0:00

Hey folks, Jeff Berman here. If

0:02

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0:04

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0:06

on society, or maybe all three,

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Award recipients don't just get a

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They get a spotlight at the

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Head to Masters

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of scale.com/business awards

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dash apply. That's

0:39

Masters of

0:41

scale.com/ business

0:43

awards dash apply. I

0:45

met and I worked with

0:48

so many celebrities.

0:50

But when I met

0:53

Oprah was my Oscar

0:55

moment. Oprah's

0:58

production team called

1:00

Anastasia Sware, which he

1:03

come to Oprah's eyebrows live

1:05

on the massively popular daytime

1:07

TV show. And it was kind

1:09

of scary because to do live

1:11

her eyebrows in front of

1:13

a camera is very difficult.

1:15

I knew she was coming today, so

1:18

I haven't plucked yet. This

1:20

is Anastasia, Queen of Brows. Anastasia

1:23

was used to fixing up

1:26

the eyebrows of famous people

1:28

in her Beverly Hills studio,

1:30

but to do it for

1:32

Oprah, I mean, it's Oprah, live, on

1:34

stage, on television. I wanted

1:36

to cry, I wanted to

1:39

jump, I don't even remember

1:41

what. But Anastasia kept her

1:43

cool on camera. She walked the

1:45

audience through how to perfectly shape

1:48

your eyebrows and Oprah loved the

1:50

result. You will not find anybody

1:52

better than her on the planet for

1:54

doing brows. I haven't. Ooh, look at

1:56

that brow, baby. This

2:00

was a different era.

2:03

Daytime television really mattered,

2:05

and no one mattered

2:08

more than Oprah. Her

2:10

talk show was seen

2:12

by millions and millions

2:14

of people every day. So

2:17

after the episode aired? The

2:19

phone will not stop

2:21

ringing. And

2:29

it hasn't stopped bringing ever since.

2:32

The remaining immigrant celebrity-fueled beauty business

2:34

grew from renting a room in

2:36

Beverly Hills to a global

2:38

brand that peaked at evaluation of

2:41

no less than $3 billion.

2:43

You've got to have incredible

2:45

talent at every position. It's like

2:47

this is a huge push. There are

2:49

fires burning when you're going out. Can

2:51

you believe it? Such an idiot. And

2:53

then you go back to, this is

2:55

totally going to be amazing. There is

2:57

so many easy ways. So I have

2:59

no idea what to do. Sorry,

3:01

you made a mistake. But you

3:04

have to time it right. Oops.

3:06

We're going to have

3:08

a three-bedroom apartment. Stuff

3:10

that just seems absolutely

3:13

nutball ten years later.

3:15

Well, that's just how

3:17

you do it. We haven't made

3:19

just how you do it. This

3:21

is Masters of Scale. Anastasia

3:25

Swari is the expert estatician responsible

3:27

for the way everyone from Oprah

3:29

and Michelle Obama to Kim Kardashian

3:31

and Michelle Fyfer shape their eyebrows.

3:34

In this episode, she shares lessons

3:36

in leveraging today's influencer economy and

3:38

explains why she never wants to

3:40

retire. I was thrilled to sit

3:43

down with Anastasia in Los Angeles

3:45

for this conversation and honestly a

3:47

little bit shocked by what she

3:49

said when we started talking. You

3:53

have a good eyebrows

3:55

by the way. My

3:58

day is made. And

4:00

Estazia, welcome to Masters of Scale.

4:02

Thank you so much for having

4:04

me. I'm thrilled to have you.

