Jamie Kern Lima

And I'd always hear in my earpiece, Jamie, it's still there. It's still there. I literally thought every single time I was at work, I was going to get fired. And I would spend most of my paycheck just trying to find makeup that would work, and nothing did. And then one day, I felt this whisper. Maybe you've had whispers in your life too.

And I'd always hear in my earpiece, Jamie, it's still there. It's still there. I literally thought every single time I was at work, I was going to get fired. And I would spend most of my paycheck just trying to find makeup that would work, and nothing did. And then one day, I felt this whisper. Maybe you've had whispers in your life too.

I felt this whisper that said, if you cannot find anything that works for you, why don't you figure out how to create something that does? So my gut, my intuition, my knowing said, you can do this. You can start a business and figure out how do you find the best chemists and how do you make an amazing product that's going to help so many other people too.

I felt this whisper that said, if you cannot find anything that works for you, why don't you figure out how to create something that does? So my gut, my intuition, my knowing said, you can do this. You can start a business and figure out how do you find the best chemists and how do you make an amazing product that's going to help so many other people too.

But my self doubt said, oh, but you got no money. You don't know anyone in the beauty industry. You are not qualified. And I made the decision to dare to trust my gut, to trust my knowing over my self-doubt. And my husband Paulo, also right up here in the audience today, my husband Paulo and I, we both quit our jobs.

But my self doubt said, oh, but you got no money. You don't know anyone in the beauty industry. You are not qualified. And I made the decision to dare to trust my gut, to trust my knowing over my self-doubt. And my husband Paulo, also right up here in the audience today, my husband Paulo and I, we both quit our jobs.

We poured everything we had into starting a company called IT Cosmetics in our living room. Now, what I didn't know was from the moment that we went all in, it would be more than three years, more than three years before we could even afford to pay ourselves a single penny, and hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of rejections and no's.

We poured everything we had into starting a company called IT Cosmetics in our living room. Now, what I didn't know was from the moment that we went all in, it would be more than three years, more than three years before we could even afford to pay ourselves a single penny, and hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of rejections and no's.

And during this journey, I realized even though there were thousands of beauty companies out there in existence, I had never seen one showing a model that looked like me, that had real serious skin issues. And I also realized, maybe you've had this experience too, growing up, I used to love seeing those beauty ads.

And during this journey, I realized even though there were thousands of beauty companies out there in existence, I had never seen one showing a model that looked like me, that had real serious skin issues. And I also realized, maybe you've had this experience too, growing up, I used to love seeing those beauty ads.

I loved them, I always aspired to look that way, but deep down inside, they always made me feel like I wasn't enough.

I loved them, I always aspired to look that way, but deep down inside, they always made me feel like I wasn't enough.

So when we launched IT Cosmetics, I had this huge, kind of crazy at the time, wild vision to try to change the entire beauty industry by instead of using those like airbrush, Photoshopped images and models, I wanted to use real people like me, every age and shape and size and skin tone and skin challenge and call them beautiful models and mean it.

So when we launched IT Cosmetics, I had this huge, kind of crazy at the time, wild vision to try to change the entire beauty industry by instead of using those like airbrush, Photoshopped images and models, I wanted to use real people like me, every age and shape and size and skin tone and skin challenge and call them beautiful models and mean it.

But it wasn't being done yet, so nobody thought it would work. especially the experts. Every retail store said no. Sephora, Ulta, QVC, all the department stores. All of them said women will not buy products from images like this. And they'd always say that they'll only buy products from images of unattainable aspiration.

But it wasn't being done yet, so nobody thought it would work. especially the experts. Every retail store said no. Sephora, Ulta, QVC, all the department stores. All of them said women will not buy products from images like this. And they'd always say that they'll only buy products from images of unattainable aspiration.

Those are always the words that they would use, which means you cannot even look like that because it's not even real. And I was like, well, maybe people are sick and tired of buying products from people that don't look like them. But I wanted to change that.

Those are always the words that they would use, which means you cannot even look like that because it's not even real. And I was like, well, maybe people are sick and tired of buying products from people that don't look like them. But I wanted to change that.

I wanted to change it for every little kid who was about to start seeing those ads and start doubting themselves, and every grown person who still does. It is scary to trust yourself, especially when no one else around you seems to think you're right. After a few years of non-stop no's, A huge moment happened.

I wanted to change it for every little kid who was about to start seeing those ads and start doubting themselves, and every grown person who still does. It is scary to trust yourself, especially when no one else around you seems to think you're right. After a few years of non-stop no's, A huge moment happened.