Anastasia Soare (néeBălămaci) (born 28 December 1957)[1] is a Romanian-American businesswoman, and the CEO and founder of Anastasia Beverly Hills, known as the "Eyebrow Queen".[2][3]
Soare was born in Constanța, Romania.[4][2][5] She is the child of Dumitru Bălămaci (who died when she was 12) and Victoria Babu, who owned a tailoring shop.[6] She studied art history and architecture in Romania.[5][7]
Soare spoke very little English in 1989 when she moved to Los Angeles, where she worked as an aesthetician at a beauty salon and soon realized that eyebrows were an under-explored area. "I developed a technique for how to shape eyebrows according to people's bone structure and natural eyebrow shape".[2] As her manager did not think there was enough of a market, she rented a room in a Beverly Hills salon, providing facials, body waxing, and eyebrow sculpting.[2] By 1997, she was running her own salon on Beverly Hills' Bedford Drive.[2] As a beautician, she has stated that her first two clients for an eyebrow treatment were Cindy Crawford and Naomi Campbell.[7] Other clients have included Faye Dunaway and Jennifer Lopez.[2]
Soare is the CEO and founder of Anastasia Beverly Hills beauty brand, available in almost 2,000 stores internationally.[2] In 2018, Soare sold a minority stake in the business to portion to a private equity firm.[8]
In 2023, Forbes estimated the value of all of Anastasia Beverly Hills at approximately $500 million.[8]
In 1978, she married Victor Soare, a ship's captain.[6] The couple has a daughter, Claudia (known professionally as Norvina), who is also active in the makeup business.[7]
In 1986, while his ship was docked in Italy, Victor Soare visited the American embassy and asked for asylum. He reached the United States six months later.[9] However, Soare and her daughter were not allowed to leave Romania to join him in the United States until 1989.[5][9] Victor and Anastasia divorced in 1994.[6][9]
