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Claire Flowers is the Founder and CEO of Claire Flowers LLC, a high-end women’s apparel company. She started her journey by reimagining the classic pump, and later expanded into other footwear, apparel, jewelry, bespoke designs, and more.
She talks to Cynthia about her journey from an IT Sales professional to fashion designer, and all the bumps along the way. She gives a masterclass in how to approach entrepreneurship, as her rise to success was a perfect mix of vision, grit, risk taking, partnership, mentorship, pivoting, and business acumen. A must listen for anyone who wants to quit their job and start a business.
1 – Introduction 00:24
2 – More about your current day work 01:52
3 – Venturing into Men’s shoes 05:24
4 – What is your background? 06:28
5 – How did you convince them you’e a big deal designer 12:10
6 – Business degree more valuable than fashion degree 17:35
7 – When did you take the leap of quitting you job? 19:46
8 – Do you think wearing multiple hats helped you as an entrepreneur 23:43
9 – Did you dream of being a designer when you were young? 25:09
10 – Explain your perseverance 25:59
11 – What were some obstacles along the way 31:05
12 – Importance of taking the right steps at the right time 35:00
13 – Had to make the smart move not the vanity move 35:52
14 – Do you think not growing too fast is one of the best lessons you’ve learned? 37:13
15 – Valuable advice from mentors 37:34
16 – Importance of good partners at the right time 38:53
17 – Challenges of women’s mindsets you see in styling them 39:22
18 – Confidence gained from wearing custom clothing 40:23
19 – This generation could spend a little more time on appearance 42:03
20 – Trademark on the pink 45:05
21 – Defending the IP 47:44
22 – Final lessons and advice 49:19
23 – Believing in myself 51:02
24 – Where can we find you? 52:29
Content Notice
This podcast and all She Lift Project content represents the opinions of Cynthia Kirkpatrick and her guests. The content here is for informational purposes only, and should not be taken as professional advice – financial, legal, medical, or otherwise.
Views and opinions expressed in the podcast and across all She Lift Project media channels are our own and do not represent that of our places of work. While we make every effort to ensure that the information we are sharing is accurate, we welcome any comments, suggestions, or correction of errors.
“But sometimes when you prove yourself and people don’t see your value, you need to remove yourself, which is what I did. And was it hard? Yes. Was the pay cut difficult? Yes. That first year was challenging. But I knew where I wanted to go and I knew I wasn’t going to get there by staying.”
“And I always say creativity dies in the courtroom, and I love creativity in cases. And I love people having the ability to have the power to decide what their parenting plan looks like, what their settlement’s going to look like. Judges don’t get that much say. They kind of have boxes they have to stay within.”
“I got to a point in Frank’s office where I realized there was kind of a ceiling. People that I had come in after me, I was training, were now moving up. And my ego got to the best of me. This is the dream job. Like, what happens after Frank Gehry? What could possibly be next after that?”
We’re catalysts for better conversation. And we know at Filament that the teams that we work with are not looking for the right answer, because there’s no such thing as the right answer. There is the next best answer to the questions that we’re asking.
“Research actually shows when there’s this lack of trust in a relationship, this lack of connection, the same part of our brain that processes physical pain gets activated when there’s an emotional pain. Right? And so if I’m feeling rejected or I’m feeling like I’m not part of the team or I’m not valued in any way, that part of our brain activates and says, like, pain. And so if you think about it in that way, think about the number of people who are walking around your office every day in pain.”
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