Sitting pretty: How Betty Lee built a global beauty powerhouse after making “every mistake an entrepreneur could”

By the time Boo Beauty Bar swept the Australian market and expanded globally, Melbourne-based Betty Lee was already a battle-tested entrepreneur. Here is how she brushed off past failures and built her own brand through “one simple idea”.

Cosmetics entrepreneur Betty Lee knows firsthand that success rarely follows a straight line. The COVID-19 pandemic had wiped out her job as a beautician, as tight protocols made it impossible to work.

Then, trying to regather her momentum, she worked endlessly to get a string of start-ups off the ground, but struggled to get any meaningful cut-through.

“By the time I started Boo Beauty Bar, I had already started seven different businesses, and every one of them failed,” says Lee. “I had made almost every mistake an entrepreneur could make.”

One course-correcting adjustment she made was to lean into her true passions again. With vast experience in lash and brow beauty, she knew the delicate struggle between those products that delivered strong, striking results and those that featured gentle, face-friendly formulations.

“It wasn’t about building a company at first. It was about solving a problem I personally experienced every day,” says Lee. “That simple idea became the foundation of Boo Beauty Bar.”

This time, she invested $5,000 to develop new products that integrated look and feel, and started packaging and labelling them in a phone booth-sized, rented room. Crucially, rather than putting her previous false starts out of mind, Lee embraced those experiences as chances to learn.

“Each failure taught me something different about marketing, cash flow, customer service, operations and resilience,” says Lee. “Instead of seeing those failures as wasted time, I treated them as education. When new challenges came, I didn’t panic. I simply focused on solving one problem at a time and kept improving every day.”

That steady mindset was vital as Boo Beauty Bar stretched beyond its humble Melbourne origins.

Lee’s products, like the popular Korean Lash Lift kits and the cysteamine-free-based lash and brow lift system called Pure-Care System, have proven especially popular with stockists in the United States, and her accompanying training videos on how to apply the cosmetics add a personalised layer.

When Boo Beauty Bar grew to supply professionals across a further nine countries, Lee also faced new hurdles, from complex logistics to unfamiliar regulatory requirements. Each time, Lee bit her lip and re-skilled.

That dedication caught the attention of her peers, earning her acknowledgment as a Young Entrepreneur Awards finalist in both 2024 and 2025. For Lee, knowing her products are helping other professionals grow their own businesses is especially significant, as she knows how tough the industry can be.

“I don’t believe successful founders know everything,” says Lee. “They simply become very good at learning quickly and adapting when circumstances change.”

Q&A with Betty Lee

Every journey has setbacks. What is the toughest challenge you have overcome, and what did it teach you?

Building an international business while constantly navigating uncertainty has probably been the greatest challenge. Whether it is supply chain delays, regulatory requirements across several countries, or learning entirely new areas like logistics, AI or investing, I’ve realised that entrepreneurship is really about becoming comfortable with solving unfamiliar problems.

What motivates you to make Boo Beauty Bar even bigger?

What drives me most is the challenge of discovering new ways to create value and build sustainable income. To me, business feels like an endless game of solving problems, testing ideas, and finding smarter ways to grow. I don’t see making money as the end goal; I see it as a tool. The more successful I become, the more I can invest in new ideas, create opportunities for others, and support causes that matter to me, particularly helping people and animals.

Beyond business metrics, what impact do you hope your work has on people?

I hope Boo Beauty Bar helps beauty professionals build successful, sustainable careers while raising the standard of education and product quality within the industry. Beyond business, I believe success brings responsibility. As our company grows, I want our ability to give back to grow with it.

Last year, during the Christmas and festive season, we provided $40,000 in grocery vouchers to help families with the rising cost of living. We also continue to support charitable causes each year, particularly those that help people and animals. I don’t believe giving back should be a marketing exercise. It is simply something businesses should do when they’re in a position to help. If Boo Beauty Bar can improve people’s livelihoods while making a positive difference in the wider community, that is the kind of success I’m most proud of.

What is the boldest goal you have set yourself for the next five years?

Over the next five years, I want Boo Beauty Bar to continue growing into one of the world’s leading professional lash and brow brands. Alongside that, I’m also looking to build one or two businesses in completely different industries. I’m passionate about pursuing new opportunities, particularly through AI, tech and innovative business models that allow people to work smarter rather than simply harder.

Financial independence for me is really important so I can focus on my loved ones. I want people to look at this journey and realise that traditional career paths are not the only way to succeed. If you stay curious and surround yourself with the right people, the possibilities are endless.

What advice would you give your younger self starting out? I would tell my younger self not to be afraid of failure and to trust the process. I’ve always believed that one day I would be successful, so all setbacks were simply part of the journey instead of the end of it. Looking back, I would remind myself that there is no such thing as failure if you’re willing to learn. Every mistake brings you one step closer to success, and the only real failure is giving up. Keep learning, be curious, and never stop believing in yourself.

Visit boobeautybar.com for more.

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