It was a thrill to interview Rebecca. I have been a big fan of her massive brand for years. It was awesome to have the chance to get inside her brain and understand what inspired her to go big for her dream when the odds were against her. Plus learning how she has pivoted her brand to focusing sales online during COVID and ended up having one of the brands most successful years was so inspiring. Instead of feeling defeated with the global shutdown due to corona virus and the impact that had on her business, she charted a new course where she could thrive in this new normal. That’s what really stands out to me about Rebecca. She is a trailblazer. She doesn’t wait or want everything to be perfect, she makes good with all the resources she has and then works her ass off and hires an exceptional team to execute her vision. I love that she believes so much in the team mentality. She knows she can’t do it all; she shared with me about what she looks for when she hires an employee and then how she trusts them to do their job. We also talked about how motherhood has changed her outlook on work and what inspired her to launch her SUPERWOMAN podcast featuring some of the most inspiring women from Katie Couric to Maria Sharapova.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey everybody, thanks for checking out the Bobby Bone Show podcast.
My name is Caroline Hobby and I have a podcast
called Get Real with Caroline Hobby. I'm so excited to
share with you this episode I just recorded with Rebecca Miankoff.
She is a worldwide mogul in the fashion industry. She
makes incredible handbags close. She got her start by a
(00:21):
celebrity going on a Tonight show wearing one of her
t shirts that said I love New York and the
shirt was so amazing it went viral, and after that
she launched into just the mogul and superstar that she is.
She tells me her journey of developing the company, overcoming hurdles,
how she's grown it. She also talks about how she
(00:42):
has thrived during COVID and learned to pivot and how
pivoting is so important to being an entrepreneur. She then
tells me the balance between motherhood and being a business
owner and how she walks that line. It is such
an engaging, interesting and inspiring upsod, so make sure you
check it out. You can hear this episode in any
(01:03):
episode of my Get Real podcast anywhere that you can
listen to podcasts. So just Google Get Real with Caroline
Hobby anywhere that you listen to your podcast and it
will pop up. Thanks for tuning in, Hi, Carol. She's
(01:25):
a queen. She's getting so just let it flow. No
one can Carol Carol. I am so thrilled to have
the incredible, beautiful, talented, uh trailblazer. I mean, you have
(01:49):
just been such a force in women's apparel and fashion
for I mean since two thousand and one is when
you got kicked off. This is Rebecca meancoff and and
to have you on my podcast is such an honor.
You've just done so much for the fashion industry. You're
such an advocate for women. You have an incredible podcast
called Superwoman where you feature absolutely just women who are
(02:13):
changing the world and speaking truth. And it's just such
an honor to have you on. So welcome, Rebecca, thank
you for having me. I'm so excited. When I got
the email that you wanted me on, I was like, yay,
so thank you. It's good to be here. So you
got started, I guess just to kind of briefly like
(02:34):
talk about your journey and to that you started loving
fashion in high school because you started designing costumes is
that right? Even before I fell in love with fashion,
when I was around eight, I was desperate for this
dress I saw in a store window. My mom was like, no,
but I'll teach you how to sew it, and I
was really pissed. I was like, just buy me the
(02:57):
damn dress, woman. And once I figured out that with
sewing I could create anything that I imagined, I just
felt this incredible freedom to just sew whatever I could.
So she got me some sewing lessons with a local
art teacher, and I began to sketch and draw, and
I really I just got hooks. And as a very
(03:17):
thin which I should have really just embraced thin, painfully thin,
you know, teenager, nothing fit me. I didn't have confidence,
you know. I was always trying to drink protein shakes
to gain weight. Sewing was an outlet for me to
make clothes that fit me, and to alter clothes so
they would fit me, and so that just became something
(03:39):
that I was like, I'm obsessed. I love this and
I had to keep going. When did you decide I'm
going to take this to the big time, Like I'm
actually not just going to do this for myself as
an outlet for my own desire and my own needs.
But I'm actually I have something here. This is something
(04:02):
that I want to pursue and turn into a business.
Like when did that happen? And how did you do that?
Because you have turned this into a huge empire. So
I think that I knew I wanted to move to
New York. You know. I think it goes back to
for Hanuka, we'd get like a subscription to a fashion
magazine as our big present, and I, you know, I
(04:24):
would fall in love with Fashion Vogue, Harper's w at
the time, and just knew that New York was the
place to be if you wanted to be a designer.
And so when I was eighteen, my brother had a
friend who was a designer in New York and said,
you know, can my sister come intern for you? And
the designer was like, sure, yeah, she can come up.
So I knew that that was where I wanted to start.
(04:45):
And then once I started interning and then eventually got
hired by the company after three years, I was like,
I'm so tired of listening to someone else. I want
to be in my own boss and I'm going to
work as hard I wanted to be my risk, my dime,
not that I had any dimes, let me just be
clear about that. My pennies. So I just started making
(05:06):
my own things, and enough people would ask me about
what are you wearing, and my sister in law and
then my friends that I just was like, oh, people
like what I'm creating, Maybe I should start selling it.
So I started doing that on the side while still
working for this gentleman. And then right after nine to eleven,
fortuitously or not really not fortuitously, I sent a shirt
(05:31):
to a well known celebrity on September ninth, and on
the thirteenth she wore it on Jay Leno. He said,
my name and the rest is definitely not history. But
it propelled my name into a state where I could
call up almost any boutique and say, hey, I have
this clothing line, will you let me in the door.
And then I got the bug, you know. I my
(05:54):
first store was like, I'll take three pieces on consignment,
which means they only pay you when it sells, and
I ran home. I created these postcards from this shitty printer,
and then I went back out to Union Square and
I was like, amazing designer. I wrote that the mink
Off and I would stand in hand him out and
then a few days later he's like, we sold out
of the shirts. I want more. So I just really
(06:15):
felt like this was my calling and it didn't matter
what it took to do it. So that moment where
the celebrity wore your shirt on the Tonight Show, Yeah,
this is a fortuitous moment. But don't you feel like
those moments have to happen in one's life in some
way or another. Win you have the drive, the talent,
(06:36):
You've done the work, Like I feel like those moments
pop up in someone like your life when you are
pursuing this talent so much and this you're putting it
all out there and you're really got something and then
that little magic moment happens. But I hear this all
the time, and people's stories. Tell me what you think
(06:56):
about that and not playing a part in someone's career yourself,
I think it plays a huge part. And I wanted
to spell the notion like a former woman that used
to be the president of our company would be like,
You're just so lucky, and I was like, actually, I'm
not lucky. I worked my fucking ass off for this
excuse me if I swear, I worked my butt off
(07:19):
for this, And it's almost like if you have a pie.
It's like or the ingredients of a pie, Like you've
worked hard on so many different levels, whether it's making
the right connections, you know, knowing where to go. I
didn't know where to go. I had to figure it out.
No one helped me. You know. I came across at
(07:39):
the time, in the pre internet days, you know, an
online social calendar of fashion events, and I was like,
I'm gonna get myself invited to these events, right, So
it's that plus I'm gonna, you know, go and get
a printed directory of boutiques and storism. I'm going to
send them something and then I'm gonna, you know, get
stuff to my friends and oh, this actress wants something
(08:01):
and her expectations or she wants it tomorrow. Cool, I'm
going to make sure I FedEx her, you know, all
these vectors. That's sort of a line, and then you
strike the match, right, and so luck has a little
bit to do with it, but it really is all
about everything you sort of set up in order for
that buyer to sort of take off, Like you laying
the groundwork in every area that you know how, doing
(08:23):
the extra mile, and that's a thing I feel like
I would love to hear your advice too. Young entrepreneurs,
especially women. It is so much, like you said, working
your ass off and getting out there and doing it,
and you can't just be like, well, where is my
lucky break gonna fall into my lap? Like it seems
like this person had it so easier. That person got lucky.
And it's like, truly, if you hit it and you
get a lucky moment like the celebrity wearing your shirt
(08:45):
on tonight show and they mentioning you, it's because you
put in so much time to get to that moment,
like you're saying. And I feel like that's what people
don't realize. A lot of the time, they don't realize it.
And I think when women or anyone approaches being not
an entrepreneur, like are so used to just being like, oh,
here's my car. Oh add to car oh arrived same day, right,
(09:07):
and so they're just like, my career should be the same.
And I'm like, take that notion out of your head,
because guess what, fifteen years later, I'm still working my
ass off and that's fine, but just sort of reset
your expectations. And not only am I working my ass off,
you have things every day that you're like, I never
could have imagined that this hole in the boat would
(09:28):
be this big. And so I think it's knowing that
part of your journey is this roller coaster. That's just
how it is. So sign up for that ride and
know that, Like when you feel like it's grinding, you're
just going up that big hill and then you get
to the top and you get to be like, yes,
I never thought I could do this, and then something
bad happens and you go down, you know, So it's
(09:49):
like it's just part of the journey. And you can't
look at the magazines and the bloggers and just be
like it's all perfect, because it's they're all working their
ass off too. You know, when did you realize that
it's a part of the journey to have the highs
and the lows, Because that took me a little while
to figure out. Like in the beginning, I really got
knocked on my ass, like and I was like I
would crawl up in the fetal position and be very
devastated that like my world had completely ruined and it
(10:12):
was over. Ye and then something would come in or
another like opportunity or like another road would present itself,
and it's like, oh, and then finally it clicked after
you know, about ten years of For me, it was like,
we're just like ten years before I finally figured it
out that that's just a part of it. When did
you realize that? I realized it. I think like you
over similar things. I remember I'll never forget when we
(10:34):
were doing about a million in sales, probably more than
ten years ago. Our bank said to us, when you
hit five million, it'll get really easy. You'll be profitable,
you'll have money for things, you able to pay your
bills on time. And I was like, oh, we just
have to get to five million. And we hit five million,
(10:54):
and I was like it's gonna be We're just gonna coast.
And it was like not making money, not profitable, same challenges,
you know, and I was like, oh, maybe this is
what this is. And then I had these fantasies, you know,
when you saw these companies become billion dollar brands, and
I was like, Uh, that person must have it easy.
(11:15):
She probably just puts her football a day and scrolls
through Facebook. And then you hear you know, in their
investor reports if they're a public company, or you listen
to them on the podcast and you're like, oh, that
that stuff is still hard, and they're still they don't
have all the answers. So I think it was like
this slow awakening of like, oh, this is the ride,
(11:36):
and I'm going to sign up for it till it's over.
But I also think you sort of, you know, you
gain muscle right by tearing it apart, and then it
sort of grows back together. And I think as an entrepreneur,
all these you know, I sort of looked at all
these challenges as muscle tears, and each time I'm stronger,
and each time I bounced back quicker, and so that
(11:59):
is helpful to sort of have that mindset of like, Okay,
here's another one, but I'm going to grow from this
in some way. Even even what's happening with COVID right
right now in our company, seventy percent of our business
just evaporated right in smoke because and it's like how stores,
because you a lot of your business is actually you're
like in nine hundred stores, is that right? Something like that?
