Jamie Kern Lima on Building It Cosmetics – WWD
Jamie Kern Lima may have sold his business, It Cosmetics, to L’Oreal for $ 1.2 billion, but for the entrepreneur, it was still about the community – not the money.
So it’s no surprise that after leaving the company in August 2019, her first order of business was to write a memory / self-help book for her legions of fans, titled “Believe It : how to go from underestimated to unstoppable ”.
In the book, which comes out on February 23, Lima recounts how she and her husband, Paulo, built it, facing countless no’s and negative responses and a steadily shrinking bank account until they finally get their big chance – a 10-minute spot on QVC, in which Lima is expected to sell 6,000 units.
She notably used herself as a model, sharing nude-faced photos juxtaposed with “afters” while wearing the product. In an era when ambitious beauty was the rule of the day, the public response was immediate – Lima didn’t just sell 6,000 units, it also got a waiting list of 300,000.
From there, she ran away, becoming one of the biggest success stories in business in August. Lima’s goal with the book is to inspire others to do the same. “I feel like we are in a time when so many people feel defeated and helpless and need hope and inspiration, and this book couldn’t come at a better time,” he said. she said in a telephone interview from her home in Los Angèle.
“So many people need to connect, not only through counseling, but also through real-life stories and experiences that they can hold onto at times when they need hope and hope. inspiration, ”she said. “Most people don’t know anything about what was really going on while we were growing the business – they only see the fairy tale. “
In the book, Lima shares the lows – the investment banker who told her she was too heavy to be a beauty model, the emotional toll that the 20-hour-a-week job took on her marriage – but exults in the highs. Every time she writes that she gets a “yes,” the word is capitalized, bolded, italicized, celebrated, and her growing self-confidence grows as steadily as the value of her business.
It is to develop this confidence that Lima hopes to foster among readers. In addition to the book, she’ll be hosting a free all-day virtual event with several of her famous friends, including Chrissy Metz, Jay Shetty, and Spanx founder Sara Blakely, as well as exercise books and other goodies for those in the know. will pre-order the book. on Believeit.com. So far, Lima said more than 40,000 people have registered for the workshop. Lima donates 100 percent of the proceeds to Feeding America and Together Rising.
Oprah became a friend of Lima, as well as a mentor, and when asked if she could hope to follow in her footsteps with, say, a talk show one day, Lima, who was a news anchor before founding It. , has refused. “I’m open to whatever feels right in my guts. I’ve always known that I’m supposed to do bigger things for other people than I am, ”she said. “One of the biggest accomplishments I have had is that we are not here to compete with someone else. We are here to compete with who we know we are born capable of becoming.
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