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This week, Alyssa gets a guided tour through the whimsical world of Susan Alexandra, straight from the brain behind the brand, Susan Korn. What started with some metal jewelry handmade in a class she took on her time off — and later, a beaded watermelon bag she had made in Chinatown and haphazardly posted on Instagram — has turned into a full-fledged, self-funded business that’s been around for over a decade, complete with a standalone retail store. Despite the brand’s perennial cheeriness, hitting this milestone hasn’t been a cakewalk. Tune in to hear Susan’s sage wisdom for entrepreneurs and aspiring designers, as well as her horror stories from working retail and interning at magazines upon arriving in New York; what it was like getting Henri Bendel and Opening Ceremony as early accounts; the difficulties of figuring out how to scale a business without training or infrastructure, and learning the logistics of manufacturing on the fly; the importance of community in the Susan Alexandra universe; her strategy for out-of-the-box runway shows and presentations; how collaborations allow her brand to make things out of its wheelhouse and take the work to the next level; selling (and explaining) herself to suits in order to win new business and lock in collaborators; starting a second brand, Rosette, with a friend and dipping her toe into making clothes; her dream of building a lifestyle brand akin to Ralph Lauren or Martha Stewart, and much more.

This episode was recorded in the podcast studio at The SQ @ 205 Hudson.