Meet Joseph Shamah, the man who changed the game in the beauty industry by making a quality product at dirt cheap price.
There is a lot to learn from the man whose idea changed the game in beauty standard, and here are the top 5 inspirational facts about e.l.f. cosmetics founder Joseph Shamah.
About the Founder of e.l.f. Cosmetics
- Joseph Shamah attended New York University.
- He worked as a Production Manager at Parthenon Sportswear before co-founding e.l.f.
- Shamah’s father, Alan Shamah, had a clothing business.
- Joseph was was the C.E.O of e.l.f. Cosmetics up until December 2015.
5. Started From The Bottom
Joseph met the co-founder of e.l.f. Cosmetics, Scott-Vincent Bobra, at a party in 2002. The two instantly clicked and started talking business.
According to Borba, the idea of creating a company that sells beauty products came when they saw women driving expensive cars like BMW and Mercedes buying products worth a dollar.
They saw a business opportunity there and wanted to create a line of cosmetics catering to high-income shoppers. Shamah and Bobra were passionate about their vision and came up with a business plan within months.
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4. Faced Major Setbacks Initially
The e.l.f. cosmetics founder Joseph Shamah faced his fair share of challenges during the initial days of e.l.f. Cosmetics.
After launching the brand in 2004, Bobra and Shamah were looking for retailers to sell their products. But it wasn’t that easy.
When none of the retailers showed interest in their brand, Joseph came up with an idea to hire a PR firm that got e.l.f. to every single magazine.
Glamour Magazine put up the e.l.f. product on their magazine, stating the only problem will be the place for the buyers to get/order it from.
Hence, they set up a website to place orders, and this was the very beginning of the multi-billion dollar brand.
3. Turning Adversity into an Opportunity
On September 16, 2006, e.l.f. cosmetics founder Joseph faced the most challenging and life-turning event of his career.
The rumor about Bloomingdale buying the brand leading to an eventual hike in the price, started to circulate around.
As a result, e.l.f. Cosmetics started to receive 18,000 orders a day from 300 orders a week. As great as it sounds, the situation was hard to handle for an unprepared team.
Regardless of the adversity, Joseph and Broba managed to change it into an opportunity. This led to them achieving a four-foot section at Target, leading to the growth of the brand.
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2. Sold the Brand To A Private Equity
In 2014, the e.l.f. Co-founder Joseph Shamah, along with Broba, sold the majority of the stake in e.l.f. Cosmetics to TPG Growth.
TPG Growth is one of the fastest-growing private equity strategies in the market, and with them owing the majority of shares, Shamah took his final exit 18 months later.
Now, even though Joseph is not involved in e.l.f. Cosmetics at all, he still owns a significant amount of share of the brand and accumulated enough financial stability to retire.
1. e.l.f. Cosmetics Founder Joseph Shamah Started A New Venture
After exiting the brand, Joseph worked so hard to build from the bottom for a while he was unsure about what was next.
But opportunities showed themselves, and Shamah took them. Today, Shamah runs an operating company called Fit For Life LLC.
No matter how much richness or success achieved, Shamah strives to always work for new opportunities.
Joseph Shamah’s hard work and dedication to the brand early on in his life led him to early retirement, and we can learn a thing or two from his story.
