Anastasia Soare, founder and CEO of Anastasia Beverly Hills, has detailed the adaptability and resourcefulness required to build her global beauty brand.
Soare's trajectory from an immigrant to a business leader serves as a blueprint for entrepreneurs navigating volatile markets. Her emphasis on staying close to customers and maintaining a flexible mindset explains how a niche focus on eyebrows evolved into a diversified beauty powerhouse.
Soare arrived in the U.S. in 1989 [2] after leaving communist Romania [3]. The transition to life in Beverly Hills was marked by significant financial and emotional hurdles. "I was scared down to my bones: an overwhelming, visceral, sweat-inducing fear," Soare said.
Her early business efforts were defined by a lack of capital. Soare said she begged for a $500 credit card [2] before she was able to start the beauty empire that eventually reached a billion-dollar valuation [4]. This period of scarcity forced her to rely on resourcefulness, a trait she later highlighted at the Forbes Iconoclast Summit in 2025 [2].
Now 67 [3], Soare continues to integrate modern digital trends into her leadership style to remain relevant. She said her day starts with TikTok and ends with red light therapy [3]. This commitment to current trends reflects her broader philosophy that entrepreneurs must evolve alongside their audience to avoid obsolescence.
Soare attributes her success to a combination of rigorous customer focus and the ability to pivot. By treating her early challenges as lessons in resilience, she transformed a small-scale operation into a global brand known for its precision and influence in the cosmetics industry.
“"I begged for a $500 credit card before I could start my beauty empire."”
Soare's experience illustrates the intersection of immigrant resilience and market agility. By scaling a business from a minimal credit line to a billion-dollar valuation, her trajectory highlights how founder-led brands can maintain dominance by balancing foundational resourcefulness with a willingness to adopt emerging social media behaviors and consumer trends.
