Day: June 9, 2022

Insiya Hussain of The University of Texas at Austin’s McCombs School of Business: 5 Things We Need To Do To Close The Gender Wage Gap

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

To start, investing in women’s education is shown to reap huge social and economic rewards, particularly within the developing world. Women’s education is associated with lower rates of infant and maternal mortality, lower rates of disease and infection, and greater female labor force participation that spurs economic growth.

As part of my series about “the five things we need to do to close the gender wage gap” I had the pleasure of interviewing Insiya Hussain.

Insiya Hussain is an Assistant Professor of Management at The University of Texas at Austin’s McCombs School of Business. In her research, she examines the challenges of speaking up at work to share ideas and opinions, advocate for social issues, and negotiate for personal rewards. Hussain’s research has been published in top-tier academic journals such as Academy of Management Journal and Journal of Applied Psychology. Her work has also been featured in practitioner outlets such as Harvard Business Review. She is a member of the editorial review board at Academy of Management Journal and Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes. Prior to joining academia, Hussain worked at J.P. Morgan’s investment bank and as a project manager at technology companies. She earned her Bachelor’s degree in economics from Columbia University, and her doctorate in organizational behavior from the University of Maryland.

Thank you so much for joining us! Can you tell us the “backstory” that brought you to this career path?

My journey to becoming a business school professor didn’t follow a straight path. Although I was incredibly bookish and always did well academically, it never occurred to me that getting a doctorate was a viable option. It just seemed niche, obscure, and something that other people did — “geniuses,” if you will.

So when I graduated from Columbia, I did what was typical of most other economics majors at the time — try to get a job in either finance or consulting. I ended up working at J.P. Morgan, doing equity research. With a “good job” firmly in hand, I presumed that all I had to do over my hopefully illustrious career was steadily climb the corporate ladder, one rung at a time.

Except, of course, life doesn’t always work out that way. Within a year of my very first job out of college, the Great Recession happened, and I was laid off. It was a difficult time, but also, looking back, a blessing in disguise. I’m definitely grateful to have gotten the singularly unique experience of New York City investment banking. That said, the work had left me burnt out and with the quiet knowledge that it wasn’t quite the right fit. I just wanted more from work–more color, creativity, and autonomy. That’s why when I wasn’t burning the midnight oil, I was dreaming up new product ideas and charting a more entrepreneurial path.

After a brief period of adjustment, I followed my instinct to create by working as a project manager at digital agencies, building apps and websites for small-to-midsize companies. That’s really when I started to get more interested in work from an intellectual standpoint. In talking to friends and thinking about my own experiences, it struck me that no matter what we’re doing or where we’re doing it — whether we’re in finance or tech, or working with a startup or Fortune 500 — we all struggle with the same issues.

We sometimes find great meaning in work and other times feel that it’s all futile. We experience the joy of being in “flow” and other times struggle to stay motivated. We feel “stuck” in our careers, and also surprise ourselves by how far we’ve come. Of course, we almost always complain about our bosses and wonder who put them in charge. And all the while, we try to bring home a bigger paycheck, just to feel like we’re keeping our heads above the water.

It soon became clear that I was much more interested in the nature of work itself than in any particular job I was doing. I wanted to explore the many ideas and questions I had about how to make work better for everyone, but I didn’t know how. I thought about going back to school for a master’s or MBA, but neither path seemed quite right. In a flash of insight, I asked myself, “Wait a second, who teaches the MBAs?” And the rest, as they say, is history. The minute I started learning about getting a doctorate in organizational behavior, it all clicked. My penchant for reading, writing, and thinking; my interest in business and the workplace; my desire for creativity and autonomy, all seemed to come together for the first time in a single career path.

And so I went for it. I spent the next few years earning my Ph.D. from the University of Maryland, surrounded by some of the smartest and most inspiring people I’ve ever met. Today, I’m beyond lucky to be a professor at UT Austin’s McCombs School of Business. The work is challenging in the best of ways and is always evolving. I get to research the topics I’m interested in, work alongside fantastically bright and witty colleagues, many of whom are some of the biggest names in our field, and teach incredibly talented, hardworking students. As Steve Jobs said, “You can’t connect the dots looking forward, you can only connect them looking backward.” I’m glad that all the dots converged to bring me here, and I am excited for whatever is next.

Can you share a story about the funniest or most interesting mistake you made when you were first starting? What lesson did you learn ?

This is more of a funny story than a mistake per se. When you’re a professor, you come to realize that while you get older every year, your students stay exactly the same age. So you need to make sure your cultural references are up to date. I once cracked a joke based on the movie “Jerry McGuire,” proclaiming to my class , “Help me help you!” I got blank faces. When asking who had seen the movie, only two students raised their hands. Fortunately, my next wisecrack, “I’m officially old,” landed well! Relatedly, Gen Z wisely seems to be watching reruns of “The Office,” which provides perfect and timeless fodder for any organizational behavior class.

Jumping to the main focus of our interview, even in 2020, women in the United States still earn about 81 cents for every dollar a man makes. Why is that?

I think it’s important to first distinguish between the unadjusted and the adjusted gender wage gap — two key numbers that are often confused when people try to draw conclusions from stats about the gender pay gap.

The 81–83 cents number represents the unadjusted gender pay gap — that is, the overall gap that exists between all working women and working men, when we don’t control for relevant factors that could be contributing to pay differences. These factors might include differences between men and women in the number of hours worked, education levels, choice of occupation, and years of job experience.

The adjusted pay gap, meanwhile, does control for these variables, allowing for more of an apples-to-apples comparison. Specifically, the adjusted pay gap can help us understand the difference in earnings between a woman and a man working in roughly the same job, for the same number of hours, and having the same level of education. Fortunately, the adjusted pay gap is smaller, as it should be, though not ideal — around 95 cents to the dollar.

