‘Poster Boy for Luxury’ Business Mogul Says ‘Soul Was in Hell’ Before He Became a Priest

Published: June 18, 2026

By Michaela Gordoni

e.l.f. Cosmetics co-founder Scott-Vincent Borba made a surprising leap from cosmetics to priesthood after God spoke into his life.

The businessman became ordained on May 23 in his California hometown.

“God sanctified this whole route to bring me back now to glorify His name versus to glorify myself or idolize the businesses that I was creating,” Borba said on TODAY.

Borba’s life took a turn after he hosted a party but realized during it that he felt very empty.

He said he was “so void of love and happiness” and felt a calling for a greater purpose.” He left e.l.f in 2019.

“If this is what God created me for, is just to be hedonist, to make money and to live life and party and then repeat, why did he create me? Why did he create the human race?” he remembered thinking.

Borba realized his “soul was in hell” and then told God, “help me to be the man you created me to be.”

He asked everyone to leave the party, packed his bags and went to a hotel.

“I started crying and I said, ‘This is not the man God created me to be. This is not the man my mother and father raised.’ And that’s when this beautiful golden portal opened up and our Lord was walking in and I just knew intuitively that it was him,” Borba said.

He believed he was a good person but knew it wasn’t enough.

“God showed me his love and mercy is bigger than your past,” Borba shared. “He can take a broken person and change it.”

He believes that God wants everyone to know Him intimately and that He forgives all sins.

In 2019, Borba sold his car, donated the proceeds and began to live a more humble lifestyle.

“I was vapid. I had a perverse life,” he shared. “I went to LA, I got sucked into the Hollywood lifestyle — it was almost to a point where I was trying to sell my soul, right, for all of the riches of the world, which is not what we’re supposed to be … I was living for myself…I was a poster boy for luxury.”

Now, he has a one-bedroom home with almost “nothing” in it. Just basic clothes and shoes.

The call to be a priest was one he always remembered, and he’s glad he’s finally pursued it.

“I asked our Lord to help me be the man that he created me to be. And upon that instance, I had this massive flood of love and mercy that came into my life,” Borba explained. “It was a very mystical experience.”

It’s incredible that Borba walks so close to the Lord now. His transformation is a reminder that wealth and worldly things can never satisfy.

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