The Ups and the Downs of Four+ Decades in Beauty with Laura Geller, Founder of Laura Geller Beauty
Dear FoundHer...Real Founder Stories for Women Small Business Owners
Lindsay Pinchuk
4.9 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 4 March 2025
⏱️ 49 minutes
🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS
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Summary
Success isn’t always smooth, and Laura Geller knows that firsthand. She built a beauty empire, but the road to get there was filled with financial setbacks, employee betrayals, and the constant pressure of running a business.
Lindsay Pinchuk sits down with Laura, the founder of Laura Geller Beauty, to talk about the moments that defined her journey. How did a New York City makeup artist with no business background end up creating a brand that changed the beauty industry? What hard lessons did she learn along the way? Laura shares the highs and lows of opening her first store in Manhattan, struggling to keep up with a rapidly growing business, and learning the realities of managing people and money.
In 1997, everything shifted when QVC entered the picture. The opportunity to sell her products on a national platform gave Laura the resources to create her own formulations and connect with customers on a larger scale. She reflects on the power of storytelling, the trust she built with her audience, and why authenticity matters more than ever.
Laura also opens up about selling a majority stake in her company, the unexpected challenges of private equity, and the decisions she would make differently today. Her insights on mentorship, resilience, and trusting your instincts are lessons every entrepreneur can learn from.
Join Lindsay and Laura for an honest conversation filled with hard-earned wisdom and advice that can help founders avoid common pitfalls.
Episode Breakdown:
00:00 Introduction
05:20 Laura Geller’s Early Career
10:05 Opening the Makeup Studio
12:13 The Impact of QVC
17:01 Learning Through Mistakes
20:08 Challenges with Employees
24:25 Selling a Majority Stake
32:19 Navigating the Sale Process
36:11 The Happy Ending
40:14 Gratitude to Her Parents
Connect with Laura Geller:
http://www.instagram.com/lauragellerbeauty
http://www.instagram.com/laurajgeller
Get on the Marketing Made Simple Waitlist: https://lindsaypinchuk.myflodesk.com/waitlist
Don't forget to follow Lindsay on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lindsaypinchuk
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hi guys, it's me Lindsay Pinchuk, and in just a second, you're going to hear me talk to Laura Geller, founder of Laura Geller Beauty and an absolute icon. |
| 0:09.5 | You're going to hear Laura talk all about the many setbacks that she had to get her to where she is today. |
| 0:15.5 | She's the first to admit that, well, things may have looked okay on the outside. |
| 0:19.4 | There were points during her business journey that on the outside, there were points during her business journey |
| 0:22.3 | that on the inside, things were just crumbling. And what I love about this story is the raw |
| 0:28.2 | honesty that Laura shares with all of us. Why? Because that's how we learn from one another. |
| 0:33.8 | And like Laura, part of my mission here every single day is to save you time and the many headaches that I endured as a founder by helping you to build your own business using my exact strategies, experiences, and 25 years of proven success as a marketer and businesswoman, which is why over a year ago, I launched my group mentorship marketing made simple for small |
| 0:55.1 | business. Three cohorts of women entrepreneurs just like you have now gone through my mentorship. |
| 1:01.7 | Each week we have a call. I teach a lesson about marketing made simple in order to help you build |
| 1:06.8 | your business and I answer your questions. If you need to ask me something, you can drop it |
| 1:11.6 | in our online forum. And if you need something more specific and customized, you can grab some |
| 1:16.3 | one-on-one time with me. Throughout this year-long program, I teach you the exact simple marketing |
| 1:21.2 | strategies that I've used to build my own businesses and that of my many clients. This program is for women business owners who are doing it all and |
| 1:30.1 | simply don't have time or don't know where to start when it comes to marketing, generating |
| 1:34.7 | awareness, and growing your brand and bottom line. I'll tell you this. You don't need a million |
| 1:39.9 | dollars or a million followers. You just need a process and marketing made simple. And I'm here to give it to you. |
| 1:46.2 | We're opening the doors to a new cohort this month. And if you're in the Deer Founder Forum, our networking |
| 1:51.6 | group, you will get first dibs on the spots inside. If you want to be the first to know when the |
| 1:56.6 | doors open, sign up through the wait list in my show notes and we will send you an email letting you know. And for now, on to today's episode. |
| 2:05.9 | Welcome to Dear Founder, the podcast that pulls back the curtain on what it really takes |
| 2:11.8 | to build and grow a successful business. No gatekeeping, no fluff, just real talk. I'm your host, Lindsay Pinchuk, |
| 2:19.9 | award-winning entrepreneur, founder, and proud member of the 1% of female founders who've led |
... |
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