(12:21):
We were yeah, I don't even know the number now,
but you know, seventy percent of our business evaporated and
sort of like, how do you become a direct consumer company,
which we were but wasn't our main focus, and how
do you sort of thrive? And you know, we're up
seven percent, which I don't think most companies can say,
And it's like, Okay, that was a big muscle tear
and we're you know, we're going to come back stronger
(12:42):
for it. And how it's like you said, a hole
in the boat, So that's like a muscle tear, a
hole in the boat. How do you approach that? Like
what when covid hit in, you have such a I
guess as a consumer based product where people go in
and try it on and do all that, Like that
was your your main part? How did you navigate that?
Because that's a big deal. You're running a huge operation. Yeah,
(13:06):
so right away we knew that with most of these
stores closing and you can no longer go in and
some stores not even shipping if they didn't have warehouses
that were allowed to we said, okay, we're an e
commerce company. Let's think like an e commerce company, what
would that be? You know, I've always enjoyed a really
strong connection with my customer, But how do I even
(13:28):
get closer? You know? Is it how too? Is it
the fun videos? Is it those quotes that distract you
on a Sunday? Is it you know me on Instagram Live? Like,
how do we become your best friend? If we haven't
done that already, how do we talk to you real?
So we're not sending you emails that have nothing to
do in our tone death for what's happening. So it
(13:49):
was really all about getting into the customer, not just
her mindset. But I'm in the same mindset. I'm not
in some you know, I'm not on David Geffen's boat,
detached from society and being vulnerable, right, sharing those struggles too,
not like for me, but like, hey, I'm homeschooling my
kids too, and I'm trying to work and you know,
I'm hiding and taking calls from my bathroom. Not today,
(14:11):
but I was for many months. And so I think
the customer was like, yes, you're choosing to be inspiring
and not you know, go down during these dark times,
but you're also real. So I think that that really helped.
And then you know, also products cycles, like we're talking
a lot about nylon and totes because where are you
(14:32):
going right now? You're going to the grocery store. You
know you need a big bag. So I think it's
also knowing what to communicate to your customer when like
we're not selling a going out bag. We know you're
not going to the club right now. Yeah, and that
I saw one of your Instagram videos that you did
for like the summer Drop. You're like walking out your
front door and you have on all these outfits that
(14:53):
are super comfortable that we can wear in COVID Lifestyle,
and then the last one you're like wrapped up in
a towel, like taking a Voda, And I'm like, yes,
that is life. You want to have these nas to
be comfy it. But then also, can we just be
in our robe and cry a little bit and drink
some vodka in the front boards Totally. I told my
husband I found a perfect song to cry too, like
(15:14):
what I'm running. But I was like, it's so hard
to cry and run because you're out of breath, but
you're also crying. But it's the only time I'm like
alone away from my kids. Wanted that release. Do you
just feel overwhelmed, because like, like you, I absolutely love
how you have taken a very difficult situation and you
figured out how to navigate it and make it good
(15:36):
for you, and you continued your brand and you continue
to work with the times. But then also do you
just get that feeling of just complete overwhelmed, whelmed and
heaviness of just like what is happening? Like how are
we going to navigate this wild world? How do you
deal with that? Yeah, I mean my having my I
haven't figured out a true outlet. I have a lot
(15:58):
of nightmares. I think my my heaviness comes from the
fact that, Okay, I know for now we can exist
as a business. We're not going to go out of business, right,
so we know that we know how to run a
business during this time. I think my heaviness comes from
the fact of, like, are my kids going to have
to wear masks all day in school? Or I just
(16:19):
got a letter from the head of the school saying
minimal movement within school and face masks, And I'm like, okay,
so I'm putting my kids in a prison and they
can't breathe, right, Not that I don't think that mask
should be worn, but not for eight hours a day, right, So,
especially for growing kids. So I just I get heavy
when I'm like, what future are we building for our kids?
(16:42):
And why isn't anyone thinking out of the box or
they're outside school. I don't know, I'm not, you know.
So my heaviness mostly comes from them and wanting them
not for this to be a mark on their lives
that they're like, oh, that's the bad times, you know.
And I also think my heaviness comes from the breakdown
(17:03):
of societal bonds, Like everyone's scared of each other and
that's terrible. You know, when people cringe at you in
the grocery shore, You're like, like, I didn't think that
humans could begin to treat each other this way, and
that's scared me because if we're scared of each other
just with this, you know, how bad does it get?
So that's the heaviness. And I don't know that I
(17:25):
have a solution, and I think about it every name. Yeah,
not to take this to a dark place, No, it
is the truth of the matter. And that's how I
feel too. Like I wake up every day and I
remind myself of all my blessings and I'm so thankful
and I am so grateful for this life. But then
It's like there's just I feel like the world is
(17:45):
just completely upside down and every and maybe that's what
had to happen. Maybe like we were so things needed
to change so much that it just got to point
where it all broke hell broke loose. You know, you
can't hide from any of it anymore. And so I'm
what are we supposed to be learning here? And how
do we navigate it? But I have those moments too
where I just get like so overwhelmed with it all
that I don't know how to navigate and being a mom,
(18:07):
I'm a new mom. You have three kids, And I
was reading that being a mom has like profoundly just
impacted everything about your life, like from your career to
how you think. So you're talking about your kids in
this time, I get it, But how has being a
mother navigated your whole experience since the day your first
(18:28):
child was born? Like? How did that change you? I
think it changed me in a couple of ways. I
was I thought of myself as very self aware, selfish
in terms of pre kids. I could do what I
wanted to do when sleep in, you know, and even
getting pregnant, I only accelerated that in terms of my
timeline because I really wanted my kids to have a
(18:49):
great relationship with my parents. And I'm like, I'm not
getting any younger. They're not getting any younger. I'm not
ready to get pregnant, but bucket, and so the whole pregnancy,
I would I didn't want to verbalize because I didn't
want the baby to hear me, but I would like
text my husband. He'd be sitting right next to me, like,
I can't believe they did this. I deeply regret this decision.
I don't know if I'm ready to be a mother,
(19:09):
And he'd be like, you know, and then he I
wouldn't let him. I wouldn't let him reply because I
didn't want his words for the b So whatever. So
cut to the baby comes out and and I call
it like the fourth dimension of love, Like I didn't
know I could love of something so selflessly. And you become,
(19:30):
at least for me, you start thinking of more than yourself.
There's a world out there that you want to be better.
There's an environment out there that you want to be,
like fresh air and not an ocean polluted with plastic,
And you just start making decisions. I think my interest
in health became more pronounced during that time because I
was like, I want to be optimized for health and
(19:53):
I want my kids to be healthy. And then how
do I structure my business because I don't want to
be a mom that doesn't raise my kids. There's plenty
of moms that are fine with that, but I wasn't
that person, you know. So I had to structure my
business in a way and really invest in teams that
could like take the baton and run because I wanted
(20:13):
to leave at six pm, and I wanted them to
leave it. You know, they want to leave at six pm.
So you know, my brother's my co founder, he chose
not to leave at six pm every night, and we
had to have on his conversations where I'd be like, yo,
I'm getting home to my kids. I want to be
there for dinner, for bath, for bedtime. If you don't
want to do that, cool, but we're going to differ
(20:34):
in that opinion and that has to be okay. And
so really trying to not only lead as an example,
but allow that for my staff to feel that way too.
It wasn't just I'm the boss. I get to have
these purposes like just go home. It's Okay, we're not
caring cancer. So I think that sort of making that shift,
and then slowly it took me a long time, like
(20:56):
don't do email on the weekends, you know, unless you
have to. It's something to urge, and like your website
crash is cool. But just trying to allow for time
to be away from work and not be so burned out.
It's really changed my mental state. I can be present
as a mom obviously fashion week there's times where I'm
(21:17):
working late, I'm distracted, and I'm on my phone. But
for the most part, I've really tried to put in
those boundaries and test them. Like I have three kids now,
so with each one you might get a little bit
more like where are your new boundaries, and like get uncomfortable,
try something no that that's too much, or no that
that's too little, and then you know what to say
(21:38):
no one yes too. So I always tell people like,
go on that two week business trip and see how
you feel. You'll never want to do it again, or
maybe you'll be like I want to go on two
week business trips all the time. You have to find
yourself balance. What does it feel like to you when
it's a no? When you feel like, Nope, that's the boundary.
I hit it. I'm not doing that, Like what does
that feel like? So I definitely get foma. I think
(22:00):
when it's a work related event, it's just staying out,
Like am I going to meet someone that's gonna like
make a huge impact on my company? Could I connect
that person another time? Could we have coffee during the
day or is this just a good time? And it
was a waste. So I sort of look to everything
and I'm gonna stay out late, I'm gonna miss that
time with my family. What's the get from it? Totally?
(22:24):
And if there isn't a get, I gotta find one
to make it worth it. So yeah, I totally get that. Yeah,
if you were, I mean, you might have this, you
might have a mission statement. If you were going to
put a mission statement for your whole vibe existence with career, family,
what would it be like? What is your motto that
(22:45):
you go by? So we had I had done this
branding exercise with this company and we sort of distilled
down like what was that thing that propelled me to
do it? And sometimes I say this in women are
like but I'm not like that, so I can't. But
I think it is doing it anyways. And there was
a fearlessness to moving here where I didn't consider what
(23:10):
could happen. I didn't consider the odds. There was a
fearlessness to starting my company. And people are like, put,
you would so much lose. I'm like, I had nothing. Therefore,
I had nothing to lose except I was gonna have
to go back home and like sleep on my old
bedroom and like regroup, right if that's it, you know, Okay,
(23:31):
So you know, even even when several years ago there
was a potential that our bank might seize our company
and they would own it, and I was like, what
am I losing here? Okay, they can't take my family
and my children, and if I have to start over,
I know how to start over as an entrepreneur. Not
that that would be like oh cool, but like, you know,
(23:54):
so I think it's a fearlessness. And even when you're scared,
you're doing it anyway. So this isn't a message of
like I'm ever scared. It's like, oh, that's gary cool,
let's do it anyways. What is there to lose? Not much?
You know, so I guess that, well, I guess now
though you do have a lot to lose as far
as your career. You've built a huge career, do you
(24:15):
still are you still able? Like I guess what you're
saying you are? Are Are you still able to navigate in that?
What do I have to lose? Mentality? Because there is
a lot there, There's a lot there. But I feel
like you're not losing how the customer feels about you.
You're not losing that community that you've built. You're not
losing all the relationships you've made. Like if if we
(24:37):
were to have lost our company in COVID, I have
no doubt that I could have sprouted up with something
new and been like, hey, everyone need your need a
little help, you know, get the word out there. We've
launched X and do it again or do something else.
You know. I think that when you're an entrepreneur, you
(24:58):
have a skill that you're always able to go back
and start over and never forget that what that feels like,
because that's that's valuable. You know. It's like when I
started the podcast, right it was starting something new. I
was I did it all myself, no one helped me,
and I had to figure it out, but I knew
as an entrepreneur then knowing how to figure something out.
(25:22):
And so once you have that, that's better than any
amount of money in the bank because you're like, oh,
I know, I know, I can figure this out. What
inspired you to start the podcast, because it's not like
you didn't have enough going on, but now you're like,
I'm going to add value to women's life because I'm
gonna live because you have access to incredible women you
(25:42):
have on your podcast. There's CEOs, there's superstars, like you
have all types of women who are doing incredible things.
And to me, like the pot your podcast is a
gift to women because you don't need to do that,
Like you don't need to take that time to do that.
