To Dine For with Kate Sullivan
Jamie Kern Lima, Founder, IT Cosmetics
Season 6 Episode 608 | 26m 46sVideo has Closed Captions
Founder of beauty company, IT Cosmetics, Jamie Kern Lima talks about her rise to the top.
Jamie Kern Lima is the founder of IT Cosmetics, a company she started in her living room and grew to the largest luxury makeup brand in the country. Over a delicious mushroom tostada at Oliver’s in Montecito, California, Jamie shares her journey to create a life beyond her wildest dreams and the inner-work she’s done to know in her heart she is worthy of her success.
To Dine For with Kate Sullivan is presented by your local public television station.
Distributed nationally by American Public Television
To Dine For with Kate Sullivan
Jamie Kern Lima, Founder, IT Cosmetics
Season 6 Episode 608 | 26m 46sVideo has Closed Captions
Jamie Kern Lima is the founder of IT Cosmetics, a company she started in her living room and grew to the largest luxury makeup brand in the country. Over a delicious mushroom tostada at Oliver’s in Montecito, California, Jamie shares her journey to create a life beyond her wildest dreams and the inner-work she’s done to know in her heart she is worthy of her success.
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Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorshipJAMIE KERN LIMA: I got this feeling.
It was like, well wait a minute.
What if you create something.
If you could figure out how to create something that will work for you, it'll probably help a whole lot of other people.
KATE SULLIVAN: Jamie Kern Lima knew she was onto something big.
The problem?
No one else saw her vision.
JAMIE: It was over three years.
KATE: Okay.
JAMIE: Hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of "No's".
Like no after, no after, no.
KATE: And who's giving you the no?
JAMIE: Sephora, Ulta, QVC.
Every beauty retailer.
KATE: Basically everyone in the business.
JAMIE: Every department store.
KATE: Jamie turned that idea into a billion-dollar business, but it wasn't easy.
JAMIE: Thankfully, I did not know what I didn't know, because I don't know if I would've gone for it.
Like I didn't know how hard it was gonna be.
KATE: Her story is one of underestimation and rejection.
And never taking her foot off the gas.
JAMIE: I knew the next time I walked in that building, I was either gonna walk out bankrupt or with my whole life changed.
KATE: Jamie is taking me to her favorite neighborhood restaurant in Montecito, California.
JAMIE: By the way, how good is the kung pao cauliflower?
KATE: It's got the perfect amount of spice.
JAMIE: Isn't it so good?
KATE: It's the perfect amount.
We're talking about what really makes someone successful and Jamie's personal journey to find her own self-worth.
KATE: But you're telling me after selling your company to L'Oréal for an astronomical figure.
JAMIE: Yeah.
KATE: You did not feel enough.
JAMIE: I did not.
♪♪ KATE: What's better in life than a bottle of wine, great food and an amazing conversation?
My name is Kate Sullivan and I am the host of To Dine For .
I'm a journalist, a foodie, a traveler, with an appetite for the stories of people who are hungry for more.
Dreamers.
Visionaries.
Artists.
Those who hustle hard in the direction they love.
I travel with them to their favorite restaurant, to hear how they did it.
This show is a toast to them and their American dream.
To Dine For with Kate Sullivan is made possible by... ANNOUNCER: At American National, we honor the "do"-ers and the dreamers: the people who get things done and keep the world moving.
Our local agents are honored to serve your community because it's their community too.
American National.
KATE: Hello everyone.
Today I am at Oliver's of Montecito, a plant-based restaurant in a spectacular location.
I am meeting a phenomenal woman for lunch, a founder who has created a dream life for herself and is now committed to paying it forward for other women.
I can't wait for you to meet Jamie Kern Lima.
Jamie, how are you?
JAMIE: I'm so good.
How are you?
KATE: It is so nice to meet you.
JAMIE: Nice to meet you.
Are you a hugger?
KATE: I'm a hugger.
JAMIE: Oh, me too.
KATE: I'm a hugger.
Let me just tell you, I have, I really, since I started my program, I have wanted, you've been a dream guest, so this is like a dream.
JAMIE: Well, I'm excited.
I'm honored.
Thank you.
KATE: Yeah, thank you.
And we're at your favorite restaurant, right?
JAMIE: Yes.
It's gonna be so good.
KATE: It is.
JAMIE: I am trying to go vegan.
I am not a hundred percent.
I'm trying.
I'm trying.
So every time I'm here.
KATE: Yes.
