What happens when your toxic business partnership implodes and nearly 20 years of work vanishes while you're getting your hair done? Gwen Whiting, co-founder of The Laundress, opens up about the brutal reality behind building a successful brand, selling it to Unilever—and watching everything she created collapse.
In this raw conversation, Gwen reveals how early tragedy shaped her resilience; surviving on credit cards for over a decade; why her career path was not marriage; and the devastating moment she became "the adopted child nobody wanted" after acquisition. From being dismissed as "too small to care about" to rebuilding what she believed was a tarnished legacy, Gwen shares the messy truth about starting over.
If you've ever felt like you're building on shaky ground or wondered if you have the strength to rebuild after betrayal, this episode will remind you that sometimes losing everything reveals your true strength.
Topics Covered:
- Armoring up and fighting for myself.
- Acting authentically/not transactionally, being honest.
- How to do very uncomfortable things and while knowing that your result isn't always gonna be good (and it may even hurt), and then go back the next day and do it again.
- Relationships are the key to my success.
- My career path was not getting married. I wasn’t going to marry myself off.
- Lesson learned: have your own financial independence Keeping control,
- What gave me confidence
- White man chinos: my worst nightmare.
Show Notes
Guest: Gwen Whiting, co-founder, The Laundress, founder, The Fill
- Follow Gwen on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gwenlwhiting/
- Follow Gwen on Substack: https://thelaundrylist.substack.com/
- Follow Gwen on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gwenlwhiting/?hl=en
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