How Beauty Legend Bobbi Brown Continues to Evolve Her Career

Welcome to Second Life, a podcast spotlighting successful women who've made major career changes—and fearlessly mastered the pivot. Hosted by Hillary Kerr, co-founder and chief content officer at Who What Wear, each episode gives you a direct line to women who are game changers in their fields. Subscribe to Second Life on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or anywhere you get your podcasts to stay tuned.

For nearly three decades, world-renowned makeup artist, beauty titan, best-selling author, and entrepreneur Bobbi Brown has run a burgeoning beauty empire that transcends time and trends. Brown began her career as a makeup artist in New York City, where she became known for having a more natural aesthetic compared to highly graphic makeup trends of the time. Ultimately, this marked the beginning of Brown paving her own path in the industry. 

While working as a professional makeup artist, she created a collection of 10 neutral lipsticks, which launched the billion-dollar brand Bobbi Brown Cosmetics. Brown helmed the eponymous brand for 25 years before deciding to walk away in 2016. During this time, Brown became the ultimate multi-hyphenate. While exploring her career as an entrepreneur, creative director, author, and more, she launched new businesses, including justBOBBI.com, a digital editorial content site; the ingestible wellness brand Evolution 18; a podcast titled The Important Things; and a boutique hotel in Montclair, New Jersey, called The George. As a trailblazer in the industry, Brown has accomplished a lot of firsts—from launching one of the first-ever beauty e-commerce websites in 1996 to becoming the first MasterClass beauty instructor in 2019. 

In October 2020, Brown made history again with her highly anticipated return to the world of cosmetics and the launch of Jones Road, an edited collection of indispensable clean beauty products for all ages, skin types, and skin tones. Listen to the latest episode of Second Life to hear how Brown built her beauty empire and how she plans to continue evolving it.

Plus, keep scrolling to shop some of our favorites from Jones Road.