EP. 20 - HOW TO LEAD AUTHENTICALLY WITH REBECCA MINKOFF
Rebecca Minkoff is a fashion icon and industry leader in accessible luxury handbags, accessories, and apparel. Rebecca also founded the female founder collective to empower female-led businesses. She's been at the intersection of fashion and technology and is one the first female fashion designers to launch a collection of NFTs.
Recorded live during Art Basel, Art Week in Miami Beach, Lisa Carmen Wang, and Rebecca Minkoff discuss:
The power of embracing rejection and. the word "No"
Becoming a stronger leader by setting boundaries
Dealing with competitive women in the workplaceImportance of empowering your team, especially during tough times
Rebecca's thoughts on the future of Web3 and NFTs in the fashion world
This episode was recorded live from UNREVEALED during Miami Art Week 2022. If you want to learn more about their events, visit nrvld.co. Thanks to our partners at Nrvld.co and Kimpton Surfcomber Miami Beach!
FULL TRANSCRIPT
Lisa Carmen Wang 0:02
A bad bitch takes charge of her body, her boundaries, and her bank account
What's up bad bitches. Today's episode was recorded live in Miami during Art Basel overlooking the beautiful beach. And I'm so excited to share with you the conversation that I had with Rebecca Minkoff, we talked about her foray into the fashion industry, how she built up the Rebecca Minkoff brand, and what she had to do to become a powerful badass leader. And then what happened to the business during the pandemic when everything had to shrink, and she had to lay off over half her staff, and then how she turned that around and turned it into an acquisition of her company. She shares some of her most powerful lessons going from fashion to NF T's to the digital web three space, and there's so many things that we are going to discuss, but ultimately, the most important that we learned from her is that everything is about the journey. Everything is about learning to love the word no and loving rejection, because you don't get success without falling down getting rejected and hearing “no”, a million times. And it's only after you continue to persevere, that you really become the bad bitch You were born to be. Alright everyone, welcome to the bad bitch Empire podcast, we define a bad bitch is a woman who unapologetically takes charge of her body, her boundaries and her bank account. And we're on a mission to help women build unapologetic worth and wealth. My name is Lisa Carmen Wang. I'm the founder of the bad bitch empire. And today, I'm thrilled to be here with Rebecca Minkoff. She's a fashion icon and industry leader in accessible luxury handbags, accessories and apparel. Rebecca launched and founded the female Founder Collective to empower female-led businesses. And she's been at the intersection of fashion and technology and is one of the first female fashion designers to launch a collection of NF T's. So give a big applause to Rebecca Minkoff. Thank you. All right, Rebecca. So let's jump right in. One of the things that we often talk about at Babish Empire is helping women break free of good girl brainwashing, and all of the societal messages that tell you, you have to be polite, perfect, obedient, and follow the rules. And you've really created an iconic brand that is reflective of your personality and the innovation that you seek. So tell us about how you grew up and how you broke through a good girl brainwashing to become the bad that you are today.
Rebecca Minkoff 2:51
I guess it all starts with my mom. You know, I was the daughter after two boys. And she thought I needed to raise this girl to be tough. And I had very tough brothers. And so being in an environment where she taught me how to fight, and stand up on my own was really important. She didn't want me to be the little demure daughter that just said yes to everything. So she really led the way by her not being her being very unapologetic. And that was a great example for me. And then as I got older and more confident, I figured you know, that's a much easier way to be than meek and subservient and not owning our own space.
Lisa Carmen Wang 3:28
How did you get into fashion and start designing yourself?
Rebecca Minkoff 3:32
It started when I was about eight years old, I wanted this dress and she I assumed my mom would buy it for me. And she said no. And she said, I'll teach you how to sew. And I got hooked immediately on the idea that I could create something and make something for myself. And so I continued down that path until I had my own clothing line and worked for a designer for several years in New York City,
Lisa Carmen Wang 3:51
you've made a dream come true that many women dream of So what made you believe that it was possible for yourself when you started out?
Rebecca Minkoff 4:01
I think that there is an ignorance and a naivety, when you're young of I can do anything. And that really helps. And I definitely had that strong feeling that I could go to New York and I figure it out. And my mom again taught me throughout my whole life. If you want something, I'm not going to give it to you, you have to figure it out. So I had that confidence in my pocket that you know, I'll figure it out no matter what, I'll be scrappy. I'll work hard. You know, figure out who I need to meet to get to the next level and kept that mentality in mind. And at the end of the day, it's persistence. We are all given so many obstacles that make us want to give up an invitation to fail at every opportunity. And do you give up or do you stay there? And so for me, it's about continuing to sort of get back up again after each knockdown.
