Every Deal Is a Dance Ep. 8: From Brows to Brand Empire: Damone Roberts on Transformation as Strategy

In this episode of Every Deal Is a Dance, Mishawn Nolan speaks with Damone Roberts — renowned beauty entrepreneur, inventor, and Hollywood’s leading eyebrow expert — about transformation as a creative and commercial strategy. What began as an artist’s fascination with symmetry evolved into a career redefining beauty, personal branding, and customer experience at the highest level.

From building a Beverly Hills salon to launching a luxury product line and inventing the Brow Blueprint, Damone shares how intuition, alignment, and reinvention shaped a decades-long journey in Creative Entrepreneurship.

This conversation explores how transformation drives business growth, why authenticity builds lasting brands, and how Alignment and Flow turn creative vision into sustainable success.

Every Deal Is a Dance Ep. 8:

Podcast Transcript:

Announcer: You're listening to Every Deal Is a Dance, part of the Look Legal pods from the law firm Nolan Heimann. And now, here is your host, Attorney Mishawn Nolan.

Mishawn Nolan: I'm Mishawn Nolan and I'm co-founder and co-managing partner of Nolan Heimann LLP. Before I was a lawyer, I was a dancer and then I was a choreographer. And so, it's not surprising that my law practice reflects dance principles of alignment and flow, especially when I'm working with my clients to monetize their creative ventures. And essentially what it means is aligning your abilities with your goals while at the same time balancing structure and reinvention. I want to make growing businesses less scary and less overwhelming for creators. So, everyone I interview in this series is someone who has a story to tell about authenticity, about their reinvention and their journey as a creative business maker. It is an opportunity to hear stories of alignment and flow in action.

If any of the listeners have read Joseph Pine and James Gilmore's book, The Experience Economy, which is the seminal book on industry, they talk about the progression of economic value. First are commodities, then goods, services, and then experiences. So, as you travel up the progression, they have different value and the differentiation increases. So, it's more valuable to be in a place sipping coffee with books and Wi-Fi, jazz music, and comfy couches than just buying coffee beans. So, customers are willing to spend more for that experience than just buying coffee beans or just a plain cup of coffee.

In the last few years, Joe Pine has been talking about the next level of economic progression, which is transformation. This is what people really desire. They want to improve their mood, their look, their health, their abilities. Everyone wants to feel better, both inside and out. At my law firm, Nolan Heimann, we know we're in the transformation business because businesses don't want agreements. They don't want pieces of paper with signatures on it. They want revenue. The agreement is merely a means to an end. So, we help businesses grow and monetize, which means they're more stable, they're more satisfied in life, they're more successful. Having an impact on people's lives is a tremendous feeling and gives meaning and purpose to what we do every day.

Because transformation is so powerful and it's so critical for creative business makers, I wanted to speak with someone who has mastered the art of transformation. That's why I'm so excited to speak with Damone Roberts today. I want to understand his journey from artist to transformational entrepreneur. Damone Roberts is a renowned eyebrow expert and beauty entrepreneur known as Hollywood's eyebrow king. He has shaped the eyebrows of many high-profile clients, including Oprah, Madonna, Beyonce, Rihanna, Ariana Grande, Robert Downey Jr., and Vice President Kamala Harris, among many others. He opened his Beverly Hills Salon in 2002. Is there anything more transformative than walking into a salon feeling old and haggard and walking out feeling beautiful? It's an incredible feeling.

Then after years of listening to clients' concerns about the brow products they were using, Damone developed his own solutions tailored to diverse skin tones and needs. He launched his luxury brow products line in 2005 and expanded his reach this year through QVC. His products are available on Amazon, QVC, and of course at his salon. In addition, he has a patent pending tool for helping people align their brows to their faces called the Brow Blueprint. Damone has appeared on television several times and was featured as a beauty editor for Oprah.com.

Damone is an artist, educator, product designer, inventor, beauty editor, and transformation specialist. Welcome to the Every Deal Is a Dance podcast, Damone. So glad you could be here.

