Balancing Act of a Fashion Mogul and Motherhood with Rebecca Minkoff

WEBVTT

00:00:00.861 --> 00:00:18.144
<v Emily Blumenthal>Hi and welcome to the Handbag Designer 101 podcast with your host, Emily Blumenthal, handbag designer expert and handbag fairy godmother, where we cover everything about handbags, from making, marketing, designing and talking to handbag designers and industry experts about what it takes to make a successful handbag.

00:00:18.144 --> 00:00:29.812
<v Emily Blumenthal>Welcome, superstar of all handbags, of everything.

00:00:29.812 --> 00:00:38.225
<v Emily Blumenthal>Handbag, the template of how it should be made, the case study that, if it has not yet been written by Harvard Business School, I will be writing it for them.

00:00:38.225 --> 00:00:45.386
<v Emily Blumenthal>Welcome, the one and only Rebecca Minkoff, to Handbag Designer 101, the podcast I am overjoyed for.

00:00:45.386 --> 00:00:47.040
<v Emily Blumenthal>Clumped, you name it.

00:00:47.040 --> 00:00:48.103
<v Emily Blumenthal>I'm all those things.

00:00:48.244 --> 00:00:48.685
<v Rebecca Minkoff>Welcome.

00:00:48.685 --> 00:00:53.249
<v Rebecca Minkoff>Thank you for having me and yes, please tell Harvard you know they need to get on it.

00:00:53.249 --> 00:00:55.286
<v Rebecca Minkoff>They need to hurry up the case study.

00:00:55.286 --> 00:00:57.006
<v Rebecca Minkoff>Seriously, no one's reached out to you.

00:00:57.006 --> 00:01:03.003
<v Rebecca Minkoff>We were in talks about me speaking there, but I decided after what was happening to just take a pause.

00:01:03.621 --> 00:01:06.590
<v Emily Blumenthal>I respect that and would do the same.

00:01:06.590 --> 00:01:08.867
<v Emily Blumenthal>That's a whole other conversation.

00:01:08.867 --> 00:01:11.650
<v Emily Blumenthal>If you would, a whole other conversation.

00:01:11.650 --> 00:01:13.316
<v Emily Blumenthal>If you would like to take a gander.

00:01:13.316 --> 00:01:15.185
<v Emily Blumenthal>It's showing up in reverse.

00:01:15.185 --> 00:01:28.704
<v Emily Blumenthal>But here is my lovely book and there is your bag and it is, it is, and I was honored and flattered and all that great stuff that you were thoughtful and kind enough to let me include your lovely bag.

00:01:28.704 --> 00:01:32.052
<v Emily Blumenthal>That changed the history of handbags for everybody.

00:01:32.052 --> 00:01:33.823
<v Emily Blumenthal>The morning after bag.

00:01:33.823 --> 00:01:35.368
<v Emily Blumenthal>How did it get that name?

00:01:35.368 --> 00:01:48.362
<v Emily Blumenthal>I know everybody knows it, but for anybody who wants to hear it again, because I don't want this to be all about me talking, because I could, like I said, tell you your story back to you, like when you said, told your parents you were going to be a bartender and they're like, we're calling in your brother.

00:01:48.362 --> 00:01:51.932
<v Emily Blumenthal>If I'm quoting, they're going to jump around.

00:01:51.932 --> 00:01:53.924
<v Emily Blumenthal>So what's the story of the morning after bag?

00:01:53.924 --> 00:01:57.272
<v Emily Blumenthal>For everyone who doesn't already know, yes.

00:01:57.859 --> 00:02:02.371
<v Rebecca Minkoff>So for those of you who maybe you're new to the brand or you, you know you're Jen Alpha.

00:02:02.371 --> 00:02:04.566
<v Rebecca Minkoff>How can anybody be new to the brand?

00:02:04.566 --> 00:02:05.609
<v Rebecca Minkoff>That is insane.

00:02:05.609 --> 00:02:09.514
<v Rebecca Minkoff>Alpha and Z, it's like you know it's kind of a new name.

00:02:10.135 --> 00:02:11.943
<v Emily Blumenthal>So yeah, so listen.

00:02:11.943 --> 00:02:17.846
<v Emily Blumenthal>When I told my students that Kate Spade was a real person, because I was teaching when she passed, they were like what Right?

00:02:17.846 --> 00:02:20.526
<v Emily Blumenthal>So yeah, I get it.

00:02:20.879 --> 00:02:28.252
<v Rebecca Minkoff>So, basically, I had been struggling in the clothing arena for the better part of four years, making almost everything myself.

00:02:28.252 --> 00:02:33.350
<v Rebecca Minkoff>Couldn't see a way to grow or scale my company, but was very much dedicated to it.

00:02:33.350 --> 00:02:39.447
<v Rebecca Minkoff>And the same actress, jenna Elfin, that have put me on the map for the shirt the Isle of New York shirt, which you can Google and read about.

00:02:39.447 --> 00:02:42.388
<v Rebecca Minkoff>She came back to me and said do you make bags?

00:02:42.388 --> 00:02:52.264
<v Rebecca Minkoff>And I said yes, I do, but I didn't, and very quickly, you know, I had an opportunity to be in a film integrated on the main character through the whole film.

00:02:52.879 --> 00:02:57.067
<v Rebecca Minkoff>That was the one with the rabbi and the priest, right, oh, that would have been great.

00:02:57.067 --> 00:02:59.025
<v Rebecca Minkoff>No, this was a film called Touch it.

00:02:59.025 --> 00:03:02.906
<v Rebecca Minkoff>Touch it and I'm going straight to DVD, so really no loss.

00:03:02.906 --> 00:03:05.225
<v Rebecca Minkoff>But at the time we didn't know that.

00:03:05.225 --> 00:03:14.887
<v Rebecca Minkoff>I just thought, oh my God, you know, she was huge for keeping the faith and I think that was probably and Darma and Greg, and Darma and Greg.

00:03:14.887 --> 00:03:18.911
<v Rebecca Minkoff>So I very quickly had a bag made.

00:03:19.271 --> 00:03:24.388
<v Rebecca Minkoff>Didn't make it to set on, time was crushed that they started shooting it with someone else's bag.

00:03:24.388 --> 00:03:34.270
<v Rebecca Minkoff>But I carried the second sample around with me and enough women stopped me on the street and asked me about it that I thought let me try maybe adding this to the collection.

00:03:34.270 --> 00:03:39.931
<v Rebecca Minkoff>So I contacted the showroom that was selling my stuff and I said, hey, let's add the bag.

00:03:39.931 --> 00:03:44.330
<v Rebecca Minkoff>And the woman there, the buyer, was like I want to buy this for a store in LA.

00:03:44.330 --> 00:03:51.027
<v Rebecca Minkoff>That was like where all the Starlets were going Fred's ankle, no, it was called the tee.

00:03:51.027 --> 00:03:53.568
<v Rebecca Minkoff>Oh God, the other one, right, right, right.

00:03:53.568 --> 00:03:58.330
<v Rebecca Minkoff>So at any given day you know again, people have to remember who was famous then.

00:03:58.330 --> 00:04:08.968
<v Rebecca Minkoff>But like Lindsay Lohan, hayden Pianater, like Reese Witherspoon, jessica Alba, like that there was a crew of like Starlets that were going there and getting photographed leaving.

00:04:10.039 --> 00:04:13.146
<v Emily Blumenthal>All wearing low rise jeans, yep, which sadly are back.

00:04:15.304 --> 00:04:18.745
<v Rebecca Minkoff>Too many kids for that I will not be partaking in that trend.

00:04:18.745 --> 00:04:24.309
<v Rebecca Minkoff>And she said I'm going to have this publication called Daily Candy.

