Latest / Hurdle with Emily Abbate / Episode 31: Jessy Dover, Co-Founder & Creative Director Dagne Dover

Transcript

Episode 31: Jessy Dover, Co-Founder & Creative Director Dagne Dover · Hurdle with Emily Abbate

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Welcome to episode thirty one of Hurdle, a podcast that
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: talks to everyone from top CEOs to entrepreneurs about how
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: they got through tough times hurdles of sorts by leaning
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: into wellness. My name's Emily A Badi, and today I
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: am chatting with Jesse Dover, co founder and creative director
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: at bag company Dagni Dover. For just a second, think
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: about how annoying it is when you can't find something in.
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: The bag you're carrying around for the day.
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: Maybe it's a pen, or your sunglass case or your wallet.
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: It's like you're digging through an endless abyss to find
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: that one single item that seems to have gone totally
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: mia well. Jesse and her coat founders wanted to change
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: that frustrating scenario with their super functional bagline. In the
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: backpack of theirs that I happen to use most days
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: of the week, there's a spot for everything from my
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: laptop and pens, and a clip for my keys, special
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: pockets for other things like my wallet, and even an
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: external elastic situation perfect for my water model because there
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: is no way I'm letting that thing anywhere near my laptop.
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: As you can broatly tell I'm a pretty big fan
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: of the brand. Before we talk Jesse and more things
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: Bags shout out to the sponsor of today's episode, Athletic Greens,
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: complete with twelve servings of fruits and vegetables. Having the
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: Greens powder first thing in the morning before I head
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: out the door makes me feel like a better me.
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: They're offering a special deal just for Hurdle listeners. It's
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: twenty free travel packs valued at ninety nine dollars with
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: your first purchase. Just head on over to Athleticgreens dot
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: com slash hurdle to claim it. No code necessary again,
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: that's Athleticgreens dot com slash Hurdle. Now onto Jesse's story.
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: After graduating from Parsons School of Design and working at
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: coach in another large fashion company, she quickly learned that
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: big corporate culture just wasn't her scene. That's when one
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: of her co founders, Melissa, reached out to her with
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: an idea, and the work on what would eventually become
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: Dignied Over began.
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: But it wasn't always smooth sailing.
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: Returning late one night from a work tre of overseas,
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: she walked into the apartment she shared with her then
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: boyfriend of more than three years to see her stuff
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: packed up in the corner and him asking her to leave.
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: The breakup rocked her world. In today's episode, we talk
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: about that.
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: Hurdle moment, and we're pretty vulnerable about how tough it
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: can be to separate your personal life from your professional
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: life when emotions are high and confusion is real.
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: Upfront, I really.
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: Want to thank Jesse for her honesty, you know, dealing
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: with love and breakups and all that stuff. It's tough
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: at any age, and it's also tough to talk about publicly.
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: To get through the emotional mook, Jesse leaned into fitness
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: and soul cycle and eating better, and soon enough she
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: was through the fog while still being an integral part
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: of building her business, which now more than five years old,
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: is growing like wildfire. As always Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, at
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: Hurdle podcast you know the drill. Make sure to tag
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: me in your Instagram stories listening to the podcast with
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: your favorite takeaways.
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: I love you posting those from the Hurdle account.
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: A special shout out to the ten or so people
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: that came up to me this week at studios and
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: bars and literally on the street saying are you Emily
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: from Hurdle podcast? You You made my day, my week,
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: my month.
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: It's uh, it's so awesome to connect with you guys.
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: In the real real If you also want to say
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: hi or have a hurdle moment of your own, just share,
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: shoot me an email Emily at hurdle dot us. And
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: last but not least, Dagneydover's offering Hurdle listeners a special
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: discount of twenty percent off through January thirty, first.
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: Of twenty nineteen.
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: Just head on over to dagnidover dot com and use
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: the code Hurdle twenty at checkout. Again, that's Hurdle to
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: zero at checkout for twenty percent off.
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: And that's it.
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: Let's get to hurdling. I'm hanging out today with Jesse Dover.
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: She's the creative director and co founder at Dagney Doover.
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: Hey Jesse, Hey, what's going on? Not much? Thank you
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: for having me, Thanks for coming in. You know, it's funny.
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: When I first met Jesse, it's like you know, when
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: you meet someone and you just.
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: Feel like you get it. I met her and I
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: was she was wearing a great outfit and she was
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: complimenting me on my outfit, and today she walked in
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: wearing my favorite pair of pants that I also I know,
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: We're like connected.
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: This is magical.
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: Then I found out that Jesse and I are actually
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: the same age, and you feel really confident about where
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: we are. Yeah.
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: Same. I don't often actually talk to a lot like
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: I guess I don't really ask people how old they are.
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: But I also feel like I'm not often talking to
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: people that are my exact same age. At work, I
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: feel like everyone's older than me. Me too. Do you
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: feel like everyone's older than me all the time? And
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: I'm always like, how old are you? Yeah?
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: I know, especially I work most days out of a
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: we work, and when I'm in the we work, it's
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: like me and I feel like a bunch of people.
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: Some are my age, but some are surely like my
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: father's age. Yes, I'm like, Hi, I am the young
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: in here.
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: My name is Emily.
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: I write fitness content for a living most days, but
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: other days I'm here recording hurdle and like today with you,
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: So I'm so amped to have you here. I think
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: first and foremost what we need to do is tell
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: the world about Dagney Dover. What is Dagney Dover? Give
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: me the lowdown.
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: Dagney Dover is a lifestyle bag brand that I founded
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: in twenty thirteen with my two partners, Melissa and Depa. Basically,
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: what we do is we create performance bags, so everything
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: from workout ath leisure bags to luxury leather bags. The
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: thing that's different about Dagnes that everything that we make
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: is super functional. The whole idea behind the brand is
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: that you can look awesome, be cool, super stylish no
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: matter what you're doing, and also be organized and ready
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: to take on your day. You know what I love
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: about your company right off that?
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: Right off the that what I love about your company
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: is that I have a few pieces myself. I have
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: a backpack that I love, and I have an over
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: night an overnight bag, a weekend oor bag that I love.
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: And I'm sure you could say the more proper names
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: to these I but whenever I bring them anywhere, someone
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: compliments that. Be honest, I feel like I'm instantly cooler
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: when I carry the background. And you know what, I
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: think A big part of it is you said there's leather,
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: but there's also like this amazing neoprem collection and I
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: just think that it's super in vogue.
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: Thank you for the kind words.
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: You're welcome, You're welcome. I'm just I just like to
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: start the podcast off with flattery. I appreciate we set
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: the bar. We set the bar really high for what
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: we're about to get into. Okay, So, DIAGNI dover, when did.
• 6:38
  Speaker 2: You and your co founders start the company. We launched
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: in twenty thirteen, but we were working on building the
• 6:46
  Speaker 2: brand for about a year and a half before we launched.
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: Okay, and so that is like actually right after you
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: finished college? Yes, So give me a little intel about
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: your backstory.
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: Where did you go to college? Were you Always is.
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: Like, man, I'm going to make this outstanding bad company
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: and that's going to be the deal.
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: No, not at all. I even from Colorado. So I
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: come from the mountains. I'm from a small town called
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: Steamboat Springs, and I grew up basically just being an
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: outdoorsy kind of girl. I played every sport that I
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: possibly could. I lived the Colorado lifestyle. I snowboarded every
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: single day. And when I was in high school, I
• 7:24
  Speaker 2: realized that I, like I was a soccer player, an athlete,
• 7:30
  Speaker 2: and I remember walking off the field and my fellow
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: teammates would be like so upset when we lost and
• 7:39
  Speaker 2: like so happy when we won, and I just didn't
• 7:43
  Speaker 2: really care. I was good, and I got a lot
• 7:46
  Speaker 2: of attention for being good, but I remember thinking, like,
• 7:50
  Speaker 2: is this it? Is this what it's supposed to be
• 7:52
  Speaker 2: like when you like love something. And it was around
• 7:56
  Speaker 2: the same time that I started to be super into
• 7:59
  Speaker 2: design and art, and I have always loved building things.
