In the Company of Women

In television, a producer once told me, “Don’t talk over all the silent moments. Let them hang like fruit, even when it gets uncomfortable. The person you’re asking questions of will inevitably fill the void with a more honest self.”

design school a professor told me to always “show them your fifth idea. The first few concepts were all shared by every designer . . . get to your weird place, your special place,

when you change the lives of women, you also change family life—and when that core of family values is changed, you’ve changed the world forever.”

The biggest professional challenge for me would be trusting anyone other than myself.

What does success mean to you?
My quality of life. And for me, quality of life is having the freedom to make choices that are not fear based. Whether it’s the ability to

Which of your traits are you most proud of?

I’m most proud of my self-reliance. My basic message to myself has always been “I can learn how to do this.” I’m committed to learning everything for myself, although in many cases I fully acknowledge this to be extreme stubbornness. I still have no employees, by choice, because I prefer to do every step of the work on my own, even the grueling, repetitive, awful parts. But I’m proud of this! It makes me feel happy and independent.

In caring less about what people wanted, I noticed that people still cared about what I had to offer, and it also eliminated a lot of stress, as well as repetition and boredom.

I think what this really means is, don’t do anything you don’t love or aren’t totally excited by, and don’t feel bad telling others that you’re just not interested.

Name the biggest overall lesson you’ve learned in running a business.

Underpromise and overdeliver.

What would you tell yourself ten to twenty years ago that you wish you knew then?

To put my own oxygen mask on first before helping others.