Day: November 26, 2022

Female Founders: Erika Maldonado of Calicia Care On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed…

Female Founders: Erika Maldonado of Calicia Care On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed as a Woman Founder

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

Believe in yourself even when it seems nobody else does. While I do feel lucky to have the support system I do, sometimes it’s just not enough. You have to pull the strength from within and work past any challenges you might face.

As a part of our series about “Why We Need More Women Founders”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Erika Maldonado of Calicia Care.

Two sisters, Lexi Maldonado, RN, BSN and Erika Maldonado, EdD, started a new concept in healthcare, “ritzy recovery,” in Beverly Hills, Calif. Calicia Care offers patients superior 24/7 nursing care as well a myriad luxury services as they heal post-op. A portmanteau of their beloved grandmothers’ first names Carmen and Alicia, Calicia Care’s amenities include limousine transportation to and from the surgery center accompanied by the patient’s own dedicated nurse, a suite at a luxury hotel such as the Beverly Wilshire, private entries and elevators to avoid the gazing eyes of the public and a great number of other, more unusual services to meet their unusual demands as one of the few such businesses in the nation devoted to serving this rarified, affluent patient base.

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 “backstory”? What led you to this particular career path?

My backstory begins with having earned a Masters degree in Learning Technologies and a Doctorate in Educational Change and Leadership then I started my career at an education technology company where I pursued my passion of creating meaningful online experiences for learning. And, when I accepted that position at the company it was a start-up. I absolutely fell in love with the bootstrap environment and became very comfortable with being uncomfortable…that is making something out of the unknown. After being with the company for some time, it went public and it was an amazing experience being there at that time. I had never experienced anything like I did there where the company grew from just a few employees to well into the thousands. I witnessed, firsthand, the IPO and it being listed on NASDAQ. It was so inspiring, in fact, that it laid the groundwork for pursuing my ambition to launch my own company. I learned so much from the top leaders of the company as it grew exponentially due to their great leadership abilities and overall capabilities. This intensified my desire to break out, follow in their footsteps and make my own mark in the business world, but I just wasn’t sure what kind of company to launch. Fast forward a few years and my sister, Lexi, had been a nurse for a long time and she was working in post-op care with celebrities and a very upscale clientele. She was constantly talking about how she was having such a great time doing it, how clients loved her, how doctors loved her, and she would also sometimes vent her frustrations about how her company and others like it were not living up to their potential. There was so much room for improvement in the field that it started my wheels turning even though I had been involved in the healthcare arena before. But I was intrigued nonetheless as starting my own business in this field would not only be lucrative but it would make a positive difference in people’s lives. From the moment of conception things have moved at breakneck speed for us. My sister and I named the company in honor of our grandmothers, Carmen and Alicia so Calicia Care was born. It’s been particularly rewarding as I have been able to integrate my knowledge of technology, business, and education and create a business that holistically addresses the post-op needs of patients.

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

Our very first patient was someone who was having surgery by famed plastic surgeon Paul Nassif, M.D. from the hit reality show, “Botched.” I thought that was so cool, because we were just starting out and the patient did not want her post-op care from a company Dr. Nassif suggested, but chose our service instead. She opted for Calicia Care because she was seeking a service with top-notch care and was Latin and female owned and operated. She found us via the social media content that we had been posting in preparation of opening our doors. It emphasized our unique amenities and experienced staff. She herself was a Latina and acclaimed in her field. It was also pretty exciting because Dr. Nassif actually has a velvet red rope in front of his offices and one must be personally granted access — very exclusive.

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?

Yes! Our branding consultant and I spent a tremendous amount of time perfecting our logo. Our name is meaningful to us because it represents the matriarchs of our family and I also wanted our colors to engender a certain “vibe.” After much back and forth, we finally came up with something really beautiful. But before making our final decision, we did our due diligence and took a deep dive into what the competition branding was like. That’s when we came upon a logo that was very similar to the one we were contemplating. Needless to say, we went back to the drawing board and started all over again.

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 about that?

My grandmama, Alicia Garrido, who just recently passed away, was a huge inspiration to me. She lived with our family and helped raise my sisters and me. She was strong, stern, kind, warm, and also one of my biggest supporters. She was always very frank…she said what was on her mind and did not hold back. I often reflect on the sacrifices that she made as a single mother who immigrated from Ecuador with my mom in tow. She lived a tough life — her mother, brother and sister all died before she was 25 — but she was indomitable…no matter what challenges she faced, she met them head-on, learned important life lessons and forged ahead. I so admire her and try to emulate her.

Ok, thank you for that. Let’s now jump to the primary focus of our interview. According to this EY report, only about 20 percent of funded companies have women founders. This reflects great historical progress, but it also shows that more work still has to be done to empower women to create companies. In your opinion and experience what is currently holding back women from founding companies?

Being scared of the unknown and not having the confidence to pursue what dreams they may hold dear. In my experience, especially in the corporate world, men intrinsically have the confidence to speak out — sometimes even when they are not masters of that subject. So, being a woman and wanting to do something like starting a business takes guts and the ability to stay focused.

Can you help articulate a few things that can be done as individuals, as a society, or by the government, to help overcome those obstacles?

Shift the focus entirely when it comes to asking women about their goals. As soon as I got married, I was constantly being asked when I was intending to start a family. This despite them knowing that I am a Latina with a doctorate. I love kids and I want them someday, but being who I am and having the education that I worked so hard for is a big part of who I am and I’m proud of it. Maybe 1% of female Hispanics can call themselves doctor yet my educational accomplishments were oftentimes dismissed or overlooked. It’s time for society to recognize the growing achievements of women and women of color, in particular. I like to say that before asking a woman when she plans to start a family, ask her husband.

This might be intuitive to you as a woman founder but I think it will be helpful to spell this out. Can you share a few reasons why more women should become founders?

Why not? There are so many entrepreneurial stories shared by men and you know why? Because they just do it. There’s no reason in the world not put your dreams into action. The only thing that holds us back are our fears and inhibitions. So embrace your dreams and go for it.

What are the “myths” that you would like to dispel about being a founder? Can you explain what you mean?

I think being a founder of a business can seem luxurious and glamorous from the outside. But, it’s not all that. Sometimes my day is filled escorting my patients, picking up their prescriptions, taking care of business for them and other mundane duties. While these aspects of my business are not “glamorous,” they are necessary for running a successful business.

Is everyone cut out to be a founder? In your opinion, which specific traits increase the likelihood that a person will be a successful founder and what type of person should perhaps seek a “regular job” as an employee? Can you explain what you mean?

Anyone can be a founder but you won’t get far without grit. You need to have grit. It’s one thing to have an idea for a business, thoughts, dreams etc. But, it’s completely different to actually do it. And, having grit means you do just that…even on the days that are hard, even when you want to give up, and especially when you don’t feel like every single person around you is doing their best to support you.

Ok super. Here is the main question of our interview. What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started” and why? (Please share a story or example for each.)

Believe in yourself even when it seems nobody else does. While I do feel lucky to have the support system I do, sometimes it’s just not enough. You have to pull the strength from within and work past any challenges you might face.

Get comfortable with the unknown. There is no single blueprint for running a successful business, even businesses that resemble your own. So, get ready to face the unknown and get excited about where that journey takes you.

Be prepared for unexpected costs and build a reserve to help you overcome any challenges you may not have been prepared to face. Know that you are going to incur costs ranging from acquiring a business license to retaining legal advice.

Just do it! Don’t be daunted when you feel less than confident about a matter. Go for it and move on.

Be prepared to lose some people in your life. I made the decision that those who didn’t support me or tried to make me feel insecure about my abilities had to go. I recommend taking a tally of those around you who truly add value to your life and holding on tight to them.

How have you used your success to make the world a better place?

We are opening society’s eyes to the world of post-op care. Currently, most of our business is helping plastic surgery patients. And we’re finding that Calicia Care is not just for celebrities and the rich and famous. It’s for the mom who wants to rejuvenate herself after having 2, 3, 4 kids. It’s for the 70-year-old woman who is undergoing a breast reduction to finally relieve the back pain that having large breasts has caused her. It’s for the gentleman who undergoes a facelift to gain a new lease on life.

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

My movement would be Carpe Diem. Life is short and you never know what’s going to happen. We may as well make the best of it and take chances, take risks, do anything that we have to do to make dreams a reality.

We are very blessed that some very prominent names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them.

I adore Shakira. She speaks several languages, had a successful media career, is an extraordinary performer, and manages several businesses while giving back to her community.

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

Female Founders: Erika Maldonado of Calicia Care On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Dreamers: “They Told Me It Was Impossible And I Did It Anyway” With Adriana Lynch of Chief…

Dreamers: “They Told Me It Was Impossible And I Did It Anyway” With Adriana Lynch of Chief Outsiders

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

Embrace change. Life throws curve balls at all of us along the journey. But, it is how we react and how we file those moments in our hearts and our minds that will come to the surface when we mature. I came to this country with a dream, and despite the curve balls thrown at me, now at 56, I get to throw them back and play ball!

As a part of our series about “dreamers who ignored the naysayers and did what others said was impossible,” I had the pleasure of interviewing Adriana Lynch.

Adriana Lynch (or Adri, as she likes to be called) has over 25 years of experience in Strategy and Brand Management. Her global experience has demonstrated significant success in creating and executing award-winning strategies and plans to improve product positioning, brand recognition, and revenue.