00:04:24.309 --> 00:04:24.850
<v Rebecca Minkoff>Write about it.

00:04:24.850 --> 00:04:34.509
<v Rebecca Minkoff>And this was like the dawn of email, when people were excited about getting like the newest, hottest, latest in your inbox and that newsletter alone would transform a company.

00:04:35.040 --> 00:04:36.886
<v Emily Blumenthal>Danny Levy was the forerunner for that.

00:04:36.886 --> 00:04:37.709
<v Emily Blumenthal>That was nuts.

00:04:37.709 --> 00:04:41.209
<v Emily Blumenthal>I remembered like to know someone, to know someone to get that covered.

00:04:41.209 --> 00:04:45.827
<v Emily Blumenthal>And then it's like, and it's splintered into different cities and you're like you want Daily Candy New York.

00:04:45.827 --> 00:04:47.524
<v Emily Blumenthal>I said that's going to be the game changer.

00:04:48.045 --> 00:04:48.827
<v Rebecca Minkoff>Yep, Yep.

00:04:48.827 --> 00:04:56.312
<v Rebecca Minkoff>And so at that time I believe that was it was just one, she hadn't segmented it out yet, and I just remember the day it went live the article.

00:04:56.312 --> 00:04:59.004
<v Rebecca Minkoff>You can't even find it on the internet anymore, which is really sad.

00:04:59.004 --> 00:05:06.851
<v Rebecca Minkoff>It's sad it was called the catwalk of shame and I don't have to be the morning after bag, because this is the bag that holds it all.

00:05:06.851 --> 00:05:13.687
<v Rebecca Minkoff>It holds your daytime and holds your nighttime and you know, sex in the city was the rage and so I just wanted to romanticize.

00:05:13.687 --> 00:05:14.584
<v Rebecca Minkoff>I was 26.

00:05:14.584 --> 00:05:22.290
<v Rebecca Minkoff>This idea of going out, finding the guy sleeping over and like proudly walking home, you know, yes, you do.

00:05:22.872 --> 00:05:26.706
<v Emily Blumenthal>Yeah, when your hair was short, actually because you used to have a bob.

00:05:27.427 --> 00:05:28.471
<v Rebecca Minkoff>Don't even call it a bob.

00:05:28.471 --> 00:05:37.105
<v Rebecca Minkoff>It was some fucked up haircut that my hairdresser just kept losing Like getting shorter about here, and it was bangs.

00:05:37.105 --> 00:05:37.646
<v Rebecca Minkoff>It was bad.

00:05:37.646 --> 00:05:42.511
<v Rebecca Minkoff>My husband and I look back and we're just like I was like why did you even like me with that haircut?

00:05:43.442 --> 00:06:00.250
<v Emily Blumenthal>I mean and that's a loaded question of how many reasons why but we go so far back, you and I, that we were Facebook friends and I remember and I told you like my memory is scary Some people call it, like you know, stalker, ask but I don't forget things.

00:06:00.250 --> 00:06:15.264
<v Emily Blumenthal>Today it's dangerous, because I remember your Facebook profile picture was a black and white picture of your wedding, of you and your husband, and you were like half tilted that way and you could see the back of your hair and that's how I remembered your haircut, because I was like how could she pull that off?

00:06:15.264 --> 00:06:17.130
<v Emily Blumenthal>It's so chic, so lucky you.

00:06:17.130 --> 00:06:18.766
<v Emily Blumenthal>We all had a different perspective.

00:06:20.101 --> 00:06:23.211
<v Emily Blumenthal>Question said morning after bag what was the process?

00:06:23.211 --> 00:06:25.949
<v Emily Blumenthal>Did you sketch it out and then take it to?

00:06:25.949 --> 00:06:31.317
<v Emily Blumenthal>You know all the factories in New York City who claim because the funny thing is is being an independent designer.

00:06:31.317 --> 00:06:43.411
<v Emily Blumenthal>In the early not early 2000s, when you were going to see factories, they'd all say, like we made Kate Spade's bag and then it turned into we made your bag, we made Monica Baccaro's bag.

00:06:43.411 --> 00:06:46.327
<v Emily Blumenthal>Did you sew it together yourself?

00:06:46.327 --> 00:06:48.848
<v Emily Blumenthal>Did you pick out the letters or did you sketch it out?

00:06:48.848 --> 00:06:49.985
<v Emily Blumenthal>Like what was the process of?

00:06:49.985 --> 00:06:50.447
<v Emily Blumenthal>Actually?

00:06:50.447 --> 00:06:53.382
<v Emily Blumenthal>Because you had to have a quick turnaround just for that one bag.

00:06:54.146 --> 00:06:54.367
<v Rebecca Minkoff>Yeah.

00:06:54.367 --> 00:07:03.495
<v Rebecca Minkoff>So I had had this vintage kind of travel bag that I loved but it was big and bulky and kind of just whatever.

00:07:03.495 --> 00:07:11.666
<v Rebecca Minkoff>But I was like if the dimensions were different, and I added you know, I took it out of it being canvas and made it leather and canvas and so I've been sort of toying around with it.

00:07:11.666 --> 00:07:23.074
<v Rebecca Minkoff>So I took that bag, plus a sketch, to the place where I was already buying leather because I was making leather jackets, and I said do you guys know anyone who makes bags?

00:07:23.074 --> 00:07:24.007
<v Rebecca Minkoff>And so they took me.

00:07:24.007 --> 00:07:33.315
<v Rebecca Minkoff>She recommended a woman who I don't know had this weird factory made the first couple samples, made the first production run, but the quality was terrible.

00:07:33.315 --> 00:07:37.315
<v Rebecca Minkoff>And it was then that I asked a friend of mine who was selling this clutch.

00:07:37.315 --> 00:07:42.906
<v Rebecca Minkoff>You'll probably remember it was a clutch by a woman, it was a clutch with like a ruffle on the corner.

00:07:42.906 --> 00:07:44.932
<v Rebecca Minkoff>Oh my god yeah.

00:07:44.952 --> 00:07:50.949
<v Emily Blumenthal>Yeah, jana, something, yes, yes, yes, janerich, or Is it right?

00:07:50.949 --> 00:07:52.334
<v Emily Blumenthal>Yeah, it's going to bother me.

00:07:52.334 --> 00:07:56.130
<v Emily Blumenthal>We're going to be like towards the end of the conversation and I'm going to be like that's who it was.

00:07:56.130 --> 00:07:57.012
<v Emily Blumenthal>Yes, yeah.

00:07:57.033 --> 00:07:57.654
<v Rebecca Minkoff>Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:07:57.654 --> 00:08:02.456
<v Rebecca Minkoff>She recommended me go there and I walk in and it's funny, all these factories, and you know this.

00:08:02.456 --> 00:08:05.382
<v Rebecca Minkoff>You walk into the showroom and they're total trash.

00:08:05.382 --> 00:08:11.014
<v Rebecca Minkoff>Yes, it looks like bags made in China, correct, but they don't show who they're really making.

00:08:11.014 --> 00:08:14.608
<v Rebecca Minkoff>So I go in there and I said my quality of my first factory is terrible.

00:08:14.608 --> 00:08:17.716
<v Rebecca Minkoff>And he's a Russian guy's name is Joseph Baikal, which I'm sure you know.

00:08:17.716 --> 00:08:23.850
<v Rebecca Minkoff>Baikal, yes, You're like you know, in his this he was.

00:08:23.870 --> 00:08:27.416
<v Emily Blumenthal>He went to the point and like, very much, like, I don't have time for this.

00:08:27.416 --> 00:08:27.978
<v Emily Blumenthal>What do you want?

00:08:29.105 --> 00:08:29.505
<v Rebecca Minkoff>Yeah.

00:08:29.505 --> 00:08:32.714
<v Rebecca Minkoff>So he said, hang on, he goes out and he gets Monica Bakir's bag.

