Embrace Innovation & Big Ideas: Jamie Kern Lima’s Journey from Rejection to Billion-Dollar Success

Unpack the incredible story of Jamie Kern Lima, founder of IT Cosmetics. From facing repeated rejection to building a billion-dollar brand, Jamie’s journey is a masterclass in staying true to your vision, innovating boldly, and persevering when the odds are stacked against you. If you’re ready to embrace big ideas and lead with authenticity, this episode will leave you inspired and empowered to keep going—no matter the setbacks.

Time Stamps:

02:11 Jamie Kern Lima's Early Career

02:45 The Birth of IT Cosmetics

04:50 Breaking Beauty Standards

10:30 The QVC Breakthrough

11:38 Lessons in Authenticity and Persistence

18:19 Jamie Kern Lima's Personal Brand

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Transcript

Episode 096: Jamie Kern Lima

Michelle Pualani: [00:00:00] she experienced about three years of rejection. Before QVC said yes. So I want you to think about that. How long have you gone down a certain path or route before giving up? Did you try to create content through 10 pieces of content? Did you try to launch two or three times? Now imagine doing it over and over and over again for the duration of three years.

We think that something is gonna come to us easily because someone else is telling us that they had success in this way. But that is not necessarily our story, and it's not as simple as people make it seem.

Michelle Pualani: Welcome back to the Her First podcast where we spotlight amazing, wonderful women who represent personal brands that we can. Have takeaways from Learn Lessons and Hope to improve our own businesses and our own personal brands. We do some tactical stuff. We have [00:01:00] really wonderful guests interviews with insights and experts.

So if you are not subscribed yet, hit that subscribe button. Today we're talking all about Jamie Kern Lima. If you haven't heard the name, Jamie Kern Lima, I'm kind of surprised because you might be living under a small rock or your algorithm just is not at all tapped into that side of the world in terms of personal branding and motivation Maybe beauty and cosmetics or business building. So we will introduce you to her today because you should know the name and you should know a little bit about her history, where she'd started, and how she's been able to evolve to where she is today. We'll do a really quick background and then we're gonna talk about some of the milestones that she overcame, lessons learned, and what we can take away to help implement in our businesses in order to be more successful. Hi, my name is Michelle Houston. I'm the founder of To Be Honest Beverage Company. We're a non-alcoholic functional spirit brand, I also have my own personal brand where I offer coaching and digital products about personal [00:02:00] branding, marketing, and messaging. 

Joanna Newton: And hi, I am Joanna Newton. I'm the co-founder of Millennial Marketer. We're an agency that helps digital creators launch their own digital online businesses. 

Michelle Pualani: so a little bit of background about Jamie Kern Lima. So she is a former waitress. She kind of started in the service and hospitality space. She became a news anchor in her later career, which is really where she. Came up with the idea for her phenomenal business and brand IT cosmetics, which I'll share more about.

And then she actually was a beauty pageant winner, so she was named Ms. Washington USA in 1999, and then she competed in the Miss USA pageant in 2000. So she has had a kind of a long history of putting herself out in the world So it kind of plays into her story over time. So going back to the news anchor position, there is actually a story that occurred that she tells in her presentations. We've both seen her live on stage, and so we've heard some of these stories, seen a little bit of insight into how she [00:03:00] talks about her business, how she talks about how she moved through a lot of kind of the personal development side of things and really believing in herself in order to succeed.

So she tells the story of when she was a news anchor. She was live on camera and they have, you know, their producers in their earpieces and he's like, Hey, you have something on your face.

And so she tried to kind of. Wipe off whatever was on her face. And it ended up like removing one of her, like penciled on eyebrows. But she ended up looking in a mirror and it was her rosacea that was coming through her makeup, and that's what the producer was seeing. So he thought something was on her face and then she tried to course correct what was happening on her face. so this spurred the amazing idea, and I love telling these stories of business owners because the big brands that you see in the businesses that have been created, they really are based around a personal problem that someone had Launched the initial idea, and then they were [00:04:00] so committed and mission driven in order to solve it, that they adapted it to the market and made it into something really powerful. So if you don't know it, cosmetics sold to L'Oreal at over a billion dollars. It was the first female acquisition of that level.

