Charlotte Tilbury, 52, says she doesn’t wrestle with much self-doubt.
During an appearance on Tuesday’s episode of the “Aspire with Emma Grede” podcast, the makeup artist and businesswoman said she grew up with a lot of confidence thanks to her “visionary” parents.
“I always think people should just be themselves. I don’t understand this thing of imposter syndrome. I don’t get it,” Tilbury told host Emma Grede, adding that her parents sent her to a Rudolph Steiner school at a young age. Rudolf Steiner is the pioneer of the Waldorf education movement, which emphasizes a holistic approach to learning.
“My parents were always like, ‘Be yourself.’ That was like their mantra. Don’t try and be anyone else. And I think when you are growing up, you hang out with different crowds. Maybe you try to kind of, like, be something you’re not,” Tilbury said.
She said her parents always quickly shut that down and reminded her to stay true to herself.
“Kind of like, honesty is the best policy. And I think that whole thing of when you are yourself, and when you are honest, I think it really empowers you,” she said.
Even so, Tilbury said she was always confident and had a strong sense of self.
“I think I was kind of born this way,” she said, noting that her mother showered her with praise from an early age.
“Thank God — I mean, as mothers do, darling — she just told me I was fabulous. Thank God for Mommy. She just said I was fabulous, so I believed her,” Tilbury said.
Tilbury, who founded her eponymous beauty brand in 2013, said that she has observed a similar pattern in many founders’ stories.
“You know, when I listen to a lot of entrepreneurs, you know, there’s always one parent that tells you you’re amazing,” she said.
Tilbury, who has two sons, added she’s raising them to believe in themselves, work hard, and approach life with their “best foot forward.”
Tilbury isn’t the only successful woman who has spoken about not relating to imposter syndrome.
Speaking to Refinery29 in 2018, Shonda Rhimes said she doesn’t experience imposter syndrome thanks to her mother’s influence.
“My mother was like the best example of a powerful woman who worked, and who got things done. I never believed that there was anything I couldn’t do, because I had a mother who did everything and parents who believed in me,” Rhimes said.
In 2023, Oprah Winfrey told People she’d never felt imposter syndrome and “had to look it up” because of how she was raised by her father.
Winfrey said that no matter how well she performed, her father’s response was always the same: “Get your coat.”
“I don’t have high highs and I don’t have low lows. Which is a good thing, because no matter what I’m going through, I know I’m going to come out of it, and be okay,” Winfrey said.
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