Day three of advice curated from the women at the Glamour Love Your LIfe conference. Bobbi Brown is truly a woman who has done it her way. She built a cosmetics empire based on the philosophy that make-up should bring out the best you rather than make you look like someone else, all the while keeping it real at work and at home. Today Bobbi Brown Cosmetics is a full line of color cosmetics, fragrance, skincare that sells in over 56 countries. Her 6th book, Beauty Rules was published this August. She lives in New Jersey with her husband and kids.
A lot of the talk of the conference was work / life balance and Bobbi had some words that hit home on the reality of achieving that:
“There is no such thing as work / life balance. All you can do is your best. It’s sooo not perfect. Don’t look at other people who seem to do it all and think it is. It’s hard work. It’s about how comfortable you are with where you are with your life.”
Bobbi was comfortable enough with herself to choose a door that allowed her to do business in a way that worked for her…even though at the time it may have seemed to be closing a door. She related a story about how she goes home from shoots at 5pm, which is not typical for the New York City fashion and beauty industry for sure. At one point early in her career, she was doing a shoot with a famous photographer and he invited her to dinner with a famous designer. Her husband was coming to pick her up and go to dinner with her. She knew she had to “Choose a Door”. She chose her husband. She talked about how her marriage and her children are important to her. So she chose the path that was closer to her heart. I think that’s why her business was so successful. Her mission was to help women feel good about who they are – to be themselves just prettier and more confident. If she had chosen the door that was not comfortable to her, she would not have been “being herself”. So many 20-somethings feel torn between being “true-to-the-self” and doing the cool thing or following the status quo for an industry. Maybe breaking the rules will be what makes you different and successful. Don’t think there is only one path to success. You can do it your way. You don’t have to sacrifice what is important to you if you are truly passionate and dedicated to what you want to achieve.
As for beauty, her philosophy is so relevant to 20-somethings. Have fun with make up and explore… but use it to celebrate your individuality. Find your unique characteristics and make the most of them rather than try to fit a mold.
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