So Jamie Krn, Lima being the founder and CEO of it, cosmetics getting purchased by L'Oreal Was historical in the acquisitions of beauty brands in the business. So really, really powerful. So she struggled with rosacea and had that sensitive skin, which really led her to create the concept around it.

Cosmetics, which represented. Real women when it came to beauty and makeup, which we see that now on a day-to-day basis. Right? We're seeing a lot of different representation, of different body types, different skin colors, different ages. But Jamie Krn Lima really started that movement When she started in the makeup business, that was not the case. It was a standard look. It was a standard way of [00:05:00] selling, and she really transformed the industry as a whole.

Joanna Newton: Her story is so great on so many levels, right? You pointed out Michelle, she started with a real life problem. That's one of the things we talk about on this podcast all of the time. If you want something to work and you want to launch something, you have to have a real life problem and a real life solution, and you have to focus on that in your messaging. So she had a personal story related to a real life problem, created an. A product that solved that problem and then built a mission around that product, right? She wanted to be for real people, real women, and you know, real results, right? Like something that's gonna stay on your face, it's gonna cover your rosacea. And then in that advertising, actually showcase real looking women instead of stick thin cookie cutter. Models. So she really did a new and innovative path for the makeup industry that went outside of the norm. Now today. due to some really great, like social [00:06:00] pushback, the makeup industry is much more inclusive of skin tones, is much more inclusive of, showing different body types, showing people with different skin issues on camera.

But that was not the case when Jamie Klima got started in this industry.

Michelle Pualani: The beginning stages of it. Cosmetics is really scrappy, so I know that wherever you are in your business journey, you can look at a brand like it. You can look at the billion dollar acquisition and be like. Ugh, that's so amazing. Uh, you know, so great for her and it totally worked out. Or you can look at other brands in their building and they have investment backing, or you're looking at yourself and you're saying, well, they had these connections and they had this network.

But really, Jamie Krn Lima is a great example of starting from zero. She wasn't in the makeup industry. She did not have any connections. She didn't have any investment. Backing her and her husband co-founded the business in their, what she calls a very tiny apartment. I remember she tells this story in her book about just eating hot dogs.

Whereas I do not [00:07:00] suggest that from like a saving money perspective, I still want you to be healthy in your choices. But they really struggled early on to bootstrap the business and they were rejected by investors over and over and over again. If you haven't heard the canvas story of Melanie Perkins. Go back, listen to that episode, because it's that same idea of dealing with failure and rejection over and over and over again.

Being told no by someone about your vision, the concept that you wanna bring to the world. And you have to have the resilience to continue to move forward and push beyond it because you know that your voice should be heard. You know that your product, your programs, your offerings. Need to come into the world and change the market, and that was really a big driving force for Jamie Krn Lima.

So one of the big things that we've chatted about just a little bit so far is this change in beauty standards. So when she was initially getting started, if you haven't seen an image of Jamie Krn Lima, just give her a little Google [00:08:00] search, so she's a little bit.

Larger in terms of size. She has a bit more of a bigger rounder face. She dealt with rosacea. She was in the beauty pageant, you know, around the 2000 era, but she didn't represent like your typical quote unquote standard, beautiful person. And so the feedback that she got constantly was that she's not a great representative for her brand because no one's gonna wanna buy from her.

Based on her look. She got that as a constant rejection, basically being told that her face and her body type would never sell in the beauty industry, but what she wanted to do is have that personal representation. She felt like that was a powerful move on her part to say, I have rosacea. I deal with this issue.