4:06

You, like so many of the

4:08

founders we have on Masters of

4:10

Scale, are an immigrant, but most

4:12

of the immigrant founders we have

4:14

on the show came to the

4:16

US as children or came here

4:18

for college. You came a little

4:20

bit later. Can you tell us

4:22

about growing up in Romania and

4:24

what brought you to the United

4:26

States? So I grew up

4:28

in Romania and... after the

4:30

communist regime came to power,

4:32

things slowly started changing. They

4:34

started taking property from my

4:36

grandparents. My uncles, they were

4:38

not allowed to own the

4:40

restaurants anymore. They were taking

4:42

by the government. It was

4:45

very difficult. They started cutting

4:47

electricity. Food was scarce, and

4:49

that was probably one of

4:51

the reason why I wanted

4:53

to defect to leave the

4:55

country. And so you were

4:57

you were 30 when you

4:59

came to the US? I

5:01

was 31. Yes. 31. And

5:03

how did you how did

5:05

you get here? So my

5:07

husband was ship captain and

5:09

he went to American embassy

5:11

ask for political asylum and

5:13

he came to United States

5:15

and I had to wait

5:17

three years. The Romanian government

5:19

didn't want to give me

5:21

the passport. So you have

5:23

this three-year wait between your

5:25

husband applying for political asylum

5:27

and getting to the US

5:29

and you landed in Los

5:31

Angeles? Yes, I landed because

5:33

I told him we need

5:35

to move only in Los

5:37

Angeles. We were restricted. We

5:39

couldn't watch movies, Hollywood movies.

5:41

Everything was black market. So

5:43

we had to close. the

5:45

drapes and watch everything in

5:47

the dark and was a

5:49

dream. I remember watching Pretty

5:51

Woman in Beverly Hills cops

5:53

and I thought, I want

5:55

to walk on that street.

5:57

So what was it like

5:59

when you got here? You

6:01

landed LAX and what happens?

6:03

Okay. So the rule was

6:05

that I could not leave

6:07

with $1 in my pocket,

6:09

because every citizen, Romanian citizen

6:12

that owned any dollars would

6:14

be put in jail. So

6:16

I asked, can I have

6:18

at least $10 that just

6:20

in case my husband will

6:22

not be there, I could

6:24

make a phone call. I

6:26

like, no, we'll put you

6:28

in jail if you have

6:30

$1. And my fear was

6:32

that I will. walk in

6:34

the airport, Los Angeles Airport,

6:36

and I will not, my

6:38

husband will not be there,

6:40

and I will not have

6:42

a coin to make a

6:44

phone call. Thankfully, he was

6:46

there, and I just remember

6:48

getting out of the airport

6:50

in the car, and I

6:52

saw that bright light and

6:54

the palm trees. The Los

6:56

Angeles light. Yeah. Was magical,

6:58

but scary in the same

7:00

time. Tell me about the

7:02

scary part. Oh my God,

7:04

everything was scary. The first

7:06

thing that I wanted to

7:08

see was a supermarket. I

7:10

started walking on those endless

7:12

aisles and I was thinking,

7:14

oh my God, we didn't

7:16

have, I mean, people would

7:18

be in line for one

7:20

chicken from 12 o'clock at

7:22

night until the next day

7:24

at 3 o'clock and sometimes

7:26

some of them they will

7:28

still not be able to

7:30

leave with anything. So I

7:32

thought, oh my God, abundance.

7:34

Right. You go from literal

7:36

bread lines to lines of

7:39

bread. Yes. Exactly. You've got

7:41

culture shock. Everything. So what

7:43

do you do then? So

7:45

I found out from the

7:47

church that was close to

7:49

the apartment that they had

7:51

the English classes for immigrants.

7:53

So I went and I

7:55

started taking those classes and

7:57

my husband. worked as a

7:59

taxi driver. He met a

8:01

Romanian gentleman and his wife

8:03

was an estetition. And when

8:05

we met, she said, I'm

8:07

pregnant and I have to

8:09

take three months off and

8:11

I would love to introduce

8:13

you to the owner. You

8:15

could work in my place.

8:17

And then when I am

8:19

back, you have to leave.

8:21

So for her was a

8:23

good arrangement because she didn't

8:25

want the owner to hire

8:27

somebody and she could lose

8:29

her job. Did you have

8:31

a background in beauty at

8:33

that point? So while my

8:35

husband came, he saw that

8:37

Eastern Bloc women, they all

8:39

were a statistician. So he

8:41

suggested I should go and

8:43

get my license in Romania.

8:45

So while I was waiting

8:47

for my passport, I went

8:49

to beauty school there. I

8:51

worked there for two years

8:53

and I was kind of

8:55

surprised that nobody in Hollywood

8:57

paid attention to eyebrows. And

8:59

of course in Romania we

9:01

didn't have disposable cameras. I

9:03

bought a disposable camera and

9:05

we started taking picture of...