Damone Roberts: That's quite the intro. Thank you so much for having me. I appreciate that. And I love the title, Every Deal Is a Dance, especially based on your background.

Mishawn Nolan: Thank you. as you know, being an entrepreneur is lonely and it's difficult and being a creative entrepreneur is even more challenging. So, in this podcast, we talk about the journey of creative business makers and how everyone's individual creativity is a secret superpower. And so, what we want to do is we want to talk about your story and unpack your superpower. So, before you were an eyebrow expert. What were your passions? Who was little Damone?

Damone Roberts: That's an interesting question. First off, I want to thank you for the lovely introduction. It's so interesting because when you're in the midst of building your dream and making it a reality, you kind of forget some of the accomplishments and the things that you've done. So, when you hear it back to you, it kind of just makes you go, wow, struggle is worth it because it's hard.

It's so hard, Mishawn. No one gets the behind the scenes. Everyone sees the social media version. No one sees the days when you're trying to figure out how you're going to do payroll or when you're crying and you're up at four o'clock in the morning staring at the ceiling thinking about, okay, I got to do this. I got to do this. How are we going to do that? Or everyone else gets paid but you. I mean, on and on I could go. But there's also beautiful parts of it as well. You know, I opened my salon, as you said, in 2002 and we're going into 2026 now.

And even that is surreal in itself to me because I don't, how did I get here? You know, how did it get to this point? How are we still going? And who thinks about doing eyebrows for a living as a kid? I mean, it's certainly never crossed my mind in any way. And what I discovered along my journey is that sometimes when you just kind of let go and surrender, you're kind of being guided by a force higher than we actually realize. And I think that's what happened in my - in my journey. So, to be more specific, answer your question, Little Damone was a guy that was always fascinated by art and beauty.

My parents would always have me draw pictures of different things and show it off to all my friends and everything. And I never knew why they were showing them off to their friends and my friends because to me, it was just so easy. I just drew a picture of a bird. Like, I don't understand, mom, why are you showing it to everybody?

And now as I'm an adult looking back on it, I see that I did have the gift naturally and everyone else didn't have it. But when you're a kid, you don't realize that what you have is special. So special that I got an art scholarship to Rutgers University. And I got to study with the great artists of our day, which changed my life because it was the first time I was ever around other artists. And being around other artists showed me that it's okay to be different, if you will, and to embrace your difference and to really go forward in who you are. And then I think that when you kind of do that, the universe kind of meets you in between somewhere and kind of helps you elevate to the next level. So that's what happened in my regard, how I got interested in brows and beauty.

Mishawn Nolan: So, when did you realize that brows would be so impactful in someone's look and in someone's style?

Damone Roberts: I went from painting, and then one day we started painting faces. What happened was the makeup artist didn't show up for the drama department one day. So, they came to the art department and asked us, could we help them? And our teachers were like, sure, we can help you. And we all were saying, how are we going to do that if we are painting canvases versus faces? And he said, it's the same thing. Just trust me. Just come with me and we took our brushes and they had the makeup there and we actually use our paint brushes instead of makeup brushes because they really are the same thing, when you find out what you're doing. And he showed us how to emphasize certain features and how to de-emphasize other features. And even the - I remember the cast were so shocked at how good they looked. They were like, this is better than the makeup department. And we were shocked because it came out so much better than what we had anticipated. But I learned then and there that art is art.

And what I mean by that is that painting the canvas and painting the face is the same thing. And I went from painting faces from there to making a living painting faces and going to work for Mac and companies like that. And the first thing you do before anyone's face is you clean up their eyebrows.

And I noticed that even without a single touch of makeup, by shaping the eyebrows correctly, it can take up to 10 years off a person's appearance, even 10 pounds if it's done right. And the truth of the matter is, Mishawn, once you have a good eyebrow, you never want to go back to a bad eyebrow.

I think that's why we've been able to be in business as successfully as we have in the world we do because again, eyebrows are that important.

Mishawn Nolan: Right, once you see it, you realize, and then you don't ever want to go back.

