When Eyebrow Queen Anastasia Soare tried to open her first brow salon in Beverly Hills, nobody would rent her a space because they didn’t think eyebrows would make money.
But since that day in 1997, Soare has defied expectations and critics to put the eyebrow at the center of the modern global beauty map.
The petite Romanian with honey-colored locks counts stars Michelle Obama, Oprah Winfrey, Hailey Bieber and countless others among her clients. She plucks but she doesn’t tell.
“I respect people’s privacy, When you touch their face, they open up. As a professional, you understand that what happens between you, stays between you,” the beauty mogul said on Monday in Bucharest.
She’s back in her native Romania to promote her autobiography “Raising Brows,” or “Conturul unui vis’ (between 60-100 lei) published by Bookzone and also to inspire Romanians to follow their dreams.
“I am the embodiment of the American dream. I think it still exists. There are opportunities; you just have to see them. Maybe it’s hard, but not impossible,” she told reporters who were seated on the stage of the grand Romanian Opera.
An ultra successful businesswoman worth in the $1 billion range, and risk taker at heart, she considers her “biggest risk was leaving Romania and going to America,” in the dying days of Nicolae Ceausescu’s communist regime.
Unable to speak English, the tailor’s daughter ended up working in beauty salons where she learned the business. When she was confident enough, she struck out on her own and started building a brow empire, but not everyone shared her vision.
“Nobody wanted to rent me a salon in Beverly Hills because they didn’t think you could make money from eyebrows.” But she strove and grew.
Born in the Black Sea coastal city of Constanta, Soare, 67, grew up during the communist regime at a time when food and heat were scarce and state surveillance pervasive. That was a determining factor in her decision to emigrate and pursue the American dream in the year of the 1989 revolution.
“The 80s were very, very hard. People formed lines at midnight (to buy chicken) and sometimes by the morning (they went home empty-handed) as there wasn’t any more chicken. There wasn’t heat or food. It was extraordinarily difficult. People didn’t have bread. You couldn’t say out loud that you were dissatisfied. Women couldn’t become entrepreneurs,” she said recalling her mother’s small tailor business as a rarer exception..
In America she thrived and became a global brand but she remains close to her home country.
Praising her fellow Romanians, she said its women are very hard working, they want to learn, I want to raise them. They always tried to be better. Her two closest assistants, Andreea Altay and Raluca, consider her a mentor and an inspiration.
Even after achieving global success and fame, Anastasia isn’t ready to put down her tweezers, noting she hasn’t had a vacation in 30 years.
“The sky is the limit. I want to grow the company; that’s what in my heart and mind,” she said.
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Anastasia in her own words:
“If you have a dream you have to build on it”
“It’s in our Romanian( culture to look nice, to compensate (for lack).”
“You can’t fool the clients. You have to have an excellent service, you have to grow, to know the trends.”
“The moment a client sits in the chair, he or she is the star.”
“The client has to be happy and leave the place looking great if you want to in the service business.”
“Impostor’s Syndrome is a social media term that comes from Hedge Fund kids. For an emigrant who went and worked non-stop, it doesn’t exist in my vocabulary.”
“I want to grow and for my book to inspire people to follow their dreams.
“I like cooking and eat Armenian cheese from the market which is like Romanian cheese. I like sarmale, minced meat and rice wrapped in pickled cabbage or vine leaves.
“I made my first million from real estate. I was happy I could put it back into the business.
“My aim is to be the best, find ways to solve problems efficiently. Managing business is very important, you must earn more and spend less.”
Ella Mutler-Marculescu contributed to this report.
