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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.
“We outperform ourselves by 30% when we’re in a good mood… if you actually want to get more productivity, know what makes your people happy.”
“When you’re diagnosed with lymphedema, I feel like you go through all the stages of grief. And there are moments where I get angry still. There are moments that I’m very happy. There are moments that I’m sad.”
“Joy and gratitude will transmute anything. So if somebody’s going through a healing journey, focus on your joy, what lights you up, that’s the thing that’s going to heal you. So lean into that.”
“There’s people out there that think they’re good at everything and they’re not. So I think for us, it’s really that business entrepreneur that’s wearing a lot of hats, that wants to wear some hats but doesn’t want to wear them all.”
“I got thrown out of the OR the very first day after 10 minutes. The surgeon walked into the room and he opened up all the doors and he screamed as loud as he possibly could, ‘I will not have Dr. Feinberg’s wife in my room!!’ See, I wasn’t Dr. Feinberg. I was Dr. Feinberg’s wife.”
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