Latest / QUESTION EVERYTHING / Pretty Fearless: Rebecca Minkoff on How to Embrace Fear and Use it to Fuel Your Dreams

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Pretty Fearless: Rebecca Minkoff on How to Embrace Fear and Use it to Fuel Your Dreams · QUESTION EVERYTHING

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: The following podcast is a Dear media production.
• 0:06
  Speaker 2: Big Things Happen when you're pretty, pretty bold, pretty clever,
• 0:10
  Speaker 2: pretty strong. I'm Danielle Robe and each week my guests
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: and I have conversations that put a new spin on
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: pretty This is pretty smart. When I set out to
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: launch Pretty Smart, part of the idea came from hearing
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: stories and wisdom from people doing it best. What advice
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: can they share with us, What mistakes can they share
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: with us? How can we learn to live better through
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: their stories? We're all just kind of looking for a
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: bit of a roadmap, right well. When I saw designer
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: Rebecca Minkoff was coming out with a new book titled Fearless,
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: The New Rules for Unlocking Creativity, Courage, and Success, I
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: DMed her on Instagram immediately. Over the years, I've listened
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: to tons of interviews with her, and in the back
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  Speaker 2: of my mind, she was always someone I wanted to
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: talk to. There's something about her intense ambition, her relentless
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: aim to figure out anything that I've always just been
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: taken by. She's one of those rare started with nothing
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: American success stories that I just can't help but be
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: enthralled by.
• 1:16
  Speaker 3: I have a feeling you'll be taken.
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: By her story too, So let's find out what happens
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: when you're pretty fearless. So I know the Rebecca Minkough
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: that sells in nine hundred stores across the world, two
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: domestic retail locations, and does millions in revenue each year.
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: Can you take me back to pre launch? When did
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: you declare that you were going to be a fashion designer?
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  Speaker 1: I was probably around six years old and it was
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: declared for me. My uncle looked at my outfit and
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: he's like, you should be a fashion designer. I like
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: how you put that together. Maybe he was just humoring
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: me or just being nice, but it wasn't until I
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: was eight. I took a sewing class and fell in
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: love with the idea that I could create my own garments,
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: cut things up and make them my own, and I
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: be came hooked. So I guess eight was when it
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: was for me.
• 2:02
  Speaker 4: Six. As if my uncle is a fortune teller.
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: That's so cool because I think a lot of people
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: that find great success look back it doesn't make sense
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: during their journey, but they look back and think that
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: all the pieces sort of made sense. But your pieces
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: were set pretty early.
• 2:16
  Speaker 3: It sounds they were set.
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: Not that anyone likes to be bullied, but the bullying
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: really helped me in terms of a few things. I
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: was very, very thin, which I really should have been
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: glad about at the time, but.
• 2:30
  Speaker 4: Nothing fit me.
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  Speaker 1: So the fact that I could sew my own things
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: or go I would go to thrift stores and like
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: reshape things to fit me was like a huge boost
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: of confidence and be Also, because of the being too skinny,
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: no one wanted to be my friend, and so I.
• 2:45
  Speaker 4: Would spend all my time sewing.
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: So between those two things, what came out of it
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  Speaker 1: was something that changed my trajectory. Who knows, if I
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: was normal sized and cool, I might have ended up
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: being a cheerleader.
• 2:56
  Speaker 4: Who knows.
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  Speaker 2: That's crazy because I listened to so many interviews that
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: you've done, and I haven't really heard you talk about bullying.
• 3:03
  Speaker 3: It happened your entire childhood.
• 3:05
  Speaker 4: Yeah, but I think now we define it as bullying.
• 3:07
  Speaker 4: Back then, I don't know how you grew up, but
• 3:10
  Speaker 4: everyone got something, you know.
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that for me was more painful than maybe some
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: other types of bullying that people get, but it was
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: still impactful in a way that changed, you know. It
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: focused me on. Okay, I gotta make things that make
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: me feel confident. I gotta you know, I have lots
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: of time because no one wants to hang out with me,
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: you know, so it really put a focus on it
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  Speaker 1: for me.
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  Speaker 2: I'm really glad that you had that outlet. I think
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: that that always helps.
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  Speaker 3: That's cool.
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  Speaker 2: This was a cool story that I heard that your
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: first handbag was the morning After bag, and it kind
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: of put you on the map. But can you walk
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: me through what happens after you have your first hit
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  Speaker 2: on your hands? Because you weren't really expecting it, right,
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  Speaker 2: I mean I.
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  Speaker 1: Was hoping and praying, but no, I could have never
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: predicted what happened after that. So if everyone can close
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: their eyes and go down to the pre social media.
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  Speaker 3: Days, what are those like?
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  Speaker 1: There was a fantastic email. It was once a day,
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: the newest, hottest, latest, and if they wrote about you,
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  Speaker 1: you suddenly became very big. So a friend of mine
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: was friends with a writer there, and this particular friend
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  Speaker 1: was also the buyer for the store that she was like, Okay,
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  Speaker 1: I'll buy the bags, then I'll have my friend write
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  Speaker 1: about it. We'll see what happened. So I think their
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: initial order was about twelve bags. They sold out immediately,
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: they came back and ordered seventy five. It took me,
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: you know, several weeks to make those bags, sold out again.
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  Speaker 4: And it just kept happening.
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: And then the same owners of that boutique were in
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  Speaker 1: a publication called Spur in Japan, and then all of
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: a sudden, I had this huge Japanese following, and it
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  Speaker 1: was just like I just didn't have enough supply to
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: meet the demand of like this one store. And then
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: all of a sudden, out of nowhere Japan, I just
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: went with that momentum and I just made as many
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: bags as I could, as fast as I could. But
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: the fact that we couldn't make them fast enough, you know,
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: work to drive that you know, can't have it, must
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: have it.
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: How do you garner enough funds to create more bags?
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  Speaker 2: Because like, when the supply is not as large as
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: the demand, that's like that's.
• 5:11
  Speaker 3: Also not something you're expecting one hundred percent.
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  Speaker 1: So in my case, I had paid my last money
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  Speaker 1: of my own funds to make the first two samples
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  Speaker 1: of the bag. At that point, I was living on
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: a meager amount of money from styling, from doing like
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: commercial styling, which paid one thousand dollars a day, and
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: I would work a few days a month, so that
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: would sort of tide me over to just pay the bills.
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: And then I didn't have any more money after the
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  Speaker 1: first run of bags, and so I immediately called my
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: dad and I said, all right, you co signed on
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: a credit card at sixty thousand, it's maxed out, but
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: I just need a little bit more. And he was like, no, way,
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: call your brother. So I called my brother and he
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  Speaker 1: asked me a ton of questions. He has a he
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: had a software business that was quite successful, and I
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: just remember his first check to me was, you know,
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: enough to cover the leather and the deposit.
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  Speaker 4: Then I had to.
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  Speaker 1: Pay him back, and then he did it again, and
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  Speaker 1: he kept seeing that I was coming back to him,
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: always borrowing more money, paying him back, and then when
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: he finally looked under the hood, He's like, oh there's.
• 6:13
  Speaker 4: Something here, let's do this.
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: So what ended up happening because again, venture capital wasn't
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: something that was happening for brands and private equity. We
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: were way too small for it just wasn't even how brands.
