Estee Lauder

Estee Lauder was born on July 1, 1906 in Corona, Queens, New York. She was the ninth child of Hungarian Jewish immigrants Rose Schotz Rosenthal and Max Mentzer. Her father owned a hardware store and the family used to live in store. When she was a baby, her parents used to call her Esty, after her mother’s favorite Hungarian aunt. It was because of his father’s accent, Esty sounded like Estee. As a kid, she used to work in her father’s store with her brothers and sisters. Store was the first place where Estee acquired the basic sense and elements of business. The hardware store gave her the understanding of entrepreneurship and the ingredients of a successful retailer. Her childhood dream was to become an actress. When Estee grew up as a teenager, she became interested in his uncle’s business. Her uncle, Dr John Schotz was a chemist and the owner of a company called New Way Laboratories. Watching for hours while her uncle created creams, lotions, rouge, and fragrances, young Estee became hugely attracted towards cosmetics. She liked to study all the cosmetics or beauty products hitting the market and worked them on the faces and hair of her family members. Her uncle became her mentor and taught her how not to use soap and water but to use oils for cleaning and moistening the skin. Estee helped her uncle at work and experimented with his creams on her friends and family members. After graduating from Newtown High School, she concentrated on his uncle’s business. She started selling beauty products to her friends. The products like Six-In-One Cold Cream and Dr Schotz Viennese Cream was sold to beauty shops, beach clubs and resorts. She met Joseph Lauter when she was in her early 20s and the two got married on January 15, 1930. Afterwards she changed her name from Lauter to Lauder based on the original family spelling of the name. Her first child, Leonard was born on March 19, 1933.

 

Post marriage, Estee found it hard to be contented with the dual role of a mother and a housewife. She wanted more from her life and decided to become an actress. She even took acting course at New York Cherry Lane Theater, but her acting career didn’t take off. She very soon realized that she couldn’t make it up to the top. Following some serious family problems, the couple took divorce in 1939, but later remarried in 1942. Meanwhile, Estee created the Estee Lauder company in 1935. One day while she was at the House of Ash Blondes, the owner of the salon, Florence Morris, fascinated by her clear skin, asked her the reason of her perfect skin. Then Lauder demonstrated couple of her uncle’s creams to her. Morris liked her demonstration so much that she asked her to sell her products at her new salon. Her husband joined her business and in 1945, the first office of Estee Lauder, Inc. opened at 39 East Sixtieth Street.

 

In 1948, she started demonstrating her cosmetic products to the stores as Saks Fifth Avenue, Macy’s, and Bonwit Teller. During 1940s, she spent the majority of her time in traveling to department stores, standing at cosmetic counters, training salespeople, introducing her products and giving free facials. She was the pioneer of the trend of giving gifts with the purchase of products which now is one of the most commonly used method in cosmetic companies worldwide. The year 1953 saw the introduction of first fragrance of Lauder, “Youth Dew”. It was bath oil doubled as a perfume. In the first year of its introduction, it sold over fifty thousand units. It became an instant success and resulted into sharing 80% of company’s business. Other successful products included “Aramis” which was launched in 1965. It was believed to be the most elegant cologne in the world by its creators and still holds an important place in the world of men’s fragrances. Its success was followed by two other successful products, “Lauder for Men” and “J. H. L.”.

 

While running business, many times Lauder had to face difficult challenges. In early 1970s, the company launched Clinique, which was created for the younger women. It was believed by the creators that the product line would become an important part of a younger woman’s daily fitness and grooming. The product was marketed as a therapeutic skin care but no references were made to Estee Lauder during this marketing process. In the first two years of its operation, Clinique made the company to lose over three million dollars. But Estee was reluctant to give up; instead she hired Carol Phillips, the former editor of Vogue to head the division of Clinique. The product line kept on growing since then and never stopped in operation. She made the Estee Lauder a successful brand by promoting it with the help of her friends and acquaintances, which included royalties, presidents and celebrities.

 

Estee Lauder was married to Joseph Lauter on January 15, 1930. The couple had two sons, Leonard and Ronald. The couple got divorced in 1939 and remarried in 1942. Leonard Lauder was former chief executive of Estée Lauder and is now the chairman of the board. Ronald Lauder is an influential philanthropist.

 

Estee Lauder died of cardiopulmonary arrest on the 24^th April, 2004 at her home in New York. Today, her company employs more than 26,000 people and has revenue of billions of dollars. Its products are one of the most recognized brands in more than 120 countries across the world.

1906: Born in Corona, Queens, New York.

1930: Married Joseph Lauter.

1933: Her first child, Leonard was born.

1935: Estee Lauder company was found

1939: They get divorced.

1942: She was remarried to Joseph Lauter.

1945: The first office of Estee Lauder, Inc. opened at 39 East Sixtieth Street.

1953: Introduced the first fragrance, Youth Dew.

1982: Her husband died.

1988: Was inducted into the Junior Achievement U.S. Business Hall of Fame.

2004: Died of cardiopulmonary arrest at her home in New York.