Brown ’79 Debuts Memoir ‘Still Bobbi’: New York Times

Makeup entrepreneur and alum Bobbi Brown ’79, H’12 sits down with the New York Times ahead of her memoir release, Still Bobbi, on September 23. From Bobbi Brown Essentials and Bobbi Brown Cosmetics to present-day Jones Road, she shares her life’s journey growing up in Illinois, experiencing success in the beauty industry, and following her instincts.

Brown, in part, made her mark early on in her career by encouraging people to use makeup to highlight their unique selves:

As a teenager, she refused to be defined by the nagging sense that she was somehow less-than, or, as she puts it in her memoir, “a short Jewish girl in a world of tall Barbies.” When her mother suggested a nose job, she refused. A pivotal moment came when she saw Ali MacGraw in the 1970 movie “Love Story.”

“Here was this dark-haired girl, her hair parted in the middle, with dark brows and not a lot of makeup,” Ms. Brown said. “I thought: ‘Wow, I don’t have to look like Barbie.’ I started seeing myself as pretty, realizing that what I have is special, and I needed to figure out what that was.”

Brown’s book tour takes her to Emerson’s campus on Monday, October 27. Learn more or purchase tickets.

Read the New York Times piece (subscription-based).