Host:
Rebecca. Thank you so much for having us here live in your New York City showroom here in Flat Iron. You've designed your first morning after bag in 2005 and it's popularity catapulted you into co-founding Rebecca Minkoff with your brother, which has now evolved into a global brand with a wide range of apparel, accessories, and handbags. How is your business doing now that we're 18 months into a pandemic?
Rebecca Minkoff:
It is like a rollercoaster. First of all, I wanted to give everyone some eye candy from home to take in today of what's coming at you for the holidays. But you know, March 16th, 2020 was a day I'll never forget. Not only was it our first fully day testing being remote, but it's the day that letters started coming in from all of our retailers saying they had to cancel their orders from March to the end of the year. And so instantly, the only portal with which we were able to exist was our own sites. So we watched 70% of our business evaporate, which was probably the scariest thing. And my co-founder, who's my brother as you mentioned, said, you know, we can give up or we can fight and see what happens. And we both said, let's fight. And the team said, let's fight. And we're here today. I'm still fighting I would say, you know, there's been some definite tender shoots and business has recovered. And a lot of these stores have come back and demand is now outpacing product, but I think we're still not through it because you continue to see challenges, whether it's shutdowns and you know, Vietnam, or, you know, the ports are all clogged. And so I think every day is a new day, but we've committed, you know, that we're going to do everything in our power to make sure that we are around and our customer can get our product.
Host:
No, that's awesome. That's great to hear because a lot of businesses, a lot of female-founded businesses were not as fortunate as you. So that is, that's great to hear. You released a book this year called "Fearless: the New Rules of Unlocking Creativity, Courage and Success." Tell us about some of your fearless decisions you've made over your career. Even probably some that you made during the pandemic.
Rebecca Minkoff:
Yes, so I think the word risk can be very scary. It can also be scary to a lot of women when they go, you know, if I take this risk and I fail, you know, I'm a fail-- I'm a failure. I'll be embarrassed. What will happen to me? And I think, you know, when people always say like, what would you tell your 25 year old self? I say, I would've, you know, I took the risks like this, right? Oh no. Oh no. You know, now I'd be like, okay, let's go. Because every time you take a risk, if you fail, you learn something, right. You can all come away with a learning, and if you don't fail, then you also achieve something you didn't think you can do. And so I choose to look at taking risks as always positive. And, and I think that sometimes we wait for something to happen to us. And I like to tell women, the cavalry is not coming for us. We have to stick our own necks out to get what we want, and guess what, it's not going to be comfortable. And I think get comfortable with the discomfort. Because if you look at our history as women, what we've had to do just to vote, to get a credit card, to sign our own mortgages, right? People had to stick their neck out and be placed in uncomfortable scenarios. So my book really is about, you know, you don't read the book and you go, "Ugh, I'm fearless now." You know, you fear less or you have these great guideposts, you know, that allow you to take the risk and sort of keep your eyes open as you jump.
Host:
What's one step you can take to get, start beginning to be comfortable with being uncomfortable? Like what's the one step you can do?
Rebecca Minkoff:
Try something that makes you uncomfortable. And if you are like, I don't even know if I can do that practice with your friend, practice with someone who you trust, who you feel safe with saying, here's how I'm going to ask, you know, my boss for a raise or here's how I'm going to ask, you know, to take on a project that no one thought I should take on. And, you know, and I think I like to talk about these types of things as a muscle. You know, the more you get stronger at the gym for your biceps, if you practice these actions with people that you feel safe with, and then people eventually that you might not feel safe with, I think you'll get stronger and we have to, we have to continue to grow. And we only grow by, by doing that.
Host:
That was so true. You know, we talk about the fashion rate, even if you've built a very successful fashion brand, thinking about fearlessness and this as well, how do you continually keep the brand fresh and on trend? Because fashion, I'm sure you have to take very calculated risks, which is what I hear you're saying. And pre and post pandemic has that changed in terms of that?
