Female Founders: Amy Anzel Of Hollywood Browzer On Why We Need More Women Founders, and The Five Things You Need To Thrive as A Founder

Don’t wait until all your ducks are in a row to launch a business. — You will always be learning as you grow, so there is no need for all your ducks to be in a row so to speak in order to launch a business.

As a part of our series about strong women leaders, I had the pleasure of interviewing Amy Anzel.

Amy started Hollywood Browzer Beauty after discovering the many benefits of dermaplaning back in 2004. At the time, Amy was living in LA pursuing her acting career and a celebrity makeup artist dermaplaned her face before doing her makeup for an event she was attending that night. Amy was blown away by how flawless her makeup looked after dermaplaning and how much better her skincare products penetrated later that night after taking off her makeup. She knew that every woman needed to incorporate dermaplaning into her beauty regiment due to the many benefits that come hand in hand with dermaplaning — from a flawless makeup application to better penetration of skincare products to a glowing, radiant complexion without makeup.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your “backstory”? What led you to this particular career path?

Thank you so much for having me. I come from an acting and producing background. I have performed in theatre, TV and film since I was a kid and have always loved sitting in the makeup chair as I’m always intrigued by the various tips and tricks used by different makeup artists from around the world. It was a celebrity makeup artist in LA that got me hooked on dermaplaning back in 2004. She used a dermaplaning tool on me before applying my makeup for an event and I was blown away by the incredible flawless look my makeup had that day. I was sold and convinced that every woman needs to incorporate dermaplaning into her beauty regiment. It truly is a game changer!

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began leading your company?

I launched my company back in 2017 pretty much as a ‘one man band’ where I did everything from sales to NPD to marketing to press to design…you name it, I did it! I thought that if I partnered with someone else that was extremely experienced and had lots of distribution, they could help get the brand into doors and into the hands of consumers. The company I partnered with had a slew of salespeople and believe it or not, not one person on the sales team was able to get my products into retailers wherein I never had that problem. I truly believe it’s because they didn’t believe in the product and probably never even used it. On the contrary, every single buyer I was put in front of took on the brand. It shows you that no one will be as enthusiastic about your brand and products as the founder.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

My first and biggest mistake was sadly not a funny one, but it taught me a huge lesson. When I first had the idea to launch the brand, I introduced the original tool to a distributor that I thought could help me as he said he would. Instead, he took the idea and ran with it cutting me out of the equation and claimed the initial conversation we had never happened. I was devastated and cried practically every day for almost two years. I then met with a lawyer as I wanted to see if I had a case against him. The lawyer gave me the best advice I could have been given. He told me to dust myself off, launch my brand with a similar product and blow him out of the water as I was clearly passionate about the product. I did just that and I now have taken over almost all of the accounts of the guy that stole my idea and original product. The lesson learned is be careful with whom you share your ideas until you have them protected. Granted, sometimes it’s hard to know who you can trust in the beginning as you’re desperate for opportunities, but guard your ideas and intellectual property as best you can especially in the beginning.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

Yes! There is definitely one person that I am grateful for helping me get to where I am today. After launching the brand and having things not work out with my original partner that bought into the company, I bought back the shares and approached someone I had worked with in the past to ask for some advice. I asked if he wanted to be involved with the brand as he had years of experience in beauty tools and devices. He said he would give it a try and see what happens. He initially pitched the brand to QVC Germany who gave us a chance and that was the beginning of a now long-standing relationship based on trust, hard work and mutual respect. He now manages my accounts and helps to run the B2C side of the business as well.

Ok, thank you for that. Let’s now jump to the primary focus of our interview. According to this EY report, only about 20 percent of funded companies have women founders. This reflects great historical progress, but it also shows that more work still has to be done to empower women to create companies. In your opinion and experience what is currently holding back women from founding companies?

That’s a great question and I’m not sure of the answer, but I can surmise on one aspect based on what I often see around me. Traditionally women end up with more of the responsibilities of raising children and doing, what I call ‘the juggling act’ ie raising children or organising child care as well as the home while also working. As men are still sadly paid more than women in many industries, if need be and something had to give, the woman would most likely end up giving up her job or taking time off to look after the family. This unfortunately lends itself to men being the ones to work outside the home and therefore have more freedom with regards to business ventures. Sorry to say that in general, business is still male dominated, which definitely needs to change.

