Featured Spotlight – Kendra Scott

This bomb CEO Boss Chick did not quit on her dreams! Her is a little bit from a girl that refused to quit. 

Scott founded Kendra Scott LLC in 2002, designing her first collection with $500 in the spare bedroom of her home just after her oldest son was born.  She walked store to store around Austin, selling to local boutiques, and at the last boutique she had to sell all of her samples to purchase enough materials to cover the orders she had made that first day.

In 2005, Scott’s designs were chosen to accessorize Oscar de la Renta’s spring 2006 runway show which gave this CEO a huge boast exposure which really helped boost this CEO business into the next level.

Because of the financial crisis of 2007–2008, she nearly had to close her company,^] but she refused to quit! She  received an order from Nordstrom for some of their stores; this gave her exposure and allowed her to expand her business.  Always remember, that just because your business is not making money now, doesn’t mean it will not make money.

In 2011 she opened her second store on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills, but she had to close it after a while. In 2014 Scott opened stores around the South and Midwest, while ignoring the fashion elite in New York and Los Angeles. Later, in 2016, she sold a minority stake of her company to the private equity firm Berkshire Partners at a valuation of $1 billion.

As of the end of 2019, Scott had 102 retail stores. In addition to an e-commerce business, Scott’s merchandise is also sold in London’s Selfridges,^] Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus, Von Maur, Bloomingdale’s and over 1,000 specialty boutiques worldwide. 95 percent of her more than 2,000 staff are women. In February 2021, Scott stepped down as CEO, retaining the Executive Chairwoman title, and named Tom Nolan as Kendra Scott’s CEO.