9:08

of us, family. And I

9:10

realized that I looked surprised

9:12

in the picture because my

9:14

eyebrow was pencil thin and

9:16

round. So the shape of

9:18

my eyebrows wasn't correct. And

9:20

I remember my art teacher

9:22

talking about how to draw

9:24

a portrait and change an

9:26

emotion and using golden ratio.

9:28

So let me let me

9:30

pause you there because I'm

9:32

not sure that all of

9:34

our audience is familiar with

9:36

the golden ratio. Could you

9:38

explain the golden ratio? It's

9:40

a mathematical formula that is

9:42

found in nature, plants, and

9:44

everything that surrounds us. So

9:46

it's a proportion that the

9:48

humanize encoded to recognize because

9:50

creates balance and proportion with

9:52

everything. So the proportion is

9:54

1.68 that creates a harmony.

9:56

And as you are seeing

9:58

your own face in these

10:00

photos from the disposable camera

10:02

and looking at your clients,

10:04

you're realizing the golden ratio

10:06

needs to be applied to

10:08

the browse. What did you

10:10

do with this realization? So

10:12

I started, I wanted to

10:14

fix my own eyebrows. And

10:16

once I did that. My

10:18

clients used to come and

10:20

say, wow, you look different,

10:22

you look rested, what did

10:24

you do? And of course,

10:26

I started sharing with them

10:28

my discovery and I started

10:30

shaping their eyebrows. And I

10:32

went to the owner and

10:35

I said, look, I think

10:37

we should do this as

10:39

a service. And they said,

10:41

well, we cannot charge more

10:43

than $10 because it wasn't

10:45

a service. And it didn't

10:47

make business sense for them.

10:49

It didn't scale. But I

10:51

really believed in it. And

10:53

one Sunday, I told my

10:55

husband, I'm going to open

10:57

my own business. So this

10:59

was two years after I

11:01

came to America. I said,

11:03

well, look, I came here

11:05

to do something. I have

11:07

to do this. This is

11:09

why we came here. Otherwise,

11:11

we could stay in Romania.

11:13

Or we'll go back. If

11:15

I would not be able

11:17

to make it, we'll go

11:19

back anyway. So I looked

11:21

in a newspaper and I

11:23

said, I'm going to rent

11:25

a room in a salon

11:27

only in Beverly Hills. Nothing

11:29

to lose and everything to

11:31

gain. So the boldness of

11:33

the vision, I'm going to

11:35

do this, I know it

11:37

doesn't scale yet, but I

11:39

see the opportunity, I can

11:41

feel it, I'm going to

11:43

rent a room, is a

11:45

real leap of faith. Yes,

11:47

absolutely. And this was the

11:49

only country that will allow

11:51

me to do that. So

11:53

in the course of... most

11:55

of the 90s then. You

11:57

go from one room rented

11:59

in someone else's salon. to

12:02

Oprah. Oh yeah, that was.

12:04

So how do you go

12:06

from renting a room and

12:08

just starting to working with

12:10

the biggest most famous talent

12:12

in the world? That's a

12:14

very good question. So the

12:16

moment I rented the room,

12:18

which was scary in a

12:20

way, what I wanted to

12:22

do was to master my

12:24

skill. I cannot tell

12:26

you how many free eyebrows

12:28

I've done at the beginning

12:30

of my career. Every shampoo

12:32

girl, every hair stylist, every

12:34

makeup artist, everybody, because I

12:36

want them to live in

12:38

my skills and talk to

12:40

their clients, send me their

12:43

clients. If they were happy

12:45

and was important for me

12:47

that they will be happy,

12:49

they will send me their

12:51

clients. Soon Anastasia was working

12:53

with some of the biggest

12:55

names in Hollywood. Didn't take

12:57

long for women's magazines to

12:59

take notice of this new

13:01

beauty trend. She says that

13:03

a lure magazine was the

13:05

first to call her in

13:07

the early 1990s. They asked

13:10

me if they could write

13:12

about the best kept secret

13:14

in Hollywood and use a

13:16

celebrity client. So I asked...

13:18

Michel Fyfer, I called Michel

13:20

and I said, can I

13:22

use your name? It's like,

13:24

oh, of course, of course.

13:26

And at that time, remember,

13:28

people didn't talk about facials

13:30

or were bikini, Brazilian bikini,

13:32

and I thought, hmm, I'm

13:34

going to talk about the

13:37

eyebrows. Because eyebrows is something

13:39

that it's a walking advertising.

