02.02.24
Roberta Burd, founder of Lady Burd Exclusive Private Label Cosmetics, passed late last year. She was 82.
A true entrepreneur, she created a private label cosmetics business in the 1960s at a time when female founders were rare.
“It’s such an honor to go into work every day knowing she built everything around me. To sit in the office she used to sit in and try to carry on her legacy is the most important thing in the world to me. There is nothing that makes me prouder than customers coming to the booth at trade shows, asking for grandma, and getting to tell them I’m her granddaughter. She has accomplished more in her lifetime than anyone I know, and I take any chance I get to proudly tell her story,” said Samantha Burd, her granddaughter, who works for the Farmingdale, NY private label company.
“To have feisty 5-ft. Jewish makeup mogul from Brooklyn be the inspiration and role model for your life is really something to brag about. I never tire of seeing people’s reactions when I tell them the story of Lady Burd, the story of Grandma’s life, and how she was always so ahead of the times,” said Burd. “She was a woman entrepreneur when women were barely working at all. She was a ‘woman in STEM’ before ‘STEM’ was even a thing. She let new mothers work from home or bring their kids to work before ‘work from home’ was even coined, and before ‘work life balance’ was even a concept.”
According to Samantha Burd, Roberta Burd was the “reason over 100 people have jobs, and thousands have their own businesses.”
“She’s the reason I have a place I love to go into work every day,' she added, noting that her grandmother was also the reason why she has been wearing makeup since she was 4 years old and the reason why she loves to watch "Shark Tank"—the hit TV show that features entrepreneurs and founders (just like her grandmother).
According to Samantha Burd, Roberta Burd and the private label company she built “enabled so many other entrepreneurs to get their start and build the life of their dreams for their families too.”
A true entrepreneur, she created a private label cosmetics business in the 1960s at a time when female founders were rare.
“It’s such an honor to go into work every day knowing she built everything around me. To sit in the office she used to sit in and try to carry on her legacy is the most important thing in the world to me. There is nothing that makes me prouder than customers coming to the booth at trade shows, asking for grandma, and getting to tell them I’m her granddaughter. She has accomplished more in her lifetime than anyone I know, and I take any chance I get to proudly tell her story,” said Samantha Burd, her granddaughter, who works for the Farmingdale, NY private label company.
“To have feisty 5-ft. Jewish makeup mogul from Brooklyn be the inspiration and role model for your life is really something to brag about. I never tire of seeing people’s reactions when I tell them the story of Lady Burd, the story of Grandma’s life, and how she was always so ahead of the times,” said Burd. “She was a woman entrepreneur when women were barely working at all. She was a ‘woman in STEM’ before ‘STEM’ was even a thing. She let new mothers work from home or bring their kids to work before ‘work from home’ was even coined, and before ‘work life balance’ was even a concept.”
According to Samantha Burd, Roberta Burd was the “reason over 100 people have jobs, and thousands have their own businesses.”
“She’s the reason I have a place I love to go into work every day,' she added, noting that her grandmother was also the reason why she has been wearing makeup since she was 4 years old and the reason why she loves to watch "Shark Tank"—the hit TV show that features entrepreneurs and founders (just like her grandmother).
According to Samantha Burd, Roberta Burd and the private label company she built “enabled so many other entrepreneurs to get their start and build the life of their dreams for their families too.”