The Venture Lab community came together for a special evening of insight and inspiration during Community Night: Social Entrepreneurship, featuring an intimate fireside chat with beauty industry icon and serial entrepreneur Bobbi Brown. The event, held in collaboration with the Baker Retailing Center and Wharton Women in Business, offered Penn students a rare opportunity to learn directly from one of the world’s most influential entrepreneurs.
Bobbi made the TIME 100 “Most Influential People in the World” list and was also named one of Fortune's Most Powerful Women and Forbes' "50 Over 50" Most Influential Women. She has received the Glamour Woman of the Year Award, The Fashion Group International Night of Stars Beauty Award, and the Jackie Robinson Foundation ROBIE Humanitarian Award.
From founding her first namesake brand, Bobbi Brown Cosmetics, to launching her latest clean beauty venture, Jones Road, Bobbi reflected on her extraordinary journey with students at The University of Pennsylvania. She shared candid insights into the realities of building and reinventing brands, staying grounded in purpose, and leading with authenticity in an ever-changing industry.
In the firechat with The Wharton School professor, Tyler Wry, Bobbi explored what “clean beauty” truly means, emphasizing transparency, simplicity, and impact over trends.
“I can envision a lot of trends, but I don’t care. It’s about the product.”
She also encouraged aspiring entrepreneurs to embrace reinvention as a strength, noting that the best ideas often come from staying curious and being unafraid to start again.
The evening underscored Venture Lab’s mission to connect the Penn community with trailblazers who merge business and impact. Students left inspired to build ventures rooted in both passion and purpose, carrying forward the spirit of social entrepreneurship that defines the Penn ecosystem.