But the adjusted pay gap only helps us isolate the extent of discrimination along one narrow dimension — difference in pay for the same work. The gender pay gap — whether adjusted or unadjusted — can’t tell us about the other issues women face because of their gender, such as equality of opportunity. Women, for instance, might have to bargain a lot harder at home and work when wanting to invest in higher education or take on a demanding job. So even if women and men end up getting equal pay for equal work, they might face very different levels of challenge and struggle to get there.

Can you explain the main factors causing the gender pay gap?

First, women and men might be making different choices about their careers. Women, for instance, often prioritize jobs that offer fewer or more flexible hours, but that are also less well paid. This difference in hours worked is one piece likely contributing to the unadjusted pay gap. There are, of course, a lot of questions about the extent to which women’s choices are driven by nature versus nurture. Do women freely choose less well-paying and more flexible occupations out of personal preference, even when other, higher-paying but less flexible jobs are completely available to them? Or, do women make these choices out of social pressure, because they still take on primary caregiving responsibilities at home? There’s evidence for both possibilities. But suffice it to say, for a number of reasons, women and men often make different career choices that end up affecting their real and potential earnings.

Second, research suggests that women may not be choosing low-paying careers, but that careers become low paying as more women choose them: When women join an occupation in large numbers, wages in that occupation tend to stagnate and trend lower. The opposite is true when large numbers of men join a profession. Take nursing for example — a predominantly female profession. Wages in nursing tend to rise as more male nurses join the field. This is certainly depressing, and it points to society valuing women’s labor a lot less.

Third, and relatedly, you have good old-fashioned bias and discrimination. I know this can be a contentious issue, but there’s an abundance of field and experimental research demonstrating all the ways women are dealt a worse hand. Most notably, women face a “double bind.” When they engage in assertive behavior like trying to negotiate for a higher wage, they can be seen as less likable. If they don’t negotiate for higher pay, they obviously won’t get it. This creates a “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” situation.

All that said, it’s encouraging to note that every year the pay gap seems to be narrowing, albeit slowly. Andt in certain U.S. cities like New York City and Washington, D.C., women under 30 are actually out-earning men. This is likely because these cities have jobs requiring high levels of education and women now hold the majority of bachelor’s and advanced degrees. Altogether, it suggests that women’s investment in their education is paying off, and can help further narrow the wage gap.

Can you share with our readers what your work is doing to help close the gender wage gap?

I’m currently examining the role that men play in helping raise gender equity issues at work, like the gender pay gap.

There’s a real tension. On the one hand, we expect that when men speak up to advocate for gender equity, they’ll bring greater gravitas to the movement. This is because men, for better or worse, still have greater status and influence in organizations, and they’re also seen as less self-interested and therefore more credible advocates for gender equity.

On the other hand, many people think it’s not men’s “place” to speak up about an issue largely pertaining to women. The idea is, “This is about the challenges that women face, and about women’s advancement… what do men know? They should just shut up and let women do the talking.” It’s no wonder that men report walking on eggshells when it comes to talking about gender equity. They’re afraid of saying the wrong thing. The truth is, men’s fears aren’t unfounded. My research shows that compared to women, men are, in fact, seen as relatively less legitimate spokespersons for gender equity issues.

So what does this mean for men’s role in the movement? Do we expect men to be mostly silent supporters of whatever women say, or is it okay for men to share independent — perhaps even challenging or controversial — ideas about gender equity? Are people more likely to support the exact same idea about how to tackle a gender equity issue when it’s raised by a woman?

These are the types of questions I’ve been exploring in my research. What I’ve been finding is that people are more likely to support gender equity proposals when women and men come together in mixed-gender coalitions to advocate for them. This is because a mixed-gender coalition brings the “best of both worlds.” Men’s involvement as advocates signals that gender equity is an important issue, while women’s involvement signals the coalition has the legitimacy or “right” to speak up about the issue.

So it seems that one way to tackle identity-based issues like gender equity is to create a coalition of both beneficiaries (women) and non-beneficiaries (men). This suggests that although men’s support for gender equity is useful, it might be “wise” for them to let women lead the way.

I want to note that research on this topic is still developing, and the above preliminary conclusions are descriptive rather than prescriptive. Arguably, in a more perfect world, we would to a greater extent judge proposals for change based on their objective value and content, rather than on who is raising them (e.g., whether a constructive idea for change comes from a man or a woman).

Can you recommend five things that need to be done on a broader societal level to close the gender wage gap? Please share a story or example for each.

There are several things we can do as a society to create gender equity, which again, includes closing the gender wage gap.

To start, investing in women’s education is shown to reap huge social and economic rewards, particularly within the developing world. Women’s education is associated with lower rates of infant and maternal mortality, lower rates of disease and infection, and greater female labor force participation that spurs economic growth.

Second, we can create greater equity by increasing salary and negotiation transparency in the workplace. Research shows that when you reduce ambiguity about whether and what employees can negotiate at work, women no longer feel inhibited to ask, and the gender pay gap closes.

Third, we should implement opt-out (rather than opt-in) policies for promotion, so workers don’t need to ask for advancement. Women are unfortunately less likely to compete or self-promote under an “opt-in” promotion scheme, where you have to actively raise your hand to self-nominate. They hesitate. However, where the default is to be promoted, women are much more likely to remain in the promotion pool.

Fourth, mentor and sponsor junior female employees. It sounds so simple, but it works. People in higher-level roles who take young women under their wing play a huge positive role in their future success and career trajectories.