• 8:04
  Speaker 2: So I decided to take a summer off of sports
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: and go to art camp in Rhode Island at Risdy
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: and I freaking loved it. And when I came back,
• 8:15
  Speaker 2: I was like, I'm going to be a designer. This
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: is what I want to do. And I continued playing sports,
• 8:21
  Speaker 2: and I got a lot of like are you sure
• 8:23
  Speaker 2: you want to do that? Like you're really good at this.
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: I think you should stick with it. You know, maybe
• 8:27
  Speaker 2: you should just quit volleyball and play soccer, and like
• 8:30
  Speaker 2: a lot of that kind of stuff. And then when
• 8:32
  Speaker 2: I applied to colleges, I applied to all art schools
• 8:36
  Speaker 2: and I ended up getting into Parsons and so I
• 8:38
  Speaker 2: moved to New York. My mom came and dropped me off,
• 8:40
  Speaker 2: and at that point. All I knew was I wanted
• 8:43
  Speaker 2: to be a designer and I wanted to create a brand.
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: And did you at the.
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: Time think that you were going to go into maybe
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: creating clothing.
• 8:52
  Speaker 2: Yeah you did. Yeah, I mean I was really open
• 8:55
  Speaker 2: because at that point I hadn't really made a lot
• 8:57
  Speaker 2: of stuff. I knew that I was into fashion and style.
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: I like to build things with my hands. So I
• 9:03
  Speaker 2: started in apparel, and that's what I was formally trained
• 9:06
  Speaker 2: in at Parsons, how to create clothing, and I then
• 9:12
  Speaker 2: my senior year started to kind of shift into like, Okay,
• 9:15
  Speaker 2: there's a lot more to fashion and a lot more
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: to apparel and like wearable goods than just style and
• 9:24
  Speaker 2: soft clothing, and so I started designing footwear and handbags.
• 9:28
  Speaker 2: And then my senior year I won an award through Coach.
• 9:30
  Speaker 2: Actually that kind of shifted my focus into handbags. I
• 9:35
  Speaker 2: spent time my senior year at Coach creating a collection
• 9:37
  Speaker 2: that I had designed, and I just loved it. For
• 9:40
  Speaker 2: me a glimpse into a bigger world that I didn't
• 9:44
  Speaker 2: necessarily know existed, or I didn't know how to get there,
• 9:47
  Speaker 2: if that makes sense. But I saw people super happy
• 9:50
  Speaker 2: in their jobs which at my previous internships and jobs
• 9:54
  Speaker 2: were like it was. It wasn't super commonplace for people
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: in fashion to be super happy with their jobs. I
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: know that. I want to say that quietly, but it's
• 10:02
  Speaker 2: I guess it's not a quiet thing. At that point
• 10:04
  Speaker 2: in time, it was like a thing. It's actually really
• 10:07
  Speaker 2: interesting that you say that.
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: I have a girlfriend who just recently left a job
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: in fashion and is starting her own vegan salad dressing
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: and sauce company.
• 10:18
  Speaker 2: Awesome, and so now she's interacting.
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: With all of these people in food and health and wellness.
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: She said to me today as we were sitting at
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: wee work man, everyone in this side of things is
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: so nice.
• 10:31
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a thing. It's a thing. I don't even
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: know why. I don't know. I mean, I guess I
• 10:35
  Speaker 2: know why. But at the time, it was just like
• 10:38
  Speaker 2: an expectation. And when I got to coach people were
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: they were doing yoga in office, they were doing things
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: that like me and my personal lifestyle was like, I'm
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: into that, I do that, but I'm also a designer.
• 10:47
  Speaker 2: I'm not a mean fashion girl though. Yeah, And so
• 10:49
  Speaker 2: that inspired me and it also just bonded me to
• 10:53
  Speaker 2: like this World of Handbags. So did your line that
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: you were designing for Coach actually go on sale? No,
• 10:59
  Speaker 2: it didn't. So it was a student competition basically. So
• 11:03
  Speaker 2: they brought you into the sample room, you created everything
• 11:07
  Speaker 2: with the sample makers, and that was kind of where
• 11:09
  Speaker 2: the process ended.
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: I mean, that's pretty awesome though, Oh my god, was
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: awesome to have that opportunity.
• 11:14
  Speaker 2: I think what was cool about it also is that
• 11:17
  Speaker 2: this is like a Coach advertisement, but they cultivate young talent.
• 11:20
  Speaker 2: That's also a thing like in the design world that's
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: really hard to find, is like people that are willing
• 11:25
  Speaker 2: to spend their time to help you become better at
• 11:29
  Speaker 2: your craft when you're like twenty one years old. Yeah,
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: it happened. It's hard.
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: I think that's a really hard part about internships in
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: general is that in the right situation where you report
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: to someone who's willing to take that time to set
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: you up for success, that is awesome, but not always
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: something that is available for interns at all, No, at all.
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: Sometimes you're just that And that's why people, you know,
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: make the jokes about just writing to get coffee, because
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: it's like give them something to do, Yeah, exactly, something
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: to do. Okay, you're at coach, right, it's a coach.
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: You're at coach. Yeah. From there, I graduated from school
• 12:06
  Speaker 2: at Parsons, and I took the first job offer that
• 12:08
  Speaker 2: I got that paid me the most basically great learning experience.
• 12:15
  Speaker 2: I took some bad advice, though I would say that
• 12:20
  Speaker 2: was the first time I took it. I mean, let's
• 12:22
  Speaker 2: be honest. I didn't make a lot of money, but
• 12:23
  Speaker 2: at that time I was like, Okay, you know, I
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: think money maybe a way that I should make this decision.
• 12:31
  Speaker 2: And I made it. I was I learned a lot
• 12:33
  Speaker 2: about what I didn't want. It was a huge company
• 12:36
  Speaker 2: and I was essentially starting at the bottom as an
• 12:40
  Speaker 2: associate designer, and I wasn't being creative at all. I
• 12:46
  Speaker 2: also realized that, you know, it was like it was
• 12:49
  Speaker 2: my first job. It was like this, what I saw
• 12:52
  Speaker 2: was a huge ladder, a huge, huge company that I
• 12:56
  Speaker 2: would have to somehow bust down the doors of and
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: climb my way up. And I just saw myself as
• 13:04
  Speaker 2: like a fifty year old woman climbing, still climbing, and
• 13:08
  Speaker 2: like still trying to just express myself creatively, which is
• 13:12
  Speaker 2: what I set out to do in the beginning, and
• 13:15
  Speaker 2: I realized at that point that I'm not a huge
• 13:17
  Speaker 2: company kind of girl, and I don't do well with
• 13:22
  Speaker 2: office politics really, Like, I really like to get stuff done.
• 13:24
  Speaker 2: I like to have fun. I'd like to accomplish a goal.
• 13:28
  Speaker 2: But if I have to go through a bunch of
• 13:30
  Speaker 2: people and do a bunch of weird things that I
• 13:33
  Speaker 2: feel like aren't attached to the goal, it like really
• 13:36
  Speaker 2: kind of right takes a wind out of my sales.
• 13:38
  Speaker 2: I totally hear you, you know, yeah, I hear you.
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: I don't think I actually realized that I felt the
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: same way until I wasn't even in that scene anymore. Right,
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: Some people think that it's just that's just how it is,
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: And it's like it's like when people say, well, this
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: is just how it always has been, Like that's not
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: a reason not to do something different. No, But people
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: are like, well, I've just always been in an office
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: where there are office politics, or I'm used to being
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: talked down to by my superior, Like isn't that part
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: of corporate America?
• 14:07
  Speaker 2: Spoiler alert, Yeah, yeah, exactly. That's not how it has
• 14:10
  Speaker 2: to be.
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: So you decide, I'm guessing to leave the company.
• 14:15
  Speaker 2: I decided to leave actually before I decided to leave,
• 14:17
  Speaker 2: I started looking around and taking freelance work and trying
• 14:20
  Speaker 2: to figure out what my next move was because I
• 14:22
  Speaker 2: knew I didn't want to move to another big company,
• 14:24
  Speaker 2: so I didn't want to start interviewing at other big companies.
