VIOLET GREY profiles female beauty entrepreneurs who are considered industry game changers for their individual approach to business. Each one entered the conversation in her own manner and maintained a steady, if not unparalleled, trajectory with her indomitable spirit.

Few women are as synonymous with American beauty as Cindy Crawford. Throughout her decades-long modeling career, she and her iconic beauty mark have played muse to Herb Ritts and Helmut Newton, sold Pepsi like it’s never been sold since, and covered Vogue more times than one can count. Apologies if this seems breathless, but it’s true. Crawford set the benchmark for the model as icon and celebrity. And she has done it all with more class than most could muster, spending recent years secreted away in Malibu, raising her two children with husband Rande Gerber.

A woman like Crawford, however, could never really rest, and thus she has spent the past decade working on Meaningful Beauty, the company she founded with famed skincare guru Dr. Jean-Louis Sebagh. “At 28 [years old], a makeup artist friend suggested that I see Dr. Sebagh when we were in Paris together,” she says of her first, fortuitous appointment. “It became harder and harder to travel to see Dr. Sebagh once I was married and had children, so I begged him to bottle and send his treatments to me. At first it was kind of a joke, but then I thought how incredible it would be to give the gift of Dr. Sebagh to the women I know and love.” From these beginnings, a true beauty success story was born.

Several factors have been key to Crawford’s success. First, her crèmes are made with SOD—superoxide dismutase. This is, in fact, an antioxidant found in rare melons (yes, melons) cultivated in the south of France. “It’s one of the most powerful antioxidants out there,” Crawford says. “It nourishes skin while delaying visible signs of aging, as well as restoring youthfulness and radiance to skin to preserve and nurture your beauty.” Frankly, anything with rare French melon sounds divine. The other, more business-oriented key to her success is the use of infomercials to grow the company and its audience. “I knew that Dr. Sebagh and I had a real story,” she muses of her decision to use less conventional forms of advertising (which was prescient, given the collapse of traditional media). “I felt like the long format of an infomercial would give us the best opportunity to tell that story.”

“It certainly wasn’t an overnight sensation, but we have had successes all along the way,” she explains. The magic formula has been equal parts: authenticity of product; the public’s trust in Crawford—one feels she wouldn’t put anything out that wasn’t top of the line; and, adds Crawford, “producing an infomercial that I thought spoke to women in a modern way.” Then she adds, laughing, “And, finally, not being able to walk through an airport without someone stopping me and asking about ‘those melons’!”

From this foundation of honesty, technology, and just a dash of good humor, Meaningful Beauty is on track to grow ever more popular. “We are always pushing to go beyond,” she says. “Especially as my needs change as I get older.” If Crawford’s glowing, natural appearance and wholesome outlook are anything to go by, we look forward to aging gracefully right alongside her.

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