How to Turn Dreams Into Destiny! Incredible Underdog Story of Anastasia Beverly Hills Founder & Her Billion Dollar Beauty Empire

you were a little girl, did you ever have a feeling like you were destined for great things?

Yes, I did.

I'm the perfect poster child of American Dream.

I came here with nothing.

I didn't speak the language, but I saw the opportunities which this country really offers you, and I achieve my wildest dream.

Imagine turning your dreams into your destiny and believing you have what it takes to figure out how to do that, no matter what obstacles might be holding you back.

Today's the day to ignite your dreams and know they're possible.

And I want you to share this episode with everyone in your life who needs a jolt of inspiration and theirs too.

Because we're joined by someone whose underdog to billion dollar beauty empire story is living proof that your goals and dreams are possible.

The amazing and inspiring Anastasia Suare, founder and CEO of Anastasia Beverly Hills.

Anastasia is one of the world's most successful self-made women and is often referred to as the queen of eyebrows.

And now, for the very first time, she's sharing her incredible journey in her brand new book, Raising Brows.

My story of building a billion-dollar beauty empire, which is not only a behind-the-scenes look at building a global brand from nothing, it's packed with tools on how you can achieve your own big dreams too.

As an esthetician and single mother with no connections at the time, Anastasia risked her life escaping communist Romania to come to America.

Raising Brows tells the remarkable story of how she built a billion-dollar beauty brand and went from watching Oprah's TV show to learn English to then shaping Oprah's eyebrows, along with building a glittering roster of clients including Jennifer Lopez, Kim Kardashian, Haley Bieber, Cindy Crawford, and pretty much all of Hollywood.

But beneath the glossy exterior, Anastasia's path wasn't easy.

From landlords and bank managers laughing at her dreams, she learned to ignore the naysayers and turn her dreams into her destiny anyways.

Anastasia is such a powerful testament to courage, persistence, and believing in yourself when others might not.

I am so excited for us all to learn from and be inspired by her grit, talent, passion, and wisdom today.

And whether today you're listening for yourself or because someone that you love shared this episode with you, I wanna welcome you to the Jamie Kern Lima Show podcast family.

Thank you so much for being here.

And if you have two seconds and can do me a favor, hit the subscribe or follow button on the app you're listening or watching on.

It truly means so much to me.

And you can also get free inspiration right into your inbox from me for free.

Just join my newsletter community at jamiekernlima.com.

And this incredible podcast podcast episode today, it's not just for you and me.

Please share this with every person that you know who might need some inspiration today or perhaps a little boost in their self-belief because what you are about to hear can truly impact mine, yours, and their life too.

I am so excited for this conversation.

Welcome to the Jamie Kern Lima Show.

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Imagine overcoming self-doubt, learning to believe in yourself and trust yourself and know you are enough.

Welcome to the Jamie Kern-Lima Show.

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Everybody needs Jamie Kern-Lima in their wife.

Jamie Kern-Lima.

Jamie, you're so inspiring.

Jamie Kern-Lima.

Anastasia Sore, welcome to the Jamie Kern-Lima Show.

Thank you so much for having me.

I'm so excited to be here today.

I'm so excited.

Your story is incredible, and I'm so excited for your new book.

I read it cover cover to cover, every word.

It is so good.

I love when we connect with other people's stories, and then by the end of the book, we're like rooting for ourselves, and we believe in ourselves again.

And I want to ask you just right off the top, there's so many people who, you know, want to turn their dreams into their destiny, but maybe they feel like it's too late or they don't have the right connections or they're too old.

And I know with you, you worked in your first salon when you were around 30 and then opened your first one when you were around 40.

now today you're on Forbes America's Richest Self-Made Women's List and have built this billion-dollar brand.

What would you say to the person who's going, Anastasia, I want to turn my dreams into my destiny too, but you know, do I have what it takes?

It's never too late.

Never too late.

Yeah.

But I think you need to know exactly what do you want.

What exactly you want?

What are you passionate about?

Because as you know, it's not easy.

So if you don't love what you do, and if you are not passionate, it's very difficult.

You will give up sooner or later.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

There was a moment you talk about in the book where

you were working in the salon and as an esthetician, and it was when you started shaping eyebrows that you had this sort of like just ignited passion inside of you.

Did you feel like there is a moment for you where you're like, oh, this is something I need to do?

Like a kind of an aha moment, as Oprah would say?

When I started working as an aesthetician doing facial and body waxing, it was, I started with that feeling of doing something

for somebody else, making her beautiful, or at least doing something that will give her confidence.

making her feel beautiful.

I think you get that energy back and I start liking.

Then later on, I bought a disposable camera and I started taking pictures of myself with my family and my friends.

And I realized that my eyebrow, I look surprised.

So I remember my art teacher talking about eyebrows, how important eyebrows are.