But because you have access to these women, y'all have
these incredible conversations that you're sharing, and I mean that's
(26:05):
just exact. Consider that a true gift. What encouraged you
to do that? So the fashion world it's getting a
little better, but it's very insular, it's very clicky, it's
very snobby. And I was so sick of these people,
and I was so sick of the lack of sending
the ladder down. And I came from the outside. I
(26:25):
was not accepted into like theogue Anna's world, and so
I guess whether it's a chip on my shoulder. But
I always wanted to be inclusive because I hated that feeling,
and so I started throwing these dinners in my store
of just getting women from all sorts of other industries
together and how could we support each other and talk.
And then I was like, oh wait, that's exclusive because
(26:47):
my customer wasn't invited. How do I invite her to this?
So let me do fireside chats at my store and
invite my customer and we started having you know, ninety
women showed up, but I could only let in seventy
two because the fire marshal would come. And I was like, okay,
how do I get this bigger? Right? How do I
amplify this? And the podcast was sort of the next
natural way to do that, so I launched at the
(27:09):
end of twenty eighteen. I was scared I'd know it.
I was like learning how to edit via YouTube videos
and the mics to get and that's when I was like,
all right, I know what I know how to do,
and someone else is going to edit this. I'm not
going to do that part, but I'll do the rest.
I'll find the talent, you know, I'll reach out to them,
(27:30):
I'll book them, I'll interview them. No one's prepping me.
And that was fun to get dirty again, you know,
get your hands truly dirty, like do all the grout
work that you know, what it takes to become an
entrepreneur and to have a podcast. And then the women
have been like therapy for me, you know, like I
learned something with every podcast, and I'm inspired and I'm
(27:53):
almost rejuvenated because they're giving me something too. So as
much as it's great for everyone, I'm right there with
them like, oh that's great, I feel better. Now what
have you taken away from your podcast? What are some
of the lessons that you've gathered? Oh, there's so many. Um.
One of mine it's with Patty Sellers. You know, she's like,
(28:16):
if women talked about money as much as we talk
about sex, we would be so much richer. You know,
so instead of complaining about you know, your sex life
at dinner, you're like, oh, I invested in this stock
and this is what happened, you know if that ork
instead of like, you know, my go to at any
event is oh your kids, all kids? How old are
(28:36):
they But if instead it was like, you know, should
I invest in this new company? Should I give them
twenty five thousand dollars or whatever? It is, Like, if
that was what we talked about this, probably this gender
pay gap would be a lot smaller than men talk
about all the time. Yeah, all the time. Yeah, they're
not like, oh, look at this cute picture of my
son eating pudding. You know. So that was something that
(29:03):
I thought was just great. I think that I've asked
all these women to be really vulnerable in the podcast
because I think I want to showcase their hardest moments,
their biggest challenges, and how they've overcome them or not.
And so that's that's refreshing. And I felt like it's
(29:24):
okay to be more vulnerable too with my staff on social.
So those are just two and then just fun ones
like the Katie Curic one was one of my favorite
ones because she's just epic and I can't believe she
did that podcast with me. So do you ever have
that moment where you're kind of like a wow, like
this is crazy, I'm having a conversation with this person. Yes,
(29:47):
all the time, especially the bigger ones. You know what,
I've not everyone feels this comfortable, But I usually will
not prep to the interview because then I'm authentically intrigued
in it and I don't have to worry. Like if
you go back to the very beginnings, I have my
sheet of paper and I'm like looking up at each
question and I'm not listening. I'm just like, oh, Okay,
(30:09):
she's done talking, so I'm going to ask my next question.
But as I got more comfortable and I was like,
screw it, I'm not going to research these people. Then
I'm genuinely interested, and then I'm going on that journey
with my listener, and I think it for me, it
creates a better interview. I love that. I totally agree.
When I first started, too, I have like a printed
sheet every single thing I could find about everyone's career,
(30:32):
and I would just like be like checking it off.
And finally I interviewed Stormy Warren, who's a big radio
personality and country music, and he's like I walked in
with my paper and he's like, why don't you just
turn that paper upside down and let's just talk. And
I was like, no, I can't. I can't do it.
And I agree. I love the fluidity of it. You
love to talk about women and them overcoming some of
(30:54):
their hardest moments, So I was also in the same
what is something that was a really hard moment for
you that kind of defined you? Do you want me
to go how many years back or how many months?
Because I could pick so many apples from that tree
you want to? Okay, I'll never forget one of the
(31:18):
first big orders I got. When I say big, it
was like ten bags. I shipped it myself and I
sort of loosely wrapped some paper that you might buy
for your kids, like craft paper around the bags, and
I shipped it to this really incredible boutique in the
West Village in New York that was really known for
launching new brands. And I got the check and I
(31:40):
was like, oh my god, I don't know whatever two
thousand dollars And the owner called me and he's like,
you need to come down here now. There's a big problem.
And the pit at the bottom of my stomach was huge.
And I get there. He's like, this isn't how you
ship bags to customers. This is completely unprofessional. And I
was shaking at that moment. He's like, can you imagine
(32:02):
that someone's going to pay. At the time, my bags
were more expensive, like four ninety five dollars or a
bag that arrives like this, where's your dust bag, where's
the wrap? You know, how have you protected the hardware?
And I was just like and instead of saying, here
are your goods back, I'm going to cancel your check,
he was like, I'm going to teach you how to
do this. Wow. And so that was just a lesson
(32:23):
in you know, a be more professional and you're shipping
people things. But also like, um, take those moments not
as criticism or you know, look what he did to me,
or he was being mean, but really like reflect on
how you know this person had the opportunity to like
not pay you and cancel your check, um, but support you. Um.
(32:47):
So that was like one of like, Okay, from now on,
I have to do it the right way. There's no
there's no quick cheat to some things. There was another
time period where we were first overseas factory experience. We
were making in the same factory as Kate Spade, and
we did not have a quality control person and the
(33:09):
Chinese workers there didn't read English, and they put Kate
Spade hardware on and Rebecca mink Off hardware on the
same bag, and since we went right out to the customer,
no one checked it, and the customer on this popular
bag forum started like having a field day with like
hybrid name like there's benefit but there was sebeca spank off,
(33:30):
which is the hybrid of Kate and Rebecca and making
fun of us. It's kind of a big deal right here,
huge huge. I was like, every single bag that we
just shipped our first you know overseas experience is Quebeca
spank off. So I was looking at do all these
bags get returned? Are my relationships with all the stores ruined? Right?
(33:52):
And I was like, how do I turn this into
a positive? Like how do I get control back of
the situation? And so I was like, congratulations, everybody, Willy Wonka,
if you have this bag, you know, if you can
find a bag, send it back and not only will
you get a new one, but you'll get a credit.
And I just made up a way to like take
(34:12):
the negativity and say, yes, we messed up. The good
news is if you help me clean out the market
of these bags, I'll reward you for it. And so
it turned what could have been a terrible situation not
into a positive but a manageable situation. So I think
you always have to look at when that hole is
in your boat, like what are you going to use
(34:32):
to cover it up? And how resourceful can you be
as an entrepreneur to sort of get that water out.
It seems to me that you are so customer driven.
Like I was watching some videos. I mean they were
like from like two thousand and five, I think, or
like early days of you and your brother talking about it,
and y'all knew exactly who your customer was, what you
(34:53):
were catering to, what you were wanting for them, And
I just feel like that is a crucial part of
running a successful business, of knowing who is your customer.
And I feel like you guys were also putting edge
of using social media and in media in general, like
in your dressing rooms you had an option to scroll
a screen to pick other items to try on, and
(35:16):
a dressing room like you're just always thinking outside of
the box. So how important is your customer to you?
And how have you figured out who your customer is?
So I think from day one it was really clear
that we wanted to be in touch with our customer. Again,
you know the old route. If you close your eyes
(35:37):
and go back fifteen years, it wasn't how it is now.
You know, fashion back then was Anna likes you, Barney's
likes you. You're the it designer, and you get this
like propulsion from that power. So it isn't definitely love.
The old way is very exclusive and like you have
to just ordinary. You have to be a chosen one, anointed. Yes,
(35:59):
she has her like magic wand and then then you're good.
That is real, Like I just see all that in
the movies, but it's like real life out there. Yes,
it's real life. It was real life. It's better now,
So I feel like, you know, when we launched, social
media was in its nascent form. I came across I
(36:20):
got a Google alert that existed about these women on
a forum. It was called the First Blog, and I
had a forum talking about my bags, and I was like,
I know the answers to all these questions. I should
make an account and answer them. And it was just
there wasn't a thought or a strategy behind it. So
I made a user name. I started talking and they
couldn't believe it was me. I had to verify it
was me, and we started this dialogue and I was interested,
(36:43):
like what do you like? Why do you like it? Oh?
You want this bag? Pool, go get twenty of you
together and we'll make it. And wow, it was so
early that ownership to your customer. You're like, you love this,
we'll serve you in this way. Wow, that's amazing. Yeah,
I mean it was early crowdsourcing essentially. And we had
interventions from stores like we don't think we can carry
(37:05):
you if you're going to talk to your customer. We
don't know, like you're dirtying yourself. Like. We had intense conversations,
and then you know, Facebook opened up and then Instagram.
We just said, okay, we're going to be wherever she
is because this is our way to communicate with her.
And then you know, pre kids, I would travel to
thirty cities a year and go meet my customer and
department stores. So it was our way of like, let's
(37:28):
just have a tight knit relationship. Now this is normal,
but let's just pour the coal. I guess on all
the different forms we can talk to her, and then
you get to know her, not because you like did
an analytic survey. You see her, you meet her, you
talk to her, and then you just are like, okay, good,
this is who she is. And we've made plenty of mistakes,
(37:49):
believe you me, like wrong aesthetic, wrong price point. Are
you still there? Okay, I'm going to take my said
the battery is low. Okay, okay, wrong esthetic, wrong price point,
like trying to be cool and fashioning, like we've done
(38:09):
all the wrong things. But I think that every time
we go back to who she is, who's that girl?
You know, she's someone who comes to us for these
milestone moments within her life that are big deals to her.
She can finally afford something more than fast fashioned. She
gets a race, she gets a job, she has a baby,
(38:29):
she gets divorced, she's an affair, like all these you know,
things that happen to women, and she can buy our
product and eat or buy our product and pay rent.
And we stay within now at a very clear aesthetic.
So you know, if you're coming to us, we're a
little bit of bohemian, we're a little bit of rock.
So like that's sort of the esthetic, and then everything
(38:52):
else is sort of layered on the brand pillars of
being fearless or supporting women or being inclusive, because Lord knows,
I know what it feels like to not be included.
So how how did that feel when you feel when
you finally hit from the moment where you're like, I
know whoo our consumer is, I know who she is?
Do you remember that moment or was it just an evolution?
(39:15):
I think it was an evolution. I mean there's been
times where we're so clear on who she is. But
also as I've gotten older, sometimes that customer changes. Like
for a long time, my brother and our former president
had this theory like freeze Rebecca at twenty seven, and
(39:38):
I was like, but I'm thirty two now and I
have a kid, and I want different things, and it's
really hard for me to keep talking to that girl
at twenty seventy. Only let's talk to the eighteen year old,
the twenty five year old, the thirty year old, right,
And finally we've un frozen her as of like four
years ago. And the difference is night and day because
now I can talk up in down to those experiences
(40:02):
instead of just this like one life stage. And guess
what happens if we only talk to you at twenty seven,
then when you're thirty five and you're making a lot
more money, you go buy the more expensive back because
you're like, oh, she only talked to me when I
was twenty seven. I felt like this, But now if
I'm spanning like all these life journeys, I'm hoping that
(40:24):
you know, she comes with me on that journey and
she wants to keep keep up with that story. Do
you think that you're they're wanting you to freeze it
because they knew that work, that was something that was
successful when really that like you said, that's just it's
actually limiting. But do you think it's just fear based?
