Celebrity makeup artist of the ’80s and owner of the successful brand that bears her name, Bobbi Brown, known for creating the perfect minimalist look and her famous “no-makeup makeup” mantra, started rewriting her entrepreneurial story at the age of 65. Today, she is causing a sensation on TikTok with her videos and makeup tutorials for her new brand, Jones Road Beauty.
While some of her peers are beginning to plan their retirement, Brown is more energized than ever, opening stores in New York and giving interviews in what appears to be a new peak in her career. With a life that is far from predictable, one could say that Brown did everything the opposite way. She sold her brand to Estée Lauder with a 25-year non-compete clause when she was only 30. In a recent interview on Oprah Winfrey’s show, she confessed, “Signing the clause didn’t complicate things for me because when I did the math, I thought I would be retired by my 60s. But now, who would have thought, instead of being retired, I’m starting new ventures with all the enthusiasm.”
From employee to entrepreneur: Jones Road Beauty is the cosmetics company that Brown created after selling Bobbi Brown Cosmetics for $74.5 million in 1995 when the 25-year non-compete clause expired. She has said that she doesn’t regret signing that condition because “I don’t believe in mistakes; I believe in the opportunity to change and fix things.” She left Estée Lauder before the contract ended in 2016, where she never had the chance to showcase her leadership. She then invested in a necklace engraved with the date when she would be legally allowed to operate in the beauty industry again: ‘1020’ (October 2020). And on that very day when the clause expired, Brown introduced her new brand to the world, named after a street, she found on Waze.
In the meantime, Brown launched a lifestyle website (justbobbi.com) in 2018 and shortly after opened a boutique hotel, The George, in her hometown of Montclair, New Jersey.
Two years later, Brown and her husband brought Jones Road Beauty to life with a $2 million investment, and to this day, it has no debt or external risky financing. “It was profitable within a few months and generated $20 million in sales in 2021,” she told Forbes. But the real breakthrough came in 2022 when Bobbi Brown decided to take a quantum leap on TikTok with her account: @justbobbibrown.
Conquering TikTok: “I don’t hire focus groups; I have the internet,” Brown has said repeatedly. And she has certainly taken advantage of the opportunities that digital marketing offers today. She opened accounts on Instagram, YouTube, and the most active one is on TikTok, where she has made a name for herself. “In May 2022, makeup mogul Bobbi Brown had to make a decision: should she applaud the TikTok influencers who were misusing her new product, a moisturizer-like foundation, or should she keep her mouth shut and avoid feeding the cycle of outrage?” she shared in an interview with Forbes. Brown took a risk and decided to take action. She recorded educational videos on how to properly use the foundation (in moderation, not in large amounts like some TikTokers had done) and a humorous video mocking the excessive use of the product by some influencers. The comedic video went viral, attracting over 4 million views.
“She’s a 65-year-old sensation on TikTok,” said her son Cody Plofker, who serves as the Director of Marketing for Jones Road Beauty and, along with entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk, was responsible for pushing Brown to make these videos.
Brown has already amassed over 432,000 followers, with whom she loves to directly engage and whom she refers to as “my people” (mostly women aged 50 and above).
Social media and stock shortages: Like any success story, this one has not been without its challenges. The early TikTok videos reached one million views within 24 hours, and daily sales tripled. The demand put pressure on an already tight supply chain, and Brown discovered that certain products were selling out within three weeks, while she had expected the stock to last for six months. “It’s not a terrible problem, but delays make customers unhappy,” she said.
In 2021, the entrepreneur stated to the Financial Times that she didn’t want to be part of a billion-dollar brand again. However, a year later, she told Forbes that she may need to clarify that statement. Clearly, no one knows how far Brown’s new empire will go.
