Create & Cultivate 100, Profiles Arianna Schioldager Create & Cultivate 100, Profiles Arianna Schioldager

Fashion: Clare Vivier

Has it in the bag. 

This article is part of our Create & Cultivate 100 List created in collaboration with KEDS, you can view the full Fashion List Here.

Created a brand of her own.

On the corner of Sunset and Micheltorena in Silverlake is a gray-blue front, the flagship store of LA-based designer Clare Vivier and her namesake brand, Clare V. Inside against white walls, CA-made colorful leather handbags and apparel pops. Shelves feature glasses, wallets, and gifts for the women who appreciate a faultless look. 

Simple, decidedly French, Clare’s is a story of fashion and fate. After finding 400 dollars on a sidewalk, she purchased the sewing machine that would launch a thousand bags.  But it all started with one, known famously as La Tropizienne. 

After graduating from University of San Francisco, Clare moved to France. She interned at a documentary film production company and waitressed on the side. The effortlessly chic style of France and French women spoke to her longtime interest in fashion. Feeling inspired, she started a blog for fun. She also happened to meet her husband, Thierry Vivier, and they moved back to California.  

In Los Angeles, her fashion blog began to pick up some traction as she formed her own style, an effortless blend of French and Californian influences. "Ever since I can remember," Clare says about her unique style and dressing for herself, "it has always been an important part of my identity and happiness."

During this time Clare had a day job, working as a prop stylist and commercial production coordinator in LA. But she needed a bag to hold her laptop and notes. The designer couldn’t bring herself to carry a meek, corporate-looking, nylon tote, especially being fresh off the sensibility of Paris.  So she made her own custom bag. Inspired by the L.L. Bean boat tote and the essence of St. Tropez, her bag demonstrated flare, functionality, and outright “coolness.”  And everyone noticed.  After receiving numerous compliments, Clare felt like she was on to something, and stepped in the role of Clare Vivier, handbag designer.  It was a buyer at Fred Segal luggage shop "back in the day," she says that gave her a first very useful bit of advice. "Why would anyone buy this at this price? No one knows who you are," Clare recounts upon sharing her first laptop bag which was admittedly overpriced. "I had to reassess," she says. 

Her breakthrough was in fact her self-made tote, La Tropizienne, and her blog exposure claiming “I’ve got your summer tote.”  It cultivated the market for chic working bags.  She worked alone for many years doing both the business and the creative side of things. And in 2012, she trusted her gut and took on two business partners, Steven Alan and Randy Kercho, who became her mentors and key contributors to the growth of the company.  

It was trusting her gut that led Clare to her success.  She admits to the difficultly of allocating responsibility and “hiring the right people to do the things that are not my strength.  It is challenging, but when you find the right people, it’s so rewarding.”  Rewarding to say the least. Clare V. has expanded to six stores nationwide, including two in New York, and has designed collaborations with big names such as Steven Alan, & Other Stores, GOOP, Jean Stories, and Apple, to name a few. Her dream though, not surprisingly, is to "open a store in Paris." 

Indeed it was a story of fashion and fate, but most importantly a woman that let her passion live free alongside her work.  She gave it the room and possibility for her creativity to flourish and it awarded her with her very own fashion line, possibly every girl’s dream. 

Styling provided by Reservoir LA. Hair and makeup provided by Glamsquad. Photography courtesy of Light Lab and Woodnote Photography.

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Create & Cultivate 100, Profiles Arianna Schioldager Create & Cultivate 100, Profiles Arianna Schioldager

Entrepreneur: Toni Ko, Perverse Sunglasses

Knew she'd be a boss. 

This article is part of our Create & Cultivate 100 List created in collaboration with KEDS, you can view the full Entrepreneur List Here.

Knew she'd be a boss.

The thing about Toni Ko is that everything she touches turns to gold (or pink, or purple, or silver, or any combination of color one could possibly dream up, really). Whether that’s makeup — she founded NYX Cosmetics with $250,000 in seed funding (from her parents) and sold it for $500 million to L’oreal in 2010. Or eyewear — her newborn baby Perverse Sunglasses launched in March of 2016, and is already slated to hit 125 stores in just five years — Toni Ko can’t miss.

Now 43, the entrepreneur has known she’d be a tycoon since the third grade. “I’m not sure why, but I was always sure I was going to be an independent, self-reliant woman in business,” says the aspiring hattrick founder, whose career bucket list includes building three global brands before retirement. Two down, one to go, time to spare…should we just give up already? “My best advice for women or any gender starting a business is to focus only on the goal. Everything else is just noise. And that giving 100% is not enough. You have to give your 100% and then some more, and be scrappy.”

"You have to give 100% and more and be scrappy.”

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It could be argued that this scrappiness is Ko’s secret weapon. That, and an astute understanding that women don’t want to drop a fortune to feel like a million, nor should they have to. Both NYX and Perverse have thrived by selling the high-end at a low-price, subverting the status quo and disrupting business as usual. It’s a tried-and-true business model that, when teamed with Ko’s unique vision, savvy, and sensibility, can’t be touched. “It’s the oldest and best marketing strategy that’s been proven for thousands of years. Value proposition. Sell better products at lower prices than your competition. It’s that simple and works in every industry.”

Like other rebels in the eyewear space, PERVERSE recognizes the prohibitive price tag of traditional sunglasses (many of which are owned and controlled by one omnipresent entity responsible for markups and price gouging). Unlike its competitors, PERVERSE encourages a post-gender, sex-positive mindframe fittingly dubbed “sunglass polygamy.” And with prices seductively perched between $30-$60, there’s no reason we can’t indulge in a full-blown eyewear orgy.

“I look for an industry that lacks what I am looking for,” explains Ko, who studied the ins-and-outs of wholesale and supply chain working in the family perfume and cosmetics business in Los Angeles, where they moved from South Korea when she was a teen. “With NYX, I was looking for make-up that had the quality but was affordable. With sunglasses, I wanted fashion sunglasses that didn’t break the bank,” she states, matter of factly. “I wanted to wear different sunglasses matching my outfit everyday, but did not want to spend 2, 3 or even 4 hundred dollars per pair. So I created a brand that sells the good quality fashion sunglasses that you can style with your daily outfit, with prices all under a hundred dollars.”

Still in its infancy, PERVERSE has become an overnight A-list favorite, with Anna Kendrick, Lady Gaga, Vanessa Hudgens, and Beyoncé stepping out as fans of the frame. Recently ranked #57 on Forbes’ “Richest Self-Made Women” list with a staggering net worth of $260 million, Ko continues to keep her head down, stay grateful, and trust her instincts. She also cites mom as her greatest influence, for teaching her the value of hardwork and honesty. “Everyday, I am grateful for the opportunities I was given. And with that, I tell myself to never change as a person, to stay humble and hungry, and to keep my head screwed on my shoulders. I think this is what keeps me going everyday.”

It’s not just her budding eyewear empire that makes us say this, but Toni Ko is a true visionary.

Styling provided by Reservoir LA. Hair and makeup provided by Glamsquad. Photography courtesy of Light Lab and Woodnote Photography.

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Create & Cultivate 100, Profiles Arianna Schioldager Create & Cultivate 100, Profiles Arianna Schioldager

Entrepreneur: Sallie Krawcheck, Ellevest

The woman of Wall Street. 

This article is part of our Create & Cultivate 100 List created in collaboration with KEDS, you can view the full Entrepreneur List Here.

The woman of Wall Street. 

If there’s one thing we have in common with Ellevest CEO and co-founder Sallie Krawcheck, it’s that we both believe the future is female...financial independence. The 52-year-old former Wall Street maven, who once ran such elite institutions as Merrill Lynch, Bank of America, and Smith Barney, is leveraging her 30 plus years of professional expertise to help women build and invest wealth and “unleash women’s financial power.”

With Ellevest, Krawcheck is on a mission to close what she calls the “gender investment gap,” an extension of better-known disparities such as the gender pay gap and the gender debt gap. So, what is the “gender investment gap,” exactly? Well, it begins with the fact that 71% of all assets controlled by women are uninvested cash, which translates to us boss ladies missing out on major market gain opportunities and losing out to inflation. And why don’t they invest if it’s such a lucrative opportunity? A few common reasons include craving certainty, relying on bae to handle things (ps he can’t even be trusted to restock the toilet paper), and feeling it’s too time-intensive. For her part, Krawcheck— who has been named the most powerful woman on Wall Street, and at one point oversaw $2.3 trillion in client assets — strongly disagrees.

“I have become truly convinced that getting more money into the hands of women is a positive for everyone,” explains Krawcheck, asserting that the “gender investment gap” costs professional women hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not more, over their lifetimes. “Closing this gap helps the women themselves, but also their families, society, and businesses. It also solves a lot of society's problems: for example, the retirement savings crisis is actually a women's crisis, given how much longer we live then men (and that we retire with less money than they do).”

"Getting more money into the hands of women is a positive for everyone."

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It’s this revolutionary, women-centric approach to investing — one that factors in our longer lifespans, winding career paths, and unique risk factors, and doesn’t default to men’s salaries and preferences (86% of investment advisors are men, age 50+) — that separates Ellevest from its competitors and makes it a game-changing investing platform for women.

They say a woman’s work is never done, and that’s certainly true when it comes to Krawcheck. In addition to founding Ellevest, the fierce advocate for women’s financial freedom chairs both the Ellevate Network (a global professional women's network to help women close their gender work achievement gap) and the Pax Ellevate Global Women's Index Fund (the first mutual fund to invest in the top-rated companies for advancing women). Bottom line: she’s 100% committed to beefing up women’s bank accounts and setting women on the road toward financial independence. But, success does come at a price, and insecurity is what keeps this cat-loving, wine-drinking powerhouse at the top of her game. “Right after I had my daughter, I cried to my mother that I couldn't do my job and be a mother to two little ones. She brushed off my tears and said (in a pretty brusque way), ‘Of course you can. You're just going to be really tired for awhile.’ She was right.”

Today, Krawcheck is “all-in” on herself, and her career, raising  — not only her daughters  — but a generation of financially savvy, professional women who know their value, and, better yet, how to invest it.

 

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Career, Profiles Arianna Schioldager Career, Profiles Arianna Schioldager

This Founder Is Winning the Maternity Leave Fight

A company that champions pregnant, working women? Yes please. 

Michelle Feiner, founder of Emissaries. 

Michelle Feiner, founder of Emissaries says she is "a hustler and entrepreneur at heart." The mom and business woman created the first U.S. recruiting agency to service the niche of parental leave coverage and "to support the U.S.’ evolving leave policies and growing gig economy."

Maternal and parental leave is a hot 2016 election topic, but it's also something that's been close to Feiner's heart since working in the freelance world herself, often as a maternity fill-in. 

Hear what she has to say about pregnant lady bosses (which, she currently is herself), what policies in the U.S. need to change, and why her company doesn't take a cut of freelancer pay. 

Women in the workplace! From pay gaps to covert and overt sexism, it’s still a complicated place. What has been your experience as a woman in the working world?

I’ve always enjoyed work – even in my teens. I’m a hustler and entrepreneur at heart. My career gives me purpose, fulfillment and perspective. With that said, I have had some negative experiences as a woman in the working world. The most memorable: I was sexually harassed by one former manager many years ago, early in my career. He grabbed a fist full of my butt in front of clients. I turned around and looked him dead in the eye but said no words, out of shock. Unfortunately, this manager had a reputation in the office for this sort of behavior and somehow, he got away with it several times because no one spoke up. I was about to be promoted and I didn’t want to risk the raise. A shame, right? But now, for the most part, I can choose who I work with and altogether avoid shady characters! ☺

You spent a large portion of your freelance career filling in maternity leaves. How did that happen? What’s that trajectory?