13:41

Everybody could see it. Everybody's

13:43

happy to talk about. And

13:45

what it sounds like is

13:47

you built really a hand-by-hand,

13:49

person-by-person, an incredibly devoted clientele

13:51

to the point where within

13:53

just a few years, I

13:55

mean, I don't... know that

13:57

our younger audience members know

13:59

that Michelle Fyfer in the

14:01

early mid-90s was, you know,

14:04

I mean, as biggest stars

14:06

existed. The biggest star they

14:08

existed, is true. Yeah, this

14:10

is not a small thing.

14:12

Not only can you call

14:14

her, but she's going to

14:16

say yes to being with

14:18

you in a lower magazine.

14:20

I have to say that

14:22

my clients were the biggest

14:24

supporter. They were the most

14:26

wonderful people that helped me

14:28

to learn the language better.

14:31

If I had the question,

14:33

hey, I don't know how

14:35

to write a check, how

14:37

should I do it? Where

14:39

should I like, okay, we'll

14:41

help you? Yeah. No, I

14:43

have a photograph in my

14:45

home that I love. It's

14:47

a sign and it reads

14:49

something like, the words I

14:51

love you are indeed beautiful

14:53

and powerful, but there are

14:55

no more important three words

14:58

in the English language than

15:00

can I help. And that

15:02

spirit of wanting to help

15:04

is so deeply powerful. And

15:06

I learned from them that

15:08

you have to ask. Still

15:10

ahead. How Anastasia's daughter helped

15:12

her company reach new heights

15:14

as an early adopter of

15:16

Instagram. The

15:22

Lobatical is for any employees who

15:24

have been with us for five

15:26

years to take a vacation. They

15:28

get a week of extra PTO.

15:31

They get to pick anywhere in

15:33

the world that they want to

15:35

travel, and we allow that to

15:37

happen for them. That's Brooke Wright.

15:39

Capital One Business Customer and Chief

15:41

People Officer at Local. A change

15:43

marketing company that works with huge

15:45

corporations in order to facilitate meaningful

15:47

communication between C-suites and their frontline

15:49

line. We wanted to celebrate them

15:51

for the time they had invested

15:53

with us. We liked the idea

15:55

of a sabbatical, and so we

15:57

made it us. It's the lobatical.

15:59

practice is what they preach, caring

16:01

for their employees with the same

16:03

rigor they instruct their clients to

16:06

enact. My day today is focused on

16:08

making sure that we're living out the

16:10

same principles that we are guiding our

16:12

clients on inside of their large corporations.

16:15

How you take care of your employees

16:17

is a direct correlation to your customers

16:19

experience with your brand or product. The

16:22

lobatical The lobatical is

16:24

just one of the ways that

16:26

local ensures their employees feel appreciated

16:28

and cared for. And feeling appreciated

16:30

is a principle that is shared

16:32

by their partnership with Capital

16:34

One business. We love our 2%

16:36

cash back card. We can use

16:38

the rewards to care for our

16:40

employees. My favorite thing about Capital

16:42

One, whenever I need to call,

16:44

there's always a caring helpful voice

16:47

on the other end. You can't

16:49

manufacture care, especially in a big

16:51

company, and Capital One cares. Capital One

16:53

cares. To learn more, go to

16:55

Capital one.com. At

16:57

Masters of Scale, we talk a

17:00

lot about innovation. It's an essential

17:02

skill that all industry leaders absolutely

17:04

have to develop. Our community looks

17:06

to us to stay ahead on

17:08

the latest trends in commerce, and

17:11

more and more we hear of

17:13

businesses turning to Ohio. That's right,

17:15

Ohio. Jobs Ohio isn't just

17:17

an economic development organization.

17:20

They're matchmakers for

17:22

innovation. From talent acquisition

17:24

to site selection to

17:27

infrastructure development, Jobs Ohio

17:29

exists to empower world-class

17:32

corporations, entrepreneurs, and talented

17:34

individuals to build their

17:37

businesses and their careers in the

17:39

state of Ohio. Whatever you're looking

17:41

forward to uniquely scale your business,

17:44

you can find it in Ohio. Go

17:46

to Jobs ohio.com to learn more. Welcome

17:48

back to Masters of Scale. You

17:50

can find this conversation and more.

