The Female Founder Show

Kathy Ireland on Building a Trust-Based Brand and Empowering Women in Business

• Bridget Fitzpatrick, Kathy Ireland • Episode 1

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Ever wonder what it takes to transition from a world-famous fashion model to a powerhouse business mogul? Kathy Ireland, the visionary founder and CEO of Kathy Ireland Worldwide, joins us to share her incredible journey, highlighting the pivotal moments that led her to build a brand based on trust rather than celebrity status. Kathy opens up about her struggles with shyness, the invaluable lessons she learned from her entrepreneurial mother, and how embracing failure has been crucial to her educational journey. Get ready for an episode filled with rich insights and practical wisdom on how to surround yourself with a supportive yet critical network and the resilience needed to bounce back from rejection.

In a compelling chapter focused on empowering women in business, Kathy dives into the often overlooked challenges female entrepreneurs face, such as gender bias and maintaining control over a private company. She passionately discusses the importance of setting firm boundaries, and ensuring ethical standards in business practices.  Finally, she offers her personal strategies for balancing the demands of business, family, and personal well-being, all while prioritizing faith, family, and service. This episode is a must-listen for anyone seeking inspiration and actionable advice on navigating the complexities of entrepreneurship.

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Speaker 1:

This is the Female Founder Show with host and entrepreneur Bridget Fitzpatrick, exclusively on ASBN.

Speaker 2:

Hello everyone and welcome to this episode of the Female Founder Show. I'm Bridget Fitzpatrick. Thank you so much for joining us today. Today, we're joined by Kathy Ireland, founder and CEO of Kathy Ireland Worldwide. Thank you so much for joining us, Kathy.

Speaker 3:

Thank you so much for inviting me to the Female Founder.

Speaker 2:

Congratulations on your great work, thank you so much I would love for you to share with us the moment that you realized that you could use your name and celebrity to sell products, which ultimately led to the success that you've seen over the last few decades I knew that my customer was going to be too savvy to purchase something just because it had my name on it and if our team was dependent upon any smidgen of celebrity I might have had in the last century, we'd all be unemployed.

Speaker 3:

So we knew we had to build our brand on trust and, yes, there was some recognition from that long ago modeling career and there were some benefits of that. I mean, there were some doors that opened. They weren't doors that took my ideas as CEO seriously and ultimately they were doors that really wasted each other's time. So, to the woman who has the gift of anonymity, that is a wonderful blessing. It is a great gift because you walk in that door, you're your own brand and you get to redefine that brand every day, make it stronger and better. And when you walk in that door you get to determine what your brand is all about without preconceived notions that someone might have if they've known you for something else, sure, sure, and you have been.

Speaker 2:

You've really kept your business under the radar. You know, so many people know you as the famous fashion model and then but you're so much more with your Kathy Ireland Worldwide. It's incredible how you have kept that a little bit under the radar but still gained phenomenal success.

Speaker 3:

When I worked as a model, I knew I belonged on the other side of the lens. I was trying and failing at businesses. Just took me a while to get there. I look at failure as education. In that respect, I'm very well educated and, organically, I'm very shy, an introvert, and so being behind the scenes, under the radar, that's my comfort zone. In maturity I've recognized that comfort is irrelevant. There's a lot to be done, a lot to be accomplished, and if that means getting off the radar here and there, that's fine. I still prefer to be under the radar. But when it's beneficial to others for me to communicate what we're doing and I love what you're doing, bridget, and it's so refreshing to hear that you are also shy and here you are leading this wonderful opportunity the female founder and it's important information. You have amazing guests and it's great work and recognizing that being of service to others it's a lot more important than being uncomfortable and we can get over it and get over ourselves.

Speaker 2:

Yes, well, thank you so much for your kind words, and we do have so much in common, not only being shy, but I also realized, doing the research here for this interview, that we have more in common, one of them being that we learned the value of hard work from our mom. Your mom worked three or more jobs like mine, and they both sold Avon. So can you talk to us about that and how it impacted you as an adult?

Speaker 3:

so your mom was an Avon lady. Yes, did you get those little samples of lips?

Speaker 2:

oh yeah, oh yeah yeah, I learned how to do put on mascara with her and the Avon products and all kinds of things, so it was great.