The transition from full-time to freelance was one of the easiest transitions I ever made. I created a portfolio. I positioned myself as a freelancer online. I let my professional network know I was available for freelance work and landed my first gig within a couple of weeks. One gig led to another (referrals accounted for the majority of my projects) and fortunately, I was often booked months in advance. A lot of the maternity leave fill-in work I did was in the magazine industry – which is predominately female (read: lots of women inherently going on maternity leave). I raised my hand for the right opportunities, developed a niche in digital sales marketing, constantly networked and was very aware of my reputation as a freelancer and maternity leave fill-in. 

"I raised my hand for the right opportunities."

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For many, the freelance world is a hard, hard hustle that can leave workers feeling undervalued. But you’ve said it made you feel more valued in your career. Can you chat a bit about that?

Freelancing isn’t for everyone. I know many talented people who tried their hand at freelancing yet prefer full-time employment. Personally, I enjoyed the hustle and constant change. Plus, I made more money, worked less and was more focused on producing good work vs. navigating office politics. Maternity fill-ins are particularly amazing projects for freelancers because often the expecting mom is in this planning state-of-mind as she prepares for her baby’s arrival and that translates to the most detailed turnover reports you’ve ever seen! The women I filled in for trusted me to be their ally at work and I truly wanted them to come back to their roles with their workload and team in a good place. Speaking of teams, many of the teams I worked with during maternity leave fill-ins were incredibly welcoming because they were just so stoked the workload wasn’t going to fall on their shoulders while their colleague was out on leave. This is one of the most important benefits of parental leave covers – the entire team feels valued and supported.  

Then came Emissaries. Why was it important for you to start this company?

Most everyone knows parental leave policies in the U.S. are pretty horrible compared to the rest of the world. Starting in 2015 it became a hot topic in the national news. I had the idea for Emissaries years ago when I was freelancing and covering maternity leaves. The timing was right last year and Emissaries launched in November of 2015 in order to support the U.S.’ evolving leave policies and growing gig economy. There are models like Emissaries in Europe and Australia but Emissaries was the first U.S. recruiting agency to specialize in parental leave coverage. On another, but equal note, I wanted to create an agency and marketplace that would sincerely behoove freelancers. We’ve never and we won’t take a cut of freelancers’ pay. That’s vital for attracting the best freelancers to our network. The best freelancers get constant job and gig offers; it doesn’t make sense for them to give up a portion of their pay. It does make sense for them to sign up with a talent-matching agency like Emissaries if it helps them get access to new clients.

Post-launch, you found out you were pregnant, which surprise! has the ability to derail anyone. But you’ve used this to your "professional advantage.” What does that mean and how did you do it? 

I’ve been fortunate and my energy levels are through the roof. Perhaps I’m just excited for my future. Planning for a baby’s arrival forced me to think about the future of Emissaries. One of my immediate thoughts the day I found out I was pregnant (which, mind you was four months post-launch!) was: "what am I going to do with Emissaries?" I'm constantly advocating and evangelizing for parental leave and I'd be a hypocrite if I didn't make a plan for myself. So I devised a plan to build and launch a self-service, online platform that will enable our clients and curated network of freelancers to directly connect while I spend a few months prioritizing my daughter's health. Emissaries' new freelance marketplace (launching in late September at www.emissaries.co) is the obvious next step for the company; it will make sourcing and connecting with qualified freelancers even more turnkey, transparent and affordable. Pregnancy has only encouraged me to expedite Emissaries' growth strategy. As the number of freelancers in our network and the quantity of clients have grown, the natural evolution of the business is to digitize the experience and utilize technology to improve the talent matching process. Many of the pregnant women I help find freelancer fill-ins for share a similar trajectory wherein pregnancy has had a positive effect on their careers.

Speaking of pregnancies— let’s talk about the #pregnantbosses. What does that hashtag mean to you? 

#PregnantBosses celebrates pregnant, professional women. There's a misconception that pregnant women aren't as committed to their careers as their peers - and that's the myth we're trying to dispel by profiling expecting and new moms who are dedicated to and enthusiastic about the future of their companies and careers. Pregnancy doesn't have to derail your professional goals and most importantly, pregnant women should not be seen as less valuable than their counterparts. Quite the opposite, these women are powerful forces! P.S. We welcome new submissions on our site, www.pregnantbosses.com

"There's a misconception that pregnant women aren't as committed to their careers as their peers."

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Have you found someone to cover you? When you run a company is it realistic to take time off after baby? 

Obviously, being the founder of a self-funded startup is different than being an employee but I am certainly creating my “village.” I have a team that supports Emissaries and I’m in the midst of interviewing for a role that will be my right-hand person. Emissaries new online freelance marketplace is built to be primarily self-service but of course we’ll have a community to foster, freelancers to vet and support emails to answer. Additionally, I’ll be pausing our full-service recruiting services until I’m ready to recommit to that level of hands-on work. This is my first pregnancy so I’m adjusting as I go while making sure I have the support both myself and my daughter need.

What are some issues you’ve seen affect pregnant working women?

Some feel more professionally motivated and supported than ever before - thanks to improving parental leave policies, evolving corporate cultures and new social norms. Others face unjust challenges of additional gender discrimination and unfounded assumptions that they aren’t committed to their careers or companies. Various global surveys report that 30-77% of pregnant women and new mothers experience discrimination at work (statistics vary by country). Pregnancy discrimination is unfortunately alive and well! 

What would you like to see change?

In general, I think U.S. companies could do a better job of supporting employees - whether they need paid leave to take care of a newborn, a sick loved one or an elderly parent. Much of the opposition to paid family leave is centered around misinformation or confusion, especially around business impact. Particularly where we have data from CA or RI about their experiences, we can correct the record with the real story. I’m a big believer of the mantra: it takes a village. We could also do a better job of thinking about how paid leave affects teams. Many companies simply redistribute that employee's workload to the existing team.

"In general U.S. companies could do a better job of supporting employees."

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Some companies have the foresight to hire a seasoned freelancer to fill in for the individual and support the team. This strategy has many positive effects: one point of contact makes the transition less disjointed, colleagues will be less likely (even subconsciously) to resent the individual on leave, it provides an opportunity to glean expertise and insights from a reputable source in your industry, it's an excellent gesture for companies to demonstrate that they support working parents and an overall wellness-based, balanced culture and lastly, your company will attract and maintain top talent. If employees feel valued, they are more likely to reciprocate with their loyalty and hard work.

How and why is Emissaries rewarding?

We’re supporting two topics at the very forefront of the world’s workforce dialogue –  freelancers and working parents. There's certainly an element of social change to Emissaries’ business model. I'm motivated and inspired to create a new social norm for companies to offer working parent benefits, employees to take paid family leave and better support the booming independent workforce. We’re paving new paths! 

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Career, Profiles Arianna Schioldager Career, Profiles Arianna Schioldager

Amanda Chantal Bacon Knows She'd Make a Great SNL Skit

Her and her Moon Juice Kingdom of edible alchemy.

“Very early on I didn’t align with industry standards and I was OK with that.”

We’re chatting with Amanda Chantal Bacon, founder of Moon Juice, ire of Father John Misty, about the beauty industry and though the entrepreneur and mother knows that she’s fodder for what she calls "cynical humor," she remains dedicated to what matters to her. 

"I'm into nature, and health and consciousness-- and that,” she says, “has nothing to do with beauty and fashion industries. My mom was in the fashion world and I was raised in New York in the fashion world and I wanted nothing to do with that. I was like the weird daughter from Ab-Fab.”

  Chantal Bacon says it's a disconnect that began during the onset of womanhood. “It was probably around puberty,” she says, “when I realized, ‘oh there is this whole world out there and this projection on women,’ and I started to feel the expectation that I was meant to be ’pretty.’” It didn’t vibe.

She says this need "to be pretty" was really at its height during the ‘80s and ‘90s-- the Model Search “Are you the next cover girl” and Victoria Secret catalogue days. “It all felt really off to me. The boobs, the push-up bras, the lipstick, the inherent weakness that I saw. I was really cognizant of how that got imprinted.” To her point, by 1997, Victoria’s Secret was sending 450 million catalogs a year and seeing a return of $661 million in mail-order sales alone.

Seventeen was all about ‘how to have perfect hair,’ ‘how to wear the right lip gloss,’ ‘how to put on that eyeshadow,’” she says. “I was 13, I was just getting boobs and didn’t want to do that, it didn’t resonate with me and I didn’t think it looked good.” Then she got to high school and Cosmopolitan was running covers on “‘How to give the best blow job,.” She says “All of that information started collecting in me and I really didn’t want to train on my free time how to give a better blow job. I didn’t want to keep up with the shimmery eyeshadow world.”

So she didn’t. “I wasn’t a tomboy, but I did play sports, I really liked writing, nature, and being funny with my friends.” She started on what’s become a lifelong journey to re-examine beauty. “I think it really starts with a baseline of what is actually safe to put on and in our bodies,” she says. “Beyond safe what is truly going to be beneficial and unifying.”

Even as a young woman, Chantal Bacon says “I was not going to align with anything that did not feed my body, was not in harmony with the planet, and told me that I was in my prime during an age when I was not my strongest. None of us feel our strongest when we’re 17 or 18. When we’re 21 or 22. My god, if I look back at that and see that that’s what was being projected on me, that’s when I was most desirable, that’s when I was most beautiful-- that’s completely off.”

"I was not going to align with anything that told me I was in my prime during an age when I was not my strongest."

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She brings up the “George Clooney, Clint Eastwood thing.”

“There’s the thought that with age men become more handsome, sexier, they have more mystique-- that’s great I love that for men. I find that to be very true. I also find that to be true for women.”

“It’s one thing for everyone to look beautiful,” she adds, "but when we take unhealthy measures to get there or ruin the planet and environment in the process, that makes no sense, especially if you’re thinking about beauty as longevity.”

###

photo credit: Katarina Dickson

Moon Juice is Chantal Bacon's grown-up response to the discrepancies she felt as a teen; an inside-out approach to beauty. 

The business, which began with a tiny shop on Rose Ave. in Venice, now has four locations, the most recent of which opened on Melrose Place this past summer. The brand's organic and wild-crafted herb mixtures will be available at Saks Fifth Avenue, Net-a-Porter, Urban Outfitters Free People-- about 70 retailers in all. So, she's figured out how to scale "juice," something that she says started as "a fun party trick at first.” (The Moon Dust products, not raw juices, are suitable for beauty resale.) 

Chantal Bacon was juicing for herself at the time and convincing other people that cold-pressed juice tasted great. “They wouldn’t want to try it and then they’d take a sip and it would blow their mind.” A trained chef, who "loves food," she was working a full-time job “with crazy hours, six days a week and could not keep up." 

"I’d always joke that juicing was like a full-time job, until that joke didn’t feel like a joke anymore.” It was then she realized, “This is the full-time job that I want, this is the life that I want. It was a leap, but it was leap that had such a natural urge behind it that there was nothing else for me to do.”

Other people like to joke as well, especially about Chantal Bacon’s lifestyle, food diaries, and social media posts about crystals. She's not blissfully unaware, but it doesn't slow her down either. “We like parody and I’m sure I’d make a great SNL skit. I can understand that. I totally get that. In my dream next job I get to do a TV show about how wacky and wild what I experience is. The characters that I know, my friends, the stuff that really happens-- if you think the Elle article was bad or me asking for someone to anonymously return the crystal that they stole from us, if you think that’s bad, you should see what’s really going on. That’s just the tip of the iceberg. I live a very different lifestyle and my friends live a very different lifestyle. The things that we talk about are just way out there.”

She does say that she thinks there is a more loving way to be humorous, but then adds, “for me-- other people can do what they want.”

“I get all types of reactions. I get hate,” which, she hesitates to call hate, “but I get just as much love. I get more people that write to me and say, ‘Thank you so much, I felt lost and confused and knowing that you’re out there and doing similar things is comforting.’”

“My favorite is when I get teenagers that come out and see a different version of a female and how I explore my femininity. I think it’s different than an actress, a model, someone selling perfume.” She's referring to concepts like growing old with grace and a more holistic approach to beauty. 

