Female Founders: Hila Klein of Teddy Fresh On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed as a Woman Founder
An Interview With Candice Georgiadis
Be grateful for your team. They are bringing your dream to life, this is something to cherish. A good leader is only as good as their team. I’m always grateful to our employees for choosing to spend their time working with us and I want them to know they are appreciated.
As a part of our series about “Why We Need More Women Founders”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Hila Klein.
Hila Klein is the CEO and owner of Teddy Fresh, a vibrant streetwear label focusing on high quality pieces and artist collaborations. Noticing a lack of colorful expressive clothing in the streetwear market, Hila was inspired by the naivety of kids’ clothing, the epic colors of vintage pieces, and the quality of high end brands to create Teddy Fresh. Teddy Fresh continues to create bright, fun, premium quality clothing for adults, at a consumer price that is approachable for all.
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?
Starting out I went to school for fine art, that led me to video art, which led me to YouTube. I was shooting and editing videos with my husband and over time we grew a following. It was very slow but we just had so much fun we became super committed to it. The moment we had saved up enough money to invest in the creation of the business, we immediately went for it. I designed a small capsule and hired one person to start the business, and since then Teddy Fresh has taken over my whole life. I actually applied to design college and was rejected, funnily enough. Don’t ever let rejection stop you.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began leading your company?
One time we almost got scammed out of 150k! One of our manufacturers got their email hacked and they asked for a payment but wanted to change the payment info to a new name. My mothers’ intuition immediately came to action and I could tell something didn’t seem right. We contacted the owner through another avenue and he indeed confirmed that wasn’t him. It was the first time something like this happened to me. I was so relieved to not lose 150k, as you can imagine.
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?
Putting together a photoshoot outside for the first time was quite a lesson.The sun was brutal and intense and it casted all of these crazy shadows which made the shoot so much more difficult. The editing that had to be done in post production was horrendous.
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?
I feel fortunate to be able to work with my team so intensely. Each person brings expertise and experience to the brand to the point where I have been able to learn from the best of the best. Our team is amazing, I would not be able to name just one person. If I had to get specific, I would say the first crew from when we went from 1 to 5 employees, they all had such a crucial part in the shaping of Teddy Fresh. Each one has a special place in my heart. Now we are up to 30+ employees and still growing, and every single one of them contributes so much.
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 think we like to think that we made huge progress and the old days are behind us but in reality there is still more work to be done for women to be fully seen as equal at every level and every profession. I think growing up and not seeing a lot of women in power makes its way to your subconscious. It tells you you’re not supposed to be in charge, you’re not strong enough to be in a position of power, but progress is happening. The more young girls get to see other women leaders that they can look up to the more they will feel inspired and encouraged to pursue their ambitions.
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?
Don’t slow down for rejection, don’t listen to doubt, know you are capable, push through insecurities, and never give up. Growth is painful and uncomfortable, so when you feel out of your element, or facing unbeatable odds — that’s when you know you are in the right place.
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?
Because we rule! Why should we ignore 50% of the people on Earth? Men have their undeniable abilities, but so do women. We need to use both sides of the brain to operate, same with gender.
What are the “myths” that you would like to dispel about being a founder? Can you explain what you mean?
That being your own boss is easy. In owning your own business you become very consumed. Work is now your life. You love it but you never get away from it. You don’t get to clock in and clock out. When you’re done with work, there is always more work. You’re never really done with work. You hardly ever get vacations or even weekends — Actually, that is one of the hardest things I’ve been forced to learn, to allow myself time.
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?
I wouldn’t want to put it out there that a certain person can’t do it because if I looked at myself a few years ago — I would have never thought I could do it. However, I would say you have to be highly motivated, and you have to have this crazy endless drive to keep going and improve. I’m constantly thinking, “what’s the next step, how do we improve, how do we fix any weak points?” If we’re doing good I’m thinking how do we do it better. It’s endless. The truth is that if you want it, and it’s inside of you, you will pursue it, and if not, you won’t.
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 Woman Founder?” (Please share a story or example for each.)
I don’t feel like you need anything specific to thrive as a woman, I think gender doesn’t matter and if anyone thinks it does, I just feel sorry for them. With that being said I’ll lay down the five core values for me:
Follow your intuition. You have to believe in yourself regardless of what anyone says and sometimes you have to trust that gut feeling you have inside.
Be grateful for your team. They are bringing your dream to life, this is something to cherish. A good leader is only as good as their team. I’m always grateful to our employees for choosing to spend their time working with us and I want them to know they are appreciated.
Value your craft. Spend time learning about each position and the processes required to get a company to operate like a well oiled machine. Each person is so crucial in the process of getting to the one end goal that we all collaboratively desire.
Quality wins. One thing that always guides my decisions is that I always thrive to make the best product I can. If it means pushing a delivery, dropping an item or completely, changing something and/or redesigning altogether, I will do it. I only care about putting the best product we can out there. Otherwise what’s the point?
Be Flexible. Example, we opened our business and then a global pandemic occurred. We had to stay flexible and nimble with a willingness to bend without compromising our values.
How have you used your success to make the world a better place?
Once we achieved success, we made sure to find ways to give back by doing different charity events. Last year when the pandemic hit really hard, my husband and I personally gave away 100k in cash to random people on Twitter. We gave $500 to 3 different people every day in an effort to help people in the most direct way possible. Additionally, we have created Tee’s for a cause. 100% of the profit from each Tee is donated to a charity. In the past we have done: Hila Klein Orange Sky Tee: Australian Wildfires 2020: The Koala Hospital raising $25,360.50, Hila Klein Orange Sky Tee: Australian Wildfires 2020: NSW Rural Fire Service raising $25,360.50, Crippling Anxiety Tee 2020: Mental Health America raising $44,372, Your Vote Matters Tee 2020: Fair Vote raising $2,856, and Earth Day Tee 2021: Rainforest Alliance raising $10,750.
We haven’t announced what we’ll do this year yet but we definitely have a charity event in the works.
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.
Access to affordable healthcare, childcare, and education for all. I find the access/prices of healthcare and education here so shocking and sad. No one should ever have to choose between medical care and being able to pay the electricity bill.
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.
Larry David! He’s a king. Why? Seinfeld and Curb Your Enthusiasm are everything. I doubt he could help our business but it would be pretty pretty pretty cool.
Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.
Female Founders: Hila Klein of Teddy Fresh 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.