The CEO of Anastasia Beverly Hills says that she had to beg a credit card at the start

Before becoming CEO of a global beauty brand with famous customers, Anastasia Soare needed a $ 500 credit card.

When she arrived in the United States in 1989 as an immigrant, “nobody was careful,” said the founder of Anastasia Beverly Hills. At the time, she was an esthetician with a credit history and a limited English – and a daring idea that required support.

“I went to Wells Fargo and I had to ask the director to give me a credit card of $ 500,” she recalls. “Thirty-four years ago, they did not throw you with credit cards like what they are doing right now.”

Soare made the comments on a panel during the 28th Milken Institute Global Conference on Wednesday. The conference, which was held in California this year, attracts world leaders, technology leaders and experts to discuss finances, innovation and world markets.

In 2000, Soare launched its first range of products to bring its techniques and tools to form a signature to all those who wanted beautiful eyebrows. Since then, Anastasia Beverly Hills has become synonymous with eyebrows in the world of beauty. The brand’s famous customers include Jennifer Lopez, Kendall Jenner and Kim Kardashian. In May 2024, Forbes estimated Soare’s net value at $ 900 million.

Soare shared the anecdote of the credit card as part of its pursuit of the American dream – which started decades earlier in Communist Romania.

At 15, his grandfather would take him to a small room, closed windows and curtains and connects to a prohibited radio station called “Voice of America”.

“He told me that I had made a big mistake to come in Romania. The communist regime took everything away,” she said.

“You should go to America,” said Soare his grandfather saying. “It’s the American dream.”

As part of the Communist regime in Romania, entrepreneurship did not exist. “You only worked for the government, and that’s it. You couldn’t be an entrepreneur,” said Soares.

But Soare knew she wanted more. “I wanted to show myself what I am able to do,” she said.

Chase the American dream

When Soare arrived, she started working as a beautician-one of the rare jobs that did not require “perfect English,” she said.

She noticed a gap in the beauty market – no one has paid attention to the eyebrows. To believe in the potential of eyebrows as a corporate idea, she started to make eyebrows for free, because she was not “considered a service” at the time.

“My husband thought I’m totally crazy,” she said. “You do not know how to make a check, you do not have a credit card, you barely speak the language and you want to open a business. Even the Americans born here do not have a business,” she recalls her husband.

But Soare has gone everything. “What should I lose?” She thought.

From this small room, she built a clientele. She then opened a living room in Beverly Hills. “The rest is in history,” she said.

“I am proud to say that I invented a category in the beauty industry that did not exist before,” she said in the panel.