Brooke Shields defined beauty for a generation of girls, but she has never let her beauty define her.

While lots of us watched her grow up in front of the camera, as an adult, she’s pursued myriad interests without people’s preconceived notions slowing her down.

Now, the actress, mother, model and creator is adding one other title to her resume — entrepreneur. 

In June, Shields will launch Begin, a hair care line formulated for girls 40-plus that was born out of the findings of Starting Is Now, the community-centered content platform she launched in the course of the pandemic.

Though she’s been in the general public eye for the reason that age of 11 months, for Shields, who will turn 59 this yr, the move marks an entire recent chapter.

While menopause has develop into a hot topic in the previous few years, and the variety of celebrity beauty brands has exploded, too, Begin is neither, said Shields. As an alternative, her goal is to present voice to women at a time of their lives when it looks as if not very many individuals are listening. “Once I hit this age, I had a way of accomplishment, but additionally this excitement that there may be more to sit up for,” she said. “I wanted this optimism to be something that all of us shared as regards to how we age.”

She originally began Starting Is Now because she wanted to grasp how other women were experiencing the physical and emotional changes that include middle age. The camaraderie that resulted surprised — and inspired — her. The platform, too, might be rebranded as Begin.

“Typically women are described as being petty and jealous and bitchy and backstabbing,” she said, “and this was the other. You saw these women reveling in one another’s uniqueness and strength and variety.

“This era of life is a starting. It’s a call to motion,” continued Shields, during a wide-ranging conversation with Beauty Inc in early April. “That is about taking a look at your life in its entirety and saying, ‘How do I would like to walk through this era?’

With Starting Is Now, Shields built a community one-million strong of girls, who were attracted to not her celebrity but to her candor. “People wish to count us out. It’s not, ‘I’m woman hear me roar.’ It’s, ‘I’m woman, hear me more,’” Shields said.

Indeed, Shields is giving her fans lots to listen to, whether with a recent Netflix rom-com, “Mother of the Bride,” which was released on May 9, or with Begin. Her timing couldn’t be higher, said Madonna Badger, an promoting and brand consultant who has worked across myriad brands in beauty and beyond, and recently created the Futura Collective with former Grey Recent York CEO Debby Reiner.

“For those of us who got here of age within the ’80s and ’90s, Brooke Shields was certainly one of our major cultural icons. It was a time when everyone needed to be perfect and thin, and at first, that’s what Brooke appeared to be,” said Badger. “Then, she opened up and we got to listen to how her life was really.”

A 2023 documentary, “Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields,” detailed the ups and downs of Shields’ life, including her mother’s alcoholism, the objectification of Shields as a sex symbol when she was barely a teen and a rocky first marriage to tennis star Andre Agassi. Through all of it, Shields is even-keeled, analytical and highly endearing.

“We learned that her life was hard, and that she had gone on to own her own narrative at a moment when all of us as women are reclaiming our own,” Badger continued. “It’s very empowering. We see ourselves in that story.”

Shields hopes that that level of connection, combined with the insights gleaned from conversations and content on Starting Is Now, will help Begin cut through a cluttered hair care landscape.

Shields called the product development process “an enormous learning curve,” particularly when it got here to proprietary formulas and ingredients. “We now have to ascertain ourselves as experts,” she said. “Simply because I’m Brooke Shields and I actually have hair doesn’t make me an authority. The efficacy of the products is what I’m painstakingly focused on. I can sell anything once,” she continued, “but I would like the repeat business and to do this, we now have to ascertain ourselves as experts in hair and sweetness care.”

Shields is chief executive officer of Begin. She tapped Denise Landman, who led the Pink brand at Victoria’s Secret, to be president, and Karla De Bernardo as chief operating officer. The brand will launch direct-to-consumer on June 4, and is predicted to expand to eight products by the tip of the yr. Hair might be core, however the team can also be taking a look at logical adjacencies, including fragrance. “We’re pacing ourselves, accumulating knowledge and passionate customers,” said Landman. “Having a succinct message and communication strategy is so essential for Begin. Through the web site, we now have the flexibility to grasp the permutations of the brand, the extent of consumer receptivity and a refined and specific narrative.”

Shields herself is deeply involved in — and engaged with — the community, which Landman said will help inform product development and in addition drive sales. “Brooke doesn’t put up barriers to access,” said Landman. “She is comfortable discussing topics she’s had a private experience with. The legitimacy of her lived experience creates a level of trust and authenticity with consumers.”

In conversation, Shields is down-to-earth, funny and forthright. She’s upfront in regards to the challenges of securing funding for Begin, noting that while investors were quick to take her call out of novelty or curiosity, she was equally as determined to point out she means business. (“Some people were shocked when it was clear I knew what I used to be talking about,” she said, of meetings with potential investors.  “People experienced me at a formative age of their youth — I used to be of their locker or whatever. They’ve this baggage with me they should recover from.”)

Like lots of founders, Shields faced greater than a couple of no’s as she made the rounds —  one scenario where her background as a model and actress got here in handy. “Each time you get a rejection as an actress it feels so personal, because you’re thinking that, ‘If only I’d done it higher, I could persuade them,’” Shields said.

“But with Begin, I used to be capable of be in these rooms and never feel personally affronted. It’s just business.”

Still, in the case of the community, it’s all personal — now and ceaselessly. “What I like about it is that they in a short time understood that I wasn’t saying be me, do what I do, that is how it’s worthwhile to look,” said Shields. “That is me learning who I’m today and inspiring people to enjoy their very own individuality and variety.

“I spent this weekend with my highschool girlfriends. We’re so comfortable with one another and we’ve all had such different lives and lived through difficult tragedies and rites of passage,” she continued. “It was so refreshing to be with them and said, ‘We’re here, we made it.’”

The start, it seems, is now. And there’s nothing more beautiful than that.

Styled by Alex Badia.

Market Editor: Emily Mercer.

Senior Market Editor, Accessories: Thomas Waller.

Fashion Assistants: Ari Stark and Kimberly Infante.

Clothing by Tom Ford. Bracelet by Tom Ford. Earrings by Belperron. Ring by Boochier.

This story has been updated from its original print version.