Damone Roberts: And like, you know, everyone to go back and like you said, they walk into the salon with their shoulders hunched down and they walk out with their neck back and their chin pointing towards the sky and their shoulders back, it's just such a great feeling to see that they feel so much better about themselves. One of our company slogans is, “The best version of you.” And I really believe we do that because we bring out the best version of who a person is. We don't believe in stencils. And for those of the listening that don't know what a stencil is, meaning that we don't give everyone the same eyebrow shape.

I would never give you, Mishawn, the same eyebrow shape as Sally Sue or Jessica or Bobby, because everyone has a different shaped face. So, what we do and what I train my artists to do is to look at your face and we do it from bird's eye point of view. We come behind you and we lay you down in a chair so you're still. And we look at your chin, your cheekbones, your face, because we want to bring out the best shape that's going to bring out the best version of you. Because again, the slightest difference can make such a big difference.

It can make your nose look three times bigger, can make your eyes look three times smaller. It can make your face look three times rounder. I mean, all these different things make a difference. So, when you do it in and symmetry, it really balances out the features and takes it to a whole different level, which is why we've been able to, again, to do this as long as we've been able to do it.

Mishawn Nolan: Wow. It's interesting that you work from the top down too.

Damone Roberts: From the top down, a bird's eye view. Yeah, yeah. And we work from behind the person. You know what I mean? So, we can actually see them and see their features and what's going on.

Mishawn Nolan: And it comes from. Yeah. It's interesting that it's so impactful, it makes such a difference. What is it about making a difference in other people, their feeling about themselves? What is it about that that's so fulfilling to you?

Damone Roberts: That's my sweet spot, to be honest with you. I think it's just a natural part of who I am. I like seeing people win. I like seeing people be the best they can possibly be. And anyway, not just physically, but mentally, spiritually, emotionally. I just think that we're here and it's not a dress rehearsal. And I think our purpose is to get to our ultimate personal best before we go on to whatever's next. And what I mean by that is I love the fact that these women and men, by the way, come in and they realize, a lot of times women say, I don't wear any makeup at all, but I love the fact that you do my eyebrows and I still look like I'm done. We call it a five-minute face lift because it lifts everything. And like you mentioned, we started doing products about 10 years after we started the company because we gave them the perfect shape, but they weren't finding the perfect products. And so, they would leave and they'd buy a brow pencil down the street. And they realized that my brows suddenly, they look good shape wise, but the color’s off. Something's different are this gel looks flaky and shellac-y and artificial and it wasn't working. And women of color were having a problem because the colors weren't matching their skin tones. And my women with gray hair were having a problem because the grays were, their eyebrows were looking blue. And I mean, on the one hand, the blondes were looking orange versus blonde. I mean, it just was not right.

So, the beauty of it was I got to use my background as a makeup artists and before that an artist so I knew how to mix colors. I knew how to go into the lab and talk to these scientists and tell them you know this pencil is too ashy and they looked at me like I was crazy because no one had heard the term ashy in the lab before but I'm so glad that I can tell you truthfully that my pencils and gels don't turn ashy now because we conquered that in general and all that to say, Mishawn, I know I'm all over the place because I get so excited asking these questions but my ultimate response is I love the fact that we show people the best version of who they are and I love the fact that I'm able to be a part of that.

Mishawn Nolan: Yeah, that's beautiful. It's really brave to pick brows to specialize in, right? It's very specific in particular. How did you pick that? How did you have the courage? Yeah.

Damone Roberts: It's very brave. Okay, and this is the truth. I'm an artist at my core, right? I've had to learn the business side of it. I'm still learning the business side of it. And thank God I have such great presentation like people like you guys that can kind of guide me through these next chapters of this journey. But I had to learn business and I had to really, I was a makeup artist and makeup takes like a good makeup for a person who's on the red carpet takes a good two hours or you know, I've had work to it, like you said, I've toured with Madonna and Beyonce and you have to do the makeup that's gonna last throughout the show, two hours and whatnot. So, you find what works and what doesn't work. And I realized by doing makeup, I'm sitting two to three hours in this person, I'm taking home one check. And I also never realized that, you know what, if I do brows, that takes 15 minutes. And you manage that times, you know, three hours every 15 minutes, that's a lot more money. So, I've learned the business side of things as I went along. And so, I started specializing more so in the brow aspects of it versus the makeup side of it, because it was more monetarily pleasing, to be honest. It was, yeah.