And if you want to draw a portrait, and change an emotion, you change the eyebrow shape.

And I realized looking at the pictures of myself that I look surprised in the pictures.

So I thought, oh, it's my eyebrows.

Let me go back to the library and start studying the golden ratio technique that we used to apply in our classes.

And I fixed my eyebrows and I start doing that to my clients because I thought that it's incredible, changes your entire look,

well-shaped eyebrows.

And

I think that was the moment when I really fell in in love.

I thought, oh my God, I could transform somebody's face.

It was such a

moment of an aha moment, number one, but two, I felt so good that I was able to do that for somebody.

Yeah.

Isn't it so interesting?

When we look back at like the things that we go through and then we have this experience that sort of like sparks this idea, I think a lot about

this idea of are our steps ordered in life?

And because there's a lot of people right now who might be listening or watching us right now, and they have a dream or something they're passionate about, but then they're in a job that maybe feels like it has nothing to do with it or it's not helping them.

But I actually, I think so often the things we go through sort of can set us up.

And I think about the days I was waitressing at Denny's and Anastasia, I worked at a Denny's.

I love the job.

I love the job.

But at the particular location I was in, the kitchen had major operational problems.

So they would take like an hour to get pancakes out.

And I'm waitressing and people would get so upset, they'd get up and leave.

And so I became really good at talking like to people and just trying to, because I was like a poor broke student trying to pay my bills.

And, but I'll never forget, you know, in that moment in time, you know, I had a lot of dreams, but a lot of self-doubt.

I never knew I'd be building a company one day.

But what I learned was like, oh, you've got to get your operations right if you want to have a successful brand.

Yes, right.

And so later when I'm building at Cosmetics, I was like, oh, we've got to get our operations right.

We've got to get our, you know, and for you, I, I, oh my gosh, I loved, I loved reading your book so much, raising brows, it's out now.

Um, because we go on this journey with you.

When you spent your days growing up in Romania and you were in, you know, with your mom who was designing dresses and you got to watch patterns and watch women just be like delighted when when the outcome helped make them feel they're most beautiful.

Do you think that planted seeds in you for what you're doing now?

Absolutely.

Absolutely.

I think in my mom's atelier the seed was planted because I could witness my mother

showing and giving her clients so much love and making them feel so important and so beautiful.

And I think that was the seed.

And exactly how you just said said about you working at Denny's, you realized that was the seed that was implanted in you.

Like, I have to do something and operation is the most important thing.

How

I will plan this A to Z and execute.

Not only I have a dream.

Yes, there are many people that are super smart and they have dreams and they are talented.

But from that to putting in practice and and deliver and do it every day and every day you should do it better and better to master your craft i i think that's the magic in everything you do yeah and i think when i you know when i was reading um so many different pieces of your journey along the way i just think of everyone who's listening or watching going okay i'm in this job right now or i had this different type of way i was raised but those things we're exposed to one day can really be these seeds that blossom in unexpected ways that become really valuable.

Really valuable.

Absolutely.

I want to talk about no's and rejection because they stop a whole lot of people from trying or from thinking that they have what it takes.

And when you were working in a salon with owners, bosses that you loved and you were doing working as an esthetician and you

came to them.

and you said, I want to do a standalone brow service and like a whole brow

and that was a big moment and a big no yes and can you talk about that for a moment well in 1990 eyebrow shaping wasn't a service people didn't believe that you have to charge for shaping eyebrows so

used to take me maybe half an hour to shape eyebrow at the beginning because I was just building my technique, trying to perfect my technique.

So it used to take me half an hour, 40 minutes.

Well, I used to have

a black for a facial, black for an hour to get a facial finish for my client.

So the charge for a facial was way more than the charge for an eyebrow, because at the beginning they said, okay, how much we could charge, $10?

So it didn't make sense for the business, which I understood at that time,

didn't make sense for their business, the owner.

And because I really believed in that magic,

the science combined with beauty, I really believed in that.

I thought that I could rent a room in a salon and I could do facial and body waxing.

I will work an extra hour, but I would still try to build the eyebrow business because I really believed in that.

And it wasn't easy to make that decision because my husband didn't work.

I had a little kid.

I was the breadwinner in the family.

But

still, I thought this is the reason why I came in this country.

I need to do something.

I believe in this.

Even so, nobody believed, including my husband, in my dream.

But I thought, what do I have to lose?

If I don't make it in six months, I could go and work as an aesthetician in another place.

And it's very interesting that when I used to work in the salon and shape eyebrows or do facials or body waxing, I used to have clients that used to ask me, you know, I'm an accountant or I work in a bank or they were in a job that they were not happy, but my dream is to do something else.

And I used to tell them, like, okay, you need to have a plan.

Okay, don't give up your job because you have a family to raise.

Try slowly to build whatever you believe in it.

If you want another business.

