Wonder Women Podcast
I was interviewed by Calling Wonder Women right as I was making the big leap and moving into a retail space with my skirts (I sell online and in store at RF Home Co. in St. Louis). I love the perspective I have right on the cusp of such a big, new adventure. Read below for some memorable quotes and listen to the whole podcast here.
"I just celebrated nine years since starting this business. And it’s an embarrassing time for me every year, you know, because it’s like, oh now we’re at this number and I have not made the progress that I wanted to. Now we’re at this number. . . and when I moved – I lived in New York for most of my twenties – when I moved back to Illinois three years ago, I started unpacking kind of the emotional baggage of like, this sucks. You know, my dream was so much different than what is happening."
"I think that we as women carry the mental load of raising children, alongside the work that we do, which is a gift but often we see as a hindrance, you know. So I think talking about how we’re pulled in multiple directions helps so we aren’t all in our own corners trying to build our own lives and trying to ignore the fact that we have 1 million things weighing on our minds. I don’t think that we will be truly happy if we don’t at least contemplate how we can carve out room to have careers and families - the multiple pieces that make up the pie of our life."
"I think low self-esteem keeps us from moving towards our goals and dreams and sometimes keeps us from having certain goals and dreams. Fashion is such a teachable way to raise confidence in women. It has a significant impact on our world when women are making more progress towards their goals because they have shed the weight of their insecurities. I’ve seen so much of that and it’s the most beautiful thing. It’s so amazing to see women become a true version of themselves because they are free from worrying about what somebody else thinks about them."
"When I think of a Wonder Woman, I think of my mom. Some of my earliest memories of her are her clothes actually, because of her extremely unique style. She always had her makeup on, her hair done, and wore really funky clothing, and she stayed home with us. So she was cooking dinner for us every night, smiling and wearing chandelier earrings while doing it. So there is no more perfect picture in my mind then that – like earrings and homemade spaghetti, floor-length gypsy skirts, and homemade cookies after school. That really is kind of my Wonder Woman."
"My marriage is going on 15 years this year and my husband knows the things that bring me life and the things that suck it from me and he’s seen me, kind of at the worst. He takes things off my plate so that I can focus on my business and spend time with our daughter. What makes him happy is seeing me happy and he will kind of go to the ends of the earth or, you know, wait nine years when my business is growing."
"I am seeing women increase in confidence and step outside their comfort zones in what they wear and I’m seeing how that directly impacts their lives for the better. They’re becoming more themselves as they explore their personal style and they’re doing that by wearing clothes I’ve made them. It’s absolutely surreal. It takes my breath away. It’s so rewarding because it’s proving the hypothesis my entire business is based on – that clothing changes how we interact with our world, that working towards defining our personal style is a way of getting to know ourselves and then presenting who we are to the world that is constantly telling us we’re not good enough."