Meet the Eyebrow Billionaire

SHE LEFT COMMUNIST ROMANIA FOR LOS ANGELES IN 1989-AND BUILT A STARRY EMPIRE ONE EYEBROW AT A TIME. AS HER BRAND REACHES ITS 25TH ANNIVERSARY, SHE REFLECTS ON HER CAREER: 'THIS IS THE AMERICAN DREAM'

- ANDREA LAVINTHAL

BEAUTY MOGUL ANASTASIA SOARE

When Anastasia Soare immigrated to Los Angeles to escape life in Communist Romania in 1989, she struggled to adjust to her new home. Soare, who was 31 at the time and had a young daughter, Claudia, didn't speak English, yet she sought solace on the small screen-particularly a one-hour program she called "the woman show." Captivated by the host even though she didn't know who she was or what she was saying, Soare became a faithful viewer and joked to her then husband that she would be a guest on the show one day.

That "woman show" host was Oprah Winfrey. And almost 10 years later Soare appeared on televisions nationwide to demonstrate her famous eyebrow-shaping technique on Winfrey herself. "It was my Oscar moment," she says.