• 6:26
  Speaker 4: Built businesses back then. Couldn't get a loan.
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: So he really leveraged an unused credit line that he
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: had his credit cards and his mortgage on his house.
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: And so that was initially the first six hundred thousand
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: dollars over the course of several years, and he fully
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: got paid back.
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  Speaker 4: Don't worry.
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  Speaker 3: That is a good brother.
• 6:45
  Speaker 4: Yes, he got paid handsomely for it. Let me tell you.
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  Speaker 2: So when you look back at that version of you,
• 6:52
  Speaker 2: what do you think about that?
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  Speaker 3: Girl?
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: Well, I'm happy to say that the hustler that existed
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: then is fucking hustling as hard now, especially during the pandemic.
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: I think I wish I would have been more business savvy.
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: I think I was just so focused on the areas
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: that were familiar to me, like design and pr that
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  Speaker 1: I just missed this whole other, rich layer of business.
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  Speaker 1: And I just, you know, I obviously know business now,
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  Speaker 1: but the savviness I wish I had, you know, had earlier.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, you know.
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: I actually when people ask me that question, I have
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: the same answer. It's hard to start and know everything.
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: But that's why I'm excited for your book, which we'll
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: talk about. I feel like you're going to relay a
• 7:31
  Speaker 2: lot of that stuff. How did you decide to name
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: it rebeccamen Coff because I'm sure like you probably had
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: a list of a bunch of names.
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  Speaker 4: I didn't.
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  Speaker 1: I worked for a designer for three years before I
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: started the first portion of my company, which was a
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: peril base before the bag, and I was just annoyed,
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: well at two things. I was annoyed that every day
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: I was working my ass off for someone else. So
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: I was like, I have to just launch my own company.
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: And then I felt like it just made it one
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: step harder for the consumer to connect with you. If
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: you were a block by Rebecca Minkoff or just insert
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: name there, you would constantly have to be I'm the
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: founder of and so I just felt like, screw it,
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: It's just going to be my name, because it's going
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: to be based on my life, my needs, my desires,
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: obviously my consumers. But at the beginning it was really
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: just based on who am I and what's the hole
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: that this bag is going to fill in my life?
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  Speaker 1: And so it really I felt like I had to
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: be my name.
• 8:23
  Speaker 2: You had the IT bag, and then there's obviously a
• 8:26
  Speaker 2: lot of pressure to have another hit in fashion. It
• 8:29
  Speaker 2: seems like the most amount of pressure like even worse
• 8:32
  Speaker 2: than the music industry.
• 8:34
  Speaker 3: What is that like and has it evolved over the
• 8:36
  Speaker 3: years for you?
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  Speaker 4: Yes?
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  Speaker 1: So again, pre social media, there was a slower role
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: to fashion, Like I only had to have one bag
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: that first year. It came in a ton of colors,
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: different combinations, but it was just one style. That's all
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: I had to worry about. And then when my sales
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: rep came to me, She's like, you need to have
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: more than one and I was like, Okay, I'll do two.
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: And then you know, by the end of the second year,
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: I think we only had four styles. And so it
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: was a very manageable life. Cut to now between jewelry, shoes,
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: blah blah blah, everything we're selling at any given moment
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: two hundred and fifty different skews. And that's down from
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: at its height, which was like five six.
• 9:15
  Speaker 4: Hundred skws per month.
• 9:17
  Speaker 3: What.
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: Yeah, If you take one bag and you add it
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: up in the five colors it comes in, and then
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: you have twenty bags and they all come in three colors,
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: and then you have your jewelry, and then shoes and
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: then sunglasses, watches, Like it just scarves belts, right, the
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: whole world of we've really shrunk it, but still you're
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: still dealing with every month I have to have, you know,
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: two hundred new items just for that consumer who's like
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: constantly she's coming to you and if you don't have
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: anything new, she's like, oh, you're boring next.
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: So how do you scale that large and still have
• 9:49
  Speaker 2: your own eye because Rebecca Minkoff is you? How do
• 9:52
  Speaker 2: you make sure that you keep the the RMI on
• 9:55
  Speaker 2: it all?
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: So that is where the team comes in. You have
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: to hire people fully get the brand, that understand it,
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: that are almost making sure they check boxes. Is it bohemian,
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: is it a little bit of rock? Is it affordable?
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: Is it functional? And if it passes some of those filters,
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: it gets to market. We've definitely had the pendulum swing
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: where someone came in on the artistic side and thought
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: they knew better and we did a you know, if
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: you go back to what twenty nineteen looked like for
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: the brand, bad choice, and I think that the brand
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: suffered because of that. So I think that when we
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: veer from it, you see the consequences.
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: How many months after you veered did you feel the consequence?
• 10:38
  Speaker 3: Would you say, like, how can you tell.
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: This former artistic person came in in twenty eighteen. In February,
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: I went on maternity leave. I handed her the keys
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: to the kingdom, and I said to her and we
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: trusted her. It's not like she was some stranger. She'd
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: been working within the company on the men's portion of
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: the brand for several years, so she'd heard me talking,
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: she'd heard whatever. And I looked at her. I was like,
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: I'm tired. I want to have a real maternity leave.
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: You are a professional designer. It's what you went to
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: school for. I trust you. I don't want to hear
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: from anyone for three months. I'm out, and now it's
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: a big mistake. What she said in motion didn't hit
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: the floor for basically nine months, and it hit and
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: we were all crossing our fingers. This is a new direction.
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: It's a modern version of the brand. Worst season we've
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: ever had, you know, and that was a year. So
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: then it took us another nine months to get it
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: back to where it needed. So you see a big
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: shift between let's say, beginning of twenty nineteen to end
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: of twenty nineteen, we were able to change it. And
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: then really in twenty twenty is when we said Okay,
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: this is back to the spirit of the brand. So
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: it's it's a big shift and if you mess up,
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: it takes a long time.
• 11:47
  Speaker 2: I'm excited to hear about your twenty twenty one though.
• 11:50
  Speaker 2: Did it feel the way you thought it would? You've
• 11:53
  Speaker 2: been after success like it's in you. I love that fire.
• 11:56
  Speaker 2: I can feel it from you in every interview you do.
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: It's like it's palpable. I can imagine that you imagine
• 12:03
  Speaker 2: what success would feel like and look like, did it
• 12:06
  Speaker 2: meet your expectations?
• 12:08
  Speaker 4: Yes? And no.
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: The yes part of it is you find yourself in
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: these pinched be moments where you can't believe you're somewhere,
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: or you got asked to speak or press, or you know,
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: you're in the room with someone and they say they're
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: a fan, or you meet your customer in the middle
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: of the country and they're like, this.
• 12:26
  Speaker 4: Was my milestone moment. You know, I can't believe I'm
• 12:28
  Speaker 4: meeting you.
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: So that, for sure, I think I had this fantasy
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: that when you achieved a certain level of success, things
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: got easier, and let me tell you that it's not
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: the case. It only gets more complicated and harder. And
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: that's not to scare someone away from going after success.
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: But it's to just know what you're in for. And
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: I think that that's the part that I continue to think,
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: and I know better, but I continue to go, oh,
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: it'll just get easier when we have black. It doesn't
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: get easier.
• 12:57
  Speaker 3: Ever, somehow it gets more complicated.
