Speaker 1: Welcome back to another episode of Big Money Energy, where
Speaker 1: we talked to super successful and self made people to
Speaker 1: find out exactly how they did it, how they went
Speaker 1: from nothing to something. Today I am joined by none
Speaker 1: other than author, podcast host and how you know her
Speaker 1: absolute trail blazer in the world of fashion, Rebecca Minkoff,
Speaker 1: the Rebecca mink Off who's sitting down with me mere
Speaker 1: days before her huge show during the chaos of Fashion
Speaker 1: Week in New York City. We discussed pushing boundaries and
Speaker 1: taking risks, her thoughts on elevating female voices and perspectives
Speaker 1: in the world of business, and how she went from
Speaker 1: sleeping on egg crates no joke, to being one of
Speaker 1: the most important names in all of fashion. Now let's
Speaker 1: get into it. Welcome to another episode. Thank you so
Speaker 1: much for coming. You are awesome and I've been a
Speaker 1: huge fan for a really, really, really really really long
Speaker 1: time and it's exciting to have you here in fashion week.
Speaker 1: It's Fashion Week, My event is Friday. Why are you?
Speaker 1: Why are you here? I'm here because when you request
Speaker 1: me in person, Ryan, I have I have to answer
Speaker 1: the call. Are you sure? Did you? Maybe you didn't
Speaker 1: know that it was gonna be Fashion Week because this
Speaker 1: is a little while ago, and yeah, I'm positive, but
Speaker 1: I was like, you know what, I'm not. I'm only
Speaker 1: in town for a week before I go back to Florida,
Speaker 1: where I'm temporarily residing, and I need to do this.
Speaker 1: This is my week? Got it? Well? Thank you for
Speaker 1: being here? Crazy? Are you losing your mind right now?
Speaker 1: I am so. Are you one of those people who's
Speaker 1: like kind of like me, like calm on the outside,
Speaker 1: but there's a lot happening on the inside. Yes, But
Speaker 1: I found that writing down notes analog style, like on
Speaker 1: a notebook really helps me. And this satisfaction of crossing
Speaker 1: things off my list makes me feel as stressed. So
Speaker 1: we are launching it at New York Fashion Week at
Speaker 1: Spring Studios, That's where the hub is, and we are
Speaker 1: selling prints that we made of the action, a capsule
Speaker 1: collection as n f T S if anyone needs to
Speaker 1: google that can um and the proceeds are going to
Speaker 1: be going towards the grant to female found of business
Speaker 1: is impacted by the pandemic in New York City? Is
Speaker 1: that all your concept that you put together? Yeah? So
Speaker 1: I began reading about n f T S early last
Speaker 1: year I saw that luxury dove in and I thought,
Speaker 1: you know what, We're always known as a brand for
Speaker 1: pushing boundaries, and this should be how we launched it.
Speaker 1: Everyone's coming back to fashion Week. We showed through the pandemic,
Speaker 1: but we have to do something different. It can't just
Speaker 1: be models in a collection. So we shot a campaign
Speaker 1: with a legendary photographer and decided to do a gallery
Speaker 1: like event and work to promote n f t S
Speaker 1: is a charitable way to give back. That's crazy, And
Speaker 1: because it is the anniversary of nine eleven and I
Speaker 1: had a charitable component, then I thought, let's do something
Speaker 1: now for women who were, you know, really devastated by
Speaker 1: this pandemic in New York. You started your business in
Speaker 1: two thousand one, I did, and what month, sept Timber
Speaker 1: of two thousand and one one. It's a momentous kind
Speaker 1: of anniversary for you right in the business, so it
Speaker 1: means a lot. But that was also in probably one
Speaker 1: of the toughest times in the history of New York City.
Speaker 1: I mean, how does fear play a role in one
Speaker 1: your ability to start a business, keep a business going
Speaker 1: and all the ups and downs, But also in kind
Speaker 1: of just I guess the business in general. So I've
Speaker 1: learned a lot about fear in the last twenty years.
Speaker 1: UM my show, my initial fashion Week show with September
Speaker 1: two one. Yeah, it was a group show, A bunch
Speaker 1: of designers that didn't have enough money banded together to
Speaker 1: you know, make it five of us or whatever, to
Speaker 1: you know, make the costs easier. The next day obviously
Speaker 1: changed everything, and I had this isle of New York
Speaker 1: Shire that was part of the collection that I had
Speaker 1: cut up and be dazzled and tied knots and it
Speaker 1: was very d I y then, which was cool. I
Speaker 1: hope it never comes back. And a couple of weeks later,
Speaker 1: so I guess I should back. So I obviously wasn't
Speaker 1: thinking about my business at that time. A couple of
Speaker 1: days later, my boss, a designer I worked for a
Speaker 1: called me and said, you know what you're doing, go
Speaker 1: do it either need with me or you're fired. And
Speaker 1: I think I know the answer. So you're fired, but
Speaker 1: I'm here for you. And I was like, but wait,
Speaker 1: like nine eleven just happened. It's not like people are hiring.
