Bobbi Brown
Founder & CCO, Jones Road Beauty. On 2 shows, 4 appearances. The Shows tab opens the full record on each.
founderauthorhostentertainerbobbibrowncosmetics.com ↗Wikipedia ↗Instagram ↗
Bobbi Brown founded Bobbi Brown Cosmetics in 1991, which was acquired by Estée Lauder in 1995. In 2020, she launched the clean-beauty brand Jones Road Beauty and has authored numerous beauty and wellness books.
2shows
4appearances
49statements
11resolved
10supported
0contradicted
91%fully supported
14said about them ↓ Everything Bobbi Brown said on any show that made the record, most notable first. Each card names its show and opens the statement there.
Estée Lauder required Bobbi Brown to sign a 25-year non-compete
“They would like you to sign a 25 year non-compete.”
Estée Lauder canceled Bobbi Brown's contract, forcing her into a figurehead role
“Well, I didn't decide to leave. It was, you know, I was called into the office and thinking that I was going to, you know, have finally some candidates, because we were, we went to search to help me turn around this company and fix the company and all of that,…”
A Dallas finance firm backed a competitor after a failed buyout
“And then there was a Dallas-based company that tried to buy us, a finance company, that basically finally said, if you won't sell to us, we're just gonna knock you off with another makeup artist, which they did which is fine.”
Estée Lauder began appointing senior executives without founder Bobbi Brown's approval
“Like, I used to interview every single person, like, in the beginning. Every single person. And then, big people were being hired. The head of international, the head of this, and it'd be like, excuse me? Like, this is not the right person. This person doesn't…”
Leonard Lauder apologized to Bobbi Brown for failing to protect her brand
“And at the very end, when I was getting ready to leave, and you know, at this point, he was in a, you know, sitting in a chair, not getting up, and he said, he grabbed my arm, and he said, I just have to apologize to you, and I said, Leonard, for what? I said,…”
Bobbi Brown Cosmetics was outselling Estée Lauder at Neiman Marcus in 1995
“You are beating us In the stores, and we were beating Estee Lauder and Neiman Marcus at the time.”
Brown: Men could be brilliant when women are considered difficult
“You know, the thing is, unfortunately, men could be brilliant when women are considered difficult.”
Bobbi Brown Cosmetics outsold Estée Lauder at Neiman Marcus
“We were beating Estee Lauder and Neiman Marcus at the time.”
Brown: Men are considered brilliant when women are considered difficult
“You know, the thing is, unfortunately, men could be brilliant when women are considered difficult.”
Bobbi Brown Cosmetics was generating $1 billion in revenue when Brown left
“Like, you know, when I left, it was a billion dollars.”
A second-time founder's main advantage is knowing what not to do
“When I started the second company, I had all this years of knowledge and understanding how things work and what makes sense. But I also knew the most important thing was I knew what not to do. What was a waste of time, money, and energy.”
Bobbi Brown: Jones Road launched the day her 25-year non-compete expired
“The day my 25 year non-compete expired, I did.”
Bobbi Brown ignores age demographics to target women seeking a natural look
“I don't market to the different age groups. I just market to women that want to look natural and pretty.”
Bobbi Brown: Giving up hiring control and detail attention harmed her brand
“I used to hire and interview every person that walked in that brand, and then I didn't anymore, and all of a sudden there were people working on my brand that I never met before, and that I might not have hired, and you know, it was a struggle, and I tried to …”
Brown's father advised focusing on earning more, not strict budgeting
“He said, stop trying to stick to a budget or create a budget. Why don't you figure out how you're going to make more money?”
The Today Show never paid Brown, and she never pitched products on-air
“They never paid me a nickel, and I never, ever pushed my brand.”
Estée Lauder eventually took over brand hiring without Brown's involvement
“I used to hire, approve and hire and interview every person that walked in that brand, and then I didn't anymore, and all of a sudden there were people Working on my brand that I never met before, and that I might not have hired”
Brown says she will never put her name on a product again
“Even if I could, I would not put my name on a product anymore, because I have to be the face of that product. I don't want to be responsible for everything.”
Brown sold the commercial rights to her personal name
“No, no, that's not accurate, you know, but I, my name, I sold my name.”
Bobbi Brown Cosmetics launched with a 50/50 profit split on $15 lipsticks
“And he said, we'll sell them for 15 dollars. You get, you'll, you'll take seven 50, I'll take seven 50, we'll split it. So basically what he was saying, so basically what he was saying was, okay, You have to do the marketing, the PR, the shipping, you know, an…”
Bobbi Brown Cosmetics became Bergdorf Goodman's top-selling brand in four years
“After four years, we were the number one line in Bergdorf and Niemann's.”
Bobbi Brown Cosmetics launched with $20,000 and was profitable immediately
“First of all, we didn't take outside investments. My husband and I emptied out our then bank account, which, you know, I think was 10,000 dollars, you know, so our partners put in the same we did, and we all of a sudden had, you know, I guess 20,000 dollars to…”
The other half of the tape: Bobbi Brown's own voice is left out of every number here. Other people bring the name up 12 times in 5 episodes across the shows. 2 statements on the record name them. every mention, with the transcript →
Who brings them up most Guy Raz 5Marla Beck 4Alan Newman 2Jo Malone 1
Statements about Bobbi Brown, by other people (2)
Estée Lauder and L'Oréal lost inventory access for a year after shutdown
“Estee Lauder, L'Oreal, they all manufactured there, and they made products for, like, you know, Bobby Brown and tons of company, tons of companies, you know, because they own them, and they couldn't get Any of their stuff for a year”
Marla Beck: 1990s indie brand boom opened up the cosmetics industry
“It was the rise of the independent brands, which is, for the first time in a very long time, you had founders that were breaking into the industry. So, you had Bobby Brown, you had Marcia Kilgore, you had Lev and Alina Glassman at Frosch, you had Francois Nars…”
Every mention by year
tap a year for its mentions
How I Built This 12
2022 5 mentions in 2 episodes 3 per episode
2021 2 mentions in 1 episode
2020 4 mentions in 1 episode
2018 1 mention in 1 episode
One line per show, most statements first. The link opens Bobbi's full record on that show: the calibration, argument clarity, speaking style and every statement made there.
| Show | Role there | Eps | Statements | Record | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| HOW I BUILT THISLEDGER | Founder & CCO, Jones Road Beauty | 3 | 34 | 100% 6/6 | full record on How I Built This → |
 MASTERS OF SCALELEDGER | Founder & CCO, Jones Road Beauty | 1 | 15 | 80% 4/5 | full record on Masters of Scale → |