JAMIE: I'm more inspired.
KATE: This is your you efforting plant-based.
JAMIE: That's right.
KATE: Right.
JAMIE: Plant-based.
Yes.
KATE: You go one day at a time.
Californians have a reputation for a healthy lifestyle and with restaurants like Oliver's in Montecito, it is no wonder why.
It is hard to replicate the chic vibe of Montecito, California: home to celebrities like Oprah, Tyler Perry, and Ellen DeGeneres.
This unincorporated coastal town of 8,600 is quaint and high-end.
In 2017, Oliver's opened up and is still the only fully vegan restaurant in town.
JEREMY SEWELL: 2017 is when I really saw huge plant-based movements really starting to happen.
So, I think we are on the ground floor of it and really just capitalized on it at the very beginning.
KATE: The warm ambiance at Oliver's starts when you walk in the door.
It's open air seating under a forest of lighted trees is stylish and modern.
California casual at its best.
Everything on the elevated menu is plant-based from their artichoke crab cakes to their signature Pad Thai.
JEREMY: When I came onto this project, I looked at it as a challenge just for the fact that never have I worked with a hundred percent plant-based.
You know, I've came from Texas where it was all fine dining steakhouses.
So, a huge difference for me.
KATE: At Olivers, their goal is to surprise people with what plant-based dishes can achieve.
The American meets Mexican meets Thai menu sets out to change the misconceptions people have about vegan food.
It is the perfect place to dine with Jamie Kern Lima.
Her story is also about changing the way people think.
I am thrilled to join you in Montecito at Oliver's and dive into the food that you love.
Why did you choose this restaurant?
Because you could have chosen really anywhere in L.A. or Montecito.
Why here?
JAMIE: I think it's just really special.
And what I love is when something is plant-based.
One of my goals, I'm not quite there yet, but I'm, I'm efforting.
KATE: Yes.
JAMIE: I'm trying.
So I love Oliver's because it's just so good.
KATE: I know you are a, a former waitress.
You worked at Denny's.
JAMIE: Yes, at Denny's.
KATE: I, myself am a former waitress.
I think there's something very special about people who either are in the hospitality business or, or who have worked in the hospitality business.
Because I feel like that job teaches you things you can't learn anywhere else.
JAMIE: Yes, I agree.
I loved waitressing at Denny's.
It was a hard job.
KATE: Yes.
JAMIE: Um, I, but a couple things I remember, ah, the particular location I worked at, they had these challenges in the kitchen where they had major operational issues.
So, pancakes would take like an hour.
People would get mad, they would leave the restaurant, and I was trying to pay for school with tips.
And so I was like, I need to get really good at talking to people.
KATE: Yes.
JAMIE: And like, and I love people's stories.
So I just would learn to talk to all different kinds of people.
And then the other thing I remember is, I remember thinking, oh my gosh, you can have a lot of customers and a great, you know, great items on the menu, but if your operations aren't right, it can affect everything.
KATE: Ah, ah, that looks so good.
Thank you.
Wow.
Please enjoy.
I'll let you dive in first.
JAMIE: Don't you just feel healthier just seeing this?
KATE: Yes.
[Laughs] KATE: For our first course today, we're starting with brussels sprouts in a sweet chili sauce with pecans and crispy garlic, plus al pastor-style jackfruit tacos, corn tortillas filled with pinquito beans, jackfruit marinated with grilled pineapple, then topped with a cabbage slaw and avocado salsa.
As we dig in, I want to hear how Jamie went from Denny's waitress, to local morning show anchor, to the Forbes "Richest Self-Made Women" list.
She's currently only a few spots behind Madonna, Kylie Jenner, and Taylor Swift.
JAMIE: My whole life I would sit in my living room and I used to watch Oprah interview other people, share their stories, and I, I was like, one day I'm gonna grow up and I'm gonna share other people's stories with the world.
So like, I really just wanna ask you right now, so many things about you, right?
'Cause it's like, it just-.
KATE: It's in you, yes.
JAMIE: Yeah, from the time I was a little girl.
And so I worked really hard.
I worked all these jobs to try to, you know, be the first person in my family to go through school.
And then eventually, uh, fast forward many years, and I was working in my dream job in television and worked my way up eventually to Portland, Oregon.
And I thought, I'm in my dream job.
So I'm anchoring the news, thinking I'm in my dream job, and I knew I had rosacea.
For me, it gets, you know, red, bumpy.
