November 13, 2025 • 30 mins
On this episode of Her Playbook, Madelyn Burke sits down with entrepreneur, philanthropist, and founder Kendra Scott. She opens up about her entrepreneurial journey, from starting a business with just $500 and a tea box of designs to scaling a billion-dollar lifestyle brand. She discusses recent milestones for both Kendra Scott, including the latest Game Day collection, and her western-inspired brand, Yellow Rose by Kendra Scott. She also shares how her philanthropic work through the Kendra Scott Foundation continues to empower and inspire communities. Presented by Kendra Scott.
:00 - The origins of Kendra Scott6:50 - Brick and mortar stores9:20 - Game Day collection11:50 - Kendra Scott Women's Entrepreneurial Leadership Institute17:30 - Kendra Scott’s values25:30 - Building the business
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to an all new episode of her playbook. Her
Playbook podcast is presented by Kendra Scott, Game Day, Just
Scott Personal Find your winning look at Kendra Scott, where
team spirit meets personal style. Shop jewelry, accessories and more
at your New York area Kendra Scott store or online
at Kendrascott dot com. I'm Madeline Burke, and I am
thrilled to be joined this week by our guests. She's
(00:22):
an entrepreneur, philanthropist, and founder of Kendra Scott. Miss kendras
Scott herself.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Oh my so much. I'm so thrilled to be here
with you. Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
Thank you so much for coming, for sharing your time.
This gorgeous jewelry of yours we've got on the table,
although I have to start by saying, I notice a
piece of jewelry you're wearing that isn't kendraw Scott. Congratulating engagement.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Oh, thank you so much. He did great. You know,
it's a really exciting time for us for sure, So
thank you.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
Congratulations to you and Zach. Now we got to talk
about your business as a founder, a female founder who
has taken a business from five hundred dollars to a
billion dollar business. That is an incredible story.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
One of the things that I love about your story
is how it started almost not as the goal. Right
you were you had the hat box going and you
were selling jewelry on the side, But when you closed that,
the jewelry kind of found its way to the forefront.
How often in life do we see this too, where
we think we're going one direction and then another one
becomes the path.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
I mean, I think that happens so much in life.
Sometimes we get in our heads like it has to
be a certain way. I was running this hat company
and I thought, I'm going to open one hundred hat
stores across the country. Everyone's going to wear hats again,
like it's nineteen forty, and I really just had my
mindset on that had to be the thing. But what
was working was the jewelry I was making and putting
on the counter each day that was selling out. And
(01:43):
when I closed that business after, you know, people didn't
wear hats like it was nineteen forty. Unfortunately, that failure
turned into what would become my greatest success. Customers kept
calling me not for hats, but for the jewelry, and
so I got a job after I closed the hat Box,
and I was my side hustle, was making jewelry and
literally started this business on a card table in my
(02:05):
extra bedroom and realize, you know, hey, maybe there's something here.
And having that courage to try to start a second business,
to try again and use all the knowledge that I
learned from those years at the hat Box. Running that
little store day in and day out, gave me so much,
you know, that I needed to know to do the
next thing I was going to do, the thing that
actually ended up working.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
Yeah, And it's so funny how sometimes the thing that
comes from your own passion, the thing that you'll do
just for the love of it, becomes something that you know,
turns into a billion dollar business here and how that
path kind of shows itself.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
Well, you know, I mean, we're you know, we're here
on the Her Playbook podcast, and it's like talk about playbooks.
Right when you're in the middle of a game, sometimes
you've got to change direction. And I think with any
you know, same thing with a business, right, I mean,
you look at the best laid plans, sometimes you've got
to pull them up and go Twenty twenty happened my
twenty twenty plan ended up being very different when COVID
hit and I had to rip that playbook and I
(03:00):
had to create a whole brand new one for our
business and brand. And that's part of it is being
agile and being able to kind of remove yourself and
get that three sixty approach and go, what do we
need to do different right now? What's not working? Because
sometimes when you're in the weeds in the middle of
the forest, it's hard to see where you're trying to head.
You've got to really get yourself over it. And you know,
I fortunately was able to get that perspective. It took
(03:22):
me shutting down that first business to gain that and then,
like I said, having the courage to try again to
push through those doors of fear, which I know can
stop so many people from moving forward in their life,
to go, I'm going to be courageous again and give
it another go.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
Well, entrepreneurship in itself is scary, right getting yourself out there.
You're putting your own resources on the line to try to,
you know, make something that tips the scales a bit,
and sometimes it just takes the right person to believe
in you. I love the story of early on in
Kendri Scott when you got a call from Oscar dela
Renta and you didn't actually believe it was Oscar Delerue.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
No. I mean we were tiny, Okay, we had like
I think there were seven of us in the company,
and the phone and one of our you know, one
of my team members said there's somebody on the phone
from Oscar Delarenta's office. And I laughed and I thought,
it's one of my friends probably calling me. They're like,
it's a New York City area code like and I'm like,
I have friends in New York. Like, there's no way
someone from Oscar Delarent's office is calling Kendra Scott in Austin, Texas.
Speaker 3 (04:18):
And I picked up the phone.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
I'm like, uh huh, you know, Joe like, who is it?
Who's pranking me?
Speaker 3 (04:22):
And it really was his office.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
And in turn, that was working in his office that
was from Texas was wearing a piece of my jewelry
and he noticed it and said, I love what you've
got on.
Speaker 3 (04:32):
Who made that?
Speaker 2 (04:33):
And she's like, it's a Texas designer Kendra Scott. He goes,
that's the look I want for this show. Call her
and get her to come to New York and I
mean I remember at that point, you know, I had
no investors. I was doing everything on a line of
credit and credit card debt. I had not that much
more room on my credit card to get a flight
to New York City. And I'm like, okay, I've got
to make this work. I'm going to see Oscar Dilaarenta
(04:54):
and meeting him, I mean, I can't talk about what
an experience that was, and he gave this very young
designer an opportunity and watching my pieces go down that
you know, runway. I've never been to a runway show
before in my life, and the first one I ever
went to was Oscar Delaurenta seeing my jewelry walk down,
and it was just a surreal moment and one that
(05:15):
I thought, if he believes in me, then maybe I
do have something here. And you know those days of doubt,
those days where I felt like, you know, there's a
million jewelry designers out there, why is anybody going to
choose me or pick me? I thought he picked me.
And if mister Delaurenta see something, I've got to see
something in myself too, And I think that's so true. Like,
sometimes we just need a little bit of recognition or
(05:38):
a little bit of fuel in our tank, whether that's
an order that I got from a boutique that would
be like, Okay, keep going, Kendra, there's something here. And
each of those things just gave me that energy that
I needed to keep moving forward.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
Right And when you think about it, too, it's not
just about the fact that he bet on you, but
you said, yes, you leans in. You bet on yourself
because oftentimes you know an opportunity might present itself and
you know one might be nervous to lean into it
or say, oh, I don't know, I'm not ready for that.
How did you kind of push yourself to be like,
I'm going to do this. You had what seventy two hours?
Speaker 2 (06:09):
We had seventy two hours to create the collection, and
he said, I don't know if any of it will
make it, Like I've got to see it to know,
But you have seventy two hours. He needed a lot
of different pieces, and my team we just stayed up.
Speaker 3 (06:20):
Around the clock.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
We were fueled with catheene and we just kept going
and making these pieces by hand. I remember going to
a store here in New York after that meeting and
picking up tons of different materials here just so that
I could bring them all back to Texas with me
and carrying them back on the plane and bringing them home.
And we just stayed up making these pieces, waiting for
the call. And we got the call from his office.
They said, Hendra, you need to come back to New
(06:42):
York for the show. Every single one of your pieces
is going to be on the runway. And I just
like could not believe it. I could not believe it.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
That's incredible and it's one of many moments of growth
and checkpoints along the way for Kendrick Scott the business.
You went from being featured in other department stores having
your own brick and mortar stores and quite a few.