She knows that "the movement" is polarizing, but that “it takes a while for people to figure out if it’s a path they’re interested in.” She also agrees that ”it’s a lot easier to figure out if it’s a path you’re interested in if you have expendable income.” 14 servings of Beauty Dust, for instance, cost $30, a bigger jar costs $65.

However she encourages people to look at what they’re spending money on. “If you do want to make changes, maybe you need to reconsider the kind of coffee you buy or the car you’re leasing. Or reconsider how often you need to buy seasonal fashion items or get your nails done. Or rather than getting your hair dyed or highlighted in a certain way, you could focus on something that would grow your hair.” Chantal Bacon lets her grays fly. 

“It’s re-examining what you want to choose to invest in,” she says, asking, “Why do we feel comfortable investing so much money in automobiles, premium gasoline and car washes, but OK with putting our bodies second to that? There is a disassociation we have with our bodies.”

“Why do we feel comfortable investing so much money in automobiles, but OK with putting our bodies second to that?”

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“And I do challenge people to do some price comparison,” she says of Moon Juice's often lambasted pricing.  

As for the pushback, it's par for the course. “I think I am a figurehead to a movement that is rapidly emerging. When there is something that’s different, it challenges people and whenever there is a moment when you look at someone and can’t see yourself completely in them, it’s uncomfortable." 

Yes, she burns Palo Santo. She rarely wears makeup. She rocks her grays and she eats foods that most of us can't pronounce (rehmannia and schisandra), but whatever your incense preference might be, getting incensed over it is not the Moon Juice way. It's about asking, “Does this make you feel good about yourself in a long-term sort of way? Not, does this make you feel good about yourself for five minutes when you look in the mirror or for a month of your life where you stay on top of a practice that feels sustainable for a moment."

It's about feeling, "nourished and healthy. On a soul level, asking, is this good for your soul?”

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Meet 8 Young Entrepreneurs That Are Bootstrapping Their Businesses

Sky's the limit when you follow your passion. 

Jessica Hamel, FROST’D. Photo by: Josh Vertucci

“Every entrepreneur has the same struggles. It's so hard, but so rewarding and addicting. I don't care anymore that I don't have a life. People are so inspired by it. They see the headway you are making even when you’re not feeling particularly successful. “

-Kaitlin Mogentale, Pulp Pantry

When I set out to interview female entrepreneurs ‘following their passion,’ I thought it would be a fun way to release some creative steam on a topic I am both passionate about and emotionally connected to. However, over the past few months, it quickly transformed into a kind of therapy for me. As an entrepreneur, I’ve always loved to hear the stories of the journeys of successful entrepreneurs. But, to be honest, a lot of the time they left me a bit disheartened. You see, being an entrepreneur is lonely. You’re constantly in a state of up and down and there aren’t many people who understand what you’re feeling. The entrepreneur stories you often hear are so often far from the trenches you are in. That is, unless you surround yourself with other entrepreneurs who are in the new business trenches -- just like you.

Over the past few months, I had the opportunity to listen to the stories (and commiserate with) a handful of amazing female entrepreneurs who have followed their passion and created, and importantly, mostly bootstrapped, their own businesses. I’ve learned a lot during these interviews, but there are a few quotes that keep coming to mind as I wind through my own entrepreneurial journey.

Ginna Ellis, Boulder Acusport. Photo by: Josh Vertucci

“I'm not just following my passion blindly. I've put the work in. At the end of the day, I was just taking this big leap and hoping to God that it would work out.”

-Ginna Ellis, Boulder AcuSport

It’s the classic curse of social media. Every entrepreneur looks like they’re without a care in the world, but here’s the truth: following your passion isn’t glamorous and sometimes it can be downright ugly. The most important thing to remember is that no one is an overnight success. In fact, I believe, the notion of an ‘overnight success’ is a complete myth. ‘Following your passion’ means having the passion to work hard in hopes that something will come out of it. It could be one year, but it could also very well be ten years.

"‘Following your passion’ could be one year, but it could also very well be ten years."

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Shauna Lott, The Long I Pie Shop. Photo by Josh Vertucci

“That's where the tears come. When you own your own business, you are working with your own money and your own debt.”

-Shauna Lott, The Long I Pie Shop

As an entrepreneur, particularly one who is self-funding their business, you have the weight of the world on your shoulders. It’s always good to realize and remember it’s not easy for anyone, but we’re entrepreneurs and we love a good challenge. Right? There were so many moments during these interviews that the women were completely open and honest about their struggles. However, I found that you have to find things that balance out those points of difficulty to survive. Some top tips: find help with certain aspects of the business you are just not good at, focus on what reignites your passion time and time again when things get rough, but most important, hustle through and have faith something amazing is just around the corner.

Jainee Dial, Lindsey Elliott & Gina Peters, Wylder Goods. Photo by: Josh Vertucc

“If we can’t cultivate those values of self-care and mindfulness in ourselves, how can we possibly weave that into our business and the people who will eventually become a part of our community. It’s imperative that we walk our talk. Presence is not easy.”

-Jainee DialWylder Goods

Time and time again, self-care was brought up by the featured females. It’s one of the most essential tools for an entrepreneur, as well as one of the most neglected. There is always something to be done and, most of the time, if you’re not doing it, it’s not being done. It’s incredibly hard to step away, but so important to realize that when you do step away you’re able bring a lot more back to the table. For me, ultra-running has always been how I decompress. On the trail is where some of my best ideas are created for the business. You need to step away, to be fully there.

Kaitlin Mogentale, Pulp Pantry. Photo by: Josh Vertucci

"I read once that if you have 1,000 true fans, that's all you need to survive as an artist."

-Kaitlin Mogentale, Pulp Pantry

This quote from Kaitlin Mogentale really struck a chord with me. Getting a bit more personal here, quickly after starting FROST’D., and after countless coffee chat with mentors, I got swept up in this notion that I needed to grow my business as quickly as possible if I had any chance at success. To do that, though, it would’ve meant sucking a lot of what I envisioned for the company right out and that’s exactly what began to happen. After a bit of reflection, I realized I needed to let go of this immense dream a little bit, to focus on the present and create the company that I was passionate about.

Kaitlin Mogentale, Pulp Pantry. Photo by: Josh Vertucci

"Follow your gut. One thing I learned through this process is that I was always second guessing myself. If your heart is saying one thing, just go and do it. Don’t put effort somewhere else.”

-Ashlae Warner, Oh, Ladycakes!

Don’t waste your time. If you have an idea or a passion you want to turn into something more, do it. The idea of FROST’D. haunted me for years. I knew I would never be satisfied if I didn’t give it a try. So, do it. Don’t be afraid of failure, because saying you tried is success enough.

Read the rest of each interview at http://www.followyourpassionproject.com/ and stay tuned as we release two more parts over the next few weeks.

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Hey Lauren: Can You #Hustle Your Way to Happy

The positive psychology movement wants to improve normal lives.

"Hey, Lauren" is our new bi-monthly column from licensed psychologist Dr. Lauren Hazzouri.  Dr. Hazzouri is a TV show host and founder at Hazzouri Psychology, where she’s carved out a successful niche treating women who are psychologically healthy—but trying hard and not getting satisfaction in various aspects of their lives. Through her life experience and training, Lauren’s developed a program that allows women to live meaningful lives and feel fulfilled doing it. Lauren is founder of HeyLauren.com, a project for women, where she provides evidence-based insights on job stress, relationship woes and everything in between. 

photo credit: Moriah Ziman Photography 

To submit questions to Lauren follow the prompt at the bottom of the article. She'll be responding to your needs every month! In her first post, Hey Lauren addresses the issue of "the hustle."

FOR DECADES, psychology focused on ill-being—providing scientifically-driven treatments to help miserable people be less miserable. More recently, the positive psychology movement set out to determine how to improve normal lives. Much research has been done to answer the ultimate question: What makes us happy? Everyday I have women (just like you!) trying super hard and not getting any satisfaction, rolling with the 'Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop' mentality and coming into my office saying, “I just want to be happy!” The problem is NOT that no one is talking about happiness—an Amazon search for books on happiness results in 22,083 differing opinions and tips, and to date, there have been 544 ideas worth spreading about happiness at TED. The problem is that no one seems able to define the word happiness. Happiness is defined by Merriam-Webster as the state of being happy. I don’t know about you, but one of the first things I learned in Fourth grade vocabulary class is that it’s not acceptable to define a word, using that word or any variation of that word in the definition. The only students, who tried to get away with that were those who hadn’t studied the vocab list. 

"No one seems able to define the word happiness."

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In this case, it’s not that simple. Happiness is hard to objectively define. I remember (back in my doctoral training days when I studied happiness) having to split the happiness variable into positive and negative affect ( mood) and life satisfaction. The problem— and, I’m sure you’ll agree!— is that you can have a ton of positive feelings, like your life a whole lot and yet, not feel blissfully happy. Many times, the missing factor is that we still don’t like ourselves!

It’s been said that the key to happiness is healthy self-esteem. People often confuse confidence and self-esteem. While correlated, they’re not one in the same. You can be confident in many areas—your skill-sets, your appearance, your ability as a tennis player—and still have very low self-esteem. Confidence is a feeling of self-assurance that arises from appreciation of one’s own abilities or qualities, while self-esteem is confidence in one’s own worth or value. In an attempt to feel good about ourselves, we often improve our tennis game, lose those five extra pounds, or #Hustle, #Hustle, #Hustle. While good for a confidence boost, there are many champion tennis players and experts in their respective fields, who’s self-esteem remains very low. However, confidence and self esteem are correlated, and self-esteem and happiness are correlated, too. 

Recent literature points to three levels of happiness. There’s The Pleasant Life—a life filled with fun and positive experiences; The Good Life—the life of one, who’s identified her signature strengths and uses them to access Flow; And, The Meaningful Life— the life of one, who uses her strengths and abilities to make a contribution to the bigger picture, the world. It’s said that people who live The Good Life and/or The Meaningful Life are happier than The Pleasant Life livers, but the whole is greater than the sum of it’s parts. Adding pleasant experiences and fun to the other two seemingly renders the best results. I know, shocking!

Here’s the deal— We can use this insight to make our #Hustle work for us, rather than against us! Get off the proverbial hamster wheel and #Hustle to use your signature strengths ( areas in which you have high confidence levels) to live The Good Life, losing yourself in Flow. This way, working hard can feel good! If you’re lucky, you’ll discover that those same strengths can be used to make the world (—even your community) a better place to live The Meaningful Life. The best part—doing so will allow you to feel your worth and value, and in turn, increase self-esteem.  

"Get off the proverbial hamster wheel and #Hustle to use your signature strengths to live The Good Life."

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In the words of Gloria Steinem, “Self-esteem isn’t everything; it’s just that there’s nothing without it.” Apparently, not even happiness! So, let’s get started. 

IDENTIFY YOUR SIGNATURE STRENGTHS 

Take this brief survey at authentichappiness.com! Knowing your individual strengths is the most important part. 

PRACTICE FLOW 

Flow, a term coined by Mihály Csíkszentmihályi, is the result of being so engaged in an activity that your awareness of time disappears, and you are almost one with what you are doing. I’m sure you’ve heard an artist talk about losing herself in her art. She’s describing flow. To achieve flow, you need to be able to do three things: engage for an ample amount of time on one task, focus wholeheartedly and with intensity, and finish the task to completion. Ready, set, flow!

GIVE BACK 

The trick to fulfillment is to make the shift from self-centered to others-centered. Use your strengths to get outside yourself and do things in your community to make your world a better place. Remember, giving back is an integral part of your personal growth and development, and the bonus is that you’re doing great things. 

HAVE FUN!

Take breaks and get social. In reality, we are social beings having a human experience, not visa versa. When we spend too much time mastering our craft, we get a little bit squirrelly! Have pleasant conversations. See amazing places. Do fun things. For this one, think — You only live once!

With a commitment to honing your #Hustle toward the life you deserve ( —which at times means to #AntiHustle!) and have fun, too, you might be the one to finally define happiness for us all. 

