Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin

Episode: Turning Brows Into a Billion-Dollar Business: Anastasia Soare on Building Anastasia Beverly Hills
Date: October 21, 2025

Episode Overview

Nicole Lapin, financial expert and host, interviews Anastasia Soare, founder of Anastasia Beverly Hills, known worldwide as the “queen of brows.” The energetic conversation traces Anastasia’s journey from communist Romania to the heights of the global beauty industry, building a brand that’s valued at $3 billion. The episode is packed with personal stories, sharp business advice, negotiation strategies, family dynamics, product innovation, and candid takes on money, happiness, and modern beauty trends.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Early Money Mindset & Entrepreneurial Roots

• Growing up in Communist Romania:
  Anastasia shares how her mother was exceptionally able to run a clothing business for the elite, teaching her the basics of entrepreneurship and financial management from age 12.
  • Quote: “After school every day, I would go in the atelier… I learn everything about how she market herself, how she was able to do all her finance. She was very savvy.” (05:02)
• Independence as a Driving Force:
  Anastasia equates money with freedom and independence, citing early struggles as formative.
  • Quote: "Having money means being independent and being able to do things that you want and you love. This is what gives you that freedom." (06:27)

2. Immigration, Credit, and Starting from Scratch

• Credit Hurdles:
  Anastasia explains her challenge getting a credit card as a new immigrant and how she convinced a bank manager at Wells Fargo to give her a $500 credit card by negotiating and leveraging the small cash reserves she had.
  • Quote: “I said, ‘Look, I have $2,000 in my checking account. Can you give me a $500 credit card? I will prove that I’m going to pay every month…’” (09:06)
• Learning by Doing:
  From writing checks to dealing with credit, Anastasia emphasizes on-the-job learning—"By doing, you learn… making mistakes, you learn." (08:14)

3. Building a Celebrity Clientele and a Unique Brand

• Eyebrows as a Niche Service
  In the early 1990s, shaping brows wasn’t an established beauty service. Anastasia focused on mastering her craft, treating every client as walking advertising.
  • “My goal was to do the best job… Whether you were a celebrity or a student, this is my advertising, it’s a walking advertising.” (11:04)
• Referrals and Word-of-Mouth:
  Late nights, business cards, and consistent excellence built her loyal client list (e.g., Cindy Crawford, Jennifer Lopez).
  • Quote: “If you create the most beautiful eyebrows, the client will walk and she will send you…their best friend, their mother, their sisters…” (12:55)

4. Entrepreneurship: Failures, Negotiation, and Product Innovation

• Facing Rejection and Negotiating Rent:
  Anastasia was initially turned down when seeking to rent her own salon space. She relentlessly pleaded her case, drawing on her status as an immigrant and her passion as leverage.
  • Quote: “I pulled that trick: John, I am an immigrant, I’m sure somebody in your family was an immigrant...” (17:00)
• DIY Product Development:
  With no brow products on the market, Anastasia mixed her own pomades at home and invented tools like the angled brow brush.
  • Innovation Takeaway: She regrets not understanding trademarks and patents earlier—“Rule number one, when you start a business, hire a smart lawyer.” (20:30)
• On Brand Naming:
  She shares the complexities of using her name and trademark issues, and would choose differently now.
  • Quote: “Now I will never put a name, my name on a company…” (21:15)

5. Family Dynamics & Lessons

• Hiring (and Firing) Her Daughter:
  Anastasia shares a candid story of firing her daughter for repeated tardiness, insisting on high standards and equal treatment for all employees.
  • Quote: “I’m not your mother, when you come to work… I’m going to be harder on you than all the other employees because I will set an example.” (26:45)
• Working With Family:
  Strict rules, clear boundaries, and expecting family to work twice as hard to avoid favoritism.