Now I know that that's such an important experience for
the consumers and the clients and the customers of yours.
But what is so special about the brick and mortar
(07:12):
experience at Kendriscotts.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
It's the same thing as when you watch a football
game in TV or you go to the stadium right
the energy, the excitement, the connection you make with the
fans around you, the connection you make with the players
that are playing on the field. You can't get that.
When you're sitting in your living room, you're still exciting,
it's still wonderful, But when you're in the four walls
of a brand that focuses on connection first, where you
(07:36):
can feel the energy and walk into the world of
and really become connected to that brand in a really
personal way. You know, we're hosting We hosted over twenty
five thousand events as a company last year. So Kendra
gives back events with local community, you know, outreach programs
that we do in local charities. We're doing birthday parties,
celebrating you know, brides with their bridesmaids, getting their.
Speaker 3 (07:58):
Jewelry at the color bar.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
We have all of these amazing activities and moments happening
in our stores, and I think you can't create that
in just a digital experience. So retailers that are strictly
going digital or closing brick and mortar may be losing
the fact that they are losing that connection. Human touch
is vital in this world. We are not robots, we
are not AI We are humans and we really require
(08:23):
that touch and the only way we can do that
is when we bring community together. And so hopefully we're
not going to start just seeing football games on our phones.
Speaker 3 (08:30):
Right, We've got to have that.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
Experience, right, And there's something so personal about jewelry and
so hoctile about, you know, touching it and feeling it
and thinking, Okay, does this resonate with me rather than
just a photograph of it and having that experience.
Speaker 3 (08:43):
One thousand percent.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
And our stores, you know, we have jewelry freely displays
on tables because I want you to touch and feel it.
I don't want you to wait and ask somebody to
have to go and see it. I want you to
pick it up and try it on and have fun
and be part of that experience. Color Bar you can
sit and actually pick the stone you want and we'll
set it for you right in front of you at
color Bar with all these different jewelry pieces that you
(09:05):
can select from. So it's that interaction, it's that creating
customization and personalization that you can only get in an
in store environment, which is so fun and exciting for us,
and why we opened twenty six stores this year.
Speaker 3 (09:17):
Wow, crazy amount.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
And still growing and still growing owing. Yeah, girl, still
pointing up. The jewelry is gorgeous and one of the
things that I love about it as a sports girly myself.
Is the fact that you've got these precious football necklaces.
I'm not wearing mine today, but I have two at home,
and I think that that is just such a great
Every time I wear it, friends of mine are like, oh,
does she make it in this sport? Does she make
(09:39):
it in that sport? But I know that you're a
football girly at heart. How did that come about?
Speaker 2 (09:43):
I am so you know, my son is my littlest
is twelve years old and he is so into flag football.
He is actually right now his team is in the playoffs,
so mom is super excited over here. But you know,
I'm always wearing to his games and to the Longhorn games.
It's game day colors. It's about supporting team and I
do that through my accessories. And I was just looking
(10:03):
at We're the brand of color. We create the most
beautiful colored gemstones and have these beautiful pieces and every
team is represented by their team colors. And so it
started with game day colors and then bringing in the
football necklace. We have the helmet. Now we have you know,
the megaphone for cheerleaders, and we had so many requests
for every sport. So I mean, we're doing it all now,
(10:23):
from baseball to soccer to you name it. We've got
you covered.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
That's amazing. And having that one initial design, how did
you think, Okay, this is going to have to be
on the necklace?
Speaker 2 (10:33):
Well, I mean, we love natural stones, so that football
necklace is goldstone, and so I hadn't seen anything that
was done with like beautiful natural stones before. And again
I had no idea what the reception would be. I
knew that I would love it. I knew that the
other moms watching football might like it. But we literally
sold out within like a few days when we first
launched the football necklace, and we thought, okay, you know,
(10:55):
and usually that's the case for people out there thinking
about businesses. If you want something, nine times out of ten,
other people do too. And so if there's a need
out there, and there was a need, there was nothing
like this for people to express themselves that we now do.
Even where you can put your kid's numbers or your
husband or boyfriend if you're you know, if you're one
of the wives on the team, you can show their
numbers on a necklace with the football necklace, So it's
(11:16):
really fun. What we're doing at Kendri Scott for game day.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
That's great. And I know that you guys are big
UT fans and also Giants fans. You've got a connection
with Manning organization, right, I mean Arch Manning at Texas
ELI with the Giants.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
I know. I mean, we love the Manning so much.
It's just been so incredible to have Arch at the
University of Texas and his parents, Cooper and Ellen, are
good friends of mine, and it's just been such a
wonderful thing to watch him and watch him continue to
grow and excel there and we're rooting for him all
the way. So I'm so excited to have him on
our team.
Speaker 1 (11:49):
Texas is such an important place for you, not just
as a university and as a football fan, but also
ks Wellie a program that you've started there for young
entrepreneurs and this is really a unique experience in the
United States. Is one of very few institutes that gives
this entrepreneurship experience to young adults. Yes, how important is
(12:12):
that to kind of impart what you've learned along the
way to the younger generation.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
It was so important to me because I believe so
so wholeheartedly that when you are given the tools, you're unstoppable.
And you know, learning the entrepreneurial mindset can help anybody,
whether you're wanting to be an entrepreneur or not, even
in just thinking about goal setting and your career. So
giving that type of training and teaching the entrepreneurial mindset
to every person that I could, no matter what their background.
(12:38):
I wanted it open to all majors. I remember at
one point somebody telling me, Oh, you're an artist, you're
a designer, you can't be you know, you can't run
a business because you're a creative. Well that's simply not true.
You just need to have the tools right and a
lot of times creatives that, by the way, make the
best entrepreneurs. But that bridges your right to left brain.
So I wanted it open to all majors. So we've
got students in the School of Education and Engineering, and
(13:00):
I actually put my student center in the Fine Arts
building because I loved the juxtaposition of an entrepreneurship program
in the Fine Arts building. And it's so awesome because
seeing all these folks come from diverse backgrounds, but seeing
and that unlock when they learn that, oh my gosh,
I can do these things. I can see these things,
the confidence it brings them. It's just been an amazing
(13:21):
thing to watch. I teach entrepreneurship women in entrepreneurship at
the University of Texas as well, and it's just been
awesome to see these women just feel empowered and ready
to go and really influence the next generation.
Speaker 1 (13:32):
It's such a unique skill to be able to do it,
to execute it in the way that you have, and
also be able to teach it as well. And I
can imagine that would be a challenge at first of curating. Okay,
how do I bottle this up and package it in
a way that's going to make sense to people? How
was that process like of curating? Essentially the curriculum of it.
Speaker 2 (13:51):
So this is one of the only classes that's off campus.
It's actually in our headquarters in Austin, Texas. We are
really close to the University of Texas, so it makes
it pretty convenient for the student. But they get to
come in and really learn about Kendra Scott, what makes
our brand and business special, what has been some of
the things that is our secret sauce to success. They
get to really get a whole case study on our
business and brand, And then the last six weeks, I
(14:13):
challenge them to come up with their own business idea
and place them in groups together with people with different backgrounds.
So you'll get all of those different majors together around
a table and together they come up with an idea
and they have to really formulate that how are they
being disruptive? Are they filling white space in the market?
What is their purpose in what they're doing? Is there
a why behind their brand? All the things that they
(14:35):
see and they've learned about Kendra Scott they now get
to implement putting into their own idea. And then their
final which will be coming up very soon, is pitch
style Shark Tank style to myself and I bring in
some other entrepreneurs in Austin and they pitch their idea
to us.
Speaker 3 (14:49):
So it's really.
Speaker 2 (14:50):
Fun to see them come full circle from really learning
and understanding to then putting those tools really into action.
Speaker 1 (14:56):
And have you ever had a student that's pitched one
charked style that you're like, I mean, I know you've
been on Shark Tank too. We'll get to that. Anyone
from your ks Well program that you're like, I need
to invest in this business.