Lisa Carmen Wang 4:45
Can you take us to the beginning of your career when you started designing and you started encountering some of those first failures? Can you give us some specifics about that early time you had a failure?
Rebecca Minkoff 4:54
Where do you want me to start? The first the most notable I think not funny, it wasn't funny at the time. But our first overseas production, they mixed my hardware with Kate Spade. We didn't have anyone in quality control. And so my customer got to give me a nickname. It wasn't as cute as Bennifer. It was cut Becca spank off. So that was fun to ship bags to Nordstrom, Saks Neiman Marcus with the hybrid name. That was an epic failure. Or when we were you know, we've always been at the intersection of fashion and technology. So this was over, you know, 1314 years ago, but we had a live Twitter feed running at one of our fashion shows and the hashtag trended and then it was spammed with nude images of people and all kinds of fun stuff as you're trying to have a sophisticated event. So you name it, we've definitely failed.
Lisa Carmen Wang 5:44
And you have shared in the past about how difficult it was, I think, you know, one of the things we talked about now is really around the power of collaboration around with women. Right? What was that like for you, other women in the industry, especially early on.
Rebecca Minkoff 6:00
So you've all seen the Devil Wears Prada or heard about it, and the fashion industry was like that. And so it was only when I peered outside of it, that I realized, you know, there are still inequalities that exist, that women face challenges with. And so for me, you know, growing up in an industry with our goal and be one great designer or one editor in chief, it was really liberating when social media and technology really democratized fashion so that there can be lots of people, lots of influencers, lots of content creators, all succeeding in their own way. So that was a great moment when that happened, because it doesn't feel good otherwise, and we don't need to compete with each other, we can help each other out and that you'll get a lot further a lot faster if you do that.
Lisa Carmen Wang 6:48
And can you tell us about your development as a leader? You know, what kind of leader were you when you started out? And what are some of those lessons you learned that are really important about building and scaling a business?
Rebecca Minkoff 6:59
I think leadership is something that you think will come naturally, and it doesn't always and if you are a designer, and suddenly you have a company, and you now have 60 people that you're leading, it definitely takes practice and skill and education. I think in the beginning, I wanted to be the therapists leader, like come to my office and cry, and I'll take care of you. And that doesn't work in a work environment at all. And I think right now, it's a fine balance of really trusting that person really letting them lead listening to them. I tell Mary, I'm wrong all the time. You're right. And she's on my team. And so I think it's really interesting, your team to lead and take initiative, and sometimes people make mistakes, but I make mistakes all the time. So really owning that and showing your team like, Hey, I fucked up, I'm sorry, I'm owning it. What you know, I'll do better next time. And I think that vulnerability is a really great characteristic to cultivate in yourself as a leader.
Lisa Carmen Wang 7:57
And in the past few years, I mean, we've all had to navigate the pandemic, but I think you're sharing earlier in our conversation about how the pandemic really did affect your business. So tell us about how you went through that period. And then what kind of leader you had to become, as you were thinking about your business and the next stage of the iteration?
Rebecca Minkoff 8:19
Yeah, so 2020, our business evaporated by about 70%. overnight. And so it was really trying to just stay in business was our goal. And to see the team come together in a way that I had always wanted, but never felt like we could figure out what happened over the pandemic, we got stronger, we ended the year up over 10%. And I think it was fully trusting people to own and run their own areas, and empowering each individual to be as successful as they can. And sometimes, a pandemic will force people into the mindset of like, this is the team, let's not let this you know, sit ship sink. And so for us as hard as it was, it was also a rewarding time. workwise because we transformed our company. And for the first time, we said, what do we want? How do we want to show up? It's not about making sure everyone else makes money. It's you know, making sure that we're whole as a team, that we do great things and that we take care of our own back office, basically.
Lisa Carmen Wang 9:20
So what were some of the tough decisions you had to make during that period?
Rebecca Minkoff 9:25
So when our business evaporated, we only had our website, we had to let go of about 25 people, which was awful these people were like family, we had to give everyone pay cuts, including ourselves and every day was what did we do today on ecom? Can we live can we pay our bills? And that was challenging and then you have your bank breathing down your neck wondering why you're not meeting your commitments and you have people that you owe money to so it was every day was like what is the situation can I swear we can swear here right? It's the bad bitch empire. What fucked up situations gonna happen today, let's wait for it everybody, and try to navigate your way out of it. And you know, and then we got through it. And then in December of last year, our factory in Vietnam basically shut down. And then we had no inventory. And so we were like, we just did all the hard work, we survived. And now we can't ship anybody. And so it was just like, I'm sure a lot of businesses experienced one wave after the other of just, you know, a lot of stuff going on. But again, we just kept coming back, we showed up to work, the easy thing would have been to go out of business, that would have been the easy thing. But we said, No, we owe it to ourselves or to our customers to persist.