Lastly, there needs to be greater support for working parents. The U.S. is one of very few advanced countries worldwide that lacks paid parental leave at the federal level. The current Family and Medical Leave Act policy only guarantees eligible employees 12 weeks of unpaid leave, and even that is only within organizations with more than 50 employees. So although the FMLA is a start, it’s not living up to its full potential. Paid family leave can give women a strong financial rationale to return to work after childbirth rather than necessarily prioritizing their partners’ careers. Relatedly, organizations should take steps to encourage men, and not just women, to take paid parental leave. It takes a village to raise a child, and so long as men feel stigma in actively using their company’s childcare benefits, the whole family suffers.

You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.

Wow. There are so many important issues plaguing the world — war, poverty, infanticide, lack of sanitation, political polarization, and more. It can feel overwhelming. I also don’t have the data on which of these would lead to the greatest good for the most people.

What I can say — perhaps unsurprisingly — is that I care deeply about education as both a social and economic issue. Three points about this.

First, I’d love to see more free and high-quality education in the developing world. A good education is a force multiplier that benefits entire families and generations.

Second, at a national level, I’m concerned about the decline in reading for fun among children. This is not for purely sentimental reasons. Research shows that reading literature helps increase empathy — it quite literally makes you see the world through someone else’s eyes. Given the level of divisiveness and lack of nuance we see in the world today, something tells me that cultivating a love of reading among kids is one small step towards solving a lot of problems.

Finally, I’m a strong advocate for exposure to liberal education, rather than a purely vocational education. To be clear, I don’t mean politically liberal, or liberal with a capital “L.” What I mean by liberal is an education committed to deep inquiry, critical thinking, analyses of the big issues facing humanity, and reflection on challenging and opposing ideas. Schools shouldn’t just be trying to educate the next finance mogul or tech billionaire, but clear-thinking human beings all around, who are capable of contending with complexity in all its forms. This means engagement with philosophy, literature, and the social sciences as much as with business and STEM fields. They’re all important.

Can you please give us your favorite “life lesson quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

I especially love this quote attributed to the poet William Blake: “Without contraries is no progression.” I mentioned it in my undergraduate admissions essay just under 20 years ago, and I find that it still speaks volumes for me today, well into adulthood. We’re constantly coming up against contraries in life — such as by trying to reconcile good and evil in the world, and trying to navigate pain and joy in our work and relationships. I find that black-and-white answers are rarely satisfactory. Finding just the right shade of gray is the stuff of life.

We are very blessed that some of the biggest names in business, VC funding, sports, and entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the U.S. whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might see this, especially if we tag them.

I’d love to have a meal with Tim Ferriss. I’ve always been a fan of his books, and his podcast is fantastic.

Tim is sort of a rare specimen in the business world, with incredible range on a number of fronts. He combines this vibe of being the “most interesting man in the world” with an “everyman” relatability. For instance, he has just enough confidence to accomplish big things — write bestselling books, invest in blockbuster startups, and host one of the world’s most popular podcasts — but also shows just enough self-doubt to remain humble and continuously learning. His interviews go broad — featuring writers, artists, scientists, entrepreneurs, celebrities, political figures, and sports legends — but never sacrifice depth. His content can be incredibly serious, technical, and reflective, as well as goofy and just plain fun. There’s almost always an episode for the mood I’m in, and I learn something new every time. Tim can be easy to dismiss as the shtick-y “Four Hour [Something]” guy, but those who’ve been following his work for years know there’s much more on offer. I just enjoy hearing him think out loud on an eclectic bunch of topics, and so he’s the type of person I’d be interested to meet not because he’s famous, but in spite of his being famous.

I know Tim is extremely judicious when it comes to emails and meetings. Respect. That said, we’re both currently Austin-ites, so maybe we’ll bump into each other somewhere… Who knows! ☺

Thank you so much for joining us. This was very inspirational.

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Insiya Hussain of The University of Texas at Austin’s McCombs School of Business: 5 Things We Need… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Modern Fashion: Sarah Carson of Leota On The 5 Things You Need To Lead a Successful Fashion Brand Today

An Interview With Candice Georgiadice

Get a coach. I’m really good at leading groups through strategy, figuring out what needs to be measured in order to be improved, zeroing in on the problems to be fixed. My view is that business is ⅓ vision, ⅓ execution, and ⅓ trouble shooting. Even though I am a strong coach and strategic facilitator, I always bring in someone else to lead me through it. Having an outside perspective help reduce group think and allows me to be doing the work rather than leading the work.

Many in the fashion industry have been making huge pivots in their business models. Many have turned away from the fast fashion trend. Many have been focusing on fashion that also makes a social impact. Many have turned to sustainable and ethical sourcing. Many have turned to hi tech manufacturing. Many have turned to subscription models. What are the other trends that we will see in the fashion industry? What does it take to lead a successful fashion brand today?

In our series called, “5 Things You Need To Lead a Successful Fashion Brand Today” we are talking to successful leaders of fashion brands who can talk about the Future of Fashion and the 5 things it takes to lead a successful fashion brand in our “new normal.”

As a part of this series I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Sarah Carson of Leota.

A former Wall Street investment banker, Sarah was on the hunt for the perfect dress that could do it all whether it was for work, going out, or travel all while ensuring comfort and quality. Unsatisfied by what the market had to offer, Sarah decided to make it herself. One perfect dress made on Sarah’s sewing machine turned into a multimillion-dollar brand sold in over 500 major retailers globally.

Sarah is a two-time Inc. 500 CEO and SmartCEO Future 50 award winner. She’s also been honored in Women2Watch in Retail Disruption and won Game Changer of the Year for two years straight.