17:52

on our YouTube channel. Anastasia

17:55

went from Hollywood's best-kept secret

17:57

to a household name when

18:00

appeared on Oprah. They

18:02

said, well, Oprah wants

18:04

to get her eyebrows

18:06

done by Anastasia live.

18:08

And it was kind

18:10

of scary because to

18:12

do live her eyebrows

18:14

and doing live in

18:16

front of a camera

18:18

is very difficult. So

18:20

of course I said,

18:22

yes, I went there.

18:24

And it was very

18:27

powerful. Oprah had always

18:29

been central to Anastasia's idea of

18:31

success in America. And remember, I

18:34

came in this country and we

18:36

had only one TV and my

18:38

husband used to watch Lakers and

18:41

all the news and I said,

18:43

I want to watch only one

18:45

show, this three o'clock show, this

18:48

woman called Oprah. And he's like,

18:50

but you don't understand English. Like,

18:53

why do you want? And it's

18:55

like, I don't, I don't know.

18:57

But I feel like I want

19:00

to watch this show. This is

19:02

the deal. You could watch all

19:04

day long, all day night. I

19:07

need to watch at three o'clock.

19:09

I need to understand how she

19:12

asked questions because one day I'm

19:14

going to be on her show.

19:16

My beginning. You saw it. I

19:19

put it in a universe. So

19:21

when I went and I did

19:23

her eyebrows was, oh my God,

19:26

I couldn't, I wanted to cry,

19:28

I wanted to jump, I don't

19:31

even remember what, you know what

19:33

I mean? It was one of

19:35

the most powerful women on the

19:38

planet, the most influential women, and

19:40

her power in her. energy her

19:42

aura was so powerful. What is

19:45

the Oprah effect? What happens after

19:47

you're on the show? The phone

19:50

will not stop ringing. It changes

19:52

everything. And so there's one direction

19:54

to go in building this business

19:57

where you could be franchising and

19:59

launching Anastasia. browse all across America

20:01

and what have you, there's another

20:04

where you start launching consumer products.

20:06

Which direction did you go? So

20:09

I start, I actually, I work

20:11

on both. I used to do

20:13

master classes and teach people a

20:16

statistician how to do eyebrows and

20:18

It was very difficult because they

20:20

will get the certificate. They will

20:23

put it in their salon. And

20:25

then if they will have a

20:28

client that wasn't happy, they pill

20:30

off half of their eyebrows. They

20:32

will call my salon because it

20:35

was my name there. You've certified

20:37

them. Yes. Yeah. So to keep

20:39

the quality was very difficult. but

20:42

every face is different. Completely. And

20:44

so the judgment of the person

20:47

who's providing the service comes into

20:49

plain a way, it just doesn't

20:51

and other kinds of businesses. Absolutely,

20:54

absolutely. So when I start doing

20:56

eyebrows, I used to mix some

20:58

Vaseline with Alovera and eyeshadow to

21:01

fill in the eyebrows to create

21:03

that perfect shape. And the client

21:06

will come back and say, well.

21:08

I know, my eyebrow looks amazing

21:10

when I leave, but after I

21:13

take a shower, I need that

21:15

product. So that was the reason

21:17

why I wanted to create products.

21:20

So it was an authentic, normal

21:22

thing for my business to do,

21:25

because I had such a long

21:27

list of celebrity Northstrom invited me

21:29

to launch the product there. And

21:32

that was the perfect moment for

21:34

me to launch the brow studios.

21:36

Because in 2000 when I launched

21:39

in Northstrom's, women were not very

21:41

familiar with filling their eyebrows with

21:44

powder or pomad or so they

21:46

needed to be educated. So partnering

21:48

with Northstrom was the best thing.

21:51

We opened brow studios, estetition. I

21:53

had at that time a team

21:55

of field teams. that will go

21:58

and will train the girls and

22:00

myself. Every weekend I used to

22:03

travel in different cities and train

22:05

the institutions. Did you need to

22:07

raise money to be in the

22:10

consumer products or were able to

22:12

use the Nordstrom deal to fund

22:14

the consumer products? In 2019 nobody

22:17

wanted to invest in something called

22:19

eyebrows product. So I had to...