I am a normal, regular human being. And I want to be able to sell to other women who feel like they're not beautiful enough, who feel like they're not pretty enough, who feel like they have to cover their skin in order to be accepted. [00:09:00] And again, when you think about it now, it's like, oh yeah, let's talk about the body positive movement, and that should just be a part of someone's narrative.

But at the time, it was really groundbreaking and. Instead of using models, which is very typical in the industry, she insisted on using either herself or had friends and people that she knew that represented different women of all ages, different sizes, different skin types, and really promoting that acceptance of the woman and who she was.

The ability to be vulnerable and share her story is I think the seeds of her personal brand, after selling it cosmetics, she has gone on to create her personal brand. She's authored books. She has worked with Oprah, she's worked with. Dean g Grazi, Tony Robbins, Brendan Burchard, all your big names in the industry when it comes to personal brand motivation, inspiration, because the story that she went through really highlights how you as an individual have to [00:10:00] overcome these setbacks, have to overcome the pushback, have to overcome the rejection, and in her book, believe it, she really centers.

On that, having faith in yourself, believing in what you have to bring to the world. And I think it's a really powerful message that, especially when we are struggling as solopreneurs and business owners, to remind ourselves that what we're doing is important. What we're doing can be powerful. We do have something to bring to the world, and there's a reason that we're kind of driven to make this happen.

So she went on to get her big break with QVC, which read the book. It's like a long time story of getting told now over and over again, but she finally gets the opportunity. She doesn't use models like they typically would. She goes on to. Camera live. She takes off her makeup and shows basically how her rosacea can be covered by that makeup.

They end up selling out. It's like a huge hit. It becomes one of the biggest sellers on QVC as a whole, and it's such a beautiful [00:11:00] representation of leading authentically. Of showing up in a way that is genuine to you, that is genuine to your purpose and your mission, and really representing the value that you want to bring to the world.

Of course, it, it ended up leading to it cosmetics, growing and scaling over time. But the lesson and the takeaway is to find that vulnerability. For yourself to be able to lean into what's the problem that you had and that now you're solving with your content, with your products, with your programs, with your coaching, and how can you communicate that in a way that is relatable, that connects to that person who needs your service, needs your help, and needs your support right now.

Joanna Newton: Her story I think is so important for so many reasons for us as business owners. One is just that persistence. We've talked a lot about on this podcast how it's really easy to look at successful entrepreneurs and just think it was easy for them and how it's easy for us as entrepreneurs if we get a no or two to try to like change course or switch gears or do something [00:12:00] completely different. But the truth is, when you're truly innovating, when you're truly doing something new, people aren't gonna get it. They're not always gonna get it, but it's the innovative ideas that are the ones that are going to turn into billion dollar ideas. The things that are run of the mill that everybody's doing that are just like a different flavor of what someone else has.

She could have said, I wanna do a makeup brand. They're telling me I need. more conventional models. Okay. I'll get more conventional models they're, they're telling me I'm not the right face for the brand. Well, I'm gonna go faceless. 'cause at the time, not literally faceless, but I'll be a faceless brand.

At the time, makeup brands were kind of faceless brands. No one really knew the founders of makeup brands, but she really went a different way. Today of the big new makeup brands Personal brands turned into makeup brands Think Rare Beauty with Selena Gomez. that's a huge new makeup brand backed by a personal brand.

So she really was truly innovative. It also has me thinking about our last episode that we just posted about using [00:13:00] AI and content creation. Krn Lima, when she had the idea for this product, relied on AI to create Her product idea, her marketing messaging, her brand identity, she would've not done what she did because AI would have given her recommendations that were the conventional advice of what has worked in the past. did something different. It was hard. She got lots and lots of nos, but she believed in it, stayed authentic to it, got her a billion dollar payday. So I think we can learn a lot from that if we're interested in massive business growth, that doing something new, doing something innovative, and really, really like using our creativity is gonna go a long way. 

