All too often, we consign the topic of faith to the field of theology and religion, but faith isn’t just about God. It’s about belief. When we place our faith in an idea—about God, about civilization, about existence, even—we give that idea the power to transform us, for better or for worse. Such was the case for Josephine Esther Mentzer, born on this day in 1906 to Hungarian-Jewish immigrants Rose Scholtz and Max Mentzer in Queens, New York. Her parents nicknamed her Eszti, after her mother’s favorite aunt.
As a child, Eszti worked alongside her eight siblings at her father’s hardware store, but in high school, she began working for her uncle, a chemist who created and sold beauty products. She quickly became captivated by the science and art of women’s beauty, reasoning that every woman is beautiful, but sometimes just needed the opportunity to show it. She began using some of her uncle’s products herself and sold them to classmates. Changing her nickname to Estée, she designed her own products and sold them to friends and local beauty salons, even after marrying her boyfriend, Joseph Lauter, in 1930.
In 1946, the pair launched the beauty company Estée Lauder (Joseph had changed the family surname to Lauder several years earlier). Her determination, guile, and hands-on approach, coupled with some strokes of good fortune, quickly made the company a success. Lauder travelled cross country to meet with retail clients and customers alike, often preaching to her sales force, “Never underestimate any woman’s desire for beauty.”
By the time she passed away in 2004, the company she founded from her kitchen was worth more than $10 billion. Lauder’s faith in the value and pursuit of beauty transformed her into the architect of an entire industry. As we remember her life and career, it seems worth asking what role faith can play in our lives—religiously, professionally, and personally.
— Rabbi Josh Knobel