Don't give your daytime job.

And when you feel like you could make the money that were equal with your salary, then slowly you could switch.

Because it's scary to start something

so drastic and so

important in your life that if you cannot make it, then what you're going to do?

So there are moments, definitely, when you feel like, okay,

I have this dream, I want to build, I don't know what, but you have to have a strategy or go to a company that

you could work for and you could learn because it's so easier to look at things from outside.

Yes.

But when you are inside, you know very well.

It's cosmetics.

You feel like, oh my God, I love beauty products.

I want to start a beauty brand.

And then when you start a beauty brand and you start dealing with

the operation, with the warehouse, with shipping, with

everything that takes to do that, you feel like, okay, I don't know what I got myself into.

Yes, yes.

I know.

Sometimes I think there were moments I was like, if I knew it was this hard,

yes.

I don't know if I would have done it.

I'm glad I didn't know.

I'm glad I didn't know.

No, that's another thing.

If I knew how difficult it was, I would never do it.

But it's exactly like when you have a baby.

You feel like, oh, if she had the baby and was able to do it, I could do it too.

And then you have the baby, you think, like, oh my God, this is way harder than I thought.

Yes.

With the businesses, the same.

Yes, yes, it's so true.

And like, we almost have to do it ourselves, though, to figure that out.

You know, someone can tell us.

And it's so hard.

You know, I wonder if the owners of the salon at the time, who I know you love dearly, had they said, yes, yes, we'll add the service in the salon.

Do you think that would have changed the course of things at all?

Like, was that no, we don't want to add it?

Was that a huge gift?

Oh, okay.

Because then you were like, okay, I'm going to bet on myself.

I'm going to do my own thing.

I'm going to go for it.

Absolutely.

Absolutely was a gift for me.

Yeah.

Because in all the no's that I always got

was a reason for me to push even harder.

Yeah.

You know?

Like, I'm going to do it.

I'm going to work twice as much.

I'm going to make it because I know I'm going to succeed.

I'm not going to give up.

Yeah.

I want everyone to hear this because we need to pause for a super brief break.

And while we do, take a moment to share this episode with every single person that you know who this could inspire because this conversation can truly be the words and inspiration they need to hear today to keep going, to remember that they matter and to feel less alone and more enough, more connected, more inspired, and more worthy.

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And now more of this incredible conversation together.

I want everyone to hear this because I get, I mean, emails, DMs, letters every day from people saying, like, I just got my fourth rejection from a publisher, or I just got another no on my business.

I feel like it's, I feel like I don't have what it takes.

And I think that, I think that, you know, we always hear about cancel culture, which, of course, is a real thing.

But I think the biggest form of cancel culture that a lot of people don't realize is us canceling ourselves before we even try or before we keep going.

And everyone knows your outcome, right?

If they Google your name, they're going to see Anastasia Sore builds a billion-dollar beauty empire, you know, but

really understanding, oh, wow, she had no's too.

She had setbacks, she had hardships, and how did she handle them, right?

Because we both, you and I both have had a million no's.

Yes, yeah.

And I have to say that every time I will get a no,

I will, I wanted to know why I got rejected,

okay, because I was thinking, okay, I need to use a totally different avenue.

So why they don't like my idea or what they don't want me to do this and then use that for my next speech.

You know what I mean?

Yes.

And sometimes maybe it's not the right time when you want to start something or they are not the right people.

Yes.

Always,

you know, timing is everything.

Yes, yes.

Yeah, there's so many reasons why it could happen.

So often it's not an indication that you don't have what it takes or that your idea is not going to make it.

And I just love the meanings that you assign to no own rejection because I always talk about how success leaves clues.

And I think that, you know, we can all just take, save ourselves so many nights, crying ourselves to sleep and so much self-doubt if we connect and understand stories like yours.

And how did you handle the no's?

And how did you, and you, oh, how you went through that too.

But wait, you didn't let it stop you.

And so I love that so much.

I wonder, when you were a little girl, did you ever have a feeling like you were destined for great things?

Yes, I did.

You did?

Yes, I did.

I always wanted to be significant,

to do something that will be different than my life in Romania.

I mean, I lived in a communist regime.

It was very difficult.

But in a way, I think that

made me resilient, made me

resourceful, made me who I am today.

And I'm really thankful for, you know.

You always had to adapt every day because you didn't know tomorrow if you could survive.

You were in a survivor mood.

And I think it was important for me to realize that it's always another answer.

I'm thinking of, and obviously I can only imagine, but I'm thinking of all of the little kids, you're the same age, going through similar situations in Romania or any part of the country or the world right now.

And a lot of them might handle things differently.

Where do you think that

knowing of I want to do

great things?

Where do you think that came from when you were a little girl?

I think it came from my grandfather.

He was an emigrant in Romania and he constantly used to tell me that he made the mistake leaving Macedonia and coming to Romania instead of going to the United States.

