FRAUKE HAMER, DELILAH COSMETICS

She started her first company at the age of 17, was a first-class computer nerd and was the driving force behind several leading beauty brands for many years. In 2015, Frauke Hamer launched the originally British brand, Delilah Cosmetics, in the Benelux. We have no doubt that entrepreneurship is in this woman's blood. But who helped her into the saddle? Text: Annelies Keus

I had been working in the background for various cosmetic brands for years. That's also how I met the founder of Delilah. We met in Las Vegas when he was still the creative director of another cosmetics brand. At one point there was radio silence, all I heard was that he was away from his current firm. His email and phone stopped working. After a few months, in a last attempt, I sent a message saying: "If I don't hear from you now, I will be on your doorstep tomorrow." Then he called me and told me about Delilah. I said, “I don't care how, but I'm there!”

I have always enjoyed making people feel good with a product. I think that is a very beautiful thing. Although I was definitely not a doll girl before, more like 'one of the guys'. For example, I got my racing license instead of riding horses.

I have actually always done it myself by remaining very true to my own standards of values. If I say something, I do it and because I have been an entrepreneur for so long, people also know what I can do for them. Those norms and values ​​have been my wheelbarrow. It is not always the easiest way, but for me it is the best. That you treat people the way you would like to be treated. I would never abuse a connection.

Being too trusting. This has been abused in the past. For example, it once happened that I launched a brand based on a verbal agreement and then someone else stole both the credits and the money from under my nose. Those are unwritten rules, you don't do that. I kept the honor to myself then. Hate and envy will get you nowhere.