Originally published April 8, 2020 on LinkedIn.
Leslie Blodgett’s revealing book, “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.
“The Queen of Beauty” is what The New York Times called Leslie in 2011, five years after she took bareMinerals public in one of the largest cosmetic IPOs of the decade, and the year after Shiseido acquired her company for $1.7 billion. But Leslie’s book is not here to talk about that, so don’t ask.
Wicked fun, while charmingly self-deprecating, “Pretty Good Advice” is the stuff big sister dreams are made of. This time, Leslie’s talking about LIFE — your life, hers too, and how to live it. Leslie presents her 97 pieces of advice as pratfalls behind the scenes, but her insights land with grace. There are some jawdropping moments, as she (repeatedly) battles with her mother, ruins her feet and kisses Oprah.
It’s magic — just the kind you’d expect from a creative famous for listening to women, who once launched a multi-million dollar campaign featuring models hired sight unseen (their commentary on confidence, appearance and values earned them the job). Who writes thank-you notes in response to thank-you notes. Who loves advising Spanx. Who has marathoned, evangelized and traveled the world to fight maternal mortality with Every Mother Counts. Who has been known to sass her BFFs teenagers into good moods (just ask me). Who can and does moonwalk anytime, anywhere.
In what I sincerely hope is just the first of her books, Leslie shares in “Pretty Good Advice” something so much more valuable than a business how-to for any human who ever dreamed of building anything. She’s sharing how she became, with hilarity and a real humility that barely veil her essential ingredient: Human kindness.
In a beauty industry and an Internet all too often filled with snarktastic asides, bitchy eyerolling, and downright cruelty, there’s not an arch word to be found among this advice. As Leslie told the San Francisco Chronicle in September of 2011:
“If we can put more emphasis on who you are, what you do and what you really look like than on what you’re ‘supposed’ to look like, then maybe you’ll be more accepting when you first meet another woman.”
This is why woman all over the world have, for years, been letting a perfect stranger in perfect eyeliner — Leslie Blodgett — brush us with glittery powders and urge us toward confidence. If you know a woman who needs some, “Pretty Good Advice” is where I advise you to start.
After this book was published in 2020 by @AbramsBooks, it became a WSJ Bestseller, among other accolades. Where to purchase: Amazon, Indie Bound, Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million, Waterstones.
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