A wiz at brand and business strategy, Adriana has held management positions with The Walt Disney Co., Häagen-Dazs, Pillsbury International, Procter & Gamble (P&G), and St. Joseph Health System. After being classically trained in Brand Management at P&G Brazil — where she managed Pampers and Always — Adriana came to the USA and got her MBA from Harvard, graduating in 1996 with Second Year Honors.

Adriana’s global career has taken her throughout Asia, Russia, the Middle East, Greece, Israel, and Latin America.

Adri and her husband, Patrick, live in Newport Beach, CA, with their two sons, Connor (20) and Taylor (13). Adri is also very involved in their community leading the HearAid Foundation as their CEO, with the mission to provide hearing aids to those who can’t afford them since it is not covered by insurance (www.hearaidfoundation.org).

Thank you so much for joining us! Our readers would love to ‘get to know you better. Are you working on any new or exciting projects now? How will that help people?

By far, the most impactful work I do is with The HearAid Foundation, which provides hearing aids to those who cannot afford them since hearing aids are rarely covered by insurance in the U.S.

Allow me to explain the root of my passion for this cause. I am an only child, and once I became a (PROUD) American Citizen, I sponsored my parents’ green cards, and they both moved to this country at the ripe age of 75. My dad (who passed away five weeks ago) always suffered from Meniere’s Disease, which left him deaf. That’s when I met Dr. Jack Shohet, a renowned surgeon and wonderful human being who performed a cochlear implant on my dad — hearing again brought my dad back to life! After six years of silence, my dad became isolated and depressed. Now he was back to being “my dad.”

Frustrated by the lack of insurance coverage for hearing aids to help those in need, Dr. Shohet founded The HearAid Foundation and asked me to join as a Board Member in 2012. This was the perfect opportunity to put my business mind and gift to work for the greater good. Fast forward to 2015. I became the volunteer CEO for the Foundation.

We are all volunteers, a daring and daunting business model for non-profits, but it allows 100 percent of all donations to benefit those in need (ok, 99 percent, we have to host the website, buy stamps, etc.). Whenever I have the pleasure of going to a fitting, i.e., the session where an audiologist fits a recipient with their brand new hearing aids, I cry. It is a life-changing moment for our recipients, and I am honored to be a small part of it.

What makes your company or organization stand out from the crowd?

Hands down, Purpose. Consumers today choose very carefully which Brand gets their hard-earned money. Purpose-driven companies get ahead of the pack and gather customers’ dollars and loyalty. This is true for Brands that sell direct to consumers (think Bombas Socks, Toms Shoes, Natura & Co.) but also for business-to-business. Today, all sorts of institutions, including financial institutions, are taking more responsibility for their role in the world and are being rewarded with loyalty, revenue, and profits.

Ok, thank you for that. Then, I’d like to jump to the main focus of this interview. Has there ever been a time that someone told you something was impossible, but you did it anyway? Can you share the story with us? What was your idea? What was the reaction of the naysayers? And how did you overcome that?

I heard I could not leave my country, my beloved Brazil, a great place to visit and a tough place to live. I heard I would never get admitted to Harvard. I heard I would never work in the US…much less for Disney, a dream of mine.

When admitted to Harvard, I heard I would never be able to pay for it. When Fundacao Estudar offered me a scholarship to fund my second year at Harvard (my first year was grueling, typing papers to pay for room and board!), I heard I would never succeed in corporate America. The more I heard “you can’t,” the more I felt “I will.”

In the end, how were all the naysayers proven wrong? 🙂

Resilience and hard work pay off. Truth be told, when you hear so many times “you can’t,” it kind of gets to you. So, I applied only to Harvard Business School and did not tell a soul — only my boss and a teacher, who had to send letters of recommendation, knew — as rejection hurts less when it’s dealt with in private. So, I sent the application and waited for a refusal.

But I still remember the day a box from Harvard arrived, signaling approval and full of pre-work. It was May 4, 1994. I was shocked! When I told my parents, my father was happy for about two seconds and then turned white, thinking about how we would afford it. So I began to look for alternatives and found Fundação Estudar, which gave me a scholarship. The academic experience at Harvard changed my life, and since 2010, I have served as a Harvard College recruiter, my way of giving back.

I was determined to stay in the US, so I applied for ten jobs and received nine offers upon Graduation. I chose to work for Pillsbury International purely based on company culture. They had an open-door policy, and I felt everyone’s opinions were heard. It proved to be one of the most rewarding moves of my career. I was with Pillsbury between 1996 and 2000, first as the International Marketing Manager for Russia, the Middle East, Greece, and Israel, then as Director of New Products for Häagen-Dazs, where I had the honor to be at the forefront of the launch of the Dulce de Leche flavor, a worldwide success that turned out to be a case study at Harvard.

Then in 2000, Mickey called, and I packed my bags for California, where I still live. Disney — the only one among the ten companies that did not make me an offer out of Harvard- invited me to be Disneyland’s Director of Brand Strategy. They had not forgotten!

It was a dream come true. They were asking ME, a LATINA, to lead the strategy of one of the most iconic Brands in the World — Disneyland.

We can only achieve success with some help along the way. Is there a particular person you are grateful to who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

My first job out of undergrad in Brazil was with Citibank, where I had my first Mentor. Honestly, he still is a mentor. He believed in me as a young professional; thought I could fulfill my dreams. It challenged me when I doubted myself and played a critical role in my life by writing an incredible letter of recommendation to Harvard on my behalf. We are still close, and I consider him a role model in the global business community.

It must not have been easy to ignore all the naysayers. Have you had any experiences growing up that contributed to building your resiliency? Can you share the story with us?

My Dad was an incredible businessman who faced adversity but never gave up. His work ethic, honesty, and dedication to his family and mission were parallel to none and imprinted on me.

Based on your experience, can you share five strategies people can use to harness the sense of tenacity and do what naysayers think is impossible? (Please share a story or an example for each)

Turn those words of discouragement around, and make it your mantra to build resilience. My Mantra was, “I sure can.” Simple but powerful when you say it to yourself and believe it.
Celebrate EVERY achievement. I don’t know if it is only me, I am going to guess not, but when we face so many obstacles and adversities when success comes into our lives, we almost feel ashamed. Why? Why can’t we celebrate our achievements? It fuels so to pursue more endeavors! It’s in that spirit that I share here two of the Awards I received throughout my career and of which I am most proud.
American Business Association — Woman of Distinction, 2003
Stevie Award, Silver — CMO Maverick of the Year, 2014
Yes we can, Si, se puede!
Have your priorities clear. At times in my career, I had t stop the career ladder and care for my family; it was the BEST thing I could have done. I took two years off to care for my youngest son when he was two years old, and it was the best decision ever. Was I scared of what that “time off” would do to my career? No. I had my priorities right.
Be passionate. Put your gifts to work at something you are passionate about. My gift is to solve complex problems to help businesses grow. That philosophy and energy got me to find my business home with Chief Outsiders. We affectionately call ourselves the Tribe. We are 120 robust Chief Marketing Officers and Chief Sales Offices from around the country focused on helping mid-market companies grow and thrive and continuously learning from each other.
Embrace change. Life throws curve balls at all of us along the journey. But, it is how we react and how we file those moments in our hearts and our minds that will come to the surface when we mature. I came to this country with a dream, and despite the curve balls thrown at me, now at 56, I get to throw them back and play ball!

What is your favorite quote or personal philosophy that relates to the concept of resilience?

“When you walk with purpose, you collide with destiny.” Dr. Bertice Berry

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

Giving the gift of hearing through the HearAid Foundation is the movement I dedicate my life to. Unfortunately, 20% of people in the US have been affected by hearing loss, often leading to problems with balance, lack of speech, isolation, and depression. Over-the-counter hearing aids are a first good step to help some, but since those hearing aids amplify all sound frequencies equally, they mainly help those with mild hearing loss. Therefore, I urge all of you to visit HearAidFoundation.Org and donate to give the gift of hearing.

Can our readers follow you on social media?

Of course! How fun…

LinkedIN — https://www.linkedin.com/in/pozzani/

Thank you for these great stories. We wish you only continued success!

Dreamers: “They Told Me It Was Impossible And I Did It Anyway” With Adriana Lynch of Chief… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Modern Fashion: Lisset Verde On The 5 Things You Need To Lead a Successful Fashion Brand Today

An Interview With Candice Georgiadice

I see a tendency to do better than in the past. Be it through mindful choices like ethical sourcing, which has a less negative effect on the environment, or through helping others less fortunate, like we do with Wuitusu. Customers are demanding sustainable practices, and the fashion industry is responding. It is encouraging to encounter companies that try to better their artisans’ environments, use recyclable materials to create their products, or directly help a cause close to their hearts.

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 Lisset Verde.

L.A. fashion brand and storefront Wuitusu was founded in 2019 by Lisset Verde. Wuitusu specializes in high-end apparel and accessories handmade by the Colombia and Venezuela Wayuu tribe artisans. Currently, Wuitusu has two Los Angeles storefront locations: Santa Monica Place and Ovation Hollywood (formerly Hollywood & Highland).