Speaker 3:

Yes, she did it was a wonderful lesson. My mom is the ultimate entrepreneur, like yours. Everything from babysitting all these you know kids at our house that made it fun. She had a house cleaning business, avon lady. She made dresses and I made jewelry and handbags to coordinate with her dresses. We sold them at art fairs. She ultimately went back to school to become a nurse when I was a teenager. But it really gave as a child watching my mom just navigate through life and without fear and trying new things and knowing that you know, if this doesn't work out, I can do something else for a living. I don't have to be desperate for anything, and that was a powerful lesson, yeah.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, for sure, for sure. So when my husband and I were just starting our business, we ran the idea by some friends and family and we were surprised by some of the feedback that were received. Things like that will never work, or if it's such a great idea, why hasn't it been done before? Did you have any of that when you first started out? And if so, how did you handle it?

Speaker 3:

You know, people have a lot of comments and it's really important to surround yourself with people who are supportive. I don't like, yes, people. I do like a critical mind. I like someone who will tell me how I can do better and grow.

Speaker 3:

Yet you need encouraging people, and when we started our brand with that single pair of socks and started banging the door on retailers to carry our socks, the comments that we received I mean just like you shared you know that well, they would say that's a stupid idea. You can't start a brand with a pair of socks. It's never been done. And it's never been done does not mean that it can't be done, and it it no means. Now we're talking, and I think that was a really powerful lesson to me. I got so much rejection, so many no's when I worked as a model, so when people made negative comments or they said no, it didn't destroy me. Someone else's opinion does not destroy or define me. And it's much like the lessons you know is that I had, as a child and when I worked as in a paper route, just really overcoming someone else's opinion. When you believe in what you're doing, you're willing to fight for it yes, absolutely.

Speaker 3:

I always say that no just means not yet if you're getting a no, ask why no, because you know maybe there's something you could do better. So often I've asked and I've gotten great feedback. That's been really helpful. A lot of times people can just be mean and negative, but you've got to face it Now.

Speaker 2:

I think a lot of women still have a hard time with people taking them seriously in business, as crazy as that sounds. As a young woman who graced numerous magazine covers, did you encounter challenges in convincing people that there were brains behind your beauty?

Speaker 3:

Coming from a modeling background, there are a lot of perceptions and, as I shared, just walking through the door people can have an idea. They think they know everything there is to know about you. And what I encourage, women, everybody, is just, please, don't let someone else's opinion of you define you or destroy you. Don't let anyone put you in a box, and sometimes you're going to have to push through a little harder. If you're going to be dealing with stubborn people, that's okay. If you believe in what you're doing, don't give up, you know. Fight through it and when someone is challenging you, ask them to refute you. Don't allow them to dismiss. You See if there's something you can learn, but allow your voice to be heard and just keep on asking until you get your answer.

Speaker 2:

Great advice. I love that. I've experienced a lot of that, especially early on my, you know, working with my husband. A lot of times people, would you know, direct their attention to him if there was something to be discussed in business. And over the years I've learned myself that I have to speak up, have to, you know, ask some questions to kind of not get too upset or take it too personal. Sometimes people you know they were just, it's the way they were raised or they're a little bit you know old school and might think that you know it's just the, you know it's a man's world. But we've learned a lot over the last 10, 11 years in business with my husband.

Speaker 3:

So you're so inspirational and I love how you and your husband work together and and it's true, I mean we can't control someone else's reaction to us. Yet we can control how we respond and I seek not to be reactive but to um, to respond. And you know, just ask questions like help me understand what you mean by that. So I'm not assuming, but you know, it's a, it's a great big world filled with all kinds of personalities, for sure, for sure.

Speaker 2:

Now you've been at the helm of your company since the beginning and built an amazing legacy. Have there been offers to buy your company and, if so, why haven't you sold?

Speaker 3:

Yes, there have, there, continue to be, and I never say never, I mean I never say that. Yet what I love about being a private company is I love the control that we're able to have. Some people call me a control freak I prefer to think of it as passionate I do and our proprietary business, the intellectual property, every detail, how people are treated at the factories, from, you know, from manufacture to marketing, every detail matters, and so I. It's important to me to have assurance of what's going on and how people are being treated.

Speaker 3:

My dad worked in labor relations with farm workers and so experiencing the food we got on our table, how that came to be and what people had to go through and how dad had to fight to bring dignity to those lives. And so we've got the toughest human rights contracts that I'm aware of. And and I appreciate that yet you know there there are an answer to your question there's times that we're in discussions with people about maybe a portion of our company, yet for me it's interesting to retain that control, so you can make sure I love working with other people. I love just the value that that brings. Getting other opinions, yet being able to protect what's really important. That's always been something that I care deeply about.

Speaker 2:

Yes, and it shows your passion really comes through in all that you do. Your brand is so strong. What advice would you give to female entrepreneurs looking to grow their brand, and if you have any do's or don'ts for them?