And like how did you push through that and be like, no,
(40:46):
we've got an unfreezer. We had a lot of heated arguments,
a lot of disagreements. I think they got some data
that said, like, this is your core customer and she's
still might be, but we need to talk up and down,
high and low. You know, I'm going to be forty
this year. I got to talk to my forty year olds,
(41:07):
you know, and my eighteen year olds. So what's happening
now is both eighteen and forty are growing faster than
twenty seven. So like it just opened up new a
new base for us, you know, tu new basis so
I think that it could have been fear base and
I let them do it for a long time, and
people were like, well, you're in the base of the company,
(41:29):
how do you let them? Well, when you have business partners,
it's not always you know my way or the highway.
What do you look for in an employee? Because the
fact that you are such a hands on mom and
you are such a hands on businesswoman, in order to
be the hands on mom, you have to hire people
that you really rely on. Like you said, what are
(41:50):
the key traits that you look for in an employee?
Your education and where what fancy university is barely important
to me. It's do you look me in the eye?
Do you shake my hand? Not weakly and not turning
it over like men do, right, some men do, or
(42:11):
aggressive women who are like I'm the dominant one here. Yeah,
whenever your hand is like turned over, that person's trying
to let you know that they're dominating you. Stop it.
Oh my god, I'll never view a handshake the same now, Okay,
I'm glad the best. That's nice thing to know. Okay, So,
(42:33):
oh yeah, so look me in the eye. Good communication,
someone that's willing to do hard work that again within
within um, you know, an employee, they also think that
they're going to be promoted to senior director in three
months and don't have to work that hard. So someone
who doesn't have any of those sort of ideas that
(42:53):
takes the ball and runs with it. I'll never forget.
We have a friend who has a very successful brand
and for whatever, and he gives us a lot of
free advice. And he was and prior to us, I
wanted to be the dead mother, the dead mother. And
if someone was sad or like I'm I'm not happy,
and I'd be like, oh, come crying with me. And
(43:15):
he's like, these people are hired to do a job.
Either they take a load off your shoulders and they
get out. This isn't you know. You're not here to
be a therapist. You're not here to be the mom
that's like the cuddle open your arms. Yes you can
be kind and thoughtful, but you're not here to like
take someone's entire shit storm of their life and be
the solver of it. Right. They're there to say, hey,
(43:38):
I got this, I'm gonna run. And so I really
look for that in all of our staff now, like
do they own their area. Do they make it better?
Do they improve it cool? Are they complaining? Are they
just sulking? Are they letting whatever's happening in their life
interrupt their work? Then they don't. They don't get to
stay because you can't grow business if you just have
a bunch of victims. Yeah, and that is so true,
(44:01):
especially being a woman like you said, a dead mother
and nurturing woman. I feel the same way. Like I
feel like I take everyone's feelings and I want to
help you strive and become happy and have a purposeful
life and all that stuff. But it is a job,
and this is your creation, this is your baby, this
is your dream. And if you're spending time and money
to hire someone they need to add to your dream.
(44:23):
That's so Yes, this is not a this is not
a handout, you know, And it doesn't. And again, Ben,
people be like, oh, you must be a mean no,
Like I can still be nice and understanding, But like
you came to get a paycheck, I'm paying you that money.
You give something back in return? Have you Do you
struggle with firing people or are you pretty good at
(44:45):
it at this point? Well, thankfully I don't have to
do it anymore. They don't want me in the room
when I'm fired. There's people that I wanted to fire
at Our chief counsel just said, you know what, you
don't get to be in the room. It's my job.
You need to stay forward facing, and you know so
(45:05):
I can do it. It's not easy. I don't think
that ever gets easy. It's only easy if like someone
like cheated you, or you know, like we had someone
that stole a bunch of stuff, like it was very
satisfying to fire them. But outside of that, it's hard.
It's you know, yeah, same feeling with someone quits. It's like, oh, man,
(45:26):
you didn't want to stay here for the rest of
your life and work with me? Why? Why? So you
have a good press and you have so many positive
things swirling around you, how do you deal with the
moments of bad press and the moments that really gut
wrench you in the public eye. Well, I guess it's
(45:49):
good that my brother is my co founder because I
can call him invent. Like we had a piece of
negative press in seventeen. We had a shipping logistics nightmare
because we changed warehouses and we messed up ten thousand
people's orders. Oh yeah, so that was awful. And then
when I publicly apologized, this fashion publication you know, took
(46:14):
it one step further and had to write about the
whole debacle. I was like, thanks for you know, helping
me out. When I'm on my knees. It sucks. It
feels like you've been broken up with, it feels like
everyone hates you. But I just said, I'm just gonna
keep not just apologizing, but showing my customer that I'm
going to solve this until it's better and be honest
(46:36):
with her. And so, you know, for that particular thing,
I kept apologizing. I kept sending out sorry notes. I
kept sending out like gifts for everyone who's Christmas order
I ruined until it was better. And I also was
like really, I was like, dude, there was there was
a glitch in our system from a Chinese character put
(46:58):
into the wrong part of the ZIP code and it
messed up ten thousand orders. I'm totally sorry. Technology like
never could have predicted that. And like once people knew
the real story, they're like, Okay, she's not trying to
fuck me on Christmas. So I just think, like the Mico,
she's all Scrooge of Christmas. So I just I mean,
(47:23):
it differs with everything. But I think that you can
get bad press for not doing anything and people just
attack you like cancel. Culture is huge right now and
I think people's instinct is to retreat. But I feel
like knocking on wood, if you know that would ever happen,
I would just speak the truth, good or bad. I'd
(47:46):
be like, this is the truth and that's all I
can do and take responsibility for whatever it is. So
with all the amazing things in your life, all the
journey that you've been on, what does sticks look like
to you? Okay, so that has totally changed. And I
don't know about you, but on your path as an entrepreneur,
(48:07):
you know, my first measure of success is I don't
have to call my bank to see if I have
enough money to go out to eat tonight. Like that
was like, ah, I don't know if the check because
I have more than one hundred bucks in my account.
And then it was oh, my god, my husband and
I who just got married, we don't need to have
roommates anymore, you know, like how do we pay our rent?
(48:33):
And then it became stuff just like, oh, we can
take a vacation and we can pay for a vacation.
So like all that you know has has come full circle.
And that success to me is like that I can
stop working at six. You know that I don't have
to check email on the weekends. You know that I
can be with my family and enjoy them. And that's
(48:55):
probably what success is to me now. And it's and
it's also not just oh, I sell handbags and that's
all I do. Success to me is I get to
have incredible conversations with women on my podcast. I get
to have an incredible community with the founder community I created.
I get to have, you know, touch people that I've
(49:15):
admired for so long, Like when I get invited to
something and I'm like, whoa, I got to be here
at this dinner with Katie Kurk or whoever. Like, Okay,
that success. So what is the secret to a happy
marriage and raising kids? I don't know anything about your
(49:37):
marriage or your home, so I'm just I'm seeing you
put another perspective on, like you are a boss in
every perspective and you have it all. So how do
you what is the secret to that? Well, I haven't
had sex in about six weeks, so I'll say that
it happens. We're like when and how is this going
(49:58):
to happen? Because I'm sleeving with my daughter and you're
sitting with the boys, and the bedtimes are all messed up,
and like I keep getting my period. So so I
think communication we both adopted the idea. I have so
(50:18):
many girlfriends that when something is wrong within their marriage,
they're like mattering to their girlfriends about it, and I
just never understood, like, this is your life partner. This
is your person that's going to raise your kids with you. Like,
if you have an issue, take it up with your
husband or your partner, not your girlfriends who nothing good's
going to come aback, right, So I think if I
(50:40):
have a problem, I immediately address it, or I show
signs that something is wrong that he knows well enough
now that he's like, what's up. I think we also
we never truly had like the talk about equality within
the household, but there are a lot of people who
expect it to be equal and then it's not, and
then they get senful. So I always say, like, set
(51:02):
your boundaries. You know, in our household, everything's equal when
it comes to laundry, diaper changes, cooking, cleaning whatever, it's
down the middle. So we never have to have those
arguments because one of us always knows, like, oh, you
got the you're making breakfast, I'll cook lunch, whatever it is.
But I think communication is the biggest thing. And then
(51:24):
and then setting, you know, as things in your life change,
your needs and wants change, like be upfront with your
partner about that. Like I was like, I don't know
if I can sleep in the same bed with you
anymore because you moved too much and I need to sleep,
you know. But like he didn't take it like like
at least I was telling him why I'm now sleeping
with my daughter because she does a move. So I
(51:46):
think we're just you know, you go through different things
and you just got to get them off your chest, right. Yes,
I love that, And it sounds to me like you
guys assume the best in each other and so it's
like you just navigate the seasons of your life. I
think that's the encreage for me, and like all relationships,
my family, my friends, my husband, obviously being a mom,
it's just assumed that these people that you've chosen to
(52:08):
link up within your life are wanting the best for you,
and so going when I can go in with that
sort of mentality, it's like, Okay, we're a team and
we both want to win, we both want each other
to succeed, we want to succeed together. So that's been
a huge game changer for me. It's just like, these
people want the best for me, I'm with the best
for them. So going with that view, Yep, totally. And
(52:31):
I think that calling out people on their shit, Like
if he does stuff I don't like, I'm just like,
not cool, buddy, and he'll do the same to me.
And I think you have to have that honesty within
a marriage for it to work. Totally agree, what have
what have you learned from being a mother about yourself?
(52:54):
That I'm stronger than I ever thought I would be
capable of mentally and physically. That there is more of
you to give than you think. Like you could think,
oh my god, how will I have a business and
kids and a social life and whatever. I'm not saying
(53:16):
I have all that figured out, but there is more
Like even when you have more kids, like you're like, oh,
could I really give that much love to another human?
And it just kind of grows even though there's one
of you, and I definitely feel overwhelmed. I've definitely yelled
at my kids way more than I ever have in quarantine.
But I think that knowing that you have the ability
(53:38):
to sort of have octapus arms, you know, even when
there's just one of you, I love that. Rebecca. I
am so thankful and honored that you came on my podcast.
You are such a bright light to this world, and
it really means the world to me that you come
chat with me. I always wrap up my interviews with
one question, and it's very vague, however you feel inclined
(54:01):
to answer, Okay, leave your lighte and what do you
want people to know? What do I want people to
know to look for the silver linings? I think now
is a time where we need to pull ourselves up
out of the dull drums and look for you know,
(54:22):
my dad said this to me last night. He's like,
it's not what the universe is doing to you, it's
what it's doing for you. And I was like, that's
a deep thought from my dad. But what did it
give me? It gave me time back with my kids
that I would never get, you know, wouldn't normally get.