###

Dr. Lauren’s on a mission to bring psychology to the public. She contributes to a variety of online publications, provides candid talks to women’s organizations across the country, and was recently cited in Forbes. Lauren’s next appearance is on September 9, when she will deliver a Ted Talk entitled Life Works. Her talk is said to highlight various aspects of the book she’s currently writing on “how to do the human-being thing really well.” 

Dr. Lauren is the 2016 recipient of The Psychology in the Media Award from The Pennsylvania Psychological Association and is a member of The American Psychological Association. For more from Lauren, visit @dr_lauren  and sign up for her weekly newsletter at HeyLauren.com.

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It's National Ice Cream Day! Meet the Woman Who's Changing the Ice Cream Biz One Flavor at a Time

"You get really, really tough blazing the path through the forest." 

Photo Credit: Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams

Founder of Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams, Jeni Britton Bauer, says that if her business was a flavor it would be Dark Chocolate: "Complex and game-changing, hard to replicate."

With over two decades dedicated to the scoop game, Jeni knows a thing or two about packing a pint, but hitting the sweet spot didn't come easy. There were learning curves, major lessons and hard, trailblazing work. 

We checked in with Jeni who shared about ups, downs, her entrepreneurial vs. business spirit (yes, there is a difference), and which pint she would choose to eat fooooreevvver. 

Can you tell us a little about your background and how you got into the scoop business? 

I grew up wanting to be an entrepreneur. My grandmother is an art teacher and because of her, I learned to constantly create and make things. Yet, we have two very different views on how to best craft an item. As an artist, she never wants to make the same thing twice, but I relish in it. When I hit upon something I love, I want to replicate, build a process and perfect the item until it’s flawless. And as a child, I started more businesses than I could count. So, it was inevitable that I would find something that I loved to make and run with it. I studied Art and Art History at The Ohio State University. I was also interested in pastry-making and working for a French bakery. I very seriously considered switching over to perfuming. I have always been led by my sense of smell so I wanted to go to Grasse, France and become a nose or find a way to incorporate scent into art.

One day I had the idea to use ice cream to carry scent, and that moment changed my life. It was precisely where all of my interests intersected and I knew in an instant that American ice cream could get a lot better and more interesting. So I set sail -- and the rest is a crazy ass history of ups and downs and hustle like nobody's beeswax. 

Ups and downs. You were living out of your car during the first months of operating your first ice cream stand, Scream. You’ve come a long way. What’s some advice you have for a scrappy entrepreneurial spirits?

I'm an adventurer. I wasn't bothered a bit by living out of my car or hustling. I have so much energy and excitement for what's possible and very very few resources to make it happen -- I have found that my hands, feet, brain, and friends have been my greatest resource. 

Every entrepreneur has a very different experience, but one thing is always true: you get a wacky idea that becomes a vision and then you start working toward that vision and never quit. No matter what. Entrepreneurship can be extraordinarily isolating; the better your idea is, the more people will be repelled by it. When I started, no one wanted spicy ice cream, or flower petal or herb ice cream. It’s about getting help from anyone you can and proving yourself over time. You are the only one who will champion your idea, and in some ways, that never ends. It's always about seeking great people to help. And to do that, you have to get really fucking good at what you do. You have to earn your teammates because they make all the difference. 

"Entrepreneurship can be extraordinarily isolating; the better your idea is, the more people will be repelled."

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Interior St. Louis location. Photo Credit: Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams

What kind of learning curve did you experience between opening shop number 2 and shop number 10? [Ed note: there are currently 23 scoop shops.]

Suuuuuch a huge learning curve.  But again, it's about my teammates. They would never take on something they can't knock out of the park - give or take a few snafus. We always push ourselves to try something new in each store and we learn from that experience. 

We must get used to seeing great companies embarking on controlled growth. It's impossible to survive and truly build demand for the ingredients we want or build a safe and secure community of jobs without the resources to sustain it. The 21st century is very different from the 20th century, where we saw great little companies explode and just go downhill. It's not only possible to grow and get better, it should be expected. We look up to trailblazing companies like Patagonia for this reason. We will get better as we grow, not the other way around.

"We will get better as we grow, not the other way around."

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Is every pint still hand packed? How do you scale and business while remaining committed to local and quality?

We haven't hand packed every pint for a long time. And we determined that it’s no longer a safe way to pack pints, by our safety standards. It took us a long time to figure out how to get our ice cream to work on a pint packing machine because our ice cream is more viscous than others as it comes out of the ice cream machine.

We're building our company as a community of people and many are not local to our kitchen. We work with a 5th generation peach farm in Georgia, a vanilla farm in Uganda, and various makers and producers locally, nationally, regionally and internationally. We believe in each other and we believe that by coming together we make better ice cream. That’s how we’ve approached it from day one.

Quality is a choice every company makes every single day. And it begins with your values. There is no reason a company can't grow and maintain quality, but we also know that as we grow we can actually improve quality from the perspective of ingredients, molecular science, safety and direct partnerships. In many ways it’s the only argument for growth at all. Scale is important in ice cream unlike some other food products. You can't even begin to impact dairy quality unless you have scale to support it - which is why we love Ohio so much. But the same is true of direct trade vanilla or fair trade cocoa. We can all order ingredients from a catalog, but we want to be more than that. 

"Quality is a choice every company makes every single day. And it begins with your values."

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You’ve talked about the difference between entrepreneurs and business people. Have you grown to understand and be more interested in the business side of things? 

The short answer is no. I retain too much “artist” in my heart. In fact, I have less and less interest in the business stuff as I learn more about it. I like to create experiences, and to do that I need resources and a great team. That's what motivates me. The older I get the more comfortable I am in admitting that. 

Exterior Westside Provisions, Atlanta. Photo Credit: Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams

"I have less and less interest in the business stuff as I learn more about it. I like to create experiences."

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The long answer is yes. I am inspired by my teammates who are so flipping brilliant at everything from leadership and org stuff, HR, R+D, Art and Design, and our finance team kills me—some of the most creative people I know. They find stories where I see a paper full of digits. 

The truth is that I have so much belief and trust in these people and our talents work really really well together. I have the luxury of being able to purposefully remain blind to many business details. Not to say that I don't keep up, I absolutely do, I just keep my head very squarely on creating the best ice creams I can imagine and making great places to eat them in, but always with great reverence for the resources we've built and how to do the most with them. 

What are some lessons you’ve learned about rapid growth?

We have 23 stores. I've been at this for 21 years (I have had two ice cream businesses). Jeni's is almost 15 years old. We've stepped out our growth. As we get more great people and knowledge and dairy we apply it. Every single day is challenging in business. That's what makes it fun. 

Still, if you want to do something new it's often difficult to know how to do it. You can hire the top consultants in the world and you'll still fuck up somehow. You get really really tough blazing the path through the forest. 

----And you make it a lot easier for the copycats who benefit from your blood, sweat and tears. 

Scoop pros. Photo Credit: Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams

If you had to eat one of your pints from now until forever, which would you choose? 

Lemon buttermilk frozen yogurt. It's perfect. And I say that after making it for 20+ years - with tweaks along the way. Perfect texture, body, and flavor. I think this is one of a handful of our flavors that really sets us apart from all others in terms of know-how. Plus, it's so simple: fresh lemon, cultured buttermilk, bio-dynamically raised yogurt, grass-pastured milk and a nice dose of cream. You can't ever tire of it. It would sustain you for forever, too - the right combo of protein, fat, carbs.

OK. Truth: Is the dessert business sweet? What parts are more like veggies? 

The highs are really high. The lows are really low. But they balance each other to become a great adventure. 

But I have a very strict policy: if I'm going to eat ice cream daily (which I do) then I have to balance that with lots of veggies (which I do).

It works the same way. 

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The Female Forbes: Why Moira Forbes Is More Determined Than Ever

"If you can't see it, you can't be it." 

Moira Forbes, EVP of Forbes Media and Publisher of ForbesWoman, has the kind of last name that immediately makes you tilt your head back and raise your eyebrows. Forbes. Yes. Heard of it. 

Moira Forbes, journalist and knowledge seeker, makes you tilt your head to the side and listen intently as she speaks, curious as to what knowledge nugget she’ll drop next. 

Growing up in one of the most powerful and influential families in publishing, Moira is one of five daughters of Steve Forbes, current Editor-in-Chief of the publication, and Sabina Beekman. Her great-grandfather B. C. Forbes founded the media company, releasing the first issue in September 1917. The inaugural 52 pages featured the business of “Doers and Doings,” as well as a section called “Women in Business.” This might not seem revolutionary now, but it would be three more years before the 19th Amendment was ratified, granting women the right to vote. “My great-grandfather,” says Moira, “was interested in telling great stories in business. The huge successes and the big misses,” regardless of gender. The core mission of the media company “has remained the same,” she says, and is an exploration of humanity that captured her attention as a young girl. 

On Moira’s ninth birthday, her grandfather gave her a leather briefcase, which she filled with any office supplies she could get her hands on and lots of pens. The same year, her father bought her a name plaque for her desk. “I loved playing office. Office and store were my two favorite things. I loved interviewing people growing up. We’d play newspaper. It was a natural interaction and curiosity.” She was always interviewing family members, asking questions, questing after the story. 

At the moment that story is ForbesWoman. The platform launched in 2008. ‘It was a time in our business,” she says, “where we were really looking for growth and opportunity, and looking for a deeper commitment to audiences that are important to Forbes.” She believes that the content in the magazine is just as relevant to women as it is to men, however, “we felt the opportunity to go a level deeper and engage with the community about the unique dynamics of women in business.” 

The focus of ForbesWoman is on female entrepreneurship and sharing stories from female movers and shakers (AKA the doers), in an environment that offers practical advice, and creates “a community of women who are striking out on their own, making unconventional decisions, and looking to see how others are charting their course.” 

Moira was directly involved in this decision, calling it a passion of hers. After looking around the media landscape and not finding content that she wanted -- from career to leadership to more soft story elements around lifestyle, she narrowed in. “There was a void of content that we felt was authentic to our brand and that our audience was eager to consume.” 

***

“It is a very exciting time for those who didn’t have a voice before,” Moira says.

Digital has created an extraordinary path for women to contribute in the business world. Entrepreneurship is on the rise for women. There is more access than ever. A sea change for women professionally, socially, and politically, came with the Democratic nomination of Hilary Clinton for president. 

“When you see women reach the highest levels of power,” she explains, noting that the person in the White House is the most influential person on the planet, “and they’re at the helm of the most powerful nation in the world, that’s a very powerful sentiment. If you can’t see it, you can’t be it.”

“If you can’t see it, you can’t be it.”

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It’s an incontrovertible notion. “As women continue to break through these last glass ceilings, it makes for a powerful statement that these opportunities are possible.” She makes quite clear that change will never be quick or easy, but it is nonetheless important. If digital is a fast-paced, quick animal (content is fast, stories are 140 characters) change is its tail, dragging behind. There are two ways to view this. Frustrating sure, specifically in a nation that Moira says, “prides itself on opportunity and access.” But no change or success has ever come without setback and failure. Opportunity knocks often on the heel of disappointment, it’s simply unfortunate that some of us are too busy wailing to hear the call.

“I think change is slow,” she says, “because the business ecosystem is much larger than just female entrepreneurs. You look at access to capital-- that remains a huge challenge. You look at opportunities that influence policy and government that are inextricably linked to business, which are still areas where women don’t have the same level of representation.” 

Ecosystems and sectors outside of business are also still in the midst of giant shifts. They are all parts of the massive, slow moving machine that is equal representation, though as the parts become better oiled, there will be less friction, more motion. “It’s very hard to steer those parts in a different direction,” she says, “so you do have to work to drive change in all the different sectors and realize that it isn’t as simple as we portray it to be. There isn’t a CEO who is saying ‘I don’t want more diverse boards,’ or ‘I don’t want more women at the table,’ but how you do that and how you go about that change can be difficult for a variety of different reasons.”

