Posts tagged as “Chicago”

Growing up as the youngest girl in a family of eight children, Claudia Hoexter spent a lot of time figuring out how the world worked on her own. While her Dad was juggling three businesses, her Mom was trying to keep up with the needs of her growing family. And her older siblings were always steps ahead — with little time to pass on life’s lessons to their little sister.
“Whether it was riding a bike or balancing on a skateboard,” Claudia recalled, “I was out there on my own. If I was on a busy street and I wanted to get to the park on the other side, I had to figure out how. I think that’s what made me who I am today. Nothing scared me. I thought if I press this button, what’s the worst thing that’s going to happen? I can’t blow up the world? I was just never afraid of anything.”
It was an attitude that would serve her well, when at 19, she caught the eye of a modeling agent, who advised her to stop hiding behind her long hair and fly from her hometown of Chicago to Los Angeles to have professional head shots done. She was the youngest in her family to strike out on her own — and having been raised in a strict household, that photo session was the first time she’d ever dared to wear even a stitch of make-up.
“I went through high school as this plain Jane and there I was in Beverly Hills, all by myself, in a photo studio. From the first moment the make-up artist applied eye liner, I felt transformed. And the photographer must have noticed, because he started shooting while I was still in the chair.”
That moment would put Claudia on the path to making millions — but not as a model. Despite the early success that landed her campaigns for companies that ranged from Sears to Saks Fifth Avenue, the rising star decided she wanted a more secure line of work and built a career as an office manager. 
But she never let go of her new found love for lotions and potions and make-up — nor the fearless attitude she grew up with — and that’s what would lead her to create a product that would end up on the shelves of the biggest retailer in the world.
“I was getting ready for work one morning,” Claudia remembered, “and I started screaming. My husband Daniel came running, thinking that I had gotten hurt. He literally slid into the bathroom, he got up there so fast. And I turned to him and said, ‘I’ve got it. I’ve got the idea. I think I’ve just invented something.’”
“He’d heard it before,” she laughed. “I’m always coming up with ideas. But this time his eyes got big. He works in advertising and he knows what sells. And he said, ‘Claudia, we need to go talk to someone.’”
Claudia had been trying to get the last bit of serum out of a glass bottle. She considered breaking it, but she was afraid there would be shards of glass all over the room. She thought if only there was a spoon that could fit into the expensive bottles in front of her — that could reach into the corners and crevices and get out every precious drop, she could save so much money.
“That was the moment it all came to me. I knew what it would look like. I even sketched it out on a piece of paper. And I knew I was going to call it the Beauty Spoon.”