Speaker 2 (15:07):
Well, I haven't personally invested, but we have brought founders
and we have brought them investments. So we have you know,
dozens and dozens of now women who have founded businesses
and gotten funding because of their participation in the Kender
Scott Women's Entrepreneur Leadership Institute, which is so exciting.
Speaker 1 (15:22):
Yeah, and in that vein too and giving back to
some of these younger entrepreneurs. You did make an appearance
on Shark Tank and what was that experience like for you?
Speaker 2 (15:32):
So this is my fourth season as a guest Shark
and every time I get into the tank, it's still surreal.
Speaker 1 (15:37):
You know.
Speaker 2 (15:37):
I remember watching it as a young entrepreneur and learning
from the show. I mean, it's such a show that
not only is inspiring and multi generational, which I love,
Like you could have my son and me and my
eighty six year old father in the same room and
everybody is loving watching the show. And I don't know
how many shows on television still do that, but Shark
Tank is one of them. But I remember watching it
(15:57):
and learning so much and then to now sit in
the seat, you know, with Mark Cuban and you know,
Kevin O'Leary and Laurie and all these amazing business people
and be by their side shoulder to shoulders is super
humbling and it is surreal, and I love it so much.
I love seeing entrepreneurs walk in because I can relate
so much. I remember what it felt like starting a
(16:18):
business with just five hundred dollars on a card table.
I understand where they are in their business, and I
feel like, you know, I've walked over the last now
almost twenty four years in this business. I've had so
many peaks and valleys, and if I can help some
of these entrepreneurs avoid some of those valleys, it gets
me really excited to be able to pay it forward.
Speaker 1 (16:35):
I'd imagine too, you know, with all you've accomplished being
on that set with all those sharks, there's so much wisdom.
I'm sure there's so much that you're still learning too
about that process. Oh.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
We all learn from each other, and we learn from
the entrepreneurs. I mean they bring in ideas into the
tank sometimes and I'm like, what if we think of that?
You know, this is amazing. So you know, we're always learning,
and I think you'll see the best entrepreneurs and the
people out there. They have an appetite for learning. We
have an apt where we're curious people. Every day I
wake up and I want to be better than I
(17:05):
was yesterday. I never want to be complacent and I
love to learn. And so when I get on that set,
you know, we're constantly bouncing ideas off of each other
and talking about things that are happening in the world
and really getting insight from one another. And it's just
a great it's just a great place to be those
days on set fly By.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
I can imagine, Yeah, can imagine. And I think when
a lot of the young entrepreneurs come in, they always
have a story, right, a story, not just a product,
not just a business, but also a narrative around it.
How important is it as an entrepreneur to not just
have a great product but also a great story.
Speaker 2 (17:38):
Well it's you know, it's you have to have all
of the things right. It can't be one or the other.
You have to have some a product that is really
solving a problem. But if you don't have a passionate founder,
who has purpose, who is driven by more than I
just want to make a lot of money, because if
you're going to have that, you care never going to
survive entrepreneurship because the valleys are so dark sometime. If
you don't have a greater meaning and purpose around why
(18:00):
you're doing this business, you're not going to make it
through those dark days. So it's really also about a
passionate founder who you can tell that like they're ready
to weather all the storms that are going to be ahead,
and they've got that grit, they have that resilience, they've
got that drive, but they're also open to be like, okay,
we talked about that three P sixty approach, to be
able to be pivot, to be agile, that they can't
(18:23):
be so set in their ways that it's this way
or the highway. So you are looking for all of
those things and that pitch as we're talking to them
to see is this a viable business that I could
invest in and all those things have to check the
boxes for me to go ahead and make an offer.
Speaker 1 (18:37):
Yeah. So, I mean philanthropy is something that is such
an important element of your business as well.
Speaker 2 (18:42):
It's you know, it's at the heart of everything we do.
So my first company, the hat Box, I started when
my stepfather had brain cancer and I met so many
women and men undergoing chemotherapy and I wanted to create
comfortable headware solutions for them and I really felt like
and my stepfather was a big part of this. He said, baby,
you've got to use the gifts that you were given
and do something good. You have a really short time
on this earth, and I want you to make it count.
(19:04):
And you know, I want you to have that purpose
and think about how you can make a positive impact.
And that really stuck with me. And so when the
hat box didn't work and I was starting with the jewelry,
I thought I want to be At first, I was like,
can I create a nonprofit? But then I thought if
there's a way that I could use my love of
design and create a business that really could give back
in a meaningful way, that that would be success for me.
(19:26):
So in the early days, I could make a pair
of earrings for a silent auction, or I could make
it for you know, for an easy, you know, nonprofit.
Speaker 3 (19:33):
But as the business grew, we were able to do more.
Speaker 2 (19:35):
When we opened stores, we started hosting Kendrick gives Back
events and that built you know, a whole nother program
within when what we were doing. Since twenty ten, we've
given over seventy million dollars to women in youth nonprofits
and as a company, that's what we're all so proud of.
That's what draws my Kender Scott family members in is
they want to work for business that has purpose.
Speaker 3 (19:55):
Our customers have a heart that.
Speaker 2 (19:57):
Beats for their community, and when they can choose what
brands they want to be aligned with, they're going to
choose a brand that's really looking out for their local community.
Speaker 3 (20:05):
So local community.
Speaker 2 (20:06):
Nonprofits are a big part of what we focus on
as well, not just national large nonprofits, but we really
try to get in at the local level and see
who's doing the greatest work in that community, and we
really go all in.
Speaker 1 (20:18):
Is there a moment I mean, obviously you guys have
given back so much to so many communities, but is
there a moment that sticks with you that you're like, Wow,
this is why I do this.
Speaker 2 (20:28):
You know, there's so many I mean, we are in
over fifty hospitals with our Kendrick Cares program, and that's
pediatric hospitals. We bring our color bar where you can
customize jewelry, and we have, you know, patients that are
there and they're fighting for their lives in a lot
of cases, and they've got their moms by their bedside
who are just absolutely in one of the most difficult
times of their life. Can you imagine sitting there and
(20:49):
seeing your little one, you know, hurting for us to
come in and bring them a moment of normalcy, a
little bit of joy, a distraction where they can get
out of that and feel good and do something that
makes them feel good. Every time I go into a
Kendracares event, I leave and I'm like, Okay, we got
to keep going.
Speaker 3 (21:06):
And it really affects all of us.
Speaker 2 (21:08):
You know. Our employees are the ones that donate their
time to do these events every single month in these hospitals,
and it affects them too. Our store employees are in
store and now they're not just selling jewelry in another
retailer or whatever, they're able to share with their customers.
I went and did the Kendracares event at our local
pediatric hospital last week, and oh, my gosh, this is
what we're doing, and they it all of a sudden
(21:29):
becomes so real. And you know, one of the reasons
why we have employees stay with us for years and
years and years is because they know that their work
has purpose as well, but I have to tell you, yeah,
those Kendracares events get me every single time. I can imagine, yeah.
Speaker 1 (21:43):
Imagine what goes into deciding, you know, where to put
the resources with the philanthropy, because you guys do so much,
how do you decipher?
Speaker 2 (21:51):
Well, you know, we really do have a philosophy that
we always have something to give and what matters to
you matters to us. So we you know, we really
try to have our fulllananthropy and event managers in every
community really work with their local community to figure out
where can we really be the most valuable. But we
focus on women in youth and that is really where
we put the majority of our efforts. And then it's
the areas of health, wellness, education, entrepreneurship, empowerment, and so
(22:15):
when we can kind of focus on those areas, it
really helps us to find where we can do things
in a bigger way. But at Kendra Scott, we really
try to not turn anybody down.
