Shalini Vadhera

My passion in life is discovering the exotic," says author, celebrity makeup artist, global lifestyle expert, and Oprah Award winner Shalini Vadhera. And this media darling's journey is one for the ages. Vadhera's rise from jewlelry and fashion entrepreneur, to celebrity make-up artist, to best-selling author, to a favorite guest of Dr. Oz, to the founder of a $21-million dollar global cosmetics company is nothing short of remarkable.

In fact, Vadhera was able to capture lightning in a bottle, literally. She not only sensed where cosmetic trends were headed, she created them. First by writing the best-selling book "Passport to Beauty" and then creating internationally loved cosmetics company Global Goddess Beauty. This, plus GGB's exclusive launch on QVC and in Sephora stores, vaulted Vadhera onto the national and international stage. By April 2010, with the company on the verge of exploding Vadhera had no choice but to resign due to an investor trying to take over the company and change the direction of the brand she created. Vadhera calls it one of the worst times in her entrepreneurial career but the best learning experience of her life.

Armed with an international business degree and an eye on launching her own global beauty and lifestyle brand, Vadhera started her entreprenuerial journey at 19 when her father sent her to India to start her own company. And that's exactly what she did creating luxury jewelry and fashion lines sold to Macys and Nordstrom. But with a passion for beauty she launched her makeup career at the top with her big break working on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno," a stint that led to a successful career as a celebrity makeup artist. Her success led to recognition by numerous media outlets branding Vadhera as a multi-cultural and global beauty and lifestyle expert. This provided a platform for Vadhera to expand her expert status, resulting in frequent appearances on CBS's "The Early Show," "The Dr. Oz Show", " E!," NBC's "The Today Show," "Extra," ABC's "The View." This unique point of view placed Vadhera in demand as a spokesperson and consultant for many Fortune 500 Companies such as Olay, Chapstick, Veet, Revlon, Select Comfort Mattresses, and as the national spokesperson for iVillage.com, which included hosting a web based show "About Face" and doing iVillage makeovers on The Today Show. Vadhera recently finished the 2011 "Brush With Fashion" initiative as the US Spokesperson for The Body Shop.