22:22

work non-stop doing eyebrows in the

22:24

salon. I had a part-time job

22:26

flipping houses. So I would buy

22:29

a house, fix it, and after

22:31

two years I will sell it

22:34

and those money I would put

22:36

in the company again. So it

22:38

was quite a challenge. And going

22:41

to Nordstrom's, it really helped me

22:43

to have a different... a way

22:45

of doing the business. I mean,

22:48

they were great partners. Even today,

22:50

they are still amazing. And they

22:53

helped me to build that service

22:55

business. Right. And the service business

22:57

marketed the products as well. Of

23:00

course. Yeah. It's a virtuous cycle.

23:02

Absolutely. It's perfect. In that 2000

23:04

to 2010, 1112 range, sort of

23:07

the consumer net is starting to

23:09

explode. But finally, Instagram arrives and

23:12

changes how beauty and beauty products

23:14

are marketed. How did you grow

23:16

the business in that phase before

23:19

we got to the explosion of

23:21

beauty on social media? I used

23:23

to be on every single show,

23:26

TV show that I could think

23:28

about it. Because if you think

23:31

about it, all the TV anchor,

23:33

they wanted their eyebrow beautiful. So

23:35

they used to come to the

23:38

salon, producers, and everybody. So my

23:40

deal was, okay, I will do

23:42

your eyebrow, but I want to

23:45

be on the show to talk

23:47

about my products. So that was

23:50

very important. Plus when I used

23:52

to try. travel Sundays and Mondays

23:54

around the country. Before I will

23:57

go at Nordstrom's, I will go

23:59

on TV, network in that specific

24:01

area. Right. If you're going to

24:04

the Nordstrom Cincinnati, you're going to

24:06

hit. Exactly. Or Chicago. Yes. So

24:09

plus all the beauty editors. So

24:11

I did everything possible the all

24:13

the way. Well, there's no question

24:16

hard work has been a core

24:18

part of your story. And then

24:20

this. cheat code arrives in the

24:23

form of Instagram when it comes

24:25

to beauty. So a lot of

24:28

businesses that were established in the

24:30

90s and early 2000s were not

24:32

able to take advantage of the

24:35

opportunities. It just, they didn't see

24:37

it, they weren't nimble enough, they

24:39

weren't entrepreneurial opportunistic enough, and a

24:42

lot of companies that reached scale.

24:44

Right? And have a founder have

24:47

done things one way for a

24:49

long time, they miss it. And

24:51

that's where insurgents come and take

24:54

over. But you caught that wave.

24:56

You took that wave. So what

24:58

happened that let you do that?

25:01

How did that happen? So my

25:03

daughter started working with me. Saturday

25:06

night we'll take our carry-on and

25:08

we'll fly to different cities to

25:10

promote the product. I used to

25:13

shape the eyebrows and I would

25:15

recommend the color and the products

25:17

and she used to tell them

25:20

how to use them. So after

25:22

a while she said mom I

25:25

work seven days a week I'm

25:27

only 18. It's like it's this

25:29

app we should have our products

25:32

there we should talk about them

25:34

we should post, we should do

25:36

videos, and I said, Claudia, I

25:39

don't like Facebook. I don't care

25:41

how many coffees people will get

25:44

like, no, no, no, this is

25:46

not Facebook. This is a different

25:48

type of social media. I'm like,

25:51

okay, let's give a try. So

25:53

we posted one video and it

25:55

was incredible, was a brow, our

25:58

browwiz, that is one of our

26:00

most popular pencil, mechanical pencil. And

26:03

of course, we read every single

26:05

comment and was one comment that

26:07

said, oh, I wish I would

26:10

have that pencil. I could buy

26:12

that pencil. And I answered, I

26:14

said, can you please send me

26:17

your address? I would love to

26:19

gift you one. And she said,

26:22

oh, no, you can, because I

26:24

live in a small little town

26:26

or village in India. When I

26:29

read that I thought wow this

26:31

is something to pay attention to.

26:33

I will never be able to

26:36

reach a person in a small

26:38

village in India. So I

26:40

sat down with Claudia like

26:43

let's hire some younger kids

26:45

and let's really do this.