Speaker 1 (22:23):
Yeah, now, you guys, I mean, jewelry is one of
those things that I'm sure lights up a lot of
faces with women, youth and all that. I find it
so fascinating. Though again, you started on the card table
making these pieces yourself, and now it is such a
large scale, what is that process like of letting go
of I'm making each of these pieces on my own
to like trusting them to be made to how you see,
(22:46):
Because I think any small business or entrepreneur that is
trying to scale at some point it's like, all right,
how do I let go of that part?
Speaker 3 (22:53):
So you stay true to your core values?
Speaker 2 (22:55):
You know, at Kendra Scott the Three we talked about
our family, fashion philanthropy. So it's not just every person
that comes and works for the brand, they have to
align with our core values. Every partner that we work
with has to align with our core values. So as
we started building out our brand and working with other
craftsmen and artisans, I really needed to make sure, like,
are you aligned with who we are as a business
and brand? Do you treat your employees and your teams
(23:16):
the way we treat ours? And we really made sure
that we partner with partners that were like us right,
and that made such a big difference, and that cared
so much about the things we care about. We are
maniacal about customer experience. We are maniacable about creating the
best products we possibly can every single day and surprising
and delighting our customer. And so our partners have to
(23:37):
have that same you know, kind of like passion that
we have. And we've really been picky about who we
work with, and I think that shows in our products
because we do the details and all the things that
we do in our products are so special. And that
comes from really putting a really high standard on everyone
we work with. But you've got to have it and
put it through that lens, right, that filter of do
(23:58):
they align with us as a part partner? Do they
align with us as a manufacturer? Do they align with us?
You know, when you're hiring somebody and if they if
they do great, and if they don't, you got to
keep looking.
Speaker 1 (24:09):
Is there something that you learned about the process of
growing a business along the way that you're Wow, if
I'd have known that at the beginning, this would have
been so much easier. I can't believe you know something,
You're like, I wish I could tell my younger self this.
Speaker 2 (24:22):
I think you know, when I was first starting, it
was like I knew I needed people that were better
at things that I was not good at. Right, I
knew to get a winning team that It's really important
to know your strengths, but more important to know your
weaknesses so that you can fill people in with your
weaknesses that that's their strengths. But what I didn't realize
is that I thought, oh, the resume looks so good,
but maybe they didn't have the heart and they didn't
(24:44):
share what we just talked about those core values, right,
But god, they had all this great experience and I
feel like they could really help our business. But when
you bring somebody in that is not aligned with that,
that doesn't share your heart, it can be a cancer
to your organization. And I had some of those, and
I had to I had to learn the hard way,
right where from now on it's like, there are certain
skills I can teach, but I cannot teach you to
(25:06):
be a loving and kind and generous and thoughtful leader.
You either have that inside of you or you don't.
And so that was a hard lesson, but it was
one that I'm happy happened pretty early on because from
then on it was like higher on heart, higher on heart.
And you know, we've really had the most incredible team.
I know I'm biased, but I think on the planet
at Kendra Scott Well It is great.
Speaker 1 (25:27):
That you think that, because that your opinion is the
one that matters of a Kendra Scott team right there
when you look at what you've built again, I think
it's just we've said this before, but a five hundred
dollars card table, almost craft shop to a billion dollar
industry that has given back so much and made such
an impact in the community in so many different ways.
(25:50):
Was there a point or a moment where you said, oh,
we've got something special here. How did you know? Was
there a tipping point that you saw or is it
all just hinds you know?
Speaker 2 (26:00):
I think as you build a business, and I think
this is important for every entrepreneur because you hear the
five hundred dollars to a billion and that sounds like, oh,
overnight success and butterflies and rainbows and so easy and wonderful. Honey.
This is twenty four years of a lot of times
where throughout that I thought I might lose my business.
You know, my line of credit getting called in two
thousand and eight during the Great Recession and having to
(26:20):
you know, beg other bank to take on my line
of credit and believe in me. You know, there were
so many things along the way that were so hard
right building this, And I think that's so important for
people to remember because it's not like this is just
like overnight. Right, You're going to have moments in your
life where in your business where you're like, okay, it
gives you a little bit, Like we talked about the
fuel and the tank. One order led to another order.
(26:43):
I remember when Nordstrom wrote their first order and it
was a test order for like fifteen doors. But those
fifteen doors getting into Nordstrom, which is like to me,
like are you kidding me? I'm getting into Nordstrom. That
gave me like, Okay, maybe we have something. But it
wasn't maybe we have an over billion dollar brand. It
was like, okay, this is going to keep us going.
Maybe we can, you know, build this a little bit
(27:04):
bigger than we thought we could build it.
Speaker 3 (27:06):
And so each of those.
Speaker 2 (27:07):
Things over the last twenty four years have given me
that confidence, from Oscar de Laurenta to Northstrom believing in me,
to opening our first store and seeing lines around the
block because people just loved the experience so much and
they were just eating it up, where I thought, maybe
this is going to be more than one store, you know,
we'll we have one hundred and seventy at the end
of this year. That one store gave the confidence to
(27:28):
open the second store. The second store gave me the
confidence to open the third. And so I think with
a lot of people, it's not just always A to B.
You know, start and then you're this. It's all those
steps along the way and then learning everything you can.
Take your time. You don't want to go from zero
to sixty. You really want to be able to learn
and learn those lessons because if you go too fast,
(27:49):
too quick, you're going to make so many mistakes, and
there's going to be so many things that are going
to fall to the wayside that you haven't perfected. So
taking the time to build it thoughtfully and building a
strong foundation, because that foundation will change. When we went
from twenty five employees to twenty five hundred, I had
to put a lot of different new systems in place
and new technology and really think about how we could
(28:10):
scale in that way. There's no way I could have
done that if I hadn't prepared for it. So build
the strong foundation. You will get there overnight. Successes are
not real, right, they're not. Yeah, I mean I joke
because I got Breakthrough Designer of the Year from the
Accessory Circuit Council. And I was in the business for
sixteen years and I became my breakthrough and I got
up there and I got the award and I was like,
(28:32):
I broke through after sixteen years.
Speaker 1 (28:34):
People a lot of pounding, that's right. I always say
it takes decades to build an overnight success, right, yes,
And it's also too. I think a lot of young
entrepreneurs might think, Okay, when I get to the point
where I have a billion dollar business, I can exhale,
It'll be fine. But I'm sure, as you've learned along
the way, you know, whether it's you know the hurdles
of the recessions or different changes in the markets, there's
never a moment where you can just say, oh, I've
(28:55):
made it, let me put my feet up.
Speaker 2 (28:57):
Right, You can never be complacent in business today, no
matter what it is you're doing. You have to wake
up every single day and say, we are going to
be better than yesterday. We are going to surprise and
delight our customer every single day. How are we going
to do that? When no matter whether you're a million
dollar valuation, ten million, twenty million, a billion five billion.
(29:17):
If you stop having that mindset, your business will fail.
It doesn't matter how much success you have. So you've
got to wake up every day. You've got to have
a team that is like the customer is our boss.
I do not run this business. My customer runs this business.
I work for him and her, and I have got
to make sure my boss is happy every single day
so that they keep me around, right. And in order
(29:40):
to do that, I got to be the first one
up in the morning. I got to be the hardest
working one out there. I've got to know what all
of my competitors are doing every day, and I absolutely
have to blow them out of the water. And that
is the kind of mindset you have to be in
this world today to be successful.
Speaker 1 (29:54):
That is the mindset of it.
Speaker 2 (29:56):
Yeah, and that's I mean again, We're going to go
back to football analogies. These coaches are watching tape every
day with their teams. They're learning what their other teams
are doing. They're figuring out how to get in there
and beat that team. It is absolutely the same way
in business, Like you have got to be on the
ground in your business every day, working beside your team,
rolling your sleeves up, getting dirty alongside of them, but
(30:17):
then also paying attention to everything else that's happening around
you so that you can look behind around corners and
be ready for the next thing that's happening, and have
your team prepped and prepared to get out there and
do what they need to do to be successful.
Speaker 1 (30:29):
Right because whether it's in business or on the field,
the landscape's always changing.