Speaker 1: And I said, this is my moment to try my
Speaker 1: hand at this business. Um and that shirt because an
Speaker 1: actress ward on Jay Leno and he mentioned it was
Speaker 1: all over the weeklies. There was no such thing as
Speaker 1: social media, so the power of that was crazy. And
Speaker 1: there was one website called Raven Style that sold the shirt.
Speaker 1: So I literally would bike down the Green Street on
Speaker 1: the corner of Green and Canal, buy the shirts, go home,
Speaker 1: make them. And that shirt that I live New York
Speaker 1: shirt kept me alive barely. It was like Raman and
Speaker 1: avoiding my roommate who I owed, or like three thousand
Speaker 1: dollars in rent for a couple of months, but still
Speaker 1: it was that shirt that like open doors for me.
Speaker 1: A lot of people reach out to us all the
Speaker 1: time and ask about Okay, I'm eighteen years old, now
Speaker 1: what do I do? I have a passion or sometimes
Speaker 1: they don't have a passion, and I feel like the
Speaker 1: answer is always different. Did you have a passion for
Speaker 1: fashion when you were like three or is it something
Speaker 1: that was developed around parents and friends? It was eight
Speaker 1: um I wanted to address. I wanted to address it
Speaker 1: was twenty bucks. My mom said no, but I'll teach
Speaker 1: you how to sell. And I was so pissed. And
Speaker 1: I have an eight year Alto I say no to
Speaker 1: all the time, and she's equally pissed, but she doesn't
Speaker 1: take me up on the offer to help her make it. Um.
Speaker 1: So I got hooked at the age of eight on
Speaker 1: sewing and design. I went to a performer at high school.
Speaker 1: I was in the costume department. The teacher couldn't believe
Speaker 1: I cared, so she like taught me draping and pattern
Speaker 1: making and the art of design and so again part
Speaker 1: of why I felt like I didn't need to go
Speaker 1: to college, as I had four hours a day every
Speaker 1: day through high school of learning the craft. So my
Speaker 1: first year of F I T I probably already had
Speaker 1: gotten in high school. Were you ever nervous though about
Speaker 1: how am I actually going to make money? When you
Speaker 1: know the percentage of people that actually make it, especially
Speaker 1: in New York City getting into fashion. What if it
Speaker 1: doesn't work out? What am I going to fall back on?
Speaker 1: A year of F F T. I mean that must
Speaker 1: have been like from family members tough on, you know,
Speaker 1: or were they just like, just do whatever you want? Well?
Speaker 1: I did six weeks at f I got it six
Speaker 1: six weeks solid, really dedicated there. I think when you're
Speaker 1: that young it's a bit of a mix of naivety, right,
Speaker 1: and I had nothing to fall back on, So it's
Speaker 1: not like I had to fear anything, right. I knew
Speaker 1: that if it didn't work out, I guess I'd go
Speaker 1: back home and be a receptionist at my dad's office
Speaker 1: or I don't know. I just for me, I was like,
Speaker 1: I have to give it my all. And back then,
Speaker 1: the pay for me was the experience, and it was
Speaker 1: the exciting, Like everything was exciting, and so it wasn't
Speaker 1: about money, and I didn't care if I ate bagels
Speaker 1: or pizza. That was what I could afford to eat
Speaker 1: and whatever. So that feeling you had when you first
Speaker 1: moved to New York where you didn't have to make
Speaker 1: money because you just wanted the experience and it was exciting,
Speaker 1: and what's the worst thing that can happen, You're gonna
Speaker 1: move home like that, that was the same thing for me,
Speaker 1: Like I came to New York City at a little
Speaker 1: money saved up. I gave myself two years and what
Speaker 1: was the worst thing that could happen? I could move home,
Speaker 1: and at the time it was Colorado, But that was
Speaker 1: by far like the worst thing because if I went
Speaker 1: home to Colorado, Like what was I? I would never
Speaker 1: come back, and I knew that if you make it
Speaker 1: in New York, I would figure it out. Even if
Speaker 1: it wasn't the initial plan. You stuck with the initial plan.