6. Burnout, Work-Life, and Passion

• No Work-Life Split:
  Anastasia has never felt burnout because she loves her work deeply—work is life, and vice versa.
  • Quote: “If you want to be an entrepreneur, you have to love what you do. Otherwise, it will be hard… If you don’t love it, you will give up because it’s hard.” (23:15)

7. Taking Investments and Scaling Global

• Bootstrapping Until Private Equity:
  She details bootstrapping from 1997 to 2018, then accepting private equity (TPG) for international expansion and operational support.
  • Quote: “I hired a company that evaluated the business… We realized the company was evaluated at $3 billion…” (31:38)
• Advice on Private Equity:
  Know exactly what help you want (e.g., HR, CFO): “I personally don’t think [private equity] have operational experience…” (33:15)
  • If she could do it again, she’d have sold to a strategic earlier, at $1B. (34:56)

8. Social Media & Platform Growth

• Early Adopter with Major Scale:
  First beauty brand to reach 18 million+ Instagram followers, built on organic user-generated content and authentic community—not paid influencer posts.
  • Quote: “We kind of build a community… everybody loved makeup… we kind of organically grew together.” (37:06)
  • Social Changed: Now "you have to pay to play." (37:43)

9. Approach to Money and Happiness

• Still Works Like She Has Nothing:
  “I work like I can’t pay my rent next month… nothing has changed.” (37:59)
• Money, Meaning, and Passion:
  Purpose and passion trump monetary gains, though money brings independence.
  • Quote: “To me, that’s worth more than any money I have in the bank account.” (38:10)

10. Bullish or Bearish: Rapid-Fire on Beauty Trends ([39:00])

• Bleached Eyebrows: Bearish (unless just a shade lighter).
• Laminated Eyebrows: Bearish—prefers natural movement.
• Soap Brows: Bullish initially, but wax performs better.
• 90s Thin Brows: “That’s definitely a no, big bear, totally.” (41:54)
  • "I used to beg them… I'm sorry, this is not the service I could offer you. I can’t do that.” (42:07)
• Botox & Fillers: Becoming bearish; no longer likes the changed expression.

11. Resilience & Moving Past Trauma

• On Losing Her Home to Earthquake:
  Advice for overcoming loss: immerse in work, focus on positives, ritualize letting go with a symbolic gesture.
  • Quote: “Find something else to think that is positive… Don’t put energy on what it was—because anyway, you cannot change it… Write a letter, burn it…” (45:07)
• Living Without Fear:
  Acknowledges lasting trauma but refuses to live in fear.

Notable Quotes (with Timestamps)

• “Having money means being independent… this is what gives you that freedom.”
  Anastasia Soare, 06:27

• “By doing, you learn. Making mistakes, you learn.”
  Anastasia Soare, 08:14

• “I pulled that trick—John, I am an immigrant… you have to do this for me.”
  Anastasia Soare, 17:00

• “Rule number one when you start a business: hire a smart lawyer.”
  Anastasia Soare, 20:30

• “If you want to be an entrepreneur, you have to love what you do. Otherwise, it will be hard… If you don’t love it, you will give up because it’s hard.”
  Anastasia Soare, 23:15

• “I work like I can’t pay my rent next month… nothing has changed.”
  Anastasia Soare, 37:59

• “Purpose and that power to wake up every morning and do the things that I love—to me, that’s worth more than any money I have in the bank account.”
  Anastasia Soare, 38:10

• On 90s Thin Brows: "That's definitely a no, big bear, totally."
  Anastasia Soare, 41:54

Key Timestamps for Major Segments

• Childhood & Early Lessons: 04:26 – 07:25
• Immigration, Learning US Money: 07:39 – 10:25
• Building Clientele & Mastering Eyebrows: 10:33 – 15:17
• First business, product innovation: 15:39 – 22:34
• Family, hiring/firing her daughter: 24:38 – 27:35
• Marriage, partnerships: 28:27 – 29:36
• Taking on investors & private equity: 30:34 – 35:16
• Instagram & Social Growth: 35:25 – 37:43
• Resilience & overcoming trauma: 44:57 – 47:44
• Bullish/Bearish beauty trends game: 38:48 – 44:43

Memorable Moments

• Anastasia negotiating a credit card with Wells Fargo—classic immigrant tenacity.
• Vivid stories of product innovation at her kitchen table.
• Firing her own daughter, demonstrating tough leadership mixed with maternal care.
• Firm stance against 90s skinny eyebrows, even refusing clients’ requests.
• Emotional advice on overcoming traumatic loss and focusing on the future.

Final Takeaways

This episode is a masterclass in perseverance, tactical negotiation, consumer obsession, and living purposefully. Anastasia Soare’s journey is a blueprint for self-made success, punctuated by hard-won financial independence, innovation, and a never-quit mindset. Listeners come away with lessons on personal finance, entrepreneurship, brand building, and resilience—plus invaluable, candid beauty industry insights.