• 14:27
  Speaker 2: And I knew that I eventually wanted to start my
• 14:28
  Speaker 2: own brand, but I also knew I wasn't prepared to
• 14:31
  Speaker 2: do that at that time, because I didn't have the
• 14:34
  Speaker 2: business experience or the knowledge to really do that. And
• 14:38
  Speaker 2: my plan was to go to fashion school, learn how
• 14:42
  Speaker 2: to design, go work as a designer, and then go
• 14:46
  Speaker 2: to business school. So at this point, I'm also thinking like,
• 14:48
  Speaker 2: should I just go to business school now and figure
• 14:51
  Speaker 2: that out, or should I pound the pavement get another
• 14:56
  Speaker 2: job at maybe a smaller brand where I can make
• 14:57
  Speaker 2: a difference. And I got an email one day from
• 15:02
  Speaker 2: who's now my partner, Melissa, said, I want to start
• 15:05
  Speaker 2: a handbag brand. I know you were at Coach. I
• 15:08
  Speaker 2: saw your work. I'd love to get a cup of
• 15:10
  Speaker 2: coffee and talk to you. So how did she see
• 15:12
  Speaker 2: your work at Coach? She worked at Coach. So she
• 15:15
  Speaker 2: worked at Coach. Uh huh, yeah, so she was familiar
• 15:18
  Speaker 2: with the Coach Network. We didn't know each other when
• 15:21
  Speaker 2: we were there, but she found me and asked if
• 15:23
  Speaker 2: I wanted to get a cup of coffee. So we
• 15:25
  Speaker 2: went and so we went and met in the East
• 15:27
  Speaker 2: Village at my favorite coffee shop, and we just hit
• 15:29
  Speaker 2: it off. What's your favorite coffee shop? It's not there anymore,
• 15:33
  Speaker 2: but it was Ohst Cafe, Okay, Yeah, and she was awesome.
• 15:38
  Speaker 2: I was like, I totally agree with you. I have
• 15:41
  Speaker 2: the same issues with handbags. It's like they were made
• 15:44
  Speaker 2: to be beautiful and not functional, and I'm running around
• 15:47
  Speaker 2: the city every day with a portfolio and a computer
• 15:50
  Speaker 2: and my keys and my phone and my workout gear
• 15:52
  Speaker 2: and everything, and I can't put that in a designer handbag.
• 15:56
  Speaker 2: So I was literally carrying these huge, like black sacks
• 15:59
  Speaker 2: that I would buy like American apparel, because they are
• 16:02
  Speaker 2: the only people that made bags at that time, like
• 16:04
  Speaker 2: oversized toats that were big enough to carry like.
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: My portfolio and all of my stuff. Interesting, Okay, so
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: you have coffee. She's great, man. It would be great
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: if we made a handbag line Boom Handbags.
• 16:17
  Speaker 2: Boom Handbags. Now, no, that's not how it worked at all. Actually,
• 16:20
  Speaker 2: she explained to me her concept of creating a super
• 16:23
  Speaker 2: functional bag, and I was like, you know what, most
• 16:25
  Speaker 2: so that's an incredible idea. I have the creative background
• 16:29
  Speaker 2: and the product development knowledge to help you out. You
• 16:31
  Speaker 2: have the business knowledge to bring to the table, and
• 16:35
  Speaker 2: let's do this. At the same time, she was talking
• 16:37
  Speaker 2: to my other partner, Depa, because they were both at
• 16:39
  Speaker 2: Wharton Business School together, and we all kind of came
• 16:45
  Speaker 2: together around the idea, started focus grouping, sending out surveys,
• 16:51
  Speaker 2: doing basically a shit ton of customer research, a shit
• 16:55
  Speaker 2: ton of customer research, and we came up with these
• 16:58
  Speaker 2: two products that we wanted to lunch, which was the
• 17:01
  Speaker 2: Legend tote, which we have now on our site, and
• 17:04
  Speaker 2: the Essentials Clutch wallet, which we also now have on
• 17:06
  Speaker 2: our site. We launched those two products and that's where
• 17:10
  Speaker 2: it all began. And that was in twenty and thirteen.
• 17:12
  Speaker 2: That was in twenty thirteen. Okay, so while this is
• 17:16
  Speaker 2: all going on, you are living where I was living
• 17:20
  Speaker 2: in Hell's Kitchen with my boyfriend. Okay, so let's talk
• 17:23
  Speaker 2: about your boyfriend. Let's talk about it.
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: It's so funny. We were I was walking here today
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: and uh, when I walked in. I realized that about
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: a year ago at this time, my last relationship ended,
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: and I knew that coming in here today. We were
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: going to kind of talk a little bit about a
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: few personal things.
• 17:41
  Speaker 2: And it's so interesting because I mean, I don't want to.
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: Spoil the ending of the story or anything, but it's
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: kind of crazy when you realize how capable you are
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: just you, without anyone else to tell you that you
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: can do it.
• 17:54
  Speaker 2: Yes, yeah, it's incredible.
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: Actually, so talk Okay, so you how long were you dating?
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: How long did you date your last this boy wait,
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: this boyfriend, this boyfriend, this boyfriend that I'm dating while
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: I'm starting the company. We were together for over three
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: years and we were going to get married.
• 18:13
  Speaker 2: I just saw him as part of my family.
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, and you were, so you were living together
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: in Hell's kitchen and he was a big part of
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: your life while you were just getting out of college,
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: you were figuring out what you wanted to do with
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: your career. I'm sure he was someone that you talked
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: a lot about your career decisions with. And it's idea
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: of like leaving big companies and you know, starting dagne.
• 18:36
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, he was he was a big part of
• 18:38
  Speaker 2: that choice. He was my you know, one of my
• 18:40
  Speaker 2: best friends at the time and still is actually a
• 18:43
  Speaker 2: good friend now after the fact. But yeah, he was
• 18:47
  Speaker 2: encouraging me at first to stick with my job, and
• 18:50
  Speaker 2: then when I expressed that I really just couldn't do
• 18:54
  Speaker 2: it anymore. He was also supportive of my leaving that job,
• 18:58
  Speaker 2: and also supportive of me spending a year and a
• 19:01
  Speaker 2: half essentially or a year bartending at night and working
• 19:06
  Speaker 2: on Digny Dover during the day, which essentially meant that
• 19:10
  Speaker 2: I was basically never there, but he was. He was
• 19:14
  Speaker 2: very supportive. He was my best bud. We did everything together.
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: I have to ask, because I asked about the coffee shop,
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: where were you bartending?
• 19:22
  Speaker 2: I was bartending all over the place. I bartended in
• 19:25
  Speaker 2: meatpacking for a while, I bartended mainly. What I learned
• 19:29
  Speaker 2: was that I'd rather bartend close to my house than
• 19:31
  Speaker 2: have to ride the train at four am in the morning.
• 19:34
  Speaker 2: So I ended up then bartending in a couple of
• 19:36
  Speaker 2: different places in midtown.
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: Okay, okay, you two are living together, and at some point,
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: from my understanding, what felt like kind of out of nowhere,
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: it just stopped.
• 19:49
  Speaker 2: Yes, I landed in New York from Vietnam, which is
• 19:54
  Speaker 2: where my partner and IDPA were solidifying our partners overseas
• 19:59
  Speaker 2: who were going to produce the bags for us. So
• 20:02
  Speaker 2: we were there for six weeks. I had spent a
• 20:03
  Speaker 2: ton of time there over that like year, year and
• 20:06
  Speaker 2: a half time period, just building the relationship with them,
• 20:09
  Speaker 2: getting them familiar with our design, aesthetic, kind of getting
• 20:13
  Speaker 2: them comfortable with the business that we wanted to build,
• 20:15
  Speaker 2: and it being direct to consumer, which at that time
• 20:18
  Speaker 2: was not a common business model. And as you can imagine,
• 20:24
  Speaker 2: it was a big conversation so deep. When I landed
• 20:27
  Speaker 2: New York, I hop a cab to my apartment in
• 20:30
  Speaker 2: Midtown and I walk in the door. It's late night.