Mishawn Nolan: It's such a smart balance, right? Of utilizing your art, but being efficient because it takes so long. And how many celebrities can you do their makeup for in a day? I mean, one.

Damone Roberts: Exactly, exactly, in a day. One, two at the most, you know? And so, my point is like, I like this part. And I also like the fact that I get to touch and work with more people on a regular basis. You know what I mean? And it's not just celebrities. It's also the everyday girl.

You know, one of my proudest moments that I always tell my staff is one day I looked into my lobby and I saw we did a retreat for the 25 wealthiest women in America in Pebble Beach, right? So, they flew us out. Me and my artists do their eyebrows. Why, some of them were golfing, et cetera, whatnot. And they became regular clients because again, once you have a good eyebrow, you never wanna go back to a bad eyebrow. So, I remember walking into my lobby and seeing one of the women sitting in the lobby and I also saw a girl that the staff had told me had called and she said she had saved up for nine months to come see us because she really wanted to experience what everyone was reading about and talking about. And these two women were sitting on the bench next to each other, not knowing each other's story, but it just struck me how ultimately, one of the richest women in the world. And this girl that saved up nine months to get her brows done are sitting next to each other, but they ultimately want the same goal, which is to bring out, again, the best version of who they are. And that's when it really hit me because again, we're not brain surgeons, but at the same time, we're showing people that you're beautiful as you are. You know, they bring in pictures to me all the time of these different celebrities and nine out of 10 times; to be honest with you, I've done the picture that they showed me.

And so, I can look at them and say, you know what? Yes, Kim Kardashian is a beautiful woman. And I actually did her for this event. But you're beautiful as well. Let me show you how to bring out the best version of you. And we call it the “my god” moment. Because we give them the hand mirror. And they look in the mirror. And they always say the same thing, which is, oh my god. And then the tears start rolling up. And then the shoulders go back. And it's just such a high, Mishawn, I can't explain that high. And imagine getting that several times a day from people. It makes you go to bed with a nice big smile on your face. It really does. You feel good about what you've accomplished for the day.

Mishawn Nolan: As we talked at the beginning of the podcast about being an entrepreneur and how hard it is and how many sleepless nights and, the struggle and people don't know what it's like, behind the beautiful Instagram photos, right?

Damone Roberts: No idea.

Mishawn Nolan: Having, know, having that fulfilling feeling of changing people's lives, gives you meaning and purpose, right? It gives you the ability to get up every day and keep going and keep struggling because you know what a difference, what an impact you're making with other people.

Damone Roberts: Absolutely, absolutely. It really does. And I get letters and things. People are always watching. I recently did a guest appearance on a TV show for CBS. And I walked into the set in Atlanta and I was nervous because I'm not a professional actor, so to speak, and these are professional actors and I'm just doing a guest appearance. And I went into hair and makeup. And again, I'm so nervous because it's out of my realm and the hair and makeup team closed the door and they turned to me and said, we're so honored to meet you. And I'm looking at them like looking behind my shoulder like who are you talking to? And they're like, you don't understand. Like you taught us, you did a seminar years ago and told us we could be whatever we wanted to be. And I was in that class and now I'm the head of this makeup department for this studio and this department. And I'm like, what? It was such a beautiful moment. And I get those letters and those moments all the time, know, airports and whatnot.

You never know who's watching and you never who's observing. And it's inspiring to me because again, I want to help people and whatnot, but I also want to be clear. Like you're saying of us doing this interview, it's like, it's not all blueberries and whipped cream. You know what I mean? It's like, it's a lot, it's a lot of work and it's far from it. And the lows are, are, are deep. But again, so are the highs.

But people don't see the lows. And if they do see the lows, they don't wanna talk about the lows. They wanna talk about the highs. And then we have the whole aspect of you have new artists that come on board and they wanna know why can't they be you? They've been doing it for six months. You know, I don't understand why, why is Beyonce not in my chair? I don't get it. Why is my name not on the door in Beverly Hills? I don't get it.

