Sophia Amoruso
Sophia Amoruso
Sophia Amoruso is the founder and owner of Nasty Gal, which sells women's fashion including modern and vintage clothing, shoes and accessories for young women which can all be found on the brand's website. It was called one of "the fastest growing companies" by Inc. Magazine in 2012. After being diagnosed with depression and attention deficit disorder, Amoruso dropped out of school and began homeschooling. She had many jobs as a teenager, her first ever job being in Subway. After...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionEntrepreneur
Date of Birth20 April 1984
CitySan Diego, CA
CountryUnited States of America
There's so many moving pieces, but to be as public as I've become and to be at the front and take the brunt of anything that happens is a huge responsibility, but also something that takes some time to step into and that has been really challenging.
That has been challenging but also such a pleasure to branch out and do different things.
It's a huge assortment that we have under our roof and I don't know, it's just managing a taste level and execution of a vision. I think our team does as incredible job at it but it takes incredible leadership and I'm only really a spark for all of that. I'm not out there at every trade show, and so having an amazing team that can keep that vision month after month and keep the assortment consistent is a huge challenge. But something I think we execute every well.
The biggest challenge is people thinking you know everything going on in your company, because you're at the top of it and you started it. But the thing is, nobody knows everything about anything.
I've never seen someone work for a salary.
I've never worked in a retail store, but I did sell shoes at Gimme Shoes in San Francisco, a job I was fired from.
Sometimes the expectation of being inspired in one specific way may close you off to the actual inspiration.
Every other fashion brand out there - including those that I call 'competitors' - are run by mostly old white men, and the customer knows it.
When I was 22, I wasn't too proud to do anything. I was taking out trash, buying stinky vintage clothes, and pulling gross Kleenex out of the pockets.
I think many people go to business school and learn ways to play it safe, ensuring that they avoid some of the pain that entrepreneurs endure while taking less calculated risks.
I think I've just gotten really good at accessorizing personally. I've always been good at accessorizing other people, and intellectually, I've known how to accessorize, but I was pretty minimal personally - although I was wearing a ton of rings.
'Have you ever considered changing the name Nasty Gal?' is probably the dumbest question I've ever heard.
Getting fired was always a big deal to me. It's a bit like having someone break up with you.
I am still a lover of paper books. One of my first jobs was in a bookstore, and I still like to be able to write in a margin and feel the paper. Once inside of a digital device, I end up losing things.