Rebecca Minkoff

Week in New York City. We discussed pushing boundaries and taking risks, her thoughts on elevating female voices and perspectives in the world of business, and how she went from sleeping on egg crates no joke, to being one of the most important names in all of fashion. Now let's get into it. Welcome to another episode. Thank you so much for coming. You are awesome and I've been a huge fan for a really, really, really really really long time and it's exciting to have you here in fashion week.

It's Fashion Week, My event is Friday. Why are you? Why are you here? I'm here because when you request me in person, Ryan, I have I have to answer the call. Are you sure? Did you? Maybe you didn't know that it was gonna be Fashion Week because this is a little while ago, and yeah, I'm positive, but I was like, you know what, I'm not. I'm only in town for a week before I go back to Florida, where I'm temporarily residing, and I need to do this. This is my week? Got it? Well? Thank you for

being here? Crazy? Are you losing your mind right now? I am so. Are you one of those people who's like kind of like me, like calm on the outside, but there's a lot happening on the inside. Yes, But I found that writing down notes analog style, like on a notebook really helps me. And this satisfaction of crossing

things off my list makes me feel as stressed. So we are launching it at New York Fashion Week at Spring Studios, That's where the hub is, and we are selling prints that we made of the action, a capsule collection as n f T S if anyone needs to google that can um and the proceeds are going to be going towards the grant to female found of business is impacted by the pandemic in New York City? Is

that all your concept that you put together? Yeah? So I began reading about n f T S early last year I saw that luxury dove in and I thought, you know what, We're always known as a brand for pushing boundaries, and this should be how we launched it. Everyone's coming back to fashion Week. We showed through the pandemic, but we have to do something different. It can't just

be models in a collection. So we shot a campaign with a legendary photographer and decided to do a gallery like event and work to promote n f t S is a charitable way to give back. That's crazy, And because it is the anniversary of nine eleven and I had a charitable component, then I thought, let's do something now for women who were, you know, really devastated by this pandemic in New York. You started your business in two thousand one, I did, and what month, sept Timber

of two thousand and one one. It's a momentous kind of anniversary for you right in the business, so it means a lot. But that was also in probably one of the toughest times in the history of New York City. I mean, how does fear play a role in one your ability to start a business, keep a business going and all the ups and downs, But also in kind of just I guess the business in general. So I've learned a lot about fear in the last twenty years.

UM my show, my initial fashion Week show with September two one. Yeah, it was a group show, A bunch of designers that didn't have enough money banded together to you know, make it five of us or whatever, to you know, make the costs easier. The next day obviously changed everything, and I had this isle of New York Shire that was part of the collection that I had cut up and be dazzled and tied knots and it was very d I y then, which was cool. I

hope it never comes back. And a couple of weeks later, so I guess I should back. So I obviously wasn't thinking about my business at that time. A couple of days later, my boss, a designer I worked for a called me and said, you know what you're doing, go do it either need with me or you're fired. And I think I know the answer. So you're fired, but I'm here for you. And I was like, but wait, like nine eleven just happened. It's not like people are hiring. And I said, this is my moment to try my

hand at this business. Um and that shirt because an actress ward on Jay Leno and he mentioned it was all over the weeklies. There was no such thing as social media, so the power of that was crazy. And there was one website called Raven Style that sold the shirt. So I literally would bike down the Green Street on the corner of Green and Canal, buy the shirts, go home, make them. And that shirt that I live New York

shirt kept me alive barely. It was like Raman and avoiding my roommate who I owed, or like three thousand dollars in rent for a couple of months, but still it was that shirt that like open doors for me. A lot of people reach out to us all the time and ask about Okay, I'm eighteen years old, now what do I do? I have a passion or sometimes they don't have a passion, and I feel like the answer is always different. Did you have a passion for fashion when you were like three or is it something

that was developed around parents and friends? It was eight um I wanted to address. I wanted to address it was twenty bucks. My mom said no, but I'll teach you how to sell. And I was so pissed. And I have an eight year Alto I say no to all the time, and she's equally pissed, but she doesn't take me up on the offer to help her make it. Um. So I got hooked at the age of eight on sewing and design. I went to a performer at high school.