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: It seems can get more complicated, and then you're up
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: against also, we're fifteen years old.
• 13:03
  Speaker 4: How do you stay relevant?
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: You know, how do you continue to stay in the
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: zeitgeist of your consumer?
• 13:08
  Speaker 4: And so that doesn't get easier either from.
• 13:10
  Speaker 3: A consumer and outside person.
• 13:13
  Speaker 2: When I think about Rebecca Minkoff as a brand, part
• 13:16
  Speaker 2: of it is very quintessentially millennial in the best way.
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: And I was reading that you are a millennial as well,
• 13:24
  Speaker 2: and it's one of the few brands where the person
• 13:28
  Speaker 2: running the brand is actually serving that exact customer. Obviously
• 13:32
  Speaker 2: works to your benefit, but what do you think about that.
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: I think that's been something we've used as a strength.
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: You know, we message I'm the same age and sex
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: as the woman I'm designing for, and so I think
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: that gives us a competitive advantage because you have some
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: people that are the same age and sex, but they're
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: in an entirely different income bracket. You know, they're a
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: billionaire selling bags to women who can barely afford them,
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: and so there's a disconnect. And I'm pretty close, you know,
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: with my life and my lifestyle to the woman I'm
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: designing for. It's been a huge asset.
• 14:06
  Speaker 3: All over the internet.
• 14:07
  Speaker 2: It talks about how you've integrated technology into fashion, and
• 14:11
  Speaker 2: I do not understand technology. Can you please explain what
• 14:16
  Speaker 2: you have done? How does technology and fashion overlap?
• 14:19
  Speaker 4: Okay?
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: So I would say, first off, in two thousand and
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: what y were we in twenty Okay? So in two
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: thousand and five, social media was a new thing. Prior
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: to that, as a designer, you were meant to be
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: behind closed doors better than the consumer, out of touch.
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: So the first technological advance was we didn't have Ani
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: Wintor's you know, deem of approval. We didn't have Barney's
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: let's say telling everyone this is the next great designer,
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: so our direct path to the consumer when we could
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: talk to her, we were like, that's great, let's do that.
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: So that was the first foray into social media for
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: a designer. We had literally had like heads of luxury
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: department store saying we won't carry you if you talk
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: to your customer. Or then when you know you saw
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: the rise of Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, snapchat, Right, we were
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: first on to market to all of those, then most brands,
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: and then how we used early crowdsourcing or surveys, all
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: these things that are normal we were doing first. Then
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: when it came time to open up our stores, we
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: wanted to take the best of an e commerce experience
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: for a woman and put that into a real life experience.
• 15:31
  Speaker 4: So how does that work.
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: It means that when you walk into the store, everything
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: has a little tag, and when you pull it into
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: the dressing room, the mirror becomes a screen. It shows
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: you how to style the outfit. It lets you add
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: to Karte without having to leave the dressing room and
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: ask you to call for an associate. So simple things
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: that are like not that high tech, but like who
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: wants to pull their pants up and reach out the door?
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: Like everyone knows that, right it is anywhere here to
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: help me. So I think it was the little things
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: that are pain points and how technology sort of use them,
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: or we would we did drones, you know at our
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: fashion show when drones weren't everywhere, flying all the time,
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: or we did wearable, So those are all just different
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: technological things we've done as brands that have been neck
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: and neck, Like we launched our wearable the same day
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: Apple Watch came out, so like to be included in
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: that press was crazy.
• 16:23
  Speaker 2: Have you always been into technology or is there something
• 16:26
  Speaker 2: exciting to you about being a first mover.
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: I was never excited by technology, but my brother had
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: a software company. So in the same way that I
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: know yellow is going to be popular or zoom shoulders
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: are going to be a thing, he had an incredible
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: sense for new technologies that we're emerging. And now that
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: I've been working next to him for the last fifteen years,
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: like I'm able to call it a lot quicker. I'm like, Okay,
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: we're going to go in clubhouse, We're going to do
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: only fans, We're going to do this ar stuff with Verizon,
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: And so I'm able to sort of say, Okay, this
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: is what's happening in the world, and how do we
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: play in.
• 16:59
  Speaker 3: It doing OnlyFans?
• 17:01
  Speaker 2: Yeah, okay, I need you to break this down for me,
• 17:03
  Speaker 2: because that was what popped into my head when you
• 17:06
  Speaker 2: said to me that at the beginning social media was
• 17:09
  Speaker 2: kind of looked down upon, and now people won't even
• 17:13
  Speaker 2: look at you if you don't have your social media
• 17:16
  Speaker 2: print or imprints or stamps. So OnlyFans kind of started
• 17:20
  Speaker 2: with a little bit of a adult only. Yeah, adults
• 17:25
  Speaker 2: only has a connotation, but you're taking it, obviously in
• 17:28
  Speaker 2: a different direction.
• 17:29
  Speaker 3: How do you make those decisions?
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: So I read an article, i want to say, on
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: vox or some respectable site that talked about creators flocking
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: to OnlyFans as a new place to sort of be
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: able to participate with your most rabid fan base, and
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: I thought when I saw Carti B and Michael B.
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: Jordan other names going there, I was like, Okay, this
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: is where it's going to go. So it's going to
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: be a platform that you know, you're giving away tons
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: of free content that's exclusive. Then there's a little pay
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: to play. So if you want an hour long mentorship
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: workshop with me, that'll cost you five bucks, I hope
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: you can do it. And so how do you sort
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: of begin to monetize some of the content that we
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: work so hard at creating that there just isn't enough,
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: right if you're already on all the platforms, like take
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: a little snippet and say, okay, is this worth testing?
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: So we're trying it now. Yeah, And I had a
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: talk with them. I was like, listen, I don't want
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: to be associated with any adult content. They're working very
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: hard to move away from that connotation. And you're never
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: going to get served a naked image of someone when
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: you're looking for me. It's very much not algorithm based,
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: so you'll be able to just self select who you
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: want to follow.
• 18:37
  Speaker 3: Very cool.
• 18:38
  Speaker 2: Thank you for explaining that to me. Yeah, sounds like
• 18:41
  Speaker 2: maybe I need to hop on back to your intense ambition.
• 18:45
  Speaker 2: As you're telling me more about your brother, it sounds
• 18:47
  Speaker 2: like he has it too in his own way. Would
• 18:50
  Speaker 2: your parents feed you guys for breakfast? Where does this
• 18:52
  Speaker 2: coming from?
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: My parents were into this annoying. They were there in
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: the health space and they were into every bad help.
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: So when we were growing up, fat free was like
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: the rage. Wasn't that the worst? I remember that skim milk? Okay,
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: this is how fucked up it is? Can I swear?
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: Of course I would have skim milk, which was fat free,
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: but then I would put nest wick in it, and
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: then I would have a lender's bagel with fat free
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: cream cheese. That was my breakfast every day. And then
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: it was like Teddy Grams, but they're fat free, and
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: now we know we need all the fat right yes,
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: now making up for it, I eat butter like it's frosting.
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: So my parents fed us a healthy dose of no
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: and a healthy dose of you want that, you're going
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: to earn it.
• 19:37
  Speaker 4: So there you know. My dad is a doctor, my
• 19:39
  Speaker 4: mom was a nurse, and I.