• 20:33
  Speaker 2: I remember, I was exhausted, and I see all of
• 20:36
  Speaker 2: my stuff piled up in the corner in boxes, and
• 20:41
  Speaker 2: I'm like looking around, not registering what's happening. And I
• 20:45
  Speaker 2: see my boyfriend he's on the couch and he he
• 20:49
  Speaker 2: looks at me and he's like, you're you need to leave?
• 20:52
  Speaker 2: And I was like, what as you? I mean? It
• 20:57
  Speaker 2: was like it was just like someone had rip the
• 21:00
  Speaker 2: carpet out from underneath me. And for me, that was
• 21:05
  Speaker 2: the first time that I had really experienced loss and
• 21:08
  Speaker 2: rejection and all of those things that come with being
• 21:10
  Speaker 2: broken up with And so I went into a deep
• 21:15
  Speaker 2: dark hole of I guess what now I would call depression.
• 21:18
  Speaker 2: I couldn't eat, I couldn't sleep, I couldn't I couldn't think.
• 21:24
  Speaker 2: I don't I blacked out, like I don't even I
• 21:26
  Speaker 2: was trying to think about what I was doing at
• 21:27
  Speaker 2: this time so I could tell you, and I don't
• 21:29
  Speaker 2: even know what I was doing at work in my memory,
• 21:32
  Speaker 2: I would show up, sit in my chair, stare at
• 21:33
  Speaker 2: my computer for eight hours, and then go work out
• 21:37
  Speaker 2: and go home like I don't remember what I was doing.
• 21:39
  Speaker 2: And it was at that time that I moved in
• 21:42
  Speaker 2: with my best friend and slept in her bed with
• 21:45
  Speaker 2: her literally, and she would make sure I ate, make
• 21:48
  Speaker 2: sure I went to work, make sure I worked out.
• 21:51
  Speaker 2: I can't imagine what she thought of me at that
• 21:53
  Speaker 2: point in time, but I was a zombie.
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I totally feel that. And it's so interesting.
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: I think when you go through some sort of big
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: emotional event like this, that you look back on it
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: and the bits and pieces that you can remember of
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: how you spoke with people the interactions that you had.
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: You were telling people that like you hardly know about
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: how upset you were exactly. Like I think about some
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: of the people that I spoke with and the month
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: after my last breakup, and I'm like, in my head,
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: I'm like, I'm so sorry, but it's also sorry. It
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: also makes me think it brings a new level of
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: compassion and understanding when you know someone that goes through
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: something that's truly difficult emotionally, whether or not it has
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: anything to do with the significant other, maybe it's just
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: a hard time at work, or just learning empathy exactly
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: from the situations that you go through and how you
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: can better help someone else when they go through their
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: own hurdle moments.
• 22:44
  Speaker 2: Absolutely, and that's why I think it's so amazing that
• 22:47
  Speaker 2: you're doing what you're doing, is because sharing these stories
• 22:50
  Speaker 2: with people automatically. I mean, if I had had podcasts
• 22:53
  Speaker 2: like weren't a thing then either, So I feel like
• 22:55
  Speaker 2: if I had had something like this to listen to,
• 22:59
  Speaker 2: I would have felt less alone. Like there's a light
• 23:02
  Speaker 2: at the end of the ti there's a light at
• 23:03
  Speaker 2: the end of the tunnel.
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: I think about that specifically when I was losing weight
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: in college. Facebook was a thing, Instagram wasn't really a thing.
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: Twitter wasn't really big. I think we used it to
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: post things that were kind of like away messages on aim.
• 23:16
  Speaker 2: Like super Emo, super Emo, and uh.
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: I had nowhere to look for like guidance or support.
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: I felt so alone and just kind of ashamed that
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: I had gotten to that place and that my scale
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: said one number, and I didn't know who to reach
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: out to. Yes, and these days, when you're going through something,
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: it's so special that there are these different outlets. Maybe
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: it is a podcast, but maybe it's also a social
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: community or a Facebook community or even in person. Yes,
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: just so many ways to connect with people who are
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: going through hard times.
• 23:53
  Speaker 2: Okay, so you're like blacking out, you know what's going on.
• 23:56
  Speaker 2: I'm living life blacked out, and meanwhile you're trying to
• 24:01
  Speaker 2: start this company. Meanwhile I'm trying to start this company.
• 24:03
  Speaker 2: So this was I think what my hurdle moment was.
• 24:06
  Speaker 2: I was in that state of mind. I didn't have
• 24:08
  Speaker 2: any money, I didn't have a home, I didn't have
• 24:12
  Speaker 2: my family here. I was just feeling really alone and
• 24:17
  Speaker 2: like I didn't have a leg to stand on. So
• 24:20
  Speaker 2: I was talking to my business partners kind of like, look, guys,
• 24:24
  Speaker 2: I don't I don't know if I can do this anymore.
• 24:27
  Speaker 2: I'm in a bind that I wasn't before, and it's
• 24:32
  Speaker 2: just not adding up. So I decided to change one
• 24:37
  Speaker 2: variable at a time. So I got an apartment, and
• 24:44
  Speaker 2: I a cheap, really small apartment after saving up for
• 24:49
  Speaker 2: a few months living with my best friend, and I
• 24:52
  Speaker 2: just kept trucking. I kept putting one foot in front
• 24:54
  Speaker 2: of the other. Nothing really made sense. The numbers weren't
• 24:58
  Speaker 2: adding up. I was making some irresponsible decisions in terms
• 25:03
  Speaker 2: of my finances. I was making some emotional irresponsible decisions
• 25:08
  Speaker 2: because I was so overloaded at work but so unemotionally,
• 25:12
  Speaker 2: like I was unavailable to really manage all of it.
• 25:15
  Speaker 2: But I I was just putting one foot in front
• 25:17
  Speaker 2: of the other. I'd wake up in the morning, I'd
• 25:19
  Speaker 2: go for a workout, I'd go to work, and oftentimes
• 25:22
  Speaker 2: I'd go for another workout and then go home, just
• 25:25
  Speaker 2: because working out was really the only basically putting myself
• 25:29
  Speaker 2: through more physical pain than mental pain was the only
• 25:31
  Speaker 2: thing that would give my mind a break from thinking
• 25:34
  Speaker 2: about it, yeah, and from just being depressed.
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: Basically, I remember, for me, I came to the realization
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: that I couldn't work out all the time when I
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: wasn't working, but I definitely started to. And so I
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: would wake up in the morning before I could really
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: think about anything, I was already out running. And then
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: I would come home and shower and go to a
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: wee work office and I would be there from nine
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: to five and fill my day with meetings and seeing
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: people and doing all this stuff. And then at night,
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: if no one was available to hang out and probably
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: drink wine with me, then I would go and.
• 26:06
  Speaker 2: Work out again.
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: And I literally had a moment where I was just
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: like looking in the mirror putting my hair up one morning,
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: and I said to myself, you need another hobby. Yep,
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: Like something needs to happen here because you can't work
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: out like this. You can't do this to your body.
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: And so I did two things. One this is actually
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: when like hurdle really started cool. And two I got
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: movie pass Yes, so I started going to the movies
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: by myself.
• 26:33
  Speaker 2: I love going to the movies by myself. I think
• 26:34
  Speaker 2: it's really one of my favorite things to do. Yeah,
• 26:37
  Speaker 2: I love that you do that. Yeah, well we can
• 26:39
  Speaker 2: do it. Together. It doesn't need to be alone anymore.
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: Okay, so you're but you're in this fog and you're
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: filling your time with sweat. When does that time filler
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: become more cathartic and less autopilot.
• 26:54
  Speaker 2: I remember I started waking up mentally again and I
• 27:00
  Speaker 2: realized that I was losing weight. I had gained probably
• 27:06
  Speaker 2: twenty twenty five pounds when I was dating my boyfriend.
• 27:08
  Speaker 2: I didn't really notice that I was putting it on
• 27:10
  Speaker 2: until I started losing weight again. Way, nobody notices, No,
• 27:14
  Speaker 2: I'm looking great. Everybody else notices.
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: They don't say it to you. With your relationship, You're like,
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: I knew it, I didn't want to say it out loud. Yeah, exactly.