And I was in a room with him and we had a tiny little radio and we used to close the window and drapes and the doors and listening to

Voice of America because it was the only way for us to know what was happening everywhere.

And he used to tell me, like, I made a huge mistake not going to America, but you should go.

because this is what freedom is.

This is where freedom is, not here.

I made a mistake.

And I think he installed that in me.

Like I have to go to America.

I mean, now I look back and I was, even when I came here, I thought, wow, what the hell I was thinking?

I didn't speak the language.

I didn't know anyone.

I didn't have one penny to make a phone call.

And I don't know.

It was just my grandfather's voice was in

my

My mind.

Yeah.

You have to go there.

And he planted a seed.

He planted the seed.

Then you trusted it.

You went for it.

Yes.

I was the only one in the family that wanted to come here.

Nobody wanted to come.

I love the pattern of you betting on yourself and believing in yourself.

I want to ask you about...

being in school and and and and getting uh and the red boots that you are tell us about the red boots because i fell in love with you again reading the story about the red boots in school.

Can you talk about what happened?

You really read the book.

So of course in a communist regime everybody had to wear the same uniform

and we had like flats, black shoes

and I

really didn't like them.

I felt like they were not sexy enough or not sexy but like not feminine enough.

And my mother bought me a pair of red boots from

Italy.

They were platform, exactly how the fashion is right now, believe it or not.

And I went to school with wearing those boots and pulled my

uniform and make it a little shorter because you always had to have it below the knee.

And I felt like I was breaking the rules.

And

of course, the teacher were not happy.

but I wanted to kind of make my point and I wanted to feel like I am going to do something

breaking a rule that I wanted to feel

or at least dream that this is what

people in the West are wearing, you know.

That kind of, I mean, I used to get some vogue magazines and it was not easy because everything was black market.

We couldn't buy anything from the West.

And of course, looking at the fashion was incredible for me and I wanted to feel like I am like all those girls in the West.

You mentioned

knowing that other some of the other kids at school

may

judge you for it and have a problem with it and you might feel like a little bit.

Yes, but I never really

paid attention to,

I wasn't really,

I didn't care if people will judge me.

I mean, everything was in a communist Romania, everybody will judge you, okay?

And I thought, I want to go in a country where nobody is going to judge me for what I want to do, what I want to be, who I want to be.

And probably that's why I picked Los Angeles.

I felt like this is the freedom.

Yeah.

Do you, where do you think that strength came from?

Because a lot of us going through, especially school years, whether it's elementary school, junior high, high school, I mean, people are plagued by trying to fit in and worrying about like not fitting in and what do people think.

Where do you think that strength came from?

I don't know.

I never had that.

Growing up, I never wanted to be like somebody else.

And I was the shortest in the class because I was a gymnast and I was so skinny.

But I never really,

it didn't matter to me.

I had my own agenda.

I wanted to go to art classes.

I wanted to be the best gymnast.

I wanted to paint the best paintings.

That was more important for me than being like somebody else.

Do you care what people think now?

Never.

I never care.

Never.

Never.

I wanted to do the right thing for me.

Yeah.

But I never care what other people think of me.

In this day and age, now being such a global, well-known person, I feel like now in 2025, I mean,

everybody, no matter who it is with social media and everything going on, there's a million people that love you and

every person and

opposite this and that.

And when you are aware of any of that stuff that comes with everybody nowadays,

you don't care?

You know, this is,

I like myself.

Yeah.

And if you don't like me, it's okay.

You are entitled to your opinion.

But I like myself.

I try to be a good person.

I try to do the right thing in life.

I try to do good for other people, to help other people.

And again, if you don't like what I do or how I look or what I wear, it's okay.

You are entitled to your opinion.

Doesn't mean that it's going to affect me.

Don't you think?

How are you strong enough not to let it affect you?

You just don't.

No, I don't.

Yeah, yeah.

I mean, I do not spend the time.

Yes.

I don't waste my time.

because my time is so precious.

I want to use my time in things that

I could grow, I could learn, I could do amazing things for other people.

If I will focus on the negative, then it pushes me back.

And I can't do that.

I just want to call this out because I'm about to jump out of my chair because I'm so excited because you are going to free.

There's going to be someone that just heard, I'm going to cry.

there's gonna be someone that just heard what you shared in the last two minutes and it's gonna change their life for two reasons.

So many people right now are so scared to put themselves out there or to, you know, post how they are authentically on social media or to raise their hand in a meeting and share an idea or to bet on themselves because they're scared of what other people will think.

They're scared of they won't fit in anymore.

And why I'm so excited right now, Anastasia, is like when you share, you know even in school you know you were you know you share that you were maybe yourself full you didn't need to fit in you were a gymnast and really skinny and wanted to wear red shoes and wanted to go to art class and and look at you look at when success leaves clues I think one of the keys for every single person to living their greatest life is when they fully are all of who they are and you are talking about how you know you've been all of who you are and like that's your superpower, right?