Sarah believes in giving back to the community whether that’s through donating excess stock to women in need or serving as a Director on the board of the LGBT Center in New York. Her commitment to philanthropy, mentorship to emerging entrepreneurs, and mission-driven philosophy are changing the game. Just like her first dress. ‘

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your childhood “backstory”?

I grew up in a tiny town in southwest Michigan drinking well water where my dad was the only doctor. My little sister and I learned quickly how to be socially acceptable because we had to represent the family appropriately. My dad had delivered every baby and cared for everyone’s elderly relatives so everyone knew us. This was the 80’s so we wore a lot of matching Laura Ashley outfits, puffy paint sweatshirts, and itchy wool next to the skin. My curls got brushed out into a frizzy lampshade shape and my sister had a blonde bowl cut. My mom was a community organizer, always mobilizing the town for a project. She campaigned for a School Board seat and was active with Planned Parenthood. I saw the backlash she received as an uppity woman but that never stopped her. In spite of my parent’s ambition for me and sharp intelligence, my life dream as a child was to go to Stanford, become a check out lady at a store, and have a Ken Doll husband.

My family moved to California when I was a tween, and my mom signed me up for kung fu lessons after I saw a demonstration at the Fourth of July parade. For the first time in my life, I felt strong and competent in my body. It was an amazing feeling. I became obsessed with kung fu and was willing to do anything to succeed. I realized quickly that symbols of femininity were not going to get me any respect in the ring or on the mat. There was no way I was going to let being a girl stand in the way of dominating this sport I’d come to love so much. I shaved my head, wore my groin cup on the outside, and showed everyone how serious I was by behaving and appearing as traditionally masculine as possible. Over my martial arts career, I hid every aspect of my femininity to gain respect. It worked. I ended up a national and international Kung fu champion many times over.

I came out when I was in college at Brown University. It became clear at that point that my life was going to be different. There was not going to be a Ken Doll husband, for one thing. I’ve always been out in my personal life since I was 19 but not professionally. We all know how women need to obscure our personal lives in business because it could be held against us professionally. I’m not sure how much of my code switching was sexism and how much of it was homophobia, but fear of both kept me compartmentalizing.

I found my covering to be exhausting and it made me angry after a while. It struck me as quite unfair that some people got to show up and be themselves and some of us had to leave a part of ourselves at the door. This inspired me as an entrepreneur. What if there were a workplace where you could truly be yourself and not have to worry about your intersectionality being an issue? I decided to create that environment myself and made inclusivity a cornerstone of our workplace culture at Leota.

Can you tell us the story about what led you to this particular career path?

I had never worked in the fashion industry before, but I had a good idea for a brand. I was 30 years old, cooped up in my tailored work clothes at my investment banking job. Fashion was moving toward more casual dressing, and it made me think: What if there was a fashion option that felt as comfy as yoga pants or jeans and a tee-shirt, but was actually appropriate for women’s lifestyles today? I looked all around for this elusive garment, but I couldn’t find the perfect thing anywhere. So I made it myself. I received a lot of interest in the clothes I was making on my home sewing machine, and eventually I decided to go for it. I quit my Wall Street job and started a fashion brand. I named it Leota, after my great grandmother.

Leota struck a nerve with women (women who control 73% of U.S. consumer spending). They love the effortless style and embrace the move away from the traditional power suit (inspired by men’s fashion) toward something completely our own: comfortable, vibrant clothes that are feminine, fearless and unapologetic. Gorgeous and practical. This was my idea of power dressing.

My business achieved astronomical growth — Leota was named on the Inc 500 list of fastest growing companies in America two years in a row. We were in the top 10 fastest growing companies run by women. At one point we had a 1228% three-year growth rate with zero outside funding. I invested around $10,000 of my own savings in 2011 and grew the business to the point where we just shipped our 1.5 millionth dress. My company became a global force in fashion on a literal shoestring.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?

My original career plan was to become an attorney. I went through the recruiting process at a few firms and got a job at one of the most prestigious corporate law firms in NYC right out of college and was set to do a couple years as a paralegal before law school. I was thrilled! After graduation and a couple days before my training began, I was chatting logistics with my HR onboarding rep and asked her if she knew how many of their partners were women and/or people of color. I was just curious because diversity was important to me. HR said they didn’t have any idea what the demographics of their leadership was, but they’d see if they could find out. The next day I received their answer via email. Their response? They rescinded my job offer. I think I was so stunned that I changed course completely. I ended up getting an internship at a digital agency and then taught myself investment banking because I couldn’t afford my rent. I am decisive and strategic, but still, some random events shaped my direction.

You are a successful business leader. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?

