Lauder, Estée (1908?-2004), was an American business executive. She cofounded an international cosmetics empire. Her company’s brand names include Bobbi Brown, Clinique, Estée Lauder, MAC Cosmetics, and Prescriptives. Sales of her high-quality cosmetics made her one of the wealthiest people in the world.
Lauder was born Josephine Esther Mentzer to Jewish immigrant parents in New York City, New York. Her date of birth is often listed as July 1, 1908, although members of her family have claimed that she was born two years earlier. She took the name Estée from her Hungarian nickname, Esty. In 1930, she married Joseph H. Lauter, an executive in the garment industry. They later changed the spelling of their last name to Lauder.
Estée became interested in beauty as a young girl. By the time she was in her teens, she was selling her own skin creams. Her uncle, who was a chemist, developed the creams for her and taught her how to make her own. She sold her products to neighborhood beauty salons and hotels. In 1946, she and her husband cofounded Estée Lauder Cosmetics Company with a few products they developed on a restaurant stove. Estée Lauder hand delivered the products to customers, gave out free samples, and provided makeup demonstrations for friends and acquaintances.
In 1948, Lauder persuaded the upscale department store Saks Fifth Avenue to order some of her skin creams. The products sold out in two days. In 1953, she introduced her first fragrance, a scented oil called Youth Dew. The popular perfume also doubled as a bath oil. Sales of Youth Dew soared, turning the struggling company into a multimillion-dollar business and making Estée Lauder a household name.
Lauder drew thousands of new customers with her innovative marketing strategy of giving away free gifts with a purchase. The “gift with purchase” promotion became a standard practice in the cosmetics industry.
By the mid-1970’s, Estée Lauder products were sold in more than 70 countries. By the late 1990’s, they accounted for nearly half of all cosmetics sold in the United States. Lauder told her life story in the autobiography Estée: A Success Story (1985). She retired from the company in 1995. In 1998, Lauder was the only woman on Time magazine’s list of the 20 most influential business geniuses of the 20th century. Lauder died in New York City on April 24, 2004.