Speaker 3 (30:33):
It's always changing.
Speaker 1 (30:34):
Always changing. Kendra Scott, thank you so much for sharing
the wisdom today.
Speaker 2 (30:38):
Thank you her so much.
Speaker 1 (30:40):
Brought to you by Kendra Scott. She is an entrepreneur,
a philanthropist, and founder of Kendra Scott. Thank you so
much for taking the time
Welcome to an all new episode of her playbook. Her
Playbook podcast is presented by Kendra Scott, Game Day, Just
Scott Personal Find your winning look at Kendra Scott, where
team spirit meets personal style. Shop jewelry, accessories and more
at your New York area Kendra Scott store or online
at Kendrascott dot com. I'm Madeline Burke, and I am
thrilled to be joined this week by our guests. She's
(00:22):
an entrepreneur, philanthropist, and founder of Kendra Scott. Miss kendras
Scott herself.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Oh my so much. I'm so thrilled to be here
with you. Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
Thank you so much for coming, for sharing your time.
This gorgeous jewelry of yours we've got on the table,
although I have to start by saying, I notice a
piece of jewelry you're wearing that isn't kendraw Scott. Congratulating engagement.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Oh, thank you so much. He did great. You know,
it's a really exciting time for us for sure, So
thank you.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
Congratulations to you and Zach. Now we got to talk
about your business as a founder, a female founder who
has taken a business from five hundred dollars to a
billion dollar business. That is an incredible story.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
One of the things that I love about your story
is how it started almost not as the goal. Right
you were you had the hat box going and you
were selling jewelry on the side, But when you closed that,
the jewelry kind of found its way to the forefront.
How often in life do we see this too, where
we think we're going one direction and then another one
becomes the path.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
I mean, I think that happens so much in life.
Sometimes we get in our heads like it has to
be a certain way. I was running this hat company
and I thought, I'm going to open one hundred hat
stores across the country. Everyone's going to wear hats again,
like it's nineteen forty, and I really just had my
mindset on that had to be the thing. But what
was working was the jewelry I was making and putting
on the counter each day that was selling out. And
(01:43):
when I closed that business after, you know, people didn't
wear hats like it was nineteen forty. Unfortunately, that failure
turned into what would become my greatest success. Customers kept
calling me not for hats, but for the jewelry, and
so I got a job after I closed the hat Box,
and I was my side hustle, was making jewelry and
literally started this business on a card table in my
(02:05):
extra bedroom and realize, you know, hey, maybe there's something here.
And having that courage to try to start a second business,
to try again and use all the knowledge that I
learned from those years at the hat Box. Running that
little store day in and day out, gave me so much,
you know, that I needed to know to do the
next thing I was going to do, the thing that
actually ended up working.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
Yeah, And it's so funny how sometimes the thing that
comes from your own passion, the thing that you'll do
just for the love of it, becomes something that you know,
turns into a billion dollar business here and how that
path kind of shows itself.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
Well, you know, I mean, we're you know, we're here
on the Her Playbook podcast, and it's like talk about playbooks.
Right when you're in the middle of a game, sometimes
you've got to change direction. And I think with any
you know, same thing with a business, right, I mean,
you look at the best laid plans, sometimes you've got
to pull them up and go Twenty twenty happened my
twenty twenty plan ended up being very different when COVID
hit and I had to rip that playbook and I
(03:00):
had to create a whole brand new one for our
business and brand. And that's part of it is being
agile and being able to kind of remove yourself and
get that three sixty approach and go, what do we
need to do different right now? What's not working? Because
sometimes when you're in the weeds in the middle of
the forest, it's hard to see where you're trying to head.
You've got to really get yourself over it. And you know,
I fortunately was able to get that perspective. It took
(03:22):
me shutting down that first business to gain that and then,
like I said, having the courage to try again to
push through those doors of fear, which I know can
stop so many people from moving forward in their life,
to go, I'm going to be courageous again and give
it another go.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
Well, entrepreneurship in itself is scary, right getting yourself out there.
You're putting your own resources on the line to try to,
you know, make something that tips the scales a bit,
and sometimes it just takes the right person to believe
in you. I love the story of early on in
Kendri Scott when you got a call from Oscar dela
Renta and you didn't actually believe it was Oscar Delerue.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
No. I mean we were tiny, Okay, we had like
I think there were seven of us in the company,
and the phone and one of our you know, one
of my team members said there's somebody on the phone
from Oscar Delarenta's office. And I laughed and I thought,
it's one of my friends probably calling me. They're like,
it's a New York City area code like and I'm like,
I have friends in New York. Like, there's no way
someone from Oscar Delarent's office is calling Kendra Scott in Austin, Texas.
Speaker 3 (04:18):
And I picked up the phone.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
I'm like, uh huh, you know, Joe like, who is it?
Who's pranking me?
Speaker 3 (04:22):
And it really was his office.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
And in turn, that was working in his office that
was from Texas was wearing a piece of my jewelry
and he noticed it and said, I love what you've
got on.
Speaker 3 (04:32):
Who made that?
Speaker 2 (04:33):
And she's like, it's a Texas designer Kendra Scott. He goes,
that's the look I want for this show. Call her
and get her to come to New York and I
mean I remember at that point, you know, I had
no investors. I was doing everything on a line of
credit and credit card debt. I had not that much
more room on my credit card to get a flight
to New York City. And I'm like, okay, I've got
to make this work. I'm going to see Oscar Dilaarenta
(04:54):
and meeting him, I mean, I can't talk about what
an experience that was, and he gave this very young
designer an opportunity and watching my pieces go down that
you know, runway. I've never been to a runway show
before in my life, and the first one I ever
went to was Oscar Delaurenta seeing my jewelry walk down,
and it was just a surreal moment and one that
(05:15):
I thought, if he believes in me, then maybe I
do have something here. And you know those days of doubt,
those days where I felt like, you know, there's a
million jewelry designers out there, why is anybody going to
choose me or pick me? I thought he picked me.
And if mister Delaurenta see something, I've got to see
something in myself too, And I think that's so true. Like,
sometimes we just need a little bit of recognition or
(05:38):
a little bit of fuel in our tank, whether that's
an order that I got from a boutique that would
be like, Okay, keep going, Kendra, there's something here. And
each of those things just gave me that energy that
I needed to keep moving forward.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
Right And when you think about it, too, it's not
just about the fact that he bet on you, but
you said, yes, you leans in. You bet on yourself
because oftentimes you know an opportunity might present itself and
you know one might be nervous to lean into it
or say, oh, I don't know, I'm not ready for that.
How did you kind of push yourself to be like,
I'm going to do this. You had what seventy two hours?
Speaker 2 (06:09):
We had seventy two hours to create the collection, and
he said, I don't know if any of it will
make it, Like I've got to see it to know,
But you have seventy two hours. He needed a lot
of different pieces, and my team we just stayed up.
Speaker 3 (06:20):
Around the clock.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
We were fueled with catheene and we just kept going
and making these pieces by hand. I remember going to
a store here in New York after that meeting and
picking up tons of different materials here just so that
I could bring them all back to Texas with me
and carrying them back on the plane and bringing them home.
And we just stayed up making these pieces, waiting for
the call. And we got the call from his office.
They said, Hendra, you need to come back to New
(06:42):
York for the show. Every single one of your pieces
is going to be on the runway. And I just
like could not believe it. I could not believe it.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
That's incredible and it's one of many moments of growth
and checkpoints along the way for Kendrick Scott the business.
You went from being featured in other department stores having
your own brick and mortar stores and quite a few.
Now I know that that's such an important experience for
the consumers and the clients and the customers of yours.
But what is so special about the brick and mortar
(07:12):
experience at Kendriscotts.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
It's the same thing as when you watch a football
game in TV or you go to the stadium right
the energy, the excitement, the connection you make with the
fans around you, the connection you make with the players
that are playing on the field. You can't get that.