00:08:32.714 --> 00:08:37.078
<v Rebecca Minkoff>And she was like the hottest designer of the time, her trick or trick, and I was like.

00:08:37.078 --> 00:08:39.068
<v Rebecca Minkoff>I was like that's a knockoff, I don't believe you.

00:08:39.068 --> 00:08:40.236
<v Rebecca Minkoff>And then he said, okay, come with me.

00:08:40.236 --> 00:08:43.851
<v Rebecca Minkoff>And he took me through the factory and he showed me all the stages of her bags being made.

00:08:43.851 --> 00:08:45.395
<v Rebecca Minkoff>I was like, great, good enough for me.

00:08:45.395 --> 00:08:53.197
<v Rebecca Minkoff>So he made my bags for the first, so exclusively for the first four years.

00:08:53.197 --> 00:08:59.197
<v Rebecca Minkoff>But then we kept US production going for probably another five, so like almost 10 years of working together.

00:08:59.197 --> 00:09:02.895
<v Rebecca Minkoff>And his pattern maker was incredible.

00:09:02.895 --> 00:09:07.187
<v Rebecca Minkoff>Like you could pass him like a napkin sketch and he'd be like, yep, I know what you're talking about.

00:09:07.850 --> 00:09:08.191
<v Emily Blumenthal>Listen.

00:09:08.191 --> 00:09:15.681
<v Emily Blumenthal>So the way you handled even like production was so you know we could talk about a billion things.

00:09:15.681 --> 00:09:47.812
<v Emily Blumenthal>Again, the case study that I'm going to write about you for you with Harvard at a different time, the fact that you kept and so many people lack this wherewithal to have overseas production but to still have a local factory that could either do immediate fulfillment or to do quick samples and quick turnaround, and to keep both those going until it was obviously fiscally not viable, was so forward thinking and because I always thought, like how is one able to get new inventory in so quickly for something that's a hot seller without creating a glut?

00:09:47.812 --> 00:09:56.000
<v Emily Blumenthal>So I remember you telling me like, yeah, what we would do local fulfillment here and then we can cross reference the prices so it all evens out.

00:09:56.702 --> 00:10:07.663
<v Rebecca Minkoff>Yeah, I think you know it was scary in the beginning to have all your eggs in one basket and it takes factories a long time to figure out your hand, and so we never wanted to abandon our factory here.

00:10:07.663 --> 00:10:10.230
<v Rebecca Minkoff>At one point we looked at buying by Cal.

00:10:10.230 --> 00:10:13.337
<v Rebecca Minkoff>It was too expensive for us to be able to do that financially.

00:10:13.337 --> 00:10:16.676
<v Rebecca Minkoff>But I think you know in a perfect world we'd still be there.

00:10:16.676 --> 00:10:24.581
<v Rebecca Minkoff>It's just the prices got so outrageous that women I said a survey, would you want to pay this for a bag?

00:10:24.581 --> 00:10:25.443
<v Rebecca Minkoff>And the answer was no.

00:10:25.443 --> 00:10:28.831
<v Rebecca Minkoff>I was like, well then, I can't make in the US, that's what it costs, yeah.

00:10:29.653 --> 00:10:35.333
<v Emily Blumenthal>So I want to talk to you about because, again, I know you didn't go to college.

00:10:35.333 --> 00:10:45.509
<v Emily Blumenthal>I know that you were in high school and I think you were making costumes and that's was where you, I guess, developed the hand of craft making fashion and making things.

00:10:45.509 --> 00:10:46.974
<v Emily Blumenthal>Who taught you how to sew?

00:10:47.797 --> 00:10:51.971
<v Rebecca Minkoff>My mom initially taught me because I wanted a dress and she wouldn't buy it for me.

00:10:51.971 --> 00:10:53.135
<v Rebecca Minkoff>But she's like, let's go dress.

00:10:53.135 --> 00:10:55.725
<v Rebecca Minkoff>No, no, this was before this is.

00:10:55.725 --> 00:10:56.669
<v Rebecca Minkoff>And I was about eight.

00:10:56.669 --> 00:10:58.154
<v Rebecca Minkoff>She taught me how to sew.

00:10:58.154 --> 00:11:11.501
<v Rebecca Minkoff>Then, when we moved and I was getting closer to about Mitzvah time period, I enrolled with this art class and sewing teacher and she was like a designer from New York, you know, and I was like, oh my God, I can learn from her.

00:11:11.501 --> 00:11:24.096
<v Rebecca Minkoff>So she really taught me sewing and I did my about Mitzvah dress with her and I got really hooked and I stayed with her and then ended up going to a performing arts high school where my breasts were far too large to be a dancer, so I would just always a problem.

00:11:24.596 --> 00:11:25.440
<v Rebecca Minkoff>Yeah, yeah.

00:11:25.440 --> 00:11:34.573
<v Rebecca Minkoff>And that's where I really learned, like finally, like the lady teaching sewing was like dusting off the machines because no one cared, and she's like finally someone who cares.

00:11:34.573 --> 00:11:41.339
<v Rebecca Minkoff>So she really took me under her wing and taught me stuff that you pretty much learned in your first two years at FIT Right.

00:11:42.020 --> 00:11:44.386
<v Emily Blumenthal>Do you have a machine in your new home?

00:11:45.469 --> 00:11:51.698
<v Rebecca Minkoff>I have my aunt's machine that is for my daughter, but I'm not going to lie to you.

00:11:51.698 --> 00:11:58.690
<v Rebecca Minkoff>She wants to learn how to sew, but she thinks she knows everything already and I don't have patience to deal with that.

00:11:58.690 --> 00:12:01.398
<v Rebecca Minkoff>So no one is using this machine at the moment.

00:12:02.740 --> 00:12:11.432
<v Emily Blumenthal>It's so interesting the things that you think that you went through and you know we're so groundbreaking for you as a person, a designer and entrepreneur, a business person.

00:12:11.432 --> 00:12:16.678
<v Emily Blumenthal>You're like I'm going to do this for my kids and you can sit down and they're like you know what?

00:12:16.678 --> 00:12:17.662
<v Emily Blumenthal>Can I figure it out?

00:12:17.662 --> 00:12:28.038
<v Emily Blumenthal>Because putting that thread through the bobbin is enough for you to have a divorce with your own kid, because I tried that myself and I was like, okay, I'm done.

00:12:28.038 --> 00:12:38.355
<v Emily Blumenthal>And my daughter ended up taking going to this place called the fashion class and now she yep, and you know that, yeah, you went there for judging and she works there now.

00:12:38.355 --> 00:12:47.668
<v Emily Blumenthal>And it's so funny that the way you were raised and what you were taught had such an impact on me and how I'm raising my kids, which you'd be like that's so weird.

00:12:47.668 --> 00:12:55.936
<v Emily Blumenthal>But the fact that you were, you know how, the responsibility that you had to pay for so much yourself and understanding what things cost.

00:12:55.936 --> 00:13:01.839
<v Emily Blumenthal>And I have this hard, fast rule with my kids, like if you're not going to be on a team, you have to have a job.

00:13:01.839 --> 00:13:06.945
<v Emily Blumenthal>And Zoe went there as a kid and I was like you should go back there because you already know how the system works.

00:13:06.945 --> 00:13:11.726
<v Emily Blumenthal>So she cuts patterns, she works with kids and I'm like, how can you thread the needle in the bobbin?

00:13:11.726 --> 00:13:19.591
<v Emily Blumenthal>And she's like, oh, it's so boring Because 1000 years ago she wanted to get into fashion and now she's so over it just from working.

00:13:19.591 --> 00:13:25.190
<v Emily Blumenthal>I said, yeah, working in fashion it can really burn you out.