Speaker 3:

I think when we take our eyes off ourselves and focus on who we're serving, it makes it so much better and it makes it so much more fun. For me, it just gets rid of if there was any fear or anxiety. That's gone because there's so much to do, and so that's something I recommend. You know you really want to look at your values, look at boundaries and then look at ways that you can grow and protect your brand and honor your values all at the same time.

Speaker 2:

Yes, Great advice. Thank you so much. Now I imagine that you're approached constantly from companies wanting to work with you. How do you decide what products that you're willing to put your name to?

Speaker 3:

I don't simply put my name to anything back from the very beginning with that pair of socks and it's. I knew that women were not going to buy my socks just because it had my name on it. It better be a good quality item. It better have that fashion element, especially knowing that I came from a modeling background. It's got better have that fashion element, especially knowing that I came from a modeling background. It's got to have that fashion element to it. It's got to have value. It's got to really bring solutions.

Speaker 3:

So my customer is wonderfully demanding. She keeps us on our toes. I love that. But rather than putting my name on, I pour my heart into everything we do, and that's true of our entire team. But people really over the profits.

Speaker 3:

So we look at all right, what are these people all about? Our vetting process the first door that someone goes through when we're contemplating a potential relationship is our company has these millennial goals that are really very universal. They encompass everything from fighting disease, fighting poverty, helping with education, children, the environment, fighting human trafficking, supporting our military veterans, and we don't dictate a monetary amount, but we do insist, if someone's going to work with us, that they choose one that they will support. Maybe it's volunteer days for their team, but that they will give a significant effort to one of these initiatives and that assures us that, in success, we're going to be honoring our vision. And our vision for our company is teach, inspire, empower, make our world better. And that's also how we decide what products we're going to include products and services. So it's got to be a value. It's gotta make someone's day and life better.

Speaker 2:

Now there are a lot of women watching today that struggle with trying to do it all wife, motherhood, business owner, et cetera. How do you balance it all so successfully?

Speaker 3:

I don't. Some days I'm really off balance. It's hard, it's really hard and I think there is a lot of pressure, especially on women, to do it all and have it all, and I don't even really know what that means, because I think it means something different for each woman. It's really important to prioritize our time and for me, it's my faith, it's family, and then it's being of service through our work, and when I don't honor those values, those priorities, I'm a disaster, I'm not effective at anything. So I really don't have a choice in that. I've got to do that and it makes us better and it makes us stronger.

Speaker 3:

It means saying no to things. At times, it means saying no to business opportunities. I can't be at every friend's birthday party, and it's hard. It's hard, but we just can't do. We. I think we can do it all and have it all, but not all at once. Yeah, and I think being good with that and I was 40 years old before I learned that no was a complete sentence, no, thank you's better. But I think sometimes, as women, we just we try to. We're good at multitasking, so we try to do everything and it's good to say no. It feels good.

Speaker 2:

Now you and your husband are working on a very important project. You have a documentary coming out Anxious Nation. Can you talk to us about what that's all about?

Speaker 3:

Anxious Nation is a project that our company had the privilege of producing with Laura Morton she is a 21-time New York Times bestselling author and Vanessa Roth, an Academy Award-winning director and it takes a look at the lives of several young people kids and their parents. And what I love about this, it's not so much about a cookie cutter answer for everyone, yet it shows families you're not alone and there's also interviews by psychologists and counselors and therapists who work with young people, and they give some really great insights. Each child is different and the approaches are different as well, but it is a difficult time and something that we most definitely need to be alert to.

Speaker 2:

Absolutely. Well, we'll be looking for that and I can't wait to watch it. Congratulations to that. Now, crazy question, because you've come so far, but where do you see yourself in the next five to 10 years?

Speaker 3:

I'm excited for the future. I would never want to go back, so looking forward is exciting to me. There's a lot to be done, a lot to be accomplished. It's exciting to experience young people being mentored and seeing what they're doing. They're brilliant and just looking at you know what. What does that look like for our company for the future? It's. It's exciting, but being open to new opportunities, new ideas, new people and the world is changing so rapidly, so we really need to have our ear to the ground, our eyes on the horizon and, rather than reacting to change, be the ones to initiate it.

Speaker 2:

That's right. Well, you are making huge changes in the world and are just unbelievable your story and everything that you're doing for so many people. Kathy, thank you so much for being on the show with us today. It's been great. I know that everyone watching is going to get so much out of it. We really appreciate it.

Speaker 3:

Bridget.

Speaker 1:

This is the Female Founder Show with host and entrepreneur Bridget Fitzpatrick, exclusively on ASBN. If you're a female founder and would like to help other female founders with your inspiring story, we would love to hear from you.