If eyes are the windows to the soul, eye lashes are the dressing that draws us in. Few understand this better than Elena Asher, whose Miami-based LashMakers promotes lash artistry in 57 different countries around the world. It is a business she built from the ground up, starting from the simplicity of her living room to creating what is now a successful beauty empire.
Her goal isn’t simply to help other women feel the beauty she once felt after her own first lash extensions were applied. The artistry that goes into making eyelashes pop is important, but even more important to Asher is the empowerment of her fellow women. LashMakers promotes financial independence though eyelash artistry, helping others achieve the freedom Asher herself achieved, through training and certifying over 400 women as eyelash artists each year. LashMakers focuses not only on the artistic side, but also on the business side, teaching artists how to grow million dollar businesses through hard work and acumen.
It is a business Asher sees expanding, and not only into the development of even more than the 118 product lines LashMakers currently offers. Her goal is as lofty as it is laudable: “I would love to have the opportunity to teach more women around the globe hoping to start a new career.” To Asher, financial independence is the key to empowering women in the 21st Century.
It is a dream that is important to her, in part because of her own humble beginnings. Her family moved from Siberia to Israel, and she eventually came to the United States with little more than the American Dream. She spoke little English, and had less money, but she was determined to make a start. And like so many immigrants before her, she was able to achieve what must often have seemed impossible: an international reputation as one of the premier eyelash artists in the world and the go-to person for anyone looking to build a future in that $1.4 billion industry.
She is up for the challenge of expanding her empire and helping even more women succeed in business. *Challenges never really stop. Once you developed as an artist and a business person to a certain point there’s always a new level opens up and it will come with its own challenges and new things to learn.” Given her past success, one cannot help but feel confident Asher, and the women she empowers, will be able to overcome all obstacles, one eyelash at a time.