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: So anyways, I started losing weight. I was becoming more energetic.
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: I had more stamina at work. I had more energy
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: for my friends and my family and my business.
• 27:39
  Speaker 2: People that I was working with. I just felt like
• 27:44
  Speaker 2: a new person all of a sudden, and I think
• 27:47
  Speaker 2: that it took probably about a month. I got into
• 27:49
  Speaker 2: like decent shape in a month, and then it just
• 27:52
  Speaker 2: kept getting better and better. At that time, I remember
• 27:55
  Speaker 2: my mom was getting into juice cleansing because she's kind
• 27:57
  Speaker 2: of a health nut. I try to cleanse and I
• 28:00
  Speaker 2: was like, this is game changing. I had so much energy,
• 28:05
  Speaker 2: I realized now looking back on it, me hitting rock
• 28:09
  Speaker 2: bottom and then working out being something that was a
• 28:15
  Speaker 2: routine that I could depend on. It was like a
• 28:17
  Speaker 2: stability that I needed at that time catapulted me back
• 28:22
  Speaker 2: up so much faster than I could have come back
• 28:25
  Speaker 2: up otherwise. And I knew that. When I was at
• 28:28
  Speaker 2: the gym or in a soul cycle class, I was happy.
• 28:32
  Speaker 2: I was in my element. I was comfortable there, and
• 28:35
  Speaker 2: eventually I realized, too, Okay, hey, you got to like
• 28:38
  Speaker 2: normalize here a little bit, because you're going to run
• 28:40
  Speaker 2: your body into the ground, which is when I started
• 28:43
  Speaker 2: playing a little bit more with my diet, not in
• 28:47
  Speaker 2: an extreme way, just more like knowing figuring out what
• 28:50
  Speaker 2: I should be eating for my personal energy, health well
• 28:54
  Speaker 2: being and making sure I kind of stuck to that
• 28:58
  Speaker 2: and maybe not working out twice one day, not twice
• 29:00
  Speaker 2: in one day, not necessary.
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: So you start to be able to use fitness and
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: food as fuel and like you're awake.
• 29:09
  Speaker 2: I'm awake again, and I felt incredible, And actually, I
• 29:15
  Speaker 2: think that the fitness and the fuel were something that
• 29:19
  Speaker 2: I originally when I was originally thinking about it, I
• 29:22
  Speaker 2: thought it was just me. I was like I was
• 29:23
  Speaker 2: a child athlete. I've always been moving my whole life.
• 29:27
  Speaker 2: My mom has been feeding me healthily. And now I'm
• 29:29
  Speaker 2: like out on my own trying to do the same thing,
• 29:32
  Speaker 2: but maybe not realizing how important that was. Maybe my
• 29:35
  Speaker 2: brain chemistry is off because I'm used to being in motion,
• 29:38
  Speaker 2: And now that I think about it, I think of
• 29:42
  Speaker 2: it more as everybody needs to eat well and take
• 29:46
  Speaker 2: care of their body, and your life can be so
• 29:48
  Speaker 2: incredibly different by doing just like those two little things,
• 29:54
  Speaker 2: and you don't know it until you taste it. Yeah,
• 29:56
  Speaker 2: And I think that's the hard part is that even
• 29:59
  Speaker 2: in my life, I manage a big team now and
• 30:03
  Speaker 2: I'm not necessarily manage down to them, but like across
• 30:06
  Speaker 2: and up and down, and I see people who work
• 30:10
  Speaker 2: out and eat well, and I see their output, and
• 30:13
  Speaker 2: I see their mood and I see them living happy lives. Yeah.
• 30:21
  Speaker 2: I'm trying to think of the way to put this.
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: It's like you get through this breakup and there's like
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: this dark side, oh yeah, and then you find that, Okay,
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: I can get a little bit better and then I
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: can get a little bit better and then like you're.
• 30:38
  Speaker 2: Out that I'm out. And that isn't just that easy though,
• 30:43
  Speaker 2: and that's a long process and also it was painful.
• 30:47
  Speaker 2: That was like a two year process. Yeah, and I
• 30:50
  Speaker 2: think it's insane.
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: I remember a girlfriend of mine made the joke that
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: you get like, oh, you get two days.
• 30:58
  Speaker 2: This was this was ridiculous. This is not feasible.
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: You get two days for every month that you dated
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: someone to be upset. She's a hard ass, was like
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: you got so like, say, if you dated someone for
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: a year, you get twenty four days to be like
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: in your bed.
• 31:15
  Speaker 2: Okay, that's hilarious.
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: And I'm like twenty four days, No, that's I mean.
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: And I'm like a very like okay, what are we
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: going to do now kind of person.
• 31:23
  Speaker 2: I'm a solver.
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: I'm a fixer in all aspects of my life. But
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: sometimes you just can't shove your feelings to this side,
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: and sometimes you got to deal with it. Yeah, and
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: if you don't deal with it, it's gonna manifest and
• 31:35
  Speaker 1: then years later you're gonna find these issues again.
• 31:39
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and yeah, that is just not the way. It's
• 31:42
  Speaker 2: not the way. And I actually two things. One I
• 31:45
  Speaker 2: think I was talking to my dad when I was
• 31:48
  Speaker 2: going through it, That's who I was talking to, and
• 31:51
  Speaker 2: he told me, he said, you need.
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: I think he said.
• 31:55
  Speaker 2: Something like six months for every year that you were
• 31:59
  Speaker 2: together recover And I was like, oh man, this is
• 32:02
  Speaker 2: inter real line recovery, and it actually was. I don't
• 32:06
  Speaker 2: think either of those. Maybe we'll meet somewhere in the
• 32:08
  Speaker 2: middle on it. But the other thing that I wanted
• 32:11
  Speaker 2: to say was actually the I think the thing that
• 32:13
  Speaker 2: I learned through all of that was that sometimes you
• 32:19
  Speaker 2: just gotta wait staff out, Like you want to fix
• 32:22
  Speaker 2: I'm a fixer too. I want to fix it. I
• 32:24
  Speaker 2: want to get out of my current situation. I want
• 32:26
  Speaker 2: to go. I want to be at the top. I
• 32:28
  Speaker 2: want to win. I want to be the best at
• 32:32
  Speaker 2: what I do. And with Dagnia at that time, and
• 32:38
  Speaker 2: also with my emotions, I just had to sit in
• 32:42
  Speaker 2: them for a while and focus on the granular stuff
• 32:46
  Speaker 2: and put one foot in front of the other, and
• 32:48
  Speaker 2: then eventually takes time you kind of get to the
• 32:53
  Speaker 2: light at the end of the tunnel.
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: Quick break from today's episode to give the sponsor Athletic
• 33:05
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• 33:08
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  Speaker 1: Com slash hurdle. Now let's get back to it. I'm
• 34:03
  Speaker 1: back here sitting with Jesse Dover of Diagny Dover, and
• 34:06
  Speaker 1: we are talking about getting through some hard emotional times.
• 34:11
  Speaker 1: So you're out of the relationship. You are now about
• 34:16
  Speaker 1: to really launch this company, which is just I just
• 34:20
  Speaker 1: in my mind it is unreal that this is all
• 34:24
  Speaker 1: happening at the same time, because.
• 34:28
  Speaker 2: It's so much to deal with at once. It was
• 34:31
  Speaker 2: so much to deal with that once I know it
• 34:33
  Speaker 2: was overload. I mean I was consistently on overload. I
• 34:35
  Speaker 2: was just like on autopilot, like doing things.
• 34:38
  Speaker 1: Yeah, doing that, even the outdoor voices way you your
• 34:43
  Speaker 1: company launches, Where are you in your emotional cycle when
• 34:46
  Speaker 1: the company launches. I'm excited, I'm really excited that the
• 34:48
  Speaker 1: company has launched, But at the same time, I'm.
• 34:53
  Speaker 2: Obviously distracted by a lot of things, as is life.