1. Compulsively forward moving. I am compulsively forward moving, meaning that regardless of what impossible-seeming obstruction occurs, I keep the rhythm of doing the work. I ask myself what is the logical next step, and do that. Big things get built out of lots of small decisions and actions, and I keep it moving no matter what. That didn’t work? Ok, try the next thing and the next thing. Just because I’ve never done something doesn’t mean I can’t figure it out (examples: navigating the PPP and SBA situation, China shutting down in Feb 2020 with all my product half done, suppliers stealing my designs and trying to work directly with customers). I attribute some of my success to being relentless. And impatient.
2. Comfort with chaos. Behind the scenes, growth is messy. I call it the “scrappiness olympics”. There’s no manual for how to start a business from scratch, so I had to find creative ways of getting information. I followed delivery guys around the garment center and hopped in freight elevators with them to find my fabric suppliers. I found sales reps on other brands’ websites and went door to door in the showroom buildings. I got a lot of no’s. Mostly “no’s.” That’s why entrepreneurship requires nerves of steel. I learned to take action quickly and move on quickly, and there’s definitely no time for hurt feelings. I was always in a rush during my years of fastest growth. I hustled everywhere and never did one thing at a time. You could find me literally jogging down 8th avenue in my uniform of colorful flats, patterned dress and red lipstick, with an 80-pound roll of fabric hoisted over one shoulder, a heavy sack of samples on the other, while inhaling a slice of dollar pizza from the corner joint and talking on my cell phone to my sales rep. I’d think my day was over, then there would be a blizzard and the freight elevator would break and suddenly we’re running pallets down 15 flights of stairs to make our first Nordstrom delivery. This is the reality of fast growth. It was thrilling to be building something from scratch, and without the sense of urgency, there’s no way I would have been able to compete in wholesale and e-commerce with my larger and better funded competitors. Fast fashion would have eaten me alive. You have to be pretty hardcore to build a fashion business during the decade that Amazon was eating everyone’s lunch, and every other headline was about the latest retail apocalypse.
3. Willing to have the hard conversations. I have challenging conversations all the time but there is no way around it. I have to say no all the time, tell designers that their color ideas aren’t sellable, kill projects that people like, nudge teams to hedge against future risks even though things seem fine right now, explore why this or that metric isn’t being met, and negotiating, negotiating, negotiating. All the bad news usually goes with the leader’s job. This is very uncomfortable. When an organization is going great, only the worst news gets funneled up because the rest is being handled. This is the beauty of replacing yourself in the organization. My view is, there is always a way, and unfortunately for those work with me, I’m usually right.

What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?

Leota delivers amazing dresses that are beautiful, trend right, crafted with care and intention and with an unrelenting focus on comfort. Those that know us love us for our buzz-worthy prints and comfortable designs that are inclusively sized, figure-flattering with the added benefit of being wrinkle-resistant and fast-drying. Beyond that Leota stands out as a brand with our commitment to eco-minded practices and inclusivity whether that’s through the clothes we create or in the workplace.

Do you have a favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share a story of how that was relevant to you in your life?

“i don’t pay attention to the

world ending.

it has ended for me

many times

and began again in the morning.”

― Nayyirah Waheed, Salt

To me, this poem is a meditation on how to handle crisis, which I have gotten very good at. Your body can only take so much crisis physically, because the panic has an effect on your body chemistry. I obsessively prepare for crisis, and try to recognise it as early as possible, and then just do my part. The pandemic showed me that some things are out of my control and that was hard for me to accept. I’m a former professional athlete so I grew up on a steady diet of limitless self-talk. In my mind, everything was within my reach as long as I put more perfect practice into it than anyone else. If anything didn’t work out, literally anything at all, it was my fault no matter what. The pandemic was humbling. During Leota’s early years, I became a scholar of entrepreneurship. I consumed start up and operations books like they were my last meal. I drank the kool-aid of those mantras such as “work on your business not in your business.” “Hire slow, fire fast.” A solution for every fool, as the Indigo Girls song goes. When the pandemic shut the world down, no amount of “1-page business plans” or Myers-Briggs optimizations were going to reopen the supply chain or stop the spread of a lethal disease that killed over a million people in the US alone. All the strategy in the world, all the hard work and effort in the universe would not reopen things. I accepted that I could only do my part, and the rest is out of my control.

Do you see any fascinating developments emerging over the next few years in the fashion industry that you are excited about? Can you tell us about that?

Mission driven brands continue to be the ones that can compete with the big girls. Independent brands continue to struggle though, because the fixed costs of doing business are burdensome, and founders burn out. That’s why I’m creating a conglomerate of mission-driven wellness centric brands that can benefit from economies of scale and world class shared services, and the unique point of view of the brand can reach more people.

Can you share how your brand is helping to bring goodness to the world?

Fashion’s feminism-lite, toxic positivity has resulted in vapid calls for self-confidence, while pushing the same dangerous beauty standards limited to the young, thin, straight, light skinned, and surgically enhanced. Leota makes fashion for all, with a radically inclusive message. I want to bust open the definition of beauty and welcome everyone to the party. I want anyone to be able to put on Leota and feel like a million. Leota is for all — I mean men, women, non-binary, trans, everyone. Fashion is about self-expression and I want to be a part of the freedom that comes from dressing up as yourself. My contribution to fashion and culture is coming from a diverse team of creators.

Fast fashion has an advantage, that it is affordable for most people, but it also has the drawback that it does not last very long and is therefore not very sustainable. What are your thoughts about this? How does your company address this question?

Ethical business, meaning adhering to a strong set of core values that we establish early on, is foundational. I went into the fashion industry to change it. In an industry — and economy — that is chronically discriminatory and wasteful, doing the right thing isn’t just innovative — it’s disruptive.

Let’s be honest: Our industry has a reputation for being kind of icky. Underneath the shiny, contoured veneer, it’s still largely run by dudes obsessed with women being young and thin and is perfectly content with questionable production processes.

With ever-tightening profit margins and constant supply chain drama, running our companies ethically is a challenge, but it’s also an opportunity that pays off in brand loyalty. Our customers want us to keep ethics front and center in everything we do. Leota customers pay attention to the details. They want fabrics that are tough, durable, easy to take care of, AND still feel great on. We’ve developed our own stretch knit fabrics that are machine washable because it’s what our customers want. It eliminates the expense of dry cleaning and the toxic, polluting chemicals of dry cleaning.

Leota fabrics are comfortable and breathable, but they also last longer, which means less waste, smaller carbon footprint. Low price, high-volume Fast Fashion falls apart after an average of 5 wears and gets tossed after about 35 days. Leota garments are worn an average of 300 times. Our silhouettes are timeless and figure flattering so our gals keep them for years.