When you're sitting in your living room, you're still exciting,
it's still wonderful, But when you're in the four walls
of a brand that focuses on connection first, where you
(07:36):
can feel the energy and walk into the world of
and really become connected to that brand in a really
personal way. You know, we're hosting We hosted over twenty
five thousand events as a company last year. So Kendra
gives back events with local community, you know, outreach programs
that we do in local charities. We're doing birthday parties,
celebrating you know, brides with their bridesmaids, getting their.
Speaker 3 (07:58):
Jewelry at the color bar.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
We have all of these amazing activities and moments happening
in our stores, and I think you can't create that
in just a digital experience. So retailers that are strictly
going digital or closing brick and mortar may be losing
the fact that they are losing that connection. Human touch
is vital in this world. We are not robots, we
are not AI We are humans and we really require
(08:23):
that touch and the only way we can do that
is when we bring community together. And so hopefully we're
not going to start just seeing football games on our phones.
Speaker 3 (08:30):
Right, We've got to have that.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
Experience, right, And there's something so personal about jewelry and
so hoctile about, you know, touching it and feeling it
and thinking, Okay, does this resonate with me rather than
just a photograph of it and having that experience.
Speaker 3 (08:43):
One thousand percent.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
And our stores, you know, we have jewelry freely displays
on tables because I want you to touch and feel it.
I don't want you to wait and ask somebody to
have to go and see it. I want you to
pick it up and try it on and have fun
and be part of that experience. Color Bar you can
sit and actually pick the stone you want and we'll
set it for you right in front of you at
color Bar with all these different jewelry pieces that you
(09:05):
can select from. So it's that interaction, it's that creating
customization and personalization that you can only get in an
in store environment, which is so fun and exciting for us,
and why we opened twenty six stores this year.
Speaker 3 (09:17):
Wow, crazy amount.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
And still growing and still growing owing. Yeah, girl, still
pointing up. The jewelry is gorgeous and one of the
things that I love about it as a sports girly myself.
Is the fact that you've got these precious football necklaces.
I'm not wearing mine today, but I have two at home,
and I think that that is just such a great
Every time I wear it, friends of mine are like, oh,
does she make it in this sport? Does she make
(09:39):
it in that sport? But I know that you're a
football girly at heart. How did that come about?
Speaker 2 (09:43):
I am so you know, my son is my littlest
is twelve years old and he is so into flag football.
He is actually right now his team is in the playoffs,
so mom is super excited over here. But you know,
I'm always wearing to his games and to the Longhorn games.
It's game day colors. It's about supporting team and I
do that through my accessories. And I was just looking
(10:03):
at We're the brand of color. We create the most
beautiful colored gemstones and have these beautiful pieces and every
team is represented by their team colors. And so it
started with game day colors and then bringing in the
football necklace. We have the helmet. Now we have you know,
the megaphone for cheerleaders, and we had so many requests
for every sport. So I mean, we're doing it all now,
(10:23):
from baseball to soccer to you name it. We've got
you covered.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
That's amazing. And having that one initial design, how did
you think, Okay, this is going to have to be
on the necklace?
Speaker 2 (10:33):
Well, I mean, we love natural stones, so that football
necklace is goldstone, and so I hadn't seen anything that
was done with like beautiful natural stones before. And again
I had no idea what the reception would be. I
knew that I would love it. I knew that the
other moms watching football might like it. But we literally
sold out within like a few days when we first
launched the football necklace, and we thought, okay, you know,
(10:55):
and usually that's the case for people out there thinking
about businesses. If you want something, nine times out of ten,
other people do too. And so if there's a need
out there, and there was a need, there was nothing
like this for people to express themselves that we now do.
Even where you can put your kid's numbers or your
husband or boyfriend if you're you know, if you're one
of the wives on the team, you can show their
numbers on a necklace with the football necklace, So it's
(11:16):
really fun. What we're doing at Kendri Scott for game day.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
That's great. And I know that you guys are big
UT fans and also Giants fans. You've got a connection
with Manning organization, right, I mean Arch Manning at Texas
ELI with the Giants.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
I know. I mean, we love the Manning so much.
It's just been so incredible to have Arch at the
University of Texas and his parents, Cooper and Ellen, are
good friends of mine, and it's just been such a
wonderful thing to watch him and watch him continue to
grow and excel there and we're rooting for him all
the way. So I'm so excited to have him on
our team.
Speaker 1 (11:49):
Texas is such an important place for you, not just
as a university and as a football fan, but also
ks Wellie a program that you've started there for young
entrepreneurs and this is really a unique experience in the
United States. Is one of very few institutes that gives
this entrepreneurship experience to young adults. Yes, how important is
(12:12):
that to kind of impart what you've learned along the
way to the younger generation.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
It was so important to me because I believe so
so wholeheartedly that when you are given the tools, you're unstoppable.
And you know, learning the entrepreneurial mindset can help anybody,
whether you're wanting to be an entrepreneur or not, even
in just thinking about goal setting and your career. So
giving that type of training and teaching the entrepreneurial mindset
to every person that I could, no matter what their background.
(12:38):
I wanted it open to all majors. I remember at
one point somebody telling me, Oh, you're an artist, you're
a designer, you can't be you know, you can't run
a business because you're a creative. Well that's simply not true.
You just need to have the tools right and a
lot of times creatives that, by the way, make the
best entrepreneurs. But that bridges your right to left brain.
So I wanted it open to all majors. So we've
got students in the School of Education and Engineering, and
(13:00):
I actually put my student center in the Fine Arts
building because I loved the juxtaposition of an entrepreneurship program
in the Fine Arts building. And it's so awesome because
seeing all these folks come from diverse backgrounds, but seeing
and that unlock when they learn that, oh my gosh,
I can do these things. I can see these things,
the confidence it brings them. It's just been an amazing
(13:21):
thing to watch. I teach entrepreneurship women in entrepreneurship at
the University of Texas as well, and it's just been
awesome to see these women just feel empowered and ready
to go and really influence the next generation.
Speaker 1 (13:32):
It's such a unique skill to be able to do it,
to execute it in the way that you have, and
also be able to teach it as well. And I
can imagine that would be a challenge at first of curating. Okay,
how do I bottle this up and package it in
a way that's going to make sense to people? How
was that process like of curating? Essentially the curriculum of it.
Speaker 2 (13:51):
So this is one of the only classes that's off campus.
It's actually in our headquarters in Austin, Texas. We are
really close to the University of Texas, so it makes
it pretty convenient for the student. But they get to
come in and really learn about Kendra Scott, what makes
our brand and business special, what has been some of
the things that is our secret sauce to success. They
get to really get a whole case study on our
business and brand, And then the last six weeks, I
(14:13):
challenge them to come up with their own business idea
and place them in groups together with people with different backgrounds.
So you'll get all of those different majors together around
a table and together they come up with an idea
and they have to really formulate that how are they
being disruptive? Are they filling white space in the market?
What is their purpose in what they're doing? Is there
a why behind their brand? All the things that they
(14:35):
see and they've learned about Kendra Scott they now get
to implement putting into their own idea. And then their
final which will be coming up very soon, is pitch
style Shark Tank style to myself and I bring in
some other entrepreneurs in Austin and they pitch their idea
to us.
Speaker 3 (14:49):
So it's really.
Speaker 2 (14:50):
Fun to see them come full circle from really learning
and understanding to then putting those tools really into action.
Speaker 1 (14:56):
And have you ever had a student that's pitched one
charked style that you're like, I mean, I know you've
been on Shark Tank too. We'll get to that. Anyone
from your ks Well program that you're like, I need
to invest in this business.
Speaker 2 (15:07):
Well, I haven't personally invested, but we have brought founders
and we have brought them investments. So we have you know,
dozens and dozens of now women who have founded businesses
and gotten funding because of their participation in the Kender
Scott Women's Entrepreneur Leadership Institute, which is so exciting.
