Female Founders: Camille Styles on the Five Things You Need to Thrive and Succeed as a Woman Founder
An Interview With Candice Georgiadis
Eliminate what’s unnecessary in order to illuminate what’s essential. This practice of stripping away what’s not essential, whether it’s with my commitments, a story I’m writing or editing, purging my closet, or even writing a recipe, has become my most important habit as my career has grown. I think about how I can pull out the most “flavor” with the fewest number of ingredients.
As a part of our series about “Why We Need More Women Founders”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Camille Styles.
Camille is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of leading lifestyle digital publication Camille Styles. An influential go-to resource for elevating everyday experiences, Camille Styles is the definitive guide to simplifying life without compromising style. The online publication covers food, design, gatherings, wellness and beauty, connecting with its audience that reaches 50 million impressions each month across the website and social media channels.
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?
In 2009, I was running my two-person event planning company out of the basement of my house. Though I’d majored in journalism and dreamed of being a magazine editor, I’d spent the first couple years of post-college life working in catering, where I fell head over heels for event planning. I thought I’d found my dream job. It married my love of cooking and my passion for design, all with the goal of bringing people together. I couldn’t believe I was getting paid to do what I loved.
But it wasn’t long before I craved a creative outlet all my own. So I started a blog, just for fun, where I could share my inspiration and entertaining tips. In this pre-influencer, pre-social media world, I couldn’t have dreamed that it would become the focus of my career for the next 12 years. I just knew that I found so much joy creating in this space, and over many years, building a community to share it with.
Today, it’s still sometimes hard to believe that I actually did become that editor-in-chief that I dreamed about, though instead of doing it in heels in my corner office, it’s usually sweats in my kitchen, racing to see how much I can get done between school drop-off and pickup. When I started the site more than a decade ago, it was driven by a passion for beauty and uncovering it in others’ lives. Bringing that vision to life through food, design, and gathering friends around a table is my true happy place. Today, I lead our incredible team of editors as we share daily content to inspire the pursuit of the life you dream about.
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?
I learned the hard way that I don’t have to be good at everything. A few years back, I was working with Target as a spokesperson and one year, they asked me to fly out to LA to be in the brand’s annual holiday commercial. Wow! Me, on a national TV commercial that would run on all the major networks through the whole season? This was huge.
So, I flew out to LA and reported to set. It was a huge production — there were hundreds of people working on this set with craft services and stylists, the works. When it came time, I got up on the stage that had been transformed into a holiday set and said the couple of lines that I’d memorized on my flight over. I felt a little off my game, but everyone said I did great, so I flew back home with my fingers crossed I did okay. Well, the holiday commercial dropped, and I wasn’t in it. I was so disappointed and felt like I’d wasted all that time for nothing. But after watching the commercial online a few times, I had my “aha” moment: I’m not an actor. I don’t want to be an actor, I have no desire for acting to be any part of my career. In fact, I’ve built my career on just being me. And in fact, trying to excel at things that aren’t part of my priorities and values can be a major distraction and a source of energy drain.
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 husband has been my biggest cheerleader and support, encouraging me to start my company so many years ago when I thought I lacked the experience. As an entrepreneur himself, he knew that the secret sauce of starting a business is made of vision and grit, and I’m thankful he saw that in me before I could see it for 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 see so many women who are afraid to dream too big — whether it’s a fear of failure or of disappointing themselves or others, this limiting belief often prevents talented, capable women for reaching as high as their potential could take them. Sometimes it takes a success or two under your belt to build that confidence to “go big,” so even though that initial leap is scary, my encouragement would be to just get started.
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?
We can all be more mindful of our power as conscious consumers — our dollars, our voices, and our time are all valuable tools for enacting change. Supporting women-owned businesses and other female founders is key to showing the next generation that being an entrepreneur and being a woman are not only not mutually exclusive, they are actually supportive of each other. While being a female founder is not easy, it’s an empowering way to build the life-work balance that is so often missing from high-powered corporate careers.
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?
Leading your own company — whether you’re a solopreneur or running a team of hundreds — puts you squarely in the driver’s seat. It’s you making the decisions for you and your team without outside forces dictating your day-to-day. I’ve found that that freedom and influence can be used for the greater good — creating more life-work balance for myself and my team. Even though we all work hard to achieve our shared goals, we have the freedom and the flexibility to work when, where, and how makes the most sense for us and our lives.
