Jessica Alba discusses the creation of her $550 million company, The Honest Company, and how she faced no expectations for success.

The Behind the Desk series by CNBC Make It features personal interviews with successful business executives, revealing their journeys, motivations, and daily routines.

Jessica Alba views fame and success as two distinct ideas.

Since her early teens, Alba has been juggling the demands of her acting career and her entrepreneurial ventures. At age 13, she began acting and gained recognition at age 19 with the sci-fi TV series "Dark Angel." Later, at age 29, she shifted her focus from Hollywood to launch The Honest Company, a company that produces nontoxic household goods.

She founded Honest after becoming a new mom and realizing that many baby products contained harmful chemicals. Hollywood fame felt fleeting to her, like it could disappear at any moment.

Alba, 40, states that in the entertainment industry, no level of success provides a solid foundation or a secure position.

Despite its difficulties, Honest hasn't been an easy ride: The company has faced legal issues for mislabeling ingredients, experienced leadership changes, and faced increased competition. However, Alba claims that the company has learned from these challenges and is now focusing on research and development, spending 2% of its revenue annually on these activities to ensure the safety and effectiveness of its products.

In May 2021, Honest went public via IPO at $16 per share, giving the company a $1.4 billion valuation. Currently, shares are trading near $6, and the company is valued at roughly $550 million.

As the company's board member and chief creative officer, Alba is frequently viewed as the company's public representative. In her early years, she utilized her critics to drive her unyielding work approach.

"I exerted a great deal of self-pressure throughout the years, which kept me in a constant state, similar to a hamster wheel," she admits.

She attributes her newfound self-worth and self-understanding to therapy, and she feels secure and passionate about her career and the health and wellness-focused company she built.

Alba talks about her efforts to surpass expectations, the creation of Honest, and her regret about starting therapy later.

She found her drive because there were no expectations for her to succeed.

My upbringing was in a modest and traditional Mexican-American family that was heavily influenced by Catholicism and traditional gender roles. The world was not as open, and the path was not as clear.

It just felt so wrong to me.

Although there were no expectations for me to succeed, I realized that there was a lot of potential. It's better to try something than to have nothing at all. There's a fearlessness that comes with starting from scratch.

I have a video of myself at Disneyland when I was six, asserting my independence and stating, "I am an independent woman. I will never depend on a man." I have always possessed a drive to demonstrate that women can be intelligent and equal. Women have the potential to succeed in life and should be treated fairly.

Regardless of culture or community, all individuals should possess certain rights. That's what motivates me.

When considering starting a business outside of Hollywood: "I never felt completely confident in my achievements."

For me, being successful means not having to live paycheck to paycheck, which was a source of stress and burden growing up. When you're in survival mode, it's challenging to pursue the life you aspire to have.

Fame, which is a unique concept, is strange, unusual, and not typical. I never felt comfortable with it. The entertainment industry is known for quickly discarding individuals and declaring them irrelevant. We don't care. Let's move on to the next person.

Financial stability is crucial for me to feel secure about my future. I didn't trust it for a long time.

Raising kids and building Honest are similar in many ways.

Raising kids is like a rollercoaster ride, full of unexpected twists and turns that leave you feeling disoriented and overwhelmed.

I had to let go of my need to control the outcome. Through my experiences with teamwork, I've learned the importance of supporting others and working towards the greater good. While having a clear vision is important, I've come to understand that the process of achieving it may vary each time.

I am energized by naysayers or haters, proving them wrong. Now, their criticism doesn't affect me as much.

People often project their life experiences and trauma onto others, which can result in negative behavior. While this may provide some relief for the individual, it is not necessary for me to be affected by it.

I left that over there for them. I'll continue to do so here.

If she could give advice to her younger self, she would suggest starting therapy earlier.

If I had started therapy earlier, I would have unlocked my potential by understanding myself, my motivations, and how I operate in the world. I may not have been aware of certain behaviors that were hindering my happiness, self-worth, and achieving my goals.

I put a lot of pressure on myself over the years. It kept me in this state, almost like a hamster wheel. I could never really break through until I understood the core of why I felt that way, and where it was coming from.

At 20 years old, I experienced a lot of anxiety. It was challenging. Young people often struggle because they lack the life experience to understand that time heals wounds and they will eventually find solutions.

Breaking through opens up endless possibilities for how you can live and navigate the world. It feels so much better now.

As you get older, you definitely care less about what people think.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Since its launch in 2011, The Honest Company has faced numerous challenges.

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