Speaker 1: I totally went a different way. But something that I
Speaker 1: think about a lot is I was able to make
Speaker 1: super bold and daring decisions at that time because the
Speaker 1: repercussions were so insignificant when you look at life as
Speaker 1: a whole. Like Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy the day
Speaker 1: I got into the business, right and so but I
Speaker 1: I had no money. I didn't have a stock portfolio.
Speaker 1: You know, everyone else was crying and watching CNBC and
Speaker 1: I was like, man, real estate must be hard. Like
Speaker 1: I had no idea. How do you bring that kind
Speaker 1: of naivete back into your life when there is a
Speaker 1: lot on the line. And I feel like you're someone
Speaker 1: who's kind of hope. I mean kind of figured that
Speaker 1: out a bit because you're always launching something new, You're
Speaker 1: always pushing boundaries. You're about to do an n f
Speaker 1: T Fashion Week show in your twentieth year anniversary, Like
Speaker 1: is that what keeps you kind of like up against
Speaker 1: the wall. I think it's a couple of things. Obviously,
Speaker 1: as your responsibilities grow. I know you have a family,
Speaker 1: I have one to thing. You have three times the family.
Speaker 1: I have three times the family. Yes, I do. It's insane. Um.
Speaker 1: I think obviously the risks you take have to be
Speaker 1: waited a bit more. But I think for me, my
Speaker 1: my big low moment, my big that sort of put
Speaker 1: everything for me in perspective was a couple of years ago.
Speaker 1: I was in Paris for sales of the collection. I
Speaker 1: was celebrating with my former president. We were drinking champagne
Speaker 1: and eating at Lavenue in this fantastic setting, and we
Speaker 1: get an email from our bank that was basically like,
Speaker 1: we're not advancing you any more funds. You're cut off,
Speaker 1: which meant we couldn't pay the factory, which meant we
Speaker 1: couldn't chip the collection, which means bankruptcy. And you know,
Speaker 1: the bank also has a lean on my house. So
Speaker 1: I was like, cool, they're going to take that too,
Speaker 1: And I as I'm having panic attack, like I'm going
Speaker 1: to lose everything, I just said, you know what, they
Speaker 1: can't take my kids, they can't take my husband. And
Speaker 1: I know that if I started something once I can
Speaker 1: start it again, and that for me was a more
Speaker 1: security than any money in the bank. And I'm not
Speaker 1: saying it wouldn't suck to lose everything. It would really,
Speaker 1: if I can swear, it would really fucking suck. But
Speaker 1: I knew that I could rebuild, and I knew the
Speaker 1: things I'm most precious to me no one can steal
Speaker 1: today maybe maybe in the future, who knows um. And
Speaker 1: so I look through that lens now like, I'm never
Speaker 1: going to take a risk that's gonna put my company
Speaker 1: out of business. But you know, I think we've been
Speaker 1: given permission from our industry as innovators. And sometimes things
Speaker 1: work and sometimes they don't, you know, they and a
Speaker 1: teething could be a flop and no one wants to
Speaker 1: buy the goods of the auction, but it could also
Speaker 1: be the beginning of something great for contemporary American fashion designers.
Speaker 1: So I think for us, I thrive on the risk. Now.
Speaker 1: I don't have the fear because you know, a art
Speaker 1: wise man who was a consultant for us, pointed out,
Speaker 1: He's like, every time you tried to go with the
Speaker 1: pack and do what the fashion industry said, you didn't
Speaker 1: achieve anything, and any time you went your own way,
Speaker 1: you did, and so I know for us, our own
Speaker 1: way is the solution, and that involves a lot of risk.
Speaker 1: How many people work for you now I have seven?
Speaker 1: And it started just you and your brother. Originally in
Speaker 1: two thousand one, it was just me. It was me
Speaker 1: for four years, struggling doing the apparel thing, making everything myself.
Speaker 1: I had a little racket going where a publicist would
Speaker 1: call me and say, editors are looking for this. I'd
Speaker 1: go home and make it. I deliver it to him.
Speaker 1: He would get into magazine and we would credit the
Speaker 1: one website who would be like, you got to buy
Speaker 1: a couple in advance and loan me the money so
Speaker 1: I can go buy the fabric because it's going to
Speaker 1: run in the magazine. So I had this like, it's
Speaker 1: not a pyramid scheme, but it kind of was. But
Speaker 1: everyone was in on it um. And then I launched
Speaker 1: the handbag, which was just supposed to be one handbag
Speaker 1: as an accessory to the collection. And that's what took
Speaker 1: off in a way that my brother. That's when I
Speaker 1: got him involved because I was like, I'm really ter
Speaker 1: bull of business. I'm way better now I can go
Speaker 1: Toto toto with him, but at the time I just
Speaker 1: wanted to design and focus on that. So to take
Speaker 1: me back, So you doing it on your own for
Speaker 1: four years, Your brother comes into the picture. You had
Speaker 1: the shirt, You've got the bag, and then you guys
Speaker 1: have a discussion and say, listen, we could build something
Speaker 1: really really big, or hey, this is the business plan,
Speaker 1: let's write it together. Or were you kind of just
Speaker 1: winging it and creating the supply as the demand came in.
