Jamie Kern Lima (''

née A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...

'' Jamie Marie Kern) is an American

entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value. With this definition, entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business, which may include other values th ...

, investor and media personality. She is recognized as the co-founder of IT Cosmetics and the first female

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

of a

L'Oréal L'Oréal S.A. () is a French personal care company headquartered in Clichy, Hauts-de-Seine with a registered office in Paris. It is the world's largest cosmetics company and has developed activities in the field concentrating on hair color, sk ...

brand in the company's history. In 2016, Kern Lima sold IT Cosmetics to L'Oréal for $1.2 billion and has been included on the Forbes' list of "America's Richest Self-Made Women" since 2017.

Early life

Kern Lima was the first member of her family to attend college and went to

Washington State University Washington State University (Washington State, WSU, or informally Wazzu) is a public land-grant research university with its flagship, and oldest, campus in Pullman, Washington. Founded in 1890, WSU is also one of the oldest land-grant unive ...

, where she graduated valedictorian. She received her

Master of Business Administration A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...

from

Columbia Business School Columbia Business School (CBS) is the business school of Columbia University, a Private university, private research university in New York City. Established in 1916, Columbia Business School is one of six Ivy League business schools and is one ...

in 2004. During college, she was a waitress at

Denny's Denny's (also known as Denny's Diner on some of the locations' signage) is an American table service diner-style restaurant chain. It operates over 1,700 restaurants in many countries. Description Originally opened as a Diner, coffee shop un ...

and bagged groceries at

Safeway Safeway is an American supermarket chain founded by Marion Barton Skaggs in April 1915 in American Falls, Idaho. The chain provides grocery items, food and general merchandise and features a variety of specialty departments, such as bakery, d ...

Business career

In 2008, Kern Lima co-founded IT Cosmetics after having difficulties with makeup products due to

rosacea Rosacea is a long-term skin condition that typically affects the face. It results in redness, pimples, swelling, and small and superficial dilated blood vessels. Often, the nose, cheeks, forehead, and chin are most involved. A red, enlarg ...

and

hyperpigmentation Hyperpigmentation is the darkening of an area of skin or nails caused by increased melanin. Causes Hyperpigmentation can be caused by sun damage, inflammation, or other skin injuries, including those related to acne vulgaris.James, William; Ber ...

. The business struggled over the following years as beauty retailers rejected her products. Kern Lima was featured on a 10-minute

QVC QVC (short for "Quality Value Convenience") is an American free-to-air television network, and flagship shopping channel specializing in televised home shopping, owned by Qurate Retail Group. Founded in 1986 by Joseph Segel in West Chester, Pen ...

segment in which she wiped her makeup off, revealing her bare face to illustrate the use of IT Cosmetics concealers. All products sold out by the end of the segment. By 2015, the company had more than $182 million in net sales. She appeared in more than 1,000 live QVC shows, where IT Cosmetics became the largest beauty brand on QVC's network. It was acquired by L'Oréal for $1.2 billion in 2016.Frey, Kaitlyn IT Cosmetics Founder Jamie Kern Lima on Business, Beauty and Breaking Boundaries
/ref> Kern Lima remained with the company upon the acquisition and was the first female chief executive officer of a L'Oréal brand. In August 2019, Kern Lima announced on

Instagram Instagram is a photo and video sharing social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. The app allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters and organized by hashtags and geographical tagging. Posts can ...

that she would be leaving the company. Kern Lima has been included on the Forbes' list of "America's Richest Self-Made Women" since 2017 and the third youngest on the list behind

Taylor Swift Taylor Alison Swift (born December 13, 1989) is an American singer-songwriter. Her discography spans multiple genres, and her vivid songwriting—often inspired by her personal life—has received critical praise and wide media coverage. Bor ...

and

Beyoncé Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter ( ; born September 4, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Beyoncé's boundary-pushing artistry and vocals have made her the most influential female musician of the 21st century, according to ...

.Taylor, Katie The Youngest Of America's Richest Self-Made Women
/ref>

Media appearances

Kern Lima won the ''

Baywatch ''Baywatch'' is an American action drama television series about lifeguards who patrol the beaches of Los Angeles County, California, and Hawaii, starring David Hasselhoff. It was created by Michael Berk, Douglas Schwartz, and Gregory J. Bonann, ...

'' College Search in 1999, and appeared on an episode of the television series. She won the title of

Miss Washington USA The Miss Washington USA competition is the pageant that selects the representative for the state of Washington in the Miss USA pageant. It is currently produced by Pageants NW Productions based in Puyallup, Washington, which also produces Id ...

in late 1999 and competed in the Miss USA 2000 pageant held in

Branson Branson may refer to: Places ;Canada * Branson, Toronto ;United States * Branson, Missouri, a popular tourist destination in the Ozark Mountains * Branson, Colorado * Branson City, California * The Branson School, in Ross, California * Warrenpoi ...

Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...

. After considering a career in finance, she applied on a dare to be a contestant in the first season of the reality television series '' Big Brother''. Kern Lima was the last female houseguest left on that season. After ''Big Brother'', she started her career as a morning news anchor at

KNDU KNDU (channel 25) is a television station licensed to Richland, Washington, United States, serving the Tri-Cities area as an affiliate of NBC. It is owned by the Spokane-based Cowles Company as part of the KHQ Television Group. KNDU's studios ...

Tri-Cities, Washington The Tri-Cities are three closely linked cities ( Kennewick, Pasco, and Richland) at the confluence of the Yakima, Snake, and Columbia Rivers in the Columbia Basin of Eastern Washington. The cities border one another, making the Tri-Cities se ...

. She also worked as a field reporter and did live reports from

Vatican City Vatican City (), officially the Vatican City State ( it, Stato della Città del Vaticano; la, Status Civitatis Vaticanae),—' * german: Vatikanstadt, cf. '—' (in Austria: ') * pl, Miasto Watykańskie, cf. '—' * pt, Cidade do Vati ...

for KNDU in

Kennewick Kennewick () is a city in Benton County in the U.S. state of Washington. It is located along the southwest bank of the Columbia River, just southeast of the confluence of the Columbia and Yakima rivers and across from the confluence of the C ...

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

's death. In 2006, she left KNDU and moved to

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...

to work as a news anchor and reporter for

KPTV KPTV (channel 12) is a television station in Portland, Oregon, United States. affiliated with the Fox network. It is owned by Gray Television alongside Vancouver, Washington–licensed MyNetworkTV affiliate KPDX (channel 49). Both stations s ...

Personal life

Kern Lima resides in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

, California. She is married to Paulo Lima and has two children.

References

External links

*
Miss USA 2000
- Article at the ''Pageant News Bureau'' discusses Jamie Kern, along with other delegates. Web.archive.org {{DEFAULTSORT:Kern Lima, Jamie 1977 births Living people American beauty pageant winners American television actresses American television reporters and correspondents Big Brother (American TV series) contestants Columbia Business School alumni Miss USA 2000 delegates Businesspeople from Jersey City, New Jersey Miss Washington USA winners People from Kennewick, Washington People from the San Francisco Bay Area People from San Rafael, California Washington State University alumni People from Des Moines, Washington 20th-century American people