Mishawn Nolan: Yes. We've had similar conversations with young lawyers, so I understand.

Damone Roberts: And it's just a whole new generation, my gosh. it's just so frustrating, but at the same time, you realize that they grew up in a different era. it's like everything is five minutes on social media. You know, everything happens that quickly. So, they think it's going to happen that way. So, it's sad in that regard, because we know realistically, that's not a reality. But the truth is, I wouldn't change it. I'm glad that I can't imagine working for someone else. And that's just the truth. You know, I built this and here I am.

Mishawn Nolan: Yes. yes, most entrepreneurs feel that way. They would, they don't care if they have to work a hundred hours a week, as long as they don't have to work a regular 40-hour work week for someone else. There's, cause there's something about it.

Damone Roberts: And that's so important, right? Because I'm never afraid to put in the work. That's one, it's like, you can call me many things, but the one thing I did dare you to call me is lazy. ‘Cause I will, I will outwork, outrun anything that I need to do when it comes to business. And I always have been.

And also, I want to emphasize to the audience as well, Mishawn, even before having my own business, I was still that person. Meaning like my first job was at McDonald's for example. And I remember making a quarter pounders back there. And I remember the others were like, why are you making them so perfect? They're just, who cares? Just know, spur to catch up and then, and my whole thing was like, because it's not only about the arts, but it's a reflection of me. It doesn't matter if the person that buys it in the drive-through window has no idea that I made it. It's like, I want to do a good job because this is my job.

Mishawn Nolan: Because you’re an artist.

Damone Roberts: And I've always had that work ethic. And I think that shows in other ways as well. And I think a lot of people don't have that.

Mishawn Nolan: Yes. I would agree with that. So, speaking of work ethic, it is quite a leap to go from providing services to someone to having your own salon. It's hard to have your own salon and manage people and have a brick-and-mortar location. Why did you decide to open a salon?

Damone Roberts: Truthfully, I was working for someone and I was doing all the celebrities and all the people and they were getting all the press and all the credit and all the money And so I said, you know what? I think I should be getting a piece of this at least and they kept saying we don't have the money right now and don’t have the money right now and I would ask again a year later and the same response. We don't have the money right now, we have the money right now six months later same response. So, third time I was prepared that they were gonna give me the same answer. So, I was prepared that I was gonna take action as well because one thing that I am not is, like I said, I've had to learn business because I'm an artist at my core, but I also know my worth and my value. And I'm not gonna ever let anyone diminish that in any way. And I don't have to get the accolades and say that I've done this person and that person, but I wanna be paid for what I'm doing.

And so, I made the decision that I'm going to go out and do it on my own. Now, again, they say youth is wasted on the young. I was so young. I was in my early thirties. I had no idea what I was doing in any way, but I knew that I had to do it because it wasn't working out for me. And again, I had no idea what I was stepping into. No idea. By far the hardest thing I've ever done in life is opening my own business. By far. But again, I wouldn't change it. Looking back on it.

Mishawn Nolan: Right. Why do you think your salon is so successful? I mean, it's 22, no, 23, 24 years at this point. Why do you think it's so successful? Because salons are very difficult business.

Damone Roberts: Yeah, isn't that crazy? And then you add the aspect of Beverly Hills to it. And we were in New York as well for a moment. I'm adding that to only say that things in Beverly Hills and New York, come and go so quickly because everything is so trendy. And I truly believe that number one is, I think we're the best at what we do. And I really am strong on customer service. It doesn't matter to me who you are. If you're Nicole Kidman or that girl that saved up for nine months, you're a human being. You deserve to be treated with respect.

You deserve to be the, to get the ultimate service. And I tell my staff that all the time. And I think that makes a difference. You know, people always say to me, I came in here and I was so, I didn't know what I was going to get when I met Demone Roberts, you the name on the door, the person I've seen in the magazines or on TV. And I'm so surprised you're so nice. And that's surprising to me that they say that because why wouldn't I be? You're patronizing my business. You're giving me your money. And to me again, it's your birthright to be treated nicely and respected.