Speaker 1 (15:22):
Yeah, and in that vein too and giving back to
some of these younger entrepreneurs. You did make an appearance
on Shark Tank and what was that experience like for you?
Speaker 2 (15:32):
So this is my fourth season as a guest Shark
and every time I get into the tank, it's still surreal.
Speaker 1 (15:37):
You know.
Speaker 2 (15:37):
I remember watching it as a young entrepreneur and learning
from the show. I mean, it's such a show that
not only is inspiring and multi generational, which I love,
Like you could have my son and me and my
eighty six year old father in the same room and
everybody is loving watching the show. And I don't know
how many shows on television still do that, but Shark
Tank is one of them. But I remember watching it
(15:57):
and learning so much and then to now sit in
the seat, you know, with Mark Cuban and you know,
Kevin O'Leary and Laurie and all these amazing business people
and be by their side shoulder to shoulders is super
humbling and it is surreal, and I love it so much.
I love seeing entrepreneurs walk in because I can relate
so much. I remember what it felt like starting a
(16:18):
business with just five hundred dollars on a card table.
I understand where they are in their business, and I
feel like, you know, I've walked over the last now
almost twenty four years in this business. I've had so
many peaks and valleys, and if I can help some
of these entrepreneurs avoid some of those valleys, it gets
me really excited to be able to pay it forward.
Speaker 1 (16:35):
I'd imagine too, you know, with all you've accomplished being
on that set with all those sharks, there's so much wisdom.
I'm sure there's so much that you're still learning too
about that process. Oh.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
We all learn from each other, and we learn from
the entrepreneurs. I mean they bring in ideas into the
tank sometimes and I'm like, what if we think of that?
You know, this is amazing. So you know, we're always learning,
and I think you'll see the best entrepreneurs and the
people out there. They have an appetite for learning. We
have an apt where we're curious people. Every day I
wake up and I want to be better than I
(17:05):
was yesterday. I never want to be complacent and I
love to learn. And so when I get on that set,
you know, we're constantly bouncing ideas off of each other
and talking about things that are happening in the world
and really getting insight from one another. And it's just
a great it's just a great place to be those
days on set fly By.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
I can imagine, Yeah, can imagine. And I think when
a lot of the young entrepreneurs come in, they always
have a story, right, a story, not just a product,
not just a business, but also a narrative around it.
How important is it as an entrepreneur to not just
have a great product but also a great story.
Speaker 2 (17:38):
Well it's you know, it's you have to have all
of the things right. It can't be one or the other.
You have to have some a product that is really
solving a problem. But if you don't have a passionate founder,
who has purpose, who is driven by more than I
just want to make a lot of money, because if
you're going to have that, you care never going to
survive entrepreneurship because the valleys are so dark sometime. If
you don't have a greater meaning and purpose around why
(18:00):
you're doing this business, you're not going to make it
through those dark days. So it's really also about a
passionate founder who you can tell that like they're ready
to weather all the storms that are going to be ahead,
and they've got that grit, they have that resilience, they've
got that drive, but they're also open to be like, okay,
we talked about that three P sixty approach, to be
able to be pivot, to be agile, that they can't
(18:23):
be so set in their ways that it's this way
or the highway. So you are looking for all of
those things and that pitch as we're talking to them
to see is this a viable business that I could
invest in and all those things have to check the
boxes for me to go ahead and make an offer.
Speaker 1 (18:37):
Yeah. So, I mean philanthropy is something that is such
an important element of your business as well.
Speaker 2 (18:42):
It's you know, it's at the heart of everything we do.
So my first company, the hat Box, I started when
my stepfather had brain cancer and I met so many
women and men undergoing chemotherapy and I wanted to create
comfortable headware solutions for them and I really felt like
and my stepfather was a big part of this. He said, baby,
you've got to use the gifts that you were given
and do something good. You have a really short time
on this earth, and I want you to make it count.
(19:04):
And you know, I want you to have that purpose
and think about how you can make a positive impact.
And that really stuck with me. And so when the
hat box didn't work and I was starting with the jewelry,
I thought I want to be At first, I was like,
can I create a nonprofit? But then I thought if
there's a way that I could use my love of
design and create a business that really could give back
in a meaningful way, that that would be success for me.
(19:26):
So in the early days, I could make a pair
of earrings for a silent auction, or I could make
it for you know, for an easy, you know, nonprofit.
Speaker 3 (19:33):
But as the business grew, we were able to do more.
Speaker 2 (19:35):
When we opened stores, we started hosting Kendrick gives Back
events and that built you know, a whole nother program
within when what we were doing. Since twenty ten, we've
given over seventy million dollars to women in youth nonprofits
and as a company, that's what we're all so proud of.
That's what draws my Kender Scott family members in is
they want to work for business that has purpose.
Speaker 3 (19:55):
Our customers have a heart that.
Speaker 2 (19:57):
Beats for their community, and when they can choose what
brands they want to be aligned with, they're going to
choose a brand that's really looking out for their local community.
Speaker 3 (20:05):
So local community.
Speaker 2 (20:06):
Nonprofits are a big part of what we focus on
as well, not just national large nonprofits, but we really
try to get in at the local level and see
who's doing the greatest work in that community, and we
really go all in.
Speaker 1 (20:18):
Is there a moment I mean, obviously you guys have
given back so much to so many communities, but is
there a moment that sticks with you that you're like, Wow,
this is why I do this.
Speaker 2 (20:28):
You know, there's so many I mean, we are in
over fifty hospitals with our Kendrick Cares program, and that's
pediatric hospitals. We bring our color bar where you can
customize jewelry, and we have, you know, patients that are
there and they're fighting for their lives in a lot
of cases, and they've got their moms by their bedside
who are just absolutely in one of the most difficult
times of their life. Can you imagine sitting there and
(20:49):
seeing your little one, you know, hurting for us to
come in and bring them a moment of normalcy, a
little bit of joy, a distraction where they can get
out of that and feel good and do something that
makes them feel good. Every time I go into a
Kendracares event, I leave and I'm like, Okay, we got
to keep going.
Speaker 3 (21:06):
And it really affects all of us.
Speaker 2 (21:08):
You know. Our employees are the ones that donate their
time to do these events every single month in these hospitals,
and it affects them too. Our store employees are in
store and now they're not just selling jewelry in another
retailer or whatever, they're able to share with their customers.
I went and did the Kendracares event at our local
pediatric hospital last week, and oh, my gosh, this is
what we're doing, and they it all of a sudden
(21:29):
becomes so real. And you know, one of the reasons
why we have employees stay with us for years and
years and years is because they know that their work
has purpose as well, but I have to tell you, yeah,
those Kendracares events get me every single time. I can imagine, yeah.
Speaker 1 (21:43):
Imagine what goes into deciding, you know, where to put
the resources with the philanthropy, because you guys do so much,
how do you decipher?
Speaker 2 (21:51):
Well, you know, we really do have a philosophy that
we always have something to give and what matters to
you matters to us. So we you know, we really
try to have our fulllananthropy and event managers in every
community really work with their local community to figure out
where can we really be the most valuable. But we
focus on women in youth and that is really where
we put the majority of our efforts. And then it's
the areas of health, wellness, education, entrepreneurship, empowerment, and so
(22:15):
when we can kind of focus on those areas, it
really helps us to find where we can do things
in a bigger way. But at Kendra Scott, we really
try to not turn anybody down.
Speaker 1 (22:23):
Yeah, now, you guys, I mean, jewelry is one of
those things that I'm sure lights up a lot of
faces with women, youth and all that. I find it
so fascinating. Though again, you started on the card table
making these pieces yourself, and now it is such a
large scale, what is that process like of letting go
of I'm making each of these pieces on my own
to like trusting them to be made to how you see,
(22:46):
Because I think any small business or entrepreneur that is
trying to scale at some point it's like, all right,
how do I let go of that part?
Speaker 3 (22:53):
So you stay true to your core values?
