Putting real women first, simplifying beauty, and telling it like it is has made Bobbi Brown a TikTok sensation and one of Time’s “100 Most Influential People.” Here is why she’s resonates with a new generation.
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In beauty, trends move at hyper speed. What’s hot today is forgotten tomorrow. But Bobbi Brown has always played a different game — one rooted in unapologetic authenticity and a boldness that comes so naturally, it’s simply who she is.
Before beauty founders became content creators and before “influencer” was a job title, Brown was already writing the playbook: “I don’t break the rules, I just make up my own.” That early ethos – putting real women first, simplifying beauty, and telling it like it is – is exactly why she’s resonating with a new generation today, becoming both a TikTok sensation and one of Time magazine’s “100 Most Influential People” this year.
Her namesake brand Bobbi Brown walked so rhode — and her own Jones Road — could soar.
Brown’s influence began as a trained makeup artist who first launched a lipstick line of 10 subtly toned shades in the early ’90s (this served as the launching pad to Bobbi Brown Essentials), and a vision of beauty that felt real in an industry dominated by heavy contour and color cosmetics.
Her tenth book, Still Bobbi, is her first memoir after nine beauty-focused titles. It captures her origin story, pivots, “pinch me” moments, and pitfalls, offering a blueprint for living authentically.
I spoke with Brown about her favorite advice for founders today and why she got real before authenticity was a buzzword.
After selling her brand to Estée Lauder in 1995 and staying on at Bobbi Brown Cosmetics as Chief Creative Officer, Brown thought she had to prepare for retirement when she parted ways with the beauty conglomerate in 2016. But at 62, she created another narrative for herself.
“When we sold the company, I was 34,” Brown shares. “At the time, my husband said, ‘we’ve got this non-compete’. I always got D’s in math, but I counted on my fingers. I said, ‘well, I’ll be in my 60s. I’m not going to want to work when I’m in my 60s.’ Fast forward… I’m 68 right now and loving every minute with Jones Road.”
Jones Road launched in October 2020 – the day her non-compete with Estée Lauder ended – and has been profitable since year one.
“I wasn’t done teaching. I wanted to continue teaching women that makeup is not complicated and that you don’t need a lot of makeup to look good and feel good. And I wanted to know what it was like creating a product with a clean formula: Jones Road is a totally clean, natural formula.”
Brown also reminds us that you can have an extraordinary life and still “be normal”: a mantra woven throughout the book and even a chapter title. For her, that means leading with kindness and embracing “normal” as beautiful, while straddling two worlds: the glamour and hustle of building a billion-dollar brand as a young entrepreneur, and the everyday “normal” life of a soccer mom raising three boys with her husband, Steven Plofker.
Her career has been filled with moments of serendipity, where happy accidents were met with opportunity. She attributes this to being open-minded – she sees possibilities, not obstacles. She shares that rather than having a master plan, she has asked herself two questions: “What if?” and “Why not?”
As for the big decisions that changed her life?
“Selling to Estée Lauder was definitely one,” she recalls. “My husband, Steven, and I didn’t struggle with it at all, we were excited. We didn’t feel remorse after signing; we felt like, ‘Wow, we have Estée Lauder in our corner.’ We treated them like partners, even though technically they owned us.”
And then, decades later, came Jones Road. “Starting Jones Road in my 60s, literally the day my non-compete ended, was another huge one. That’s how I make decisions: if it works, great. If not, oh well.”
Brown offers a strong reminder to never force things, and know when to let go.
“When you force something, it usually means it’s not right. I’ve had collaborations and partnerships that became more difficult than they were worth. That’s when I walk away. And then there are things that come together effortlessly, and you just know – this is right.”
Even in today’s crowded market, Brown continues to shape beauty on her own terms.
“Toward the end of my time at Estée Lauder, I wanted to make big changes but I couldn’t move them along. It was frustrating. Later I found an old inspiration picture I’d kept — it looked exactly like how Jones Road looks. So yes, you can say I kind of manifested it.”
She hopes her story inspires founders to slow down.
“My advice: start small, start slow. Don’t be in a rush. Figure out what sets you apart, because if you try to be like everyone else, it won’t last.”
Bobbi Brown
“And by the way — how could you start a business already planning to sell it? I love Jones Road so much! I don’t want to sell it. One day the right partner might come along, but I’m not going anywhere. Too many people start a business just looking for the exit. That’s not how you build something lasting.”
Brown continues: “When we launched Bobbi Brown Cosmetics, we used the last $10,000 in our bank account. We didn’t borrow from anyone. At the time, I didn’t even know I was building a brand. I just had lipsticks and had to figure out how to tell people about them.”
With Jones Road, Brown recently returned to lipstick with The Classic Lip in 12 shades — a nod to her original legacy, updated for today.
Lipsticks have evolved, yet her core philosophy about how they should feel hasn’t changed. Brown says. “True story: I stopped wearing lipstick for many years because they all felt dry and powdery. It took me a while to decide what made a lipstick formula excellent. That’s how The Classic Lip was born. Smooth, satiny, lightweight, comfortable: it checks all the boxes.”
So Brown is still Bobbi: still showing people how to look like themselves, still innovating and creating, and still serving realness.
And even as she continues to create, her bigger message is about resilience – and the reminder that possibility is always within reach.
“There are endless possibilities in everyone’s life. You can’t be afraid to put yourself out there, or be afraid something won’t work. I hope people see themselves in me. As a working mom, as someone who didn’t get good grades and never went to business school, but figured out what a business really needs. That’s how I approach everything — even my Substack. I don’t know the so-called best practices. I just put it out there and see what sticks.”
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