Michelle Pualani: It's so important as we progress in the digital age to lean into that authenticity, to lean into that genuine voice, to lean in. To that authority that you are creating as a unique individual. And we're seeing that [00:14:00] as a shift, right? Like people are obsessed with celebrities and these figureheads that are showing up on social media as they are.

Selena Gomez has built rare beauty to be what it is and has built her brand and business because she just fricking shows up. Same thing with Taylor Swift, like they are who they are. Is there curation? Is there thoughtfulness about how they're presenting as a mass media celebrity? Yes, definitely. Is there public relations involved?

Yes, definitely. But ultimately, when you look at a lot of the clips on social media, when you look at a lot of behind the scenes stuff, you're just kind of seeing them as they are and they're allowing themselves to be seen and be vulnerable. So Jamie Kern, Lima. Really without that celebrity status, without any backing, without any investors, was able to show up and like Joanna mentioned, stay true to what she believed in.

She did not let that external noise influence her. And I think that's such an important thing to learn. And [00:15:00] sometimes we have to learn the hard way because we're getting so much feedback, even from coaches or courses or everyone in the digital space who's flashy and putting it out use. This hook, try this thing.

Go viral in this method. You need to be doing this. Don't do that. Webinars are dead It is a cacophony of stimulation in terms of the direction that you can go, what you should be doing, and how you're meant to use your voice. When really the people that I see rise to the top, are those people who have tuned more inward than anything else?

Are they using best practices? Are they doing their research? Are they studying and paying attention to analytics and metrics? 1000%. But they're always allowing themselves to come through in what it is that they're putting out in the world, and I think that makes such a huge difference. So some of the highlights of this process for Jamie Krn Lima, as she had this kind of QVC breakthrough, what that meant for, is cosmetics and how it was able to [00:16:00] become what it is and has been seen today.

So she experienced about three years of rejection. Before QVC said yes. So I want you to think about that. How long have you gone down a certain path or route before giving up? Did you try to create content through 10 pieces of content? Did you try to launch two or three times? Now imagine doing it over and over and over again for the duration of three years.

We think that something is gonna come to us easily because someone else is telling us that they had success in this way. But that is not necessarily our story, and it's not as simple as people make it seem. I. There is rejection, there is failure, and sometimes we are just not getting enough of the reps, the trial, the experimentation, the doing it ourselves in order to hit that next level in order to gain that thing that you're working toward.

And then we get down on ourselves. Joan and I would just. Talking about this personally, we get so hard on ourselves about [00:17:00] what we've been able to accomplish, how we feel about ourselves, that sense of limitation or not feeling like enough or frustrated with the outcome. When really we haven't actually been doing this long enough or trying this long enough, or iterating this long enough and believing in it to push forward.

So knowing that there are lots of entrepreneurs, business owners, and content creators who have iterated, I. Over and over and over again. I think it was like Mr. Beast had put out 350 videos before one went viral, 350 videos, and now of course he is literally the top upper echelon of YouTube content creation and has the most attention of, I think, probably almost anyone in the digital space.

How many videos have you put out before you considered it a failure, or before you pivoted or before you gave up, so to speak? So she went on to do a thousand appearances on QVC. Like I mentioned, L'Oreal bought the company for over $1.2 billion, which was their largest US acquisition ever.

And Jamie became [00:18:00] the first female CEO in L'Oreal's 100 year history, which is a feat in and of itself. So after that, she wrote her bestselling book. Believe it. I've read that one. It's the mindset behind her success and it really goes into her perspective and how she was able to stay true to that genuine voice and how she wanted her brand to be presented to the world.

Now she's really kind of transitioned into that personal brand space of representation, Helping women to believe in themselves before they feel like they're ready or before they feel like they're polished or perfect. And I think she's a really great example of not being quote unquote, the ideal look, feel, presentation of what we would think a successful business owner should look like.

But she's been able to move forward independent of all of that noise. 