Some say fashion is the second most polluting industry, after oil and gas. A big part of that is the less-than-ethical production practices, but it’s also what we do with our product after the season ends. Most brands destroy excess merch…incinerating it, dismembering it and putting it in landfills. Google it, it’s shocking to me. This waste and pollution is just the tip of the iceberg.

That’s why Leota made a decision early on to never trash a dress. We donate all our excess inventory. In 2021, we donated 2,000 dresses to women re-entering the workforce, escaping domestic violence, and living with HIV/AIDS. We worked with breast cancer survivors to tell their stories and raise money for life saving research in women’s health through the American Cancer Society, and donated to the LGBT Community Center in NYC where I am a board member. It’s the right thing to do, and frankly it’s what our customers expect from a socially responsible company.

One more thing about the trend toward ethical operations. It’s not just about what we make and how we make it. It’s about how we treat our employees. Leota is a diverse meritocracy that is absolutely, 200% dedicated to a workplace free of harassment and discrimination. And in the wake of the #MeToo and #BlackLivesMatter movements, it is — and should be — expected of all workplaces. Safe self-expression matters. Representation matters.

What are your “5 Things You Need To Lead a Successful Fashion Brand”. Please share a story or example for each.

1. Focus on your core. What exactly are you selling and how is it differentiated? Stick to that in order to avoid having a product that doesn’t have a reason to exist, and a team that is spread too thin. Feel free to say “no thanks” to opportunities and ideas that are a distraction. My business makes one thing really really well. Just one thing. I wasn’t trying to be everything to everybody. I make wash and wear comfortable clothes that are unapologetically body positive and come in all sizes. That’s it! No one else does this exclusively. Maybe other brands have a random comfortable item or try plus sizes once as a fad (which is offensive). We stand for those things, are authentic about it, and are fiercely committed to empowering our customers with convenience, comfort, and body positivity. They reward us with their loyalty. When I did expand my products, I did so thoughtfully — for example selling separates in the same fabrics. In this way, I expanded the customers I could sell to while increasing the products I could sell to my existing customers, and the new products could go through the exact same manufacturing process and be sold through the same channels. This is part of how we grew so fast without breaking.
2. Hire for your weaknesses. I’ve made tons of hiring mistakes but the one thing I did right was hire for my weaknesses. I am honest about my knowledge and experience gaps and hired people specifically for those things at first. I’m willing to be wrong. There was no way I could know everything, so I need to have a direct and immediate connection to people that fill in my gaps. Since I am self-taught in fashion, my first hire was a classically trained designer who also knew manufacturing. I purposely hire people who are different from me and people who will disagree with me. Not people to make me feel special. If I want to feel good about myself, I’ll call my mom and she’ll tell me how awesome I am. In many cases my vendors and customers became my best teachers: I let them teach me the business. I’m proud that Leota to this day is a 100% women, LGBTQ+, and minority owned and operated company.
3. Manage financial strain and personal risk. “Growth” is essentially another word for “financial crisis.” The lumpiness of the cash cycle and the personal risk are things I never got used to. Fashion has a particularly challenging cash cycle, wherein we design, develop, and produce garments (cash out the door) 6–12 months in advance of when we can actually sell them (cash in the door). We have humongous working capital requirements because we need to pay for next year’s growth on this year’s receivables. Forget about getting a deposit from retailers. Underfunded businesses have to be ruthless in how they spend money. At Leota, this discipline has made us highly efficient and more profitable — I never had the luxury of making tons of financial mistakes. I didn’t spend money on PR or runway shows, I only spent money on sales. I learned exactly how to spend money to make money. They call that “capital efficiency,” but women and minority owned businesses are often having to do more with less, since we have access to a tiny fraction of the bank and investor funding. One season I received a gigantic order for Spring dresses from a retailer I’d been chasing for a while (one of the no’s I turned to yeses) and I was over the moon with excitement. It felt like my idea was being validated and made all my hard work feel worthwhile. Amazing, right? Then I realized this huge purchase order came with a new problem that took the fun out of it. In order to make these dresses I needed help beyond my vendors floating me for 30 days. My factories came to me saying, look, we need to pay our workers. I felt horribly guilty for putting my vendors in this position, but they actually understood. They told me that’s the way it is for everyone. It wasn’t personal. It was financial. I cashed in some of the goodwill I’d built with these partners and they and my banks floated me for a couple months. Not everyone believed in me. Most people underestimated me and thought my vision wasn’t going to happen. But I didn’t need everyone. I needed a couple of people to want to be a part of the massive growth trajectory, and decide to take a chance on me. Now we’ve done over $100M at retail, so I guess I was right.
4. You need endurance and intensity. Leading a company through a 1228% growth rate was very intense and required a lot of personal sacrifice. Growing that fast meant that I had to learn to embrace the unknown, and that is scary. Of course, I do my best to analyze every decision and set my team up for success, but ultimately, I have to just go for it and hope for the best. That big order went through just fine and the retailer became a consistent and reliable customer. But I learned the hard way that there is so much out of my control — things that could kill my business. I can never be 100% sure of anything, no matter how much I prepare. I once had a senior employee fail to submit invoices that the company owed to suppliers even though we had a process for doing so. I started getting calls from my factories asking for money, and that’s when I found out that over a quarter million dollars of bills were past due that I didn’t even know about. Of course, we didn’t have the money. When something gets screwed up (which it inevitably does because startups are a shit show no matter how organized and well-funded you are), there is no time to be upset. I learned to recognize the crisis, act swiftly and move on. Entrepreneurship requires endurance. The press loves stories of people whose businesses skyrocket after working on it part time for 5 minutes. They look all perky and well-rested. The fact is, being an entrepreneur takes endurance. You have to be in it for the long term. I studied martial arts, so I’m the queen of getting up after being knocked down. It’s all about using failure to begin again more intelligently. I think balance is overrated. To strive for balance is to strive for mediocrity. Strive for something that matters. Balance itself is not really meaningful. We’re not going to win this game doing Yoga all day. The way I’m going to win is by working the hardest and the smartest in my chosen field. I didn’t stay in business during the age of Amazon by following the “4-hour work week” myth. My biggest challenge professionally has been within myself, finding the courage to continue no matter what. Sure, I’ve faced obstacles like sexism and cash cliffs and having my designs knocked off just like everyone else. Next! I’ve come to think those external challenges are inevitable. All I can control is how I bring it every day. Make no mistake, growth is hard. This has been the ultimate test of my drive. But it’s the best job ever.
5. Get a coach. I’m really good at leading groups through strategy, figuring out what needs to be measured in order to be improved, zeroing in on the problems to be fixed. My view is that business is ⅓ vision, ⅓ execution, and ⅓ trouble shooting. Even though I am a strong coach and strategic facilitator, I always bring in someone else to lead me through it. Having an outside perspective help reduce group think and allows me to be doing the work rather than leading the work.