Like, if you were like, oh, let me fit in in school, let me try to make sure everyone likes me, or oh, now let me care what everyone thinks, that kind of stuff will

doubt ourselves out of our own destiny so fast when we do that.

And I love that you're sitting here as somebody who, you know, was a mom with no connections, trying to figure out how do I make money, betting on yourself, starting with nothing.

And you're sitting here having built a billion-plus-dollar beauty empire, having almost every single person I can think of

who's you know loves you and has been impacted by your work and the impact you have every single day.

And you look at that pattern, and everyone right now can decide: you know what, I'm gonna stop freaking caring about all this, I'm gonna be who I fully am.

And if someone says something against me, I'm not gonna care.

No, I'm gonna give you another example.

So, when I came, I had $200 and I bought myself a fourth station wagon that it was as big as this room.

And

the car was so

bad.

I mean the hood was open and the exhaust

was a tube coming out of the hood in front.

The windows in the back didn't close properly, so it was open like in a diagonal.

It was a bad car, but I didn't care.

My daughter used to say, Mom, we can't even go to park or to valet the car because this is such a bad car.

Now you make enough money, or I was working, renting, I was making decent money, but to me, it wasn't

important to save those money because I had a bigger dream.

And she used to say, Mom, just like, can you buy another car?

Like, no, like what people will say,

you work in Beverly Hills.

Like, I don't care what they say.

I don't need to

get in debt and drive a Mercedes because I want to save the money and build something.

To me,

I always think of the in the long run.

Now, I don't care what I really didn't matter to me what other people thought, what the valet parking

gentleman thought of my car.

It wasn't important.

It's important who I am.

It doesn't matter what car I drive.

This is what I think.

Yeah, yeah.

Well, and it's so beautiful because I feel like even with so many people now that start businesses, they see what's going on all over social media and they prioritize sort of like flash over cash and making sure that they're like thinking long term.

You say in the book that there were some valets that refused to park your car.

Yeah, they didn't want to park my car.

Yeah.

Yeah, yeah.

You know, one other thing you said, I just want to highlight because it's so good.

You, and I want everyone at home to think of their own time this way as well.

But you mentioned your time is so precious.

You can be doing so many things to impact, to help other people.

And so it's like anything we do comes at the price of what we could be doing.

Any time we're spending focusing on what this person thinks about me or this person said that, that comes at the price of our time

and energy that we could be doing something completely different.

And sometimes what will happen, you'll spend so much time on focusing on that negative instead of putting your whole

persona into, let me see how I could grow, let me see how I could learn something else,

let me think of me.

What else I could do to prosper, to do better for my family, to do better for other people, for my customers, for my friends.

To me, I mean, always stay positive and look at the bright, look at the

half-full glass, not half-empty glass.

Yeah, so good.

You know, a lot of us are in loving families, well-intended families.

We have great friends, but when we share a big idea, they don't get it or we get laughed at.

You...

You were laughed at by potential landlords, not given loans by the bank, and you chose to

bet on yourself anyway.

And

you know, now you've been at the White House being celebrated by the most powerful people in the country.

You've been celebrated by so many people.

But to go from that moment of being in that spot, which so many of us can relate to, where we have this idea, but in your case, the landlord thinks it's ridiculous.

Like it's not going to, like, that's not a real business doing brows.

You're not going to be able to pay rent for me doing brows.

You have banks not wanting to give you a loan.

In In those kind of moments, can you share how you handle them?

Yes.

So we need to pause for a super brief break.

And while we do, take a moment to share this episode with every single person that you know who this could inspire because this conversation can truly be the words and inspiration they need to hear today to keep going, to remember that they matter and to feel less alone and more enough, more connected, more inspired, and more worthy.

Who you spend time around is so important as energy is contagious and so is self-belief.

And I'd love to hang out with you even more, especially if you could use an extra dose of inspiration, which is exactly why I've created my free weekly newsletter that's also a love letter.

to you delivered straight to your inbox each and every Tuesday morning from me.

If you haven't signed up to make sure that you get it each each week, just go to jamiekernlima.com to make sure you're on the list and you'll get your one-on-one with Jamie weekly newsletter and get ready to believe in you.

If you're tired of hearing the bad news every single day and need some inspiration, some tips, tools, joy, and love hitting your inbox, I'm your girl.

Subscribe at jamiekernlima.com or in the link in the show notes.

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And now, more of this incredible conversation together.

You have banks not wanting to give you a loan.

In those kind of moments, can you share how you handled them?

Yes.

So I wanted to rent the

spot that I have, the salon.

Even today, believe it or not, it's still there 438 Nord Bedford Drive.