Speaker 1: So I'll backtrack a little bit because I think it
Speaker 1: sets the scene. Um, my dad had co signed a
Speaker 1: credit card. He was not paying for it, but he
Speaker 1: had signed it. That was basically like, if I can't
Speaker 1: make the payments, go after him. Yes, I was sixty
Speaker 1: dollars in when the bag was about to take off,
Speaker 1: and I called him and I was like, Dad, got
Speaker 1: another good thing, but people you know like it. You know,
Speaker 1: I have an order a bunch of orders for this bag.
Speaker 1: And he's like, oh no, we are done here. Like
Speaker 1: call your brother, maybe hell partner with you. So my
Speaker 1: brother asked me some basic business one on one questions,
Speaker 1: like do you have a bank account, a business bank account?
Speaker 1: Tax idea? I was like, why would I have a
Speaker 1: business bank account? There's not even enough money in one.
Speaker 1: I literally go from bank to bank and open and
Speaker 1: closed accounts because I'm always overdrafted. And he was like,
Speaker 1: oh my god. So he loaned me bucks to make
Speaker 1: the first round of bags, and then he paid himself
Speaker 1: back and so there was no There was never even
Speaker 1: a formal like what is he owned? What is I owned?
Speaker 1: He just dove in and kind of assess what was heated.
Speaker 1: There was no business plan. We could not get a loan,
Speaker 1: so the business plan didn't matter. Venture capital was not
Speaker 1: a thing then. Um. We only discussed business terms when
Speaker 1: things were getting more serious and we were looking at
Speaker 1: taking on an investment, and that was seven years in
Speaker 1: and then he was like, oh yeah, I get half
Speaker 1: the company. And I was like, oh okay. I didn't
Speaker 1: know that's how this is gonna work, but cool. So
Speaker 1: that's when those negotiations began. What was that day like
Speaker 1: for you when you had that first big deal. I
Speaker 1: was so excited. I have a picture in my phone
Speaker 1: yes of me standing by the stores I delivered the
Speaker 1: bags and I'm like, how many bags? Was it? It
Speaker 1: was probably what was a big order because they had
Speaker 1: a lot of stores. It was probably over a hundred bags.
Speaker 1: O God, when did you have your first child? Sorry
Speaker 1: if you remind me crazy, And how did that change
Speaker 1: your business? It didn't change my business, it changes it
Speaker 1: changed how I worked prior to him being born. I worked,
Speaker 1: you know, till midnight every night. It didn't matter any
Speaker 1: state I needed to be in. I was there. Um
Speaker 1: and I even six months into being pregnant, I wasn't
Speaker 1: even shorten. I wanted a child. I was accelerating my
Speaker 1: my child rearing journey because my mom said my ovaries
Speaker 1: would turn to dust. And I also wanted my parents,
Speaker 1: I mean, sorry, my children to know my parents and
Speaker 1: have a great relationship with them, because I didn't get
Speaker 1: that growing up with my grandparents. And I would text
Speaker 1: my husband. He'd be sitting right next to me. I'm like,
Speaker 1: why are we doing this? Why are we having a kid?
Speaker 1: I don't know if I wanted as pregnant, yes, I
Speaker 1: didn't want the baby to here. And he came out,
Speaker 1: fell in love, obsessed. I couldn't believe I ever thought
Speaker 1: that should have started earlier. Um, And I said, I
Speaker 1: want to be a really present mom, and so I
Speaker 1: really cut back my hours and when I say that,
Speaker 1: I just went from nine to five or whatever. Um.
Speaker 1: And then I made a lot of sacrifices. I said,
Speaker 1: if I'm going to travel for more than a couple
Speaker 1: of days, baby comes with me. Does that make my
Speaker 1: life hell to go to China, Korea, Japan, London, Paris
Speaker 1: with a kid. Yes. But I just was like, you know,
Speaker 1: stick in the ground. I'm gonna be the best mother
Speaker 1: that I can, and that means being there as much
Speaker 1: as possible. So I began to play with my boundaries,
Speaker 1: and with each kid, I played with my boundaries more
Speaker 1: and more. And someone might be listening saying, well, that's easy,
Speaker 1: fields or company. But I never did anything that my
Speaker 1: employees can't do. You know, I never took advantage of
Speaker 1: anything that my team can't do. And so I kind
Speaker 1: of set the example as the woman that's pumping at
Speaker 1: the boardroom or in a cab or with a group
Speaker 1: of investors and little things, right of just like this
Speaker 1: is important and I want my company values to reflect that.