I was in the costume department. The teacher couldn't believe I cared, so she like taught me draping and pattern making and the art of design and so again part of why I felt like I didn't need to go to college, as I had four hours a day every day through high school of learning the craft. So my first year of F I T I probably already had gotten in high school. Were you ever nervous though about

how am I actually going to make money? When you know the percentage of people that actually make it, especially in New York City getting into fashion. What if it doesn't work out? What am I going to fall back on? A year of F F T. I mean that must have been like from family members tough on, you know, or were they just like, just do whatever you want? Well? I did six weeks at f I got it six

six weeks solid, really dedicated there. I think when you're that young it's a bit of a mix of naivety, right, and I had nothing to fall back on, So it's not like I had to fear anything, right. I knew that if it didn't work out, I guess I'd go back home and be a receptionist at my dad's office or I don't know. I just for me, I was like,

I have to give it my all. And back then, the pay for me was the experience, and it was the exciting, Like everything was exciting, and so it wasn't about money, and I didn't care if I ate bagels or pizza. That was what I could afford to eat

and whatever. So that feeling you had when you first moved to New York where you didn't have to make money because you just wanted the experience and it was exciting, and what's the worst thing that can happen, You're gonna move home like that, that was the same thing for me, Like I came to New York City at a little money saved up. I gave myself two years and what

was the worst thing that could happen? I could move home, and at the time it was Colorado, But that was by far like the worst thing because if I went home to Colorado, Like what was I? I would never come back, and I knew that if you make it in New York, I would figure it out. Even if it wasn't the initial plan. You stuck with the initial plan.

I totally went a different way. But something that I think about a lot is I was able to make super bold and daring decisions at that time because the repercussions were so insignificant when you look at life as a whole. Like Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy the day I got into the business, right and so but I I had no money. I didn't have a stock portfolio. You know, everyone else was crying and watching CNBC and I was like, man, real estate must be hard. Like

I had no idea. How do you bring that kind of naivete back into your life when there is a lot on the line. And I feel like you're someone who's kind of hope. I mean kind of figured that out a bit because you're always launching something new, You're always pushing boundaries. You're about to do an n f T Fashion Week show in your twentieth year anniversary, Like is that what keeps you kind of like up against the wall. I think it's a couple of things. Obviously,

as your responsibilities grow. I know you have a family, I have one to thing. You have three times the family. I have three times the family. Yes, I do. It's insane. Um. I think obviously the risks you take have to be waited a bit more. But I think for me, my my big low moment, my big that sort of put everything for me in perspective was a couple of years ago. I was in Paris for sales of the collection. I

was celebrating with my former president. We were drinking champagne and eating at Lavenue in this fantastic setting, and we get an email from our bank that was basically like, we're not advancing you any more funds. You're cut off, which meant we couldn't pay the factory, which meant we couldn't chip the collection, which means bankruptcy. And you know,

the bank also has a lean on my house. So I was like, cool, they're going to take that too, And I as I'm having panic attack, like I'm going to lose everything, I just said, you know what, they can't take my kids, they can't take my husband. And I know that if I started something once I can start it again, and that for me was a more security than any money in the bank. And I'm not saying it wouldn't suck to lose everything. It would really,

if I can swear, it would really fucking suck. But I knew that I could rebuild, and I knew the things I'm most precious to me no one can steal today maybe maybe in the future, who knows um. And so I look through that lens now like, I'm never going to take a risk that's gonna put my company out of business. But you know, I think we've been

given permission from our industry as innovators. And sometimes things work and sometimes they don't, you know, they and a teething could be a flop and no one wants to buy the goods of the auction, but it could also be the beginning of something great for contemporary American fashion designers. So I think for us, I thrive on the risk. Now.

