Pretty Good Advice
Called the “Queen of Beauty” and the most influential singular woman to impact the beauty industry by the New York Times, you’ve never met anyone like Leslie Blodgett. Not only does she do the splits on boardroom tables, as CEO and creator of bareMinerals, Leslie pioneered the original power of community (before the idea of social media existed)—reinventing how beauty was sold.
Her warmth, empathy and authentic bond with her global community of fans, along with her unconventional approach, set a new standard that continues to shape the beauty business today. In 2006, Leslie took the company public in one of the largest cosmetic IPOs of the decade, and in 2010, the company was acquired for $1.8 billion.
Pretty Good Advice is Leslie’s next chapter. This refreshing book features 97 candid and entertaining insights on business, life, and beauty. Everything in this book is honest, all tried (and sometimes failed) by Leslie. Personal and often surprising, Leslie dishes on leading with humor, and why “You owe it to your co-workers not to be boring.” Pretty Good Advice is full of frank, actionable advice to help light a fire under you.
Leslie Blodgett is a beauty industry pioneer, angel investor, startup advisor, and philanthropist. For her efforts in reshaping the beauty industry, Leslie was recognized as one of the “Top Entrepreneurs of the Decade: 2000-2009” by Inc. Magazine, was named the first female recipient of the “Visionary of the Year Award” by Women’s Wear Daily, and received an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters by the Fashion Institute of Technology. Leslie is a 2018 Stanford DCI Fellow and Humor Ambassador for the Stanford GSB program.
ORDER NOW:
You Found Me!
I am a new and also unconventional author. Before I became an author, I created and built the beauty company bareMinerals. It’s likely your aunt, sister, dental hygienist or high school algebra teacher has heard of the brand. I spent my career shaking up the world of beauty and after leaving my corporate career behind, I decided to write a book with 100 of my best bits, stories, ideas, insights and rambles that have impacted me in some way throughout my life. Spoiler alert – I only managed to write 97. I couldn’t pull off the last three in time.
The book is called PRETTY GOOD ADVICE.
Which is an awesome title, by the way for many reasons the main one being it doesn’t overreach. Because I believe book titles have become too sensational and self-congratulatory. Therefore, as a society I think we aren’t hitting the mark on good book titles, except for this one. Also the contents of my book are pretty good too.
My book offers up tips, ideas and things to consider based on my life experiences. I cover the 80’s, personal connections, why blush is important as well as marriage and motherhood (boy, I wish he would take my advice). I mean, there are 97 ideas – something is definitely going to resonate.
This is the perfect book for someone who needs a good kick in the butt or someone who is doing just fine but likes colorful books. By the way, you remind me of a movie star but I can’t place the name.
Follow Leslie
Boards and Advisor Roles:
Pretty Good Love Notes
Pretty Good Advice is a moving and clear-eyed memoir of an extraordinary life. Charmingly made-up as a how-to guide, Leslie chronicles that life in vivid and memorable lessons that jump off the page and, always, make clever and moving insights. We learn how to live well and cultivate love, charm, connection, and magic. That, in following these steps, we can re-trace Leslie’s life and see her wisdom put into action—and imagine how, as we dream big(ger) and work hard(er), that path can also become our own.
– John W. Evans,
Draper Lecturer of Creative Nonfiction, Stanford University and Author of Young Widower
Leslie Blodgett pioneered authentic community building with the customers she lives to serve. Pretty Good Advice is a window into Leslie’s remarkable life journey and a masterclass on life, self-confidence and the fine art of blending eye shadow. It’s a must read for anyone building anything from a healthy marriage to a direct to consumer company or a community.
– Tina Sharkey,
Co-Founder, Entrepreneur, Advisor, Investor
Pretty Good Advice is like scoring a first-class airplane seat next to a badass who mixes your drink, makes over your shoes, and shares true confessions that are amazing adulting lessons. Wicked fun while charmingly self-deprecating, Leslie Blodgett is the big sister dreams are made of.
– Lisa Stone,
Co-Founder, BlogHer, Managing Director – WestRiver Group
Having worked with Leslie Blodgett for over a decade, she actually never wanted to give advice. Instead, she taught by example and through experience – and always with a dose of humor. Pretty Good Advice is quintessential Leslie: a meaningful collection of stories and experiences that shaped her life and are filled with beneficial life lessons. From personal to professional insights, this is a must read if you need a little inspiration.
-Alison Reid Mackay,
Chief Marketing Officer – SkinTē
I loved this book, and bought copies for myself and each of my kids. It’s funny, inspirational, and real. Very few really successful people are as humble, likable and generous as Leslie. In reading the book, you can see why she has been so successful at building such a customer-centric culture. It should have been called Very Very Very Good Advice.
– Robbie Kellman Baxter,
Author of The Membership Economy
If you want to laugh, get totally inspired, learn a bunch and enjoy reading something so engrossing you won’t put it down but you could because it’s written in these amazing one-ish-page chunks, GET IT. Could not be better for right now.
– Jean Godfrey June, Beauty Editor – GOOP
[This] book is pure Blodgett: funny, frank and thrumming with energy.
– Jenny B. Fine, Women’s Wear Daily
Leslie Blodgett disrupted an industry AND somehow convinced ME, that YES, I can do it too. That’s the magic about this book. She tells it like it is – no filter. I laughed, I cried, I nodded and most importantly, I left with a feeling that I CAN do this. As an entrepreneur, that’s the most important feeling in the world. Whoever you are, whatever you do, READ THIS!
– Bassima Mroue,
CEO and Co-Founder – SkinTē
Leslie Blodgett lives life with unconventional, hilarious authenticity. She’s whip-smart, irreverent and our students rate Leslie as the CEO they most want to be, and the friend they most want to have. Also, she can do the splits. There are few who write in a way that lets you into their hearts, and even fewer who can write prose that make you change the way you see life. Pretty Good Advice does that. It’s a brilliant, laugh-out-loud (spit-out-your-coffee) read that will make you look at life differently – with meaning, empathy, awe and love. Buy Pretty Good Advice now. It will change your life.
– Dr. Jennifer Aaker, General Atlantic Professor, Stanford GSB and Author of The Dragonfly Effect
Leslie Blodgett has pioneered yet another innovation: a ground-breaking, new literary genre, the MBA Memoir. Not only does Pretty Good Advice chart Leslie’s creation of a global brand with the hitherto undervalued assets of love, levity and lipstick, but it also delivers 97 pearls of warmth, wit and wisdom from the most inspirational entrepreneur I have ever met.
– Frances Edmonds, Sunday Times best-selling author (UK)