Joining me on today’s episode is Serena Hood and Lucinda Chambers from Collagerie.
Collagerie is your shortcut to style, curating the best of fashion, interiors, beauty and lifestyle in a tech meets fashion e-commerce platform. Co-founded by former Vogue editors Lucinda and Serena, the platform celebrates shopping at every price point, bringing you an innovative way to discover things you’ll love. It’s fast becoming the go-to shopping destination we’ve all been craving.
In this episode you’ll hear how Lucinda and Serena didn’t set out to launch a business but jumped into it after the lightbulb moment struck, how they approach and secure partnerships with brands and why the power of your network and community is absolutely key in building a business.
Please note, this transcript has been copy pasted without the lovely touch of a human editor. Please expect some typos!
Okay, well my name is Lucinda Chambers and we started a company called Collagerie with Serena Hood. We work together at Vogue for over five years concurrently alongside, I worked for Marnie and then I started a clothing brand called Colville and Serena and I launched Collagerie a little bit over a year ago. Yeah, so that's that's me, that's the elevator pitch. I love it, Serena. What about you Tell us about you? I'm serena heard I'm co founder of collage, agree with Lucinda. As Lucinda said, we worked together for five years of british vogue before that I started my career at american folk in the US as a fashion assistant and left there as accessories editor, but I moved back to London because of my family and I've also worked for brands, so I worked for marc Jacobs and merchandizing and Armani doing pr leading up to my role of british folk before we started a collage Goodness, you may very well be the most stylish women I've had the pleasure of talking to on the show and as one can imagine, the curated selection on your website is absolutely a 10 out of 10 as I was complimenting you on before we hopped on the recording, so I'm very excited to jump into it.
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Let's go back to life before collage where you said you were both working at vogue for five years together. What was that time like in your life? And what got you talking about starting a business together in the first place? Well, I think we had no intention at all of starting a business, nothing could be further from my mind and I'm pretty sure the same goes for serena, but what was great is when we both left, I mean, you know, we had a fantastic time at vogue because serena really looked after brand partnerships and all the advertising as well as being the kind of bridge from the creative to that. And then I was really working on just purely the creative, so, you know, we support each other across those sort of areas of vogue And you know, when we left, we just actually just catching up for a cup of tea and we're sitting at the kitchen table and we were kind of wondering where we would get our information from now and who would guide us and navigate us through the world of design and shopping and everything, interiors and fashion wise, because I think at vogue were very, very privileged in the sense that, you know, people would come to us with all the sort of product information that we could handle.
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It was just fantastic. So I think so, and I was just thinking, okay, so what what happens now? And then we were both thinking, well, we're not so with wonderful and peculiar and odd. There are 1000 million other women who are also thinking exactly the same thing as us. So, we kind of Solved our own problem with collage three. We had this it was a light bulb moment that we wanted additional platform because we knew that Prince was going through a very challenging time and we knew that digital was the future. So, we we were like that there isn't something that addresses our needs. So, let's do this ourselves. And yeah, that was our real light bulb moment. I think also, you know, we After we had the idea we started talking to women, you know, women across all ages and actually we did a few focus groups and we were just trying to sort of really trying to find out, you know, where women from 16 to 67 shots, right? Because those were, we did a little focus group with about 20 women until you send his living room. And what kept coming up is that there wasn't one place, there wasn't a one stop shop that catered to how we we shop, which is from High Street up to luxury.
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Um also, you know, we love a new niche discovery brand we might find on instagram and we'll also equally as passionate about interiors as we are fashioned. And we thought let's start this, let's start a website that caters to how we and all the women who are in that room want to shop. And I think that's right and sweet is absolutely right. And at any given time, you know, when we look at ourselves, like if I look at myself today, I've got a niche brand of trouser, I've got a Zara stripey shirt that I've had for years, I've got a kind of designer pair of glasses. So I think, you know, any given day, so, and I can look at each other and we are, we are all agreed, I mean totally and then we're sitting in a very, you know, we're sitting in our archaeological interiors, which is, you know, a bit of High Street but of a niche lamp shade, a bit of H and M home something that's you know, antique, something from a market, some things from home base. So it's really, yeah it is. Yeah, exactly. So I think, you know, we just wanted to have a platform that we could share all those discoveries with everybody that we knew and carry on doing that.
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So yeah, that was why closure was born. That was the beginning. Oh I love, it sounds fantastic. And what's the business model of the platform? Like how does it make money in this tech digital meets fashion platform that's got all of these amazing products on it. Well, we work at this as an affiliate partner, we take a commission on sales of brands that are tracked, but you know what's really key to note is that not everyone, um colossally not all the brands we get a commission from. So we think that really adds to the authenticity of the brand in that we want to share what we love and we have a platform where we can do that, but also you know, going back to how we make money, it was really interesting, you know, towards you know what one my sort of final year was a book. I was noticing how you know brands are really looking to experiment in digital and work with platforms in different ways. And so we thought, you know there's a real opportunity here to work with brands and do partnerships together. So alongside, you know, the commission side of things, we also do one on one partnership.