00:13:25.190 --> 00:13:27.436
<v Emily Blumenthal>You can get over it fast just from that alone.

00:13:27.436 --> 00:13:29.081
<v Emily Blumenthal>Yeah, so, yeah.

00:13:29.642 --> 00:13:34.754
<v Emily Blumenthal>So I want to talk a little bit about the evolution of the brand.

00:13:34.754 --> 00:13:42.342
<v Emily Blumenthal>Because you were working alone, you were doing everything yourself, you were doing well enough that you could do it.

00:13:42.342 --> 00:13:48.787
<v Emily Blumenthal>And then also bartend, which is a sexy job and something all parents should be so proud of their kids trying to make it.

00:13:48.787 --> 00:13:54.280
<v Emily Blumenthal>Your oldest brother was commissioned to come in and work with you.

00:13:54.280 --> 00:13:58.936
<v Emily Blumenthal>How, to some degree, and you can correct me if I'm wrong what was that like?

00:13:58.936 --> 00:14:03.410
<v Emily Blumenthal>You know you come from a very strong family, a very tall family.

00:14:03.410 --> 00:14:05.057
<v Emily Blumenthal>What was it like?

00:14:05.057 --> 00:14:07.163
<v Emily Blumenthal>Because how many years did you work with him?

00:14:07.163 --> 00:14:07.465
<v Emily Blumenthal>10?

00:14:07.465 --> 00:14:07.465
<v Emily Blumenthal>.

00:14:08.626 --> 00:14:13.433
<v Rebecca Minkoff>No 2022, from 2005 to 2022.

00:14:13.433 --> 00:14:14.515
<v Rebecca Minkoff>Is that 17 years?

00:14:14.515 --> 00:14:16.118
<v Rebecca Minkoff>That's a long time.

00:14:16.118 --> 00:14:17.801
<v Rebecca Minkoff>Yeah, a long time.

00:14:19.684 --> 00:14:31.099
<v Emily Blumenthal>It's hard enough to live with your siblings growing up and still want to be siblings with them after it's another to work with them, like I'm, garment to offspring.

00:14:31.099 --> 00:14:38.548
<v Emily Blumenthal>My dad worked in the Garment Center, my grandmother worked with him, my aunt worked with him, my mom worked with him, my sister sold for him.

00:14:38.548 --> 00:14:41.200
<v Emily Blumenthal>I mean, he was a converter and I was the only one who didn't.

00:14:41.200 --> 00:14:45.549
<v Emily Blumenthal>Ironically, I'm the only one who still goes there, so that says something.

00:14:45.549 --> 00:14:54.047
<v Emily Blumenthal>But how is that, considering the vision of the brand, the DNA, the fashion, how you saw it?

00:14:54.047 --> 00:14:56.128
<v Emily Blumenthal>How is that able to be transmitted?

00:14:56.128 --> 00:14:57.609
<v Emily Blumenthal>Working with a family member.

00:14:59.192 --> 00:15:05.442
<v Rebecca Minkoff>So I think that the first, probably four years were like fantastic.

00:15:05.442 --> 00:15:09.700
<v Rebecca Minkoff>You're both like oh my God, this is all growing so fast.

00:15:09.700 --> 00:15:12.293
<v Rebecca Minkoff>There's so much momentum Like what do you got?

00:15:12.293 --> 00:15:13.817
<v Rebecca Minkoff>What do you got, let's go.

00:15:14.509 --> 00:15:23.081
<v Rebecca Minkoff>I think where it started getting stressful was when the stakes got bigger and more real and an error or a bag that didn't sell was a bigger like problem.

00:15:23.081 --> 00:15:31.841
<v Rebecca Minkoff>I also don't think it helped that over the course of couple years we had either had a president or a head of sales that was kind of always trying to insert themselves within.

00:15:31.841 --> 00:15:33.456
<v Rebecca Minkoff>You know we call it the triangle.

00:15:33.456 --> 00:15:39.114
<v Rebecca Minkoff>That led to a lot of like well, rebecca thinks this and Orgy thinks this and sort of pitting us against one another.

00:15:39.114 --> 00:15:54.258
<v Rebecca Minkoff>So we ended up with like a couple's business counselor that we would turn to when it got really tough, which I highly recommend for any co-founder relationship, especially if you're married or siblings, and I think you know it was like when it was bad, it was bad.

00:15:54.479 --> 00:16:04.198
<v Rebecca Minkoff>You know we got really good and remember there was like a period of nine months where we wouldn't speak to each other outside of work and outside of like things that were work related.

00:16:04.198 --> 00:16:14.817
<v Rebecca Minkoff>So at family gatherings no one felt the drama we were really good at like you're all going to be here and we're not going to talk to each other, but that doesn't affect anyone else here.

00:16:14.817 --> 00:16:18.679
<v Rebecca Minkoff>And then in the office it would be like Rebecca, what do you think about this?

00:16:18.679 --> 00:16:20.475
<v Rebecca Minkoff>But there would be nothing else you know.

00:16:20.735 --> 00:16:31.120
<v Rebecca Minkoff>And so there were times when it was like that and I think we did the best we could and I think we're both relieved that we don't have to get in fights anymore and argue and we can just be brother and sister.

00:16:31.120 --> 00:16:37.577
<v Rebecca Minkoff>Because you know, I think what a lot of people see is just the romantic side of business and they don't see how hard it can get.

00:16:37.577 --> 00:16:41.679
<v Rebecca Minkoff>Or, if you read my book, how many times it can all go away.

00:16:41.679 --> 00:16:46.620
<v Rebecca Minkoff>Yeah, you know, and then you only have that one person you're working with and it can get really tough.

00:16:47.912 --> 00:17:08.192
<v Emily Blumenthal>So you know, and I got to tell you the romantic side of it I mean seeing you to train shows and talking to him and like I am so impressed that the two of you can work together, I am so impressed I tried with my husband running an online store selling independent handbag designer bags, and that in itself was such a challenge that I would kill myself to get the press and the coverage.

00:17:08.192 --> 00:17:14.178
<v Emily Blumenthal>And then, like the deliveries wouldn't come where the quality was off, or you know, we got something in in style.

00:17:14.178 --> 00:17:22.861
<v Emily Blumenthal>And then this is me dealing with him on the back end and me on the front end and me doing the press and, like you know, the fact that we were being married after that, I was still impressed.

00:17:22.861 --> 00:17:29.031
<v Emily Blumenthal>So, and I remember talking to your brother about this and him being like, yeah, sometimes it's not easy.

00:17:29.031 --> 00:17:37.472
<v Emily Blumenthal>If you ever wanted to start a handbag brand and didn't know where to start, this is for you.

00:17:37.472 --> 00:17:43.240
<v Emily Blumenthal>If you had dreams of becoming a handbag designer but aren't trained in design, this is for you.

00:17:43.240 --> 00:17:47.900
<v Emily Blumenthal>If you have a handbag brand and need strategy and direction, this is for you.

00:17:48.690 --> 00:17:56.518
<v Emily Blumenthal>I'm Emily Blumenthal, handbag designer expert and handbag fairy godmother, and this is the handbag designer 101 masterclass.

00:17:57.171 --> 00:18:03.673
<v Emily Blumenthal>Over the next 10 classes, I will break down everything you need to know to make, manufacture and market a handbag brand.

00:18:03.673 --> 00:18:13.083
<v Emily Blumenthal>Broken down to ensure that you will not only skip steps in the handbag building process, but also to save money to avoid the learning curve of costly mistakes.

00:18:13.083 --> 00:18:24.174
<v Emily Blumenthal>For the past 20 years, I've been teaching at the top fashion universities in New York City, wrote the handbag designer Bible, founded the handbag awards and created the only handbag designer podcast.