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: Grew up thinking we were extraordinarily poor because they just
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: didn't buy us what we wanted or give us what
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: we wanted to be to earn everything on our own.
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: And I think that is a healthy perspective to have
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: as a parent, and it forced us to be entrepreneurs.
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: Early on, I was babysitting, I was earning, I was
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: making jewelry. I was making T shirts like anything I
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: could do to make money because I wasn't going to
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: get it.
• 20:05
  Speaker 4: From my parents.
• 20:06
  Speaker 3: Is it hard to say no to your kids now?
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: So every time I say no to them, and I
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: do it a lot, I'm like, oh, I'm hurting them
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: because I remember that pain.
• 20:13
  Speaker 4: I'm just like, why did they say no?
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: And it's not like I knew we were We weren't
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: well off, we were comfortable, but it's not like I
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: knew that, and it's not only my dad.
• 20:22
  Speaker 4: I was like, oh, he has money and he's depriving me.
• 20:24
  Speaker 4: I just thought we didn't have it.
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: And so my kids now are living in a world
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: where they go, oh, this is the size of apartment.
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: So they know that mom and dad might be successful,
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: But then why are they saying no? So I'm trying
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: to figure out the like, no, you still have to
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: earn it if you want that.
• 20:40
  Speaker 4: So I say no all.
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: The time, and I hate it, but I feel like
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: I have to do it to raise normal kids.
• 20:45
  Speaker 3: My mom always said to me that she was starving
• 20:48
  Speaker 3: me out. I'm like, can you come up with a
• 20:50
  Speaker 3: different term. So yes, I very much understand what you
• 20:54
  Speaker 3: were saying.
• 20:55
  Speaker 2: So I was so excited to learn that you're coming
• 20:58
  Speaker 2: out with a book. I read on people said I
• 21:00
  Speaker 2: wrote this book because on my journey, I've come to
• 21:02
  Speaker 2: the end of the road many times and was not
• 21:04
  Speaker 2: sure what path to take. I want to give others
• 21:07
  Speaker 2: insight into how to make their own path and create
• 21:09
  Speaker 2: a successful future. I started screaming, like, here's the road map,
• 21:13
  Speaker 2: it's titled fearless, which feels very apropos After speaking with you,
• 21:18
  Speaker 2: can you share a story or a little anecdote from
• 21:22
  Speaker 2: the book that really means something to you, something that
• 21:25
  Speaker 2: you're excited to share that you haven't really talked about before.
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: When people hear the title fearless, immediately everyone's reaction is like, well,
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: I have fear, so this isn't for me, right, And
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: my goal in calling it this is we all have fear,
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: and you do it anyways, right, You just keep going,
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: or you leave the airplane without the parachute, as scary
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: as that is. We had this consultant many years ago
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: and he was like, every time you guys tried to
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: take the prescribed fashion path, you know, be in with
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: this group of editors, just be in this magazine, have
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: a fashion show that shows dresses that no one can wear,
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: you guys fail. But when you go your own path,
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: and he named out, you know, six examples, he said,
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: you guys win, and you win every time. And so
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: at that moment, I was like, Okay, I don't need
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: the parachute. I'm on a free ball and I've taken
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: that mentality. And when you look back at all the
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: business steps, moving to New York City with nowhere to
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: live in two suitcases, you know, signing up to work
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: for someone i'd never met as a designer because he
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: said yes, you know, Or doing a bag when someone
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: said do you do bags? And I said yes, of course,
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: and had no idea. Like all these moments where someone
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: with fear they could let it take it over.
• 22:36
  Speaker 4: Them and not do it.
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: There's excuses for you know, there's outs for all of it,
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: and I think for me it was like fuck it,
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: I'm going to do it anyways. And so I sort
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: of distill twenty one different rules. Sign your own permission,
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: slip you know, if you got to go, go that
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: really go into here's the backstory of where it's like
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: encapsulated in the book and part of my story, And
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: here's how you can apply it to your life.
• 23:02
  Speaker 4: So, whether you're.
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: Interested in fashion or not, these rules are for you
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: and they'll help you no matter what.
• 23:08
  Speaker 2: I love the idea of rules, because go your own path,
• 23:11
  Speaker 2: Particularly millennial, we're in a DIY now moment. It's very
• 23:16
  Speaker 2: difficult to transfer advice from one person to another when
• 23:20
  Speaker 2: it's so DIY because everybody's path is different. So to
• 23:23
  Speaker 2: have these sort of specific rules that you can use
• 23:26
  Speaker 2: as touchstones feel very helpful for sure.
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: And I think you're seeing where there's no way anyone
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: can recreate exactly the magic sauce that works for someone else.
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: A friend of mine went viral on TikTok. There's no
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: way that I can ever recreate that magic. I have
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: to figure it out for myself. But these rules that
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: she's applying I can apply. Doesn't mean I'm going to
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: create the same content or have the same feeling. So
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: it's very much about taking it and then how do
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: you apply it to your face.
• 23:54
  Speaker 2: There's a Roll Dell quote that I love that those
• 23:57
  Speaker 2: who don't believe in magic will never find it seem
• 24:00
  Speaker 2: like a believer in magic.
• 24:01
  Speaker 4: I told my dad a few weeks ago.
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: I was like, Dad, I I'm not seeing the magic,
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: Like I'm working so hard, where's the magic? And then
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: I was like casually telling him about a couple things,
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: and he's like, Oh, that's not magic. What the hell
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: is wrong with you? Open your eyes, it's right in
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: front of you. So I think it also helps to
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: be reminded, like when you're so tunnel visioned and like,
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: you know, overworked, tired or whatever to be like, let
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: me take the blinders off.
• 24:24
  Speaker 4: And look for it again.
• 24:25
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it's often right there.
• 24:27
  Speaker 2: So when I think back to I think it was
• 24:29
  Speaker 2: twenty seventeen, twenty eighteen and the women's marches in my mind. Besides,
• 24:35
  Speaker 2: I think of the pink hats, and then I think
• 24:38
  Speaker 2: of the.
• 24:38
  Speaker 3: Girl power Rebecca Minkoff sweatshirt.
• 24:40
  Speaker 2: I needed to buy one immediately they were sold out.
• 24:43
  Speaker 2: I knew I needed one under my leather jacket. I
• 24:45
  Speaker 2: still wear it to this day all the time. That
• 24:48
  Speaker 2: was such a moment for you, also for me, I
• 24:52
  Speaker 2: love that sweatshirt. The idea of supporting women is it
• 24:57
  Speaker 2: extends beyond the fashion space for you. Is this something
• 25:00
  Speaker 2: thing that was important to you growing up in your
• 25:02
  Speaker 2: early twenties or was it something that happened later in life.
• 25:05
  Speaker 4: It happened later.
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: I think there reached a point within my career where
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: I was able to start connecting more with other founders
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: outside of fashion, and I began to hear the stories
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: over and over again about unequal pay, you know, being
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: passed over for jobs, feeling like you're the only woman
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: in the room. And I didn't have that experience twofold
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: because it was my own company, and also because fashion
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: is predominantly female. And when I began to hear these things,
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: it was kind of at the same time that I
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: was beyond sick of my industry and so tired of
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: the of the fashion talk that I wanted to create
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: originally just a community of people outside my industry that
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: would just be more interesting, frankly, and we could talk
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: about these things and how to solve them. So I
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: think that was in twenty fifteen or yeah. I started
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: having these dinner series and then they led to series
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: within my store called Superwomen. When women started to get
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: vocal about real lack of inequity, right of eighty cents
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: on the dollar for a white woman, women of colors
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: fifty cents, I was like, I have a platform. I
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: need to do something because the echo chamber of us
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: just talking about it is solving zero. Not a cent
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: more has been gained by all of us ranting at
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: a panel. So for me, it was about hoping that
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: with the work I do with my female founder Collective
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: or the women I interview on my podcast, that like
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: that hopefully changes a trajectory and helps support our businesses.