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 was born in Venezuela, in a working class family, and I had a very happy childhood surrounded by hundreds of relatives, and friends. I always loved reading: I’d prefer to stay in my room reading than go out. I loved reading about people in other countries and their cultures. One of the novels that influenced me was “Sobre la Misma Tierra” about the plights of the Wayuu people in my country. This was my first introduction to the Wayuu culture, and now that I work with them, I remember my childhood readings. I find it an honor to work alongside such an impressive culture where artisans can make a difference in their lives doing the crafts that have been practiced in their culture for centuries, and where women can make important decisions in their society as it is a matrilineal one. That information impressed me and made me wonder how it would be to live in a society like that.

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

I have always been interested in fashion, and about 5 years ago I fell in love with a Wayuu hat and bag I saw online. They were super expensive and I started researching about them. I figured out they were handmade by member of the Wayuu tribe, who live in Colombia and Venezuela, my birth country. I was a teacher at the time and a student of mine told me she had friends living close to Wayuu territory, and these friends could buy me one bag and one hat. After thinking about it, I asked these friends if they could buy me 13 hats and 13 bags (lucky number 13!) and I started selling them among friends and acquaintances. It is a pleasure for me to offer our customers gorgeous, one-of-a-kind handmade products that are not found everywhere, and we can offer them for a reasonable price.

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

I think the most interesting story that has happened to me since I began Wuitusu was having Patricia Velasquez, the President of The Wayuu Taya Foundation praise the work Wuitusu does. I had followed her career faithfully since she was a 90s supermodel and Hollywood actress, but especially the great labor she does with Wayuu Taya in favor of the most vulnerable members of the Wayuu people. So, her praise was just a dream come true.

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?

Self-awareness: I know my strengths and weaknesses — what I’m good at or can learn effectively, and what I am truly not good at. This self-knowledge makes it easy for me to ask for help and surround myself with people who know what I do not.

Curiosity: I love learning new things, skills, and about people and cultures. This openness has made it easier for me to understand and communicate with different people: old and young, and people from different countries. I can adapt easier than others to new places, and that’s why I made the USA my home.

Respect: I truly believe we need to respect everyone, no matter the social status, religion, skin color, or any other differences. My Wayuu partners, employees, and customers can feel that in our interactions, and that allows for better relationships.

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

I think Wuitusu stands out not only because we offer a beautiful, unique, and meaningful product, but also because each item is so different that it seems like it was made tailored for one person. I always tell the customer that they will know which one is the right bag, or hat, or clutch for them, because there is a special one for each person. If not, we can have it made for them. Besides the special products we sell, we also give back to the community. From the very beginning we have been faithful to our motto: “Beauty with a Conscience,” and we have made sure to support causes close to our hearts. Through “Helping Children in Venezuela” we help feed children in impoverished communities every Sunday, and through “The Wayuu Taya Foundation” our customers can help feed five Wayuu children with each $50 purchase.

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

“Never say no.” I have basically learned not to let my fears say no to opportunities that present themselves to me. I finished high school when I was 15 years old, and won a scholarship to study here, in the USA. I was so scared to come here, never having left my home country, and there were challenges, but it was one of the decisions that made me who I am now.

Ok, thank you for that. Let’s now jump to the primary focus of our interview. 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?

I see a tendency to do better than in the past. Be it through mindful choices like ethical sourcing, which has a less negative effect on the environment, or through helping others less fortunate, like we do with Wuitusu. Customers are demanding sustainable practices, and the fashion industry is responding. It is encouraging to encounter companies that try to better their artisans’ environments, use recyclable materials to create their products, or directly help a cause close to their hearts.

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

I think Wuitusu brings goodness to this world in two ways. The fist way is that we are a slow fashion company. We value fair trade and honesty while we bring value to our customers in the form of a product they cannot find in many stores. We introduce them to a new culture that they did not know existed, in many cases.

Also, Wuitusu is always looking to help others less fortunate. We started partnering with “Helping Children in Venezuela” for which we have collected clothes, shoes, toys, medicine, and food through many fundraising events and drives. Then, we partnered with “The Wayuu Taya Foundation” through which our customers can help feed Wayuu children with the purchases they make in the stores and on our website.

Can you share with our readers about the ethical standards you use when you choose where to source materials?

We make sure to work only with members of the Wayuu tribe. Wayuu bags can be sourced from other countries where they are made and sold cheaper, but we consider Wayuu bags to be cultural heritage of the Wayuu people, an expression of the way they look at the world that surrounds them, so we make sure to purchase only from them.

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?

Wuitusu teaches customers the importance of a Wayuu product: that it reflects the viewpoint of Wayuu artisans, their traditions, dreams, and how they view the world that surrounds them. We also explain the amount of time each item takes to be made, in some cases months. We hope they care for and love their purchase because these are items that can last a long time, and they can even be passed onto the next generation.

Thank you for all that. Here is the main question of our interview. What are your “5 Things You Need To Lead a Successful Fashion Brand”. Please share a story or example for each.

Know your customer: who they are and what they want.

Know your product, your vendors, and your limitations.

Know your numbers: know your costs and the price customers are willing to pay.

Be resourceful: be able to mitigate the problems you encounter with practical solutions.

Pray that luck will be on your side.

Every industry constantly evolves and seeks improvement. How do you think the fashion industry can improve itself? Can you give an example?

Many companies in the fashion industry are under pressure to cut costs, which leads the industry towards producing in low-cost countries under poor conditions, even at times forcing children to work. Nowadays, customers are more and more conscious about all these production processes. They are penalizing those companies that are relentlessly pushing down costs, even by unethical means. Customers are seeking meaningful products that are made ethically. They want the industry to support ethical measures, not exploitative ones.

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. 🙂

I would tell people to make “purchases that do good” either buying from small businesses because it is known they help support their communities, or from small companies that help protect the environment, or directly help the communities that make their products, like Wuitusu does.

Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this. How can our readers further follow your work online?

https://wuitusu.com/

http://instagram.com/wuitusu

https://twitter.com/WUITUSU1

https://www.facebook.com/wuitusu

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

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

Power Women: Pattie Ehsaei On How To Successfully Navigate Work, Love and Life As A Powerful Woman

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

Act The Part: Men, due to their confidence, walk around the office like they own the place. Their heads up, chest out. Women on the other hand, tend to be shrinking violets, heads down, shoulders crouched. This body language demonstrates a lack of confidence and people will treat you accordingly.

How does a successful, strong, and powerful woman navigate work, employee relationships, love, and life in a world that still feels uncomfortable with strong women? In this interview series, called “Power Women” we are talking to accomplished women leaders who share their stories and experiences navigating work, love and life as a powerful woman.

As a part of this series, I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Pattie Ehsaei.

Known as the “The Duchess of Decorum” by her 960,000+ followers, Pattie Ehsaei (@duchessofdecorum TikTok ), has established herself as the expert of “P’s and Q’s.” Pattie’s TikTok teachings on social and workplace etiquette and financial literacy have over 6.1 MILLION likes — answering questions such as “How do I make and keep a budget?” “What is this little fork for?” “How do I ask for a raise?” “How can I be financially smart in a relationship?” These are the type of questions that Pattie provides real and honest answers to, that keep her fans begging for more. A lawyer by trade and currently a Senior Vice President of Mergers and Acquisitions lending for a major national bank, Pattie is the perfect example of “tough but fair” and believes that success comes from information and empowerment.

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 was born in Iran and immigrated to the US at the onset of the Iranian revolution. We first moved to Beaumont, TX where our only US based family member resided. I didn’t speak a word of English and had a very difficult time assimilating. Not only was the culture extremely different, but no one looked or sounded like me and my parents. Due to the language barrier, my parents had difficulty finding work and thus, we struggled with our finances.

Out of necessity, I started working at the age of 10, going door to door in our apartment complex, collecting residents’ trash and hoping for a quarter. That is when I first experience the gratification of earning your own money and financial independence, which has been the driver of my success.

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

I started out as a criminal prosecutor in the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office in Chicago. As a person of Iranian descent, the expectation is to be a doctor, a lawyer, an engineer, or a disappointment. Fortunately, I was always very interested in the law and I decided to take that path. When I moved to Los Angeles in 2001, I was set to work at a bankruptcy firm. Prior to starting, I accompanied a friend to a job fair where I met the hiring manager for Wells Fargo Bank merchant services. We immediately clicked and he was interested in hiring me as a sales representative to sell credit card processing. Although that wasn’t of great interest to me, I inquired about the advancement opportunities and learned that if I knocked it out of the park, I could very quickly advance to a management position. I took the job and 4 months later I was the #1 salesperson in the organization. Shortly after, I was promoted to a manager and have worked my way up to now being an SVP of Mergers and Acquisitions financing.

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

When I first started out as a prosecutor, I was in Traffic Court. My salary was meager and I had to work as a waitress in the evenings to be able to support myself. One night, a group of men were seated in my section at the restaurant. One of them continuously referred to me as “babe.” I repeatedly asked that he call me by my name, “Pattie.” He refused to listen and finally asked, “why are you so offended by that word?” I replied, “It’s a derogatory term. It would like me calling you ‘Bro.’” He got very offended, called me racist (as he was African American), and asked for my manager. My manager reprimanded me and didn’t listen to my side of the story.

I went into the broom closet and began to cry. To this day, that is the only time I’ve cried at work. While in the closet, I spoke to “the Universe,” and said, “I don’t have power to shut this man down because I’m in a subservient position. But please give him what he deserves.”

