At first glance, the story of Scott Borba sounds almost too cinematic to be true. A former model, actor, beauty entrepreneur, and co-founder of e.l.f. Cosmetics, he spent years immersed in the world of image, luxury, and success before walking away from it all to become a Catholic priest. Yet what makes his story so compelling is not the dramatic change itself, but the quiet realization that beauty, on its own, was never enough.
According to a recent report by ChurchPOP, Deacon Scott Borba will be ordained a priest for the Diocese of Fresno later this month after what he describes as a long and winding journey back to the faith he first sensed as a child.
For more than two decades, Borba worked in the health and beauty industry, building businesses and accumulating wealth. Looking back, however, he speaks about that period with striking honesty. “I was living for myself. I was idolizing myself,” he admitted. “I was idolizing everything else out there that was luxury. I was a poster boy for luxury.”
However, what makes his story resonate is that he does not reject beauty itself. He understands its allure. He spent years helping to create products designed to make people feel attractive, confident, polished, desirable. But somewhere along the way, the pursuit of outward beauty no longer seemed capable of answering the deeper hunger underneath it all.
That tension feels familiar in our own age of filters, routines, and carefully curated lives. Beauty surrounds us constantly, yet many people still feel restless, unseen, or dissatisfied. We can perfect an image while quietly neglecting the soul behind it.
The changing face of beauty
At one point, Borba recalled feeling as though he had been “trying to sell my soul” after becoming caught up in the Hollywood lifestyle. Despite the success, something remained unresolved.
Perhaps this is because the forms of beauty that sustain us most deeply are rarely the most obvious ones. A peaceful face. A generous spirit. The calm presence of someone who has suffered and remained tender. The beauty of a life no longer entirely centered on itself.
Borba shared with Angelus News that he first sensed a call to the priesthood as a child when his mother pointed toward the altar during Mass. “Whoever the priest was, his robes at that moment were shimmering like glitter,” he recalled. “And I knew God was placing on my heart to become a priest.”
It is a striking image for someone who spent much of his adult life in the beauty industry. Glitter once belonged to the world of glamour and appearance. Years later, beauty seems to have taken on an altogether different meaning.
Borba also shared that another woman was central in influencing his decision:
"I know that our Blessed Mother has brought me into this vocation because of her love for me and for her Son. I have never been happier. I have never been more full of joy.”
His joy for his new life is evident, as he explained: “Not only did I accept the call [to the priesthood], but everything that God gave me– all my money, all of my everything I had, including the current company I have– I have given it all away.”
And perhaps that is what gives his story its quiet power. Not the idea of abandoning one life for another, but the discovery that beneath success, image, and luxury, there remained a longing for something more lasting: a beauty capable not simply of changing a face, but of transforming a life.
