Business 2 min read By Lauren Baxter
Jessica Alba Says Impostor Syndrome Shadowed Her Early Days Building The Honest Company
Jessica Alba described battling intense self-doubt while launching The Honest Company, speaking in a conversation with a U.S. Bank payments executive about her path as an entrepreneur.
Jessica Alba has said she struggled with what she called «major impostor syndrome» while building The Honest Company, the consumer products business she launched while she was pregnant and dealing with a severe allergic reaction to laundry detergent. In a conversation with Courtney Kelso, senior executive vice president and head of payments for consumer and small business at U.S. Bank, the actress described the early period of the company as one of deep personal doubt alongside the business pressures of a startup.
According to the discussion, Alba was nine months pregnant and under considerable stress when she decided to start her first business. Her experience with household products, including the reaction that prompted her to look for cleaner alternatives, became a foundation for the brand. The company was built around the idea of safer, simpler everyday products for families, a pitch that drew on her own experience as a parent and consumer.
Alba's account frames The Honest Company as one of the more prominent examples of a celebrity-led business that grew into a serious commercial operation. Her comments emphasize that the early success was not a given, and that she questioned whether she belonged in the role of founder and chief executive. The conversation with Kelso, held in a banking context focused on payments and small business, highlighted how entrepreneurs at any stage of fame or fortune still confront self-doubt about their credentials and capacity to lead.
The remarks also add a personal dimension to a business story that has been widely covered since the company's launch. For a publication that tracks both entertainment and the economics of celebrity brands, Alba's willingness to discuss insecurity openly offers a different angle than the usual focus on sales and valuation: how a public figure turned a personal health concern into a company, and how she managed the internal voice that told her she was not qualified to do it.
Source: variety.com
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