• 34:57
  Speaker 2: I guess now that I've learned, and I was compartmentalizing
• 35:02
  Speaker 2: as best as I could because I have always found
• 35:07
  Speaker 2: solace in my work. I decided to follow my passions
• 35:10
  Speaker 2: for my career, and because of that, I think that
• 35:14
  Speaker 2: work is something that I really enjoy and I like
• 35:17
  Speaker 2: my partners, I like my team, I love my company,
• 35:19
  Speaker 2: and so I was kind of putting my everything into that,
• 35:24
  Speaker 2: trying my best to ignore my own mind. I guess
• 35:26
  Speaker 2: when it came to personal matters.
• 35:28
  Speaker 1: So when your company actually launched, tell me what that
• 35:32
  Speaker 1: looks like, because I think it's like some people here
• 35:35
  Speaker 1: like company launch them and it's like overnight success, and that's.
• 35:40
  Speaker 2: How it always happened.
• 35:42
  Speaker 1: So it launches, and then are you guys e comm
• 35:45
  Speaker 1: at the time, are you making a lot of sales?
• 35:49
  Speaker 2: Yeah, we're selling. We're selling more product than we can
• 35:52
  Speaker 2: keep up with in production. So it was a lot.
• 35:56
  Speaker 2: We could not keep up with demand. So I was
• 35:58
  Speaker 2: in Asia a lot, basically working around the clock, twenty
• 36:01
  Speaker 2: four to seven. It was an incredibly exciting time, but
• 36:05
  Speaker 2: as an entrepreneur, also an incredibly scary time, because your
• 36:10
  Speaker 2: fears are kind of eating you alive at the same
• 36:14
  Speaker 2: time as your excitement is sort of like feeding you energy.
• 36:21
  Speaker 2: And I say fear because people can buy a product once,
• 36:27
  Speaker 2: that doesn't mean they're going to come back. So it's
• 36:29
  Speaker 2: really exciting to be selling a new product and to
• 36:33
  Speaker 2: have some traction and for people to be really liking
• 36:35
  Speaker 2: your concept and your style. It's a whole nother thing
• 36:39
  Speaker 2: to get them so in love with the brand and
• 36:43
  Speaker 2: hooked on the product that they come back for more.
• 36:46
  Speaker 2: So how do you do that? You do a good
• 36:49
  Speaker 2: job the first time, you do a good job.
• 36:53
  Speaker 1: And so we launched those two offerings, Yes to the
• 36:56
  Speaker 1: two eggs, And so how long did you just have
• 36:59
  Speaker 1: the two bags.
• 37:00
  Speaker 2: Oh, I'm terrible a timelines, but it was a long time. Yeah,
• 37:03
  Speaker 2: we had two bags for a long time. We lived
• 37:05
  Speaker 2: off of those. We perfected the designs of those. We
• 37:09
  Speaker 2: were working on a lot of things behind the scenes
• 37:11
  Speaker 2: operationally and product development wise. While we were selling those.
• 37:18
  Speaker 2: We were expanding the collection behind the scenes so that
• 37:21
  Speaker 2: we could eventually put them up on the site for sale,
• 37:23
  Speaker 2: but also just correcting things that we kind of saw
• 37:28
  Speaker 2: pop up as we were going.
• 37:31
  Speaker 1: And like from a creator perspective, I mean you come
• 37:34
  Speaker 1: up with this concept to have these highly functional bags.
• 37:37
  Speaker 1: When you say that what makes them super functional Everything
• 37:41
  Speaker 1: inside of them is functional. But if you can imagine
• 37:45
  Speaker 1: getting to your front door at two am after you
• 37:49
  Speaker 1: go out and you can't find your keys inside of
• 37:51
  Speaker 1: your bag in New York City, you have to dump
• 37:53
  Speaker 1: your bag out on the ground outside, which is incredibly unsafe, embarrassing,
• 37:58
  Speaker 1: it's a lot of things. I have done it in
• 38:01
  Speaker 1: the laundromat under my apartment. You walk in there and
• 38:04
  Speaker 1: take everything out of my bag. Just got to take
• 38:06
  Speaker 1: it out because you got to find your keys. I mean,
• 38:08
  Speaker 1: can't do anything else until you find your keys, or
• 38:10
  Speaker 1: like the moment when you spill your water bottle all.
• 38:12
  Speaker 2: Over your laptop and you have to go to the
• 38:14
  Speaker 2: Apple Store and buy a new laptop because of your
• 38:17
  Speaker 2: own Like, I just wanted to have my water bottle
• 38:19
  Speaker 2: with me so that when I'm thirsty, I have something
• 38:21
  Speaker 2: there and I have to buy five dollars water. So basically,
• 38:25
  Speaker 2: the insides of all of our bags are checked out
• 38:26
  Speaker 2: so that there's a spot for your water bottle, spot
• 38:28
  Speaker 2: for a leash for your keys, a computer compartment that
• 38:32
  Speaker 2: closes and protects it. There is there's pockets for your chargers.
• 38:39
  Speaker 2: Every specific bag has a specific purpose. However, the pockets
• 38:45
  Speaker 2: are basically tailored to what the bag is made to do.
• 38:48
  Speaker 2: Got it?
• 38:48
  Speaker 1: And so you have these two initial offerings and then
• 38:52
  Speaker 1: you just start to think about what you wish you
• 38:54
  Speaker 1: had in your everyday life. It sounds so simple that
• 38:57
  Speaker 1: it does. Man, I love a bagpock that had a
• 39:00
  Speaker 1: spot for all this stuff. But then, like I think,
• 39:01
  Speaker 1: what's crazy to me is, no matter what the business is,
• 39:05
  Speaker 1: just the idea that you can have this idea and
• 39:07
  Speaker 1: then manufacture it and then give it to consumers and
• 39:10
  Speaker 1: sell it. Every time I remember I had Brandy in
• 39:13
  Speaker 1: here from TRX and it was just like he talks
• 39:16
  Speaker 1: about these functional straps and you had an idea and
• 39:20
  Speaker 1: now they're everywhere.
• 39:21
  Speaker 2: Yes, and every time it blows my mind, which sounds
• 39:24
  Speaker 2: I don't know, I feel like I sound it's crazy.
• 39:26
  Speaker 2: It is crazy because think of how many ideas that
• 39:29
  Speaker 2: you think of, Like think about my ideas you think
• 39:32
  Speaker 2: of in a day. That'd be sweet, but then you
• 39:34
  Speaker 2: just don't follow through. Okay, So you have those two products.
• 39:37
  Speaker 2: So we have those two products, we start building more products.
• 39:40
  Speaker 2: We essentially used customer feedback and research to build the
• 39:45
  Speaker 2: first line of products and that worked really really well
• 39:48
  Speaker 2: for us because we were a basically combining what we
• 39:52
  Speaker 2: knew and our background in design with what people were
• 39:57
  Speaker 2: saying they wanted, which aligned a lot with what we
• 39:59
  Speaker 2: want on it because we are essentially our customer and
• 40:04
  Speaker 2: just started building things.
• 40:05
  Speaker 1: And as the brand starts to evolve more, what would
• 40:09
  Speaker 1: you say, are the habits that you personally like aside
• 40:13
  Speaker 1: from the office are kicking up? So you were formally
• 40:17
  Speaker 1: going to work out twice a day, you then kind
• 40:21
  Speaker 1: of start to eat a little bit better. Where are
• 40:23
  Speaker 1: you say if the company started in twenty and thirteen,
• 40:26
  Speaker 1: in like twenty and sixteen.
• 40:28
  Speaker 2: In twenty sixteen, I was living a slightly more balanced life,
• 40:33
  Speaker 2: still working probably more than what I should have been.
• 40:40
  Speaker 2: That you're achieving a balance life, or if that's what
• 40:42
  Speaker 2: you're trying to do, I guess the key to all
• 40:44
  Speaker 2: things is balanced. I think at this time actually is
• 40:49
  Speaker 2: when I started my spiritual journey a little bit as well.
• 40:53
  Speaker 2: And I think that working out sort of led me
• 40:56
  Speaker 2: to that. I didn't grow up in a spiritual household.
• 40:58
  Speaker 2: My parents are not religious at all. I never even
• 41:01
  Speaker 2: went to church, so it's very unfamiliar with that world.