But obviously that doesn't happen everywhere because people wouldn't keep saying that to us if it did. But I think the reason we've been so successful truthfully is that we just never take the client for granted. The client has choices. I tell my staff that all the time. They don't have to be here. They have choices. Especially you got to imagine, Mishawn, 25 years ago an eyebrow salon was unheard of. You know, no one was doing it. Now they're in airports. They're everywhere. But, and so they really have choices now.

Mishawn Nolan: Exactly.

Damone Roberts: But my point is like, we had a niche market. We hit it at a time when it was different. And we've been able to maintain because we take ourselves very seriously. We never slack and customer service is essential.

Mishawn Nolan: The experience, the customer experience.

Damone Roberts: Absolutely. We have things like when you walk into our salons, I do certain playlist, for the morning because people are kind of stumbling in and they have their coffees and they're kind of like, you know, getting themselves together. So, it's very mellow. So, the staff knows in the morning we play the morning playlist and the noon we go a little bit more upbeat because it's more, a little bit more pep to the step, if you will. And by three o'clock it’s a club in here.

Literally people are dancing around the whole, so people, they don't want to leave after their appointments because they're having fun. It's an experience. There are candles. There's a certain sense that I require within my salons. It really is about an experience overall. So yeah, that's definitely a part of it. Major part of it.

Mishawn Nolan: Wonderful. So, you're, kind of a masochist because not only did you open a salon, but then you decided to create your own product line, which if anyone's ever created their own product line, it is so hard to develop product, to manufacture product, to finance the manufacture of the product, to distribute. Yeah.

Damone Roberts: I was like, don't forget that part. The finance part is like, don't forget that part.

Mishawn Nolan: And that's the hardest part, to sell it to get through the noise. I mean, it's just, it's so difficult. Why did you decide to start your own products?

Damone Roberts: Truthfully, it was because I could not find the right products. My girls were just not happy with the pencils on the market, with the gels on the market, with the tweezers on the market even. The tweezers would poke their skin; they would rip their hair off on top of the roots versus pulling it from underneath the root. Pencils look whacked. They look like pencils. I think eyebrow pencils shouldn't look like eyebrow pencils. I think eyebrow makeup should not look like eyebrow makeup. They should be enhanced, but it shouldn't look like you're wearing something.

My personal opinion. And there was nothing like that on the market. So again, I just did it out of need and necessity. I said, this is not good enough for me. And I really want to take it to another level. You the brows were good, but to me it was like cake without frosting. And what I mean by that is cake is good regardless. I'm not going to push it away. That's in front of me, but it tastes so much better with frosting. So, my analogy is the brows look great, period, without the products, but they look so much better with the product. And so together, it just made sense to go into the next part of the chapter in the journey of Damone Roberts.

Mishawn Nolan: So how do you stay creative and inspired? I mean, you have, as you said, a brow appointment is approximately, I don't know, 15 minutes or so, 20 minutes, 15 minutes. That's a lot of people to connect with, a lot of energy in a day. And what you're doing is very creative and the environment is very creative and the products require creativity and selling the products and the social media.

Damone Roberts: 15 minutes, yeah, every 15 minutes. A lot of energy, right? A lot of people in a day.

Mishawn Nolan: I mean, it requires constant energy, creative energy. How do you stay inspired?

Damone Roberts: I'm so glad you mentioned the social media aspect of it as well, because that didn't exist when I opened the salon in 2002. And that's a whole beast within itself because you cannot have a business, especially in my type of business and not be involved in social media these days. And that takes a lot. And even when I've tried hiring people to do my social media for me, for some reason, it's like the audience knows. And what I mean by that is they don't respond as well as when I write something myself, even though they don't know that I didn't write the other one. Yeah, yeah.

Mishawn Nolan: Because it's inauthentic.

