Aspire with Emma Grede
Bobbi Brown on Selling Your Name, Getting Fired, and Starting Over
09 Apr 2026
Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
Chapter 1: What does it mean to sell your name in business?
So today I'm interviewing beauty mogul, Bobbi Brown, and she has such a story to tell. This is a woman that sold her brand to Estee Lauder, worked there for 22 years before she was unceremoniously fired. She's then launched again in her sixties, another brand, which let me tell you is about to have a billion dollar exit.
Even if she says that's not what she's looking for, there is so much to learn from this woman. You are going to love the honesty. You're But most of all, you are literally going to get a masterclass in how to launch a brand with real meaning. You're going to love this episode. I promise you. The Start With Yourself Tour kicks off on April 15th in New York City.
Tickets are on sale now at emagreed.com. Bobby Brown, welcome to Aspire. Oh, I am so happy to be here. I am so happy to have you. I feel like this has just been a really long time coming.
Chapter 2: How did Bobbi Brown feel about getting fired from her own brand?
Yes, we've been courting a long time.
Actually, you walked out of an elevator at some Forbes or Fortune thing where we both got awards and I was trying so hard to get your attention. You were just so busy.
I was just like, let's go, let's get Let's get in and get out. Well, I honestly, I'm so excited to speak to you because when I think about the arc of a career, someone who has been successful, like you are just, I mean, first of all, you're the pinnacle.
And I really want to make sure that we can have a brilliant and honest conversation today because I really feel like you have lived it in so many ways. And what's so extraordinary about you is obviously you built Bobby Brown into a billion dollar brand. Not by myself, but yes. Not by yourself. I love that you say that, but you did. I mean, it's your namesake brand, right?
It was a billion dollar brand. You sold it to Estee Lauder, 25 years in a non-compete. And on the day that your non-compete expires, you launch Jones Road.
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Chapter 3: What lessons did Bobbi learn from her 25-year non-compete?
Yes. Congratulations, by the way. Thank you. I think that you were 63 when you launched Jones Road. 62, 63. 62, 63, which is the age that most people are thinking about retiring, but you've called it a new beginning. And so I wanted to start there because I wonder so much, and it's something I think about all the time, like where my ambition starts and where it ends.
Have you always been ambitious? Yes.
I don't know if I've always been ambitious. I mean, I was the kid that had the lemonade stand. I sold jewelry in my basement when I was a kid. So I've always been like that. And I come from a family of entrepreneurs. My Papa Sam, who came from another country and then built up a car dealership, I saw the way he worked.
Chapter 4: What inspired Bobbi to launch Jones Road at 63?
And, you know, I wasn't great in school. So I wasn't interested in normal things like being an accountant or, you know, money manager. And I just found what my passion was and I followed it.
I mean, I'm going to label you ambitious because I feel like it's something that specifically for women, there can often be negative connotations. And I wonder if being called and labeled ambitious at the age of 68, which you are now, is the same way. And does it show up the same way from 28 to when you're 68?
Well, the truth of the matter is I don't see age. I really don't see age. There's some very young people that are super smart and accomplished. And there's some older people that are not. So I don't see age. I don't think of myself of a woman of a certain age. I don't think of myself as a female founder. I'm a founder and I am a woman and I have figured things out.
I'm also a wife, a mother and a grandmother.
Chapter 5: How does Bobbi differentiate between building a massive brand and a personal one?
And it's like how I'm figuring out how to do it all at the same time.
still figuring it out. I feel like so many people look at your journey now, the fact that you have had this second coming and they really think of it as so inspiring. I know I certainly do, but is there something that is almost condescending in that given that you're having all of this success, you've clearly engineered it that way.
Is it the same as a young founder being called like smart and inspiring or are you just doing what you're doing?
You know, I just do what I do and I don't think about it a lot, you know, and I don't even read the articles that are written about me or my journey. None of them? Some of them I do and they're really, really good because, you know, it's been how many years? There's so many of them. So when someone says, well, that was good, you should listen to it. And then I do.
But, you know, I'm always on to the next thing. I just have so many things I'm interested in. I'm incredibly curious. And I'm not afraid.
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Chapter 6: What social media strategies did Bobbi use for Jones Road?
So I guess, you know, you put the two things together. Well, that's the big one.
I mean, curiosity and a lack of fear, that'll really get you somewhere. So what was it all about launching Jones Road? Because at the end of the day, you don't need the money and you certainly don't need the accolades. You're not proving yourself. So tell me, why would you go again in your early 60s?
Well, when I left Bobby Brown Cosmetics, I was 59 years old. My kids were out of the house and I either quit or got fired. It's all in the memoir. I got fired, which is a good thing. And I didn't know what I was going to do. It was the first time in so many years when we sold Bobby Brown Cosmetics to Estee Lauder, my husband and I were 35 years old. Had two kids. Now we have three.
Chapter 7: What leadership lessons has Bobbi learned over the years?
We didn't know anything. And when they asked us to sign a 25-year non-compete, I was like, I'm not going to want to work in my 60s. I mean, come on. Well, guess what? I didn't know what I was going to do. And I thought, I'm done. I'm done with makeup. I'm done with beauty. I did that. And I started doing a lot of different things.
We built a hotel together, my husband and I, a wellness brand, a line of glasses. I just kept doing things. And then I just didn't feel done. I just didn't feel done. And more important, I had an idea.
Chapter 8: What advice does Bobbi have for aspiring entrepreneurs?
I had an idea. I mean, I had an opportunity to go in and fix a very large brand, which was Avon. And luckily it didn't, luckily it didn't work out because I would have been miserable. Right. I cannot, I cannot work in corporate anymore.
No. And I also don't see you as like, because you so go against the grain in everything that you're doing. That feels really...
different from who you are. Except what excited me is to go in and shake it all up. Like, I love the stories of the women because everyone has stories. I loved reading your story, where you came from. You just kind of put the pieces together and the Avon ladies have a lot of stories.
And I thought that would have been- Well, the Avon ladies, they were the original. They were. Probably the first entrepreneurs, legally working entrepreneurs that I knew. Yeah, no, it's true. Because everyone had an Avon lady in their street, but you didn't choose to do that. You chose to start again and go on your own.
So just to contextualize this for people, in 1995, you sold Bobby Brown to Estee Lauder. You were 37. You signed a 25-year non-compete at that time because you're like, I definitely don't want to work in my 60s. What would you tell yourself now if you could go back about what you were actually signing away? I would do things exactly the same way.
Really, I don't have any regrets. And by the way, I stayed with Estee Lauder 22 years. How many people sell a business and stay? I mean, not for 22 years. 22 years. It's a long time. So it was great until it wasn't. But then when I finally had a clean slate, I had a piece of paper.
I'm like, well, I don't know. So what did you think about the deal when you were signing it? Did you just look at the money and the opportunity and say, this is Estee Lauder, and there's 70-odd million dollars here, and those two things make sense? What was it?
And one of the reasons that we wanted to sell the company is we had two kids. My husband and I had lived in the suburbs. We had this great life. We would go back and forth to New York events and happy to come home to our home in New Jersey. And we just wanted to continue having this great life while growing the business. We didn't know how to grow a business back then.
I mean, being at Estee Lauder for 22 years is quite an education. I learned so much you can't even imagine. So you don't have any regrets. I don't.
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