Life

Throwback Thursday: The Cosmetics Queen

By Chana Pollack December 26, 2013

Welcome to Throwback Thursday, a weekly photo feature in which we sift 116 years of Forward history to find snapshots of women’s lives.

Khaye Rubinstein, founder of the eponymous and enormously successful cosmetics firm Helena Rubinstein Inc. was born on December 25, 1870, in Krakow Poland, the eldest of eight daughters. She briefly dabbled in medicine before immigrating to Australia, where her milky complexion and sense of style was noted by local women.

That, in turn, led to her first selling off her personal stash of beauty cream brought from home, and eventually to creating her own brand. By her death in 1965 Rubinstein, who stood 4 foot 10 inches, had created a vast enterprise and was considered the first self-made female multimillionaire.

Photo credit Forward Association

Chana Pollack is the Forward’s archivist. Contact her at [email protected].

A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

The coming year promises to be filled with more complex and historic developments. We are entering an era where independent, fact-based Jewish journalism will be more important than ever. We need to be ready for whatever 2025 will bring, and with your help, we can be.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO