#GIRLBOSS (12 page)

I’m not a blogger, I’m not an editor, and my company doesn’t buy luxury brands, so even though I’ve been written
about on Style.com and in such magazines as
Elle
, whenever I go to a fashion party I feel like Lindsay Lohan in
Mean Girls
, when she shows up to the Halloween party in a nightgown and buck teeth while everyone else is wearing lingerie and bunny ears. All of a sudden I revert to being an insecure thirteen-year-old, wondering if I’m wearing the right brand of shoes, and are they the right season? If so, are they the right color? Barf. It’s a high school outfit contest, and I’d rather be working.

Nasty Gal is antifashion in that we encourage girls to choose what fashion means to them. We aren’t just following, and neither are our customers. I’m getting more and more comfortable with one foot in the fashion world and one foot out. As I’ve gotten to know more people in the fashion industry, it’s been refreshing to realize that a lot of them respect me because, as an outsider, I have a unique point of view.

Had I tried to fit in, Nasty Gal would have crashed and burned a long time ago. The last thing the world needs is another boring person or another boring brand, so embrace all the things that make you different. Alter your clothes all you want, but don’t you
dare
alter your inner freak—she’s got your back as much as I do.

Getting What You Want Even When You No Longer Want It

Far and away, the hardest thing for me to get used to about Nasty Gal’s meteoric rise is that my own profile has risen with
it. For years I prided myself on being anonymous, an expert at the art of avoiding human interaction. But today I could be walking along picking my nose, grabbing my boyfriend’s butt, or trying on lip gloss in Sephora when suddenly someone sidles up to me and says, “You know, I really love Nasty Gal.”

There’s no way around it: The success of Nasty Gal means that my life has permanently changed. I’ve been tagged on Twitter by people who saw me going through airport security, running down a mountain in Big Sur, and sitting in the driveway of my own house. I’ve had people I don’t know come up to me at parties and introduce themselves by saying, “Hey, I heard we’re neighbors!” They’re thrilled, but I’m thinking,
Who are you and how do you know where I live?

I once Instagrammed a picture of my poodle, Donna, without realizing that my phone number was visible on her tag. When I started to get calls and texts from strangers, I was forced into changing the number that I’d had for years.

Once, at a meeting with my bank, they gave me a gift. It was a book called
Silent Safety: Best Practices for Protecting the Affluent.
The book had chapters with titles such as “Yacht Security” and “Surviving a Hostage Situation.” I thought it was absurd, until it began to terrify me. Holy shit, is this the way I’m supposed to live my life now?

I’m not complaining—this is all just stuff that I’m still getting used to. For example, it’s weird to go through life being congratulated on a daily basis. In a single year, I had a profile in
Forbes
, was on the cover of
Entrepreneur
, listed on
CNNMoney’s 40 Under 40, Inc.com’s 30 Under 30, and named by
Inc.
magazine as the fastest-growing retailer in the country. Our office has consumed a whole hell of a lot of champagne, but how many bottles can you pop? Remember, #GIRLBOSS: It’s not cool to get drunk on your own success.

PORTRAIT OF A #GIRLBOSS:

Norma Kamali, Fashion Designer and Entrepreneur

When I was young, I was so smart and was sure I could do anything. I was convinced I could be a painter and did everything from intensive life drawing while worshipping Michelangelo to studying art history and painting with a passion. My mother convinced me that painting may not be the best way to earn a living and pay rent.

I was very lucky to receive scholarships and grants for my paintings, but also a scholarship to FIT. There I studied fashion illustration and found my way into design after traveling to London in the 1960s. I opened a store in 1967 and have been in business ever since.

I learned early on the motto “Know thyself.” I think if you have a unique point of view and stay relevant and authentic, you will make an impression. You have to be excited and passionate about your ideas to make them work. Chances are it will take twenty of those good ideas before one sticks and has a chance to become
real, but a good idea is only good if there is a well-thought-out plan to make it a reality.

The most important thing to do is to take risks. The risks are where breakthroughs happen, and big shifts take you to new places and create opportunities. They can be really scary and intimidating, but that means it is taking you out of your comfort zone.

All designers look at life through a creative lens and are inclined to create their brand of beauty in their everyday lives. I am happy to say it brings me joy and I love doing it for others as well. I prefer to be creative first and famous last.

My mother told me when I was eleven years old, “Learn how to take care of yourself so that the man you marry is the man you choose to be with and not just the man who will take care of you.” Women have an opportunity now to change the world. We are all aware of the movement toward women becoming a significant force in the chance for real dynamic change. When things aren’t working so well, like now, it becomes a disruptive time.

My advice would be to dream and never stop dreaming. Making my dreams come true has always inspired me to work hard. One dream is never enough, and your dream can be molded and finessed along the way to become relevant and
successful.

On Hiring, Staying Employed, and Firing

I never dreamed about success. I worked for it.

—Estée
Lauder

I
t’s a huge testament to Nasty Gal that so many people want to work there. I’m incredibly proud of the team that I’ve hired. You would be hard-pressed to find a harder-working, more creative bunch of freaks anywhere in the world.

In my relatively short career, I’ve hired and been hired multiple times, fired and been fired a few times, and stayed employed once (yay, Nasty Gal!). That qualifies me to give advice on all three.

On Hiring

I was always able to get a job—although keeping it was sometimes a different story. Even when I applied for a minimum wage job at the outlet mall, I handed in a résumé with my application, and that résumé always had an objective neatly typed out at the top, such as “To procure a sales position at a respected retail establishment.” If I dropped an application off and wasn’t able to speak with the manager in person, I always followed up with a phone call, or dropped by again to annoy the establishment into remembering me. I hit the manager with everything that I had, convincing him or her that I wanted nothing more in the world than a chance to spend my afternoons helping old ladies slide their feet into a pair of orthopedic pumps.

And that’s my first rule of hiring: Although playing hard to get might be cute in the dating world, it won’t fly with potential employers. They don’t have time to court you, so you
had better romance the hell out of them. Competition is stiff—particularly in a tight job market and tough economy—so unless you can sweep someone off his or her feet, unemployed you will stay. Ideally, you’ll be applying for a job that you genuinely think is interesting and exciting. If you’re not, #GIRLBOSS, then fake it till you make it.

The Necessary Evil: Cover Letters

It had long since come to my attention that people of accomplishment rarely sat back and let things happen to them. They went out and happened to things.

—Leonardo da Vinci

I love cover letters. Yes, they’re painful to write—and trust me, often painful to read—but a cover letter is your first opportunity to make an impression on your future boss. As an employer, when I go through hundreds of applications from people who all have very similar-sounding education and experience, cover letters are the only glimpse I have into a person’s personality. Cover letters separate the #GIRLBOSSes from the girls. That said, few people seem to know how to make a cover letter sing. It’s incredible how low the bar is, so you’re in luck! I’m about to help you navigate the weird, unnatural world of putting your best foot forward in a few paragraphs.

Cover Letter Mistake #1
: The cover letter is all about what you want. Nasty Gal gets so many cover letters that
detail a “passion for fashion” and then proceed to talk about how this job will help the applicant pursue her interests, gain more experience, and explore new avenues.

If a cover letter starts out like this, I usually end up reading the first couple of sentences before hitting the delete button. Why? Because I don’t care about what a job will do for you and your personal development. I know that sounds harsh, but I don’t know you, so the fact that you want to work for my company does not automatically mean that I have an interest in helping you grow your career. I have a business that is growing by the day, so I want to know what
you
can do for
me
. It’s as simple as that.

Cover Letter Mistake #2
: Your cover letter basically says that nothing you’ve ever done is even remotely applicable to the job you’re applying for. When we posted a job for a copywriter a while back, I remember reading an application from someone who had graduated with an MFA in fiction from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, one of the most prestigious writing programs in the country. This is what stood out the most to me about her résumé, but it wasn’t even mentioned in her cover letter. A cover letter can connect the dots between where you’ve been, where you are, and where you’re trying to go.

Unless you spell out what that is in your cover letter, your potential employer may never know. If you’re light on extracurricular activities coming out of college because you had to work forty hours a week to pay for it, then by all means make sure that it’s obvious. Someone who shows evidence
of financial responsibility and work ethic can be just as impressive, if not more so, than someone who was president of the Bowling Society or secretary of the Wine Tasting Club. Even if you’re applying to work at a bowling alley that serves only wine. (Okay, maybe not then.)

Cover Letter Mistake #3
: You give so-called constructive criticism—without being asked. When I’m interviewing people, I’ll often ask what they think Nasty Gal could be doing better, and I am genuinely interested to hear what they have to say. But detailing the ways that you think a company needs to improve in a cover letter is like meeting someone for the first time and telling her that you think she’d be so much cuter if she lost just five pounds. It’s distasteful. You would be surprised to learn how often people think that dedicating their entire cover letter to detailing Nasty Gal’s flaws is a good idea. It’s not. I always want to write these people back and say, “Opinions are like assholes; everybody’s got one.” But I don’t, because I’m a #GIRLBOSS so I keep it professional-ish.

Cover Letter Mistake #4
: Either you didn’t take the time to read it, or you just really, really can’t write. In Jason Fried’s book
Rework
, he writes that one of the smartest investments a business can make is in hiring great writers, and I completely agree. No matter what you are hired to do, you will be infinitely better off if you are able to clearly communicate your ideas. We can’t all be Shakespeare, but spend some time on your cover letter and have someone else look it over to make sure it reads well. If it looks like you don’t care
about your cover letter and rushed through it, then I’m going to assume that you will be just as careless in your work.

On that note, another piece of advice: Spell-check exists for a reason; use it, but don’t rely on it. If you don’t know the difference between “there,” “their,” and “they’re,” you’re in bad shape. We’re lucky enough in the United States to get by with only having to know
one
language, so nail the one we’ve got! If I have to read another e-mail that begins with “I’ve followed Naty Gal since the eBay days,” I will throw myself out the window. As we are only on the third floor, that means that I will have to deal with a really gnarly sprained ankle and it will be all your nonthinking, non-spell-checking fault.

The Résumé: More Than Just a Bunch of Mumbo Jumbo

There is no question that putting together a résumé sucks. How can one boil down all of one’s skills, experience, intellect, and advantages onto one piece of paper? I know it’s weird, but it’s a currency we all have to accept. Regardless of how lame you think the concept of a résumé is, you should still make sure that yours is as far away from lame as you can possibly get. As a visual person, I love a creative résumé. I’m not a fan of templates—putting a little effort in on the design side will show that you care as much as I do about things looking good.

I like real words on a résumé—that means I want to read it and understand it. If you had a job as a marketing manager,
be very didactic when you’re listing what you did. “Built brand relationships within the creative community”—really, what does that
mean
? “Curated artwork, booked bands, secured beverage sponsors, and oversaw budget for an ongoing series of monthly art exhibits”—now,
that
makes sense, and also tells me that you’re able to navigate the practicalities that are necessary to bring your ideas to life. We don’t need people who just
have
ideas; we need people who can also
execute
them. If you’ve made some shit happen, make sure your résumé reflects that—this is one of the few places where it’s actually good to brag a bit.

The Interview: Don’t Blow It

You wrote a cover letter that was so good it made my mascara run, and now you have an interview. Have you ever walked into a party and felt like everyone was staring at you in judgment? This is why you should not smoke weed at parties. But in all seriousness, at a job interview, this is exactly what happens. Job interviews are intense, and unfortunately, there’s no one-size-fits-all study guide for breezing through them. You can say all the right things, have all the right experience, and still not be the right fit for a job. There are millions of other unpredictable behind-the-scenes reasons a job does or does not work out.

When someone’s right for a role, sometimes both parties just know. After a long and grueling search for a marketing position, I finally met someone who I clicked with right
away. We had lunch on Thursday, brunch on Sunday, and on Monday he came by the office and left with an offer letter in his hand. He is a little bit wacko (and so am I) and though professional, there wasn’t much pretense. I liked that he understood Nasty Gal, was excited about the brand, and was an abstract thinker. His ideas weren’t just like everyone else’s. When I made him an offer, he said, “You’re out of your mind!” He meant it as a compliment, and I took it as such.

A #GIRLBOSS knows that she may not nail it on the first try, and that’s okay. Remember to be open and keep your head up when something doesn’t work out. However, even the best of us can suffer sweaty armpits and a dry mouth during an interview. Here are a few things to know that will hopefully make it easier.

Networking Is Not Just for Creeps

LinkedIn has made it easier than ever before to connect with people who can help you get ahead. Whether they are doing what you want to be doing, or working where you want to be working, it can be as simple as a “Hey! I came across your profile and would love to grab a coffee sometime. Your experience is really interesting.” You can go into a little detail about why you think they’re interesting, or what you’re working on, but some flattery never hurts. As an admitted “beast” on LinkedIn, I know this from experience. I’ve hired C-level executives on LinkedIn, creatives on Facebook, and even an intern on Instagram. Treat your LinkedIn profile like
an online résumé. Please do not wear sunglasses in your profile photo or self-identify as “visionary.” No profile at all is better than a half-completed one that you stopped caring about after getting thirteen connections. Again, a LinkedIn profile can be a first impression, so if it looks like you don’t pay much attention to detail, a recruiter can only assume that you’d take the same approach with your job.

I will tell you that networking is yet another subject where my mantra of “You don’t get what you don’t ask for” applies. I’m friends with Mickey Drexler, the CEO of J.Crew, not because we were introduced (though that would have been much cooler), but because I hunted him down, and hunted him down again. He’s a great friend and mentor now, and all it took was a nice e-mail to get some of the best business advice I’ll ever have.

Be Prepared to Get Real

I didn’t always get the jobs that I applied for. When I applied at Nordstrom, I didn’t get the job because they asked me real questions, such as What did I want out of my career? If you’re going into a job interview, you should always be prepared to have smart answers to smart questions but also smart answers to dumb questions, and it doesn’t hurt to practice. Someone will likely ask you, “What do you like to do in your free time?” and even if your hobbies include watching reruns of
Roseanne
, you should have a more appropriate answer prepared. The more interesting, memorable, and even unusual
that answer is, the better, because as much as your potential employer wants you to be a total rock star at your job, she is also considering you as someone with whom she is going to end up spending eight hours a day.

One of the most standard interview questions is “What do you think is your biggest weakness?” It’s a question that I ask often, and I want people to answer honestly. Do not answer this question by disguising one of your strengths as a weakness. When people answer me with “My biggest weakness is that I’m a perfectionist,” or “I’m always early to meetings,” I just groan (but only on the inside; I’m not that rude) and figure that these are people who aren’t really being honest with themselves. I like honesty and I value curiosity, and people who are honest and curious aren’t generally impeccable. A #GIRLBOSS knows where she excels and where she could use some work, so get to know yourself and your weaknesses. And as you can’t predict every question you’re going to be asked, become familiar with the role you are interviewing for and prepare. Research the company and the job itself, and spend some time thinking about what you, personally, can bring to the table. Also, be up-front about what you want. Employment is a two-way agreement, so let’s be adults. If you are looking for a job that doesn’t include certain factors, speak up. The last thing you want is to show up on day one and find out that the job you thought you wanted was in fact the total opposite.

But Not Too Real

I’ve interviewed so many people by now that I swear I can smell crazy a mile away. If you go into too much detail about how you parted with your previous employer, it’s a red flag. Even if your boss was a raging lunatic, or you found yourself in a position where you had to work twenty-hour days, if you launch into this in an interview, you will come across as an entitled complainer—and an indiscreet one, to boot. I recently interviewed someone who described why she had left her previous two jobs: She left one because she got tired of going to the same place every day, and she left the other one because she asked for an assistant and her boss said no. Hello? If we hire you, you’re going to have to come here every day, and you basically just explained that you bail whenever you don’t get what you want.

Also, even though our office is a pretty casual environment, don’t interpret this as a free pass to be informal. One of our employees recently interviewed someone, and the first thing the candidate said to her when she walked in the room was, “Oh, you look comfy.” And . . . done. If you’re nervous and don’t know what to say, just say nothing. Making small talk about what someone is wearing is just another form of unsolicited feedback. Knowing when to speak up and when to shut up will get you very far not only in business, but in life.