Speaker 2 (22:55):
You know, at Kendra Scott the Three we talked about
our family, fashion philanthropy. So it's not just every person
that comes and works for the brand, they have to
align with our core values. Every partner that we work
with has to align with our core values. So as
we started building out our brand and working with other
craftsmen and artisans, I really needed to make sure, like,
are you aligned with who we are as a business
and brand? Do you treat your employees and your teams
(23:16):
the way we treat ours? And we really made sure
that we partner with partners that were like us right,
and that made such a big difference, and that cared
so much about the things we care about. We are
maniacal about customer experience. We are maniacable about creating the
best products we possibly can every single day and surprising
and delighting our customer. And so our partners have to
(23:37):
have that same you know, kind of like passion that
we have. And we've really been picky about who we
work with, and I think that shows in our products
because we do the details and all the things that
we do in our products are so special. And that
comes from really putting a really high standard on everyone
we work with. But you've got to have it and
put it through that lens, right, that filter of do
(23:58):
they align with us as a part partner? Do they
align with us as a manufacturer? Do they align with us?
You know, when you're hiring somebody and if they if
they do great, and if they don't, you got to
keep looking.
Speaker 1 (24:09):
Is there something that you learned about the process of
growing a business along the way that you're Wow, if
I'd have known that at the beginning, this would have
been so much easier. I can't believe you know something,
You're like, I wish I could tell my younger self this.
Speaker 2 (24:22):
I think you know, when I was first starting, it
was like I knew I needed people that were better
at things that I was not good at. Right, I
knew to get a winning team that It's really important
to know your strengths, but more important to know your
weaknesses so that you can fill people in with your
weaknesses that that's their strengths. But what I didn't realize
is that I thought, oh, the resume looks so good,
but maybe they didn't have the heart and they didn't
(24:44):
share what we just talked about those core values, right,
But god, they had all this great experience and I
feel like they could really help our business. But when
you bring somebody in that is not aligned with that,
that doesn't share your heart, it can be a cancer
to your organization. And I had some of those, and
I had to I had to learn the hard way,
right where from now on it's like, there are certain
skills I can teach, but I cannot teach you to
(25:06):
be a loving and kind and generous and thoughtful leader.
You either have that inside of you or you don't.
And so that was a hard lesson, but it was
one that I'm happy happened pretty early on because from
then on it was like higher on heart, higher on heart.
And you know, we've really had the most incredible team.
I know I'm biased, but I think on the planet
at Kendra Scott Well It is great.
Speaker 1 (25:27):
That you think that, because that your opinion is the
one that matters of a Kendra Scott team right there
when you look at what you've built again, I think
it's just we've said this before, but a five hundred
dollars card table, almost craft shop to a billion dollar
industry that has given back so much and made such
an impact in the community in so many different ways.
(25:50):
Was there a point or a moment where you said, oh,
we've got something special here. How did you know? Was
there a tipping point that you saw or is it
all just hinds you know?
Speaker 2 (26:00):
I think as you build a business, and I think
this is important for every entrepreneur because you hear the
five hundred dollars to a billion and that sounds like, oh,
overnight success and butterflies and rainbows and so easy and wonderful. Honey.
This is twenty four years of a lot of times
where throughout that I thought I might lose my business.
You know, my line of credit getting called in two
thousand and eight during the Great Recession and having to
(26:20):
you know, beg other bank to take on my line
of credit and believe in me. You know, there were
so many things along the way that were so hard
right building this, And I think that's so important for
people to remember because it's not like this is just
like overnight. Right, You're going to have moments in your
life where in your business where you're like, okay, it
gives you a little bit, Like we talked about the
fuel and the tank. One order led to another order.
(26:43):
I remember when Nordstrom wrote their first order and it
was a test order for like fifteen doors. But those
fifteen doors getting into Nordstrom, which is like to me,
like are you kidding me? I'm getting into Nordstrom. That
gave me like, Okay, maybe we have something. But it
wasn't maybe we have an over billion dollar brand. It
was like, okay, this is going to keep us going.
Maybe we can, you know, build this a little bit
(27:04):
bigger than we thought we could build it.
Speaker 3 (27:06):
And so each of those.
Speaker 2 (27:07):
Things over the last twenty four years have given me
that confidence, from Oscar de Laurenta to Northstrom believing in me,
to opening our first store and seeing lines around the
block because people just loved the experience so much and
they were just eating it up, where I thought, maybe
this is going to be more than one store, you know,
we'll we have one hundred and seventy at the end
of this year. That one store gave the confidence to
(27:28):
open the second store. The second store gave me the
confidence to open the third. And so I think with
a lot of people, it's not just always A to B.
You know, start and then you're this. It's all those
steps along the way and then learning everything you can.
Take your time. You don't want to go from zero
to sixty. You really want to be able to learn
and learn those lessons because if you go too fast,
(27:49):
too quick, you're going to make so many mistakes, and
there's going to be so many things that are going
to fall to the wayside that you haven't perfected. So
taking the time to build it thoughtfully and building a
strong foundation, because that foundation will change. When we went
from twenty five employees to twenty five hundred, I had
to put a lot of different new systems in place
and new technology and really think about how we could
(28:10):
scale in that way. There's no way I could have
done that if I hadn't prepared for it. So build
the strong foundation. You will get there overnight. Successes are
not real, right, they're not. Yeah, I mean I joke
because I got Breakthrough Designer of the Year from the
Accessory Circuit Council. And I was in the business for
sixteen years and I became my breakthrough and I got
up there and I got the award and I was like,
(28:32):
I broke through after sixteen years.
Speaker 1 (28:34):
People a lot of pounding, that's right. I always say
it takes decades to build an overnight success, right, yes,
And it's also too. I think a lot of young
entrepreneurs might think, Okay, when I get to the point
where I have a billion dollar business, I can exhale,
It'll be fine. But I'm sure, as you've learned along
the way, you know, whether it's you know the hurdles
of the recessions or different changes in the markets, there's
never a moment where you can just say, oh, I've
(28:55):
made it, let me put my feet up.
Speaker 2 (28:57):
Right, You can never be complacent in business today, no
matter what it is you're doing. You have to wake
up every single day and say, we are going to
be better than yesterday. We are going to surprise and
delight our customer every single day. How are we going
to do that? When no matter whether you're a million
dollar valuation, ten million, twenty million, a billion five billion.
(29:17):
If you stop having that mindset, your business will fail.
It doesn't matter how much success you have. So you've
got to wake up every day. You've got to have
a team that is like the customer is our boss.
I do not run this business. My customer runs this business.
I work for him and her, and I have got
to make sure my boss is happy every single day
so that they keep me around, right. And in order
(29:40):
to do that, I got to be the first one
up in the morning. I got to be the hardest
working one out there. I've got to know what all
of my competitors are doing every day, and I absolutely
have to blow them out of the water. And that
is the kind of mindset you have to be in
this world today to be successful.
Speaker 1 (29:54):
That is the mindset of it.
Speaker 2 (29:56):
Yeah, and that's I mean again, We're going to go
back to football analogies. These coaches are watching tape every
day with their teams. They're learning what their other teams
are doing. They're figuring out how to get in there
and beat that team. It is absolutely the same way
in business, Like you have got to be on the
ground in your business every day, working beside your team,
rolling your sleeves up, getting dirty alongside of them, but
(30:17):
then also paying attention to everything else that's happening around
you so that you can look behind around corners and
be ready for the next thing that's happening, and have
your team prepped and prepared to get out there and
do what they need to do to be successful.
Speaker 1 (30:29):
Right because whether it's in business or on the field,
the landscape's always changing.
Speaker 3 (30:33):
It's always changing.
Speaker 1 (30:34):
Always changing. Kendra Scott, thank you so much for sharing
the wisdom today.
Speaker 2 (30:38):
Thank you her so much.
Speaker 1 (30:40):
Brought to you by Kendra Scott. She is an entrepreneur,
a philanthropist, and founder of Kendra Scott. Thank you so
much for taking the time
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