1. How did you know you wanted to be a designer?
I grew up in Chicago. I told my Mom at the age of 4 that I would only wear dresses to nursery. I also told her I would move to NYC and start my own fashion line. So I began my life as a fashionista at the ripe old age of 4! I outfitted my pre–K classmates and staged fashion shows in my school cafeteria. I even made and sold charm necklaces to my friends in 1st grade! My mom was an entrepreneur and I believe it was transported to me in the womb! It’s been a passion of mine for as long as I can remember…
2. How did you get your company up and running?
I designed and sewed some of my first tops in my NYC apartment that I shared with my college girlfriends. I was sewing and designing for holiday gifts, birthdays and special events in my free time while working full time as a designer at Izod. I kept my poor roommates up while sewing all night. But, they were amazing and always my best promoters. They would wear my stuff out and inevitably someone would ask them, “where d’ya get that”? From that point I started taking orders from friends of friends (this was before the world of online selling).
I knew I wanted to design a different line that spoke to an energetic, edgy and playful young woman with a confident and carefree spirit. During the process of creating this vision I knew I needed a logo that encapsulated that girl. One day my boyfriend at the time (now my husband) invited me to his parent’s house for dinner and I noticed a picture frame containing silhouettes of their three children from when they were younger. My parents had a similar picture of my mom, my sister and I when we were about the same age. I thought about us and how we still both had these young, playful, carefree versions of ourselves inside of us and I knew right then and there my brand would be called Boy Meets Girl® and that I’d use our silhouettes for the logo.
In the beginning I was working out of my apartment. I was sewing, selling, promoting (even my first “showroom” photo shoot for Lucky Magazine’s “One to Watch” was actually shot in my bedroom), shipping and doing basically everything by myself. I launched my line in Oct.2001 at a small trade show called the Workshop and at this show I opened my first department store Bergdorf Goodman. Slowly (and I mean really slowly), I was able to afford to bring on a small team but we still worked out of my house. When I was finally able to afford my own space it was the size of a closet in Union City New Jersey. I took a small bus from port authority everyday with my computer on my back to a rundown building with no running water(the building has since been condemned). Needless to say I appreciate my current space in the garment district complete with track lighting and a working elevator among other plush amenities. So that’s how I’ve grown. I really have not changed all that much…I still love to create it’s just that now I am creating a larger and more complex collection with many more moving pieces and personnel involved.
3. What are your tips for aspiring designers?
1. Be prepared to work like you’ve never worked before.
2. Being a talented designer is not enough. You need to learn how to be an effective marketer, networker, salesperson, service provider, writer, stylist, merchandiser and psychiatrist too.
3. Work with multiple vendors and never stop sourcing potential new ones. It gives you leverage and protects you from catastrophes.
4. and last but not least. BELIEVE!
My mentors like Ellie Tahari, Zandra Rhodes and Elsa Klensch were all hard workers even after they’d “made it” so that was an eye opener for me. I was smart enough to recognize that the hard workers were usually the individuals who got the big opportunities in life. They were also the ones who were prepared to capitalize on those opportunities.
4. Where do you find your inspiration?
I draw inspiration from a variety of eclectic influences such as vintage clothing, the vibrant New York art and music scenes and Hollywood’s glamourati.
This quote sums it up for me:
“Fashion is not something that exists in dresses only. Fashion is in the sky, in the street, fashion has to do with ideas, the way we live, what is happening.” -Coco Chanel
5. What do you do when not working and designing?
Hmmm, I am not sure I'm ever not working... In those rare cases, I decompress completely. I catch up with my man, DJ Blue Steel (I give everyone in my life a DJ name and my husband is a model and
Lawyer and I loved Zoolander), I visit with friends and family, I sleep, read, watch the drummers drum in central park and workout... oh, and I watch awful TV.
Also read her interview and her shout out to yours truly at FOX Business News.