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: I know from a business perspective. We've done a lot,
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: and we can see it in the companies that are
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: part of the collective.
• 26:39
  Speaker 4: But I hope in general, you.
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: Know, if they say that we made one more cent
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: on the dollar, that I that I know that I've
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: done my part.
• 26:46
  Speaker 2: I often hear people say female founder, Like, even if
• 26:50
  Speaker 2: you look at the podcast that you've been interviewed on,
• 26:54
  Speaker 2: oftentimes it'll say female founder, Rebecca Mancuff. I don't know
• 26:57
  Speaker 2: if this is something inside of me, but it really
• 27:00
  Speaker 2: bugs me.
• 27:01
  Speaker 3: Yeah, like you are a founder.
• 27:03
  Speaker 2: Why are we don't say like female tennis players Serena Williams,
• 27:07
  Speaker 2: She's the greatest of all time?
• 27:09
  Speaker 3: You know, Like, where did that come from? Do you
• 27:12
  Speaker 3: still hear that?
• 27:13
  Speaker 4: Yes? All the time. I think I liken it too.
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: When I was on this heavy panel circuit talking all
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: the time, there was like ten of us that were
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: the token women that got to be up there as
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: the female founders. I even named my collective the Female
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: Founder Collective because I wanted to be like, this is
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: for fucking women. You men get out, you know, and
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: I think that there aren't enough of us as leaders
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: and as examples, and so you become like this and
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: this special thing to people like, almost like a token.
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: So yes, it should just be founder. But I think
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: until we're more on car, they're going to continue to
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: say that as a way to note special or rare,
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: you know. So I think it's tough because I see
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: it both ways. It's annoying, but I also made a
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: whole community just centered around that itself too.
• 28:03
  Speaker 3: You actually make a good point.
• 28:04
  Speaker 2: There's an evolution, right because at the beginning it felt empowering,
• 28:08
  Speaker 2: became like girl boss culture, which I think we all
• 28:10
  Speaker 2: push up against now and so maybe we're on the
• 28:13
  Speaker 2: other side of it, which is a gift, I hope.
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: So, but until there's more you know, women in c
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: speed executive positions, more women than men named John Google
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: it ridiculous, or even just more female founded companies that
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: get the coverage they deserve get the support they deserve,
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: the female founder term might be there for a while.
• 28:33
  Speaker 2: I heard you say that a study show that eighty
• 28:35
  Speaker 2: two percent of women are more likely to support other
• 28:37
  Speaker 2: female founded companies if they only knew who they were.
• 28:42
  Speaker 2: And so that's when you decided to make a symbol
• 28:45
  Speaker 2: to hang on tags and storefronts.
• 28:47
  Speaker 3: This is genius.
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: Yeah, So when I launched the Female Founder Collective at
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: the end of twenty eighteen. It was knowing there needed
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: to be a community, but then knowing as a as
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: a consumer, how do we get anyone to support this?
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: In a very like no brainer, don't have to think
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: about it. And as a mother or a beauty consumer,
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: I literally go, where's the symbol? Okay, good organic, carabin
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: free or whatever. My my sort of no go go
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: lines are there's no thinking, it's just like, oh, okay,
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: I'll buy this. So if there was a world in
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: which you could turn over your products, which the seals
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: on over three million now products to date, if you
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: could walk into a store that you knew, like if
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: there's a Starbucks on this corner or one block to
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: the left, it's Lauren Bush Lauren's feed and has the
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: symbol on it, I'm going to go there because I
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: know I'm supporting a woman, and I know when I
• 29:39
  Speaker 1: give her my money, Statistically, it shows that women reinvest
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: their money back into their communities.
• 29:45
  Speaker 4: You know, I could brag about.
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: How great we are for this whole podcast, and so
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: you know, I've worked and I haven't been diligent enough
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: in talking to retailers. Do you have little You know,
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: when you see the things on the aisle that say
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: on sale, could it just say female found it? Or
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: We worked with Yelp to launch women Owned Attribution, and
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: they said, we're going to test it. It's really expensive
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: to do, and if it's successful, we'll keep it. Cut
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: to seventy six thousand women adopting that women owned attribute.
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: It's a permanent part of the Yelp platform, and now
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: they're rolling out search for women owned. So that's an
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: impact that now I can go on to Yelp and
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: just google, you know, female founded or search and then
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: support those businesses in my area. So I think it
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: has a big opportunity and I'm working on getting more
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: big corporations to sign on.
• 30:35
  Speaker 3: It was one of the smartest things I've heard. Thank
• 30:37
  Speaker 3: you for doing that.
• 30:38
  Speaker 4: Yeah, of course.
• 30:39
  Speaker 2: So part of the reason I started this podcast was selfish.
• 30:42
  Speaker 2: I wanted to hear stories from people that I really
• 30:45
  Speaker 2: admired to try and learn to live better through them.
• 30:48
  Speaker 2: I saw you have this like big life, you have
• 30:51
  Speaker 2: a big family, you have a big career.
• 30:53
  Speaker 3: You're now a mom of three.
• 30:55
  Speaker 2: So when you knew that you were about to become
• 30:57
  Speaker 2: a mom, what was the transition for you, like psychologically
• 31:01
  Speaker 2: as you were prepping.
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: I wasn't ready for children. I was thirty. My mom
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: was telling me that my ovaries were going to turn
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: to dust.
• 31:10
  Speaker 3: Literally, I got that.
• 31:11
  Speaker 4: I that the eggs would not be good anymore.
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: And I love my parents a lot, and we're very close,
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: and I just was like, I gotta speed this shit
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: up because I want my kids to have a great
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: relationship with my parents and my grandparents. On one side,
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: I never got to meet. They died before I was born.
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: And on the other side, they were so old that
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: it was just it was far apart. So we got
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: pregnant and I would text my husband even like seven
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: months in. I didn't want the baby to hear I
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: can't believe we did this. Why did we do this?
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: I don't want this baby.
• 31:43
  Speaker 4: What are we going to do?
• 31:44
  Speaker 1: I don't want to be responsible for another human like
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: I would freak out, and he was kind of like,
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: it's too late, dude, Like we did it. Then he
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: came and I was filled with I call it like
• 31:55
  Speaker 1: love in the fourth dimension, with a love I didn't
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: even know could exist. And my first thought was like,
• 32:00
  Speaker 1: why the fuck did I wait so long? I would
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: have had like more children had I known how good
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: this was.
• 32:06
  Speaker 4: So for me it was the opposite.
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: There was like freaking out until he came and then
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: it was just like, oh, that's what I was supposed
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: to do.
• 32:14
  Speaker 4: This whole time.