Lisa Carmen Wang 10:40
And persist. You did. And you also ended with an acquisition of your company. So congratulations. What was that process like?
Rebecca Minkoff 10:51
So in February, we decided that we needed really incredible sourcing and logistics partners, and we found an incredible partner that was ready to take the business to the next level. So that happened in February, it's the best thing that could have happened. And we are having a lot of fun and growing the business. And, you know, by the end of this year, we'll have come back from what we lost during the pandemic, which is great.
Lisa Carmen Wang 11:16
So when you say it was the best thing that ever happened, what is what did the acquisition then allow you to focus on, especially as a creative?
Rebecca Minkoff 11:23
I think what it did is taking my attention on how are we going to, you know, get the factory back open? And how are we going to make payroll to how do we have incredible events like being here at Basel and having two amazing activations that we did the last few nights or Fashion Week, or partnering and collaborating, going into the world of web three, it just allows you to actually focus on what you need to do to build the business, versus worrying about the day to day challenges that can be so crippling to companies.
Lisa Carmen Wang 11:50
And I think that's something I've also learned on my journey, which is really trying to stay in a place in a zone where you can focus on your superpowers, because a lot of times entrepreneurs get into this zone where they're so busy with Back Office admin ops, and you are in the weeds all the time, but you can't actually do the thing that is going to skyrocket your business and actually the core and heart of what your business should
Rebecca Minkoff 12:15
be exactly, yes. Especially for a designer, if you've taken off that to go run a back office, it's not the best use of your time. Yeah.
Lisa Carmen Wang 12:25
So innovation is something that you've really been at the forefront of, and how did you jump into the world of web three?
Rebecca Minkoff 12:33
In September of 2001, we decided after I was seeing what was happening in web three, and being again, a company that had pioneered, you know, I sound old when I say this, social media using influencers, e-commerce direct to consumer businesses, this felt like the next natural progression of where our consumers going to be eventually. And so we had our first collection and sold out in nine minutes we worked with the D materialized. Then we came back for Metaverse fashion week in March and did another collection. And then we just did two drops with NaVi on. And not only is there an incredible piece of art behind every NFT. But the amount of utility that we offer, whether it's helping me design the bag, attending exclusive events coming to Fashion Week, you know, voting on certain styles and colors that then we go into production with I think we really wanted to make sure the value of each NFT pays itself forward in perpetuity.
Lisa Carmen Wang 13:32
And what do you see as the future of web three, especially as it relates to the fashion world?
Rebecca Minkoff 13:38
I think in this instant gratification age, everyone expects web three to take off and never stop. And we've obviously seen some slowing down of some things. But I think like anything that is innovative and new, you know, we're learning building phase where an experimental phase and so I don't know what the future is, but I know that shoppers are going to want to have their digital garments for their avatars for whatever metaverse. They're a part of. And I think that people want perks and value to something digital that will also get them access to physical. So I think those worlds work continue to become more and more combined. And eventually, it'll just be seamless.
Lisa Carmen Wang 14:23
And another project that you have are constantly working on is the female Founder Collective. So that's something that's really near and dear to my heart the mission of uplifting empowering women. So why is that something that you chose to invest your energy into?
Rebecca Minkoff 14:38
I think as a founder, you have multiple days of you can't make this shit up and you don't know who to talk to about it. And so how could we unlock the power of female founders collaborating with each other to share their tips, tricks, resources, community? It happens on the golf course for a lot of men, where does it happen for women? And so started a couple of Unity about four years ago, we have over 20,000 members. And so if you are a female founder, and you need that community and education, you might start your business out as a photographer or creator, but you don't know how to run a backend, or raise money. And so we bring in the best and brightest founders to teach other women, all the skills that you need, frankly, to succeed.
Lisa Carmen Wang 15:20
So given where you are on your journey, you've obviously gone through a lot, what is a piece of advice that you would give to your former self, your if you could go back in time and, and, and tell her, you know, something that that you wish you had known earlier?
Rebecca Minkoff 15:37
I think that everyone has a goal, and they want to get to it immediately. And as cheesy as it sounds, the journey is the experience. It is not some goal posts that you reach, and you say, now I'm done. Because every time I've hit a goal that I never thought I could reach, it feels good. But you're like, Okay, now what? And so I think, you know, enjoy each part of this and enjoy, especially the shitty terrible moments, because that's what makes the wind so good. If it was always easy, you'd be bored out of your mind. So enjoy the heart and be like, Okay, on the other side, there's going to be something really great.
