CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) — A line forms behind a white truck along Damen Avenue in Bucktown as makeup mogul Bobbi Brown greets her fans and friends in front of her newest hometown store.
"I've followed your career since the late 80's," said one fan as Brown greeted them.
"What's your name? Diane. Nice to meet you," said Brown, who grew up in Chicago and attended New Trier High School in Winnetka.
As a young student, Brown said she didn't quite know what she wanted to do with her life.
"I never thought of makeup as a career, but my mother asked me what I loved," she recalled. "I said, ‘Well, I love going to the Marshall Field's makeup counter.’"
Brown would go on to create her own major in theatrical makeup and photography at Emerson College.
After graduation, she was waitressing and freelancing as a makeup artist in New York hustling for clients.
"I was opening up the Yellow Pages, started cold calling people to say, ‘How do I get started? How do I work?’ And I just started meeting people, putting together my portfolio and finally someone hired me," Brown said.
She said her grandfather was her inspiration for her work ethic and hustle.
"It rubbed off on me,” she said. “He had car dealerships in Chicago and he was constantly working on his business, getting new customers, making his customers happy, and he was the nicest guy — but he was determined, he was focused and he was hard working. It's a hustle."
In 1991, she created a natural color lipstick line. Decades later, Brown recalled a few pinch-me moments.
"Seeing my name in a fashion magazine early on was like, ‘Oh my God,’” she said. “I couldn't believe it. It was huge getting into a department store, too. We opened Bergdorff's, we opened Neiman's, those were all big deals.”.
Four years later, Estée Lauder came calling and bought Bobbi Brown Cosmetics for $75 million.
“We were beating him in the stores, and he said, ‘I have to own you,’” Brown said. “I was like, ‘We're not for sale,’ but he romanced me, and then we sold the company.”
As part of the deal, though, she signed a 25-year non-compete clause.
"I sold my name, so I couldn't use it anywhere for a long time," she said
In 2020, that deal finally expired.
Now, Brown is back at it with a new line and new stores called Jones Road, which bills itself as a natural and clean line of cosmetics.
“Jones Road is a clean line, a natural line, a natural look,” Brown said. “It's not just a product for women of a certain age, it's for all women. It happens to have the best formulas that sit nicely and naturally on the skin.”
Brown is credited with starting the natural makeup trend.
“I never liked the red lipstick,” she said. “I've always preferred the natural look. People's skin color, people's skin texture has always been important to me. That's how you know what products to recommend.”
As she returned home to visit her newest Jones Road — her fourth of six brick-and-mortar stores and the brand's first in Chicago — she reflected on her career, her success, her humble beginnings and the future of the beauty industry.
“A lot has changed in the industry,” Brown said. “I have changed since I began back in the ’90s. I have a very different visual mindset since I started the first line years ago. The way I think a modern woman looks, she looks better less made up. It doesn't mean she isn't wearing makeup, it means the makeup looks good on her skin.”
Brown said what people want in products has also changed drastically since the pandemic.
“I think women just want to look better,” she said. “Since the pandemic, everyone has taken things down a notch. Everyone wears sneakers with their suits now when they go to work. Lifestyle and comfort level and realness … I hope it never goes away.”
In the end, she said it's about making people feel good about themselves at any age.
“I like to help people realize you're OK exactly as you are.” Brown said, smiling. “We've started this ‘I Am Me’ campaign, which is my way of saying to everyone who comes in here, ‘Yes, you are fantastic and look how amazing you're going to look and feel if we just do a few things for you.
“I hope the beauty industry is going toward being all-inclusive, not just skin color, but age. I hope that natural aging is as important as being a confident 30-year-old. That's what I see and what I hope happens.”
Artist, author, entrepreneur, makeup mogul. Bobbi Brown: Made in Chicago.
For more information online about her newest line, Jones Road Beauty.
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