• 32:14
  Speaker 2: Kind of gave me the chills when you said that,
• 32:16
  Speaker 2: that's really beautiful. When you look back on your career
• 32:19
  Speaker 2: up until this point, I'm sure there were a lot
• 32:21
  Speaker 2: of roadblocks that you overcame.
• 32:24
  Speaker 3: Is there one challenge that almost got you?
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: I mean, there's some that have almost got me, but
• 32:30
  Speaker 1: I guess I'll give you the most recent got you.
• 32:33
  Speaker 1: So again, it was right around the time where I
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: was about to go out on the have the third baby.
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: I felt like we were previous to hiring that designer,
• 32:41
  Speaker 1: we were reaching like a staleness within our within like
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: what consumers thought about us, and I didn't know how
• 32:48
  Speaker 1: to fix it. And I just couldn't figure out what
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: do I do? How do I remain fresh? How do
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: I keep the audience engaged? And we hired two people
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: that we thought would be the experts. So we employed
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: this new designer, Then we hired this CMO who had
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: a doctorate whatever that means, and then someone else, and
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: I went out on leave and I came back and
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: I was like, I had been black widowed. The first
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: comment this woman made to me when I came back
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: was my job would be easier if you didn't exist,
• 33:18
  Speaker 1: because then I could shape the brand and I wouldn't
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: have to worry about the human behind it. And I
• 33:23
  Speaker 1: was like, and what I hate the most is that
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: I didn't fight back. So it wasn't what they did
• 33:31
  Speaker 1: to me and I could be a victim. It was
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: that I didn't say shut the fuck up and get
• 33:35
  Speaker 1: out of here, or that I didn't stand my own
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: ground in my own company. I kind of was like,
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: well they know better. Well I don't know anymore. And
• 33:43
  Speaker 1: I diminished my power and that was something I about
• 33:48
  Speaker 1: I'll never do again. But I doubted myself so much
• 33:51
  Speaker 1: that I let these people treat you that way, and
• 33:53
  Speaker 1: then when I tell the story, people like, how could
• 33:55
  Speaker 1: you do that?
• 33:56
  Speaker 4: It's your company and whatever.
• 33:58
  Speaker 1: But at the bottom of that was just a total
• 34:00
  Speaker 1: lack of faith in myself. And then you let people
• 34:03
  Speaker 1: do whatever you want. And so that for me was
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: a point that I'm not proud of, I'm not happy about.
• 34:08
  Speaker 1: I regret it. But now it's completely the opposite, and
• 34:12
  Speaker 1: I'll never let that happen again.
• 34:14
  Speaker 2: There's a book called The War of Art, and the
• 34:16
  Speaker 2: author says that it's the real creative, the true creative,
• 34:20
  Speaker 2: who is incredibly insecure. It is the pseudo creative and
• 34:25
  Speaker 2: professional that is always confident. And I've always found that
• 34:29
  Speaker 2: to be true. It's when you're really creative and passionate
• 34:32
  Speaker 2: about something, there's always doubt behind it. Thank you for
• 34:35
  Speaker 2: sharing that, because I think oftentimes we don't share our
• 34:39
  Speaker 2: losses honestly and it hinders other people.
• 34:42
  Speaker 1: There's a lot of big dick contests, and I want
• 34:44
  Speaker 1: to share this because a it's the truth. But you know,
• 34:47
  Speaker 1: people who achieve success can be put on a pedestal
• 34:50
  Speaker 1: that is often unhealthy.
• 34:51
  Speaker 4: You know.
• 34:52
  Speaker 1: That's why i love interviewing the women I interview and
• 34:54
  Speaker 1: I'm like, what was your biggest failure?
• 34:56
  Speaker 4: You know, because I think it makes them.
• 34:58
  Speaker 2: Real completely and everyone. What do you think is something
• 35:01
  Speaker 2: that you're still working through as a.
• 35:04
  Speaker 1: Leader, remembering people's names and making sure that each person
• 35:09
  Speaker 1: in the room feels seen. Sometimes I can have tunnel
• 35:13
  Speaker 1: vision and I'm so focused on a certain product. I'll
• 35:16
  Speaker 1: take fashion meek as an example, I was so focused
• 35:19
  Speaker 1: on I had to do media interviews I don't know,
• 35:22
  Speaker 1: approve a playlist and look at models and make sure
• 35:25
  Speaker 1: the styling was good. All that was happening, and then
• 35:28
  Speaker 1: I noticed that a woman who's been sitting there, who's
• 35:31
  Speaker 1: been helping us all day. I reconnect with her on
• 35:34
  Speaker 1: a different social media platform and I'm like, is she
• 35:36
  Speaker 1: there that day?
• 35:38
  Speaker 4: Huh?
• 35:38
  Speaker 1: She worked on my show. And I felt so awful
• 35:41
  Speaker 1: that I was like, here was this woman who was
• 35:42
  Speaker 1: there every day. I probably never said hi to her,
• 35:45
  Speaker 1: not because I was being a bitch, but because I
• 35:46
  Speaker 1: was so focused on sixteen other things. And I feel
• 35:50
  Speaker 1: like that's happened to me, and it feels like shit,
• 35:53
  Speaker 1: And so I want to get better at being like,
• 35:56
  Speaker 1: take a moment. These people are here to help you,
• 36:00
  Speaker 1: even if it's just for one day, and just make
• 36:02
  Speaker 1: sure everyone feels that you're grateful.
• 36:04
  Speaker 3: That's really cool. I grew up in Chicago.
• 36:07
  Speaker 2: I now love fashion, but growing up it wasn't even
• 36:09
  Speaker 2: a thing in my mind, really, And so when I
• 36:12
  Speaker 2: moved to LA and became a reporter, I was on
• 36:15
  Speaker 2: these red carpets and I looked to my left and
• 36:17
  Speaker 2: I looked to my right, and I thought, I gotta
• 36:19
  Speaker 2: figure this out. If I want to get anywhere, I
• 36:22
  Speaker 2: think I have to study a little bit. I ended
• 36:24
  Speaker 2: up buying all this stuff, like I have dresses like
• 36:27
  Speaker 2: because I didn't know what my style was. It's always
• 36:30
  Speaker 2: an evolution. But so many people feel that way. I
• 36:33
  Speaker 2: wish someone would have told me, like, buy three black shirts,
• 36:35
  Speaker 2: three white shirts, a leather coat.
• 36:37
  Speaker 3: There are some staples here. What are the staples for you?
• 36:40
  Speaker 2: What do you wish like young girls would know about
• 36:43
  Speaker 2: their closets.
• 36:44
  Speaker 4: Definitely a leather jacket.
• 36:46
  Speaker 1: I think that that is a very easy way to
• 36:50
  Speaker 1: just make your look put together. And yes it is expensive,
• 36:55
  Speaker 1: but you're gonna have it forever. Most leather jacket silhouettes
• 36:59
  Speaker 1: don't change. You know, you've got a good ten years
• 37:01
  Speaker 1: at least before someone introduces a cropped one, or we
• 37:04
  Speaker 1: just introduced an oversized one after having the same one
• 37:08
  Speaker 1: for I don't know ten years. Definitely a cross body bag.
• 37:13
  Speaker 1: These are all Rebecca Mancov items that I'm suggesting.
• 37:15
  Speaker 4: Of course.
• 37:16
  Speaker 3: Well, actually my favorite leather is Rebecca Mincoff.
