Leslie Blodgett

Leslie Blodgett was selling $1.4M worth of product every hour during her QVC appearances.

In 1994, Leslie took over a failing bath and body brand called Bare Escentuals.

Tucked away in the back of the store was a product nobody cared about: loose mineral foundation.

No one knew what to do with it.

It looked like dust in a jar.

But Leslie decided to bet her whole business on it.

She packaged the powder into a starter kit with a brush and instructions.

Then she went on QVC.

Six minutes in, she sold out.

Turns out women didn’t want to be sold to.

They wanted to be shown how.

They wanted makeup that felt simple. Natural. Real.

Leslie built the entire brand around that.

She replied to customers on forums.

She toured the country to meet them in person.

She turned “fans” into a community.

And the business exploded.

In 2006, she took bareMinerals public.

In 2010, she sold it to Shiseido for $1.8B.

And they made her stay on as the face of the brand.

Not bad for a powder nobody wanted.