ToplineAnastasia Soare, founder and CEO of beauty brand Anastasia Beverly Hills, shared how she emigrated to America from communist Romania with “not even a coin” and found a hole in the beauty market, during the Forbes Iconoclast Summit on Wednesday. Anastasia Soare, founder and CEO of beauty brand Anastasia Beverly Hills, during the Forbes Iconoclast Summit.Jamel Toppin for ForbesKey FactsSoare opened a salon in Beverly Hills and worked as an aesthetician after moving to the U.S. in 1997, quickly realizing that “no one was paying attention to eyebrows.”Less than 30 years later, Soare ranked 47th in Forbes’ 2025 ranking of America's richest self-made women, with an estimated net worth of $740 million thanks to her popular eyebrow pencils and cosmetics line.Soare shared how “no one really believed in eyebrows” when she started, and that success to her used to be “pay[ing] the bills.”In December, Soare invested $225 million in her company to help reduce its debt as it recovers from a difficult post-pandemic period for beauty.Pitchbook estimates Anastasia Beverly Hill’s 2025 revenue at $350 million.Big Number$3 billion. That was Anastasia Beverly Hill’s peak valuation when it received an investment from private equity firm TPG in 2018. Forbes estimates it's worth closer to $400 million as of April 2025, partly due to increased competition in the prestige makeup space from celebrity and influencer brands. Crucial Quote“I lived in Romania for 30 years in a communist regime. You were not sure of your destiny. You didn’t know what was going to happen tomorrow,” Soare shared during her conversation with Moira Forbes. “I describe being an entrepreneur [as] kind of the same thing.” Key BackgroundIn her memoir, “Raising Brows,” Soare framed her move to America not primarily as a business decision but as a search for freedom and opportunity. “When you come to this country as an immigrant, you want to take any opportunity to build something better than what you had in the country where you are coming from,” Soare wrote. “So, you start from nothing, you take jobs, and you build something.” Building on the success of her salon, she launched ABH as a beauty brand in 2000, introducing the company's first dedicated eyebrow styling kit, which included patented eyebrow stencils and a powder duo. Further ReadingThe Forbes Iconoclast 50 2026 List: Top Leaders Making Impacts (Forbes)