It got me to see my two year old like
language bloom. It gave me, you know, the ability to
(54:46):
think with what is my company and how do I
want it to be? So like what is then? You know?
It gave me the ability to connect with people and
more women and have important conversations and so like I
have to just keep looking at what is the universe
doing for me? I appreciate you. Thank you so much
for coming on and joining me. You are yeah that
(55:08):
as in every sense of the word, thank you for
having me. You're awesome. Okay, bye,
Hey everybody, thanks for checking out the Bobby Bone Show podcast.
My name is Caroline Hobby and I have a podcast
called Get Real with Caroline Hobby. I'm so excited to
share with you this episode I just recorded with Rebecca Miankoff.
She is a worldwide mogul in the fashion industry. She
makes incredible handbags close. She got her start by a
(00:21):
celebrity going on a Tonight show wearing one of her
t shirts that said I love New York and the
shirt was so amazing it went viral, and after that
she launched into just the mogul and superstar that she is.
She tells me her journey of developing the company, overcoming hurdles,
how she's grown it. She also talks about how she
(00:42):
has thrived during COVID and learned to pivot and how
pivoting is so important to being an entrepreneur. She then
tells me the balance between motherhood and being a business
owner and how she walks that line. It is such
an engaging, interesting and inspiring upsod, so make sure you
check it out. You can hear this episode in any
(01:03):
episode of my Get Real podcast anywhere that you can
listen to podcasts. So just Google Get Real with Caroline
Hobby anywhere that you listen to your podcast and it
will pop up. Thanks for tuning in, Hi, Carol. She's
(01:25):
a queen. She's getting so just let it flow. No
one can Carol Carol. I am so thrilled to have
the incredible, beautiful, talented, uh trailblazer. I mean, you have
(01:49):
just been such a force in women's apparel and fashion
for I mean since two thousand and one is when
you got kicked off. This is Rebecca meancoff and and
to have you on my podcast is such an honor.
You've just done so much for the fashion industry. You're
such an advocate for women. You have an incredible podcast
called Superwoman where you feature absolutely just women who are
(02:13):
changing the world and speaking truth. And it's just such
an honor to have you on. So welcome, Rebecca, thank
you for having me. I'm so excited. When I got
the email that you wanted me on, I was like, yay,
so thank you. It's good to be here. So you
got started, I guess just to kind of briefly like
(02:34):
talk about your journey and to that you started loving
fashion in high school because you started designing costumes is
that right? Even before I fell in love with fashion,
when I was around eight, I was desperate for this
dress I saw in a store window. My mom was like, no,
but I'll teach you how to sew it, and I
was really pissed. I was like, just buy me the
(02:57):
damn dress, woman. And once I figured out that with
sewing I could create anything that I imagined, I just
felt this incredible freedom to just sew whatever I could.
So she got me some sewing lessons with a local
art teacher, and I began to sketch and draw, and
I really I just got hooks. And as a very
(03:17):
thin which I should have really just embraced thin, painfully thin,
you know, teenager, nothing fit me. I didn't have confidence,
you know. I was always trying to drink protein shakes
to gain weight. Sewing was an outlet for me to
make clothes that fit me, and to alter clothes so
they would fit me, and so that just became something
(03:39):
that I was like, I'm obsessed. I love this and
I had to keep going. When did you decide I'm
going to take this to the big time, Like I'm
actually not just going to do this for myself as
an outlet for my own desire and my own needs.
But I'm actually I have something here. This is something
(04:02):
that I want to pursue and turn into a business.
Like when did that happen? And how did you do that?
Because you have turned this into a huge empire. So
I think that I knew I wanted to move to
New York. You know. I think it goes back to
for Hanuka, we'd get like a subscription to a fashion
magazine as our big present, and I, you know, I
(04:24):
would fall in love with Fashion Vogue, Harper's w at
the time, and just knew that New York was the
place to be if you wanted to be a designer.
And so when I was eighteen, my brother had a
friend who was a designer in New York and said,
you know, can my sister come intern for you? And
the designer was like, sure, yeah, she can come up.
So I knew that that was where I wanted to start.
(04:45):
And then once I started interning and then eventually got
hired by the company after three years, I was like,
I'm so tired of listening to someone else. I want
to be in my own boss and I'm going to
work as hard I wanted to be my risk, my dime,
not that I had any dimes, let me just be
clear about that. My pennies. So I just started making
(05:06):
my own things, and enough people would ask me about
what are you wearing, and my sister in law and
then my friends that I just was like, oh, people
like what I'm creating, Maybe I should start selling it.
So I started doing that on the side while still
working for this gentleman. And then right after nine to eleven,
fortuitously or not really not fortuitously, I sent a shirt
(05:31):
to a well known celebrity on September ninth, and on
the thirteenth she wore it on Jay Leno. He said,
my name and the rest is definitely not history. But
it propelled my name into a state where I could
call up almost any boutique and say, hey, I have
this clothing line, will you let me in the door.
And then I got the bug, you know. I my
(05:54):
first store was like, I'll take three pieces on consignment,
which means they only pay you when it sells, and
I ran home. I created these postcards from this shitty printer,
and then I went back out to Union Square and
I was like, amazing designer. I wrote that the mink
Off and I would stand in hand him out and
then a few days later he's like, we sold out
of the shirts. I want more. So I just really
(06:15):
felt like this was my calling and it didn't matter
what it took to do it. So that moment where
the celebrity wore your shirt on the Tonight Show, Yeah,
this is a fortuitous moment. But don't you feel like
those moments have to happen in one's life in some
way or another. Win you have the drive, the talent,
(06:36):
You've done the work, Like I feel like those moments
pop up in someone like your life when you are
pursuing this talent so much and this you're putting it
all out there and you're really got something and then
that little magic moment happens. But I hear this all
the time, and people's stories. Tell me what you think
(06:56):
about that and not playing a part in someone's career yourself,
I think it plays a huge part. And I wanted
to spell the notion like a former woman that used
to be the president of our company would be like,
You're just so lucky, and I was like, actually, I'm
not lucky. I worked my fucking ass off for this
excuse me if I swear, I worked my butt off
(07:19):
for this, And it's almost like if you have a pie.
It's like or the ingredients of a pie, Like you've
worked hard on so many different levels, whether it's making
the right connections, you know, knowing where to go. I
didn't know where to go. I had to figure it out.
No one helped me. You know. I came across at
(07:39):
the time, in the pre internet days, you know, an
online social calendar of fashion events, and I was like,
I'm gonna get myself invited to these events, right, So
it's that plus I'm gonna, you know, go and get
a printed directory of boutiques and storism. I'm going to
send them something and then I'm gonna, you know, get
stuff to my friends and oh, this actress wants something
(08:01):
and her expectations or she wants it tomorrow. Cool, I'm
going to make sure I FedEx her, you know, all
these vectors. That's sort of a line, and then you
strike the match, right, and so luck has a little
bit to do with it, but it really is all
about everything you sort of set up in order for
that buyer to sort of take off, Like you laying
the groundwork in every area that you know how, doing
(08:23):
the extra mile, and that's a thing I feel like
I would love to hear your advice too. Young entrepreneurs,
especially women. It is so much, like you said, working
your ass off and getting out there and doing it,
and you can't just be like, well, where is my
lucky break gonna fall into my lap? Like it seems
like this person had it so easier. That person got lucky.
And it's like, truly, if you hit it and you
get a lucky moment like the celebrity wearing your shirt
(08:45):
on tonight show and they mentioning you, it's because you
put in so much time to get to that moment,
like you're saying. And I feel like that's what people
don't realize. A lot of the time, they don't realize it.
And I think when women or anyone approaches being not
an entrepreneur, like are so used to just being like, oh,
here's my car. Oh add to car oh arrived same day, right,
(09:07):
and so they're just like, my career should be the same.
And I'm like, take that notion out of your head,
because guess what, fifteen years later, I'm still working my
ass off and that's fine, but just sort of reset
your expectations. And not only am I working my ass off,
you have things every day that you're like, I never
could have imagined that this hole in the boat would
(09:28):
be this big. And so I think it's knowing that
part of your journey is this roller coaster. That's just
how it is. So sign up for that ride and
know that, Like when you feel like it's grinding, you're
just going up that big hill and then you get
to the top and you get to be like, yes,
I never thought I could do this, and then something
bad happens and you go down, you know, So it's
(09:49):
like it's just part of the journey. And you can't
look at the magazines and the bloggers and just be
like it's all perfect, because it's they're all working their
ass off too. You know, when did you realize that
it's a part of the journey to have the highs
and the lows, Because that took me a little while
to figure out. Like in the beginning, I really got
knocked on my ass, like and I was like I
would crawl up in the fetal position and be very
devastated that like my world had completely ruined and it
(10:12):
was over. Ye and then something would come in or
another like opportunity or like another road would present itself,
and it's like, oh, and then finally it clicked after
you know, about ten years of For me, it was like,
we're just like ten years before I finally figured it
out that that's just a part of it. When did
you realize that? I realized it. I think like you
over similar things. I remember I'll never forget when we
(10:34):
were doing about a million in sales, probably more than
ten years ago. Our bank said to us, when you
hit five million, it'll get really easy. You'll be profitable,
you'll have money for things, you able to pay your
bills on time. And I was like, oh, we just
have to get to five million. And we hit five million,
(10:54):
and I was like it's gonna be We're just gonna coast.
And it was like not making money, not profitable, same challenges,
you know, and I was like, oh, maybe this is
what this is. And then I had these fantasies, you know,
when you saw these companies become billion dollar brands, and
I was like, Uh, that person must have it easy.
(11:15):
She probably just puts her football a day and scrolls
through Facebook. And then you hear you know, in their
investor reports if they're a public company, or you listen
to them on the podcast and you're like, oh, that
that stuff is still hard, and they're still they don't
have all the answers. So I think it was like
this slow awakening of like, oh, this is the ride,
(11:36):
and I'm going to sign up for it till it's over.
But I also think you sort of, you know, you
gain muscle right by tearing it apart, and then it
sort of grows back together. And I think as an entrepreneur,
all these you know, I sort of looked at all
these challenges as muscle tears, and each time I'm stronger,
and each time I bounced back quicker, and so that
(11:59):
is helpful to sort of have that mindset of like, Okay,
here's another one, but I'm going to grow from this
in some way. Even even what's happening with COVID right
right now in our company, seventy percent of our business
just evaporated right in smoke because and it's like how stores,
because you a lot of your business is actually you're
like in nine hundred stores, is that right? Something like that?
(12:21):
We were yeah, I don't even know the number now,
but you know, seventy percent of our business evaporated and
sort of like, how do you become a direct consumer company,
which we were but wasn't our main focus, and how
do you sort of thrive? And you know, we're up
seven percent, which I don't think most companies can say,
And it's like, Okay, that was a big muscle tear
and we're you know, we're going to come back stronger
(12:42):
for it. And how it's like you said, a hole
in the boat, So that's like a muscle tear, a
hole in the boat. How do you approach that? Like
what when covid hit in, you have such a I
guess as a consumer based product where people go in
and try it on and do all that, Like that
was your your main part? How did you navigate that?