I don't have the fear because you know, a art wise man who was a consultant for us, pointed out, He's like, every time you tried to go with the pack and do what the fashion industry said, you didn't achieve anything, and any time you went your own way, you did, and so I know for us, our own way is the solution, and that involves a lot of risk. How many people work for you now I have seven? And it started just you and your brother. Originally in

two thousand one, it was just me. It was me for four years, struggling doing the apparel thing, making everything myself. I had a little racket going where a publicist would call me and say, editors are looking for this. I'd go home and make it. I deliver it to him. He would get into magazine and we would credit the one website who would be like, you got to buy a couple in advance and loan me the money so I can go buy the fabric because it's going to run in the magazine. So I had this like, it's

not a pyramid scheme, but it kind of was. But everyone was in on it um. And then I launched the handbag, which was just supposed to be one handbag as an accessory to the collection. And that's what took off in a way that my brother. That's when I got him involved because I was like, I'm really ter bull of business. I'm way better now I can go Toto toto with him, but at the time I just wanted to design and focus on that. So to take me back, So you doing it on your own for

four years, Your brother comes into the picture. You had the shirt, You've got the bag, and then you guys have a discussion and say, listen, we could build something really really big, or hey, this is the business plan, let's write it together. Or were you kind of just winging it and creating the supply as the demand came in. So I'll backtrack a little bit because I think it sets the scene. Um, my dad had co signed a credit card. He was not paying for it, but he

had signed it. That was basically like, if I can't make the payments, go after him. Yes, I was sixty dollars in when the bag was about to take off, and I called him and I was like, Dad, got another good thing, but people you know like it. You know, I have an order a bunch of orders for this bag. And he's like, oh no, we are done here. Like

call your brother, maybe hell partner with you. So my brother asked me some basic business one on one questions, like do you have a bank account, a business bank account? Tax idea? I was like, why would I have a business bank account? There's not even enough money in one. I literally go from bank to bank and open and closed accounts because I'm always overdrafted. And he was like,

oh my god. So he loaned me bucks to make the first round of bags, and then he paid himself back and so there was no There was never even a formal like what is he owned? What is I owned? He just dove in and kind of assess what was heated. There was no business plan. We could not get a loan, so the business plan didn't matter. Venture capital was not

a thing then. Um. We only discussed business terms when things were getting more serious and we were looking at taking on an investment, and that was seven years in and then he was like, oh yeah, I get half the company. And I was like, oh okay. I didn't know that's how this is gonna work, but cool. So that's when those negotiations began. What was that day like for you when you had that first big deal. I

was so excited. I have a picture in my phone yes of me standing by the stores I delivered the bags and I'm like, how many bags? Was it? It was probably what was a big order because they had a lot of stores. It was probably over a hundred bags. O God, when did you have your first child? Sorry if you remind me crazy, And how did that change your business? It didn't change my business, it changes it changed how I worked prior to him being born. I worked,

you know, till midnight every night. It didn't matter any state I needed to be in. I was there. Um and I even six months into being pregnant, I wasn't even shorten. I wanted a child. I was accelerating my my child rearing journey because my mom said my ovaries would turn to dust. And I also wanted my parents, I mean, sorry, my children to know my parents and have a great relationship with them, because I didn't get that growing up with my grandparents. And I would text

my husband. He'd be sitting right next to me. I'm like, why are we doing this? Why are we having a kid? I don't know if I wanted as pregnant, yes, I didn't want the baby to here. And he came out, fell in love, obsessed. I couldn't believe I ever thought that should have started earlier. Um, And I said, I want to be a really present mom, and so I really cut back my hours and when I say that, I just went from nine to five or whatever. Um.

And then I made a lot of sacrifices. I said, if I'm going to travel for more than a couple of days, baby comes with me. Does that make my life hell to go to China, Korea, Japan, London, Paris with a kid. Yes. But I just was like, you know, stick in the ground. I'm gonna be the best mother that I can, and that means being there as much as possible. So I began to play with my boundaries, and with each kid, I played with my boundaries more

and more. And someone might be listening saying, well, that's easy, fields or company. But I never did anything that my employees can't do. You know, I never took advantage of anything that my team can't do. And so I kind of set the example as the woman that's pumping at the boardroom or in a cab or with a group of investors and little things, right of just like this is important and I want my company values to reflect that. And that's a big part of your culture statement as well. Yeah,