Can you help articulate a few things that can be done as individuals, as a society, or by the government, to help overcome those obstacles?

Perhaps have the government offer more funding for female founders and offer more support and services like free or subsidised childcare.

This might be intuitive to you as a woman founder but I think it will be helpful to spell this out. Can you share a few reasons why more women should become founders?

In my opinion, women are incredible multi-taskers, problem solvers. leaders and are often quite creative thinkers. All these qualities are important in launching and running a business.

What are the “myths” that you would like to dispel about being a founder. Can you explain what you mean?

I think often when a female founder has great success, people think it is due to something else like connections or using their feminine wiles and not necessarily grit, hard work and determination.

Is everyone cut out to be a founder? In your opinion, which specific traits increase the likelihood that a person will be a successful founder and what type of person should perhaps seek a “regular job” as an employee? Can you explain what you mean?

In my opinion, not everyone is cut out to be a founder. It requires a specific set of traits like thick skin, great determination, being okay with failing, and being quite resilient. Not everyone has those traits or wants to put themselves on the line on a daily basis, which is another necessity when being a founder. In the beginning especially, you deal with rejection on almost a daily basis and not everyone can handle that. I was an actor for many years before launching my business so hearing ‘no’ or being rejected was something I was very used to as actors audition for tons of projects and book a small number of them…even the most famous actors have been rejected, especially in the beginning of their careers. Also, some people like a 9 to 5 type schedule. When they get home, they like their time to be their own whereas founders usually hardly stop working.

Ok super. Here is the main question of our interview. What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started” and why? (Please share a story or example for each.)

1. Things don’t have to be perfect initially. — I used to thing that every decision I made with regards to my packaging and design was the end all, be all, but I now know that there will be many more versions of it as time goes on and I manufacture more and more, so it’s okay for the first version not to be 100% perfect. I once heard someone talk about this and said ‘it’s okay to have an ugly baby’.
2. Don’t wait until all your ducks are in a row to launch a business. — You will always be learning as you grow, so there is no need for all your ducks to be in a row so to speak in order to launch a business.
3. Learn to delegate — Having been a ‘one man band’ in the early stages of launching my business, it is hard to hand over some of the things I used to do to others, but someone once told me that instead of wasting your time on things that you aren’t great at in business, give over those responsibilities to those that ARE good at those things and focus on the things you do best! I have done so and now have more time to focus on what I do best.
4. Find the right people to join the team as teamwork makes the dream work! I love everyone on my team and as we grow, it is exciting to see who can bring their talent and skills to the business to help continue to grow the business. We have had our share of those that did not fit well into the business, but it becomes clear quite quickly and we both agree that it’s not working and go our separate ways, which is nice as everyone should be happy and fulfilled on a daily basis.
5. Listen to your gut. — Your gut instinct is always right! There have been many occasions when I have been told not to do something by someone more experienced than me in the industry, but when my gut says I should do something, I usually do it and it always ends up being the right decision in the end.

How have you used your success to make the world a better place?

We have donated tons of Hollywood Browzers to cancer survivors or those going through chemo as they tend to end up with lots of peach fuzz when their hair starts growing back.

In terms of using my success as an individual/ entrepreneur, I always respond to anyone that DMs me with questions about how I got to where I am today. I think it’s important to always give back. No matter how far you think you have to go to be a success in your eyes, there are people that would love to be where you are even when you’re still striving.

You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good for the greatest number of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.

I feel that often time youngsters leave school without having basic skills of running a business, whether or not they become an entrepreneur, it doesn’t matter as these skills — basic finance, budgeting, problem solving, effective communicating and writing — are beneficial in life no matter what they end up doing. I would love to see younger people be taught these ever-important skills in school. The younger, the better!

We are very blessed that some very prominent names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them.

I am so inspired by Sara Blakely, the founder of Spanx. She is the epitome of entrepreneur in my eyes. She built her business from scratch and she is constantly juggling her business, motherhood, marriage and anything life seems to throw at her. I always feel that I’m balancing spinning plates and she seems to do a very good job of it!

Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.