The Mentor Files

When Morgan Hutchinson had her first child, she realized no one in the online retail market was catering to that fashionable mom who wanted to wear her favorite brands through every stage of motherhood. She wanted on trend machine washable clothing with easy access for nursing and more forgiving silhouettes. When she couldn't find it herself, she decided to curate it on her own and become the go-to style resource for pregnant women and new moms. Buru, a multi-brand ecommerce site dedicated to elevated style for moms was born.

Today, BURU carries high-end designers like Ulla Johnson, Rebecca Minkoff and Rachel Comey along with Morgan's own line, BURU White Label.

In this episode, Morgan reveals her top networking tips, the importance of having an authentic brand and what she does to differentiate Buru from other women's e-commerce sites.

If you're a mom or dad, you probably have one of today's guest's products in your home (and if you don't, you might wish you did)! Chelsea Hirschhorn is the president and CEO of Fridababy, a solutions based brand committed to making parents' lives easier by offering revolutionary products to safely and easily tackle common baby issues at home.

Fridababy products are sold in 30,000 stores across the country and last year alone sold more than 2 million of their signature product The NoseFrida.

In this episode. Chelsea shares the story behind the creation of the company and her unique perspective on marketing tactics (Hint: focusing on Instagram and influencers isn’t one of them!). Chelsea also reveals how she grew the business so quickly and the inspiration behind her wildly successful products.

Jacq Tatelman and her husband Scott are the Brooklyn-based duo behind State Bags, a one for one company that is making a difference in America. For every bag sold, they donate a backpack to a child in need.

Their mission was inspired by an organization Jacq and her husband started in 2009 that sent underprivileged New York City kids to summer camp. They saw time and time again kids showing up with their belongings in plastic bags, and sought to start a company that could help change the lives of kids. Thanks to their amazing mission combined with their timeless designs, State Bags has gotten attention from celebrities and fashion bloggers, and has even collaborated with Beyoncé, Barack Obama, and Chance the Rapper.

Today Jacq gives us a peek into the company: the culture, what it's like working with her husband, and how they've built brand awareness.

Since launching her line in 2011, Rebecca Minkoff has become a globally recognized brand with stores around the world and a cult-like following.

She’s a pioneer in the fashion industry, merging tech with fashion and constantly evolving her product line. She offers products like “connected” smart bags that provide consumers access to exclusive content and was the first brand to feature interactive mirrors in the dressing rooms. Always thinking about her core customer, she decided to break the mold and offer her customers a front row seat at fashion shows via virtual reality.

Minkoff, who says she doesn’t believe there really is such a thing as work-life balance, is expecting her third child and speaks candidly with Monica about what life will realistically look like being a CEO with a newborn.

Minkoff also reveals the secret to evolving with your customer and how she uses technology to ease their pain points. She also shares how she connects her digital and retail experiences for customers and what she does internally to treat employees and build a strong company culture.

As a professional soccer player, Tim Brown was used to receiving and trying out lots of free shoes. Somewhere along the line, he started to notice that all sports shoes were beginning to look the same. So, with that in mind, he set out to make his own.

Tim grew up in New Zealand and was familiar with the great qualities of wool - it's not only good for minimizing odor but also for regulating temperature. The benefits had been applied to clothing, but not yet to footwear. Alongside co-founder Joey Zwillinger, he went through hundreds of prototypes before putting the shoe up on Kickstarter, where they reached their $120k goal in just five days.

Allbirds now has more than 80 employees, recently landed $17.5M in series E funding and was named "The most comfortable shoe" by Time Magazine. In this episode, Tim talks about his decision to use a no branding strategy -- something that's unheard of the footwear industry, and reveals the core values his team lives by that have been crucial to his team's success.

We’re getting personal on the podcast today!

Monica sits down with the CEO and Founder of Interior Define, Rob Royer, who just happens to also be her husband. After struggling to find high quality and well designed furniture at an affordable price, Rob decided to make it himself.

Interior Define was launched in 2014 and offers a new concept in custom furniture: edited,  thoughtfully designed and well-crafted pieces that are fairly priced and complete customization as each piece is made-to-order.

In this episode, Rob talks about launching the brand and why the right type of marketing is such a critical component to starting any business. He also discusses why it’s so important to let your product offering evolve over time and gives us a candid glimpse into what life is like raising a daughter when both parents are entrepreneurs.

Maggie Winters and her co-founders set out to create a line of clothing that they thought was missing in the marketplace: high quality, affordable, seasonless fashion basics. The brand, called All Year Round (AYR), it has a cult-like following, and it's clear why.

The digitally native brand has found success with pop-up shops in New York, and is constantly pushing the envelope when it comes to non-traditional retail.

I chatted with Maggie about her future in retail and plans for additional stores, as well as the amazing culture at AYR, and the important things to keep in mind when hiring.

In just three years, Alyce Tran has turned The Daily Edited, an affordable luxury accessories line, into a global company with stores in the U.S., Singapore and Australia.

On today's show, Alyce talks about the expansion of the company — including the recent sale of a 30% stake in her company for $4.5 million - and the growing pains that come with that kind of growth. Monica and Alyce also discuss how to maintain company culture across an international company, the personal cost of running a business and TDE’s social media strategy.

Today's guest is one of the most sought after e-commerce investors in the country: Kirsten Green. Kirsten is the founder of Forerunner Ventures, and made early investments in companies like Birchbox, Glossier, Outdoor Voices and Bonobos. Plus, she was the only one to invest in two of the biggest e-commerce sites of the past few years: Jet.com and Dollar Shave Club.

This year Kirsten was named as one of Time's 100 Most Influential People in the World, and one of the Most Powerful Women in Tech by Forbes. On this episode, Kirsten talks about the magic of instincts, how she chooses which brands to invest in, and shares invaluable advice on what to do when pitching a potential investor.

Christine Hunsicker, CEO and Founder of Gwynnie Bee — an online subscription rental clothing service for women sizes 10-32 — launched her business from her Manhattan apartment in 2013. Fast forward to today, the company has more than 400 employees across the world, offers over 3,000 styles from 120 brands and to date have shipped over 4 million boxes.

In today’s episode, Monica and Christine discuss growth, the biggest challenges of being CEO, building an open and honest culture and why it has been so critical to the company’s success.

“Ownership [of clothing] is the sole means of access today, and that is hugely limiting for both the consumer and the supplier.” - Christine Hunsicker

Learn more about this episode of The Mentor Files with Monica Royer at www.MonicaandAndy.blog/12