e.l.f. Cosmetics Co-Founder Says His ‘Soul Was in Hell’ Before Becoming a Priest
Scott-Vincent Borba co-founded e.l.f. Cosmetics in 2004, building it into a billion-dollar brand known for affordable, cruelty-free makeup. He partied with Paris Hilton, rubbed shoulders with the Kardashians, and described himself as “a poster boy for luxury living.” Then, on May 23, 2026, he was ordained a Catholic priest in his hometown of Visalia, California. In his first interview since the ordination, he told Today that his soul had been “in hell.”
The Brand That Made Him Famous
e.l.f. Cosmetics, short for Eyes Lips Face, was founded by Borba alongside father and son Alan and Joseph Shamah. The brand distinguished itself with ethical, budget-friendly products at a time when the beauty industry leaned heavily on prestige pricing. By 2014, e.l.f. had crossed $100 million in annual sales, according to Forbes, and the company has since grown into a dominant force in mass-market cosmetics. Borba’s role helped establish it as a household name.
The Visalia Kid Who Made It Big
Borba was born and raised in Visalia, California, the youngest of five siblings, and studied psychology at Santa Clara University before moving to Los Angeles to pursue a career in beauty and entertainment. He worked as a model, actor, and esthetician before co-founding e.l.f. The brand’s success pulled him deep into the Hollywood lifestyle, one defined, by his own admission, by pride, excess, and a relentless appetite for more. That drive would eventually turn against him.
The Night the Party Stopped Meaning Anything
The turning point came at a party Borba was hosting at his home in the Hollywood Hills. Surrounded by everything his career had built, he felt, as he described it, “so void of love and happiness.” A question surfaced that he could not shake: if this was the life God created him for, was it enough? That moment of spiritual disorientation, mid-celebration, in one of the most coveted zip codes in America, became the crack that eventually split his old life open.
A Soul He Described as Being in Hell
Borba told Today that what followed was an “enlightenment of soul,” a moment in which he recognized that the decisions he had made had left him spiritually empty. “Even though I thought I was a good person, that wasn’t enough,” he said. “God showed me his love and mercy is bigger than your past. He can take a broken person and change it.” He described himself as having been in a “spiritual gutter,” a man who had acquired everything the world offered and found it hollow.
The Prayer That Changed His Direction
Borba said he asked God to “help me to be the man you created me to be,” and that the response was immediate and overwhelming. “I had this massive flood of love and mercy that came into my life,” he told Today. “It was a very mystical experience.” He said he had felt a calling to the priesthood since the age of 10 but had spent decades resisting it, choosing business and celebrity instead. At 42, he finally stopped pushing back.
Giving It All Away
After his conversion, Borba didn’t simply step back from the beauty industry. He dismantled the life he had built, piece by piece. He resigned from his business ventures in 2021, sold his possessions, and donated the proceeds to charity. Reports indicate he also sold his car and gave away the money. He enrolled at St. Patrick’s Seminary in Menlo Park, California, trading a Hollywood Hills estate for, as he put it, “a little tiny room… sparse, nothing in it.”
Seminary, Then the Altar
Borba was ordained as a transitional deacon on June 21, 2025, at St. Charles Borromeo Church in Visalia by Bishop Joseph V. Brennan of the Diocese of Fresno. Nearly a year later, on May 23, 2026, he returned to the same church for his priestly ordination. According to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, the average age for newly ordained priests is 33. Borba was 52. A theology professor at Saint Mary’s College of California told ABC7 that only about 3% of current seminarians are over 50.
The Message He Now Carries
Speaking on Today, Borba said his purpose now is to redirect the attention he once used to build a brand toward something larger. “God sanctified this whole route to bring me back now to glorify His name versus to glorify myself,” he said. When co-anchor Craig Melvin asked what advice he would offer others still searching, Borba was direct: “[God] wants us to know He is real, He is alive and is intimately active in this world. There is no sin that He cannot forgive.” The former beauty mogul is now assigned to parish ministry in the Diocese of Fresno.
A Life Rebuilt From the Altar Up
Scott-Vincent Borba gave up a fortune, a brand, and a lifestyle that most people spend their careers chasing. He now lives on the bare minimum, serves a diocese in California’s Central Valley, and says he has never been happier. The e.l.f. Cosmetics he helped build is now a billion-dollar publicly traded company, a world entirely removed from the small church in Visalia where he was ordained. He built one empire and walked away from it to build something he believes will last longer.