• 37:18
  Speaker 4: There you go.
• 37:19
  Speaker 3: I have the one with the mesh back.
• 37:21
  Speaker 1: So that was the one we had for ten years
• 37:22
  Speaker 1: and then we just introduced a new one that was
• 37:24
  Speaker 1: like a bit oversized kind of boyfriend shape.
• 37:27
  Speaker 3: Thanks a lot. Now I haveter got You're gonna get
• 37:30
  Speaker 3: another ten years out of it, It's true, I will.
• 37:33
  Speaker 1: And I think with our cross bodies, we try and
• 37:35
  Speaker 1: have them do triple duty, whether it be a clutch,
• 37:37
  Speaker 1: a crossbody, and the shoulder bag. So you are in
• 37:41
  Speaker 1: good hands there. And then I think, especially right now
• 37:44
  Speaker 1: with Zoom, like just a great sort of statement necklace
• 37:48
  Speaker 1: doesn't have to be expensive. You could get a few
• 37:50
  Speaker 1: if you find them affordably, but just anything earring or
• 37:54
  Speaker 1: just a great accessory that you can easily change out
• 37:57
  Speaker 1: because we are living our lives so much from behind
• 37:59
  Speaker 1: the computer.
• 38:00
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a good call. I didn't really think about accessories.
• 38:03
  Speaker 2: It feels like a lot, but I'll do it. Is
• 38:06
  Speaker 2: there an all time favorite piece that you've created.
• 38:08
  Speaker 1: I have these moments where I like, I'm like, oh,
• 38:10
  Speaker 1: this is the one that I'm going to love forever,
• 38:12
  Speaker 1: and oh no, no, this is the one.
• 38:14
  Speaker 4: No.
• 38:15
  Speaker 1: I mean I always will love the Morning After bag
• 38:17
  Speaker 1: because that's what started at all. So that'll have a
• 38:19
  Speaker 1: special place in my heart.
• 38:20
  Speaker 2: A book that shifted your perspective is something that you
• 38:22
  Speaker 2: think everybody should read.
• 38:24
  Speaker 1: So as a mom of three, I do not read
• 38:28
  Speaker 1: much because it's impossible. And every time I pick up
• 38:31
  Speaker 1: a book. I don't know if you feel this way,
• 38:34
  Speaker 1: but if you're sitting next to your kids and they're.
• 38:36
  Speaker 4: Bugging you, you have.
• 38:38
  Speaker 1: Enough attention span to like scroll the gram But if
• 38:42
  Speaker 1: you're reading a book, you need to like get into
• 38:44
  Speaker 1: the book and the character and all these things. And
• 38:46
  Speaker 1: that never happens because a child is always interrupting me.
• 38:50
  Speaker 1: But a friend of mine recently just wrote this book
• 38:52
  Speaker 1: called b Jessica's Week, and I started reading. It's about
• 38:56
  Speaker 1: personal branding, and I got through like three chapters the
• 38:59
  Speaker 1: other night and I couldn't believe it. So I'm really
• 39:02
  Speaker 1: into it, and she really is good at making you
• 39:04
  Speaker 1: think about personal branding or in my case me, I
• 39:08
  Speaker 1: am the brand and how that world is.
• 39:10
  Speaker 2: That's so funny. I have an Instagram live with her
• 39:12
  Speaker 2: in thirty minutes.
• 39:13
  Speaker 1: Oh my god, Well tell her I talked good things.
• 39:17
  Speaker 4: I will.
• 39:17
  Speaker 3: That's so nice of you.
• 39:18
  Speaker 4: Okay.
• 39:19
  Speaker 3: The best piece of advice you've ever gotten.
• 39:21
  Speaker 1: That you have to love what you do, your passion
• 39:25
  Speaker 1: and love for what you do has to trump anything,
• 39:27
  Speaker 1: because that is the only thing that's going to get
• 39:30
  Speaker 1: you through all the hard days. Anything you know, not
• 39:34
  Speaker 1: making money failures. You could have never imagined people you
• 39:38
  Speaker 1: love not working for you anymore, like all the stuff
• 39:41
  Speaker 1: that I have this newsletter on LinkedIn. You can't make
• 39:44
  Speaker 1: this shit up is the title of the newsletter, because
• 39:46
  Speaker 1: at least once a week, I'm like, you can't make
• 39:48
  Speaker 1: this shit up. So your passion has to be the
• 39:51
  Speaker 1: thread that you sort of walk that line on, because
• 39:54
  Speaker 1: there's enough shit that happens every day that you just
• 39:56
  Speaker 1: want to be like, I'm out just kidding, I want
• 39:59
  Speaker 1: to go work somewhere. It'll be easy, I can clock
• 40:01
  Speaker 1: in and out.
• 40:02
  Speaker 4: So you're passionate.
• 40:03
  Speaker 2: I feel like there should be a newsletter titled that
• 40:05
  Speaker 2: for dating too, because like every time my girlfriends and
• 40:08
  Speaker 2: I go to dinner, it's like, you can't make this up. Okay,
• 40:10
  Speaker 2: A negotiation tactic that you think is really useful.
• 40:13
  Speaker 4: You got to get really good at bluffing.
• 40:15
  Speaker 1: Throw out a number that even scares you because I
• 40:17
  Speaker 1: find if you're like, well, I want to be fair
• 40:20
  Speaker 1: and I want to be considerate, oftentimes the person will
• 40:23
  Speaker 1: say yes so quickly that you're like, oh, I could
• 40:26
  Speaker 1: have had more. So I always try and throw out
• 40:29
  Speaker 1: numbers that I want to vomit as I say it.
• 40:31
  Speaker 3: I've never tried that. I always go the other route,
• 40:34
  Speaker 3: and I'm going to do it. I'll I'll report back. Okay.
• 40:36
  Speaker 2: So we do a PSQ, which is a pretty smart question.
• 40:39
  Speaker 2: I have fifty two questions and I pick at random,
• 40:41
  Speaker 2: and yours actually had to do with magic, which was perfect.
• 40:44
  Speaker 2: So when was the last time that you felt closest
• 40:48
  Speaker 2: to magic?
• 40:49
  Speaker 1: We just did a fashion show, which is a very
• 40:53
  Speaker 1: expensive no matter how you slice it, opportunity for designers
• 40:57
  Speaker 1: to do and if we're not able to to get
• 41:00
  Speaker 1: sponsors on board, then we can't do it. So it's
• 41:04
  Speaker 1: a six figure cost, and that's conservative. That's with like
• 41:08
  Speaker 1: bare Bones. If you're a bigger brand, some of them
• 41:10
  Speaker 1: spend two million. Chanel probably spends five. Just to put
• 41:13
  Speaker 1: it in perspective. And so I recently hired a woman
• 41:17
  Speaker 1: to help me with all my partnerships and sponsorships. I
• 41:21
  Speaker 1: thought we were going to partner with a company that
• 41:23
  Speaker 1: was going to give us a little bit of money,
• 41:24
  Speaker 1: but we'd have to raise a lot more and she
• 41:26
  Speaker 1: threw out a number that made me want to vomit,
• 41:29
  Speaker 1: and they win for it. And it not only did
• 41:31
  Speaker 1: it cover the show that we just did and the
• 41:34
  Speaker 1: future one, but it allows for us to do really
• 41:36
  Speaker 1: creative stuff all year long with them helps the brand
• 41:39
  Speaker 1: in huge ways. So that was like, Okay, we did
• 41:43
  Speaker 1: something that made me uncomfortable. I was like on the phone, like, oh,
• 41:48
  Speaker 1: they said yes, and they're excited and it's been a
• 41:50
  Speaker 1: great partnership.