Damone Roberts: But it's like just like you said at the time to stay inspired. I just, think it's a natural part of who I am. I, again, I love seeing people be the best version of who they are. I love beauty. I love fashion. It's just a natural part of who I am. I've always loved that world. My mother tells a story of when I was a little baby, I was sitting on the floor and I couldn't even really speak. And she was on the phone talking to her girlfriend. And I looked up at the television; there was this woman and she had sparkling gown on and the big fur coat and big hair and she was gorgeous. I kept pointing to the TV and mom's like, that's Diana Ross, darling. And I didn't even know what it was. I was like, wow, who's that? You know, but I've always been drawn to just fabulosity, fabulousness, you know, in general, it's just a natural part of who I am. And so, I also, again, love showing people that side of themselves because a lot of people don't see that side of themselves. And I can see that I can instantly go to restaurant and see the waitress as I'm placing in my order. I'm thinking, God, if she only would do this or do that, I can make her look 10 years younger. I think those things to myself and I'm trying to not take work outside of work, but it's just a natural part of who I am. And that's just always who I've been. So that's how I stay inspired because I'm always on the quest to make it better and to take it to a higher plateau.

Mishawn Nolan: For other people, you're always on the quest to bring the best out of them.

Damone Roberts: As well, yeah, for sure. For sure, hands down, for sure. It’s just a part of why we're here, is to help each other. I really, truly believe, I know it sounds so spiritual and all that cosmic stuff, but I really, truly, in my gut, believe that that is a part of why we're here, is to help each other accelerate.

Mishawn Nolan: I agree, actually. So, when are you in the zone, in the flow? You know that period of time where you're doing something that is just so natural to you and time kind of stops and you're really passionate about it and you're just in this zone, you're in the flow? What are you doing when you're in flow?

Damone Roberts: In flow. I know this sounds so crazy, but I love working. And when I say working, that doesn't necessarily mean behind the chair with my tweezers. I love the aspects of it at this point in my journey. And what I mean by that is I love going into the lab and working with different textures and colors. And I have so many ideas and bringing them to fruition. Like you mentioned, the Brow Blueprint is something we've been working on.

I get letters from people all the time saying, know, I can't get on the plane to come to Beverly Hills, but what can I do to get my best shape? So, I've been pondering that for decades, literally. And the Brow Blueprint is something we just launched recently on QVC. And basically, it's a tool that shows women and men where their brow should start on their face and where their arch should be on their face and where their brow should end. It's really simple. It just looks like this and it has a start an arch and ending, you hold it up and you take your brow pencil and you just mark your areas, looking in the mirror directly and you do the exact same thing on the opposite side. And it really shows you because there's certain things I've learned in art school about balance and symmetry and architecture as well, you know, from just studying that a little bit on my own and realizing that, you know, if you do this, it's going to do this to your nose. If you do this here, it's going to raise your eye to this point and give you higher cheekbones and a sharper jawline.

You know, things like that, if you end the brow where it should end on your eye, it's gonna keep your brow and your eyes going up and your brows from looking droopy. Things like that make a big difference on skin. So, things that people don't necessarily know that they're looking at, but they know they look a lot better and they don't know why they look a lot better. So now that gets me excited. That's my happy place. That's my zone is creating in general.

Mishawn Nolan: And it's really interesting how you describe it because, as you know, I was a dancer and so my business philosophy, my legal philosophy is rooted in my dance roots, right? Which is about alignment and creating the right structure. And if you are, if you've created the right structure and you have the right basic technique and you are in alignment, then you can create on top of that. Then you can get into flow.

But if you're not in alignment, you can't, it's never gonna work. It's never gonna look good. And what's fascinating to me is that that philosophy holds true for almost everything. The way you describe brows, it's the same philosophy.

Damone Roberts: Absolutely. everything in general, right, it's the same philosophy I find that fascinating because it really is the same philosophy across the board, hands down.

Mishawn Nolan: And it's really what you do in your business, unconsciously.

