Estee Lauter Sec1

Josephine Ester Mentzer better known as Estee Lauder was born July 1st, 1908 in Corona, Queens New York. Josephine’s parents where Hungarian Jewish emigrants, who came to America in search for a better life. Her parents had two daughters, Grace and Josephine Ester. As a child Josephine loved playing with her mother’s beauty products. She loved applying, what she called, “treatments” on her family and friends.
At times she would help her father in his store, which was below their apartment. Here she learned how to keep track of merchandise, learned communication skills, and how to handle tools in the windows. She also worked in another family business.
At sixteen she spent most of her free time in her uncle’s small store in Manhattan called New Way Laboratories. Her uncle’s store distributed beauty products. Josephine was very interested in how creams can improve a women’s face, and soften and smooth the skin. From her uncle she learned very quickly how to mix oils, wax, borax, lanolin, and other ingredients. On her own she would experiment with different ingredients to create new products. After school she would makeover some of her schoolmates and use what she learned in her uncles store.