Joanna Newton: Michelle mentioned that we both had the pleasure of seeing her live her personality, her presence It is unique. She is bubbly [00:19:00] and smiley and kind and sweet. When I saw her at Kajabi Hero Live, she like thanked her employees who she brought with them and brought them on stage and they hugged her You could feel like the warmth and the empathy and the emotion, and I think she really just turned who she was authentically into her brand and put that out there. you're right, Michelle, that's not necessarily the archetype that we think of when we think of. A successful business person, right? We think about someone kind of cold, kind of calculated, really super data driven, not emotional. And a lot of times this archetype of a successful business owner is very masculine and she really, I think, leaned into her femininity and she almost, she feels motherly, right? There's this just like motherly kind. Midwestern, I don't know if she's from the Midwest, but like it's that like Midwestern energy that she has really unique When we talk [00:20:00] about comparisons, I could see that and say that's how I should be. And that's not what I'm saying because that is not me. Like that is not how I authentically show up. I can be a little abrasive and I can be a little direct, and I don't have that like. Motherly nature that she has and that's fine.

The point here that I wanna drive across is that she went with her personality, she went with who she was and mixed that with her brand and shows up authentically at herself. And that's infectious and that draws. The right people to wanna be attached to her personal brand. So as you showing up as a business owner, what can you learn versus understanding yourself, right?

and then putting that into your brand. Now, do you have to put every bit of yourself into your personal brand? No. I shocked Michelle one day when I told her that I play video games and sometimes I like to be in like a huge. Huge sweatpants and a big t-shirt and my glasses and play video [00:21:00] games.

And I look like the strangest nerd you've ever seen in your life. that's not how I am every day, but it's how I get sometimes. And that's like part of who I am, but I don't necessarily show up on camera. Like that wouldn't be wrong if I did, but that's just. a small representation of who I am that I like to keep to me, my daughter and my husband, right?

And, you know, explaining it to you here, just putting yourself and infusing who you are into your brand, even if it doesn't fit like a typical CEO archetype, I think is key to really showing up and really blowing up in a big way.

Michelle Pualani: This has been such a big point of reflection. Action for me, and we're seeing it now more than ever, are these founder led brands and these personal brands, content creators in the digital space who are really sharing aspects of their lives that people can connect to and people can relate to. And it's the future of how we operate and how we do business.

With the advent of social media, it changed things for better or worse. That's not up for [00:22:00] discussion, but. You have to acknowledge that it changed things, and so we get to. Have a world in which we connect with people in the digital space like never before, and we can either take advantage of it or kind of let it pass us by.

Now there is still a lot to be said about local, about brick and mortar, about in-person, about networking that you can build a fully thriving business on. But if you are interested in being this. In the digital space, if you are interested in being a course creator, if you're offering larger programs, if you want a national or NA international presence, we have to acknowledge and identify the way in which it's going to happen.

And we talk a lot on this podcast about how you can do that. We talk about tactical approaches, we talk about. Larger people that we look up to or that have great examples of how we can model after that. But like Joanna mentioned, we cannot do it exactly as they do it because we've gotta be able to represent that uniqueness and that voice.

So if you're not yet, hit subscribe. And we're gonna start to just [00:23:00] wrap up this conversation on Jamie. With some of the themes that we see in her content now as a personal brand because of what she went through, she uses this term, is that rejection is redirection. So looking at all of those rejections and not saying, that's not a reflection of my value, it's not a reflection of my self worth, it's not a reflection of my idea or even what I'm putting out into the world.

It's not judging it at that level. So trying to let go of that. Emotional attachment to that thing and seeing it instead as redirection. So where can I turn to that is maybe a little bit different. How can I pivot or how can I come back to this idea, this concept in the future? Pitch it again and see what happens at a different time.