00:18:24.174 --> 00:18:30.797
<v Emily Blumenthal>I'm going to show you like I have countless brands to create in this in depth course, from sketch to sample to sale.

00:18:30.797 --> 00:18:40.938
<v Emily Blumenthal>Whether you're just starting out and don't even know where to start or begin, or if you've had a brand and need some strategic direction, the handbag designer 101 masterclass is just for you.

00:18:40.938 --> 00:18:44.798
<v Emily Blumenthal>So let's get started and you'll be the creator of the next it bag.

00:18:44.798 --> 00:19:01.200
<v Emily Blumenthal>Name me, emily Blumenthal, in the handbag designer 101 masterclass, so be sure to sign up at EmilyBloomethalcom slash masterclass and type in the code on cast to get 10% off your masterclass today.

00:19:04.875 --> 00:19:06.279
<v Rebecca Minkoff>Now let me rephrase that for him.

00:19:06.279 --> 00:19:15.660
<v Rebecca Minkoff>Most times it's not easy being in this business, but as I meet more and more incredible women and founders, no one has it easy, even when you think they're at the top.

00:19:16.210 --> 00:19:34.382
<v Emily Blumenthal>Yeah, I think, especially with a handful of female founded handbag brands where one of the female founders comes out or work, gets out that they were difficult or psycho or crazy or keeping everybody 24 seven.

00:19:34.382 --> 00:19:37.477
<v Emily Blumenthal>It's such a fine line, you know, because part of it.

00:19:37.477 --> 00:19:52.516
<v Emily Blumenthal>I'm reading the story and I'm like, yeah, it sounds like there definitely was an abusive power, but on the other side it's like I think women get a raw deal, you know, like a woman being crazy and being worried about her brand and how it's received versus how a man does it.

00:19:52.516 --> 00:19:58.393
<v Emily Blumenthal>It's like there's a certain classical understanding of what we should expect from a female founder versus a man.

00:19:59.309 --> 00:20:00.675
<v Rebecca Minkoff>I think that would struggle with that.

00:20:00.675 --> 00:20:15.580
<v Rebecca Minkoff>No, I never struggle with that because, you know, I was probably at the influx of when things were starting to shift in terms of I had a president who grew up in the Calvin Donna Ralph era, work like a dog, never sleep.

00:20:16.432 --> 00:20:17.675
<v Emily Blumenthal>Like that was it.

00:20:17.675 --> 00:20:20.015
<v Emily Blumenthal>That was your first president, right.

00:20:20.035 --> 00:20:27.330
<v Rebecca Minkoff>That was my first president, so with her being that way, I almost always wanted to be like it doesn't need to be this way.

00:20:27.330 --> 00:20:36.320
<v Rebecca Minkoff>You know, to a point where I remember on one of my I think it was my second maternity leave which I didn't even get to check out and like be on leave.

00:20:36.320 --> 00:20:45.101
<v Rebecca Minkoff>But when I came back and I would bring my kid into nurse, she's like must be nice, you know, getting to nurse your kid in the office when others don't have that privilege.

00:20:45.101 --> 00:20:47.218
<v Rebecca Minkoff>And I was like, first of all, everyone can do that.

00:20:47.218 --> 00:20:49.679
<v Rebecca Minkoff>Second of all, I didn't get a fucking maternity leave.

00:20:49.679 --> 00:20:51.757
<v Rebecca Minkoff>So, yeah, my baby's going to come in when I need.

00:20:52.049 --> 00:21:00.538
<v Rebecca Minkoff>And like it wasn't until her daughter had a baby, you know didn't have any flexibility or freedom that she's like I'm so sorry that I put that on you.

00:21:00.538 --> 00:21:05.336
<v Rebecca Minkoff>You know I'm seeing my daughter struggle with it and it was a big mistake I made.

00:21:05.336 --> 00:21:10.039
<v Rebecca Minkoff>And I was like, yeah, it was a big mistake, you wait, not that she could tell me what to do, but just no one needed that.

00:21:10.039 --> 00:21:11.532
<v Rebecca Minkoff>So I think I always had a.

00:21:11.532 --> 00:21:18.395
<v Rebecca Minkoff>I wanted to be more equitable, fair, whatever it is, and you don't get anything good done at two in the morning.

00:21:18.395 --> 00:21:19.618
<v Rebecca Minkoff>So why bother, you know?

00:21:20.509 --> 00:21:22.438
<v Emily Blumenthal>No, nothing good can come at two in the morning.

00:21:22.438 --> 00:21:25.078
<v Emily Blumenthal>I can totally, totally attest to that.

00:21:25.078 --> 00:21:31.171
<v Emily Blumenthal>In fact, the later it gets, I think, the more clarity and lucidity people have of their thought.

00:21:31.171 --> 00:21:36.477
<v Emily Blumenthal>Like I think, as humans, we just start to go a little crazy at that time and we're like you're not even seeing things straight.

00:21:36.477 --> 00:21:43.898
<v Emily Blumenthal>But the last thing you should be doing is trying to dictate to other people how they should be working, let alone for you, because what's going to come of it?

00:21:43.898 --> 00:21:51.490
<v Emily Blumenthal>Yeah, how was it, you know, when handbags became the core and the bread and butter of your brand?

00:21:51.490 --> 00:22:01.383
<v Emily Blumenthal>What gave you the courage to say, okay, we're going to move into other categories, because that's something I think a lot of people grapple with?

00:22:01.383 --> 00:22:06.374
<v Emily Blumenthal>Because you were making that, or you were making them Making what work?

00:22:06.374 --> 00:22:08.416
<v Emily Blumenthal>Like, did you license it out?

00:22:08.416 --> 00:22:11.714
<v Emily Blumenthal>Or you're like okay, this is also going to be under the Beckham and Koff umbrella.

00:22:12.569 --> 00:22:24.776
<v Rebecca Minkoff>So basically what we decided to do is we very much felt that you could get pigeonholed at the time as she's just a handbag designer and we wanted to sell lifestyle and to do that you had to launch category.

00:22:24.776 --> 00:22:29.701
<v Rebecca Minkoff>So because I felt comfortable in clothing, that felt like okay, now we have the infrastructure.

00:22:29.701 --> 00:22:37.037
<v Rebecca Minkoff>Let's add that, because that really is the backdrop basically of who the woman should look like, and then the bag she's carrying.

00:22:37.037 --> 00:22:43.192
<v Rebecca Minkoff>And then we decided to do a manufacturing and design relationship, not a license with a shoe company.

00:22:43.192 --> 00:22:47.115
<v Rebecca Minkoff>So they would make it, we would design it, they would make it and we would sell it.

00:22:47.655 --> 00:22:50.124
<v Rebecca Minkoff>But it's not really like they weren't a factory.

00:22:50.124 --> 00:23:00.635
<v Rebecca Minkoff>They were doing the fitting, they had the expertise in that industry, they were doing the sourcing and then from there, everything else we wanted to license bags, belts, jewelry, eyewear, luggage.

00:23:00.635 --> 00:23:04.800
<v Rebecca Minkoff>All those different things were sort of categories we didn't expand into right away.

00:23:04.800 --> 00:23:07.825
<v Rebecca Minkoff>But, like we said, okay, here's the roadmap, this is what we're doing.

00:23:07.825 --> 00:23:19.361
<v Rebecca Minkoff>So today a lot has changed, but in-house to shoes, clothing and bags, soon to be in-house jewelry, and then the rest is licensed out, because I know you launched a fragrance.

00:23:20.837 --> 00:23:38.826
<v Emily Blumenthal>I know all those other spaces because I spoke with Elise Aaron, who was one of the co-founders of Kate's Fade, and I spoke to her about that and the first thing they went into was stationery and I said you know who goes from bags to stationery?