Speaker 1: And that's a big part of your culture statement as well. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's a huge part of our culture statement. Yeah, women first,
Speaker 1: supportive to moms. You've got to go, no questions ask
Speaker 1: you know, I don't care where you are, if you're
Speaker 1: at a dental appointment or a doctor's visit with your
Speaker 1: kid or performance, do you get your job done? It
Speaker 1: doesn't matter to me. How has that one? That's awesome?
Speaker 1: But to how has that affected the growth then of
Speaker 1: the business, whether it's been in the people you've hired,
Speaker 1: or the or the creations, the product, the apparel. So
Speaker 1: it's weird. I can't measure what it's done for business.
Speaker 1: I can't say that more people have bought my bags
Speaker 1: because they like that I promote breastfeeding. I don't know
Speaker 1: that I could ever make that correlation. I'll make it
Speaker 1: for you. I'm pretty sure it works okay. But I
Speaker 1: will say that the team that I attract, no one
Speaker 1: loved the fact that I'm a fierce fighter in that
Speaker 1: you know, so fears that We had a woman who
Speaker 1: was past child rearing age. You've never had kids like
Speaker 1: knocking on the door of my PR person who was pumping,
Speaker 1: and I was like, you get away from that door
Speaker 1: right now. She's in the middle of something very important
Speaker 1: and you schedule with her when you want a meeting.
Speaker 1: And she was like wow. So I guess I go
Speaker 1: the opposite direction of most people, and I'm like very
Speaker 1: I just want to make sure that women feel supportive
Speaker 1: because in the workplace it is not the norm. What
Speaker 1: would you tell a seventeen, eighteen, twenty four year old
Speaker 1: girl who wants to be an entrepreneur but doesn't think
Speaker 1: that that's in the cards for her. I would say
Speaker 1: that you are This is gonna sound cheesy. You are
Speaker 1: the person that's going to determine if you get your
Speaker 1: own in your own way or not. It is up
Speaker 1: to you. And I will also say that the cavalry
Speaker 1: is not coming for you. Any great change, any great
Speaker 1: forward progress has been because people stick their necks out.
Speaker 1: And I'm going to make some extreme examples, but make them.
Speaker 1: You know, Susan Fowler who called out Uber on their
Speaker 1: sexual discrimination, You think that was easy for her to
Speaker 1: write that op ed rosa arks. You think she was
Speaker 1: comfortable set in that part of the bus, not moving
Speaker 1: women voting right. You think they liked getting beaten and jailed.
Speaker 1: So if you're scared of asking for a raise, asking
Speaker 1: for a promotion, calling out someone, or starting your own
Speaker 1: journey like it's on you, you know people have done
Speaker 1: much more, had to endure much harder things, and so
Speaker 1: I like to look at those extreme examples whenever I'm
Speaker 1: a little scared, I'm like, all right, she was beaten
Speaker 1: and jailed. Cool. I think I can do an n
Speaker 1: f T for a fashion week. Um so I think
Speaker 1: you know you have. In my book, I say, sometimes
Speaker 1: you win, sometimes you learn. We need to reframe failure
Speaker 1: is this thing that you should be scared of and
Speaker 1: always avoiding. The more you fail, the more you're gonna learn,
Speaker 1: and you're just stronger for the next time you try something.
Speaker 1: Do you think it's also important for people to be
Speaker 1: really clear and honest with themselves on their strengths and weaknesses.
Speaker 1: I feel like, especially now, people have a really hard
Speaker 1: time answering that question, like they don't know what they're
Speaker 1: good at. They kind of might know what they're bad at,
Speaker 1: but it's like extreme examples like, oh, I'm bad at football, Okay,
Speaker 1: have you ever tried? Probably not? What do you think
Speaker 1: you're I don't say what you're better at, but what
Speaker 1: do you think your your strengths are that have really
Speaker 1: really helped you? Kind of turn the tables on the narrative.