• 41:05
  Speaker 2: And I don't remember the exact moment when it hit me,
• 41:10
  Speaker 2: but whenever, I mean it went through a lot of
• 41:14
  Speaker 2: stuff since that, and every time I go through something,
• 41:18
  Speaker 2: I do go through a phase of working out really hard.
• 41:21
  Speaker 2: And what I do is I'll like go to soul
• 41:23
  Speaker 2: cycle to Lily Lily Hey, and I will get a
• 41:29
  Speaker 2: bike that's second row or third row, and I'll just
• 41:35
  Speaker 2: work out and cry yeah and just like get it out.
• 41:38
  Speaker 2: And that started to become sort of like a spiritual
• 41:43
  Speaker 2: ritual for me. That was like cleansing. It was like
• 41:45
  Speaker 2: I would go cleanse it out, but feeling good then
• 41:48
  Speaker 2: I can go back to work with great energy, go
• 41:51
  Speaker 2: back to my friendships with awesome energy, my family, and
• 41:54
  Speaker 2: kind of spread the love instead of like poison them
• 41:57
  Speaker 2: with all of my sadness that I was feeling.
• 42:00
  Speaker 1: For me, I am better for the people. Like you
• 42:03
  Speaker 1: said that I care about when I take the time
• 42:05
  Speaker 1: for myself one, and that doesn't always need to be
• 42:09
  Speaker 1: necessarily a workout. But I have worked more so in
• 42:13
  Speaker 1: the last few months to literally program days that are
• 42:17
  Speaker 1: just for me into my schedule. And I think it's
• 42:20
  Speaker 1: so hard, and it's because it's difficult to take the
• 42:23
  Speaker 1: foot off the gas. It is it's simple to take
• 42:26
  Speaker 1: the foot off the gas. Okay, So arguably, arguably, I
• 42:29
  Speaker 1: would say that Dagne went from sixty to one hundred
• 42:38
  Speaker 1: and sixty at the winning of twenty eighteen. Yes, I
• 42:41
  Speaker 1: feel that all of a sudden, I saw your bags
• 42:45
  Speaker 1: everywhere on Instagram. If someone was carrying it, someone else
• 42:48
  Speaker 1: was like, I love that bag, and it was everywhere.
• 42:51
  Speaker 1: And maybe I'm just hyper sensitive to it because I'm
• 42:54
  Speaker 1: in New York City and I think it's really big here.
• 42:58
  Speaker 1: But talk to me about what that's been like. It's
• 43:03
  Speaker 1: been really cool.
• 43:04
  Speaker 2: I mean, I think We've been working really hard for
• 43:06
  Speaker 2: a really long time, and a lot of people don't
• 43:08
  Speaker 2: see that necessarily the hard work that's gone into it
• 43:11
  Speaker 2: up until this point. But it's really exciting to see
• 43:13
  Speaker 2: people noticing it. It's exciting to see people excited about it.
• 43:19
  Speaker 2: I love when people buy it and then show me
• 43:24
  Speaker 2: that they have it, and I'm like, dude, like you
• 43:26
  Speaker 2: should have let me know. I would have sent you
• 43:27
  Speaker 2: a bag, but they're like, no, I love it, like
• 43:29
  Speaker 2: I really want it, and it's something that I carry
• 43:32
  Speaker 2: every single day. So thank you and for me, that
• 43:36
  Speaker 2: connection with our customer is really powerful and probably the
• 43:41
  Speaker 2: most fulfilling thing because something that I created Mediband Melissa
• 43:46
  Speaker 2: is something that they touch every single day. It's like
• 43:50
  Speaker 2: one of the first things they look at in the morning.
• 43:53
  Speaker 2: And I don't know, I like being able to like
• 43:56
  Speaker 2: it sounds kind of cheesy, but like help people out
• 43:59
  Speaker 2: a little bit when I'm not even there. If there's
• 44:02
  Speaker 2: anything I can do to make their life a little
• 44:04
  Speaker 2: bit easier, I want to. Yeah. I think that's really special.
• 44:08
  Speaker 2: I think what's interesting.
• 44:09
  Speaker 1: I'm thinking about your career journey and just this idea
• 44:12
  Speaker 1: that there were probably a lot of people around you
• 44:14
  Speaker 1: over the past five years that have been giving you
• 44:16
  Speaker 1: really excellent advice. Do you feel like while you were
• 44:20
  Speaker 1: going through some of the tough times it was kind
• 44:24
  Speaker 1: of hard for you to truly listen to that advice
• 44:28
  Speaker 1: or were you able to segment that or kind of,
• 44:30
  Speaker 1: you know, section that off.
• 44:33
  Speaker 2: I don't think I ever really listened to advice. Yeah,
• 44:37
  Speaker 2: I know that sounds bad, but I'm definitely the type
• 44:41
  Speaker 2: of person that if I don't want to hear it,
• 44:43
  Speaker 2: I'm not gonna listen. I have received some good advice,
• 44:47
  Speaker 2: and I feel like it always came from a place
• 44:50
  Speaker 2: where I didn't expect to receive it, so I was open,
• 44:54
  Speaker 2: and I'm like, Okay, I can digest that or like
• 44:57
  Speaker 2: flip it into something that's meaningful for me. Like what
• 45:02
  Speaker 2: a good example of really good advice that I got
• 45:05
  Speaker 2: was to just do the work. When we started the company,
• 45:08
  Speaker 2: I thought that the process would be a lot faster.
• 45:11
  Speaker 2: I'm not a stranger to hard work. I like hard work.
• 45:15
  Speaker 2: I was raised to be a hard worker, but I
• 45:17
  Speaker 2: didn't realize how much work I would have to put
• 45:20
  Speaker 2: in to kind of see even just a little bit
• 45:22
  Speaker 2: of success in what I was doing. And knowing that
• 45:27
  Speaker 2: if you just keep going, something's going to happen. Then
• 45:31
  Speaker 2: it made my journey a little bit easier. The other thing,
• 45:34
  Speaker 2: actually that I think is really interesting is that if
• 45:37
  Speaker 2: the people around you have confidence in you, you can't fail.
• 45:40
  Speaker 2: All of my friends were always like incredible fans of
• 45:44
  Speaker 2: the brand. My mom was always hugely confident and asked.
• 45:47
  Speaker 2: She was like, you guys aren't going to fail. And
• 45:49
  Speaker 2: even in moments where I was like this isn't working,
• 45:51
  Speaker 2: like it's not going to work, or we just got
• 45:53
  Speaker 2: an entire order of product where the straps are faulty
• 46:00
  Speaker 2: basically and we don't have any more money to order
• 46:03
  Speaker 2: reorder them, or time, like what are we going to do?
• 46:07
  Speaker 2: Those moments were when people had more faith in me
• 46:11
  Speaker 2: than I had in myself, and I think it carried me.
• 46:14
  Speaker 2: I don't know if that's advice or just an awesome
• 46:20
  Speaker 2: support system. I mean, I think it is advice.
• 46:23
  Speaker 1: I feel like so often we hear that like you
• 46:25
  Speaker 1: are the four people that you surround yourself with the
• 46:28
  Speaker 1: most yes, And I forget where what podcast I was
• 46:33
  Speaker 1: listening to know, I feel like they get this advice
• 46:36
  Speaker 1: all the time. And someone says, if you take a
• 46:39
  Speaker 1: look at the people that you're surrounding yourself with and
• 46:42
  Speaker 1: they're not really who you want to be, then it's
• 46:45
  Speaker 1: cool if you're with them for now, but like, figure
• 46:48
  Speaker 1: out how to find the people that you want that
• 46:50
  Speaker 1: exemplify who you want to be.
• 46:52
  Speaker 2: Yes, find your people, Find your people. Find your people.
• 46:57
  Speaker 2: When in those.
• 46:58
  Speaker 1: Really tough times when you were like, how the hell
• 47:01
  Speaker 1: are we going to get through this? What kept you
• 47:04
  Speaker 1: working on Diagne? What kept you going? I loved my job.
• 47:11
  Speaker 1: I liked showing up at work. I liked being with
• 47:15
  Speaker 1: my people. And I think that there's a lot to
• 47:19
  Speaker 1: be said for company culture.