The following morning while I was prepping my cases in my courtroom, guess who walked in? “Bro.” Turns out, he had too much to drink the night before, got in his car, and was arrested for a DUI. And his case was in MY courtroom.

He walked up to me and said, “Are you the Public Defender in this courtroom?” To which I replied, “No, I’m the first chair prosecutor, please have a seat.” I then turned my back so he wouldn’t see the huge smile on my face.

Needless to say, I didn’t cut him any slack. He tried to be assigned a Public Defender but based on his car, I knew he didn’t qualify and made sure the court knew. He was forced to come back with an attorney, insisted on a trial, which he lost. In sentencing, he received a higher sentence due to his arrogance and lack of cooperation. It was one of the best and most satisfying days of my life. The Universe does not like ugly.

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?

The 3 character traits most instrumental to my success are 1) persistence, 2) discipline, and 3) consistency. When I started in financial services selling credit card processing, the first few months were rough. I went door to door, in 100-degree heat for at least 8 hours a day, 5 days a week and didn’t sell anything for the first month. In fact, I was kicked out of so many establishments. Most people would have given up. But I knew if I continued on this path, staying persistent and having the discipline to continue my activities, I would succeed. Every time I failed, I just got right back up. Toward the end of my second month, I signed my first deal and shortly after, my second, and then skyrocketed to the #1 salesperson in the organization. There is no substitute for persistence, discipline, and consistency.

Ok, thank you for that. Let’s now jump to the primary focus of our interview. The premise of this series assumes that our society still feels uncomfortable with strong women. Why do you think this is so?

We have been inculcated to expect women to act and be a certain way; namely demure, gentle, and agreeable. Women can say the same exact thing, in the same exact tone as a man and he will be seen as strong and decisive, whereas we’re seen as aggressive and bossy. The moment a woman does not conform to our expectations of how we believe a woman should act, we’re taken aback and feel threatened. Then we try to muzzle her by calling her unbecoming names so she can stop her non-conforming behavior and to make ourselves “comfortable” again. It’s all a result of sexist societal indoctrination.

Without saying any names, can you share a story from your own experience that illustrates this idea?

Given I work in a male-dominated industry, I’m typically the only woman in the room. I was in a meeting with all men and one of them made a suggestion which I disagreed with. A male colleague said, “I don’t think that’s a good idea and it opens us up to liability.” I piggy-backed on this comment and said, “I agree with “X”, we should look for an alternative solution which is better in line with the mission of our company.” Later that day, my boss asked me to his office and told me I was disrespectful to the male colleague who made the suggestions and came off as “aggressive.” I was floored. I couldn’t have been more respectful or professional in my approach. I asked if “X” was told the same thing because his statement specifically said our colleague’s idea “wasn’t good?” As expected, his comment was received as perfectly acceptable, and mine was not.

What should a powerful woman do in a context where she feels that people are uneasy around her?

In order for things to change, women have to call it out. In the example above, I asked my boss to provide me with specifics around how my comment was disrespectful or aggressive. He couldn’t, he said it was just a “feeling.” I didn’t let him get away with it and said, “I’m open to constructive feedback. However, the next time you want to provide constructive feedback, I would appreciate empirical data regarding the behavior at hand, rather than a ‘feeling.” He never did that again.

What do we need to do as a society to change the unease around powerful women?

We need to understand where our discomfort comes from, which is strictly from our archaic beliefs around the standard norms of behavior for women. Once we understand this, we are more open to look inward and determine whether our discomfort is actually valid. We can ask ourselves, “would I feel the same way if she were a man.” That’s the first step to change.

In my own experience, I have observed that often women have to endure ridiculous or uncomfortable situations to achieve success that men don’t have to endure. Do you have a story like this from your own experience? Can you share it with us?

In a lunch meeting with a prospective male client, he suggested that I should grow my nails longer because he found it more attractive. I was so shocked by his statement that I asked him to repeat himself, and he did. After reprimanding him for his comment, I got up from the table and left. Unfortunately, this situation is very common for women. Men often give themselves permission to comment on our looks, yet they would never do the same to a man. Further, men believe we are still “Barbie dolls” with the goal of looking attractive for them, and they have little shame in making this known.

In your opinion, what are the biggest challenges faced by women leaders that aren’t typically faced by their male counterparts?

The double standard, by men and women, on how a woman leader “should act.” We want our women leaders to lead with compassion and understanding, but don’t expect the same from men. For men, it’s all about business and that is acceptable. Women on the other hand, are expected to be more nurturing. What is missing in this expectation is the understanding that women leaders have to work twice as hard and outperform their male counterparts to achieve their level of success. They have to fight and claw their way to the top. And when they finally arrive to the top, now, that same woman is expected to be “soft and cuddly.” That is impossible because if she were “soft and cuddly,” she would not have been able to reach this level of success because the men would have eaten her alive. To have such an expectation from women leaders is not practical.

Let’s now shift our discussion to a slightly different direction. This is a question that nearly everyone with a job has to contend with. Was it difficult to fit your personal and family life into your business and career? For the benefit of our readers, can you articulate precisely what the struggle was?

I am not married and do not have children, so my struggle probably is not as great as women who have one or both. However, I have been in relationships where my partners felt I worked too much or prioritized my work over their needs. In those situations, I tried to find out what exactly they required in order for them to feel happy and valued in the relationship. If I could meet those needs without significant impact to my career, I was happy to do it. If not, then I knew it wasn’t a good for either one of us. My fiancé now understands my work requirements as I understand his, and we schedule time to spend with one another that meets both of our needs.

What was a tipping point that helped you achieve a greater balance or greater equilibrium between your work life and personal life? What did you do to reach this equilibrium?

Truthfully, I can’t say I have reached an “equilibrium” because in order to be exceptional at something, other things have to suffer. However, I did have an eye-opening moment on the rudeness of my behavior. I was dating someone right as I started a new job. My focus was completely on that job and at times, I failed to return his calls or make time for him. He called me out and said, “if you don’t even have the courtesy to return my call, then I don’t think we’re a good match.” The word “courtesy” stood out because he was right. Being consumed with work doesn’t give anyone the right to be discourteous or impolite. While the relationship ultimately didn’t last, I made it a point to be mindful of my manners.

I work in the beauty tech industry, so I am very interested to hear your philosophy or perspective about beauty. In your role as a powerful woman and leader, how much of an emphasis do you place on your appearance? Do you see beauty as something that is superficial, or is it something that has inherent value for a leader in a public context? Can you explain what you mean?

“Beauty” is a broad term and it means different things to different people. I put a great deal of emphasis on my appearance, but the goal is not to look “beautiful.” The goal is to look professional, polished, and put together. People underestimate the importance of appearance, especially in a professional setting. Before you open your mouth or make any other type of impression, your appearance is the first thing people notice and this first impression will be carried with them throughout the rest of your interaction. This is why appearance is so important. I always say your appearance should never outperform your substantive skills. This means, your appearance should not be “distracting” or take focus away from the business at hand. The moment focus is steered away from your words and directed toward your appearance, you’re losing the business game.

How is this similar or different for men?

Society seems to give men a pass when it comes to their weight and age. Women are more scrutinized in these areas. However, men who are disheveled or dressed unprofessionally are equally scrutinized in the workplace.

Ok super. Here is the main question of our interview. Based on your opinion and experience, what are the “Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed as a Powerful Woman?” (Please share a story or example for each.)

Confidence.: You have to believe you are just as good as your male counterparts. We’ve been inculcated to believe that we are less than and because of this, we exude inferiority in the workplace. Inferiority is smelled a mile away and if you feel inferior, people will treat you as such.
Act The Part: Men, due to their confidence, walk around the office like they own the place. Their heads up, chest out. Women on the other hand, tend to be shrinking violets, heads down, shoulders crouched. This body language demonstrates a lack of confidence and people will treat you accordingly.
Make Your Voice Heard: Women must speak up in meetings and show our opinions are valuable. I always contribute in meetings because I know my thoughts have value. In a meeting years ago when I first started in private equity, I was the only woman in a room with 8 men. We were prepping for a meeting with a potential client and I suggested we discuss our relationship with Chinese sovereign wealth funds. They all scoffed at my suggestion, and brushed it off as “not necessary.” Shortly after, we met with the potential client and when we finished our pitch, the client said, “I liked everything you said. However, we want to work with a group who has relationships with sovereign wealth funds in China.” The entire room turned and looked as if to say, “you were right.” From that moment on, I didn’t doubt the value of my contributions and never allowed anyone to ignore them without a fight.
Strength to call out sexist behavior: Studies show that men were more likely than women to talk over others, especially in intrusive ways that silenced the rest of the room and demonstrated their dominance. Because of this, women become intimidated and quiet down, which is the exact opposite of what we should be doing. We need to have the confidence and strength to call out this behavior and not allow it to silence us. When this has happened to me in the past, and it has happened quite often, I merely say, “I would appreciate your allowing me to finish my thoughts without interruption.” This puts others on notice that you will not be intimated or silenced by a man, and demand respect.
Mentors: Women mentoring women is crucial in succeeding in the workplace. We mostly face the same issues and being able to commensurate with someone whose gone through it and can provide guidance is invaluable.

Lilly Ledbetter. Most people don’t know of her. But she was the pioneer in fighting the gender pay gap between men and women. She was a supervisor at Goodyear and found she was making 75 cents to a dollar of her male counterparts. For 10 years, she fought to close the gap between women’s and men’s wages, fighting with the Supreme Court, lobbying Capitol Hill in a historic discrimination case against Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company.

