Ever heard of the actress Jessica Alba. And not just because her name is in the title. Jessica Alba’s acting career started off at the early age of 13, starring in “Camp Nowhere” and “The Secret World of Alex Mack”. But didn’t get her first big break until 19 when she landed the lead role in the TV series “Dark Angel”, which she was nominated for a Golden Globe award. While she has had numerous box office hits throughout the years, her claim to fame now is her business “The Honest Company” that she co-founded on the principle of an eco-friendly diaper business.
The idea came to her when she was pregnant with her first daughter, Honor. Her friends through her a baby shower and gave her numerous amounts of baby clothes as gifts. Afterwards, she took her mother’s advice and washed her unborn daughters closed with detergent and immediately broke out in hives. She says “I was thinking, what if my baby has a reaction and I don’t know? What if her throat is closing? I had all this fear and anxiety because I was always so sick as a child.” Later that night she Googles every ingredient and found some toxins in the process. She says, “I wanted safe and effective consumer products that were beautifully designed, accessibly priced, and easy to get.” Her idea became clear from that point, but she wasn’t sure how it was going to be accomplished.
It took a while for her company to get started but in 2012 her company was launched and raked in over $10 million in sales. They only started out with 17 products that included the categories of diapers and wipes. Now they have over 135 products that range from toothpaste, vitamins, detergent, etc. and sales passed $150 million. The company started out in Korea but now they are looking to expand to the international markets.
At first, she stated that she used to be scared and insecure by not having a college degree and thought less of herself. But now as her husband, Cash Warren, puts it ” This is the first time she knows she’s smart. She wakes up thinking about Honest; she goes to bed thinking about it” and it shows. Last year, she was on the covers of Shape and Forbes magazines and they titled her as ‘AMERICA’S RICHEST SELF-MADE WOMEN”. Her net worth was estimated at about $200 million.
Throughout Alba’s business venture are perfect examples on not giving up on what your dreams are and sticking to your goals even though the support is not there in the beginning when you need it the most. She was just seen as an actress at first, who didn’t go to college and had a couple of movies that did well at the box office. Now she is seen as one of the most influential and powerful women in business.
Sources:
https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2015/11/jessica-alba-honest-company-business-empire
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/the-honest-company-jessica-albas-diaper-business-valued-at-1-billion-ahead-of-ipo-9696344.html