• 47:22
  Speaker 2: People are starting to talk about it now, there's been
• 47:25
  Speaker 2: a conversation around it, But I didn't. I wanted to
• 47:29
  Speaker 2: create my own culture. I knew that I could create
• 47:31
  Speaker 2: an environment that was empowering, uplifting, successful, innovative, forward thinking
• 47:39
  Speaker 2: kind and I wanted the ability to be able to
• 47:46
  Speaker 2: do that. And I knew that if I knew that,
• 47:50
  Speaker 2: if I pulled out, I would go get a job
• 47:53
  Speaker 2: and everyone would tell me, Okay, just go get a job. Yeah,
• 47:56
  Speaker 2: And I was not doing that. Yeah. It's really interesting
• 47:59
  Speaker 2: to me.
• 47:59
  Speaker 1: I feel like you have statements where you're so sure
• 48:02
  Speaker 1: of what you're saying, and you can tell, you can
• 48:04
  Speaker 1: tell in the way that in Sadie Lincoln talks about
• 48:08
  Speaker 1: this all the time.
• 48:08
  Speaker 2: I love Sadie.
• 48:09
  Speaker 1: She was on the podcast like super early on and
• 48:12
  Speaker 1: I saw her this week, and when I was with her,
• 48:14
  Speaker 1: she was talking about how their company is doing all
• 48:16
  Speaker 1: of these voice workshops and they're talking a lot about
• 48:19
  Speaker 1: up speak and how when you talk to someone and
• 48:22
  Speaker 1: you're not sure how you feel, you talk like this
• 48:26
  Speaker 1: and you the things that the things that you're not.
• 48:29
  Speaker 2: Sure of and the things that you know are so clear.
• 48:33
  Speaker 1: I mean, I think it's really but I think it's
• 48:34
  Speaker 1: really special because you're like you knew, you knew. I
• 48:37
  Speaker 1: didn't want another job. No, I was passionate about what
• 48:40
  Speaker 1: I was creating. I loved my company culture. Yes, that's
• 48:44
  Speaker 1: so special to be able to recognize those things, it
• 48:47
  Speaker 1: was special.
• 48:48
  Speaker 2: Yes, And I need to go to her workshop. Yeah, Yeah,
• 48:51
  Speaker 2: we need to go hang out with Sadie. When you
• 48:53
  Speaker 2: look at where Dagnie is going, what do you see?
• 48:58
  Speaker 2: Because I feel like when I walked into your showroom
• 49:00
  Speaker 2: a couple of weeks ago, I don't even know what
• 49:02
  Speaker 2: else could exist. You did walk in here with that
• 49:06
  Speaker 2: not to be seen yet. Bags.
• 49:08
  Speaker 1: I was like, what's this little bait that you brought
• 49:10
  Speaker 1: in here? I've never seen it? Yeah, so what can
• 49:13
  Speaker 1: we expect?
• 49:14
  Speaker 2: Man?
• 49:14
  Speaker 1: And also so I feel like, as a quick side note,
• 49:18
  Speaker 1: you're already at this point in the episode, this is
• 49:20
  Speaker 1: not a woman's exclusive company. I think sometimes when you
• 49:23
  Speaker 1: talk about bags, men are like, oh bags, tune out totally.
• 49:26
  Speaker 1: But can I tell you that probably most of the
• 49:29
  Speaker 1: compliments that I get on my stuff are all for men.
• 49:31
  Speaker 2: That's awesome. Yeah, it's definitely not created only for women.
• 49:35
  Speaker 2: We did start with women's bags, but I feel strongly
• 49:38
  Speaker 2: about using the word bag as opposed to handbag, because
• 49:41
  Speaker 2: that's what it is, and I don't want to see
• 49:43
  Speaker 2: anyone away. Also, our three six five line is for
• 49:47
  Speaker 2: men and women. We definitely want to continue to create
• 49:50
  Speaker 2: bags for men. So maybe you'll see that one day.
• 49:52
  Speaker 2: But that's good to hear. I'm glad the guys are
• 49:54
  Speaker 2: liking it. I think that my style has always been
• 49:57
  Speaker 2: influenced by men's wear, and I don't I'm not super girly,
• 50:01
  Speaker 2: but I love fashion, but I'm not super girly. I
• 50:03
  Speaker 2: love sneakers. I'm a sneakerhead. I love great bags, but
• 50:05
  Speaker 2: I do like to kind of flirt with the line
• 50:08
  Speaker 2: of masculine and feminine. We share that for sure.
• 50:14
  Speaker 1: Okay, So what what's coming from?
• 50:16
  Speaker 2: Digney? Okay, so sorry, miss your question. What is coming
• 50:20
  Speaker 2: down the pipeline is a lot of stuff. There's so
• 50:23
  Speaker 2: much to create. I don't know if I'm allowed to
• 50:27
  Speaker 2: share anything. Man, I don't know. I didn't. Sanna's looking
• 50:33
  Speaker 2: at me. No spoilers.
• 50:38
  Speaker 1: I'm I'm excited about what there is, Okay, I'm excited.
• 50:41
  Speaker 2: That makes me happy. I'm really excited too.
• 50:44
  Speaker 1: You have the opportunity right now to offer the Jesse
• 50:51
  Speaker 1: a piece of advice when she's going through the thick
• 50:54
  Speaker 1: of it, when she's at her hurdle moment, when she's
• 50:57
  Speaker 1: working out all the time, when she's lost in a
• 50:59
  Speaker 1: class and blacked out.
• 51:01
  Speaker 2: That's hibarious. That's my that's my quote. What a what
• 51:06
  Speaker 2: do you tell her? Man? Lighten up, It's gonna be okay,
• 51:11
  Speaker 2: it's gonna be okay. Just put one foot in front
• 51:14
  Speaker 2: of the other. It's not that serious. With time, everything
• 51:19
  Speaker 2: changes and all problems are solved. Sometimes you just have
• 51:23
  Speaker 2: to wait it out.
• 51:24
  Speaker 1: Do you feel like you've been applying that advice more
• 51:26
  Speaker 1: and more every single year. Oh yeah, if I could
• 51:29
  Speaker 1: speak to myself in that moment, I would say, lighten
• 51:32
  Speaker 1: the f up, like it's gonna be okay, it's not
• 51:35
  Speaker 1: that serious, but.
• 51:37
  Speaker 2: You know, in the moment you can, and you know,
• 51:39
  Speaker 2: you only know what you know, and you've experienced what
• 51:41
  Speaker 2: you've experienced, so everything's relative. But yeah, I think lightened up.
• 51:45
  Speaker 2: And I I mean, honestly, my dad, My dad did
• 51:49
  Speaker 2: give me advice. And I remember when I heard him
• 51:52
  Speaker 2: say it. I just broke down crying because that's like
• 51:55
  Speaker 2: what I was good at at that point. He said
• 52:00
  Speaker 2: time is the only thing that will heal it, and
• 52:03
  Speaker 2: I was like, no, but he was right. Yeah, and
• 52:07
  Speaker 2: it did though, it did for sure, for sure. Dad's man, Dad,
• 52:12
  Speaker 2: they're the best with the wisdom. Man. This is fun.
• 52:15
  Speaker 2: It's just fun to wrap about all these things. So fun. Jesse,
• 52:18
  Speaker 2: thanks so much for coming in. Thank you so much
• 52:20
  Speaker 2: for having me. Honestly, this has been incredible. Please incredible.
• 52:24
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  Speaker 1: the link with the description to this episode. We all
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  Speaker 1: face multiple hurdles in life. I want to hear about yours.
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  Speaker 1: Reach out to me at Emily at hurdle dot us.
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  Speaker 2: Where do they find you on social media? Where they
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  Speaker 2: find Dagny? Give me the four one one. I am
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  Speaker 2: at Jesse Dover and Dagny is at Digney Dover, d
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  Speaker 2: A g n E, D O v E R or
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  Speaker 2: dagneidover dot com. Beautiful.
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  Speaker 1: I am at Emily Abody another hurdle cockerd Catch you
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  Speaker 1: guys next time.