Rebecca Minkoff:
Yeah. So I think we do a lot of analyzing. We have what our core is, right? We know I could point out some bags behind me that are core, right? Every season, you know you're going to get them. They're there, they’re done a new colors and new styles and everything. And then there's the surprise and delight, right? And the stuff you didn't know you need, but oh my gosh, it's so emotional, I have to have it. So there's balancing the art with the science, for sure. And that goes into numbers. And then as far as taking risks now, you know, we used to, we used to go into markets saying here is 300 skews and styles that you can choose from. And guess what? Now we're a smaller team. Our business is a little bit smaller. Let's be more strategic. Let's go into market with a hundred, you know, and, and the feedback isn't, oh, you don't have enough for me it's oh, thank God you've edited for me. You're telling me your exact point of view. It's gotten really specific and it's a lot more manageable. You know, I like it to go into the grocery store with a grocery list or not, you know, what happens when you go without that list, right? You just buy everything you think you need to.
Host:
Guilty.
Rebecca Minkoff:
Same, especially in places like Target. But I think that if you go with a specific list, just like we have curated here, they respond so much better and it's, it's trickling down to our customer. She knows our point of view. So some of the silver linings from the pandemic is we've gotten more focused. And because of that, our business has been more focused and successful.
Host:
That's awesome. And I think listening to that and thinking about your comments about the book and about being fearless, it's also about you talk about editing the product line to kind of tell people, this is what, this is what we are. This is who we are, but that also goes to us as women, right? In terms of, we try sometimes to be everything to everyone and fulfill everyone else's needs and desires, right? And we sometimes get lost. And so you also kind of need to edit yourself to some degree as well. And to your point, be very calculated in how you get intentional and how you take those risks. That's what I'm hearing.
Rebecca Minkoff:
Yes. I, you know, there's a great book called "The Giving Tree" by Shel Silverstein. Women cannot be the giving tree till we're a stump. You know what I mean? Especially as mothers, as workers. So, you know, in the book I talk about, you know, it's the idea of balance, right? We're going to turn into stumps if we're trying to achieve balance because it doesn't exist. I think boundaries exist. I think it's on us to put guard rails around our boundaries personally and professionally and work towards those boundaries. It's not something that, again, happens overnight. And there are going to be times where you're working the crazy hours or you're you, you have a sick kid and it's the opposite, right? But I think the more we learn as we go through different phases of our life, what are those boundaries? I spend a lot of time testing, you know, pre-kids I worked all the time. I didn't care. You know, then I had a kid and I was like, oh, I want to be home for dinner. How do I arrange my life? And it's not instant, right? To, to make it work like that. And so I think we need to make sure we know what we're good at. We admit what we're not good at, which is okay. And if you can support yourself with a team that, that comes in and are your generals either again, inside the home or outside the home, who are your generals and where are your boundaries and make that clear. I think now more than ever, it's okay to make those boundaries clear if they're within reason to other people.
Host:
Oh, absolutely. I agree with you a hundred percent, thousand percent on all of that. I am learning that. Especially being a relatively new mom. Yeah, exactly. So let's talk about the work you do with other female founders in bringing these lessons, right? You are also the founder of the Female Founder Collective, which is dedicated to enabling and empowering female-owned and led companies. It's only been around for three years, but already you've been showing wins with companies in the collective raising over 15 million in seed funding, which is absolutely amazing. Can you speak more about how the Female Founder Collective has empowered this growing network of 9,000 plus female entrepreneurs?
Rebecca Minkoff:
Yeah, so when my co-founder and I came together, what we really felt was lacking was not only community, which we knew the black book, right? Of all these women that could sort of, you know, I say, there's no shortcuts, but if you can get a good resource and referral, that can be helpful. But education was the biggest piece. You know, as working women, who've started their companies with a passion. They're not going to go back to Wharton or Harvard and get their master's degree. And so how could we bridge that gap? And so we bring in women in, from incredible places. We've actually had a lot of amazing executives from Chase, come in and show these women what are alternatives to fundraising, right, if your company is not meant to be private equity or VC? How do you fundraise if that is the case, simple things like CRM and email marketing. And so if we can bring an expert in to teach these women, then that closes that gap, that information gap that'll allow them to be that much more successful. So from weekly programming to monthly programming, to our former big events we used to have, we are serving, you know, weekly, what do you need here? We're giving it back to you. And we've seen, like you mentioned, not only, you know, over 15 million in seed round being raised by women, but companies do well and we know money is power, right? So if these companies can succeed, my hope is being women owned, they will give back to their communities. They will hire more women. They will empower them and they will pay them equitably and treat them equitably.