Because that's a big deal. You're running a huge operation. Yeah,
(13:06):
so right away we knew that with most of these
stores closing and you can no longer go in and
some stores not even shipping if they didn't have warehouses
that were allowed to we said, okay, we're an e
commerce company. Let's think like an e commerce company, what
would that be? You know, I've always enjoyed a really
strong connection with my customer, But how do I even
(13:28):
get closer? You know? Is it how too? Is it
the fun videos? Is it those quotes that distract you
on a Sunday? Is it you know me on Instagram Live? Like,
how do we become your best friend? If we haven't
done that already, how do we talk to you real?
So we're not sending you emails that have nothing to
do in our tone death for what's happening. So it
(13:49):
was really all about getting into the customer, not just
her mindset. But I'm in the same mindset. I'm not
in some you know, I'm not on David Geffen's boat,
detached from society and being vulnerable, right, sharing those struggles too,
not like for me, but like, hey, I'm homeschooling my
kids too, and I'm trying to work and you know,
I'm hiding and taking calls from my bathroom. Not today,
(14:11):
but I was for many months. And so I think
the customer was like, yes, you're choosing to be inspiring
and not you know, go down during these dark times,
but you're also real. So I think that that really helped.
And then you know, also products cycles, like we're talking
a lot about nylon and totes because where are you
(14:32):
going right now? You're going to the grocery store. You
know you need a big bag. So I think it's
also knowing what to communicate to your customer when like
we're not selling a going out bag. We know you're
not going to the club right now. Yeah, and that
I saw one of your Instagram videos that you did
for like the summer Drop. You're like walking out your
front door and you have on all these outfits that
(14:53):
are super comfortable that we can wear in COVID Lifestyle,
and then the last one you're like wrapped up in
a towel, like taking a Voda, And I'm like, yes,
that is life. You want to have these nas to
be comfy it. But then also, can we just be
in our robe and cry a little bit and drink
some vodka in the front boards Totally. I told my
husband I found a perfect song to cry too, like
(15:14):
what I'm running. But I was like, it's so hard
to cry and run because you're out of breath, but
you're also crying. But it's the only time I'm like
alone away from my kids. Wanted that release. Do you
just feel overwhelmed, because like, like you, I absolutely love
how you have taken a very difficult situation and you
figured out how to navigate it and make it good
(15:36):
for you, and you continued your brand and you continue
to work with the times. But then also do you
just get that feeling of just complete overwhelmed, whelmed and
heaviness of just like what is happening? Like how are
we going to navigate this wild world? How do you
deal with that? Yeah, I mean my having my I
haven't figured out a true outlet. I have a lot
(15:58):
of nightmares. I think my my heaviness comes from the
fact that, Okay, I know for now we can exist
as a business. We're not going to go out of business, right,
so we know that we know how to run a
business during this time. I think my heaviness comes from
the fact of, like, are my kids going to have
to wear masks all day in school? Or I just
(16:19):
got a letter from the head of the school saying
minimal movement within school and face masks, And I'm like, okay,
so I'm putting my kids in a prison and they
can't breathe, right, Not that I don't think that mask
should be worn, but not for eight hours a day, right, So,
especially for growing kids. So I just I get heavy
when I'm like, what future are we building for our kids?
(16:42):
And why isn't anyone thinking out of the box or
they're outside school. I don't know, I'm not, you know.
So my heaviness mostly comes from them and wanting them
not for this to be a mark on their lives
that they're like, oh, that's the bad times, you know.
And I also think my heaviness comes from the breakdown
(17:03):
of societal bonds, Like everyone's scared of each other and
that's terrible. You know, when people cringe at you in
the grocery shore, You're like, like, I didn't think that
humans could begin to treat each other this way, and
that's scared me because if we're scared of each other
just with this, you know, how bad does it get?
So that's the heaviness. And I don't know that I
(17:25):
have a solution, and I think about it every name. Yeah,
not to take this to a dark place, No, it
is the truth of the matter. And that's how I
feel too. Like I wake up every day and I
remind myself of all my blessings and I'm so thankful
and I am so grateful for this life. But then
It's like there's just I feel like the world is
(17:45):
just completely upside down and every and maybe that's what
had to happen. Maybe like we were so things needed
to change so much that it just got to point
where it all broke hell broke loose. You know, you
can't hide from any of it anymore. And so I'm
what are we supposed to be learning here? And how
do we navigate it? But I have those moments too
where I just get like so overwhelmed with it all
that I don't know how to navigate and being a mom,
(18:07):
I'm a new mom. You have three kids, And I
was reading that being a mom has like profoundly just
impacted everything about your life, like from your career to
how you think. So you're talking about your kids in
this time, I get it, But how has being a
mother navigated your whole experience since the day your first
(18:28):
child was born? Like? How did that change you? I
think it changed me in a couple of ways. I
was I thought of myself as very self aware, selfish
in terms of pre kids. I could do what I
wanted to do when sleep in, you know, and even
getting pregnant, I only accelerated that in terms of my
timeline because I really wanted my kids to have a
(18:49):
great relationship with my parents. And I'm like, I'm not
getting any younger. They're not getting any younger. I'm not
ready to get pregnant, but bucket, and so the whole pregnancy,
I would I didn't want to verbalize because I didn't
want the baby to hear me, but I would like
text my husband. He'd be sitting right next to me, like,
I can't believe they did this. I deeply regret this decision.
I don't know if I'm ready to be a mother,
(19:09):
And he'd be like, you know, and then he I
wouldn't let him. I wouldn't let him reply because I
didn't want his words for the b So whatever. So
cut to the baby comes out and and I call
it like the fourth dimension of love, Like I didn't
know I could love of something so selflessly. And you become,
(19:30):
at least for me, you start thinking of more than yourself.
There's a world out there that you want to be better.
There's an environment out there that you want to be,
like fresh air and not an ocean polluted with plastic,
And you just start making decisions. I think my interest
in health became more pronounced during that time because I
was like, I want to be optimized for health and
(19:53):
I want my kids to be healthy. And then how
do I structure my business because I don't want to
be a mom that doesn't raise my kids. There's plenty
of moms that are fine with that, but I wasn't
that person, you know. So I had to structure my
business in a way and really invest in teams that
could like take the baton and run because I wanted
(20:13):
to leave at six pm, and I wanted them to
leave it. You know, they want to leave at six pm.
So you know, my brother's my co founder, he chose
not to leave at six pm every night, and we
had to have on his conversations where I'd be like, yo,
I'm getting home to my kids. I want to be
there for dinner, for bath, for bedtime. If you don't
want to do that, cool, but we're going to differ
(20:34):
in that opinion and that has to be okay. And
so really trying to not only lead as an example,
but allow that for my staff to feel that way too.
It wasn't just I'm the boss. I get to have
these purposes like just go home. It's Okay, we're not
caring cancer. So I think that sort of making that shift,
and then slowly it took me a long time, like
(20:56):
don't do email on the weekends, you know, unless you
have to. It's something to urge, and like your website
crash is cool. But just trying to allow for time
to be away from work and not be so burned out.
It's really changed my mental state. I can be present
as a mom obviously fashion week there's times where I'm
(21:17):
working late, I'm distracted, and I'm on my phone. But
for the most part, I've really tried to put in
those boundaries and test them. Like I have three kids now,
so with each one you might get a little bit
more like where are your new boundaries, and like get uncomfortable,
try something no that that's too much, or no that
that's too little, and then you know what to say
(21:38):
no one yes too. So I always tell people like,
go on that two week business trip and see how
you feel. You'll never want to do it again, or
maybe you'll be like I want to go on two
week business trips all the time. You have to find
yourself balance. What does it feel like to you when
it's a no? When you feel like, Nope, that's the boundary.
I hit it. I'm not doing that, Like what does
that feel like? So I definitely get foma. I think
(22:00):
when it's a work related event, it's just staying out,
Like am I going to meet someone that's gonna like
make a huge impact on my company? Could I connect
that person another time? Could we have coffee during the
day or is this just a good time? And it
was a waste. So I sort of look to everything
and I'm gonna stay out late, I'm gonna miss that
time with my family. What's the get from it? Totally?
(22:24):
And if there isn't a get, I gotta find one
to make it worth it. So yeah, I totally get that. Yeah,
if you were, I mean, you might have this, you
might have a mission statement. If you were going to
put a mission statement for your whole vibe existence with career, family,
what would it be like? What is your motto that
(22:45):
you go by? So we had I had done this
branding exercise with this company and we sort of distilled
down like what was that thing that propelled me to
do it? And sometimes I say this in women are
like but I'm not like that, so I can't. But
I think it is doing it anyways. And there was
a fearlessness to moving here where I didn't consider what
(23:10):
could happen. I didn't consider the odds. There was a
fearlessness to starting my company. And people are like, put,
you would so much lose. I'm like, I had nothing. Therefore,
I had nothing to lose except I was gonna have
to go back home and like sleep on my old
bedroom and like regroup, right if that's it, you know, Okay,
(23:31):
So you know, even even when several years ago there
was a potential that our bank might seize our company
and they would own it, and I was like, what
am I losing here? Okay, they can't take my family
and my children, and if I have to start over,
I know how to start over as an entrepreneur. Not
that that would be like oh cool, but like, you know,
(23:54):
so I think it's a fearlessness. And even when you're scared,
you're doing it anyway. So this isn't a message of
like I'm ever scared. It's like, oh, that's gary cool,
let's do it anyways. What is there to lose? Not much?
You know, so I guess that, well, I guess now
though you do have a lot to lose as far
as your career. You've built a huge career, do you
(24:15):
still are you still able? Like I guess what you're
saying you are? Are Are you still able to navigate in that?
What do I have to lose? Mentality? Because there is
a lot there, There's a lot there. But I feel
like you're not losing how the customer feels about you.
You're not losing that community that you've built. You're not
losing all the relationships you've made. Like if if we
(24:37):
were to have lost our company in COVID, I have
no doubt that I could have sprouted up with something
new and been like, hey, everyone need your need a
little help, you know, get the word out there. We've
launched X and do it again or do something else.
You know. I think that when you're an entrepreneur, you
(24:58):
have a skill that you're always able to go back
and start over and never forget that what that feels like,
because that's that's valuable. You know. It's like when I
started the podcast, right it was starting something new. I
was I did it all myself, no one helped me,
and I had to figure it out, but I knew
as an entrepreneur then knowing how to figure something out.
(25:22):
And so once you have that, that's better than any
amount of money in the bank because you're like, oh,
I know, I know, I can figure this out. What
inspired you to start the podcast, because it's not like
you didn't have enough going on, but now you're like,
I'm going to add value to women's life because I'm
gonna live because you have access to incredible women you
(25:42):
have on your podcast. There's CEOs, there's superstars, like you
have all types of women who are doing incredible things.
And to me, like the pot your podcast is a
gift to women because you don't need to do that,
Like you don't need to take that time to do that.
But because you have access to these women, y'all have
these incredible conversations that you're sharing, and I mean that's
(26:05):
just exact. Consider that a true gift. What encouraged you
to do that? So the fashion world it's getting a
little better, but it's very insular, it's very clicky, it's
very snobby. And I was so sick of these people,
and I was so sick of the lack of sending
the ladder down. And I came from the outside. I
(26:25):
was not accepted into like theogue Anna's world, and so
I guess whether it's a chip on my shoulder. But
I always wanted to be inclusive because I hated that feeling,
and so I started throwing these dinners in my store
of just getting women from all sorts of other industries
together and how could we support each other and talk.
