How Anastasia Soare Built a Billion-Dollar Beauty Brand One Brow at a Time

In an interview with Forbes Iconoclast at the NASDAQ MarketSite, Anastasia Soare, founder and CEO of Anastasia Beverly Hills, shared the deeply personal and professional milestones behind her billion-dollar beauty empire. Best known for pioneering the “Golden Ratio” approach to eyebrow shaping, her story is anything but cosmetic.

A Dream Deferred, Then Redefined

“I never in my wildest dream thought that I'd build a billion-dollar business,” Soare admitted candidly.

When she arrived in Los Angeles from Romania, she didn’t speak English. She found work as an esthetician—a job that required little language but offered proximity to her dream neighborhood: Beverly Hills.

There, she noticed something no one else in the beauty industry was paying attention to.

“Nobody paid attention to eyebrows,” she said. “I was a victim of the '80s pencil-thin brows. I remembered my art teacher talking about Leonardo da Vinci and the golden ratio. I used that to reshape my own brows—and that’s where it all began.”

Building a Category That Didn’t Exist

Soare wasn’t just building a business—she was building a new category in beauty. Eyebrows were overlooked. Waxing and facials were standard, but precision brow shaping using mathematical principles? Unheard of.

She started small—renting a room and servicing clients one by one. But she believed in the science and the art.

“The human eye is encoded to recognize balance and proportion. A well-shaped brow creates that. I really believed in it.”

By 1997, she opened her own brow-focused salon—despite landlords and skeptics questioning whether such a niche idea could succeed.

Her pitch? A blend of vision and vulnerability. She told her potential landlord: “I’m an immigrant. I’m sure someone gave your family a chance. Give me one.”

Weeks later, there were lines outside her salon before opening.

From Celebrity Brows to Retail Breakthroughs

Word of mouth and celebrity clients—from Oprah to Kim Kardashian—amplified her credibility. But Anastasia didn’t chase fame. Her obsession was craftsmanship and client experience.

“I wanted to master my craft first. To be the best at shaping eyebrows. And then, my clients asked for products.”

That demand led her to mix aloe vera and eyeshadow in her early days. Eventually, she traveled to Italy to develop a proper product line. But even then, her growth was deliberate.

When Nordstrom came calling, she didn’t just want to put product on shelves. She pitched an eyebrow service studio inside their stores. In 1999, she did a live brow demo during a pitch meeting—and sealed the deal.

Sephora followed in 2007. Ulta and Macy’s weren’t far behind.

The Instagram First-Mover Advantage

In 2011, her daughter suggested the brand open an account on a new app: Instagram.

“We were the first beauty brand on Instagram,” Soare said.

That early adoption was pivotal. She recalled sending a free Brow Wiz to a fan in a remote village in India who commented on a post, amazed that the brand could reach her from Beverly Hills.

“That was another aha moment,” Soare said. “We realized how powerful social media could be.”

Scaling With Precision (and Contouring)

Even as the brand expanded into eyeshadow and contour kits, the focus never shifted from strategic, need-driven innovation.

“Every product was created to solve a problem. Over-tweezed brows, unruly hair, sparse arches—each product addressed a specific client need.”

Her background in art school—studying the golden ratio and portraiture—translated beautifully into cosmetics. Brows became the foundation, and contouring became the next logical extension.

Saying No to Scale Until It Made Sense

One of her most difficult business decisions? Saying no to quick revenue.

Early on, many small salons wanted to carry her products. But Soare declined.

“I knew I wanted to be in big retail where I could control the quality. That was hard, but the best decision I made.”

It was a commitment to brand integrity over growth—a rare but defining choice in her journey.

Valuation Shock and Legacy Thinking

In 2018, she partnered with TPG Capital to expand internationally. The valuation? A jaw-dropping $3 billion.

“I almost fell off my chair when they told me,” she said.

But the number wasn’t the goal. It was validation.

Now, her daughter is poised to carry on the legacy—and Anastasia hopes the story inspires others.

“If you want to get into beauty or any business, believe in yourself. Don’t take no for an answer. That’s why I wrote the book.”

Her memoir, Raising Brows: My Story Building a Billion-Dollar Beauty Empire, encapsulates a journey fueled by art, science, and unapologetic vision.