it's a huge part of our culture statement. Yeah, women first, supportive to moms. You've got to go, no questions ask you know, I don't care where you are, if you're at a dental appointment or a doctor's visit with your kid or performance, do you get your job done? It doesn't matter to me. How has that one? That's awesome? But to how has that affected the growth then of the business, whether it's been in the people you've hired, or the or the creations, the product, the apparel. So

it's weird. I can't measure what it's done for business. I can't say that more people have bought my bags because they like that I promote breastfeeding. I don't know that I could ever make that correlation. I'll make it for you. I'm pretty sure it works okay. But I will say that the team that I attract, no one loved the fact that I'm a fierce fighter in that you know, so fears that We had a woman who

was past child rearing age. You've never had kids like knocking on the door of my PR person who was pumping, and I was like, you get away from that door right now. She's in the middle of something very important and you schedule with her when you want a meeting. And she was like wow. So I guess I go the opposite direction of most people, and I'm like very I just want to make sure that women feel supportive

because in the workplace it is not the norm. What would you tell a seventeen, eighteen, twenty four year old girl who wants to be an entrepreneur but doesn't think that that's in the cards for her. I would say that you are This is gonna sound cheesy. You are the person that's going to determine if you get your own in your own way or not. It is up to you. And I will also say that the cavalry

is not coming for you. Any great change, any great forward progress has been because people stick their necks out. And I'm going to make some extreme examples, but make them. You know, Susan Fowler who called out Uber on their sexual discrimination, You think that was easy for her to write that op ed rosa arks. You think she was comfortable set in that part of the bus, not moving women voting right. You think they liked getting beaten and jailed.

So if you're scared of asking for a raise, asking for a promotion, calling out someone, or starting your own journey like it's on you, you know people have done much more, had to endure much harder things, and so I like to look at those extreme examples whenever I'm a little scared, I'm like, all right, she was beaten and jailed. Cool. I think I can do an n f T for a fashion week. Um so I think you know you have. In my book, I say, sometimes

you win, sometimes you learn. We need to reframe failure is this thing that you should be scared of and always avoiding. The more you fail, the more you're gonna learn, and you're just stronger for the next time you try something. Do you think it's also important for people to be really clear and honest with themselves on their strengths and weaknesses. I feel like, especially now, people have a really hard time answering that question, like they don't know what they're

good at. They kind of might know what they're bad at, but it's like extreme examples like, oh, I'm bad at football, Okay, have you ever tried? Probably not? What do you think you're I don't say what you're better at, but what do you think your your strengths are that have really really helped you? Kind of turn the tables on the narrative. Over the last twenty years. I think what I'm good at is i'd be a great project manager. I'm really good at taking a goal, breaking it up into his

little parts, and then getting it done. Um. You know, my brother hates that I make hasty decisions, and I hate that he thinks a ton over every decision. But that works great, right, because he'll slow me down or I'll speed him up. Um. But to me, I don't know who said this, and I hope it's not Mark Zuckerberg, but like fail fast or something feel hard or whatever, fail fast? Okay? Good? Um So I think I know how to get little steps done that add up to

a big goal. I know I'm terrible at math, and I should never look at a spreadheet to make a decision based on that, And I think I agree with you. When I hired, I hired for my weaknesses. I said, what am I terrible at? Those have to be my hires because I know and then I'm good at PR and marketing. I haven innate sense of that. Um So I knew I could win in those things and lose in other categories and hire great people for that and don't try to You don't have to be great at everything.

