Jamie Kern Lima

Maybe you've had a whisper like this in your life. It was a 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 to find the best chemist and make an amazing product that's probably going to help so many people if you do.

Maybe you've had a whisper like this in your life. It was a 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 to find the best chemist and make an amazing product that's probably going to help so many people if you do.

But my self-doubt said, oh, but you've got no money. You don't know anyone in the beauty industry. You are not qualified. I made the decision to dare to trust my gut, to trust my knowing over my self-doubt. I also leaned on my Columbia Business School network. I called every alumni in the database that I could find asking their advice.

But my self-doubt said, oh, but you've got no money. You don't know anyone in the beauty industry. You are not qualified. I made the decision to dare to trust my gut, to trust my knowing over my self-doubt. I also leaned on my Columbia Business School network. I called every alumni in the database that I could find asking their advice.

And then my husband, Paolo, he's right over there, CBS class of 04 alum. He was working in investment. Yes. He's over here. He was working in investment banking, and he and I both decided to quit our jobs. We poured every penny we had into starting a company called IT Cosmetics in our living room.

And then my husband, Paolo, he's right over there, CBS class of 04 alum. He was working in investment. Yes. He's over here. He was working in investment banking, and he and I both decided to quit our jobs. We poured every penny we had into starting a company called IT Cosmetics in our living room.

What we did not know is from the moment we went all in, it would be more than three years before we could even afford to pay ourselves a single penny. It would be hundreds and hundreds of no's and rejections.

What we did not know is from the moment we went all in, it would be more than three years before we could even afford to pay ourselves a single penny. It would be hundreds and hundreds of no's and rejections.

And during this journey, I realized even though there were thousands of beauty companies out there, a lot of them I loved, I had never seen a company showing women with skin issues, bright red bumpy skin or whatever it might be. And then I also realized from the time I was a little girl, I would watch those beauty ads, and I loved them. I always aspired to look like them.

And during this journey, I realized even though there were thousands of beauty companies out there, a lot of them I loved, I had never seen a company showing women with skin issues, bright red bumpy skin or whatever it might be. And then I also realized from the time I was a little girl, I would watch those beauty ads, and I loved them. I always aspired to look like them.

But deep down inside, they always made me feel like I wasn't enough.

But deep down inside, they always made me feel like I wasn't enough.

So when we launched IT Cosmetics, we had this huge, wild, crazy vision to literally change the beauty industry and to instead of using airbrushed, photoshopped images and models, we wanted to use real people like me, every age and shape and size and skin tone and skin challenge and call them beautiful and mean it, but it wasn't being done at the time.

So when we launched IT Cosmetics, we had this huge, wild, crazy vision to literally change the beauty industry and to instead of using airbrushed, photoshopped images and models, we wanted to use real people like me, every age and shape and size and skin tone and skin challenge and call them beautiful and mean it, but it wasn't being done at the time.

And no one thought it would work, especially all the experts. Every single retail store said no. And so many of them said, if you have any shot at selling products in our store, you have to use images of unattainable aspiration. They'd always say those words, which means you can't even look like that because it's not real, right? And it's like everyone was doing that at the time.

And no one thought it would work, especially all the experts. Every single retail store said no. And so many of them said, if you have any shot at selling products in our store, you have to use images of unattainable aspiration. They'd always say those words, which means you can't even look like that because it's not real, right? And it's like everyone was doing that at the time.

But I wanted to change that for every little girl out there who's about to see those ads and start doubting herself and every grown woman and person who still does. But literally no one thought it would work. And it is scary to trust yourself, right? Especially when no one around you seems to think that you're right. And after a few years of nonstop no's, literally we had no money left.

But I wanted to change that for every little girl out there who's about to see those ads and start doubting herself and every grown woman and person who still does. But literally no one thought it would work. And it is scary to trust yourself, right? Especially when no one around you seems to think that you're right. And after a few years of nonstop no's, literally we had no money left.

There was a huge moment that happened. I'd always dreamed of us going on QVC, which is a live television shopping channel. It's broadcast to 100 million homes across the country. And when you have a product, QVC is a huge deal because they can sell more there in 10 minutes than in most national store chains across the entire country in a year. So it's massive.

There was a huge moment that happened. I'd always dreamed of us going on QVC, which is a live television shopping channel. It's broadcast to 100 million homes across the country. And when you have a product, QVC is a huge deal because they can sell more there in 10 minutes than in most national store chains across the entire country in a year. So it's massive.