And then I was like, oh wait, that's exclusive because
(26:47):
my customer wasn't invited. How do I invite her to this?
So let me do fireside chats at my store and
invite my customer and we started having you know, ninety
women showed up, but I could only let in seventy
two because the fire marshal would come. And I was like, okay,
how do I get this bigger? Right? How do I
amplify this? And the podcast was sort of the next
natural way to do that, so I launched at the
(27:09):
end of twenty eighteen. I was scared I'd know it.
I was like learning how to edit via YouTube videos
and the mics to get and that's when I was like,
all right, I know what I know how to do,
and someone else is going to edit this. I'm not
going to do that part, but I'll do the rest.
I'll find the talent, you know, I'll reach out to them,
(27:30):
I'll book them, I'll interview them. No one's prepping me.
And that was fun to get dirty again, you know,
get your hands truly dirty, like do all the grout
work that you know, what it takes to become an
entrepreneur and to have a podcast. And then the women
have been like therapy for me, you know, like I
learned something with every podcast, and I'm inspired and I'm
(27:53):
almost rejuvenated because they're giving me something too. So as
much as it's great for everyone, I'm right there with
them like, oh that's great, I feel better. Now what
have you taken away from your podcast? What are some
of the lessons that you've gathered? Oh, there's so many. Um.
One of mine it's with Patty Sellers. You know, she's like,
(28:16):
if women talked about money as much as we talk
about sex, we would be so much richer. You know,
so instead of complaining about you know, your sex life
at dinner, you're like, oh, I invested in this stock
and this is what happened, you know if that ork
instead of like, you know, my go to at any
event is oh your kids, all kids? How old are
(28:36):
they But if instead it was like, you know, should
I invest in this new company? Should I give them
twenty five thousand dollars or whatever? It is, Like, if
that was what we talked about this, probably this gender
pay gap would be a lot smaller than men talk
about all the time. Yeah, all the time. Yeah, they're
not like, oh, look at this cute picture of my
son eating pudding. You know. So that was something that
(29:03):
I thought was just great. I think that I've asked
all these women to be really vulnerable in the podcast
because I think I want to showcase their hardest moments,
their biggest challenges, and how they've overcome them or not.
And so that's that's refreshing. And I felt like it's
(29:24):
okay to be more vulnerable too with my staff on social.
So those are just two and then just fun ones
like the Katie Curic one was one of my favorite
ones because she's just epic and I can't believe she
did that podcast with me. So do you ever have
that moment where you're kind of like a wow, like
this is crazy, I'm having a conversation with this person. Yes,
(29:47):
all the time, especially the bigger ones. You know what,
I've not everyone feels this comfortable, But I usually will
not prep to the interview because then I'm authentically intrigued
in it and I don't have to worry. Like if
you go back to the very beginnings, I have my
sheet of paper and I'm like looking up at each
question and I'm not listening. I'm just like, oh, Okay,
(30:09):
she's done talking, so I'm going to ask my next question.
But as I got more comfortable and I was like,
screw it, I'm not going to research these people. Then
I'm genuinely interested, and then I'm going on that journey
with my listener, and I think it for me, it
creates a better interview. I love that. I totally agree.
When I first started, too, I have like a printed
sheet every single thing I could find about everyone's career,
(30:32):
and I would just like be like checking it off.
And finally I interviewed Stormy Warren, who's a big radio
personality and country music, and he's like I walked in
with my paper and he's like, why don't you just
turn that paper upside down and let's just talk. And
I was like, no, I can't. I can't do it.
And I agree. I love the fluidity of it. You
love to talk about women and them overcoming some of
(30:54):
their hardest moments, So I was also in the same
what is something that was a really hard moment for
you that kind of defined you? Do you want me
to go how many years back or how many months?
Because I could pick so many apples from that tree
you want to? Okay, I'll never forget one of the
(31:18):
first big orders I got. When I say big, it
was like ten bags. I shipped it myself and I
sort of loosely wrapped some paper that you might buy
for your kids, like craft paper around the bags, and
I shipped it to this really incredible boutique in the
West Village in New York that was really known for
launching new brands. And I got the check and I
(31:40):
was like, oh my god, I don't know whatever two
thousand dollars And the owner called me and he's like,
you need to come down here now. There's a big problem.
And the pit at the bottom of my stomach was huge.
And I get there. He's like, this isn't how you
ship bags to customers. This is completely unprofessional. And I
was shaking at that moment. He's like, can you imagine
(32:02):
that someone's going to pay. At the time, my bags
were more expensive, like four ninety five dollars or a
bag that arrives like this, where's your dust bag, where's
the wrap? You know, how have you protected the hardware?
And I was just like and instead of saying, here
are your goods back, I'm going to cancel your check,
he was like, I'm going to teach you how to
do this. Wow. And so that was just a lesson
(32:23):
in you know, a be more professional and you're shipping
people things. But also like, um, take those moments not
as criticism or you know, look what he did to me,
or he was being mean, but really like reflect on
how you know this person had the opportunity to like
not pay you and cancel your check, um, but support you. Um.
(32:47):
So that was like one of like, Okay, from now on,
I have to do it the right way. There's no
there's no quick cheat to some things. There was another
time period where we were first overseas factory experience. We
were making in the same factory as Kate Spade, and
we did not have a quality control person and the
(33:09):
Chinese workers there didn't read English, and they put Kate
Spade hardware on and Rebecca mink Off hardware on the
same bag, and since we went right out to the customer,
no one checked it, and the customer on this popular
bag forum started like having a field day with like
hybrid name like there's benefit but there was sebeca spank off,
(33:30):
which is the hybrid of Kate and Rebecca and making
fun of us. It's kind of a big deal right here,
huge huge. I was like, every single bag that we
just shipped our first you know overseas experience is Quebeca
spank off. So I was looking at do all these
bags get returned? Are my relationships with all the stores ruined? Right?
(33:52):
And I was like, how do I turn this into
a positive? Like how do I get control back of
the situation? And so I was like, congratulations, everybody, Willy Wonka,
if you have this bag, you know, if you can
find a bag, send it back and not only will
you get a new one, but you'll get a credit.
And I just made up a way to like take
(34:12):
the negativity and say, yes, we messed up. The good
news is if you help me clean out the market
of these bags, I'll reward you for it. And so
it turned what could have been a terrible situation not
into a positive but a manageable situation. So I think
you always have to look at when that hole is
in your boat, like what are you going to use
(34:32):
to cover it up? And how resourceful can you be
as an entrepreneur to sort of get that water out.
It seems to me that you are so customer driven.
Like I was watching some videos. I mean they were
like from like two thousand and five, I think, or
like early days of you and your brother talking about it,
and y'all knew exactly who your customer was, what you
(34:53):
were catering to, what you were wanting for them, And
I just feel like that is a crucial part of
running a successful business, of knowing who is your customer.
And I feel like you guys were also putting edge
of using social media and in media in general, like
in your dressing rooms you had an option to scroll
a screen to pick other items to try on, and
(35:16):
a dressing room like you're just always thinking outside of
the box. So how important is your customer to you?
And how have you figured out who your customer is?
So I think from day one it was really clear
that we wanted to be in touch with our customer. Again,
you know the old route. If you close your eyes
(35:37):
and go back fifteen years, it wasn't how it is now.
You know, fashion back then was Anna likes you, Barney's
likes you. You're the it designer, and you get this
like propulsion from that power. So it isn't definitely love.
The old way is very exclusive and like you have
to just ordinary. You have to be a chosen one, anointed. Yes,
(35:59):
she has her like magic wand and then then you're good.
That is real, Like I just see all that in
the movies, but it's like real life out there. Yes,
it's real life. It was real life. It's better now,
So I feel like, you know, when we launched, social
media was in its nascent form. I came across I
(36:20):
got a Google alert that existed about these women on
a forum. It was called the First Blog, and I
had a forum talking about my bags, and I was like,
I know the answers to all these questions. I should
make an account and answer them. And it was just
there wasn't a thought or a strategy behind it. So
I made a user name. I started talking and they
couldn't believe it was me. I had to verify it
was me, and we started this dialogue and I was interested,
(36:43):
like what do you like? Why do you like it? Oh?
You want this bag? Pool, go get twenty of you
together and we'll make it. And wow, it was so
early that ownership to your customer. You're like, you love this,
we'll serve you in this way. Wow, that's amazing. Yeah,
I mean it was early crowdsourcing essentially. And we had
interventions from stores like we don't think we can carry
(37:05):
you if you're going to talk to your customer. We
don't know, like you're dirtying yourself. Like. We had intense conversations,
and then you know, Facebook opened up and then Instagram.
We just said, okay, we're going to be wherever she
is because this is our way to communicate with her.
And then you know, pre kids, I would travel to
thirty cities a year and go meet my customer and
department stores. So it was our way of like, let's
(37:28):
just have a tight knit relationship. Now this is normal,
but let's just pour the coal. I guess on all
the different forms we can talk to her, and then
you get to know her, not because you like did
an analytic survey. You see her, you meet her, you
talk to her, and then you just are like, okay, good,
this is who she is. And we've made plenty of mistakes,
(37:49):
believe you me, like wrong aesthetic, wrong price point. Are
you still there? Okay, I'm going to take my said
the battery is low. Okay, okay, wrong esthetic, wrong price point,
like trying to be cool and fashioning, like we've done
(38:09):
all the wrong things. But I think that every time
we go back to who she is, who's that girl?
You know, she's someone who comes to us for these
milestone moments within her life that are big deals to her.
She can finally afford something more than fast fashioned. She
gets a race, she gets a job, she has a baby,
(38:29):
she gets divorced, she's an affair, like all these you know,
things that happen to women, and she can buy our
product and eat or buy our product and pay rent.
And we stay within now at a very clear aesthetic.
So you know, if you're coming to us, we're a
little bit of bohemian, we're a little bit of rock.
So like that's sort of the esthetic, and then everything
(38:52):
else is sort of layered on the brand pillars of
being fearless or supporting women or being inclusive, because Lord knows,
I know what it feels like to not be included.
So how how did that feel when you feel when
you finally hit from the moment where you're like, I
know whoo our consumer is, I know who she is?
Do you remember that moment or was it just an evolution?
(39:15):
I think it was an evolution. I mean there's been
times where we're so clear on who she is. But
also as I've gotten older, sometimes that customer changes. Like
for a long time, my brother and our former president
had this theory like freeze Rebecca at twenty seven, and
(39:38):
I was like, but I'm thirty two now and I
have a kid, and I want different things, and it's
really hard for me to keep talking to that girl
at twenty seventy. Only let's talk to the eighteen year old,
the twenty five year old, the thirty year old, right,
And finally we've un frozen her as of like four
years ago. And the difference is night and day because
now I can talk up in down to those experiences
(40:02):
instead of just this like one life stage. And guess
what happens if we only talk to you at twenty seven,
then when you're thirty five and you're making a lot
more money, you go buy the more expensive back because
you're like, oh, she only talked to me when I
was twenty seven. I felt like this, But now if
I'm spanning like all these life journeys, I'm hoping that
(40:24):
you know, she comes with me on that journey and
she wants to keep keep up with that story. Do
you think that you're they're wanting you to freeze it
because they knew that work, that was something that was
successful when really that like you said, that's just it's
actually limiting. But do you think it's just fear based?
