Leslie Blodgett built BareMinerals into a billion-dollar beauty brand by tapping into the power of community — long before social media was even a thing. Her story is the stuff of lore: Inspiration struck in the middle of the night, when, sleepless, she tuned into QVC, bought a set of three stacking rings, and decided she had found the perfect platform to sell makeup. Blodgett became a star, both in business and in front of the camera, eventually stepping back after Shiseido bought the brand for $1.7 billion. For the past few years, she’s been out of the beauty limelight investing in female-led brands and teaching some classes at Stanford Graduate School of Business. This spring, she’s back with the publication of her first book, “Pretty Good Advice.” Consisting of 97 lessons about life (#23: You owe it to your coworkers not to be boring), love (#96: Marriage is a multiplex) and beauty (#41: The stuff washes off), the book is pure Blodgett: funny, frank and thrumming with energy. — Jenny B. Fine

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