You are a person of great influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂

In general, focusing on the helping the most vulnerable people makes the most difference. Right now that is focusing on the safety and rights of transgender people.

How can our readers further follow your work online?

Follow me @sarahcarson_leota and @leotanewyork

Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.

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Modern Fashion: Sarah Carson of Leota On The 5 Things You Need To Lead a Successful Fashion Brand… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Joe Kryszak of Stirling Oils: 5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started Leading a Cannabis or CBD Business

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

The biggest way to fail in this industry — spend too much $$ with marketing companies. Marketing companies are the only ones getting rich in this industry. Learn the basics of marketing and do a deep interview of all the marketing companies.

As part of my series about “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started Leading a Cannabis Business” I had the pleasure of interviewing Joe Kryszak.

Joe Kryszak is the founder and owner of Stirlingcdboil.com & Stirlingprofessional.com. Joe completed his undergraduate at San Diego State University and received his MBA in 2002 from Pepperdine University. Joe has run billion-dollar businesses at HP, Lenovo, and Amazon. In 2014, Joe launched Stirling with the goal of providing a healthy, natural alternative to over-the-counter and prescription medication.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you share with us the story about what brought you to this specific career path?

Growing up in California, I had a passion for Cannabis — it was a part of my social upbringing. In college, the cannabis industry was not a traditional career path and I had some amazing opportunities to develop myself and my business career. After amazing successful years of corporate experience at Fortune 500 companies like Black & Decker, HP, and Amazon, I determined it was time to follow my passion and help lead the wave of holistic health solutions for people. The CBD / Cannabis industry was the logical place to put my energy and passion.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began leading your company? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

Unfortunately, the Cbd/Cannabis industry is full of what we Californians call “posers”. In my 8 years in this industry, I have met 10X the amount of unprofessional, unscrupulous, and arrogant people I have met in my 30 years in the corporate world. The good news is that my experience working with all types of people with different backgrounds and skillsets makes me an excellent evaluator of talent. The biggest lesson I can tell people who want to enter this business? Trust but verify, and then verify again. A bad partnership in this industry means you are doomed.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

A potential partner indicated that they had extracted one of the “Holy Grails” of Cannibionodis — however, he was unwilling to get his product tested and was adamant that all 3rd party testing was a scam and the testing companies were not able to verify his solution. We passed on the partnership and he quickly got bought out. Just 3 months later, that partnership blew up and he potential partner came back to us with a radically reduced fee. We passed on him again…Trust but verify — and then verify again!

Are you working on any exciting projects now? How do you think that will help people?

We are working with leaders in the retail, extraction, B2C and telehealth communities to develop a complete solution for people who are interested, but nervous, about CBD. This will open up a whole new avenue to this amazing solution.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person you are grateful for who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story?

I continually lean on people who are smarter than me in specific areas. As we are in over 200 Chiropractic offices, I have continual contact with people who love, own, and practice healthy solutions. I appreciate all the partnerships I have made and will continue to lean on them for procust advice.

This industry is young dynamic and creative. Do you use any clever and innovative marketing strategies that you think large legacy companies should consider adopting?

The biggest way to fail in this industry — spend too much $$ with marketing companies. Marketing companies are the only ones getting rich in this industry. Learn the basics of marketing and do a deep interview of all the marketing companies.

Can you share your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started Leading a Cannabis Business”? Please share a story or example for each.

• This is not a get rich quick scheme
• You will spend far more time making your company successful than you expect
• Trust is earned in this industry
• Marketing companies are better at marketing themselves than you
• This business is like a good golf shot — “Keep your head down and follow through”

What is the best way our readers can follow you on social media?

https://www.facebook.com/InfoStirlingOils/

https://www.instagram.com/stirlingcbdoil/

This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for joining us!

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Joe Kryszak of Stirling Oils: 5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started Leading a Cannabis… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Cyo Ray Nystrom of Meadow: 5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started Leading a Cannabis or CBD Business

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

Even though cannabis might be legal in your state, it is still considered a vice industry. Do not expect to have the same access to banking, marketing or advertising services, technology, or payment processors.

As a part of my series about strong women leaders in the cannabis industry, I had the pleasure of interviewing Cyo Nystrom.