Damone Roberts: What you do in your business unconsciously. And another thing that I think is really important for our viewers to know is that when I did this 25 years ago, everyone told me not to do it. You who cares about eyebrows and eyebrows? Salon’s never going to make it. You know, I've heard these stories more times than I can possibly even remember, but I knew in my gut that I was following something that was different and that was needed in the industry that didn't have it. What I was going towards. And it's so important because, again, who thinks about doing eyebrows for a living? It would have never, ever crossed my mind. And then we got to the point that we were a Jeopardy question about eyebrows. We were a Trivial Pursuit question about eyebrows. I mean, I'm saying that to say we became pop culture through something that everyone told us that we shouldn't do because I follow up my gut and did it regardless. And here we are 25 years later and there are still, you know, a lot of them that tell me that are still searching, going from job, to job, to job.

And I don't mean that in a disrespectful way, but my point is like, you gotta follow your gut. Because to me, the gut is God, personally.

Mishawn Nolan: Yes. And the gut comes from your values and your authenticity, right? You are so authentic, right? And everything you do emanates from your guts. And that's what I think everyone is so attracted to. So, this has been a really difficult journey. Who supported you? Did you do this on your own or?

Damone Roberts: Absolutely gosh, that's a, gosh. I think no man, no man is an island. And I mean that sincerely. Now I didn't come from money in any way, now that I have the salon in Beverly Hills and I have the salon in Fifth Avenue, New York, simultaneously for many years, a lot of our client base are the wealthiest people in the world. And like we said, some of them are not. And I'm saying that to say that I hear stories now, my clients all the time, you know, I wanted to open an ice cream shop. So, my parents showed me a check for $200,000. And then six months later, I decided I didn't want to do the ice cream shop anymore. And the parents were like, that's okay. let's do something else. I can't even, I can't even my mind around that concept because I came from a family that we would share a can of beans for dinner, literally one can of beans for all four of us. And I had to build us from scratch. So, I haven't had help in that regard financially, but I had help in the regard of mentors and friends and you know, I've been married now for 21 years and so a great partner, great artists, know, great staff members along the way.

And first and foremost, I cannot forget the clients because again, the chair is never empty. From the minute we open the door to the minute we close the chair is never empty. And obviously we can't have a business without the support of that. But so, I've had great attorneys. I've had great business advisors, counselors, things like that that have helped guide me along the way. But I have not had the aspect of the financial assistance to get me anywhere thus far, thus far. And that's the hardest part, absolutely. Absolutely, and that's the next chapter. Thank you.

Mishawn Nolan: And the financial part is the hardest part in building a business. And so, it's so impressive. Yes. And it's so impressive what you've done. So, what advice would you give to another creative entrepreneur who looks at social media, sees how perfect everything looks, thinks that they're going be able to do it in five minutes? What advice would you give to another creative entrepreneur? How they can make it. You were so scrappy. You climbed up with your own bootstraps, right? What advice would you give? Yeah, what advice would you give?

Damone Roberts: Literally, my own bootstraps. My advice would be literally to put your blinders on. And what I mean by that is that you got to have tunnel vision. You can't keep looking to your left and to your right and behind you because it just slows you down. Everyone is always going to show you the best version of who they are on social media. That's what it's for. But there's always a story behind the brand, in every way.

So, I would tell anyone that's getting started or that's considering getting started to really just focus on your end goals, have some type of goals and to not get distracted by the left to the right are behind you because there's always going to be people that are going to be tapping saying - No, no, no, don't do this. No, no, no. No one cares about eyebrows. Why would you open an eyebrow salon? You know, no, no, no, no, no. Don't see. did the TV series 10 years younger on TLC in the midst of all that. How can you possibly do a TV series and run a salon at the same time?

Best thing I could have done, because it gave me national exposure and took it to a whole different level. So, my point is sharing that is that you got to follow your own gut. You got to follow your own advice. And like you said, Mishawn, about the balance and whatnot. And you gotta, you gotta really focus on your end goals versus where you are today because no one got to where they are today by just not putting one foot in front of the other. Sometimes it's a slower journey ahead than others, but it's okay. It's your journey and it's personalized to you, and just once you focus on that and get rid of everything else, I think you're okay. You're on the right path.

Mishawn Nolan: Thank you, Damone, so much. This was such a pleasure to get to speak with you and hear your story.

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