The next is that success really comes from that authenticity. Who are you? How are you representing yourself in the world? How can you be that genuine person? When you look at Jamie she is not loud. She is not putting herself out there with like, Hey, listen, you have to hear this. [00:24:00] She's showing up in kind of a timid manner, She has a way of like quiet leadership showing up in a way that is soft and feminine, Compassionate in such a unique, interesting way. Like Joanna mentioned, very different than a lot of what we see in terms of success, in terms of business ownership, in terms of the entrepreneur and the CEO because it is who she is.

So how can you lean into that authenticity? How can you pull out those things in your personality that you want to be able to represent? Well. And then in terms of what she's championing, so what does she stand for? What do you stand for? What do you wanna bring to the world? What is the hill that you are gonna plant your flag on and say, yes, this is what I believe in. This is what I wanna move forward for her, that self-worth over appearance for her, that's faith over fear. Believing in yourself instead of worrying about what the impact of everything is and really focusing on.

The [00:25:00] process and not just perfection. So being able to present yourself in the world as, these are the steps that I'm taking. This is the journey that I'm on. But it doesn't have to look perfect at every single step. You don't have to present in a way that is what you think you should be or how you think you should act.

So thinking through for yourself, what are you championing? What do you really care about as a speaker, as an influencer, as a content creator, as a coach, as an expert? What are those things that you feel really strongly about and how can you represent them in your brand? How can you represent them in how you're showing up everything that you do so that people really know what you're getting behind?

Joanna Newton: I love that we talked about Jamie today, and I feel like empowered and refreshed in a way. I knew her story, but kind of going through it goes, yeah. Like you have to keep going and Yeah, you have to do those things. And I know sometimes I get discouraged in my day to day, like I have a successful business, we've. Never [00:26:00] had a month where we didn't have more income than expenses, which is wild for a business, especially in its first couple of years. So. I am very proud of what I've created. At the same time, I'm also very critical of myself and sometimes, you know, one of my big focuses this year has been to grow my personal brand, and sometimes I feel like I'm posting content to no one.

Like it can feel like I'm putting it out there and it's not getting the traction or the views. I wanna write a book. I wanna be on all the big podcasts. I have all of these big dreams, and it's easy to feel like this isn't working. And then it makes you want to stop. at the same time, out of nowhere this week I was starting to feel this way.

Why am I posting all this stuff on LinkedIn? It's not doing anything. Then I get a DM from someone who was like, I found your profile here on LinkedIn and I need help with Kajabi. it's doing its job, and sometimes I think we have this vision of wanting the book deals, the big [00:27:00] podcast promotions, the big contracts and all of that. But if people are finding you. DMing you, if it's once a month, it is doing the work. And then that once a month will become twice a month, three times a month, more than that. And then you will get that DM that's like, Hey, I want you to come on this big podcast. those things will happen. But you have to be consistent and you have to, like Jamie did, stay true to your beliefs.

Stay true to your authenticity. Keep with that messaging. Believe in yourself. It might take. Three months, it might take 10 years, right? So if you have something you're pushing for, you just have to keep going and keep putting yourself out there. And you're getting nos or you're hearing crickets, you just keep going.

Try something different, try a different tactic, try a different strategy while staying true to your core mission and values.

Michelle Pualani: So as we wrap up thinking through what are the takeaways you can pull out of this episode today, how can you learn from Jamie? How can you show up more authentically? [00:28:00] How can you give yourself a little bit of a break? Believe in what you're doing, know that it doesn't have to happen all right now, and that things will start to evolve over time.

You are on a purpose-driven mission. You are an expert, you are an authority. You're doing better than you could have even imagined. So if you are not yet hit that subscribe button, we would love to hear from you in a review. If you enjoyed this episode or any of our other ones, it really helps.

More entrepreneurs, more female business owners like you, feel like they're not alone, not isolated in this journey, that we are all dealing with failure. We're all dealing with rejection, and hopefully give you some tactical, tangible takeaways that you can apply today in your business in order to scale, in order to be more successful, in order to be more heard.

All right, we'll see you on the next one.

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