Lisa Carmen Wang 16:16
I always talk about this concept of enoughness, especially for the ambitious the high achievers and this feeling of it's never enough, right? We achieve one thing and the goalpost keeps moving further and further. And it's like, when is it ever going to be enough? And so for you, it's really been Have you had that experience before in the past where it was just like, you achieve a thing and you don't even notice yourself, you don't even celebrate yourself, and you just keep moving on.
Rebecca Minkoff 16:40
It happens a lot. We did it last week, we achieved something we couldn't think was possible. And, you know, thank God, our CEO was like, Can we just take a moment right now and be like, Yes, we did this. And you have to stop and take those moments, because that's why we're all working so hard is to experience that joy after so much hard work.
Lisa Carmen Wang 16:58
What are some rituals that you have for yourself to keep grounded as an entrepreneur?
Rebecca Minkoff 17:03
I mean, right now I'm getting a lot of massages because of this big thing that is sitting in my stomach. That's a ritual right now.
Lisa Carmen Wang 17:14
And can you tell us about some of the other bad bitches in your life role models that you think have really inspired you or helped you along in your journey,
Rebecca Minkoff 17:22
I got to right there, Colby and Mary, raise your hands. They're my incredible PR team. And we do we I work closest with them on all of our activations and everything you see forward facing. Those are the ladies and they're constantly there, they got my back. They're creative and passionate and hardworking, and it's just inspiring to be around them.
Lisa Carmen Wang 17:47
And the other thing that I do want to touch on is the fact that you've invested in a lot of female founders. And so as an angel investor, myself and also a part of the BAD BITCH EMPIRE, our mission is really to help women build financial literacy, the understanding about investing and investing in values-aligned assets, how have you thought about investing your own portfolio?
Rebecca Minkoff 18:12
This might not be the best advice, but I, I always try and look at a company I'm investing in as a consumer and as what I buy that, as, as you know, what I want that in my life, oh, I don't have this in my life. And so I kind of use that. And if the numbers make sense, and if I can see that there's a founder there that is going to work their fucking ass off, and keep getting up when times get tough. I really look for that more than anything, because everyone wants to have a company that becomes a billion-dollar brand overnight. And you know, these, these brands that get built, take a lot of blood, sweat, and tears. And so you need that founder to be rock solid and resourceful, and resilient. And that, to me is the most important part of it.
Lisa Carmen Wang 18:57
I think everyone wants to be a bad bitch. But it takes a lot, a lot of work to get there. So any other last words in terms of advice or lessons that you'd like to leave the audience with?
Rebecca Minkoff 19:09
I think that I'm hearing too much about impostor syndrome. And I just want to say that everyone has it everyone questions, if they should be somewhere or why they're here or why they're invited. And you can give into that. Or you can just say, Fuck this shit and just be there and own the space. And I liken it to a muscle if you don't work out, you won't grow them. So if you don't put your shoulders back and you don't show up where you need to be, you'll never begin to feel what that feels like. So don't apologize. You know, I love what you say about being unapologetic just be unapologetic, and own it and it'll eventually feel real. You just have to make it so no one's going to hand it to you.
Lisa Carmen Wang 19:47
And I always talk about, you know, really embracing the haters too, because especially if you're building something innovative, something different, something that's authentic. A lot of times you will get pushback and you We'll get rejection and you will, you'll feel that impostor syndrome, even more so when people are criticizing you. And so I think it's, you know, you've shown that in your journey as well, very clearly. And so I would just add on to that is, if you're getting negative feedback, a lot of times just embrace it, right? It's if you're putting in the blood, sweat and tears, and you know what your mission and intention is, and just keep going forth and putting that energy out there.
Rebecca Minkoff 20:25
And who made us think that we shouldn't get negative feedback or get told no, who said that? You should be told yes, all the time. It doesn't exist in life. It's actually not real. So just know that you're gonna get told no more than you'll ever be told. Yes, but you only need one. Yes. And then embrace it and run with it.
Lisa Carmen Wang 20:43
Awesome. So last question for you, Rebecca. What does it mean to you to be a bad bitch?
Rebecca Minkoff 20:52
I'm going to steal your word of unapologetic. Um, find the humor in it and and share, share the success the hard work, share it with people who matter and who give it more meaning.
Lisa Carmen Wang 21:07
Amazing. Well, thank you Rebecca, for being a part of the bad witch empire. Thank you everyone, for being here with us. And if you want to find out more about the Babbage empire, head over to bad bitch empire.com our podcasts come out weekly. And we'll be launching the bad bitch investor academy next year for any bad bitches who are interested in learning how to Angel invest to build unapologetic wealth and to support and invest in female-led companies. Thank you everyone. Thank you
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