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
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.
Everyone is told to go to high school and get good grades and go to college and get good grades and then get a job and then get a better job. There's no one really telling a story about how they totally blew it, and they figured it out.
I can show up at a Goldman Sachs conference wearing a Judas Priest T-shirt - and I have - while everyone else is wearing the same dress.
Our lives are so visual now, with social media and we're constantly shifting gears. Nobody requires a table of contents. Nobody requires that one page leads to the next page, we're okay being surprised by things that are eclectic.
I don't want to spend too much time dwelling on what I've already done because there is still so much to do.
A great mantra to have, whether you're breaking up with your boyfriend or you lose your job, or something changes that you didn't anticipate - which is a fact of life, and very much a fact of running a business - is: 'I was OK before this, I will be OK after this.'
I have three pieces of advice I want you to remember: Don't ever grow up. Don't become a bore. Don't let The Man get to you.
Success is a scary concept because it assumes something kind of final. In the grand scheme of life, I don't think there is some ultimate success.
You can work for other people and still be a #GIRLBOSS; it's more about a state of mind and knowing yourself well enough to know when you're making decisions for yourself or because the world expects them of you. And guess what? It's okay to do that sometimes, too.
I think there are very few brands with a person's point of view behind them.
I think it's important that everyone understands that there's no real prescription to having an awesome life.
Every other fashion brand out there - including those that I call 'competitors' - are run by mostly old white men, and the customer knows it.
I'm just always making things that are personal but hopefully also inspiring, and share not just my story, but other people's stories.
I often say my naivete early on in my career worked in my favor.