I think it's really awesome when you know what you're terrible at because you can pay people to do that. Do you think you'd be where you were today if you hadn't come to New York and going to f I t for six weeks. Definitely not. And when you said small town, I was born in San Diego, but I lived in Tampa, Florida, Like small town? Who should ever make it as a designer from Tampa, Florida, Well, go Tampa Go Bucks. Super Bowl? Yea, yeah, I've always

been a Bucks fan, you know, I mean since last year? Definitely. Um. Do you consider yourself a super competitive person? I've changed the way I look at competition because I've had enough women in this industry. So when I started venturing outside this industry and I was like, wait, there's a glass ceiling. Women are getting opportunities because a men in my industry. Women are getting opportunities because of other women. Like women are like elbowing and throwing each other under the bus

and ways. I've never seen much more drama, much more bitchiness. And I was like, Wow, this is really messed up, and I hate how this feels. So for me, I don't look at what another person gets as I'm going to compete with that woman, I go, I also want what she has and I want to learn how she got it so I can get that too. But it's not her versus me. How has that changed for you though? It? Were you super competitive and envious when you were starting

or like excited, excited and expired. I was super competitive and envious. And I remember this woman who had a much bigger handbag brand than me, who should have hated me because I was gaining on her. It was so nice to me and so gracious to me, And I was like, Wow, this woman should want to punch me in the face because I'm taking her business, and she didn't. And she's ill to this day, one of the nicest people.

And I just was like, that's the example I want to set, just through kind of gratitude and welcoming in gratitude, welcome. How can I help you? Yeah? How do you define And it's such a loaded question, but how do you define success? When people say, could you just mean you told me ten minutes ago you made it, you know, came from nothing, made it in New York City? What is making it to you? What is success to you? And does that definition change every year. It changes every year.

Success to me, again, back when I first started, was I didn't have to call my bank account to see if I could afford to go out to dinner, and I didn't have to worry that everyone's going to do that thing at the end of everything, like let's just divide it, and you're like, but I had a soda, I can't afford to pay for your salad. Like success meant, okay, I can just do the splitting thing that never equals out. You know. Obviously I'm twenty years in and so success

is a lot different to me. Um, But I truly think it's it's about being able to enjoy where you're at. I think people who are entrepreneurs have this sickness of it's a mirage, right if I just get here and then I'll enjoy it, And then you get there, you're like, wait, I thought this would feel better. So success to me is enjoying the hard, the good, the bad, the nitty gritty on your way to that goal. I wouldn't be lying.

And if I said, obviously, being able to pay for things is great, but that I don't determine that as my only signifier. Of success is being able to enjoy the hard work, take the vacation, not do emails on a weekend. That's success to me. You don't do emails on weekends, Well, this weekend I did, but I try not to. Yeah, I had to cut it out of my life with child number two is just like yeah, so if you have another child, you'll see emails on

the weekend are hard. If you could start Rebecca Minkoff today or let's say, yeah, let's say today, would you do things differently? I mean, obviously it's a different time. It's twenty years later. You're going to be on TikTok and Instagram and all that anything else you would have done differently today if you could restart, Yeah, I think that we had a moment where it was very trendy

to you know, like not trendy. You saw these big brands that Kate's bade, the Michael Corps, the Mark Jacobs, and it was like, go big, sell everything, be as big as you possibly can, because then you can sell the company for a billion dollars. And I think we decided to get onto that path in two thousand and nine, and it just changes the decisions you make about how you operate, how much you sell, how big your skew

count is, and again, don't regret anything. But if I could do it differently today, there's nothing wrong with a smaller profitable company that allows and pays for your lifestyle. Not at first, it will definitely not pay for your lifestell at first, but later on as you get successful. Um, because it shouldn't be all about being a slave to this thing that one day hopefully you'll get your pot

of gold. You know, I think, and I think today's younger generation already has a mentality of like, no, I want to enjoy my life today. I'm not going to work like a dog hours a week and then put my head up at forty and go sail off on a yacht. So I think I would adapt in that way and to say, what I want to have in my life, how successful do I need to be to pay that? It doesn't need to be like the big dick contest, no offense of like this is what I have to do to compete with all the others. Yeah,

no offense taken. You can't say big boobs doesn't sound as you know he could. Um, you said you hate math, but are you good with money, bad with money? You're glad you have people who understand money around you. In my business, I'm really glad I have people who understand money. My personal life, I'm not bad at it. But I also feel like, Okay, I was raised with this mentality

that hasn't left me. And again this is not a woe is Me moment, but it was like we had a ledger in the kitchen and we had to earn for everything we wanted. We had to work for everything we wanted. And so that feeling of like I don't have it, did I make enough? Still sits with me, even though I know I made enough. If that makes sense, totally makes sense. So what is your emotional connection to money now? Um, I'm trying to have a healthier relationship

with it and not have that childhood. You know, my mom was like the family gets to spit split one small fry, or you can't get cheese on the cheeseburger because it's ten cent. More So, that was, you know, and anything I wanted, how are you going to make the money? You know? So that's been ingrained in me. So when I go to purchase something that might be extravagant or I still have that, like I shouldn't do this.