You can see I have like a pretty big bump right here and it feels like sandpaper.
KATE: Okay.
JAMIE: On a lot of days, but I've always had been able to cover it.
I went to all the dermatologists, tried all the creams.
Nothing would work, but I was usually just fine with makeup.
And one day I'm on the news, anchoring the news in Portland, Oregon.
And I'm live, right, live talking to a whole lot of people and I hear in my earpiece from the producer, "there's something on your face, there's something on your face.
You need to wipe it off.
You need to wipe it off."
And I glanced down in the commercial break and I, I knew what it was, but I saw the makeup kind of cracking, almost like desert clay cracks where redness comes through.
And I tried to cover during the commercial break and then went back and then I hear my earpiece when I'm live on the air.
"It's still there.
It's still there."
"It's still there."
KATE: Oh the sinking feeling.
JAMIE: Yeah.
And so I entered this sort of season of self-doubt where I'd spend my whole paycheck trying to find something that would work for me.
KATE: Sure.
JAMIE: 'cause there's thousands of makeup products out there.
So I would, I tried drugstore stuff, department store, professional line, and nothing would work.
And I remember, being live on the air, thinking like I'm supposed to be having, you know, like enjoying it, talking to viewers, all the things.
And I've been having thoughts like, am I going to get fired?
KATE: Wow.
JAMIE: Like are viewers changing the channel?
KATE: Just extreme self-consciousness.
JAMIE: Yeah.
And I was like, this makes no sense.
There are tens of thousands of makeup lines out there.
How does nothing work for me?
And then I had this moment, Kate, like this moment, which I think a lot of people have in their life, where you get this feeling, I got this feeling.
It was like, well, wait a minute.
What if you create something?
If you could figure out how to create something that would work for you, it'll probably help a whole lot of other people.
And then I realized, I had, at the time, I had never seen a woman with bright red rosacea saying like, "buy this product."
And then I realized that my whole life, I'd always loved the beauty commercials on TV and in magazines.
Like, I always loved them.
I always loved seeing them.
I always aspired to look like them.
But like deep down inside, they always kind of made me feel like I wasn't enough.
KATE: You weren't alone in that.
JAMIE: Yeah.
KATE: I think we all feel that way.
JAMIE: Right?
JAMIE: Yeah and then I had this moment where I'm like, oh my gosh, what if it's not about just making a product that works for me?
So it was just like this big God-sized dream that all of a sudden hit me.
And that "why" felt really personal and deep for me.
Like, oh my gosh, this isn't about a product and that's when I decided to do it, to take a leap.
KATE: Jamie and her husband Paolo took her gut feeling and got to work formulating a product line of cosmetics for rosacea and hyperpigmentation out of their living room.
They named the problem-solving line It Cosmetics, which stands for innovative technology.
This was so much bigger than covering up rosacea.
JAMIE: So much bigger.
And that's what I was able to lean on, to keep going.
Because what happened is from the day we launched the business in, in our living room, it was over three years.
KATE: Okay.
JAMIE: Hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of "no"s. Like no after, no, after, no.
KATE: And who's giving you the no?
Are these... JAMIE: Sephora, Ulta, QVC, every beauty retailer.
KATE: Basically, everyone in the business.
JAMIE: Every department store.
KATE: Wow.
JAMIE: All of the stores.
Like I put on a pedestal, like I used to save my Denny's tip money to buy a lipstick in their store.
I'm like, they're gonna love this.
Every one of them, no after no, after no after no.
KATE: What kept you going?
I mean, all these people are telling you no.
JAMIE: Yeah.
KATE: You must have thought to yourself, maybe this product isn't that great?
JAMIE: So many times.
And every time I thought that, and I would get still, I would pray about it and I would get this feeling.
I'm supposed to be doing this, and I'd be getting "No"s all around me.
But then I would get this knowing and I was like, I've gotta trust this.
Like, our knowing is more powerful than anyone else's "No"s or advice or anything else.
Lot of People... KATE: Oh I like that, our knowing is more powerful than any no.
JAMIE: Yes.
KATE: Yeah.
JAMIE: And every time when I'd get rejection after rejection, like, and sometimes I would cry myself to sleep and it was a long journey.
A lot of people just know the headline, they just know Denny's waitress builds billion-dollar company, right?
KATE: Right.
JAMIE: And we became the largest beauty brand in QVC's history.
But a lot of people don't know that they said no for years.
And not only no, but you're not the right fit for us or our customers.