00:23:38.826 --> 00:23:51.621
<v Emily Blumenthal>And she's like, well, it really tied into the DNA of our brand, it made sense Like that was our customer and I just found that so fascinating to go into something that was like a completely different category.

00:23:51.621 --> 00:24:03.217
<v Emily Blumenthal>I wanna ask you because, again, you being this insane early adopter doing things before anybody else does, like I basically had been your underground PR without you either.

00:24:03.217 --> 00:24:09.278
<v Emily Blumenthal>Enough, talking to N-M-A people Like, well, if you wanna know how it's done, watch her, I see this.

00:24:09.278 --> 00:24:11.144
<v Emily Blumenthal>Buy now, sell now.

00:24:11.454 --> 00:24:20.740
<v Emily Blumenthal>Like before you, I think it was Brazil that had during their fashion week that they were the only fashion week that you could actually buy off the runway.

00:24:20.740 --> 00:24:40.500
<v Emily Blumenthal>And then you did it and then you were the first ones to have influencers to be part of your show and I just wanna talk about like these seem like bold risks, but they just seem so methodical to do things before anybody else does them.

00:24:40.500 --> 00:24:45.901
<v Emily Blumenthal>Did you have trepidation to move into the market of like okay, you know what we're gonna have.

00:24:45.901 --> 00:24:49.240
<v Emily Blumenthal>This works available for sale, like how did you decide?

00:24:49.240 --> 00:24:52.345
<v Emily Blumenthal>And that was a bold choice, crazily enough at that time.

00:24:53.595 --> 00:24:55.442
<v Rebecca Minkoff>I think each scenario was just.

00:24:55.442 --> 00:24:56.940
<v Rebecca Minkoff>Sometimes it was.

00:24:56.940 --> 00:25:06.963
<v Rebecca Minkoff>You know, when we first started working with influencers, it was because it was like we couldn't afford an ad in Vogue and these guys were excited to promote the brand.

00:25:06.963 --> 00:25:11.241
<v Rebecca Minkoff>You gave them a bag, they photographed it, they put it on their blog and it was like, wow, this is great.

00:25:11.241 --> 00:25:14.720
<v Rebecca Minkoff>You know, social media was a great way for me to connect to my customer.

00:25:14.720 --> 00:25:23.682
<v Rebecca Minkoff>I'm sure you remember the purse for them and all of the crowd sourced what they call crowd sourcing now orders that we would get from just women.

00:25:23.682 --> 00:25:26.461
<v Rebecca Minkoff>Be like, well, you would make the purple bag, but this time with the pink zipper.

00:25:26.461 --> 00:25:29.545
<v Rebecca Minkoff>I'd be like, go get me 50 women who want it and their credit cards.

00:25:29.545 --> 00:25:30.398
<v Rebecca Minkoff>And, yes, I will.

00:25:31.174 --> 00:25:35.721
<v Rebecca Minkoff>And so some of that was just, you know, being an on the ground entrepreneur.

00:25:35.721 --> 00:25:47.523
<v Rebecca Minkoff>Other things later on, with technology, you know we can credit my tall brother for because he had a keen sense of wearables and, you know, using technology to innovate.

00:25:47.523 --> 00:25:53.644
<v Rebecca Minkoff>And so I think it just became this your eyes and your ears are always open to opportunity.

00:25:53.644 --> 00:25:57.365
<v Rebecca Minkoff>And because, again, we were self well, not self-funded.

00:25:57.365 --> 00:26:10.040
<v Rebecca Minkoff>We were self-funded for the first seven years, but we would do things because we didn't have the money, but that ended up always being more innovative and exciting than these older behemoths who moved too slow to think about the world.

00:26:10.040 --> 00:26:15.295
<v Rebecca Minkoff>And so you know, I think that's the point, and so I think it's just, you know, we're not going to be able to overthink everything.

00:26:15.455 --> 00:26:22.154
<v Emily Blumenthal>They're worried about public perception, whereas yeah, we had a couple of fuck ups along the way, nothing that damaged the brand in the long term.

00:26:22.154 --> 00:26:41.005
<v Emily Blumenthal>You know, I interviewed Julie Dean of the Cambridge Satchel company no-transcript and when the first time her company was acquired or she gave a percentage away I think it was a majority stake and they were going through all this crazy stuff about like okay, we're going to go into the science of this color and that color and this.

00:26:41.005 --> 00:26:46.076
<v Emily Blumenthal>And she's like can't we just do it based on a banana, the color banana?

00:26:46.076 --> 00:26:49.425
<v Emily Blumenthal>Like this is like why are we making things so much more complicated?

00:26:49.425 --> 00:26:59.384
<v Emily Blumenthal>Like let's focus on what works and to your credit, I think you always have to have your feet on the ground and like roaming through the purse form to see like this is what sells.

00:27:00.136 --> 00:27:29.446
<v Emily Blumenthal>And I think that's a testament where you know, I hosted this event with you and your brother at SACS a million years ago and the pair of you were discussing and this is one of the first times I'd heard it how your social strategies were different, that you knew like I could be saying this wrong like Instagram was like more celebrity focused and Facebook was more product focused and understanding the analytics so narrowcasted better than absolutely anybody.

00:27:29.446 --> 00:27:40.842
<v Emily Blumenthal>Do you think in terms of like, following this strategically, taking this analytical approach, was that just an organic way to do things?

00:27:40.842 --> 00:27:42.906
<v Emily Blumenthal>Or was like okay, we have no other choice?

00:27:44.038 --> 00:27:45.364
<v Rebecca Minkoff>I think it's, it's both you.

00:27:45.364 --> 00:27:47.534
<v Rebecca Minkoff>It's sort of like, at first you have no choice.

00:27:47.534 --> 00:27:51.384
<v Rebecca Minkoff>Then you start experimenting, then you see what works and you're like great, let's follow that.

00:27:51.384 --> 00:28:03.227
<v Rebecca Minkoff>And then it's my brother it's a different point saying this is happening and other consumer product goods companies or in other parts of the world maybe it works for bags, let's test it.

00:28:03.227 --> 00:28:09.616
<v Rebecca Minkoff>And then you know, you're like sort of like trying, augmenting and sort of expanding what is working.

00:28:09.616 --> 00:28:21.740
<v Rebecca Minkoff>And then you're testing and you just kind of you know technology engineers and they have an A and a B, right yeah, and they're testing and if A doesn't work they go to B.

00:28:21.740 --> 00:28:25.183
<v Rebecca Minkoff>So I think that that's how we approached all of the things we did.

00:28:25.894 --> 00:28:31.563
<v Emily Blumenthal>You opened up your first store Was it either Japan or Korea before you opened one up in New York?

00:28:31.563 --> 00:28:31.964
<v Emily Blumenthal>Is that?

00:28:31.984 --> 00:28:32.305
<v Rebecca Minkoff>correct.

00:28:32.305 --> 00:28:33.115
<v Rebecca Minkoff>Japan.

00:28:33.115 --> 00:28:39.548
<v Rebecca Minkoff>Yes, it was Japan and it was because they were so bullish on we need a store now.

00:28:39.548 --> 00:28:40.637
<v Rebecca Minkoff>This was a partner.

00:28:40.637 --> 00:28:54.234
<v Rebecca Minkoff>They opened it and we were like we don't even know what the store should look like and it's going to take a designer to properly do this least six months to design it and be thoughtful about it and go through the brand exercise.

00:28:54.234 --> 00:28:55.480
<v Rebecca Minkoff>And they're like we don't have it.

00:28:55.480 --> 00:28:58.138
<v Rebecca Minkoff>Send us a Pinterest board of like your inspiration.

00:28:58.138 --> 00:29:03.883
<v Rebecca Minkoff>And I was like, okay, so big mistake, very expensive store, wrong location.

