I received many lovely gifts for my birthday this year. My friend, Carole gave me Believe IT: How to go from underestimated to Unstoppable by Jamie Kern Lima (Simon & Schuster 2021). Jamie is the founder of IT Cosmetics. After starting the company in her living room with the help of her husband, Paulo Lima, and weathering a constant barrage of “No’s” and hearing how “no one” would want to buy cosmetics from a woman who looked like her, she beat the odds and eventually sold the company for over $1 billion to L’Oréal Cosmetics and became the first female CEO of a brand in L’Oréal’s one-hundred-year history.

This is a book for every woman or man who has ever been told they aren’t enough, their ideas don’t matter, or they should just stay in their lane.

Jamie developed rosacea in her late twenties while she was working as a television news anchor and reporter. She couldn’t find a successful treatment or a make up to cover the red blotches. As she started trying different concealers and foundations, she noticed all the commercials and advertisements for these products featured models with flawless complexions and perfect bone structure. No matter what she tried, Jamie realized she would never look like them. These beautiful women didn’t even look like the airbrushed perfection of the cosmetics ads. She wondered why the cosmetics industry worked so hard to convince women this is how they should look when it wasn’t attainable.

Jamie started working with chemists to develop formulas that were good for your skin and would cover tiny and not so tiny skin imperfections without looking caked on. She decided she wanted to use a diverse group of models – women of all ages, races, ethnicities, and sizes and women with skin conditions like rosacea or acne.

She couldn’t find investors outside of a few close friends and family members. Cosmetics stores didn’t want to carry her products even after being shown how well they worked because she was selling a product that made women look and feel more attractive and confident instead of the selling unattainable dream of perfection, they assumed all women wanted.

After years of struggling to boost online sales and get IT Cosmetics into stores, QVC Home Shopping Network finally agreed to give her a 10 minute on air trial with the understanding that if the product didn’t sell fast enough, her ten minutes would disappear, and she wouldn’t get a second chance. They were skeptical when she made the decision to be her own model and remove and reapply her makeup on air instead of using a flawless model. It was one of the biggest and riskiest decisions of her life and it worked. IT Cosmetics grew into one of the top brands at QVC and eventually Sephora and other major beauty stores agreed to carry the brand.

It’s an inspirational story, but there’s so much more to Jamie Kern Lima than her success story. She talks about her childhood and the events that motivated her to excel. She also talks about feeling less than even after being crowned Miss Washington State, graduating with honors from high school and college, and getting hired as a television anchor and reporter. She speaks candidly about her marriage, their struggles to have children, and the difficulties of carving out family time when you work with your spouse.

Jamie credits friends, family, and faith for helping her realize her dreams. She helped establish a new standard of beauty in the beauty industry that is more inclusive and recognizes the beauty of all women. She has given back to her community by donating over $40 million in product and funds to the “Look Good Feel Better” program in connection with the American Cancer Society and the Professional Beauty Organization.