Song of the Day: I Can Tell That
We Are Gonna be Friends: White Stripes
When we started our business, one
of the things we heard most often was to be careful of partnerships. The
standard advice is that they don’t work. And while I know there are hundreds of
examples of failed partnerships, I can say without a doubt that I wouldn’t want
to do this any other way.
I first met Lauren while
interviewing her to be my boss at a software start-up in Silicon Valley. She
was being brought in by one of the top executives and it was pretty clear that
my “interview” was just a courtesy gesture to make me feel like I wasn’t
totally unimportant. As I scanned her resume, I thought, great, this chick is
going to be totally harsh. After all, she was from New York, had an MBA, and
had come from a few companies famous for having cut-throat environments. Your basic
nightmare.
But then I found a gem at the
bottom of her resume- she went to F.I.T. While this did not ease my concern of
her being a scary harsh New Yorker, it did pique my interest and give me something
to talk about during the faux interview. I was surprised to find someone that
was not only smart but also hilarious, easy going (who knew New Yorkers could
be mellow?) and all-around wonderful. Even when the company we worked for was
going down in flames, she always had a positive attitude, made the best of it,
and most importantly, made me laugh.
It’s those same qualities that
have made our partnership so smooth. We laugh through EVERYTHING. The truth is, I never really wanted to
start a business, I just wanted to work in fashion. It was Lauren that had the
idea to make vegan shoes, and it was Lauren that made the idea of starting a business fun. I started doing research and found that while vegan
shoes already existed (I really thought she was the first person to ever think
of this), most were not eco-friendly or sweatshop-free. Or stylish. Seeing a
hole in the market and feeling a pull towards creating something both fun and
meaningful, we jumped in and haven’t looked back since. We’ve had an incredible
amount of ups and downs since starting Charmone, but one thing I can rely on is
that ever-present sense of humor and even-keel attitude. Not only does having a
partner make the ride a lot more fun, collaboration creates more ideas and
momentum than I would ever be able to create on my own. I think if you’re both
committed, always give one another the benefit of the doubt, and set aside ego,
partnerships can not only work but be more rewarding than you ever thought
possible. Here's a pic of us laughing our way through a Chinese New Year party at London Fashion Week!