Speaker 1: Over the last twenty years. I think what I'm good
Speaker 1: at is i'd be a great project manager. I'm really
Speaker 1: good at taking a goal, breaking it up into his
Speaker 1: little parts, and then getting it done. Um. You know,
Speaker 1: my brother hates that I make hasty decisions, and I
Speaker 1: hate that he thinks a ton over every decision. But
Speaker 1: that works great, right, because he'll slow me down or
Speaker 1: I'll speed him up. Um. But to me, I don't
Speaker 1: know who said this, and I hope it's not Mark Zuckerberg,
Speaker 1: but like fail fast or something feel hard or whatever,
Speaker 1: fail fast? Okay? Good? Um So I think I know
Speaker 1: how to get little steps done that add up to
Speaker 1: a big goal. I know I'm terrible at math, and
Speaker 1: I should never look at a spreadheet to make a
Speaker 1: decision based on that, And I think I agree with you.
Speaker 1: When I hired, I hired for my weaknesses. I said,
Speaker 1: what am I terrible at? Those have to be my
Speaker 1: hires because I know and then I'm good at PR
Speaker 1: and marketing. I haven innate sense of that. Um So
Speaker 1: I knew I could win in those things and lose
Speaker 1: in other categories and hire great people for that and
Speaker 1: don't try to You don't have to be great at everything.
Speaker 1: I think it's really awesome when you know what you're
Speaker 1: terrible at because you can pay people to do that.
Speaker 1: Do you think you'd be where you were today if
Speaker 1: you hadn't come to New York and going to f
Speaker 1: I t for six weeks. Definitely not. And when you
Speaker 1: said small town, I was born in San Diego, but
Speaker 1: I lived in Tampa, Florida, Like small town? Who should
Speaker 1: ever make it as a designer from Tampa, Florida, Well,
Speaker 1: go Tampa Go Bucks. Super Bowl? Yea, yeah, I've always
Speaker 1: been a Bucks fan, you know, I mean since last year? Definitely. Um.
Speaker 1: Do you consider yourself a super competitive person? I've changed
Speaker 1: the way I look at competition because I've had enough
Speaker 1: women in this industry. So when I started venturing outside
Speaker 1: this industry and I was like, wait, there's a glass ceiling.
Speaker 1: Women are getting opportunities because a men in my industry.
Speaker 1: Women are getting opportunities because of other women. Like women
Speaker 1: are like elbowing and throwing each other under the bus
Speaker 1: and ways. I've never seen much more drama, much more bitchiness.
Speaker 1: And I was like, Wow, this is really messed up,
Speaker 1: and I hate how this feels. So for me, I
Speaker 1: don't look at what another person gets as I'm going
Speaker 1: to compete with that woman, I go, I also want
Speaker 1: what she has and I want to learn how she
Speaker 1: got it so I can get that too. But it's
Speaker 1: not her versus me. How has that changed for you though? It?
Speaker 1: Were you super competitive and envious when you were starting
Speaker 1: or like excited, excited and expired. I was super competitive
Speaker 1: and envious. And I remember this woman who had a
Speaker 1: much bigger handbag brand than me, who should have hated
Speaker 1: me because I was gaining on her. It was so
Speaker 1: nice to me and so gracious to me, And I
Speaker 1: was like, Wow, this woman should want to punch me
Speaker 1: in the face because I'm taking her business, and she didn't.
Speaker 1: And she's ill to this day, one of the nicest people.
Speaker 1: And I just was like, that's the example I want
Speaker 1: to set, just through kind of gratitude and welcoming in gratitude, welcome.
Speaker 1: How can I help you? Yeah? How do you define
Speaker 1: And it's such a loaded question, but how do you
Speaker 1: define success? When people say, could you just mean you
Speaker 1: told me ten minutes ago you made it, you know,
Speaker 1: came from nothing, made it in New York City? What
Speaker 1: is making it to you? What is success to you?
Speaker 1: And does that definition change every year. It changes every year.
Speaker 1: Success to me, again, back when I first started, was
Speaker 1: I didn't have to call my bank account to see
Speaker 1: if I could afford to go out to dinner, and
Speaker 1: I didn't have to worry that everyone's going to do
Speaker 1: that thing at the end of everything, like let's just
Speaker 1: divide it, and you're like, but I had a soda,
Speaker 1: I can't afford to pay for your salad. Like success meant, okay,
Speaker 1: I can just do the splitting thing that never equals out.
Speaker 1: You know. Obviously I'm twenty years in and so success
Speaker 1: is a lot different to me. Um, But I truly
Speaker 1: think it's it's about being able to enjoy where you're at.
Speaker 1: I think people who are entrepreneurs have this sickness of
Speaker 1: it's a mirage, right if I just get here and
Speaker 1: then I'll enjoy it, And then you get there, you're like, wait,
Speaker 1: I thought this would feel better. So success to me
Speaker 1: is enjoying the hard, the good, the bad, the nitty
Speaker 1: gritty on your way to that goal. I wouldn't be lying.