Ledbetter won a jury verdict of more than $3 million after having filed a gender pay discrimination suit in federal court, but the U.S. Supreme Court later overturned the lower court’s ruling. Despite the defeat, Ledbetter continued her fight until the Supreme Court decision was nullified when President Obama, on January 29, 2009, signed into law the first new law of his administration: The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act.

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

Power Women: Pattie Ehsaei On How To Successfully Navigate Work, Love and Life As A Powerful Woman was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Sheena Jongeneel of Stylette: Why We Need More Women Founders & Here Is What We Are Doing To Make…

Sheena Jongeneel of Stylette: Why We Need More Women Founders & Here Is What We Are Doing To Make That Happen

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

Too much can be too much. As women, we tend to share a lot, and be overly honest. I wish someone had told me that I don’t need to share all the details. People, especially investors, don’t want to hear about the down moments, the doubts, the hesitations — they want to hear about the pivots, the strategies, the solutions, the successes. As a founder, you have to sort through the ugly moments yourself and move forward. Investors want to fund confident founders.

As a part of our series about “Why We Need More Women Founders”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Sheena Jongeneel.

With three successful business ventures on her resume, Sheena Jongeneel is still as driven as ever. After working in the health/wellness industry for over twenty years and then returning to school to get her MBA, Sheena devised her latest project and launched Stylette as an avant-garde fashion shopping destination. She has received a variety of funding and awards for Stylette, including help from various business accelerators like the Fearless Fund, and the Tory Burch Foundation.

I’ve always been a business owner. I knew from a young age that I wanted to create companies, rather than work for someone else. I became an entrepreneur in my early twenties, which was the beginning of more than two decades in the health and wellness industry. Eventually a series of life events, including a divorce and the passing of my mother, helped me realize that it was time for a change, so I decided to go to graduate school and strategize what I would do next.

The inspiration for Stylette was born out of the frustrations I felt at this point in my life with the available clothes shopping opportunities for my young daughter. As a single mom, trying to balance work, graduate school, and family life left me with very little time for anything else, especially keeping up with new fashions, my daughter’s ever-changing tastes, and her growth spurts. I used Stylette for all of my MBA projects, started fundraising while still in school, and even got a small check to launch the brand. This was the catalyst for launching Stylette, and my daughter was the inspiration behind the brand.

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

It’s been a whirlwind these past couple years since launching in late 2019. I essentially started this company right before the pandemic. That in itself, presented a mountain of challenges. Can you imagine launching a rental platform with special occasion outfits at a time when no one is leaving the house? It’s been one interesting story after another as I worked through every unforeseen obstacle that I came up against. I’ve had countless growth opportunities, but my favorite story is how I ended up on the Entrepreneur Elevator Pitch show.

After attending a women’s Venture Summit in California, I reached out to Kim Perrel, a judge on the show, to whom I had previously pitched Stylette. Her book was in the gift bag from the event — so I took it as a sign, and an opportunity — and just sent off a quick email. A few hours later, I got a reply from the Entrepreneur Elevator Pitch team asking if I could be in Florida at 7AM the next morning to be on the show. Needless to say, I grabbed my carry-on bag, which I hadn’t even unpacked yet, and caught the red-eye to Florida. I drank way too much coffee on the flight, practiced my pitch all the way across the country, and made it to the studio just in time for hair and makeup! I’d love to tell you what happened, but you’ll have to watch the episode, which airs Nov 30th. All I can and I say is that it was well worth it, and the lesson learned here as an entrepreneur is that you have to be bold and say yes when an opportunity arises!

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?

The biggest mistake I made when I first started Stylette was doubting myself. I focused on the things that set me apart from what is often the typical view of an entrepreneur — I was female, I was Latina, I was a single mom to a young daughter — and I was hustling in a really tough market niche. What I didn’t let myself focus on was that these were my strengths, and they had led me to recognize a need and an opportunity in the children’s clothing space. It takes many things to become a successful entrepreneur, but none of them are gender dependent.

I realize your question was about the funniest mistake, and I gave you an answer about something sad. As entrepreneurs, women face huge hurdles with regard to accessing funding, working within the social expectations set for us, and even finding other females in the workplace and in mentorship roles. I’m now very comfortable and confident in the startup world, which is still dominated by men. One of the most important lessons I ever learned came from pushing through all of the self-doubt and learning to believe in myself and my vision.

Yes, I’m grateful to Kim Kreuzberger for being my biggest cheerleader. We met at my daughter’s preschool four years ago, while she was still at Goop, and she has been my best sounding board ever since. And this answer wouldn’t be complete if I also didn’t include my daughter. We have been through so much together, but the experience she is getting and hopefully the example I am setting, should prove to be invaluable to her. She’s accompanied me everywhere, from board meetings to private investor dinners. She knows how hard I work, and she is always there to encourage and support me.

Yes, indeed. Only twenty percent of the founders are women, and out of those, only three percent get venture funding. The lack of capital available to women is holding them back. Even when a woman starts a successful company, her chances of receiving the capital necessary to scale her business are much slimmer than those of a man in the same position. It’s discouraging to know that the stats are against you from the start.

I’ve heard many stories of men getting funded on a napkin idea, or just on a deck. However with women, investors want to see massive traction, a million in revenue, or some other metric that’s really only possible after the opportunities provided by an infusion of capital. Women are so powerful and creative — we really have to be in this marketplace — and businesses started by women are more successful than ones started by men, but the money just isn’t there for us yet.

The PR message nowadays is all about helping female entrepreneurs, but when push comes to shove, they are still not getting the capital. We have a long way to go and need to keep raising awareness for female entrepreneurship, but this is also a huge opportunity as there is much room for improvement. Until we have the same access to capital as men do, it’s imperative that women in business support each other. We really need to raise each other up until the system catches up with us.

Can you help articulate a few things that can be done as individuals, as a society, or by the government, to help overcome those obstacles?

The distilled answer is that women need more grants from individuals and government agencies to fund their enterprises. Expanding on that a little more, we need to do a much better job of moving women into roles where they can offer support and mentorship to other women in business. We just don’t get the same opportunities as men do, and we really need to start bolstering our networks to guide women in all aspects of business. Not every woman will start her own business, or even wants to, but we need to be sure we can provide them with the same opportunities that men have if that desire does arise.

This might be intuitive to you as a woman founder but I think it will be helpful to spell this out. Can you share a few reasons why more women should become founders?

Statistically speaking, women have higher success rates in building companies than men do. Women who run their own companies generate more revenue, are better leaders, are more collaborative, and can multitask better than men. Women are also more resilient and honest, making them more successful than men as CEOs.

When one gender is grossly underrepresented in the corporate world, we all lose out. There are literally thousands of business opportunities that are being missed. There are thousands of unique perspectives on business that will never be capitalized on. From a consumer standpoint, this leaves so many needs unmet, and so many people unsatisfied.

What are the “myths” that you would like to dispel about being a founder? Can you explain what you mean?

I think the myths that I grew up with are that you have to be a man, have a tech company, and be ivy league educated to be a founder, unless you’re Steve Jobs (still a man) of course. You don’t have to be any of these things to be a founder. You can be a woman, a mother, a single-parent, you can launch a creative brand outside of tech, and you can still be a successful founder.

I don’t think everyone is cut out to be a founder. It takes a certain personality and mindset to succeed on this journey. To be an entrepreneur you must have really thick skin, as well as physical and emotional endurance. When you start out, you’re going to work seven days a week, you’ll never get enough sleep, and you have to be on constantly. You’re going to miss out on time with family and friends — you pretty much have to be willing to let your job become your life for a period of time.

High-energy people tend to do well at this. Entrepreneurship is like a marathon and there’s no time to be tired. You have to learn to pace yourself and keep moving, adapting, pivoting, and always moving. You have to be okay with rejection, because you’re going to hear “no” a lot, and you need to have complete conviction and confidence in your vision.

If you like to play it safe, want a steady income, and want quality time for yourself and your family, then you should take a “regular job”. As an entrepreneur, your business comes first — even before family — which can cause tremendous tension at home. Whenever possible I integrate my daughter into my business so that I can maximize my time with both of them. This is the kind of flexibility that entrepreneurship demands.

Ok super. Here is the main question of our interview. What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started” and why? (Please share a story or example for each.)

Too much can be too much. As women, we tend to share a lot, and be overly honest. I wish someone had told me that I don’t need to share all the details. People, especially investors, don’t want to hear about the down moments, the doubts, the hesitations — they want to hear about the pivots, the strategies, the solutions, the successes. As a founder, you have to sort through the ugly moments yourself and move forward. Investors want to fund confident founders.
Don’t over analyze. Analysis is good, but don’t let it stand in the way of your forward motion. Don’t overthink things, because in business you just have to do, and move, and create — there’s no time for anything else. Overthinking can slow you down, and provides the opportunity for fear and doubt to enter the equation.
Don’t be desperate. As a founder, there is always a sense of urgency in raising capital and scaling, but not every door that opens may be the right door for you. Always remember that if one door closes, it may put you on the path to bigger and better opportunities elsewhere. I’ve either said, or been told “no” plenty of times, but it isn’t until I fully write off that “lost” opportunity that I can find my way to the better partnerships that are often waiting right in front of me.
Build plenty of extra time into your schedule. Timing can be so important to every aspect of a business, so it’s a good idea to assume that everything will take longer than you think. Just because you’re moving super fast as an entrepreneur, that doesn’t guarantee that anyone else is moving at your pace. Don’t get discouraged if things take longer than you want. This is one of those moments when you have to take a deep breath, let go, and trust that things will come together as they should.
Build a strong Founder Community. You’ll need a great support network to guide you through your entrepreneurial journey, but you may need to build it from scratch. No matter how wonderful your family and friends are, you’ll still want to have someone who understands exactly what you’re going through and can help you along the way. You’ll need people who can share business expertise, help you solve challenges, even take advantage of new opportunities. Mastermind groups are a great place to connect with like-minded people.