She lists a few including: socioeconomic, political, cultural -- particularly issues with unconscious bias. “Something,” she notes, “that each of us holds, but are those small things that can have big repercussions.” She thinks it’s positive that culture can change faster than ever before -- social media and the shifting idea around influence and power certainly being precipitant factors, but creating what she calls lasting change and gender parity, even with “the greatest enthusiasm, effort and commitment, will take time.”

“Lasting change and gender parity, even with the greatest enthusiasm, effort and commitment, will take time.”

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In a way, lasting change is like piecing together a good story: the parts come together in bits, you work for them, seek them out, and sometimes you get hung up on or ghosted, but for the sake of the story, you never give up. The is the crux of where Moira finds her own calling: the hard parts and the “curveballs you’d never expect.” 

“Understanding the stories of how people keep moving forward, what inspires them to continue to act and gives them a sense of mission, day in and day out, to fight the fight when many people would throw up their hands and say it’s just not worth it,” that’s what she wants to share.

So what is a reasonable timeline for the current fight toward gender parity? Even with the potential of a female POTUS, she says that even in the next 3-5 years there will not be true 50/50 representation. 

This isn’t single-file success, but not everyone can get through an open door at the same time. A front door opens to a small hallway, a hallway leads into a dining room, and slowly more people gather at the table. “We need to create great pipelines for talent, understand how to identify and source great talent,” she says. It’s also vital to acknowledge that while we’re talking about women starting occupy the highest positions in a company, not that many positions are open; turnover at the top is slower. “We spend a lot of time,” she says, “talking about corporate boards and public companies and needing women on these boards, which is very important, but the flip side is that there are only 100-120 of those spots that open up each year. I think we have to be ambitious with our goals and be realistic about what are the challenges and opportunities to get there.” 

Noting, “You can’t hit fast-forward on experience but the next best thing is to learn from the experience of others.” She sees ForbesWoman as the storyteller, sourcing and sharing the relevant content with an audience that can thrive on the information parlayed. And she wants “to be able to scale and amplify these great stories, to inspire people to act, and think differently.”

The content she is most interested in is comeback stories. “When we talk about success we talk about it as a destination and think about the heroes of entrepreneurship and business. We think about the context of where they are now,” she says, “but no great success or achievement occurred without setbacks and failure along the way.” This was a mission of her great-grandfather from the beginning, who penned the following words in that first September issue:

“The most notable winners usually encountered heartbreaking obstacles before they triumphed. They won because they refused to become discouraged by their defeats.”

“No great success or achievement occurred without setbacks and failure along the way.”

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Despite the movement toward gender equality, Moira believes “women still face the challenge of a narrower band of acceptable behavior. You have to walk a much narrower line to communicate confidence in a way that others will be receptive to and not turned off by.”

She says hard work and great work are number one, but women should also pick their heads up and let people know what work they're doing. “Let people know what your ambitions and aspirations are,” she says. 

It’s impossible to have this conversation without mentioning Hillary Clinton again, a case study of both an ambitious, unapologetic woman who has broken through one of the final glass ceilings, who has also been subject to immense criticism of that unabashed determination. “Women are still subject to [biases],” Moira says. “There is a crisis of confidence sometimes where [women] feel badly and ashamed of that and want to hide.” She adds, “I’ve never met a man who has impostor syndrome.” 

Irrespective of party politics, she celebrates Clinton’s achievements and nomination as “a historic moment in this country. You have to recognize that and celebrate whether you support Hillary Clinton or not.”

The sense of possibility is great. “The fact that we haven’t seen a female president in our lifetime, yet -- you can’t underestimate the power of those cultural messages. You need to have the role models of what’s possible because then it’s no longer questioned.”

“You need to have the role models of what’s possible because then it’s no longer questioned.”

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She brings up the Roger Bannister effect. “For hundreds of years they said no one could break the four-minute mile. It was always said it was impossible and there were articles written that you would die. Roger Bannister broke the four-minute mile and then within months of that five more people did. It’s a great reminder that when the impossible is made possible the powerful effect that has.” 

We ask what she would have in her leather briefcase today. She laughs. “Nothing. It’s all on my phone. Shows how times have changed.”

Yes, times have changed, but the Forbes commitment to its roots has not. “We’ve always been rooted in telling the story, empowering our audience to not only achieve success in business but achieve success in life. That has been our core, fundamental guiding principle, so how we tell that story and the way we tell that story-- the platform may change but the core mission has remained the same,” she says. 

And that is hardly nothing. 

Arianna Schioldager is editorial director of Create & Cultivate.

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Boobs and Business: Why the Great Breastfeeding Debate Isn't a Debate At All

What it means to the newest crop of young female professionals in the workforce.

photo credit: El Camino Travel 

In this post we hear both from media intern Briana Pearl (who is also a mom) and CEO of El Camino Travel, Katalina Mayorga (who is not) on the subject of breastfeeding in the workplace and what it means to the work environment for the newest crop of young female professionals in the workforce. 

BRIANA'S PERSPECTIVE

When my son turned two weeks old, I decided it was the perfect time to start an internship with El Camino.

Actually, it went like this: I’d been excited about the possibility of working for El Camino for several months. I was already taking time off from the long days and heavy equipment involved in running my videography business. I learned from my first kid that having an outlet for creativity and problem-solving during the bleary, blissful early days with a newborn is key for me to maintain my sanity and my identity outside of “mom.” So when the opportunity to work part time from home for El Camino arrived, I took it.

"Having an outlet for creativity and problem-solving during the bleary, blissful early days with a newborn is key."

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Since January, I’ve been completing my tasks for El Camino during the holes in my schedule. When baby is awake at 3am, instead of bemoaning the lack of sleep, I’ve enjoyed the snuggle time and the opportunity to review an email. When he sleeps during the day, I write blog posts from my couch. When we hop on Google hangout for a cross-country team meeting, I can stealthily stay in my PJs from the waist down. Much of my time isn’t my own, but I’ve learned how to utilize every precious quiet, alone moment I have. I type at an impressive speed with one hand, and I help projects leap forward when I’ve got ten minutes free. I instantly slide from mom mode or play mode into work mode, and I bring my unique perspective to a team that values new ideas, distinct backgrounds, and a mix of voices. 

During one afternoon filled with El Camino-related phone meetings, my husband/partner-in-child-wrangling peeked into my room with a hungry baby in his arms. I had another hour left of topics to discuss with Katalina. I could either tell Kata I’d have to call her back or make my hungry baby wait it out. 

Work or kids? 

While it might seem like I have to choose one or the other, the answer is: both. I told Katalina I needed a moment to readjust. I flipped our call to speakerphone, moved my laptop to one side to continue taking notes, and started feeding my baby. It wasn’t a big deal.

Breastfeeding so often is an act deemed inappropriate for women out in public just doing their everyday mom thing. Breastfeeding in a professional context is something I haven’t even heard of. I’m grateful that the El Camino work culture embraces my mom status and gives me the space to say something like, “Hey, my kid is hungry. Give me thirty seconds to get him in place, and then we’ll continue brainstorming marketing strategies.”

What would happen if more bosses (and employees!) embraced moms in the professional world as empathetic, power multi-taskers who can accomplish anything in an hour, even if that means a baby must make an occasional appearance? 

I’m a busy, diaper-changing mom. I also possess valuable skills, in spite of my mom status and because of it. Though sometimes the El Camino team and I must bear the momentary interruptions and slight inconveniences that all young children generate, we also get to utilize a partnership that wouldn't have been possible if either of us couldn’t make space for motherhood and professional expertise to coexist.

"I’m a busy, diaper-changing mom. I also possess valuable skills, in spite of my mom status and because of it."

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KATALINA'S PERSPECTIVE

El Camino is an unconventional business environment in several ways. We are small and scrappy, we travel a lot, and we have team members who are located thousands of miles a way. We are a young team that embraces virtual collaboration and does not fully accept the typical 9-5 work schedule as the best schedule that leads to the most productivity. The El Camino office needs not to always be defined by the same set of four walls. One day Joshua Tree may play host to our office or another day Bogota, Colombia. The standard conventions of what is deemed an appropriate work environment is not of interest to us, as it is not of interest to much of our millennial generation. If you are concerned about the the happiness of your employees than you need to take this seriously as an employer. 74% want flexible work schedules and 84% say that helping to make a positive difference in the world is more important than professional recognition. We do not measure our happiness by the same yardstick as our parents’ generation. 

"We do not measure our happiness by the same yardstick as our parents’ generation."

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Furthermore, our team is mainly comprised by a strong squad of millennial female professionals who are also approaching societal norms such as motherhood, relationships, and professionalism with a new lens. Just like male professionals have been able to do for several decades, we are eager to do and “have it all,” but the reality is that most young female professionals are reconsidering motherhood all together because of the lack of organizational support. In fact, only 42 percent of women graduating from the Wharton School of Business in 2012 said they planned to have children, compared to 78 percent in 1992 for these reasons. 

I do not have kids, but we do have team members that are mothers or are planning to have kids in the future. That in no way should hinder their ability to be both the ambitious professionals and good mothers they strive to be. I have had countless discussions with my female friends about the many anxieties connected to these two topics. It should not have to be a choice, it should be a duality that can happily coexist. We are frequently told that it is one or the other and as a women it is hard to balance both. It is a choice we have to deal with that our male counterparts often do not even have to think twice about. 

One clear example of this is with breastfeeding in the work place. 

The story is pretty simple. I was on a call, with Briana our brilliant media intern/resident mama and we had a lot to get through. There was a whimpering baby in the background, and she asked for a few seconds to adjust. Within minutes the baby was on the boob and cooing and sucking away. Though you could hear the baby eating, it didn’t mean we couldn't power through our agenda. It was not a distraction, but instead a natural act that seamlessly fit into the rest of our call. We just needed a few seconds to accommodate and we were immediately back on track.

"Though you could hear the baby eating, it didn’t mean we couldn't power through our agenda."

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Once we hung up, I had a moment of strong feminist pride. A biological need that has unnecessarily become a contentious issue in the workplace really was not a big deal or inconvenience. That phone call provided a peak into what could become the new normal for female professionals and I got excited imagining how much life and work would be easier for so many women if moments like this were more frequently accepted. The reality is that the typical workplace norms are the same that have been around for decades. They are the same norms that have accommodated a workplace that has been dominated by men (and fathers) in leadership positions who have not had to face the same hurdles as working mothers. That face of leadership is clearly changing and with that we need to reconsider and redevelop the constructs of what is considered normal in the workplace. We need to adjust more and more to leadership that has two boobs and sometimes those boobs got to feed a hungry baby whether there is a team meeting or not. 

I am interested in hearing from all of you. As we grow our business, the work environment we are providing all our colleagues is of high importance. As a mother or female professional that would like to have kids, what do you wish was a reality in the your work environment so the choices often made between motherhood and career did not have to seem so stressful? What do you want to see more of? Less of? How can more workplaces empower their employees who are also mothers?  

Katalina is the CEO and founder of El Camino Travel. El Camino was featured in AFAR in their 2015 Vanguard Issue under, "Surprise Is the New Luxury" category, as well as Mashable, the Guardian, Marie Claire and Forbes for their innovative approach to travel. El Camino works closely with local tastemakers to curate off-beat experiences for small groups of people to unique locations. The trips all come with a creative photographer in tow, so that their travelers can thoroughly enjoy their experiences while ensuring that their memories are captured and that they will have great social media content. In addition, a percentage of profits are donated to a local social entrepreneur working to better his or her country.

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Tina Wells Started a Company in Her Teens, Today It's an Award-Winning Agency

How this marketing guru has survived twenty years, with aplomb. 

When you start your company at 16, there’s a decent chance you won't be doing the same thing by the time you graduate high school, let alone two decades later. Yet Tina Wells, founder of Buzz Marketing Group, defied that decent chance and remains CEO, founder and captain of the marketing company she started in her teens.

It wasn’t her intention. She didn’t set out to run a company. Rather, the goal was to be a fashion writer, ideally at a Hearst publication. “Seventeen was the dream,” she says.