00:29:03.883 --> 00:29:22.044
<v Rebecca Minkoff>It was in Ginza, which is like the Beverly Hills, like people are there to buy Gucci and Chanel, right, and so it was a big waste of money for them and you know, we ended up having to close it or they close it, because I was like shocker, didn't look like the brand really and didn't make any money because the rent was so fucking expensive.

00:29:22.214 --> 00:29:37.281
<v Emily Blumenthal>So it was exciting, but it was like right, it's one of those things that it's a flex to say like yeah, my God, oh, my God, I'm opening something in Japan, but meanwhile you're like this isn't going to go the way I want it to, but you still move forward because it's an opportunity.

00:29:38.176 --> 00:29:39.542
<v Rebecca Minkoff>Yeah, it's that fine line.

00:29:39.542 --> 00:29:44.361
<v Rebecca Minkoff>Like you don't want to say no to that, but like you know, it's not going to be done right, and that's the hard part.

00:29:45.634 --> 00:29:46.497
<v Emily Blumenthal>And I asked you.

00:29:46.497 --> 00:29:50.183
<v Emily Blumenthal>So you went seven years before you gave away a piece of the company.

00:29:50.183 --> 00:29:51.125
<v Emily Blumenthal>Is that correct?

00:29:51.125 --> 00:30:02.527
<v Emily Blumenthal>Yeah, was that one of those things that you were like, okay, we have absolutely no choice, or if we want to grow, or because that's scary to start recognizing that, okay.

00:30:02.527 --> 00:30:09.702
<v Emily Blumenthal>And my brother that I have to deal with for control, I have a president who is running this the way I wouldn't run a company.

00:30:09.702 --> 00:30:11.740
<v Emily Blumenthal>Now I need to have more people involved.

00:30:11.740 --> 00:30:15.021
<v Emily Blumenthal>Like, can you talk a little bit about that experience?

00:30:16.005 --> 00:30:16.365
<v Rebecca Minkoff>Yeah.

00:30:16.365 --> 00:30:18.440
<v Rebecca Minkoff>So in 2012 or 2011,.

00:30:18.440 --> 00:30:27.544
<v Rebecca Minkoff>We realized that in order to grow, to do our own stores, to expand product categories and distribution, we needed money.

00:30:27.544 --> 00:30:31.663
<v Rebecca Minkoff>And right around then, private equity this is pre.

00:30:31.663 --> 00:30:41.959
<v Rebecca Minkoff>Vc yeah, private equity was looking around hunting for brands and we were getting really great valuations.

00:30:41.959 --> 00:30:54.326
<v Rebecca Minkoff>So we did our rounds, we got a great offer, we sold 26% of the company and at the time it was great, because they're talking about Kool-Aid.

00:30:54.326 --> 00:30:57.659
<v Rebecca Minkoff>And then you're like, yeah, that sounds great Billion dollar brand.

00:30:57.659 --> 00:31:06.000
<v Rebecca Minkoff>Here we come and everyone's like smoking this like pipe dream of opportunity, and so it was great to do.

00:31:06.000 --> 00:31:15.130
<v Rebecca Minkoff>And then I think we made a couple mistakes, probably a year later, that would have had like different outcomes had we been, had we seen the future.

00:31:17.865 --> 00:31:20.575
<v Emily Blumenthal>You know, I know I've taken up a lot of your time.

00:31:20.575 --> 00:31:25.135
<v Emily Blumenthal>I want to wrap up with just some key learnings, because I could literally talk to you.

00:31:25.135 --> 00:31:29.395
<v Emily Blumenthal>You know, the sun could go up and down and the kids would come, eat and like I'd be, like go away.

00:31:29.395 --> 00:31:46.394
<v Emily Blumenthal>I'm still talking to her In terms of the evolution and again, just I need to call this out that and I don't think it was you, I think it was your publicist who did apply to the Handbag Awards twice and then I was able to honor you and then we were able to have you as a judge.

00:31:47.026 --> 00:31:54.179
<v Emily Blumenthal>So that was one of the exciting things and you know, through the awards we've had so much talent that had come through.

00:31:55.086 --> 00:32:19.795
<v Emily Blumenthal>But, in terms of the evolution of where your brand is at and where it is now, what are some like key learnings and things that you reflect and things that you wish you hadn't done or moving forward, because how you run a company, how you do anything as someone who is single versus a mom of one versus a mom of multiples, is very, very different.

00:32:19.865 --> 00:32:33.878
<v Emily Blumenthal>Like I had the experience of recently working with someone who didn't have kids and it was it's hard to explain to people the time schedule that I will be up at 2am till 3am working and then, like I, cannot be available for certain time slots.

00:32:33.878 --> 00:32:35.728
<v Emily Blumenthal>So how do you?

00:32:35.728 --> 00:32:52.554
<v Emily Blumenthal>Because you have this incredible platform, you have this amazing podcast, you know Women Empowerment, female Entrepreneurship that's now like a key thread of who you are and what you're promoting how do you tie this and I don't want to ask this stupid cliche question how do you balance it all, because there's no such thing as balance.

00:32:52.554 --> 00:33:06.132
<v Emily Blumenthal>But, like going back to your brand and handbags, how are you handling all of it moving forward, especially like with what's going on in the industry and the circular economy, and are you going to bring back at that original morning after and start selling it that way?

00:33:06.152 --> 00:33:11.757
<v Rebecca Minkoff>Oh, my God, I had a motorcycle but I don't even know which question to add to start with, but I'll see if I can wrap it all up.

00:33:11.757 --> 00:33:19.238
<v Rebecca Minkoff>So, with regards to the morning after bag, we actually did bring it back last September of 2022.

00:33:19.238 --> 00:33:20.807
<v Rebecca Minkoff>We relaunched it.

00:33:20.807 --> 00:33:21.991
<v Rebecca Minkoff>We called it the Mab 2.0.

00:33:21.991 --> 00:33:26.375
<v Rebecca Minkoff>We did a huge event presentation tech forward.

00:33:26.375 --> 00:33:27.669
<v Rebecca Minkoff>It was fantastic.

00:33:27.669 --> 00:33:33.153
<v Rebecca Minkoff>Morgan Stanley, yep, the banker bag, the banker bag.

00:33:33.153 --> 00:33:38.675
<v Rebecca Minkoff>In 2025, it'll be our 20 year anniversary, so we're planning for it to really come back in a big way.

00:33:38.777 --> 00:33:39.017
<v Rebecca Minkoff>Then.

00:33:39.017 --> 00:33:41.652
<v Rebecca Minkoff>As far as how does she do it all?

00:33:41.652 --> 00:33:47.215
<v Rebecca Minkoff>I remember someone talking about having a deep bench.

00:33:47.215 --> 00:33:58.278
<v Rebecca Minkoff>You know, players on the bench yeah, there's the team out there and then there's the ones on the bench, and so you know, I have an incredible CEO running Rebecca Minkoff.

00:33:58.278 --> 00:34:01.755
<v Rebecca Minkoff>I have an incredible CEO co-founder running female founder collective.

00:34:01.755 --> 00:34:08.360
<v Rebecca Minkoff>I have a babysitter, I have my husband, I have me, you know like, and then it just keeps going.

00:34:08.360 --> 00:34:17.619
<v Rebecca Minkoff>And I think what I've gotten good at is letting good people do good work and not trying to like be in it all the time and micromanage.

00:34:17.619 --> 00:34:23.496
<v Rebecca Minkoff>And you know, if I didn't come up with that one idea, at the end of the day did the customer like fucking care.

00:34:23.496 --> 00:34:31.498
<v Rebecca Minkoff>You know, like if my designer did it better, better shade of blue, better, you know application of studs like it's fine.

