Bobbi Brown on Selling Your Name, Getting Fired, and Starting Over

What does it mean to build something so successful that it outgrows you, and then start again from nothing with your name legally off the table? Bobbi Brown built one of the most iconic beauty companies in the world. She was 37 when she sold it, stayed for 22 years, then eventually pushed out of the business that carried her name. She waited out a 25-year non-compete, and on the day the clock ran out, she launched Jones Road—at 63, with six products, no outside investors, and a completely different playbook. 

Bobbi shares:

• What it really costs to sell your name (and whether she’d do it again)

• Why getting fired from the brand she built was the best thing that ever happened to her

• The difference between building something massive and building something that’s yours

• The social media strategy behind Jones Road and why it works

• The leadership lesson she’s still learning at 68 and what confidence means after decades of trying to be someone she’s not

Have you ever built something—a business, a career, an identity—and had to walk away from it? What did starting over teach you? Tell us in the comments.