“Never in a million years did I think I’d run a company or that twenty years later I’d be doing the same thing.” Like the start of many companies, her foray into marketing came from a place a need. As a fashion and beauty loving teen with five younger siblings she knew her parents weren't going to be able to buy her the newest trends. "My parents," she says, "were working their butts off to get us into private school and I knew I needed to come up with a way to make money. That's all it was. I figured out that I could review product and then wear it." 

It is a resourcefulness that followed her through high school graduation, into college, and helped her grow BuzzMG's buzzSpotters-- a network of trendspotters that was cast to be a research network. It's a group of those in-the-know "and now and always looking around the next corner."  In the beginning the buzzSpotters consisted of Tina and her ten friends.  “I remember when we got to 200 people I thought it was too much," she says. There are now 37,000 people worldwide. "Consumers know what they want and want to be part of the process," she says. “That’s something I recognized as a 16 year old. I knew that if my friends and I wanted to be a part of the process of a company making something for us, then other people had to want it too."

"Consumers know what they want and want to be part of the process."

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It's a thought that has paid off. It was during Tina's freshman year at Hood University when someone said to her, “I just paid someone $25,000 to do market research and what you’ve done is ten times better.”

It was perfect timing. When this conversation occurred Tina was taking an Intro to Business class with the head of the Business Department. She went to visit that professor during office hours and told her what she’d been up to the last two years. That professor told Tina to take independent study with her to figure out how to make it a viable business. She did. “That was the launch pad,” she says. “It wasn’t me saying, ‘I have a great idea for a business,’ rather I was being told I was doing something really interesting that could be a business.”

Today, Buzz Marketing Group is an award-winning media communications agency that focuses on Millennials, moms, and multicultural consumers. They deliver data and strategies that drive the marketing approach for clients. “I’ve been doing this so long,” Tina says, “that back when I started it was youth marketing. There weren’t Millennials and there certainly wasn’t the idea of Millennial marketing.”

"So long," gives Tina and her team a certain edge-- even though the technologic landscape around her has moved seismically. “I still reference the business plan I developed with my professor 18 years ago,” she explains. In addition to running her company Tina is the current Academic Director of Wharton's Leadership in the Business World program and is teaching a summer program based on the principles set forth in that business plan. "The basics of building a business are still the same." she says. Adding, "You still need to answer those ten questions every business owner has to answer." (Check back, we'll be sharing those next week!)  

What has changed are the tools. She jokes that if she had launched her business now she would have scaled in three months “Technology tools empower us to be better at our jobs every day.” It's technology that allows Buzz to survey people in their network better and provide better results for clients. 

“Technology has the ability to do the unbelievable, but my business is built in a very brick-and-mortar way," a foundation she insists has the ability to withstand any tech wave or crunch. "I realized early on build a great business and let the tools empower you. But don’t be so focussed on creating a business for a particular tool."

"Build a great business and let the tools empower you."

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BuzzMG is built in a way that's evergreen-- they are, says Tina, "research first, not creative first, and we're very honest with our clients about that." They develop marketing strategies based on data from consumers of all ages and internally develop original research for the client. "We’ll go to our network of buzzSpotters, conduct an internal survey, and go back to the client with an audit of where their brand is, where it need to be, and what we will do to get to achieve that goal.”

"Because we’re research driven we never go into any situation assuming how a conversation is going to go." It also helps Buzz create campaigns that are likewise evergreen. One of the things Buzz is known for are their lists. They help build the inspiring Levo100 List, which was first released in 2015 and is still being shared today. They worked with American Eagle Outfitters on the aerie beauty and body line, leveraging their proprietary database of influencers to create and educate a curated in-market ambassador program of over 150 ambassadors in every state with an aerie store. Upon re-launch, aerie performed 500% better than projected, generating over $250 million in sales for AE. 

It’s an approach Tina believes (and has the results to prove it) gives her a great advantage because her team is always looking at what the consumer will tell them. "We make decisions by looking at all sides. Culture is changing, it’s moving so quickly-- how we’ve survived for twenty years is by sticking to the solid principles of marketing."

“I never want to get caught in hype.” she says. “There are people who say 'this is dead,' 'that is dead,' 'blogging is dead', 'influencer is dead.' 'No.' I’ve said to clients, 'Print is not dead, bad print is dead.' And it should be."

"Print is not dead, bad print is dead. And it should be."

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“A great brand is always a great brand," she says. "It’s just the tools that change.”

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Women Report Needing Half as Much as Men to Launch Business

So, women can do more with less? Who knew? 

Photo credit: Sarah Natasha 

What could you do with 10k?

If you’re a woman, you could start a business.

According to a report released by U.S. version of the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, an annual survey that tracks entrepreneurial activity worldwide, female entrepreneurs in the U.S. reported needing only half as much as their male counterparts to start a new business. 

In 2015, entrepreneurs needed a median level of $17,500 to start their businesses, and financed 57 percent of funding needs themselves.

Women reported needing half as much funding to start companies as men -- $10,000 and $20,000 respectively -- suggesting that women felt they could accomplish what they needed with fewer resources, or that they simply have fewer resources to apply to their businesses. 

"Women felt they could accomplish what they needed with fewer resources."

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“Globalization, changes in technology, and social awareness have provided an impetus to develop capital flows from diverse sources,” said Babson College Professor of Entrepreneurship Donna Kelley, the GEM Report’s lead author. “Startup activity benefits from widespread recognition of the role entrepreneurship plays in increasing employment and improving the economic health of the nation.”

The findings align with the latest survey on business ownership by the Census Bureau, which found that 42.9 percent of female business owners reported using less than $10,000 to start their ventures, compared with just 38.4 percent of men. The Census report also found that 12.1 percent of men who owned businesses said they needed at least $50,000 to launch their companies, more than double the 5.5 percent of women who reported needing at least that much.

The GEM study also found that nationwide, there are more than 60 percent more men than women entrepreneurs. California and Florida have male rates equal to or greater than the overall U.S. level. New York and Ohio show an equal mix of both men and women engaged in entrepreneurial activities. Texas is close to equal and also has the highest rate of women entrepreneurs. 

So, women can do more with less? And Texas female entrepreneurs are kicking-ass? Good up. 

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Google Finally Introduced These 11 New Much-Needed Emojis

Giving us something to smile about. 

Illustration by Chloe White

Since the dawn of the emoji, we've seen a fairly restrictive approach gender stereotypes. More often than not, we see more male emojis that tend to describe general everyday actions and certain jobs, while female emojis are restricted to reactions, princesses, brides, and even that spicy salsa lady dressed in red (because, truth, sometimes you need to send someone a cha, cha, chaaaa, but sometimes you want to show someone you're cha, cha, ching the boss). 

It’s 2016 - and women are holding down jobs in STEM, the C-Suite, and HRC is running for POTUS. So our digital emoji world was running a little behind up until last week. 

Thanks to Google, women are now represented not only as pretty princess emojis. Earlier this year, Google proposed to Unicode to introduce 11 new emoticons that represented women in diverse work fields to promote gender equality. This week for World Emoji Day, Google announced that they’re coming to life as part of 300 new Google emojis that are being introduced with Unicode.

Sometimes you need to send someone a cha, cha, cha, but sometimes you want to show someone you're cha, cha, ching, the boss. 

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“While there’s a huge range of emoji, there aren’t a lot that highlight the diversity of women’s careers, or empower young girls,” wrote Nicole Bleuel, Marketing Lead & Diversity Champion, Emoji, in a recent blog post. 

The 11 new emoticons include: doctor, policewoman, cook, coders, a female David Bowie-esque rockstar, farmer, mechanic, construction worker, and many more. The only two emojis that did not make the cut: tech line worker and a nurse. 

“We proposed a set of new emoji to the Unicode Technical Committee that represent a wider range of professions for women (as well as men), and reflect the pivotal roles that women play in the world.,” said Google in their announcement on their blog. The new emojis will “make emoji more representative of the millions of people who use them.”

 

However, of course you can’t have progress, even in the emoji world, without a few haters.

“Why don't we get emoji's to represent humans/ mankind? Why women in particular? Then men also need some emojis like father, son etc.,” said one Twitter user in response to the announcement.

“I can't believe you let feminists get to you. Where is our Demi-queer Bi-gender disco pony day????,” said another user

However, the fact that a conglomerate like Google was the first to campaign for more emoji representation of women in diverse work fields speaks volumes to the movement that continues to create equality for women in the workplace in the past century. (Even though there is a whole group of boys who see Anna and Elsa from Frozen as the new superheroes. More on that here.)

If Google, a powerful Silicon Valley-based tech company that is notorious for it’s lack of gender and racial diversity, is calling out for more representation within the world of tech itself, it's a step we can throw some love at. (Include all happy emojis here.) And it's a move that will hopefully influence the rest of Silicon Valley to recognize women for tech jobs.

We commend you Google, and we thank you. Because finally, we can show via text that we’re businesswomen, and we don’t have to substitute with a male emoji. Heart. Smiley. Thumbs up.  

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Food Intentions: How Sarah Michelle Gellar Went From Hwood to Foodie

The co-founders of Foodstirs are sharing the business of baking. 

Food is one powerful force. It's tied to memory. It's hands-on. And it connects people. It's something 1/3 of the Foodstirs co-founders Galit Lebow knows well. "I remember the homemade cinnamon raisin kugel that grandmother would make for us on special holidays," she says. "I remember running into the house and we knew grandma was over. She passed away last year and it’s one of my goals to learn how to make it! I miss the smell." 

The other 2/3 of the e-commerce baking company that delivers creative baking kits and mixing to your home are Sarah Michelle Gellar and Gia Russo.  

Each woman brings something different to the table of the company that is "reinventing the baking category" and "intends to give consumers an opportunity to be creative and share their experience." We caught up with Foodstirs to talk all things baking and business in anticipation of #CreateCultivateATL where all three will be keynoting in conversation with Self magazine's entertainment director Rebecca Sinn. 

Founders and CEOs often talk about the “problem” their company will solve. What “problem” is Foodstirs trying to solve? 

Foodstirs is reinventing the baking category. We are offering a clean and green better tasting baking experience that is high quality, tastes amazing, and most importantly is accessible. There is nothing in the marketplace like us that exists right now. We see a huge opportunity to revolutionize the baking aisle and re-traditionalize home baking. 

Moreover what is the ‘why’ of your brand?  

Most of us are consumed by our digital devices, we're always on and always connected. Yet somehow because of this we often feel disconnected with our loved ones. We are so busy in our everyday lives that we are doing more but experiencing less. We wanted to create a product that gives you that time to spend with your family and friends - connecting, sharing and experiencing. We believe the act of preparing and enjoying food together has incredible power. Foodstirs allows us to connect effortlessly and create meaningful memories. 

You were part of Mucker Lab, an accelerator based in Santa Monica. We’ve talked to female entrepreneurs before about the benefits of being in an accelerator. What was your experience? 

We have had a great experience. We knew we wanted to launch an e-commerce site with a subscription component  but we did not have a tech background. We decided to surround ourselves with e-commerce advisors and investors that could help. Our good friend  of ours had been part of Mucker accelerator and recommended we take a meeting. We have a ton of respect for the founders of Mucker capital, Erik Ranalla & Will Hsu. They are smart investors who saw a unique opportunity that was a little out of their wheelhouse. They took a chance on 3 female entrepreneurs with an idea for a baking brand and we will be forever grateful for their early support. They have been super helpful to our business by offering resources, advice and mentorship. We have also met fellow start up founders in the program who are very collaborative. It’s a fun environment. 

Why was it the right decision for Foodstirs? 

We had big ideas and a big plan that involved an e-commerce subscription business that none of us had experience in. We believed that an accelerator would help guide us through the initial start up process and get us focused on the right things. We have been able to gain access to a network of amazing entrepreneurs and executives who we have built great relationships and have helped us execute more effectively. 

"There is nothing in the marketplace like us that exists right now."