00:34:31.498 --> 00:34:35.670
<v Rebecca Minkoff>I did this for 20 years, I'm good, and so I think it's learning to let go.

00:34:36.365 --> 00:34:38.545
<v Rebecca Minkoff>Who's your bench and how are they supporting you?

00:34:38.545 --> 00:34:40.994
<v Rebecca Minkoff>Because it's you know, it's not all possible for my podcast.

00:34:40.994 --> 00:34:41.949
<v Rebecca Minkoff>I have a producer.

00:34:41.949 --> 00:34:45.373
<v Rebecca Minkoff>I have a copy as someone who writes the copy.

00:34:45.373 --> 00:34:54.813
<v Rebecca Minkoff>I met a woman, or a good friend of mine was struggling with her podcast and she was listening to every episode that she recorded herself and I was like why, why would you do that?

00:34:54.813 --> 00:34:56.891
<v Rebecca Minkoff>She's like well, I have to tell them what to take out.

00:34:56.891 --> 00:34:59.353
<v Rebecca Minkoff>And I said, no, that's what a producer is for.

00:34:59.353 --> 00:35:04.490
<v Rebecca Minkoff>They're like right, you're like God, I'm saying Valuable time record.

00:35:04.490 --> 00:35:10.893
<v Rebecca Minkoff>Once a week, it's an hour of my time done, goes off and then all the elves have to work, and so that's how it's done.

00:35:10.893 --> 00:35:14.375
<v Rebecca Minkoff>My kids are at school eight hours a day and daycare eight hours a day.

00:35:14.375 --> 00:35:16.632
<v Rebecca Minkoff>So it's like I have the way I look at it.

00:35:16.632 --> 00:35:26.931
<v Rebecca Minkoff>I have eight hours to get everything I need done, and then obviously there's peak times fashion week where I'm working later, working weekends, but I think the more kids I've had, the more.

00:35:26.931 --> 00:35:28.956
<v Rebecca Minkoff>I've been able to control that better.

00:35:30.045 --> 00:35:35.838
<v Rebecca Minkoff>And you can't get into this because, as my daughter says, when I grow up, I want to be rich and famous.

00:35:35.838 --> 00:35:37.188
<v Rebecca Minkoff>You can't get into it.

00:35:37.188 --> 00:35:39.951
<v Rebecca Minkoff>You cannot get into this business.

00:35:39.951 --> 00:35:43.329
<v Rebecca Minkoff>To be rich and famous, you have to love what you do and be so.

00:35:43.329 --> 00:35:53.615
<v Rebecca Minkoff>Yeah, but he's so connected to that that you will weather any storm because, as we have discussed online and offline, it is more hard than it is not.

00:35:53.615 --> 00:36:06.940
<v Rebecca Minkoff>There were pitfalls and there are like momentum, and so you should be getting the joy and the reward or the pay from what you do, not the dollars in your bank account.

00:36:06.940 --> 00:36:12.570
<v Rebecca Minkoff>And if you can do that, then find something else to do and if it comes, who bonus?

00:36:12.570 --> 00:36:20.215
<v Rebecca Minkoff>And if it doesn't come, then hopefully you've enjoyed it, girl let me tell you, I hear you, I see you.

00:36:21.105 --> 00:36:26.954
<v Emily Blumenthal>It is so funny because, like, I have my kids historically, even when they were little.

00:36:26.954 --> 00:36:33.213
<v Emily Blumenthal>If they did things because I don't believe in giving my kids an allowance I think that teaches my opinion.

00:36:33.213 --> 00:36:39.652
<v Emily Blumenthal>It teaches bad connection with money that you should get paid for household chores, then I should be getting paid for them too.

00:36:39.652 --> 00:36:44.695
<v Emily Blumenthal>So if you're going above and beyond and doing things outside, so I have them invoice me.

00:36:44.695 --> 00:36:47.570
<v Emily Blumenthal>I want to quantify the time, I want all of that.

00:36:47.570 --> 00:36:52.416
<v Emily Blumenthal>And my daughter said to me she's like I think I'm going to be a doctor.

00:36:52.416 --> 00:36:54.471
<v Emily Blumenthal>I was like, where the hell did that come from?

00:36:54.471 --> 00:37:01.478
<v Emily Blumenthal>And she said, and I quote I think it would be easier than being an entrepreneur, because what you do is exhausting.

00:37:01.478 --> 00:37:02.869
<v Emily Blumenthal>I can't even watch it.

00:37:02.869 --> 00:37:04.369
<v Emily Blumenthal>So I'm like, okay.

00:37:05.445 --> 00:37:13.632
<v Rebecca Minkoff>I mean those of you know that being a doctor and being on call will be very stressful when she has to like tell someone like their dad is dead, but don't, don't spoil it for her.

00:37:13.672 --> 00:37:15.007
<v Emily Blumenthal>Yet Listen, listen.

00:37:15.007 --> 00:37:22.500
<v Emily Blumenthal>My mom has already told her that she should go into dermatology to make it, you know, to amortize the cost for everybody involved in the family.

00:37:24.351 --> 00:37:25.114
<v Rebecca Minkoff>So that's a good bet.

00:37:25.114 --> 00:37:27.152
<v Rebecca Minkoff>You know, Botox will pay for a lot of things.

00:37:27.704 --> 00:37:29.150
<v Emily Blumenthal>Let me tell you I'm here for it.

00:37:29.150 --> 00:37:33.054
<v Emily Blumenthal>Listen, rebecca Becky, all of the monikers you go by.

00:37:33.054 --> 00:37:38.257
<v Emily Blumenthal>Thank you so very much for your time, your generosity, all of this.

00:37:38.257 --> 00:37:42.351
<v Emily Blumenthal>How can everybody find you and your eponymous name?

00:37:42.351 --> 00:37:44.936
<v Emily Blumenthal>All right, here we go, you ready?

00:37:44.956 --> 00:37:52.777
<v Rebecca Minkoff>Do it, do it, do it At Rebecca Minkoff for the brand and me at Becky Minkoff for just me and everything outside of the brand.

00:37:52.777 --> 00:37:57.907
<v Rebecca Minkoff>I'm launching a sub stack, probably a couple days, so we're back coming off.

00:37:57.907 --> 00:38:05.789
<v Rebecca Minkoff>Dot sub stack, dot com, my podcast Superwoman with Rebecca Minkoff, my book Fearless on Amazon and what else.

00:38:05.789 --> 00:38:12.934
<v Rebecca Minkoff>If you're not exhausted by all those things yet, oh, my LinkedIn newsletter, the stories of failures that entrepreneurs have encountered.

00:38:12.934 --> 00:38:13.387
<v Rebecca Minkoff>It's called.

00:38:13.387 --> 00:38:14.291
<v Rebecca Minkoff>You can't make this shit up.

00:38:14.291 --> 00:38:19.614
<v Rebecca Minkoff>So those are all the places that I'm active with shit as an exclamation point to keep it.

00:38:19.753 --> 00:38:22.199
<v Emily Blumenthal>You know, you see, keep it PC.

00:38:22.199 --> 00:38:29.396
<v Emily Blumenthal>Thank you so very much Love to you and your 80 kids who no longer live in a Brooklyn shoe.

00:38:29.396 --> 00:38:34.815
<v Emily Blumenthal>I hope to see you very soon, but thank you so much for absolutely everything and anything.

00:38:34.815 --> 00:38:38.668
<v Emily Blumenthal>Thank you, Thanks for listening.

00:38:38.668 --> 00:38:44.076
<v Emily Blumenthal>Don't forget to rate and review and follow us on every single platform at handbag designer.

00:38:44.076 --> 00:38:44.918
<v Emily Blumenthal>Thanks so much.

00:38:44.918 --> 00:38:45.945
<v Emily Blumenthal>See you next time.