Speaker 1: And if I said, obviously, being able to pay for
Speaker 1: things is great, but that I don't determine that as
Speaker 1: my only signifier. Of success is being able to enjoy
Speaker 1: the hard work, take the vacation, not do emails on
Speaker 1: a weekend. That's success to me. You don't do emails
Speaker 1: on weekends, Well, this weekend I did, but I try
Speaker 1: not to. Yeah, I had to cut it out of
Speaker 1: my life with child number two is just like yeah,
Speaker 1: so if you have another child, you'll see emails on
Speaker 1: the weekend are hard. If you could start Rebecca Minkoff
Speaker 1: today or let's say, yeah, let's say today, would you
Speaker 1: do things differently? I mean, obviously it's a different time.
Speaker 1: It's twenty years later. You're going to be on TikTok
Speaker 1: and Instagram and all that anything else you would have
Speaker 1: done differently today if you could restart, Yeah, I think
Speaker 1: that we had a moment where it was very trendy
Speaker 1: to you know, like not trendy. You saw these big
Speaker 1: brands that Kate's bade, the Michael Corps, the Mark Jacobs,
Speaker 1: and it was like, go big, sell everything, be as
Speaker 1: big as you possibly can, because then you can sell
Speaker 1: the company for a billion dollars. And I think we
Speaker 1: decided to get onto that path in two thousand and nine,
Speaker 1: and it just changes the decisions you make about how
Speaker 1: you operate, how much you sell, how big your skew
Speaker 1: count is, and again, don't regret anything. But if I
Speaker 1: could do it differently today, there's nothing wrong with a
Speaker 1: smaller profitable company that allows and pays for your lifestyle.
Speaker 1: Not at first, it will definitely not pay for your
Speaker 1: lifestell at first, but later on as you get successful. Um,
Speaker 1: because it shouldn't be all about being a slave to
Speaker 1: this thing that one day hopefully you'll get your pot
Speaker 1: of gold. You know, I think, and I think today's
Speaker 1: younger generation already has a mentality of like, no, I
Speaker 1: want to enjoy my life today. I'm not going to
Speaker 1: work like a dog hours a week and then put
Speaker 1: my head up at forty and go sail off on
Speaker 1: a yacht. So I think I would adapt in that
Speaker 1: way and to say, what I want to have in
Speaker 1: my life, how successful do I need to be to
Speaker 1: pay that? It doesn't need to be like the big
Speaker 1: dick contest, no offense of like this is what I
Speaker 1: have to do to compete with all the others. Yeah,
Speaker 1: no offense taken. You can't say big boobs doesn't sound
Speaker 1: as you know he could. Um, you said you hate math,
Speaker 1: but are you good with money, bad with money? You're
Speaker 1: glad you have people who understand money around you. In
Speaker 1: my business, I'm really glad I have people who understand money.
Speaker 1: My personal life, I'm not bad at it. But I
Speaker 1: also feel like, Okay, I was raised with this mentality
Speaker 1: that hasn't left me. And again this is not a
Speaker 1: woe is Me moment, but it was like we had
Speaker 1: a ledger in the kitchen and we had to earn
Speaker 1: for everything we wanted. We had to work for everything
Speaker 1: we wanted. And so that feeling of like I don't
Speaker 1: have it, did I make enough? Still sits with me,
Speaker 1: even though I know I made enough. If that makes sense,
Speaker 1: totally makes sense. So what is your emotional connection to
Speaker 1: money now? Um, I'm trying to have a healthier relationship
Speaker 1: with it and not have that childhood. You know, my
Speaker 1: mom was like the family gets to spit split one
Speaker 1: small fry, or you can't get cheese on the cheeseburger
Speaker 1: because it's ten cent. More So, that was, you know,
Speaker 1: and anything I wanted, how are you going to make
Speaker 1: the money? You know? So that's been ingrained in me.
Speaker 1: So when I go to purchase something that might be
Speaker 1: extravagant or I still have that, like I shouldn't do this.
Speaker 1: I don't have it, which is weird, and I'm admitting
Speaker 1: that to you in front of a lot of people
Speaker 1: right now. But don't you think that that is kind
Speaker 1: of part of the secret sauce that has enabled you
Speaker 1: to get to where you got to, sleeping on egg crates,
Speaker 1: sleeping grates, Like if you grew up in a totally
Speaker 1: different household, your connection to money would have been like
Speaker 1: there's money around and you could have sputtered out real fast. Correct.