And so, it was this journey of not letting anyone else's doubt... KATE: Yes.
JAMIE: About, you know, me turning the doubt in my own head, which is really, really hard.
KATE: I want you to explain the turning point, because you mentioned all the no's, but there was a turning point and it involved QVC.
JAMIE: Yes.
KATE: That got you to really extreme success.
But can you tell that story?
JAMIE: My husband and I had used every penny we had and poured all of our savings into formulating a product.
We hired third-party chemists, great manufacturers like, and it was hundreds of iterations.
And we got a product that, that was so good.
I was like, it works for me.
It's gonna be huge.
And I just thought, if you have something great, it's just gonna sell.
Thankfully, I did not know what I didn't know.
Because I don't know if I would've gone for it.
Like, I didn't know how hard it was gonna be.
So we were outta money and I thought, okay, uh we've gotta go direct to consumer.
That's what we're gonna do.
KATE: On the brink of bankruptcy, Paolo bought a book called HTML for Dummies and built the It Cosmetics website himself.
JAMIE: He builds our whole first website from the big yellow book, I think like, this is it Kate, like, this is gonna be huge.
I, I was like a little kid on Christmas morning, like running around our office the day it went live, which is our living room.
And I just knew once it goes live this, you know, 'cause the product's so good and the day it went live, no orders.
Like the hours went by, no orders... the next day, no orders.
KATE: All that effort.
JAMIE: All of it.
The next day, no orders.
Finally, I said to him, what's so easy to do when we work with someone we love, I was like, "it's broken.
You did it wrong."
I'm like, there's no way you built this website right.
And we're just getting no orders.
And then the next day, no orders, the next day.
Finally, the day our very first order came in, I was like, ah!
I was like running around our living room.
Like I was so excited.
And he comes up to me and he goes, that was me.
[Kate laughs] JAMIE: He goes.
KATE: Your husband made the order?
JAMIE: Yes.
He goes, I placed the order to prove to you it's not broken.
I didn't do it wrong.
And I'm just like, oh... KATE: It wasn't just the website that was a bust.
Jamie couldn't find a way to directly reach her customers.
After years of sending samples to QVC, Jamie finally got a call back from their head of beauty, Allen Burke.
JAMIE: He had built this multi-billion dollar beauty division at QVC.
And after years of me sending samples, I hear that he wants to do a call.
And I was like, there's no way he'll give me a call and then it's a no.
Like, his time is so valuable.
And so I thought this is gonna be it.
And I remember doing a call with him and he's like, "hello, Jamie, Allen Burke with QVC."
I'm like, "Allen, so great to meet you."
And he says to me, "listen, uh, we've received your samples.
All of them I want to-" KATE: For years.
JAMIE: For years.
He goes, "and I just wanted to call you myself and let you know I've had a meeting with, with our whole buying team and it's, it's unanimous, that you are not the right fit for QVC or for our customers."
And right away tears start streaming down my face.
But I went right into pitching myself again.
And I'm like, and I was hoping you couldn't tell I'm crying on the phone.
And I'm like, "oh, but Allen, I am the right fit!"
And I start telling him all the reasons I love QVC.
And he thanked me for loving QVC and said, "it's a no."
I remember that day just like crawling under my covers.
I didn't know how we were gonna make it, just crying.
KATE: And are you, are you still on air at this point?
JAMIE: No.
KATE: You are fully- This is your, you are now- Attempting to do... JAMIE: All In.
KATE: To do this company.
You are all in.
JAMIE: And and by the way, I quit my dream job, right?
And I do believe this, I think sometimes knowing when to like let go of a dream matters as much as knowing when to go after one.
I quit my job.
My husband quit his job.
KATE: Wow.
JAMIE: We went all in.
KATE: So at some point you get on QVC.
So I'm, I'm so anxious.
How does this happen, Jamie?
JAMIE: So three years in.
KATE: Okay.
JAMIE: I had submitted us to this big beauty expo in New York City, and there's these three-foot booths and every beauty brand from around the world, gets a three-foot booth for every product they enter.
KATE: Okay.
JAMIE: So if you imagine all these booths with everyone demonstrating their product, and then 6,000 women walking the floor.
So I had entered IT Cosmetics into this, which no one had heard of and I'm there with a three-foot table and... KATE: A three-foot table?
Oh, so you've got thousands of people are walking by you- JAMIE: Yes.
KATE: And you have a real estate of three feet.
JAMIE: Three feet.
