When Jacquelyn Tran was 18 months old in 1980, her family took her on a perilous journey from their home in the South Vietnamese countryside to a refugee camp in Indonesia. To get there, they spent one week at sea.  On the day after their arrival her mother gave birth, unassisted, to Jacquelyn’s brother.    

“After about a year in the camp, a Christian church in Virginia sponsored our large family, grandparents, aunts and uncles to come to the United States” said Jacquelyn.  “We were housed and cared for in the church basement and they helped us to learn English.” 

Today Jacquelyn is CEO of Beauty Encounter Inc, one of the most successful women-owned businesses, according to the Orange County Business Journal’s March 15, 2010 edition. Her company sold cosmetics, perfume and related products through the internet.   

Four years ago, Jacquelyn ranked fifth among of Inc. Magazine’s “30 Hottest Entrepreneurs Under 30.”    

The seeds of success were planted in California in 1981.  Her parents went straight to school.  Jacquelyn’s father worked as a machinist and tailor, and her mother earned a cosmetology license.  On weekends they sold perfume and cosmetics for a concession at swap meets.  “We didn’t really help our parents then, but we tagged along”, said Jacquelyn.  She was five years old and her brother three when this venture began.   

Later, the children did help their parents who by then owned two perfume and cosmetic stores in Los Angeles, and eventually a wholesale company in Huntington Beach.  While attending University of California at Irvine, Jacquelyn became fascinated with selling via the Internet, which was becoming popular in 1999, but she did not intend to stay in this business.  Finance interested her more at first.    

“Then my hobby became an obsession,” Jackie said.  “I must have the right personality mix for this business.  I am very curious and love the challenge of finding and adding new … items to our inventory which now includes 35,000 different products, many at discounted prices.”    

 “Getting the website up and learning how to market and reach customers was challenging.  I did not have big investors, just my parents.  After some tough years, steady growth followed as we built a reputation for good service,” Jacquelyn continued.   She has benefitted from the reputation as good vendors established by her parents who are now working with her every day, bringing along their toy poodles, Coco and Gio.  

Beauty Encounter, formerly Perfume Bay, ships throughout the United States and to Australia, Japan, Germany and France.  Men’s products account for about 35 percent of sales.  Children’s products too have become a growing business.   

Jacquelyn’s customers select perfume by personality style, by fragrance families, and by price points.  They tell her that they sample perfumes at department stores and then order from Beauty Encounter whose prices are better. 

The young Vietnamese-American businesswoman is contributing generously to charities. “We are helping Red Cross Haitian relief matching customer donations and have supported the Y-ME Breast Cancer Organization with one percent of our sales for a number of years… and fund scholarships in leadership and management,” said Jacquelyn.  “These are wonderful causes to give back to the community.”    

“I love to travel everywhere,“ she went on. Jacquelyn returned to Vietnam in 1995 and again in 2000.  Her parents have also visited Vietnam where they had once grown food and sold sugar.    

Five years ago she paid a visit to the small community in Virginia that had welcomed her family as refugees.  “The people there were so caring,” said Jacquelyn.  

“I appreciate our freedom and am grateful for everything we have here.  I am grateful to have the company, to have it grow, grateful for the staff and the customers, for new categories to explore and for future goals,” said Jacquelyn.   

When asked her about favorite perfume, she said there are many but her current favorite is Via Amouage, made from 120 ingredients; she calls it the most valuable perfume in the world for the woman who lives life as an art form, which also seems a good description of her own persona.