How have you used your success to make the world a better place?

The success of Stylette has enabled me to continue building and improving our circular economy platform, which lets parents rent clothes instead of buying them. So much of what we produce in the textile industry every year ends up in landfills, but we are able to significantly prolong the useful lifespan of all of our garments. Our brand stands for sustainability, and by showing that this goal can be achieved in the fashion industry, we are setting an example for all other industries to follow.

You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good for the greatest number of people, what would that be?

Can you imagine how different the business landscape would look if women were equally represented? I would love to help more women take a leading role in business by bringing opportunity and capital to female founders. I’d like to see more of us out there. And eventually I’d like to be on the other side of the table — there are very few female funders. It would be wonderful to sit in that seat that’s usually occupied by a man, and be the one who gets to say “yes” to another woman and help her vision become a reality.

Yes! I would love to have a private meal with Serena Williams! She is my idol as an athlete, a woman in venture capital, and a mother. I love that she has retired now from tennis to focus on her family and to help invest in female founders through her fund, Serena Ventures. I would love to pick her brain, hear her words of wisdom, and ideally have her on our board. As a mother of a young daughter, she can feel the pain points of kids growing too fast too, and understand the platform we are building to help parents and the environment.

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

Sheena Jongeneel of Stylette: Why We Need More Women Founders & Here Is What We Are Doing To Make… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Women Of The C-Suite: Rachel Francine of Musical Health Technologies On The Five Things You Need To…

Women Of The C-Suite: Rachel Francine of Musical Health Technologies On The Five Things You Need To Succeed As A Senior Executive

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

Being a bit of a word nerd, I looked up the exact definition of “executive” to answer this question and it’s “having the power to put plans, actions, or laws into effect.” When it comes to being a CEO in a startup, I would add that it also entails, coming up with exact plans, after taking into account, the ideas and options of your team, advisors and customers (current and/or future)…I have a bit of a maxim, which is that an idea is only as good as your ability to execute it well. If one aspires to be a CEO of a startup and is not comfortable starting with a blank page, then the gig is likely not for you. If someone is thinking about being an executive in a more traditional company and is not excited about the idea of having to marshal troops to bring that plan into action, then another role might be a better choice.

As a part of our interview series called “Women Of The C-Suite”, we had the pleasure of interviewing Rachel Francine.

Rachel Francine began her career in technology when the platform debate was VHS vs. Beta. Then, in 1996 Rachel kicked her career in tech into high gear as a member of the CitySearch.com New Markets team and spent the next decade leading teams that transformed brick & mortar businesses into digital, scalable solutions. In the 2000s, Rachel earned a master’s degree in Futures Studies from the University of Houston with a focus on transformative economics and then went on to found and become the CEO of Musical Health Technologies, whose award-winning SingFit digital health platform is successfully scaling music as medicine.

Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your “backstory”? What led you to this particular career path?

My dad was a serial entrepreneur back when that was called being a crazy inventor, so I grew up working at his businesses and going to the Consumer Electronics Show for vacation. When the internet came to be in 1996, I was able to get in early and thrive, because for me a blank page is more comfortable than following someone else’s path. As it happens the original core technology for our SingFit platform was first thought of by my dad in the 1960s who wanted a way to rehearse on his way to his opera lessons. You could say, I was socially and genetically engineered to do what I do.

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

The most interesting? Wow, so many possible answers…I got to speak at the United Nations on International Older Persons Day to talk about the statistic that in spite of the fact that the image of the ideal startup founder is someone in their 20s, founders who launch their companies in their 40s or after are statistically more successful.

It has been said that our mistakes can be our greatest teachers. 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?

Well, there was that time I tried to invent a time machine to rectify a mistake. When I was about 26 I got a promotion to the New Markets Rollout Team of CitySearch, which was the Yelp of its time. I’d been promoted about three months before and I was asked to attend a meeting with an important new client. Long story short, I overslept and missed the meeting. When I woke up and realized that my General Manager had to take the meeting on his own, I was devastated and convinced my career was over. For what seemed like five minutes, I sat there and seriously thought about how I could invent time travel. Somehow it seemed easier to figure out how to navigate space, time, and get to the meeting, than it would be to repair this horrendous mistake of oversleeping once. The GM took the meeting, all went well, and said that my work up until then had been exemplary so he wouldn’t judge me on one mistake. From that I learned that one mistake will only in the rarest circumstances define you, and also not to define someone else by one mistake.

Hazel Henderson, who just passed in mid-2022 at the age of 89. Hazel was a futurist, economist, and the godmother of modern social conscious capitalism. After a 15-year career on the internet, I’d become very disappointed with the trajectory of the sector. What began as a way to democratize media and bring people together had evolved into platforms to sell sugar water, so I went back to school and got a master’s in Futures Studies to figure out how to create businesses that could do well and do good at the same time. Every time I said something I thought was smart or innovative, my professor would say, “Hazel Henderson.” After reading her work, I got to interview her for a project. I asked her if she ever had a conflict between her morals and what a client asked her to do, she said “No.” She was in her late 70s at this point and Hazel explained to me she created an “electronic bird call” that told everyone who she was and what she believed in, and the people that she worked with “were either onboard with that or wanted to get on board.” Like everything, the reality wasn’t quite as simple as that, but Hazel became a true mentor for 15 years, right up until her passing. Her support has helped me navigate how to build a for profit business that is additive rather than destructive to society at large.

Leadership often entails making difficult decisions or hard choices between two apparently good paths. Can you share a story with us about a hard decision or choice you had to make as a leader?

When we started Musical Health Technologies, we were not sure what condition and demographic we would point our SingFit digital health platform to, in order to increase health outcomes. Singing as a therapeutic tool can be used to help a variety of conditions including dementia and autism, which is where many of the 10,000 music therapists focus. Ten years ago, the idea of the Silver Economy wasn’t really spoken about, whereas a lot of attention was focused on autism. There were many factors that went into choosing to focus on dementia and cognitive health. Part of it was simply because very few companies in digital health and healthcare overall were focused on dementia, and we thought there was a real need in that market even if it wasn’t the “hot” thing at the time. Now the older adult market is getting much more attention, because people now realize it’s an $800 trillion dollar industry worldwide.

Ok, thank you for that. Let’s now jump to the primary focus of our interview. Most of our readers — in fact, most people — think they have a pretty good idea of what a CEO or executive does. But in just a few words can you explain what an executive does that is different from the responsibilities of the other leaders?

Being a bit of a word nerd, I looked up the exact definition of “executive” to answer this question and it’s “having the power to put plans, actions, or laws into effect.” When it comes to being a CEO in a startup, I would add that it also entails, coming up with exact plans, after taking into account, the ideas and options of your team, advisors and customers (current and/or future)…I have a bit of a maxim, which is that an idea is only as good as your ability to execute it well. If one aspires to be a CEO of a startup and is not comfortable starting with a blank page, then the gig is likely not for you. If someone is thinking about being an executive in a more traditional company and is not excited about the idea of having to marshal troops to bring that plan into action, then another role might be a better choice.

What are the “myths” that you would like to dispel about being a CEO or executive? Can you explain what you mean?

There is a general perception that you need to have a big personality and be traditionally charismatic to be a CEO so people will “follow you”. The book “Good to Great” dispels this perfectly by delving into the data around the characteristics of great leaders as defined by those who took a good company and made it great, both in terms of revenue and worker satisfaction. The book defines a great leader as a Level Five or Servant Leader, meaning (paraphrasing greatly) it’s your job as leader to help everyone else do their job well and not vice versa. By studying hundreds of businesses, the author and his research team found that CEO’s who might not be the center of attention at a party, but the person spending their time listening to everyone else, are statistically more likely to build a truly great company.

In your opinion, what are the biggest challenges faced by women executives that aren’t typically faced by their male counterparts?

The potential answers here are almost too abundant and range from the fact that only 2% of venture funding goes to female founders, to the expectations of looking “put together” are so much higher than for men. For example, we put an average $8 worth of product on our faces a day. The time and expense of this cannot be underestimated. The list can go on and it can get disheartening. What I like to focus on in the 21st century, what advantages do women have over men in the workplace? The World Economic forum did a study on what traits are needed to be a successful leader as this century moves forward and found that emotional intelligence including empathy, listening skills, coaching, mentoring, and innovation/creativity are key. The ability to multi-task also often gets added to this list in studies. The research also shows that women tend to be better at these types of things than men. We all saw how much better countries with female leaders did at navigating the early days of COVID-19 epidemic than those with male leaders. In the past, women were encouraged to behave more like men in the workplace. I believe as time moves on, men will need to be taking on more female traits in order to compete.