• 41:51
  Speaker 2: That's really exciting, and you feel in line with them.
• 41:54
  Speaker 2: They're giving you full freedom.
• 41:56
  Speaker 4: Yeah, a lot of freedom.
• 41:57
  Speaker 2: The last question that I always ask everybody is what
• 42:00
  Speaker 2: is the smartest decision you've ever made?
• 42:02
  Speaker 1: I think picking the partner that I have my husband.
• 42:06
  Speaker 1: I couldn't do what I do without it. I unfortunately
• 42:08
  Speaker 1: hear a lot about very unequal relationships, and I hear
• 42:12
  Speaker 1: a lot right now about the women and the workforce,
• 42:15
  Speaker 1: you know, freaking out because it's kids, and like managing
• 42:19
  Speaker 1: it all as impossible, especially during the pandemic. So I
• 42:22
  Speaker 1: feel very grateful that I have someone who's like, we're equal.
• 42:26
  Speaker 1: We both have the load, we both share the load,
• 42:28
  Speaker 1: we both do all the things we don't want to do,
• 42:30
  Speaker 1: and that makes a huge difference in my ability to
• 42:33
  Speaker 1: keep doing what I'm doing.
• 42:34
  Speaker 3: Where'd you guys meet?
• 42:35
  Speaker 1: I'll try and condense the story. I was dating someone,
• 42:38
  Speaker 1: he was dating someone. My friend was on a trip
• 42:40
  Speaker 1: with him, came home, told me all about him, but
• 42:42
  Speaker 1: had no way to reach him again. This is when
• 42:44
  Speaker 1: you were still texting on the phone. So by going dip,
• 42:47
  Speaker 1: you know like that. Six months later, another friend of
• 42:50
  Speaker 1: mine was like, you should meet him. I was like, cool,
• 42:52
  Speaker 1: he was on MySpace. I looked at his profile. I
• 42:55
  Speaker 1: thought he looked immature, and I was not interested. Then
• 42:58
  Speaker 1: she introduced us what we were on the phone with
• 43:00
  Speaker 1: our exes getting screamed at, which we didn't know, and
• 43:03
  Speaker 1: it was like hey, hey. And then six more months
• 43:05
  Speaker 1: went by and he was at a party that I
• 43:08
  Speaker 1: had shown up at and I went to that party
• 43:11
  Speaker 1: to meet some guys and I was like no, no, no,
• 43:13
  Speaker 1: no no.
• 43:14
  Speaker 4: And I went outside to my friend. I was like,
• 43:15
  Speaker 4: this is what I wanted a guy. I wrote it down.
• 43:18
  Speaker 1: Here's a list, and I literally read her the list
• 43:20
  Speaker 1: and it was physical, mental, spiritual qualities. I walked in
• 43:24
  Speaker 1: and he looked at me, and then we started talking.
• 43:28
  Speaker 1: This girl came up to him and was like, do
• 43:30
  Speaker 1: you want to drink? And then I was like, oh shit,
• 43:32
  Speaker 1: she's paying on her territory. This guy belongs to her,
• 43:35
  Speaker 1: and I left. I was embarrassed, but we had already
• 43:39
  Speaker 1: we had already connected and had emails exchanged, and then
• 43:43
  Speaker 1: we talked for a little bit. He said I'm with
• 43:45
  Speaker 1: someone and I was like, let me know what happens
• 43:47
  Speaker 1: with that, and I said and then I was like,
• 43:48
  Speaker 1: I'm done. And then ten days later he myspaced me
• 43:51
  Speaker 1: and was like it's over.
• 43:53
  Speaker 4: Let's you know, let's do this.
• 43:55
  Speaker 3: He for sure ended it because he felt something for you. Yeah,
• 43:59
  Speaker 3: that is magic. You had the whole list, and then
• 44:01
  Speaker 3: he just appeared.
• 44:02
  Speaker 4: I didn't have on the list single.
• 44:03
  Speaker 1: So when I got home that night after I saw
• 44:06
  Speaker 1: this girl, I was like, oh, I forgot single. So
• 44:09
  Speaker 1: I wrote single in big letters on the list.
• 44:11
  Speaker 2: Feels like a given, but I guess we have to
• 44:13
  Speaker 2: write it down to make it happen. So things I've
• 44:16
  Speaker 2: learned from our podcast. Make a list about all the
• 44:19
  Speaker 2: things you want, and you can never be too specific. Apparently,
• 44:22
  Speaker 2: go after your dreams, Go be fearless, feel the fear,
• 44:26
  Speaker 2: and do it anyways. Perfect you know how like you
• 44:28
  Speaker 2: want somebody to be something. You are everything I wanted
• 44:31
  Speaker 2: you to be. Thank you so much.
• 44:33
  Speaker 4: Thank you. That means a lot.
• 44:35
  Speaker 3: Thank you for your time. I really appreciate it.
• 44:37
  Speaker 1: Yeah, of course. And you can buy the book on
• 44:40
  Speaker 1: Amazon dot com. If you want to support indie bookstores,
• 44:42
  Speaker 1: go to Books a Million and pre order. Because it's
• 44:45
  Speaker 1: a pandemic, no one's carrying any inventory, so the only
• 44:49
  Speaker 1: way to assure that you're going to get your copy
• 44:50
  Speaker 1: is by pre ordering. What date it comes out June fifteenth,
• 44:53
  Speaker 1: but it's available for pre order.
• 44:54
  Speaker 3: Now, Okay, I'm going to go pre order today. Thank you,
• 44:58
  Speaker 3: Thank you.
• 45:01
  Speaker 2: I really enjoyed hearing how Rebecca defines fearless. It's not
• 45:05
  Speaker 2: the absence of fear that makes you fearless, it's feeling
• 45:08
  Speaker 2: it and then going after it. Anyways, to me, fearlessness
• 45:11
  Speaker 2: feels like falling madly in love again after you've felt
• 45:14
  Speaker 2: deep pain. I think it's fearless to say I'm sorry
• 45:17
  Speaker 2: and have a hard conversation with a friend instead of
• 45:19
  Speaker 2: just walking away. It's fearless to walk into the first
• 45:21
  Speaker 2: day of high school. Oh my god, I was terrified.
• 45:24
  Speaker 2: I can remember those butterflies just talking about it. I
• 45:27
  Speaker 2: think fearlessness is having faith that things.
• 45:29
  Speaker 3: Will fall into place.
• 45:30
  Speaker 2: You know, I've realized that many times the thought of
• 45:32
  Speaker 2: fear itself is greater than what it is we fear.
• 45:36
  Speaker 2: So now when I identify the feeling, I think to myself,
• 45:39
  Speaker 2: what would I do in this moment if I knew
• 45:41
  Speaker 2: I could not fail? So cheers to fearlessness. Today's a
• 45:45
  Speaker 2: good day. To have a good day.
• 45:46
  Speaker 3: See you next week.