Host:
Yeah, that is powerful, money plus education around it because people think you can just throw money at the problem. And if you don't teach people how to actually use those resources in an efficient manner to allow them to get to the next stage, then it's kind of it's for what you know. So, no, I completely agree. In 2021, you began working with Women On The Move in terms of, we have a, a free one-on-one coaching program for entrepreneurs, which we've offered free to your members of the collective. Can you talk about the importance of coaching opportunities like this for business owners and just any feedback you've gotten from the one-on-one coaching and what you, what you're hearing from founders?
Rebecca Minkoff:
Yes, so we've offered many dips, different types of programming. This is by far and away been the most requested, most attended, highest rated of any of the matching that we've done with other companies, not banking companies, but other companies providing services. And it's been phenomenal. And you can see, again, this huge desire for women to say, okay, please help me out. I started a business now, now what, right? When I went to get my first loan, when I was 22, I was laughed at and I walked out ashamed. And now you can pair women with your incredible coaches to get advice, whether it's, how do I open an account? What do I do with it? What are the rules? You know, I mean, it can be that simple or it can be as complex as are we ready to take, you know, a line of credit? How should we look at our, at our funding and how, how much runway do we need to have? And so I think having the access to, to the coaches that you guys have provided allows a safe space and allows women to get, again, a gap in the knowledge that they might be having from starting their company. So we're thrilled with the program and so happy that we see such a huge desire for it.
Host:
That is awesome. And that is great to hear. And let's continue on the entrepreneurship threat. You know, what are your predictions for the future of entrepreneurship?
Rebecca Minkoff:
Well, my hope is we know there's a lot of unemployed people. A lot of those unemployed people are women. My sincere hope is that they all start businesses and they all join the Female Founder Collective and or take advantage of coaching services that you guys have, because if they can all start businesses, we're just at the beginning of the cycle of solo entrepreneurs. I think you're going to see a boom of people saying corporate America might not work for me or the constraints involved or the commute, or I want to live in the middle of nowhere. And so I think again, COVID has made people rethink their priorities. And so if you can start a business, you know, I think it's a great idea and you're going to need resources and support. And so why not provide that for them? So that's my prediction, a lot more solo entrepreneurs, or, you know, businesses of two will be started in the next few years.
Host:
Okay. And then let's go a little bit more specific. What, what do we see for the future of Rebecca Minkoff as a brand?
Rebecca Minkoff:
Wow, well, there's a lot. Our second fragrance comes out imminently if the boat can get here. It's just sitting on the water right now, near Los Angeles. We have some incredible collaborations with heritage brands like Sperry coming out in the shoes, as well as EMU if you need those cozy slippers. We are launching home and lounge in January. So there's a lot of product extensions. And we recently relaunched luggage, which people are traveling again. So that's, you know, I think the brand is going to continue into its line extensions and our new site launches in a month. So there's, there's some good stuff on the horizon as hard as the last 18 months have been.
Host:
That's awesome. Oh, we all need some positivity to look forward to. So as we wrap up, do you have any advice to our audience members on how to be fearless?
Rebecca Minkoff:
Yes, I do. First of all, fear is an emotion that is hard wired into us. It keeps us safe from bears, from killers in the woods, from zombies. We take that emotion and we say that same feeling is gonna let, I'm gonna let that same feeling, let it stop me from, again, going in and asking for something I deserve at work. You know, making a case for a new project, taking on something more or even personal things, right? But if you can say, okay, good. That same feeling, keeping me safe is not the same feeling I'm going to let hold me back. And so again, don't be afraid to ask practice with people you feel safe with. I'm not here to be a mental health expert. I'm just saying these, these are things you can remember when you're, when you're experiencing that, take the risks. Sometimes you win, sometimes you learn. And sometimes success is just the fact that you got back up that morning. You failed miserably the day before, you got back out of bed, and you showed up. Half the reason we're here, right, is in March, I could have said, this is going to be hard. It's going to take everything I've got and more. I don't want to do that. I'm going to homeschool my kids. You know? And I said, no, I'm going to, I'm going to keep going. And I'm going to get back up every day, no matter what curve ball is thrown. So I would say get back up. And those are just a few steps to be more fearless.
Host:
I love it. Take the risks. You can either win or learn the life that's been. Thanks Rebecca for being with us today.
Rebecca Minkoff:
Thanks for having me. Thanks everybody.
END