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Have you heard of the Rule of Three? It’s a concept in writing that says things that are presented in threes are more interesting, enjoyable, and memorable. Any thoughts on this as it pertains to having three founders? 

We all have different strengths that compliment each other. Galit is the operator and visionary, Gia is the product innovator, and Sarah is our brand ambassador and creative officer. We share the same vision and passion. We sometimes agree to disagree but that's what makes it special. We respect each other. I have the best job in the world because we get to work with my close friends. 

For female founders looking to raise capital, when you walk into a room of investors what are you thinking? How would you say your first meeting went compared to a later one? 

Well first, we usually walk into a room of all male investors and we are 3 females selling a baking mix company. We knew it was going to be a challenge to sell them on this vision but luckily we have found amazing investors who believe in what we are doing and see the opportunity to disrupt a sleepy category. Sarah and I had our first investor meeting at a coffee house back in March and it was a disaster. We didn’t really know what to expect and probably weren’t as prepared as we should have been but it was a great lesson. We keep in contact with the investment fund and recently got a second chance to pitch them as we are currently in the process of raising another round. It was a much better presentation and we all laugh about it now.

With Sarah as the brand ambassador what challenges are you facing? People assume having a celebrity as the face of a company makes it easier, but in what ways is this not the case? 

Having a celebrity as part of the start up comes with great advantages but also challenges. We have found that people sometimes don’t believe that Sarah is as involved in the day-to-day. She actually does come into the office everyday and even answers customer service calls. We are focused on producing the highest quality product and best experience. We take pride in what we have created and having an amazing partner who is also a celebrity allows us to amplify our message and get our story out there. 

I’m pretty useless in the kitchen, but have a three-year-old and would love to bake with her. Why does Foodstirs make sense for me? Why does it make sense for her? 

We created Foodstirs to make it simple and convenient for the modern parent to create a traditional home baking experience with their families and friends.  We were inspired by our children and longing for a product that’s high quality made up of simple and delicious ingredients that allows us to spend quality time with family. Our mixes and baking kits are less than 6 easy steps - we call it quick scratch baking.  

Among the three, who is the best chef? Who is the worst? 

Gia is definitely the best chef, she grew up in an Italian household. She has also written three cookbooks! We go to her house when we want an amazing homemade meal. 

What is a meaningful experience you each remember in the kitchen?

Galit: I have three sisters and both my pretend worked full time. We did not spend a lot of time in the kitchen, although we had dinner as a family every night. We had this amazing recipe for a sugar cookie with homemade frosting. Every Valentine’s Day we would make these cookies together - it was one of the few times we did not fight, we just had fun! We would frost, decorate and share them with the neighborhood. They were the best tasting cookies and more importantly, the inspiration for our amazing organic sugar cookie mix and frosting. Now I get to make it with my kids every weekend! 

Why do you think there is such a tie between food and good memories? 

Food just brings people together - it makes us happy. Everyone has a memory of favorite dish or recipe from when they were young.  We hope to provide a product that gives you that opportunity to easily create your own food memories with your family and friends. 

Why do each of you want to be a part of Create & Cultivate? 

We believe in the power of collaboration and creativity. We believe that creativity leads to innovation. It’s important as women business leaders that we support each other and learn from each other.  Our website has tons of recipe inspiration using our base mixes and we encourage our Foodstirs community to share their own. We love looking at the thousands of social posts of customers sharing their creations.

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How Virtue-Based Messaging Is Setting This Company Apart

A desire to be good, might be good for business too. 

Karolyn Stayer worked for beauty brand philosophy for over 10 years. During that time, as a working mom handling the complicated balance of kids and career, she knew that bath time was special. "When I was working full-time crazy hours at philosophy, the time I arrived home was usually about the time the kiddos were headed to the bath. Bath time became our connection point each night," she says. 

Now that her kids are 10 and 7, she says they still prefer a "nice warm bubbly bath over a shower," and that she still sits on the side of the tub, talking to them about their day, asking "What was a rose, what was a thorn?" She says it's also the time they chat about the values printed on the side of be good bottles. 

be good is Karolyn's first entrepreneurial venture, started in 2014. It is "a socially conscious, next generation for this generation, personal care company." Born from Karolyn's desire to create something of her own as well as "the need to create clean, safe, virtue-based products," the company focusses on messaging like "be good," "be honest," and "be polite."  

We talked with the entrepreneur about first ventures, hearing more "no" than "yes," and why be good's virtue-based messaging is its point of differentiation. 

You did marketing and development for "one of the most beloved brands in cosmetics" for 10+ years, and were then inspired to create be good based on your experience. What would you say was the trigger that made you go the entrepreneurial route?

My desire to express my own creative ideas coupled with my desire for more flexibility in my schedule that allowed me to be there for my children was a huge motivation for me. Philosophy was created and built by one of the smartest, most amazing women I know who is very much a mentor to me. I loved the brand and culture she created. She inspired me. I figured if she could do, I could do it, and she has always been so supportive of me and be good.  I think I’ve always had the desire to create something on my own. My dad and brothers have their own business and I think it’s in the blood. Ultimately I’d love to see be good grow into a brand that gives back in meaningful ways and fosters a corporate environment for women where they can  thrive professionally while balancing home life. I believe it is possible!!

How did you go from idea to product? How involved were you in the testing phase?

Once you’ve got the idea, the first piece of advice I received was to protect it. I had the name and the idea for years before I was ever in a situation where I could actually move into development. There was a lot of sketching on pads of paper, coming up with names, color palette, product assortment. I did a lot of consumer research with my mommy friends to get an idea of what they felt was missing and what they wanted from children’s products. Once I knew what I wanted, I began creating a product brief that captured what I wanted the formulas to look, feel, and smell like. I knew I wanted these formulas to be as clean and safe as possible without sacrificing product performance. Once that brief was submitted, there is a lot of back and forth between me, the chemist, as well as a group of mom and child testers to continue to tweak and adjust until we got it to the perfect place. 

"I wanted these formulas to be as clean and safe as possible without sacrificing product performance."

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Is be good your first entrepreneurial venture, or have you given entrepreneurship a try before? What other entrepreneurial ideas did you have in mind?

Be good is my first entrepreneurial venture. However, I do have my own marketing consulting company as well. For now, be good occupies the bulk of my brain power, but I’m always looking for white space in the market and where there might be real needs not being met by the consumer. I love ideas!!!

Describe being a "mom-preneur" in three words:

Challenging. Satisfying. Motivating. 

You have a solid foundation in the beauty biz, but when you strike out on your own there are always new challenges and surprises. What are some of the things that you had to learn?

I’ve learned to be much more thick-skinned, extremely determined, and open minded. So far with be good, I’ve received a lot more "no's" and very few "yes’s." I thought I knew exactly where these products would go. I’ve been wrong — a lot of the time. You just can’t give up and you have to believe. We still have such a long way to go. It’s been a big lesson in patience, my expectation on how long it would take for things to happen was WAY off. I now know timing is everything and be good will have its day in the sun right when it's supposed to happen. 

Don't give up: "I thought I knew exactly where these products would go. I’ve been wrong-- a lot."

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What would you say other moms who are looking to take the entrepreneurial route?

I say you have to go for it. Even though getting be good off the ground has been much more difficult than I expected, I know I would have lived in regret had I not decided to act on my dream. If it fails, so be it. I’m OK with failure - as long as I can say that I gave it my very best shot. I just don’t think I could have lived with myself if I never gave the idea a chance. 

Where do you see be good in 5 years?

I’d love to see be good with an expanded personal care offering that includes tween skincare. I see be good doing good by giving back to the world in meaningful ways that help children. I’d also love to see the idea expand into other categories outside personal care. 

Learning from the mistakes of your competitors is important. What would you say that you do better than your competitors? 

I think our packaging is what truly sets us apart. It is sweet and charming and appeals to mom’s sense of style and children’s sense of discovery. The virtue-based messaging is so relevant right now. We are trying to teach our kids about good choices and about putting kindness and love in this world. Goodness know the world needs more good now more than ever. If I can champion that movement with fantastic products that are safe for our children and that bring happiness to our homes, I would be one satisfied mama!

 
 

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An Open Letter to Women in the Workplace About Their Fear

Close your eyes and think of a famous CEO. Is it a man?

Close your eyes and think of a famous CEO.

You probably thought of Mark Zuckerburg from Facebook or maybe even Jeff Bezos from Amazon. Both men. And, it’s not that they aren’t great innovators and leaders, but it does raise the question: Why didn’t a woman come to mind first? The answer is that Zuckerberg and Bezos had an idea, and ran fearlessly and confidently with it until they saw success, and that women typically struggle with self-confidence and fear.

At least, I know I have, especially when it comes to the workplace.

But, if confidence in the workplace is so essential to a successful career, then why is it that we women often live behind this mask of a fear to speak up, share opinions or initiate projects? Sheryl Sandberg, in her book “Lean In,” addresses one of the prominent bases of workplace fear. Sandberg, while referencing psychologists’ study of power dynamics, states that those who serve in low-power positions are less likely to share their opinions, and more likely to monitor what they say when they do. “This helps explain why for many women, speaking honestly in a professional environment carries an additional set of fears. Fear of not being considered a team player. Fear of seeming negative or nagging. Fear that constructive criticism will come across as just plain old criticism.”

Fear causes us to stand in the background of the workplace and justify the silence we have grown accustomed to. Fear is the validation of our imaginary, decreased value on the corporate ladder. If we remove fear, then we decrease what holds us back from professional success and find the personal validation that only confidence can provide.

Of course, this is easier said than done. To alter the way we think — by including a healthy portion of confidence — changes the way we look at everything, from the way we walk into a meeting to the way we approach small talk with a higher-up. But, imagine if it we eliminated unhealthy fear and identified and removed ourselves as the obstacle holding us back from limitless professional success. Have you ever met a CEO who cowers in the corner?

Rosa Parks said, “I have learned over the years that when one’s mind is made up, this diminishes fear; knowing what must be done does away with fear.” Although she didn’t go down in history for running a multi-billion dollar company, she went down in history for being fearless, for standing up for herself and for knowing her worth.

Imagine if we all did that; think of where we could be.

Has fear held you back from being the kind of woman you want to be? 

An original version of this article appeared on Darling. Written by: Katy Horst 

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5 Entrepreneurs & CEOs Talk Career Advice They Don't Agree With

From their successful mouths to your ears. 

Photo credit: Sarah Natasha, Laura Dee 

Career advice. It's everywhere! (Raises hand: totally guilty: that's what C&C is all about.) But we've also talked plenty about how there is no one-size-fits-all for anything and that there are no rules for making it. Success is equal parts passion, hard work, and your personal touch-- the latter of which is the puzzle piece you need to figure out all on your own. 

Sometimes we hear advice that doesn't sit well with us. Or apply.

So we asked 5 successful women at various points in their careers what is common career advice that doesn't pass muster with them. 

SOPHIA ROSSI, CO-FOUNDER, HELLO GIGGLES thinks you've got the power within. 

"I don't agree that asking questions can give you the answers you need. Often we have all the questions within us ready to be answered."

JOAN BARNES, FOUNDER, GYMBOREE, heard the standard financial advice and then did things her own way. 

"After growing Gymboree organically into a successful Bay Area franchise business, I had the opportunity to expand nationally and internationally, which would require venture capital. All the advice I received cautioned that this would subject me to investors' financial goals  and drastically change my personal life. I went ahead, nonetheless, and Gymboree became one of the most successful consumer IPOs in history!"

EVA GOICOCHEA, CO-FOUNDER TINKER WATCHES & MAUDEdoesn't think you need to stay in a job two years. 

"My philosophy has always been that you should treat a job like an education: That is, you should be motivated to do your best because it is providing you with growth and learning opportunities. The moment that this ceases—or the point in which your trajectory is hindered by other BS (think work drama, bad culture, poor pay)—it's time to graduate and move on, even if you're only six months in. Why? Because the value you provide as an employee is your knowledge and your work ethic and if you've learned little and were deflated by your former job just because you waited until the two-year mark, then you're not going to be your best self for the next place."