KATE: To grab their attention and hopefully get a deal?
JAMIE: Yeah.
Yeah.
And demonstrate your product.
And show how good it is, so I'm doing that talking to person after person.
And I see QVC has a giant booth in the background.
KATE: Okay.
JAMIE: I finally got over there and got up to one of the buyers and I introduced myself and I'm like, "hello, my name is Jamie Kern Lima, um, I have a company called It Cosmetics."
And she's like, "oh yes, I have your samples."
KATE: We are familiar with you.
JAMIE: And I was like, by the way, I remember sweat dripping down my legs 'cause I was so nervous.
KATE: Yeah.
JAMIE: I just like poured my heart out.
And she gave me her card and she said, let's do a meeting in Westchester, Pennsylvania.
KATE: Wow.
KATE: After years of rejections, Jamie finally got her first "Yes."
A shot on QVC to pitch It Cosmetics to 100 million live viewers.
The big break came with a catch a 10-minute window on air and the expectation Jamie would sell 6,000 units of product in 10-minutes.
Jamie also learned she had to front the money to produce the product, not knowing if anything would even sell.
Jamie went to 22 banks to get a loan.
With that money, she hired a consultant to help perfect her pitch.
JAMIE: Okay, here's my vision.
I'm gonna put models in their seventies and eighties and, you know, women dealing with hyperpigmentation, maybe women dealing with acne every age, skin tone, you know, size, shape, and have them demonstrate my product on TV.
I'm gonna take my own makeup off and show my bright red rosacea.
And they were mortified.
KATE: Wow.
JAMIE: Like, literally mortified.
And they... KATE: Because no one's ever done that.
JAMIE: Right.
And they wanted me to win and they gave me the best advice they knew how, which was put all these models that look like they're 12.
KATE: Who already have good skin.
JAMIE: Exactly.
And I'm like, I get that, that's often what works.
But what if women are sick and tired of not seeing someone that looks like them?
KATE: Yeah.
But you did something so brilliant.
You took off your makeup on air to show the rosacea, to show the problem.
Yeah.
And then you applied your own product on.
JAMIE: Yeah.
And I remember the moment my bright red before shot, right?
Bare face comes up on national television.
I remember walking over to all the models, every age, shape, size, skin tone, skin challenge, like calling them beautiful.
Meaning it, I remember a few minutes in, I didn't know how we were doing, but I knew I wasn't cut yet, which was like big.
And then, the moment we got down to it was about the one minute mark, left in the presentation and the host says "the deep shade's almost gone.
The tan shade's almost sold out."
And I was like, and then at the exact 10-minute mark, the sold out sign.
KATE: Yes.
JAMIE: Comes up across the screen.
KATE: Yes.
JAMIE: I start crying on national television.
They cut from me and went to like Dyson vacuum or something.
I was just bawling.
KATE: That 10-minutes in 2010 led to more than 1,000 appearances on QVC.
It Cosmetics grew to 300 products and became the largest beauty brand in QVC history.
With numbers like that the stores that once rejected It Cosmetics were circling.
In 2016, Jamie sold her company to L'Oréal for $1.2 billion and Jamie was named CEO of her brand.
It was the first time a woman ever held that role in L'Oréal's 107 year history.
JAMIE: After we launched on QVC, Allen Burke, who had said, KATE: [laughs] What did Allen Say?
JAMIE: You're not the, you know, the person who had told me initially I wasn't the right fit.
He became one of my greatest mentors and dear friends he is to this day.
KATE: Wow.
JAMIE: And he eventually, he had been there a few decades.
He retired from QVC and then we hired him in a, in a paid position.
I love your face.
We hired him in a paid position on, on our advisory board.
KATE: I bet that felt good.
Oh my goodness.
What else do we have?
And now our second course has arrived, kung pao cauliflower made with cashews and spicy Japanese chilies.
We're also digging into the delicious wild mushroom tostada.
A tostada topped with layers of jalapeno, guacamole, mushrooms, cilantro, cabbage slaw, and salsa verde.
JAMIE: I remember the first time I came here and all I heard about was this tostada.
And I was like, I have to try it.
And then I tried it.
I'm like, oh, I get it.
KATE: I get it.
JAMIE: I get the hype.
I get the hype.
It's so good.
KATE: Talk about, you know, looking for signs.
JAMIE: Yeah.
KATE: And looking for confirmation that your idea was worthy.
Um, you sold your company to L'Oréal for $1.2 billion.
JAMIE: Yeah.
