Turning a childhood pastime into a lucrative business is not something many women achieve in a lifetime. But internationally renowned makeup artist Bobbi Brown has created an unbelievable business that stemmed from her passion for playing dress-up as a little girl. "My mom always intrigued and inspired me with her glamour and her beauty rituals," says Brown. But when she got into her mother's makeup at age five, Brown got it all over the bathroom sink - and the walls. Maybe that's when her personal philosophy was born - that makeup should not be about rules, but about options. It was after this incident that little Bobbi got her very own makeup kit, consisting of her mom's hand-me-downs.

As she got older, Brown continued to be an innovator and try new things, but instead of putting rouge and lipstick on the walls, she was finding other ways to break new ground. She even created her own major - theatrical makeup - while attending Emerson University in Boston. Upon graduating, she tried her hand as a makeup artist in Boston, while waiting on tables to pay the bills. Brown then moved to New York City to pursue her makeup career. After pounding the pavement, this go-getter started to land jobs with high-profile magazines such as YM and Glamour. It was then that her frustrations changed from trying to find work to trying to find flattering beauty products. Her solution? Instead of using other people's creations, why not make her own?

A chance encounter with a chemist allowed Brown to do exactly that. The two worked together to produce her first lipstick, a pinky-brown shade called Brown Lip Color that's still available today. Soon after, her dream came true when she debuted her own line of cosmetics - only 10 brown-based lipsticks - at Bergdorf Goodman in the Big Apple. Brown thought she'd only sell 100 in the first month, but ended up selling 100 on that first day. Now her products are offered in more than 400 stores and 20 countries worldwide. "I know from experience behind my own makeup counters that most women want to learn the fundamentals of makeup. Most women just want to look pretty," she says in her 2007 book, "Bobbi Brown Living Beauty."

Clearly Brown gets what women want, and she shares her wisdom in her roles as CEO of Bobbi Brown Cosmetics, exclusive beauty editor of the "Today" show and author of several books. And even with all of these successful endeavors, Brown still makes time to give back to the community. Every year, Dress for Success New York provides approximately 2,000 underprivileged women with interview suits and career development advice. Brown has built on this program by teaching each of these women how to create a makeup look to complement her outfit. "Makeup is a way for a woman to look and feel like herself, only prettier and more confident. Looking your best is simple and achievable - all it takes is knowledge, a few easy steps and the right products," she says. After each client receives her suit, she has a one-on-one session with a volunteering Bobbi Brown makeup artist, who instructs the client on how to apply her makeup and gives her the beauty essentials she needs to recreate the look on her own.

As an entrepreneur, advocate, wife and mother of three sons, Bobbi continues to strike a chord with consumers today. What's the secret behind her success? A philosophy that permeates throughout her life: achieving and maintaining balance, cultivating a positive outlook and, especially, loving yourself just the way you are. As Brown so eloquently states in her 2007 book, "My beauty mission is to help women appreciate their own unique features, not those of a flawless supermodel or a breathtakingly beautiful actress. I want to enable every woman to develop her own beauty style."