I think it’s also important for women to recognize their ability to be role models for the next generation. I appreciate that my children are watching me build this business, which encourages them to dream big, as well.
What are the “myths” that you would like to dispel about being a founder? Can you explain what you mean?
I think the pervasive myth that you need to put the rest of your life on hold to be a founder is not only incorrect, it’s dangerous. Yes, it’s true people who start companies need to be driven, dedicated, and diligent, and the lean years after launch demand a lot of your time and attention. But you should always put your own health and wellbeing first and give yourself ample time for nurturing personal connections and pursuits. The business will be better because of your attention to your physical and mental health and the support system you build around yourself.
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?
While I believe everyone has the capability to lead, not everyone may want to, and that is okay. We need to recognize and celebrate that every individual’s life goals are personal and not every woman wants or needs to be the boss.
To be successful as a founder means different things to different people, but I believe that conscious leadership — the ability to lead with compassion and self-awareness to build a culture of kindness where everyone feels valued and supported — is the key to long-term success.
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.)
Eliminate what’s unnecessary in order to illuminate what’s essential. This practice of stripping away what’s not essential, whether it’s with my commitments, a story I’m writing or editing, purging my closet, or even writing a recipe, has become my most important habit as my career has grown. I think about how I can pull out the most “flavor” with the fewest number of ingredients.
Dream about the future, but we don’t hold on too tightly to exactly what those dreams will look like. My career story is an example of following what lights you up without really knowing exactly how it would all play out. That’s something I’ve followed through the rest of my career: being very intentional about pursuing the things I love and that I know I want to spend my time doing, but also keeping an open hand to the full expression of how that might look different than what I had initially imagined. And that it might be better than what I thought it would be.
The way we spend our time is a direct reflection of our priorities.
Whether we are conscious of it or not, we’re always expressing what our true priorities are. I had to get very real with myself about the fact that the way I spend my time is a direct expression of what is most important to me — when my kids were little, I was trying to be the kind of mother I wanted to be, without giving up any of my work responsibilities. I’ve now become more conscious of how I regularly spend my time to make sure it’s aligned. Examples of this: I never check emails in the morning. I spend that planning how I’ll time-block my day to make sure I leave room for what’s important. When my kids are up, I’m focused on them until it’s time to head to school. And then I have focused work time where I tackle my top priorities first.
Your unique genius is already within you. Spend time cultivating your inner life so that you can uncover the unique beauty that only you can bring to the world. For me, that happens each morning during my journaling practice.
Be patient. In the early days, be scrappy so you can invest in people — the most important part of any company. In the first few years of my company, I saw my peers renting these beautiful studio spaces, but I chose to invest that money right back into the business and hire great people while we worked together in the guest room of my house. It was unglamorous, but I could be patient because I was in it for the long haul. When the timing was right, we were in a position to buy a beautiful studio of our own in downtown Austin, and since I didn’t do it too early, we were able to make a great investment that led to future growth instead of draining resources.
How have you used your success to make the world a better place?
Within my inner circle of my family, friends, team members, professional partners, and industry peers, I hope I have modeled what leading with kindness can create. I value each of my personal and professional relationships greatly and appreciate the collaboration and support they provide.
To our readers and the outside world, I hope we provide a warm, welcoming space for them to explore how to live the life of their dreams by uncovering their own quest for beauty that lives within each of us. I strongly believe in the power of beauty and creativity in all its forms and the positive effect they can have on our lives and society at large.
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.
I would want to empower every person — regardless of skill level, budget considerations, or time constraints — to recognize that they have the power to create the life they want.
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’d love to sit down with Oprah to soak up her wisdom and hear her lifetime of incredible stories. Out of all her accomplishments, what I admire most about her is her desire to forge her own path and recreate her career many times over. She truly does things on her own terms, and has never let naysayers keep her from going after big dreams. I also respect Gwyneth Paltrow’s ability to make a major career pivot, walking away from a successful acting career to create a media empire that celebrates other voices and perspectives. She’s never afraid to be controversial and push the envelope in an effort to question assumptions and make people think.
Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.
Female Founders: Camille Styles on the Five Things You Need to Thrive and Succeed as a Woman… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.