After dealing with persistent vaginal health issues her whole life, Cyo began making her own proactive vaginal health products at age 23. In 2015, she started as the head of sales at Meadow — a Y Combinator backed company building software for the California Cannabis industry — where she learned about the medicinal benefits of the cannabis plant (specifically for vaginal health and sexual wellness purposes).

Her involvement in the industry is deeply personal, as her father was incarcerated for nonviolent cannabis crimes during her childhood. Resounding support from her earliest product testers inspired Cyo to bring in childhood friend, Rachel Washtien, to create a line of proactive, plant-based intimate health products with a goal of revolutionizing the feminine health aisle one product at a time.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began leading your company? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

In 2018, Quim was featured on an episode of VICELAND TV’s show Slutever. This exposure was huge for our business and — as it turns out — for me personally as well. After the show aired we received an email to our customer support line simply saying, “I’m so happy for you and I couldn’t be more proud.” That was the subject line, with no body text. I have a background in sales and consider myself to be pretty adept at sleuthing on the internet so I was confident that I could figure out who sent this kind message with only their email address as a clue. It turned out to be my father, whom I’d never met. I was raised by a single mom and my father was incarcerated for nonviolent cannabis crimes for the majority of my childhood. Turns out Viceland was his favorite TV network and he recognized my name when he saw me on the television. I ended up meeting him for the first time a few weeks later, which was a truly life changing experience. I’m so grateful that he reached out after seeing the show because he died shortly after we met. This experience reminded me that timing is everything. Also, when things get tough at Quim — which is par for the course at any start up, it’s reassuring to remember all the amazing things that have happened in my life because Rachel and I decided to start this business, including meeting my father.

Do you have a funny story about how someone you knew reacted when they first heard you were getting into the cannabis industry?

Not really. I was pretty vocal about both my interest in the cannabis industry and the fact that I consumed cannabis. Growing up in the bay area, I really didn’t feel like there was much of a stigma, which made my entry into the cannabis industry easier than some. I do know of many folks who had a much harder time coming out about their cannabis use, and I’m grateful to have always had the support of my friends, family and community.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story?

There would simply be no Quim without my co-pilot and business partner, Rachel Washtien. I had been making vaginal health products for years and probably still would be but she’s the reason those home brewed topicals can now be found in Urban Outfitters and Madewell and so many other shops across the world. She has the most impressive work ethic of anyone I know and her stamina is unmatched. We are so different in our skill sets and I couldn’t think of a better person to run Quim with.

Are you working on any new or exciting projects now? How do you think that will help people?

Yes! We’re working on launching a number of exciting new products this year and we’re also bringing on a notable new partner who will accelerate our brand awareness in key demographics. We also JUST launched the travel-size version of our Happy Clam Everyday Oil and Smooth Operator Intimate Serum — the perfect on-the-go companion for summer!

According to this report in Entrepreneur, less than 25 percent of cannabis businesses are run by women. In your opinion or experience, what 3 things can be done by a)individuals b)companies and/or c) society to support greater gender parity moving forward?

I think as a society we can do a better job at raising women with a higher appetite for risk and better self-confidence. I think those are qualities we do a better job at fostering in young boys and I think those are two qualities that are very helpful to have in your toolkit if you’re going to start your own business.

You are a “Cannabis Insider”. If you had to advise someone about 5 non intuitive things one should know to succeed in the cannabis industry, what would you say? Can you please give a story or an example for each.

I actually think that many of my recommendations on how to succeed in the industry are pretty intuitive, but here are a few things I think are really important to understand –

1. Even though cannabis is legal for adult consumption in many states (CA, NV, CO, OR, WA, etc), that doesn’t mean you can sell your products across state lines. I can’t tell you how many many prospective investors have encouraged us to sell our THC products in other states without understanding the implications of that suggestion. For that to be feasible — and to be clear, it’s something we’re planning on doing eventually — we’d need to either set up a licensed manufacturing/distribution/sales operation in that state which takes a huge influx of capital or negotiate a licensing deal with a vertically integrated MSO (multi-state operator).
2. THC and CBD are derived from the same plant but in many states dispensaries are not legally allowed to sell products hemp-derived CBD products or products w/o any amount of THC in them. Same goes for manufacturing. This varies state to state — another reason why its so important to understand the regulations in the state or states you are operating in — but in California a business that manufactures THC products CANNOT legally manufacture products without THC or hemp derived CBD products. This means if you plan to sell both THC and THC-free products, you’ll need separate manufacturers, distributors, retailers, and potentially even websites, social media handles, and business entities. It’s a lot more complicated and less intuitive than other industries which can make it more difficult to expand, fundraise, and even survive.
3. Even though cannabis might be legal in your state, it is still considered a vice industry. Do not expect to have the same access to banking, marketing or advertising services, technology, or payment processors.

Can you share 3 things that most excite you about the cannabis industry?

1. Scientific backed research to illustrate the broad spectrum of medicinal uses for the cannabis plant.
2. National legislation and interstate transportation.
3. The fact that when states legalize cannabis they see a decrease in opiate related deaths.

Can you share 3 things that most concern you about the industry? If you had the ability to implement 3 ways to reform or improve the industry, what would you suggest?

1. Outsiders regulating the industry w/o out a comprehensive understanding of the industry
2. Insanely high taxes stymying growth in the market and pushing people to the black market
3. Black and brown people who felt the brunt of the war on drugs being locked out of the growth opportunities of the industry.

What are your thoughts about federal legalization of cannabis? If you could speak to your Senator, what would be your most persuasive argument regarding why they should or should not pursue federal legalization?

I think it needs to happen and it needs to be done right by people with a deep understanding of the industry dynamics.

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Cyo Ray Nystrom of Meadow: 5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started Leading a Cannabis or… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.