26:47

We were 24-7 with the with

26:49

the Instagram policy and you you

26:51

caught the next wave of

26:53

what we now call influencers

26:55

Right whether it's Kardashians or

26:58

what have you who were

27:00

native to that platform and

27:02

so powerful on that platform

27:04

And so you built the

27:06

business quite impressively. I

27:08

mean this became a very has

27:10

become a very big business To

27:13

the point where you took on

27:15

private equity money Yes. Can you

27:17

tell us about the decision to

27:19

take a private equity

27:22

investment? Well, in 2018, we

27:24

were unstoppable with, like, it

27:26

was incredible. How big was

27:29

the business in 2018, give

27:31

or take? The business was

27:33

320 million, or 300 in

27:36

sales. And with an incredible

27:38

margin, incredible margin. And you

27:41

had not taken outside investment

27:43

up to this point?

27:45

No. I own 100% of the business.

27:47

To be honest with you,

27:50

I didn't even know how

27:52

much the company was worth

27:54

it, but we wanted to

27:57

expand international. I realize to

27:59

do business in... international, it's

28:01

much more difficult and to establish

28:03

every country was way difficult and

28:06

for me to do that, we

28:08

take me away from doing what

28:11

I have to do that nobody

28:13

else could do, which is marketing

28:15

and the products. and was a

28:18

decision that we wanted to take

28:20

a partner to help us expand

28:22

internationally, and this is how we

28:25

end up a partner with TPG.

28:27

Right, and they made a sizable

28:30

investment in the

28:32

business. Yes. How has it

28:34

changed having a private equity

28:36

partner in the business? Well,

28:38

I mean, they are great

28:40

partners, very smart people.

28:43

Unfortunately, there were some

28:45

events, natural events, that

28:47

really hurt the business.

28:50

COVID was probably the

28:52

most difficult part, and

28:54

it was very hard.

28:56

Very hard, because you

28:58

couldn't touch the makeup.

29:01

Stores were close. Even

29:03

when they opened, you

29:05

couldn't use the tester,

29:07

so it was hard. What keeps

29:09

you optimistic? This

29:11

country. I think is a

29:13

country that could always recover

29:15

and always will win. I

29:18

believe in America, America is

29:20

a country of people that

29:22

will not give up. I

29:24

mean, I don't think it's

29:26

another country like this. There

29:28

isn't. Anastasi, I want you

29:30

to, I want to ask

29:32

you to imagine a young

29:34

woman, a young person, who

29:36

comes to the US, much

29:38

like you did. with nothing

29:40

and who finds a job

29:42

in a salon and is

29:44

starting and has your work

29:47

ethic and your ambition and

29:49

your values. What's your advice

29:51

to her for how to

29:53

begin pursuing an entrepreneurial

29:55

journey where she has

29:57

a chance to control

29:59

her own? destiny? I think

30:01

the most important thing is

30:03

do your homework. First of

30:05

all, what do you exactly

30:07

you want to do? Because

30:09

there are a few options

30:11

that you have. You want

30:13

to be a housewife? That's

30:15

a CEO of a household

30:17

and it's a lot of

30:20

work, okay? Do you want

30:22

to have your own business

30:24

to be an entrepreneur? That's

30:26

a lot of work. So

30:28

you need to have the

30:30

support if you still have

30:32

a family. So see where

30:34

you are, how much time

30:36

you could put into this.

30:38

To be an entrepreneur, it

30:40

never stops. The only time

30:42

when you don't work is

30:44

when you sleep. It's just

30:46

period. And then if you

30:48

check all those points, then

30:50

you have to think, okay,

30:52

I believe in something. You

30:54

need to perfect your skill.

30:56

Constantly, I am in this

30:58

business for 30. two years,

31:00

okay? I constantly want to

31:02

be better every day. I

31:04

want to learn more. I

31:06

want to be better than

31:08

I was yesterday. So perfect

31:11

your skill. Master your skill.

31:13

That's your foundation. Then you

31:15

have to market your skill.

31:17

That's another important thing. As

31:19

well, you have to surround

31:21

yourself with people that share

31:23

your vision and they will

31:25

go with you. on this

31:27

journey. And it's a lot

31:29

of work, it's a lot

31:31

of discipline, a lot of

31:33

determination, but you have to

31:35

love it because it's not

31:37

easy. But if you love

31:39

what you do, you feel

31:41

like you don't work. You

31:43

have achieved so much and

31:45

done so well financially and

31:47

built something and have a

31:49

world-class investor behind you. Many

31:51

people in your position might

31:53

say it's time to pass

31:55

the torch. What keeps you

31:57

going? is the desire of

32:00

Being better every day and

32:03

doing something that I love.