Speaker 1: I think it is part of my superpower that I
Speaker 1: was forced to work and learn for everything I wanted.
Speaker 1: And I'm definitely proud that I did work for everything
Speaker 1: and did get it. But I but that feeling of
Speaker 1: hunger doesn't leave you, even if it if it can,
Speaker 1: because it's ingrained in you. It's like a part of
Speaker 1: the blood now, yea, even as a little girl, Yeah
Speaker 1: for sure. Yeah. I mean the only thing that my
Speaker 1: mom would buy me was materials, so she said, I
Speaker 1: won't buy you that, but again, I'll buy you the
Speaker 1: beads to make the bracelets, or I'll buy you the
Speaker 1: paint to do the whatever. How do you carry that
Speaker 1: on to your kids now growing up in Manhattan. Interesting
Speaker 1: you bring that up. I recently did a podcast with
Speaker 1: Gary Vaynerchuk and I said, I'm applying the exact same
Speaker 1: principles that I was raised with to my children, but
Speaker 1: it's not working. And like I shared with you, I'll
Speaker 1: say to my daughter, how are you going to earn it?
Speaker 1: And she's just like, I don't need it. And what
Speaker 1: Gary said, which I thought was so spot on because
Speaker 1: he has kids, Sue, he said, the bar, even if
Speaker 1: you're making them work for everything, their bar. Living in Manhattan,
Speaker 1: being exposed to the events you get to go to
Speaker 1: when the parties is already so much higher than anything
Speaker 1: you had that they just they don't need it. And
Speaker 1: I'm not spoiling them in any way, but they have
Speaker 1: a baseline that's way higher than yours. So I was like, Okay, well,
Speaker 1: then how do I raise self sufficient children who are
Speaker 1: who a much higher bar? Yeah? And I don't know
Speaker 1: how the answer that yet. Tell me about your book.
Speaker 1: The book is called Fearless. As we've been talking a
Speaker 1: lot um the new rules for unlocking creativity, courage, and success,
Speaker 1: and I called it fearless, not because you're going to
Speaker 1: read the book and swing your hair back and be like,
Speaker 1: I'm fearless. Now, it's more that this is an emotion
Speaker 1: that is keeping us from taking risks in life, in business, uh, personally.
Speaker 1: And here are a couple of rules. Nothing asked, you know,
Speaker 1: nothing crazy, UM, that are just stability points for you
Speaker 1: if you get scared, because you're going to have that emotion.
Speaker 1: But running from a bear should not be the emotion
Speaker 1: that you take into launching your own real estate company
Speaker 1: or launching something crazy at fashion Week or whatever it
Speaker 1: is you do. Well, it's awesome and everybody should get it.
Speaker 1: And UM, tell me about your podcast. My podcast is
Speaker 1: called super Women with Rebecca Mancoff. So no offense. I
Speaker 1: can never have you on. UM. I know maybe when
Speaker 1: your wife launches the Greek Bakery we can talk about it.
Speaker 1: But UM, I felt like I was very lucky to
Speaker 1: be exposed as such game changers and innovators, and I
Speaker 1: thought there had to be a better way than me
Speaker 1: just having them in my store in front of seventy people. UM,
Speaker 1: and so launch the podcast to just interview women who
Speaker 1: have also broken barriers. Women you think of it all
Speaker 1: that are perfect, that are like, no, this ship was
Speaker 1: hard to launch and here's how I struggled and here's
Speaker 1: how I got through. So it's women you've never heard of,
Speaker 1: like the McBride sisters who have the biggest black owned
Speaker 1: winery in the United States, to Kay Kirk j Jessica
Speaker 1: alba Um, Bosama st John, but just game changers in
Speaker 1: their own right. And um, it's inspiring for business people,
Speaker 1: women who just or men who are not sure their path.
Speaker 1: Just to hear these great stories, it's awesome. I love
Speaker 1: it and listen to You are an inspiration to many
Speaker 1: obviously girls and women around, but also you know also
Speaker 1: men and boys and everybody who's ever wanted to do
Speaker 1: more than they thought that they were capable of doing. Um,
Speaker 1: and it's been awesome to have you here. Thank you
Speaker 1: so much for coming to our our crazy office clubhouse
Speaker 1: in Soho. Thank you. Big Money Energy is hosted by
Speaker 1: me Ryan Sirhant. It's produced by Mike Coscarelli and Joe
Speaker 1: Lorresca and executive produced by Lindsay Hoffman. Find more podcasts
Speaker 1: like Big Money Energy on the I Heart Radio app
Speaker 1: or wherever you get your podcasts.