And I went to the landlord and I told him that I want to, and what he, of course, he asked me, what's your business?

I said, well, I shape eyebrows and I'm working with the biggest celebrity in Hollywood.

So

the gentleman looked at me and said, You do eyebrows?

I was like, Lady, this is Bever Hills.

You can pay rent in Bever Hills shaping eyebrows.

He didn't even know what that service was.

And

he didn't want to rent me the space.

So the space I knew for sure because I used to work around the corner was empty for two years.

In 1996, 97, the economy was not that great in the U.S.

and especially Los Angeles, so there were a lot of empty spots.

And

I stayed there for two hours trying to convince the landlord that he needs to give me the space.

I tried every avenue.

If you were saying, Oh, no, no, I brought

it's impossible, you cannot pay the rent.

Then I used something else.

I said, Well,

you know, the space is empty for two years.

Give me six months.

Give me the space for six months, and if I don't make it, I'm gonna lose.

I'm gonna leave.

I'm gonna rent or go again and rent a tiny little room.

But give me the space for six months.

Still, he wasn't convinced and then i used my last card uh i said well i'm sure your parents your grandparents or great grandparents were immigrants in this country it's like i'm an immigrant give me a chance somebody gave them a chance

and you know what he said okay i will give you for six months

the space

Is everyone recognizing a pattern here?

Because again, a lot of people would hear nobody, ignored, yeah, or they might get offended, or they might, I mean, who knows, or they would hear no for an hour and then leave, and you're just like unremitting and you keep going, and then you connect at that heart level.

Yes, I tried every card.

Actually, the

broker, Dembo, I will never forget, was there after like half an hour and no, no, no, he looked at me and was like, Let's leave, he's not gonna give you the space.

Like, I'm not leaving.

We don't leave this place until I'm gonna get an ES

and I did love it so you created the iconic the iconic golden ratio for eyebrows and I love which just brings out someone's most beautiful face and I love when you when you say that

for you and your and you're one of your many talents is like

I think you say in the movie The Sixth Sense where but instead of them seeing I see dead people, you're like, I see eyebrows

when you look at someone's face.

Can you talk about that?

I know you shared that you were studying the golden ratio in libraries and with art, and then how you brought that to life.

Because this is so good, because we can get inspiration from so many places.

You brought that into an industry first ever, and you transformed a beauty industry.

Can you talk about that?

So, in art school, I studied,

of course, the golden ratio technique.

Leonardo da Vinci used this technique in all his art.

And when I realized that my eyebrows made me look surprised, I wanted to create a technique that will shape the perfect eyebrow according to my bone structure and my natural shape.

And I started going to the library and kind of revisit the work that Leonardo da Vinci did.

He studied the entire body, the face, as you know.

The only thing he didn't was the eyebrows.

And of course, it took me hours and and hours to kind of create that perfect shape or the technique.

And once I started doing was so much easier.

Another important

element was that working in Beverly Hills, I had clients from everywhere, every ethnicity, because it was important we all have different bone structure, different hair in our eyebrows, different length of the eyebrows, and was so good that I was able to to kind of compare every every bone structure and kind of create the the stencils and and then they were not eyebrow products and I was mixing eyeshadow with aloe vera and Vaseline to create the au pomade

and from art store I used to to buy the brushes because there were no brushes for eyebrows and this is how I used to finish the perfect arch when my client would leave and then they will come back after three weeks and they will say, Well, Anastasia, my eyebrow looked great when I left, but after I took a shower,

my eyebrow still was missing hairs.

And that was the moment when I thought, okay, I have to create products.

I went to Cosmoprov in Bologna and I started working on the products.

And the beauty of that was,

I couldn't find other products to copy or to be inspired.

I created every product based on the need of my clients.

So I will give them the samples and ask them, okay, text me or not text me.

Call me and tell me how do you like it?

It's too soft.

It's too dark.

It's too, you know, just to create the perfect arch, the perfect product.

And this is how the products were created.

And

you gave the golden ratio, like you named it, you owned it,

you claimed it,

and you created this whole shift in an industry.

And,

you know, what I love is it applies to everybody.

So every person listening right now can figure out the golden ratio for them.

You have a chart in the book.

Yes.

Right.

So when you get your copy of Raising Brows, Anastasia's brand new book that's out now, so good.

There's even a chart in there that can show you exactly how to do that for your face shape,

no matter what age you are or ethnicity or bone structure or, yeah, and it just, and tell everyone, maybe if they're hearing this for the first time, when they do their brows

with the golden ratio, what happens to them?

What happens to their face?

Well, the perfect eyebrow shape brings balance and proportion, a harmony within all their features, and the human eyes encoded to recognize that

harmony.

And it's you all of a sudden, even if you are not an expert, and that was probably the reason why

was word of mouth, because when I started, the didn't exist social media.

and was word of mouth.

