About the Event
In this Enduring Excellence conversation, Bobbi Brown, entrepreneur, renowned makeup artist, and founder of Jones Road Beauty joins veteran journalist Tyler Mathisen to talk about what it takes to build a brand that reshaped an industry, and to start all over at 62.
Bobbi Brown changed the way people thought about makeup. At a time when beauty was defined by excess, she saw an opportunity for something natural, modern, and real. In 1991, she launched ten neutral lipsticks at Bergdorf Goodman expecting to sell one hundred in a month. She sold a hundred on the first day. What began with a simple idea would go on to reshape an industry and build Bobbi Brown Cosmetics into one of the most influential brands of its era.
Four years later, she sold her company to the Estée Lauder Companies and spent the next two decades building it into a billion-dollar brand on a global scale. Then in 2016, at 59, she was told she would no longer oversee the day-to-day operations of the company that still carried her name. She chose to leave, bound by a non-compete that temporarily kept her from starting another cosmetics company.
But she did not spend those years standing still. Bobbi explored new ventures in hospitality, wellness, media, and entrepreneurship. The day the non-compete expired, she launched her new, clean beauty line, Jones Road, which became a viral hit.
Who's Speaking
Bobbi Brown
Bobbi Brown is a renowned makeup artist and entrepreneur, best-selling author, sought-after speaker, beauty industry icon, and a hotelier. She founded two successful cosmetic brands: Bobbi Brown Cosmetics and, more recently, created the clean beauty brand Jones Road. She also envisioned and now operates The George Hotel in Montclair, NJ....
Bobbi Brown is a renowned makeup artist and entrepreneur, best-selling author, sought-after speaker, beauty industry icon, and a hotelier. She founded two successful cosmetic brands: Bobbi Brown Cosmetics and, more recently, created the clean beauty brand Jones Road. She also envisioned and now operates The George Hotel in Montclair, NJ.
Bobbi made the TIME100 “Most Influential People in the World” list and was also named one of Fortune’s Most Powerful Women and Forbes’ “50 Over 50” Most Influential Women. She has received the Glamour Woman of the Year Award, the Fashion Group International Night of Stars Beauty Award, and the Jackie Robinson Foundation’s ROBIE Humanitarian Award. She was appointed to the Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and inducted into the New Jersey Hall of Fame.
She received a BFA from Emerson College and holds honorary doctorates from Montclair State University, Fashion Institute of Technology, Monmouth University, and Emerson College.
Tyler Mathisen
Tyler Mathisen is one of the nation’s most respected business news journalists and interviewers. For more than 27 years, he was a news anchor and co-anchor for CNBC, the world’s top business news television channel. In that time he hosted or co-hosted virtually every program on the CNBC schedule, most...
Tyler Mathisen is one of the nation’s most respected business news journalists and interviewers. For more than 27 years, he was a news anchor and co-anchor for CNBC, the world’s top business news television channel. In that time he hosted or co-hosted virtually every program on the CNBC schedule, most recently “Power Lunch,” one of the network’s longest running program franchises. His coverage credits include: the bursting of the so-called “market bubble” in 2000; the 9-11 terror attacks; the financial crisis of 2007-2009; and the Covid-19 pandemic and its profound business impact. Additionally, he was CNBC’s Vice President of Events Strategy. In that role, he helped map the company’s initiatives in the live events business, virtual and in person.
Previously, Mathisen was Managing Editor of CNBC Business News, responsible for directing the network’s daily content and coverage, and Vice President for Strategic Editorial Initiatives.
He also co-anchored “Nightly Business Report,” an award-winning evening business news program produced by CNBC for U.S. public television. In 2014, NBR was named best radio/TV show by the Society of American Business Editors and Writers (SABEW).
Mathisen also reported multiple one-hour documentaries for the network including “Best Buy: The Big Box Fights Back,” “Supermarkets Inc: Inside a $500 Billion Money Machine” and “Death: It’s a Living,” which won SABEW’s 2014 “Best in Business” award for best radio/TV feature or field report. He was also the host and chief correspondent of two CNBC series, “How I Made My Millions” and “High Net Worth.”
Before joining CNBC in 1997, Mathisen spent 15 years as a writer, senior editor and top editor for Money magazine. He also served as Money Editor for ABC’s “Good Morning America” from 1991 to 1997.
A native of Arlington, Va., Mathisen graduated with distinction with a degree in government and foreign affairs from the University of Virginia.