32:05

I don't see myself doing

32:07

anything. I love to work.

32:09

I mean, I work like

32:11

I can pay my rent

32:14

next month. It is very

32:16

important to have a passion

32:18

and to have a purpose.

32:20

I don't think retiring for

32:22

me, it's not going to

32:25

happen. I will never retire.

32:27

I always said my retirement

32:29

idea is to work 9

32:31

to 5. That's my retirement

32:33

plan. Well, let us hope

32:36

you're able to get there

32:38

sooner than later in the

32:40

meantime. It's a great place

32:42

to wrap. Thank you so

32:44

much for being on master

32:47

of scale. Thank you so

32:49

much. I appreciate you. Thank

32:51

you. Anastasia Swari's scale journey

32:53

is truly incredible. She landed

32:55

in Los Angeles without a

32:58

nickel in her pocket almost

33:00

40 years ago and built

33:02

a brand synonymous with beauty

33:04

around the world. It's a

33:06

testament to how much hustle

33:09

and heart can achieve in

33:11

a country where immigrants are

33:13

given a chance. I'm Jeff

33:15

Berman. Thank you for listening.

33:28

Meet Romeo Regali, a capital-one business

33:30

customer and chef and CEO of

33:32

Ross, a plant-based restaurant with two

33:34

locations in New York. We started

33:36

talking about our own restaurant. I

33:38

don't know if she thought I

33:40

was serious. Well, she said, you

33:42

know, let's just do it. Let's

33:45

just start our own brand from

33:47

scratch. Romeo's recalling the moment when

33:49

he and his wife and co-founder

33:51

Milka Regali decided to take a

33:53

leap of faith. I

33:55

started working as a server

33:57

at Milk's Mom's restaurant. I

33:59

fell in love. so much

34:01

with the industry and that's

34:03

what sparked it. Romeo and

34:05

Melca weren't certain how they

34:08

would bring their dream to

34:10

fruition, but they were certain

34:12

of one thing, their passion.

34:14

We knew we had a

34:16

vision and we found a

34:18

space. We had to gut

34:20

the entire space and build

34:22

everything, As they broke ground

34:25

on their first raw's location,

34:27

Romeo and Milka soon faced

34:29

the financial reality of building

34:31

something from scratch. They looked

34:33

to Capital One business to

34:35

help navigate the fiscal burden

34:37

of making their dreams come

34:40

true. We used the Spark

34:42

Cash Plus card from Capital

34:44

One. The no-preset spending limit

34:46

really had a big role

34:48

in helping us finish the

34:50

project. We're very happy with

34:52

what we have accomplished. We

34:54

want to expand more. To

34:57

learn more go to capital1.com/business

34:59

cards. AI's impact on the

35:01

environment is one of the

35:03

most pressing issues facing the

35:05

tech industry today. People want

35:07

to know, what's the carbon

35:09

footprint of a chat cheapity

35:11

query, what does it mean

35:14

to innovate sustainably, and can

35:16

AI actually be used to

35:18

solve the climate crisis? I'm

35:20

Rana El Caliwi. On my

35:22

podcast, Pioneers of AI, we

35:24

bring questions like this to

35:26

some of the leading thinkers

35:29

and builders working in AI.

35:31

Join me each week as

35:33

we explore how this technology

35:35

is leaving its mark on

35:37

humanity and our planet. Find

35:39

pioneers of AI on Apple

35:41

podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever

35:43

you get your podcasts. Masters

35:54

of Scales await what original.

35:56

Our executive producer is Eve

35:58

Trot. Our senior. producer is

36:00

Tricia Bobita. The production team

36:02

includes Tucker Lagurski, Masha Makotunina,

36:04

and Brandon Klein. Our senior

36:07

town executive is Stephanie Stern,

36:09

mixing and mastering by Aaron

36:11

Vasinelli and Brian Pew. Original

36:13

music by Ryan Holliday. Our

36:15

head of podcasts is Lee

36:17

Tall Molad. Visit Masters of

36:19

scale.com to find the transcript

36:21

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