What is the most striking difference between your actual job and how you thought the job would be?

I’ve worked in enough startups of various sizes that there really wasn’t much that surprised me. That said, I forget at times that there may be members of the staff that may be intimidated by me by virtue of my title/position, even though I don’t consider myself to have a particularly intimidating personality. Similarly, it’s hard to have the same kind of workplace friendships you had before because essentially, you’re viewed as “the boss.”

Is everyone cut out to be an executive? In your opinion, which specific traits increase the likelihood that a person will be a successful executive and what type of person should avoid aspiring to be an executive? Can you explain what you mean?

I think that the most essential characteristic of being a CEO/executive, especially in a startup, is grit, the ability not to give up no matter what is in your way. My dad used to say, “nothing’s ever easy” and believe me, behind every business success story, there are more obstacles and challenges than one can imagine. Certainly, not everyone has “grit” but I also believe most things can be learned if you really want to, though, of course, this takes a bit of grit. A good book to read on how to learn to do things that don’t come naturally is Playing Ball on Running Water.

What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started” and why? (Please share a story or example for each.)

When you start a business, if you aren’t in it for at least eight years, don’t start it.
Enterprise sales cycles are slow.
Not having competition can be a bad thing because it means you are growing the space on your own.
Hiring will usually take longer than you want if you are looking for quality people.
And, just for emphasis, when you start a business, if you aren’t in it for at least eight years, don’t start it.

In spite of years at startups, I don’t think I really got just how long it takes to build a business that is really running under its own steam. In our original projections, I’d had us conquering the healthcare space with our tech and moving on to the education sector in 3 years. Thankfully our investor was savvier in terms of enterprise sales cycles (I’d previously worked in direct-to-consumer) and was prepared for a longer haul.

Anything involving the circular economy, which is essentially the opposite of planned obsolescence. The circular economy answers the question, how can we build things that don’t harm the environment in their manufacture and/or also stay in use longer. For example, I would love for there to be local one-stop repair shops/marketplace out there where I could bring my bags with broken zippers for someone to fix while dropping off the drawer full of cords and connectors for old electronics that I don’t need anymore. Someone else might need those cords, or they could be safely recycled, or I could get credit for them.

If we are shooting for the stars here, I’d say it’s a toss-up between Dolly Parton, Selena Gomez, and Lady Gaga or her mom Cynthia Germanotta, who started the Born This Way Foundation. All of these women obviously understand the power of music and are advocates for mental and cognitive health which we focus on at Musical Health Technologies.

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

Women Of The C-Suite: Rachel Francine of Musical Health Technologies On The Five Things You Need To… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Lessons from a Thriving Power Couple, With Melissa and Seth Hanley of Blitz

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

Travel. We’re very lucky that we get to travel quite a bit for work and a bit more for fun. Our international travels have taken us across Europe into parts of China, Japan, Australia and more. When we finally got to travel back to London to visit family and friends after lockdown we realized how much the energy of a new place and inspiration found in a new city means to us. It’s good for our creative process and gives us something to talk about besides the business. j/k. Kind of.

As a part of our series about lessons from Thriving Power Couples, I had the pleasure of interviewing Melissa and Seth Hanley of Blitz.

Melissa Hanley, principal and architect, co-founded award-winning commercial architecture firm, Blitz, in 2009 at the age of 26. Since then, the firm has grown to three studios (San Francisco, Los Angeles and Denver) and has undertaken commercial, retail, and hospitality projects across the world. Well-known clients include Google, Instacart, Microsoft, Levi’s, Skype, Webcor Builders, and Parachute Home. Her firm has been responsible for the design and implementation of more than 300 projects totaling over 5.5 million square feet. Melissa’s work includes many international commissions, as her firm has transformed whole buildings, complex technology campuses, and multiple offices and restaurants throughout the US, Europe, Australia, and Asia.

As an expert in commercial interior design with specific emphasis on workplace strategy, she regularly lectures at universities and contributes to technical and lifestyle publications such as Architect, Interior Design Magazine, Fast Company, Inc., SF Business Journal, Contract, Vanity Fair, GQ, The Atlantic, The New York Times, and the WSJ. Additionally she has been privileged to serve on several AIA and IIDA awards juries.

Melissa has authored Blitz’s ‘Hacker’s Guide to the Post-Covid Workplace’ and has spoken on the subject of re-entry strategy on panels for IIDA National, San Francisco Business Time Leadership Trust, Steelcase, and several real estate brokerage and venture capital firms. She lives in Sebastopol with her husband (and business partner), Seth, and two Frenchies, Beauregard and Bardot.

Seth Hanley, LEED AP Co-Founder, Principal, and Architect.

Seth, a co-founder and partner of Blitz, performs many roles in the studio and across the business, but his primary focus is assisting the Blitz team with technical feasibility and code compliance. Great design can be transformative, and getting it there requires a dedication to service and technical excellence. Seth’s day is a success when things run smoothly and clients are happy.

Seth grew up in London where he developed an early and strong interest in the built environment. That interest led him to Leeds Metropolitan University for a Bachelor’s degree in Architecture, and Oxford Brooks University for postgraduate diplomas in both Architecture and Urban Design. Seth re-settled in California in 2001. He’s been licensed to practice Architecture in California for nearly a decade and feels privileged to work everyday in an industry that he loves.

Seth has worked with leading technology companies like Skype, Comcast, Zendesk, SquareTrade, and Bandai to name a few. His work has been featured in over 100 publications around the world, including Interior Design Magazine, Vanity Fair, GQ Japan, and many international design blogs such as Contemporist, Designboom, and ArchDaily.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you tell us a story about what brought you two to your respective career paths?

MH: I’m so envious of the people who say they knew they wanted to be an architect from the time they were four years old. For me, it wasn’t until my 20th birthday, but my interest in experimentation and creative design developed when I was a child. My father is a contractor and fine woodworker, and my earliest memories are of us drawing and painting together. My parents saw my interest in art and put me in after school art lessons from the age of six. Growing up in such a creative environment gave me the sense of exploration and freedom to test ideas without restraint — often to the detriment of the walls and furniture. My design epiphany came during my second year of college. At the time, I had convinced myself that I should sideline creative pursuits as hobbies only and should pursue law as my profession. I joined a mid-sized firm straight out of school doing mostly K-12 education projects. In 2006, I met my future business partner and now-husband, Seth, when he came to work at the same firm. He was in a separate studio and it took two years before we would finally get to work together on a project competition. It was on that project that we identified in each other an ally in design and a common attitude towards the world and the work.

SH: Hanley: My interest in architecture began as a child growing up in London. I was always designing and building things with LEGO as a kid, and I had my first drawing board when I was 12. After working in retail design, multi-family housing and health care I met Melissa at a mutual firm. Together we founded Blitz.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you two got married?

In mid-2009 at the height of the economic downturn, we were both laid off from the firm we were working at — along with ¾ of the staff. The next day, while nursing a serious tequila hangover, Blitz was born. There was a 40% unemployment rate in the A+E industry in San Francisco at the time and we knew that, if we wanted to stay in the profession, we were going to have to make our own way.

Within four months, through one of Seth’s connections back in the UK, we landed Skype’s North American headquarters in Palo Alto. The project quickly grew from a 10,000-square-foot space plan to a 90,000-square-foot building. We delivered the project from our dining room. It was an exhilarating and terrifying experience figuring out how to work together, build a business, and deliver what was one of the largest projects going in the Bay Area at the time. We remember pulling an all nighter until the taxi picked us up to go to the airport. We slept on the red-eye flight to London and then presented the design to the executive team that day. We completely forgot that they don’t have 11×17, they have A3 and there was quite the fluster of printing and presenting. It all worked out and that project was the springboard for the firm in many ways. While we didn’t set out to create a workplace interiors firm, we found the speed and sense of creative experimentation of the project typology aligned with the way we liked to work.

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?

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

In our practice, we are looking to move the needle on progress, creativity, culture, and invention. It’s important to address meaning and value in our work while designing in a climate that prizes innovation and, foremost, speed. Our work must be more than just placing employees in workspaces to be truly valuable. This forces us to engage our clients in a conversation about why a project will be meaningful.

This is usually a new type of conversation for our clients and a new metric to judge their own work, which can be a rewarding challenge. Continuing to put the topic of “why this will be meaningful” at the center of our work is a constant challenge given the schedule and economic pressures.

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

We’ve been working on a new algorithm about time as a planning variable for commercial real estate. As the workforce has become more fluid and less location dependent taking into account this fluidity over time is critical to right-sizing the space requirement which, ultimately, will save our clients a lot of money in capital expenditures.

What advice would you give to other CEOs or founders to help their employees to thrive?

Taking a position of humility was critical to tackling the steep learning curve of starting a business very young (26 and 33 respectively). I’ve seen a lot of my peers act like they know more than they do and that just backfires. I’ve found more mentorship and support in this profession by honestly acknowledging what I don’t know and being open to standing on the shoulders of giants. This vulnerability signals to our staff that no one knows everything and we’re always learning. We are a team of curious people and that’s what makes our work as good as it is. We are always asking for the ‘why’ behind the ‘what’. If you already have all the answers then there is no reason to be curious which is antithetical to our values.

How do you define “Leadership”?