The client will walk on the street, and

somebody will, wow, it's something different about you.

And they will, of course, proudly they will say, Well, I just got my eyebrows at Anastasia.

And it was wonderful to get that.

And I, at the beginning, I remember how hard I worked and so many hours because I wanted to do the perfect eyebrows.

I wanted to master my

skill and I think it was very important for me.

I think of course I wanted to be successful, I wanted to make money, but that wasn't my primal objective.

I wanted to do the best eyebrows.

Yeah.

And you have.

And I did, yes.

For pretty much half the world now.

You say

when you feel beautiful, you feel powerful.

And what do you say?

Because you've had so many people who you've met throughout the years.

Now there's millions of women and people impacted by your work who love your products, who love your message.

When you say you feel, when you feel beautiful, you feel powerful.

What do you say to the woman who's like, Anastasia, I have not felt beautiful ever or in a very long time?

What I will tell her, she needs to get her eyebrows done.

But

I worked at the salon for many years.

And every five minutes, I used to have another client.

I used to have three hours waiting list.

So working non-stop.

But every single time when I finished the eyebrow, and my client, I will give my client the mirror, and she will look in the mirror.

You could see her face was lit.

She will feel like a million bucks.

I thought, wow, the effect that an eyebrow,

you could see, I could feel it, I could see it.

Her energy, that explosive energy,

kind of gave me so much power to keep doing this.

And many times, I have to say this,

I think my clients were the one that will keep me going because I had days and nights when I will go home and think like I can't do this anymore.

This is hard.

This is difficult.

But they will keep that fire in me.

And I felt like they were the ones that will keep me going.

You know what I love about that?

I think about, you know, for anyone who's maybe an entrepreneur now or putting their art out in the world or their ideas or anything,

who's having those days where you're just like, am I even supposed to do this?

Is that,

you know?

And I think one thing you just shared is so powerful that i think is a a big key to success that we can all sort of like lean on when times are tough i think we all have to have a reason or more than one that we're doing it that's bigger than ourselves and i remember there were there were i was going to say days but honestly years that i spent in the qvc green room where i was so grateful to be on but i was absolutely utterly burnt out working 100 hour weeks going is my business gonna make it is it was just it was so much and there were days that were so hard.

And I would have emails and

messages printed out from customers in a stack.

And if I was having a really bad day, I'd go through those and I'd be like, okay, this is why I'm doing what I'm doing.

This is why I'm doing what I'm doing.

And when you just shared that there were days that were so hard, but you'd have, you know, somebody in your salon who's like,

wow.

And then you just saw their, you know, them come alive.

And that's sort of something bigger than yourself.

And I want to call that out because I think that's important.

I think a lot of people maybe haven't thought of that in what they're doing, and I think we've all got to have something that we can lean on on those hard days.

You have to find an anchor that will keep you going, yeah.

And I remember those QVC, that's Sheraton.

I mean, even right now, if you tell me about QVC, I think the smell of the carpet that was 20 years ago at Sheraton,

the only hotel close to QVC.

And I used to go there at two o'clock in the morning and being on the show and then fly back.

And the next morning I will be in the salon.

I mean, working seven days a week, non-stop.

But again,

you have those moments where you have people that you have to stay anchored to the people that

at least they will keep you going.

Could be one, could be 10, could be a hundred, but you have to keep those people that will believe in you because that's the way you keep going and not give up yeah you know one of the things i love so much amongst many with raising brows your new book um that's out now i'm excited for everyone to get this in their hands because we can see ourselves and what's possible for us in someone else's story and there's so much that you share what you know you talk a lot about how even to this day you check every you know batch of product I mean there's all these there's so much that you share and hear that I think we can all think about our own situation and learn from or recognize clues as to why you're so successful now.

But if you were to think of maybe a couple of the big needle movers for anyone listening that really make a difference in building a business

that, you know, that

you know, you're so glad you did or continue to do now that you would tell everyone else to do.

What would you say those are that are sort of the keys to success?

Well, first, I think you need to be authentically who you are.

What do you want?

You believe in it.

Don't try to be like somebody else.

Yeah.

Because at the end of the day, it's going to come out.

You have to be authentically you.

You don't need to make yourself like somebody else thinking that they will like you more.

No.

You are perfect the way you are.

Just you will shine.

Just show us who you are.

That's the most important thing when you start doing a business.

You need to really be passionate about

because it's very easy to give up.

Then you have to be resilient and stay focused.

Don't lose your focus.

I mean, during my career, there were many days when maybe I wanted to do something else.

My part-time job to get money and to invest in the company was flipping houses.

I used to buy house, remodel, and sell them.

And I became so good at it.

And I had moments when I was thinking, oh, maybe I should do this, not eyebrows, because this is difficult.

But no, I stayed focused on eyebrows.

I used that money and that business just to be able to have the revenue to put into the business.