KATE: Which is so huge.
Most people can't even wrap their brain around.
JAMIE: Yeah.
KATE: How do you think that changed you?
Or did it?
JAMIE: Hmmmm.
Whew.
Okay.
Jim Carrey has a famous quote.
He says, "I wish everyone could just be rich and famous to learn that that's just not the answer."
And when you're not rich and famous, you're like, whatever.
Like you think, you know.
KATE: I mean, of course, yes.
JAMIE: Most of my life, I don't know if you've ever had this belief.
I think a lot of people believe this.
Most of my life I thought if I could just achieve enough, then I would, then I would finally be enough.
And most of my life, and this is why I wrote the book, "Worthy," because right now 80 percent of women don't believe they're enough.
73 percent of men feel inadequate and not enough.
It is a thing.
KATE: But you're telling me after selling your company to L'Oréal for an astronomical figure.
JAMIE: Yeah.
KATE: You did not feel enough?
JAMIE: I did not.
So I had built a lot of self-confidence and I did not know that there's a huge difference between self-confidence and self-worth.
KATE: I thought it was really interesting that you chose to write about worthiness and worth because, you know, after your amazing business success, you really could have chosen any topic to write about.
People wanted to hear from you, how did you do it?
JAMIE: Yeah.
KATE: Right, yeah.
Would you say that worthiness is one of the top things that it, that's blocking people- JAMIE: Oh yeah.
KATE: From the life that they want?
JAMIE: It's the thing.
Self-worth is the thing.
Yes.
I know I can write a business book all day long on skills, but you know how many people out there can know what to do, but they don't know why it's not happening.
KATE: Right.
JAMIE: Our self-worth is our ceiling.
KATE: You know, it's, I think it will be hard for people when they hear your story to believe that you do or did struggle with worthiness because you were so accomplished.
You know, you did go after your dream of being on, on air as a television reporter.
You did achieve that.
You've been Ms. Washington.
You were the valedictorian of your college, you know, the valedictorian of your class.
So you've, you've been an achiever... JAMIE: Because I believe the lie that if I achieve enough, I'll finally feel enough.
KATE: You have devoted so much of your time, energy, and resources to philanthropy, including holding leadership clinics at prisons and shelters.
Can you talk a little bit about that work and why it means so much to you?
JAMIE: Yeah.
I'm donating a hundred percent of the proceeds from "Worthy," uh to Feeding America and then I funded also through Global Leadership Network, um, leadership training in over a hundred prisons and shelters this year.
KATE: Why did you choose to do that?
Why was that important to you?
JAMIE: I'm passionate about it.
I think every single person's worthy.
I think that when someone is in a difficult time, whether it's a, they're, you know, in a season of setback in their life, and maybe it's that they're in prison or in, in a shelter right now, maybe it's just they're having a hard time.
I think that it's easy for us to think that that can now determine our future possibility or potential.
KATE: And what, what do you want to do looking forward?
What is your vision as you sit, you've accomplished so much, what is next for you, Jamie?
JAMIE: After I sold It Cosmetics to L'Oréal, I gave them my word, I would stay for three years and there's nothing holding me to it, just my word, and, and I did stay for three years.
We doubled the size of the company, two years post-acquisition.
They made me the first woman to hold a CEO title of a brand in their 107 year history.
But once we partnered with them, that was when the fun stuff started happening.
So, like the Oscar parties, the red carpet things like all the fancy stuff.
KATE: You, you became in a way a celebrity, right?
JAMIE: Yeah.
It was like, and yeah, in the beauty industry.
And I was like, this is so fun.
And I'll never forget when I started getting that, knowing that my time is done, that I'm supposed to now use everything I've gone through and help be of service to other people.
I literally pray every day God, use me.
Like, how can you use me as a vessel in this time, on this earth?
And I just try to hear that answer and then live that answer.
And that's it.
KATE: Jamie Kern Lima is the embodiment of the American dream.
A woman who saw a need and found a way to build something that could help herself and many others.
She went after the dream with all that she had and faced rejection more times than most of us could handle.
Through hard work and a lot of faith, she found out what happens when you just keep going.
She is now using her time and her talent and resources to show women in business and beyond they are worthy, just as they are.
A lesson that took Jamie herself a lifetime to learn.
♪♪ KATE: If you would like to know more about the guests, the restaurants, and the inspiring stories of success, please visit todinefortv.com or follow us on Facebook and Instagram at To Dine For TV.
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