The MBA Designer

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I walked in and said, "Hi, I'd like to buy fabric from you. We're starting a clothing business. No, I haven't been in this business before and you've never heard of me, and I'm 26 years old." So getting over that hurdle was interesting.

How do you go into a business not having that background?

You ask a lot of questions and make a few mistakes a long the way.

Would your company have been any different if you hadn't earned your MBA?

I think it would've been different in the sense that I run it as a very clean business and very by-the-books. I really look at the numbers and do the analysis on a regular basis. A lot of designers leave that to somebody else. And again, it's a business.

What characteristics do you need to start your own business?

You have to be able to be fearless. You have to really be passionate. You need to be very confident in what you're doing. You have to really believe in what you do. When I started this, I was absolutely sure that there was a place in the market for what I was doing.

What was that?

Great clothes for young women that would take them from day into evening, things that you could really wear in your life, and go to work without having to wear a blue suit. When I started this, there was no Rebecca Taylor, Cynthia Steffe didn't have her own line, Theory didn't exist, Marc didn't exist, all of these denim companies didn't exist. Barney's Co-op was relatively new at the time. I was kind of trailblazing to some extent. It was a new concept on the market.

Is that how you differentiated yourself from the competition?

Yes. And the silhouettes that we do and the attention to detail that we use make sure that it fits a woman's body. That was very unusual in the market. The reality is that you can be sexy and step out with confidence in what you're wearing without showing tons of skin. They're not contradictory.

What can women wear to work that's not a typical blue suit?

How about a gorgeous cashmere sweater over a pencil skirt that has great details to it? How about a blazer that wraps or has great details instead of trying to look like you're wearing your dad's beat-up suit? (See BusinessWeek.com, 8/23/06, "You Can't Wear That to an Interview!")

When you had a business partner, how did you divide business and design aspects?

It started out that I handled all of the business pieces and she handled the design pieces. I did all the pieces surrounding that, including standing at the trade shows, knowing all the stores, selling the clothes, and understanding the customer so I could bring back information and say, "Hey, this is the feedback we're getting." And over the years, I've gotten more involved in different pieces of it and I work very closely with my creative director as the collections come together.