Stay constantly in your dream because it's going to take a long time.

Or if you are lucky

to take you just a year or two, that's a different story.

But most of the time,

every overnight success takes at least 10 years.

Yeah, yeah, that's so good to stay focused on your dream because, especially nowadays, you know, we scroll Instagram for five minutes and we could be like, oh, yeah, right, there's everything out there that can distract us or make us think that we're, you know, on the wrong track or that someone else has it easier and better, or maybe I should do that thing.

It's really good.

Yeah, yeah, because it's not easy.

For you, you know, you talk about,

you talk about the words your grandpa shared when you were little and listening to the radio with the drapes closed and then being the one from your family,

the only one who's like, I'm going to America.

What does the American dream mean to you?

Do you feel like you've created the American dream and do you think it's still alive and well today?

Well, I think I'm the perfect poster child of American Dream.

I came here with nothing.

I didn't speak the language, but I saw the opportunities which this country really offers you.

And I achieve my wildest dream.

I ever thought that I would achieve that much, but I work really hard and I still work really hard because I love it.

And I still believe that the American dream is still alive.

I think people need to see the opportunities.

I think opportunities are everywhere.

It will be different.

Now, today, the AIs,

social media, when I started, the opportunities were different.

But

I still believe this country offers so many opportunities.

And you still work so hard because you do not need to work at all.

And, you know, and I have people say to me, like, because I work a lot right now.

I actually work too much right now.

But I love it.

Like, I love, like, I love this show.

I want to, like, I'm so honored to share your story with so many people.

So I love it.

But I'm curious for you because you don't have to do nothing, right?

So why is it right now you're still working?

I love it.

I love to be, to be, I'm so competitive.

I love to be in the in involve.

I love to win.

This conversation with Anastasia Anastasia is so incredible.

We made it into more than one part.

If you want to gain stories, insights, and true inspiration to turn your dreams into your destiny, you are not going to want to miss this incredible part two of our conversation with Anastasia Suare coming up in the next episode of the Jamie Kern Lima Show.

Remember, this episode's not just for you and me.

Please share this with every single person that you know because it can impact and change their life too.

And if you love today's episode, please click the follow or subscribe button for the show on the app that you're listening to it on or watching it on.

And if it added value to your life, if you could please give it a five-star rating or review, I would be so grateful.

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And please post the episode and share it with others online or in your community who just might need the words and tools and lessons in this episode today.

You never know whose life you're meant to change today by sharing this episode.

Thank you so much for joining me today.

Before you go, I want to share some words with you that couldn't be more true.

You, right now, exactly as you are, are enough and fully worthy.

You're worthy of your greatest hopes, your wildest dreams, and all the unconditional love in the world.

And it's an honor to welcome you to each and every episode of the Jamie Kern-Lima Show.

Here, I hope you'll come as you are and heal where you need, blossom what you choose, journey toward your calling, and stay as long as you'd like because you belong here.

You are worthy.

You are loved.

You are love.

And I love you.

And I cannot wait to join you on the next episode of the Jamie Kern-Lima Show.

In life, you don't soar to the level of your hopes and dreams.

You stay stuck at the level of your self-worth.

When you build your self-worth, you change your entire life.

And that's exactly why I wrote my new book, Worthy, How to Believe You Are Enough and Transform Your Life for You.

If you have some self-doubt to destroy and a destiny to fulfill, Worthy is for you.

In Worthy, you'll learn proven tools and simple steps that bring life-changing results, like how to get unstuck from the things holding you back, build unshakable self-love, unlearn the lies that lead to self-doubt and embrace the truths that wake up worthiness, overcome limiting beliefs and imposter syndrome, achieve your hopes and dreams by believing you are worthy of them and so much more.

Are you ready to unleash your greatness and step into the person you were born to be?

Imagine a life with zero self-doubt and unshakable self-worth.

Get your copy of Worthy, plus some amazing thank you bonus gifts for you at worthybook.com or the link in the show notes below.

Imagine what you'd do if you fully believed in you.

It's time to find out with Worthy.

Who you spend time around is so important as energy is contagious and so is self-belief.

And I'd love to hang out with you even more, especially if you could use an extra dose of inspiration, which is exactly why I've created my free weekly newsletter that's also a love letter.

to you delivered straight to your inbox from me.

If you haven't signed up to make sure that you get it each week, just go to jamiekernlima.com to make sure you're on the list and you'll get your one-on-one with Jamie weekly newsletter and get ready to believe in you.

If you're tired of hearing the bad news every single day and need some inspiration, some tips, tools, joy, and love hitting your inbox, I'm your girl.

Subscribe at jamykernlima.com or in the link in the show notes.

And please note, I'm not a licensed therapist and this podcast is not intended as a substitute for the advice of a physician, professional coach, psychotherapist, or other qualified professional.