RACHEL ASHWELL, FOUNDER, SHABBY CHIC, says no to succumbing to commerce trends. 

"I have been advised from time to time to sign off on a product or compromise design direction because its deemed to be commercial. But in cases where it’s not authentic and true to my brand, it doesn't sell. In my world of shabby chic there are specific values, qualities and it’s my job to stay true to those values no matter what the rest of the world is doing. " 

"It’s my job to stay true to my values no matter what the rest of the world is doing. " 

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JEN STITH, VP COMMUNICATIONS AND BRAND DEVELOPMENT, BUMBLEthinks it takes more than "one person saying yes."

"Most people think that all you need is one person, one opportunity, one door to open to change your entire career-- that's true, to a degree, but it's only a quarter of the equation. If you feel stuck you need to be the one beating down every door you can until someone gives you the opportunity to prove yourself in a new arena. It's on you to go out and find it. And then you have to work equally, if not harder, to hold on to it." 

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Jessica Alba Has a Crucial Piece of Advice for Your Career

It took getting over this insecurity for Honest to grow. 

Photo by Sarah Natasha. 

Jessica Alba might be a boss (of a company valued at over $1billion) but she doesn't dress like your average businessman or woman. When she took the stage Saturday at Create & Cultivate she told the audience the story of her first business conference. 

"I feel like everyone here will appreciate this. I showed up to my first business conference with my business partner and it was 98% men. I was wearing a Dolce & Gabbana leather mini-skirt-- I had tights on-- and my partner told me, 'This is really inappropriate.' But I said, 'This is my business casual.'" 

Jessica being Jessica is a move that paid off. Yet another example of power of authenticity, something that's a through-line of every conference we host. 

Interviewed by former Create & Cultivate keynotes Katherine Power and Hillary Kerr the women openly chatted about preconceived notions and how people not taking you seriously fans your flame.

Here are our four favorite takeaways plus one piece of crucial advice every single woman should hear. 

NO, THAT'S NOT THE PASSION.

"My journey into entrepreneurship is very similar to a lot of people. I found a need and an opportunity in the marketplace. I wasn't the only one who wanted a healthy, cleaner, high performance product that was beautifully designed, delivered to your door, and was transparent. And had a social mission. I was dreaming up a company I thought should exist and would touch home with a modern person. I went through three years of rejection and running into brick wall after brick wall and everyone in Hollywood looking at me sideways. They all asked me if I could do a perfume, and I said,'No, that's not the passion.'" 

MAYBE YOU'RE ON TO SOMETHING 

"I went down many different roads. I honed in on the idea. I took a 50-page deck and turned it into 20 pages and asked myself 'What are the essentials you need delivered every month?' The day-to-day stuff." 

BUSINESS PARTNERSHIPS ARE LIKE AN ARRANGED MARRIAGE 

"I liken getting into business with someone as getting married right away, without ever dating. It's kind of like an arranged marriage, but you're into it. And you have to have respect with whomever you're in business with. You have to communicate. You have to be in it to win it. It's a real partnership." 

THEY CAN'T TEACH YOU THAT IN BUSINESS SCHOOL

"There were people who didn't take me seriously-- pretty much everybody. One investor really didn't value me, the way I deserved to me valued. I could have gone with him and given up a huge chunk of the company. But because I really felt like I deserved more than that-- and I don't even know what it was or why I was so stubborn and resistant to that money, access, and distribution, it just didn't sit right. When I started a company I undervalued how important it is to trust your gut. They can't teach you that in business school. You have intuition and you have to listen to it." 

SUPPORT YOUR WEAKNESSES WITH OTHERS' STRENGTHS

"I was super insecure about not having a college degree or a conventional education. And I really thought I wasn't smart or didn't deserve to have a seat at the table. I felt like a fraud in business settings. It took me getting over that for the company to get on its feet. It doesn't matter if you don't have a degree or expertise. Surround yourself with people who have done it before and support your weaknesses with their strengths." 

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5 Incredibly Useful Tips from Top Startup Founders

"You want people who've watched boats burn."

photo by Irida Mete. 

When Create & Cultivate founder Jaclyn Johnson took to the Shopstyle Stage on Saturday for the Startup 101 panel the first question on everyone's mind was, "Who makes that amazing chair?" (Bend Goods for the goods FYI.) The second, of course, was "What can I glean from these founders?"

From Ariel Kaye CEO founder of Parachute telling Cultivators "Being a founder is the best and worst thing ever, all the time," to Carly de Castro co-founder of Pressed Juicery joking, "I didn't know any entrepreneurs. I didn't know anything about business. And I thought well if I can learn to make juice, how hard can it be? It was really hard," there was so much note taking, nodding, and knowledge dropping. So we're recapping the best of the best to encourage and aid you with your entrepreneurial dreams. 

YOU HAVE TO BE OBSESSED WITH YOUR COMPANY, OR IT WILL BURN YOU OUT. 

Josh Zad, founder of Alfred Coffee told the audience, "Coffee is a timeless beverage. I opened the cafe and I became obsessed with it. I'm focussed 100% on food and beverage." 

Gabby Etrog Cohen SVP of Brand Strategy at SoulCycle echoed this sentiment. "I'm not a founder," she told the crowd, "but I am SoulCycle's 5th corporate employee and helped grow the brand from four to 60 studios. We deliver service, we don't sell. It's of utmost importance for our riders to feel like family and to feel like from the moment they walk through our doors to the moment they leave they have someone who cares about them. It's why after six years I'm still so committed to the company."

"My soul," said Carly de Castro, "is part of this brand." 

"My soul is part of this brand."

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KNOW YOUR BRAND AND STICK TO YOUR GUNS

If people aren't initially following or engaging, but you have a brand and a social strategy that you believe in, you can use that to carry you through until they do. Get your grid right but also stick to your vision. 

"Coffee is infinitely sharable," said Josh Zad, "and the trending coffee shop phase took off at the same time as Instagram. But we had a strong social media strategy from day one. The same way we treated developing our menu and customer service strategy we had a focus on social media that we stuck to. When not that many people were following or engaging with us, we didn't get upset or change it all up. We stuck to the plan." 

photo by Sarah Natasha. 

CONTINUE TO ASK YOURSELF WHAT PROBLEM AM I SOLVING?

One of the most important questions you can ask yourself is "What problem am I solving?" It's a very simple question, but it's something that goes a long way. And if it's a problem that someone has already solved, ask yourself, "How am I doing it differently?" 

There can be many solutions to one problem. 

"We are a commodity product at the core of our business," said Ariel Kaye, "but there is also this movement around investing in yourself. One of my biggest ah-ha moments was that I didn't know where to go to buy these products and none of my friends knew where to go either. I had a brand background and I couldn't believe there weren't brands people were loving. You spend a third of your life in bed and yet none of these companies were asking me how I was sleeping at night or suggesting that I could do something differently to enhance my sleep." 

"As a brand," Kaye added, "you should keep circling back to that core question." 

ACCELERATORS ARE AN AMAZING RESOURCE FOR ENTREPRENEURS 

Ivka Adam, founder of Iconery whose company was part of Amplify, one of the top accelerators in Los Angeles, talked about the difference between incubators and accelerators.

"Incubators" explained Adam, "give space and a little bit of money to a company with an idea to get it off the ground. An accelerator is one step beyond that. It's for a company with fully formed idea and most often you get somewhere between $50,000-$250,000 to take your idea to launch. After a year of forming the idea, we had a working prototype and our manufacturing figured out, and we were starting to sell, which is when we got accepted into Amplify. Three months later we were able to raise our seed round."

Ariel Kaye chimed in on the importance of accelerators as well, telling the audience, "I was also in an accelerator and I have to say when you are are a sole founder and you feel like you are an island of one, being with other founders who are in that grind with you is a lifesaver."

THE RIGHT PEOPLE MATTER 

Key hires are part of the founder struggle. (Along with "founder depression," something Ivka Adam told the audience "is very real.")

Creating the right team takes time, patience, and sacrifice, but it will also make all the difference in your business. Gabby Cohen shared "We like to say, if you have the right people on the bus, it doesn't matter where the bus is going. You change direction every 90 days." Ariel Kaye said something similar, "With hires you don't always need people to reinvent the wheel. You want people who've watched boats burned."

Hiring practices: "You want people who've watched boats burned."

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"Spend the money on talent," said Josh Zad. "Do not lose that person that's maybe a little more expensive. It will payoff in the long run."

 

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6 of Rachel Zoe's Most Inspiring Create & Cultivate Takeaways

A truly uplifting convo between friends. 

Photo by Irida Mete. 

Rachel Zoe may have popularized such phrases as "I die," and "Bananas," but the multi-hyphenate who credited launching The Zoe Report as one of her smartest business decisions this past Saturday at Create & Cultivate DTLA, had much more knowledge to drop. Interviewed by friend, fellow businesswoman, and jewelry designer Jen Meyer, the impeccably dressed maven shared her savvy with the audience of 500. She also blushed crimson when Jen asked her how she works with her husband, Rodger Berman who was in the audience, and still goes home and f*cks him. "I just want you to know my nephew is here, so shh," Rachel laughed. Adding her signature, "I'm going to die right now." 

"Rachel," said Jen before getting into the meat of their talk, "is quite possibly one of the most supportive friends, people, business women on the planet. When I started my jewelry company, one of the first people to support me and say 'I'm going to be everything I can for people to see it,' was Rachel." 

Here are 6 of the most inspiring takeaways from Rachel and Jen.  

They talked work ethic. What keeps her going?

"I love it. As I've grown from stylist to everything else, I am driven by the passion. It started with me wanting to be a great stylist and after that it was following my gut and instinct for what felt right." Later in the talk Rachel said, "I don’t think you can be good at something if you don’t love it." 

What resonates through the Rachel Zoe brand?

"At the core of my brand I've always wanted to speak to, empower, and motivate young women. Give them confidence to do whatever they want to do in life. The mantra of my brand has always been: Provide aspiration and inspiration, and always be accessible. Never be intimidating. When someone shows a 20,000 dollar coat on a runway, I'm not ever saying that's what everyone needs to wear in order to look good." 

Pre-panel snap in the Green Room. Photo by Irida Mete. 

What is she like as a boss?

She has an open-door policy in her office-- but she rarely spends time in it. "Roger keeps threatening to close my office because I never go in it." She likes being in the middle of the creative energy and talking to everyone in the office. "We are so synergistic throughout the company-- everyone talks, and one part of the brand could not exist without the other." As for the members of her team, she had this to say: "Don’t micro-manage people. I think if you hire talented people, you have to let them be. Let them govern their time."

"Don’t micro-manage people. If you hire talented people, you have to let them be. Let them govern their time."

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What are the rules she lives by?

"It's about being honest, kind, and forthcoming. Internally and externally it's what we put out and it's how I govern my business and my life." Also adding, "Follow your gut and your instinct. I know what I know, but I know what I don't know. " 

According to Jen, Rachel is a pro a balancing her life. How does she do it?

"Before I had children I felt I was very imbalanced. I was so obsessed with my career that I couldn't see anything else. I missed every birthday. I missed every holiday. I missed everything that mattered outside of work. And then weirdly when I had my first son I feel like I became better at my job. I was better able to focus, prioritize, look at really important things in a different way, and handle them in a much more sane way. I don't get worked up about things the way I used to and that has helped me achieve some balance."

But acknowledged, "Every day is different and a struggle and there is guilt on both sides when you're a working mom. You have to know you can't plan every day. It's never going to turn out the way you think it will. The ultimate goal is to be present when you're with your children and present when you're working."  

What are some lessons she learned as a stylist that she's applied to her businesses?

"Really learning about people is the thing in styling that actually overrides all of the styling. You have to have patience, a true understanding that everyone is different; it's not a formula. These are not mannequins, they are people like you and me. They have problems and insecurities. Styling has really taught me that you have to work so hard for what you want in life. That this business is not always glamourous. And it helped me as a designer to know what women want and don't want." 

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