And like how did you push through that and be like, no,
(40:46):
we've got an unfreezer. We had a lot of heated arguments,
a lot of disagreements. I think they got some data
that said, like, this is your core customer and she's
still might be, but we need to talk up and down,
high and low. You know, I'm going to be forty
this year. I got to talk to my forty year olds,
(41:07):
you know, and my eighteen year olds. So what's happening
now is both eighteen and forty are growing faster than
twenty seven. So like it just opened up new a
new base for us, you know, tu new basis so
I think that it could have been fear base and
I let them do it for a long time, and
people were like, well, you're in the base of the company,
(41:29):
how do you let them? Well, when you have business partners,
it's not always you know my way or the highway.
What do you look for in an employee? Because the
fact that you are such a hands on mom and
you are such a hands on businesswoman, in order to
be the hands on mom, you have to hire people
that you really rely on. Like you said, what are
(41:50):
the key traits that you look for in an employee?
Your education and where what fancy university is barely important
to me. It's do you look me in the eye?
Do you shake my hand? Not weakly and not turning
it over like men do, right, some men do, or
(42:11):
aggressive women who are like I'm the dominant one here. Yeah,
whenever your hand is like turned over, that person's trying
to let you know that they're dominating you. Stop it.
Oh my god, I'll never view a handshake the same now, Okay,
I'm glad the best. That's nice thing to know. Okay, So,
(42:33):
oh yeah, so look me in the eye. Good communication,
someone that's willing to do hard work that again within
within um, you know, an employee, they also think that
they're going to be promoted to senior director in three
months and don't have to work that hard. So someone
who doesn't have any of those sort of ideas that
(42:53):
takes the ball and runs with it. I'll never forget.
We have a friend who has a very successful brand
and for whatever, and he gives us a lot of
free advice. And he was and prior to us, I
wanted to be the dead mother, the dead mother. And
if someone was sad or like I'm I'm not happy,
and I'd be like, oh, come crying with me. And
(43:15):
he's like, these people are hired to do a job.
Either they take a load off your shoulders and they
get out. This isn't you know. You're not here to
be a therapist. You're not here to be the mom
that's like the cuddle open your arms. Yes you can
be kind and thoughtful, but you're not here to like
take someone's entire shit storm of their life and be
the solver of it. Right. They're there to say, hey,
(43:38):
I got this, I'm gonna run. And so I really
look for that in all of our staff now, like
do they own their area. Do they make it better?
Do they improve it cool? Are they complaining? Are they
just sulking? Are they letting whatever's happening in their life
interrupt their work? Then they don't. They don't get to
stay because you can't grow business if you just have
a bunch of victims. Yeah, and that is so true,
(44:01):
especially being a woman like you said, a dead mother
and nurturing woman. I feel the same way. Like I
feel like I take everyone's feelings and I want to
help you strive and become happy and have a purposeful
life and all that stuff. But it is a job,
and this is your creation, this is your baby, this
is your dream. And if you're spending time and money
to hire someone they need to add to your dream.
(44:23):
That's so Yes, this is not a this is not
a handout, you know, And it doesn't. And again, Ben,
people be like, oh, you must be a mean no,
Like I can still be nice and understanding, But like
you came to get a paycheck, I'm paying you that money.
You give something back in return? Have you Do you
struggle with firing people or are you pretty good at
(44:45):
it at this point? Well, thankfully I don't have to
do it anymore. They don't want me in the room
when I'm fired. There's people that I wanted to fire
at Our chief counsel just said, you know what, you
don't get to be in the room. It's my job.
You need to stay forward facing, and you know so
(45:05):
I can do it. It's not easy. I don't think
that ever gets easy. It's only easy if like someone
like cheated you, or you know, like we had someone
that stole a bunch of stuff, like it was very
satisfying to fire them. But outside of that, it's hard.
It's you know, yeah, same feeling with someone quits. It's like, oh, man,
(45:26):
you didn't want to stay here for the rest of
your life and work with me? Why? Why? So you
have a good press and you have so many positive
things swirling around you, how do you deal with the
moments of bad press and the moments that really gut
wrench you in the public eye. Well, I guess it's
(45:49):
good that my brother is my co founder because I
can call him invent. Like we had a piece of
negative press in seventeen. We had a shipping logistics nightmare
because we changed warehouses and we messed up ten thousand
people's orders. Oh yeah, so that was awful. And then
when I publicly apologized, this fashion publication you know, took
(46:14):
it one step further and had to write about the
whole debacle. I was like, thanks for you know, helping
me out. When I'm on my knees. It sucks. It
feels like you've been broken up with, it feels like
everyone hates you. But I just said, I'm just gonna
keep not just apologizing, but showing my customer that I'm
going to solve this until it's better and be honest
(46:36):
with her. And so, you know, for that particular thing,
I kept apologizing. I kept sending out sorry notes. I
kept sending out like gifts for everyone who's Christmas order
I ruined until it was better. And I also was
like really, I was like, dude, there was there was
a glitch in our system from a Chinese character put
(46:58):
into the wrong part of the ZIP code and it
messed up ten thousand orders. I'm totally sorry. Technology like
never could have predicted that. And like once people knew
the real story, they're like, Okay, she's not trying to
fuck me on Christmas. So I just think, like the Mico,
she's all Scrooge of Christmas. So I just I mean,
(47:23):
it differs with everything. But I think that you can
get bad press for not doing anything and people just
attack you like cancel. Culture is huge right now and
I think people's instinct is to retreat. But I feel
like knocking on wood, if you know that would ever happen,
I would just speak the truth, good or bad. I'd
(47:46):
be like, this is the truth and that's all I
can do and take responsibility for whatever it is. So
with all the amazing things in your life, all the
journey that you've been on, what does sticks look like
to you? Okay, so that has totally changed. And I
don't know about you, but on your path as an entrepreneur,
(48:07):
you know, my first measure of success is I don't
have to call my bank to see if I have
enough money to go out to eat tonight. Like that
was like, ah, I don't know if the check because
I have more than one hundred bucks in my account.
And then it was oh, my god, my husband and
I who just got married, we don't need to have
roommates anymore, you know, like how do we pay our rent?
(48:33):
And then it became stuff just like, oh, we can
take a vacation and we can pay for a vacation.
So like all that you know has has come full circle.
And that success to me is like that I can
stop working at six. You know that I don't have
to check email on the weekends. You know that I
can be with my family and enjoy them. And that's
(48:55):
probably what success is to me now. And it's and
it's also not just oh, I sell handbags and that's
all I do. Success to me is I get to
have incredible conversations with women on my podcast. I get
to have an incredible community with the founder community I created.
I get to have, you know, touch people that I've
(49:15):
admired for so long, Like when I get invited to
something and I'm like, whoa, I got to be here
at this dinner with Katie Kurk or whoever. Like, Okay,
that success. So what is the secret to a happy
marriage and raising kids? I don't know anything about your
(49:37):
marriage or your home, so I'm just I'm seeing you
put another perspective on, like you are a boss in
every perspective and you have it all. So how do
you what is the secret to that? Well, I haven't
had sex in about six weeks, so I'll say that
it happens. We're like when and how is this going
(49:58):
to happen? Because I'm sleeving with my daughter and you're
sitting with the boys, and the bedtimes are all messed up,
and like I keep getting my period. So so I
think communication we both adopted the idea. I have so
(50:18):
many girlfriends that when something is wrong within their marriage,
they're like mattering to their girlfriends about it, and I
just never understood, like, this is your life partner. This
is your person that's going to raise your kids with you. Like,
if you have an issue, take it up with your
husband or your partner, not your girlfriends who nothing good's
going to come aback, right, So I think if I
(50:40):
have a problem, I immediately address it, or I show
signs that something is wrong that he knows well enough
now that he's like, what's up. I think we also
we never truly had like the talk about equality within
the household, but there are a lot of people who
expect it to be equal and then it's not, and
then they get senful. So I always say, like, set
(51:02):
your boundaries. You know, in our household, everything's equal when
it comes to laundry, diaper changes, cooking, cleaning whatever, it's
down the middle. So we never have to have those
arguments because one of us always knows, like, oh, you
got the you're making breakfast, I'll cook lunch, whatever it is.
But I think communication is the biggest thing. And then
(51:24):
and then setting, you know, as things in your life change,
your needs and wants change, like be upfront with your
partner about that. Like I was like, I don't know
if I can sleep in the same bed with you
anymore because you moved too much and I need to sleep,
you know. But like he didn't take it like like
at least I was telling him why I'm now sleeping
with my daughter because she does a move. So I
(51:46):
think we're just you know, you go through different things
and you just got to get them off your chest, right. Yes,
I love that, And it sounds to me like you
guys assume the best in each other and so it's
like you just navigate the seasons of your life. I
think that's the encreage for me, and like all relationships,
my family, my friends, my husband, obviously being a mom,
it's just assumed that these people that you've chosen to
(52:08):
link up within your life are wanting the best for you,
and so going when I can go in with that
sort of mentality, it's like, Okay, we're a team and
we both want to win, we both want each other
to succeed, we want to succeed together. So that's been
a huge game changer for me. It's just like, these
people want the best for me, I'm with the best
for them. So going with that view, Yep, totally. And
(52:31):
I think that calling out people on their shit, Like
if he does stuff I don't like, I'm just like,
not cool, buddy, and he'll do the same to me.
And I think you have to have that honesty within
a marriage for it to work. Totally agree, what have
what have you learned from being a mother about yourself?
(52:54):
That I'm stronger than I ever thought I would be
capable of mentally and physically. That there is more of
you to give than you think. Like you could think,
oh my god, how will I have a business and
kids and a social life and whatever. I'm not saying
(53:16):
I have all that figured out, but there is more
Like even when you have more kids, like you're like, oh,
could I really give that much love to another human?
And it just kind of grows even though there's one
of you, and I definitely feel overwhelmed. I've definitely yelled
at my kids way more than I ever have in quarantine.
But I think that knowing that you have the ability
(53:38):
to sort of have octapus arms, you know, even when
there's just one of you, I love that. Rebecca. I
am so thankful and honored that you came on my podcast.
You are such a bright light to this world, and
it really means the world to me that you come
chat with me. I always wrap up my interviews with
one question, and it's very vague, however you feel inclined
(54:01):
to answer, Okay, leave your lighte and what do you
want people to know? What do I want people to
know to look for the silver linings? I think now
is a time where we need to pull ourselves up
out of the dull drums and look for you know,
(54:22):
my dad said this to me last night. He's like,
it's not what the universe is doing to you, it's
what it's doing for you. And I was like, that's
a deep thought from my dad. But what did it
give me? It gave me time back with my kids
that I would never get, you know, wouldn't normally get.
It got me to see my two year old like
language bloom. It gave me, you know, the ability to
(54:46):
think with what is my company and how do I
want it to be? So like what is then? You know?
It gave me the ability to connect with people and
more women and have important conversations and so like I
have to just keep looking at what is the universe
doing for me? I appreciate you. Thank you so much
for coming on and joining me. You are yeah that
(55:08):
as in every sense of the word, thank you for
having me. You're awesome. Okay, bye,
Hosts And Creators
Bobby Bones
Amy Brown
Lunchbox
Eddie Garcia
Morgan Huelsman
Raymundo
Mike D
Abby Anderson
Scuba Steve
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