Take back the power from the fire.
Take back the power from the fire and just move on.
And don't think of what it was because you can't change that.
It's so traumatic, though.
Yeah.
I was so busy with work that I immersed myself in work and I would not think about it.
But I lost everything.
Everything.
I brought from Romania, seriously, a box that was maybe nine feet by six and by six, filled with china, with crystal, with everything.
I couldn't take one.
Thank God I took my passports and I had some cash and that's it.
The bag and my mom and my daughter, because my mom just visited me.
But it was, it is very traumatic.
I am, but you know, I always believe when it's your time, it's your time.
I can't live in fear.
Absolutely.
Be positive.
Live a life that you could enjoy every day.
You have a husband.
You have a baby.
I mean, what do you want?
And amazing eyebrows.