John Hunter, who is a prinicpal at our firm….We both worked with him at our prior firm and as soon as we could afford to hire him we did. He likes to remind us that he has been doing this for longer than we have been alive. A total sponge for details, materials and systems. He has been critical to the technical backbone of the firm. He has been critical to the cultural backbone as well as he has never shot down a crazy idea and has even developed a spec section for ‘the weird shit’ we put in projects. A 22’ dinosaur being the most banal.

What are the “5 Things You Need To Thrive As A Couple”? Please share a story or example for each.

Our dogs. They are just little lights of delight and mischief and it’s hard to take anything too seriously when you have a frenchie snorting in the background.
App-based support for the business of life. Instacart, grubhub, bonvoy, etc all make those annoying time-suck tasks much easier. Anything that gives us time back is huge. Since we both travel quite a bit for work (often in opposite directions — yes we’ve had airport dates while coming and going) any time we can spend together is important.
Our housekeeper. We know this is super boujee but she has been with us for 12 years and we both swear that we would choose her over each other if pushed. She brings a level of care and attention to detail that any luxury business would kill for. Not spending time or emotional energy on figuring out who is going to clean the bathroom has been a game changer. After she’s been we honestly feel like someone has taken care of us — which is something of an anomaly given our roles at work and our roles within our extended families.
An excellent couch. Don’t laugh. If you’ve ever spent 5 minutes in a furniture showroom observing any couple you know couch shopping is a divorce waiting to happen. We are lucky that we have very similar tastes. We just finished a 3 year renovation which had us using temporary and uncomfortable furniture and treated ourselves to an epic sectional. Being able to sprawl out with the dogs at the end of a crazy week is pretty perfect.
Travel. We’re very lucky that we get to travel quite a bit for work and a bit more for fun. Our international travels have taken us across Europe into parts of China, Japan, Australia and more. When we finally got to travel back to London to visit family and friends after lockdown we realized how much the energy of a new place and inspiration found in a new city means to us. It’s good for our creative process and gives us something to talk about besides the business. j/k. Kind of.

You are people 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. 🙂

Carbon neutrality for all commercial real estate. Climate change is the number one threat to public health in the 21st century, anything you think of as a public health problem is probably made worse by climate change. It turns out that we in the building industry are responsible for at least 39% of human energy related climate emissions. 28% of that is running every building in existence, that’s our operational energy use. The other 11% is the structure and enclosure materials and the emissions from job site emissions from building. The only thing that humans use more of than concrete is water, not oil, not milk, not coffee. Water is the only thing we use more of than concrete. If cement production, just the cement part of concrete, was a country, it would be number three after the US and China in terms of global climate changing emissions. So if folks in the CRE industry could do one thing it would be to make their projects as close to carbon neutral as possible.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

MH: My mom always used to say, ‘this too shall pass’. It’s good to keep things in perspective and realize that that crisis which seems so pressing at the moment is really just a ripple in the ocean.

SH: It’s totally cheesy but Tony Robbins was interviewed on the BBC and said that ‘if you blame someone or something for the bad you also have to blame them for the good’. It reminds me that there are always two sides to a situation and we can choose to see the silver lining or dwell on the bad.

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 US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them 🙂

Cocktails with the Obamas please and thank you.

How can our readers follow your work online?

Our website studioblitz.com or our instagram @makeitblitz

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

Lessons from a Thriving Power Couple, With Melissa and Seth Hanley of Blitz was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Female Founders: Emma May of Sophie Grace On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed as a…

Female Founders: Emma May of Sophie Grace On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed as a Woman Founder

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

It’s really lonely. As the founder the entire business lives in your head and generally your head alone. No one else knows all the details like you do. And its impossible for anyone else to know the pressure. So you get a bit stuck in your head with things. I have a few people who are my go to mentors for this. People who have been there. It isn’t something you can talk to friends or family about without overwhelming them and never being invited to dinner again. (Friends, if you are reading this I promise I won’t bore you with the story of crotchgate again).

As a part of our series about “Why We Need More Women Founders”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Emma May.

As a former corporate lawyer, senior staffer to a Premier in Canada, and founder of a boutique real estate agency, Emma May knows firsthand that getting dressed for work is way harder for women than it is for men; regrettably, women ask themselves daily questions such as, “Is this too sexy?” “Is this work appropriate?” and “Am I going to be taken seriously?”. To create clothing women their most comfortable and confident selves in, Emma May launched Sophie Grace, offering coordinated separates from comfortable, high-quality fabrics. With these pieces, women will always have cohesive, professional outfits too make them feel like their best self while tackling everything on their plate.

This is now my fourth career. And it definitely was an evolution over the course of my life to get here. I started out as a lawyer, had kids in my late 20’s and spent much of my early career trying desperately to balance my need to be with my kids as much as possible with my raging ambition. And that was really effing hard. I didn’t do that well. And it was my career that took a back seat. So when I was around 38 I quit law and got licence to sell real estate. Much to the horror of my mother and husband- both of whom are lawyers. But that proved to be a really good career for me in that time of my life. I had flexibility, could use my legal skills and got to work with interesting people. Eventually a natural disaster in my town pulled me into community service. Which lead to be being promoted to a leadership position in government. When we lost the election I went back to real estate but had the drive to try something new / and a few years later I came up with the idea for SophieGrace.

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

I really think it was launching the it with no clue about the apparel industry and having 30 boxes of women’s workwear show up in my driveway Feb 2020 — One month before covid obliterated the need for my customer to go to the office.

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?

We have paypal attached to our site and some customers pay us there. One day I went to log in to the account and saw that there was 60k sitting in it. I thought it was a mistake — until I realized I needed to transfer the money OUT of paypal and into my bank account. That was a stupid but lovely mistake.

There are a lot of them. I have a friend who taught me how to run a 16 week cash flow model. Product based businesses are cash flow beasts and this saved my ass. I also have an investor who looked at the deck, chatted to me for 20 min and cut a cheque. His faith in me — helped me gain faith in myself.

Ok, thank you for that. Let’s now jump to the primary focus of our interview. According to this EY report, only about 20 percent of funded companies have women founders. This reflects great historical progress, but it also shows that more work still has to be done to empower women to create companies. In your opinion and experience what is currently holding back women from founding companies?

I am not sure that women are held back from founding companies — women start small businesses at a faster rate than men. I think we have just struggled with getting money to scale them. Inherent bias mean people like to invest in things they know and understand, and people who remind them of themselves. Men are still the ones doing the funding. And until that changes — I think women and other underrepresented minorities will continue to struggle.

The funders also need to understand the problem we are trying to solve. I make clothes designed to make getting dressed as a professional woman a lot easier. Women immediately understand my concept. Men have no idea the problem even exists. Wool suit or a Patagonia vest and slacks and they are done.

Can you help articulate a few things that can be done as individuals, as a society, or by the government, to help overcome those obstacles?

Women who make money must fund other women.

This might be intuitive to you as a woman founder but I think it will be helpful to spell this out. Can you share a few reasons why more women should become founders?

Our world is not designed for us. It is still primarily constructed around men. Around their biological clocks, around their hormonal cycles, around their needs and desires. We have create a world that works just as well for us. No one else is going to build that world but us.

What are the “myths” that you would like to dispel about being a founder? Can you explain what you mean?

I think it is hard to be a founder unless you yourself are a half decent sales person. You are always selling — selling to employees, banks, customers, partners — all the time its sales.

The ability to be OK with uncertainty is probably the most important characteristic. There are things beyond my control that can go wrong at any minute. I have to trust that one way or another I will find my way through it. So the ability to stay sane and moving forward while accepting and managing risk isn’t for everyone. I have responsibility to my employees, to my investors, to my community and to my customers. This isn’t all about me anymore.

I can’t do a regular job. I never really have. So its hard for me to even imagine it anymore.

Ok super. Here is the main question of our interview. What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started” and why? (Please share a story or example for each.)

The fear doesn’t go away — but spreadsheets
Make it manageable. Google Sheets is my friend. Ok, maybe more like frenemy…
Why does everything seem to move so slowly when I want to move at light speed?
It’s really lonely. As the founder the entire business lives in your head and generally your head alone. No one else knows all the details like you do. And its impossible for anyone else to know the pressure. So you get a bit stuck in your head with things. I have a few people who are my go to mentors for this. People who have been there. It isn’t something you can talk to friends or family about without overwhelming them and never being invited to dinner again. (Friends, if you are reading this I promise I won’t bore you with the story of crotchgate again).

How have you used your success to make the world a better place?

I am not sure I have yet. I try to make decisions that not only benefit the business but also my community, employees, the environment. We don’t make more than we need to. We have moved 80% of our production to local ethical manufacturing facilities. We have switched doing business with a supplier that fights against reproductive rights (look into where you get your shipping supplies — pro tip). Small decisions can add up over time. My hope is my small decision ends up having a larger impact.

Free, well regulated childcare improves the lives of women and their children. Giving mothers the ability to get educated and work knowing their children are receiving educational care is the great gift that keeps on giving. Believing we should wait until kids are 6 years old to receive free education and care is antiquated. It sets women up to bear the economic burden of raising children (even when married) and children who receive quality early care do better in school.

Martha Stewart. She is balling it into her 80’s. She built incredible lifestyle brands. And she clearly has no intention of not living life to the fullest. I’m 50 now, and I want to be Martha when I grow up.

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

Female Founders: Emma May of Sophie Grace On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed as a… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.