I don't have it, which is weird, and I'm admitting that to you in front of a lot of people right now. But don't you think that that is kind of part of the secret sauce that has enabled you to get to where you got to, sleeping on egg crates, sleeping grates, Like if you grew up in a totally different household, your connection to money would have been like there's money around and you could have sputtered out real fast. Correct.

I think it is part of my superpower that I was forced to work and learn for everything I wanted. And I'm definitely proud that I did work for everything and did get it. But I but that feeling of hunger doesn't leave you, even if it if it can, because it's ingrained in you. It's like a part of the blood now, yea, even as a little girl, Yeah

for sure. Yeah. I mean the only thing that my mom would buy me was materials, so she said, I won't buy you that, but again, I'll buy you the beads to make the bracelets, or I'll buy you the paint to do the whatever. How do you carry that on to your kids now growing up in Manhattan. Interesting you bring that up. I recently did a podcast with Gary Vaynerchuk and I said, I'm applying the exact same principles that I was raised with to my children, but

it's not working. And like I shared with you, I'll say to my daughter, how are you going to earn it? And she's just like, I don't need it. And what Gary said, which I thought was so spot on because he has kids, Sue, he said, the bar, even if you're making them work for everything, their bar. Living in Manhattan, being exposed to the events you get to go to when the parties is already so much higher than anything

you had that they just they don't need it. And I'm not spoiling them in any way, but they have a baseline that's way higher than yours. So I was like, Okay, well, then how do I raise self sufficient children who are who a much higher bar? Yeah? And I don't know how the answer that yet. Tell me about your book.

The book is called Fearless. As we've been talking a lot um the new rules for unlocking creativity, courage, and success, and I called it fearless, not because you're going to read the book and swing your hair back and be like, I'm fearless. Now, it's more that this is an emotion that is keeping us from taking risks in life, in business, uh, personally.

And here are a couple of rules. Nothing asked, you know, nothing crazy, UM, that are just stability points for you if you get scared, because you're going to have that emotion. But running from a bear should not be the emotion that you take into launching your own real estate company or launching something crazy at fashion Week or whatever it is you do. Well, it's awesome and everybody should get it. And UM, tell me about your podcast. My podcast is

called super Women with Rebecca Mancoff. So no offense. I can never have you on. UM. I know maybe when your wife launches the Greek Bakery we can talk about it. But UM, I felt like I was very lucky to be exposed as such game changers and innovators, and I thought there had to be a better way than me just having them in my store in front of seventy people. UM, and so launch the podcast to just interview women who

have also broken barriers. Women you think of it all that are perfect, that are like, no, this ship was hard to launch and here's how I struggled and here's how I got through. So it's women you've never heard of, like the McBride sisters who have the biggest black owned winery in the United States, to Kay Kirk j Jessica alba Um, Bosama st John, but just game changers in their own right. And um, it's inspiring for business people, women who just or men who are not sure their path.

Just to hear these great stories, it's awesome. I love it and listen to You are an inspiration to many obviously girls and women around, but also you know also men and boys and everybody who's ever wanted to do more than they thought that they were capable of doing. Um, and it's been awesome to have you here. Thank you so much for coming to our our crazy office clubhouse in Soho. Thank you. Big Money Energy is hosted by me Ryan Sirhant. It's produced by Mike Coscarelli and Joe

Lorresca and executive produced by Lindsay Hoffman. Find more podcasts like Big Money Energy on the I Heart Radio app or wherever you get your podcasts.