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So last year we worked with Gucci, we worked with Ralph Lauren with Farrow and Ball and it's exciting because we, each partnership looks different and we work together with our team to create those and I think that's right and Serena's absolutely where each partnership is very different, so that's what's so fascinating and what excites us so much is that Burns come to us and we can kind of collaborate and think of creative ideas with them that they might not have thought of, you know, so we almost become like a kind of mini advertising agency where, you know, one minute we're designing a loafer for Penelope Silvers, the next minute we're designing a whole campaign for Farrow and Ball, you know, then we're rushing and doing a quick photo shoot for Gucci, so it can really look like anything and I think that's what's amazing about the landscape at the moment is that there's not a one size fits all. You know, it's very, very, I think everybody is realizing that certain things don't work anymore. So they really don't know how to particularly necessarily solve that problem. So we can be really agile, we can be agile, we can be nimble, we can think outside the box, we can think of 100 million different ways of how people can partner with us and I think all those ways are very different, you know, so I think, you know, we really look at the brand when they come to us, we really understand who their customers, we can bring our community to them, they can bring their community to us.
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So I think on all sorts of different levels it really, it works and there's no sort of prescription, which I think is really interesting now, I think it's also this sort of, you know, the lens that callegary can sort of put on a brand and we take what we like to think is that we take product out of its context and put it sort of in our collage free world. And I think that's really interesting now is that, you know, when we, when we partner with brands, it's very much thinking about our community, you know, is this the brand we feel resonates. So I'm interested to know, you know, after you had the, if we rewind a little bit, I'm interested to go back to post lightbulb moment, How did you actually get started with the business? What were the key steps to bringing this to reality? Well, multi step. Um I mean, I think what's so interesting about starting a company, I mean it's funny because, you know, in previous life, you know, we've grown companies and but it's always been for other people and then when it's yours, you, you know, you have a huge sense of responsibility, but first and foremost you have the idea and that idea really propels you forward and I think it's about putting one ft in front of the other.
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So I think Sweden, I had the idea, there was a lot of cutting out and sticking and a lot of like diving deep into other sort of platforms and I think what, what it really did was that initial deep dive into other platforms as we realized that actually there wasn't really another platform like ours. So that was a big relief, I think, you know, when you're doing that was searching too, what's similar to you, if there's something else that's exactly like you out there, if there's nothing else like you out there, why isn't there? And I think that huge deep dive. So I think you and I spent a lot of time together thinking what collage we could look like, and then we spent a lot of time thinking of the name, I have to say, but basically what we wanted it to do for us and how would that look like. And then of course there were next steps about who was going to do that for us and also where we're actually gonna be, you know, if we had an office or if we're going to pay for an office, if we're going to get investors, what would that look like? So I think the idea and the germ of the idea was front and center stage and what that idea really look like and how we are going to make that idea work in terms of they have what it was gonna look like, how it would function, what we needed for, how it was going to function and if we needed investment.
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And I think those themes run very sort of concurrently along beside each other. So yeah I would say those were themes that really preoccupied us for the first six months of collage, wouldn't you say serena what do you think I left something? I probably left loads of things out. No, no I think you know we had the idea and then we thought okay we have the idea now actually how do we start a business and you know my my first sort of dipped my toe in the water when I was at Georgetown and I started a you know embroidered underwear business from my door but you know this looks really different than selling some underwear too, you know local stores and um street in Georgetown. So you know Lucinda you actually remember you said we've got to go talk to Adam, we gotta go talk to Adam Brown all about Brown who you know is a is a good friend of hers and obviously built a very very successful menswear brand. So we went to see him, we went to his office and told him this and you know he really helped us put steps into place about how you take an idea and you you look at doing a business plan, you look at how you're going to make, you know, make this idea work.
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And he was really a big guy for us, I would say, I think so, and I think because he, I mean he literally started with a pair of shorts And you know, 10 years later he sold his company to Chanel and it's the first competition has bought for 30 years, so I think we took it to him first just to say, what do you think of the idea? And actually he's married to another really great friend of ours, Tom Panek who started the communication store and I told them both at the same time thinking that tom would actually love the idea and be very, very enthusiastic about it, and Adam who's quite much sort of hard nose, I think he wouldn't mind me saying would be much more hardcore about it, and in fact it was the reverse, it was really interesting, Adam who is really quite dismissive of a lot of ideas and you know, but in a good way, you know, he's a real task master, which is fabulous because you don't want a yes person, you know, you want somebody to pick holes to really pick holes in as well, how is that going to work well, if you do that, how are you going to get to there and if you get there, how are you going to do the next thing and Adam absolutely immediately his gut reaction was, this is a fantastic idea.
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You've got to do it and if you don't do it, somebody else will and I'm going to road map it for you. And he's been incredible. And I have to say it was really amazing to have somebody as tough as him to say, leave that alone, don't do that. Come on. You know, just get the bloody things start with. He was a driver. Yeah. The first few sort of rounds we showed him of the idea. He said, no, no, no, come back when you've got something else. So, you know, it was, it didn't just all happen overnight totally. I think that mentorship is really important when you can find the right people who you trust to give you that constructive feedback that pushes you to think further and dream bigger. You touched on something a moment ago, Lucinda, when it comes to the money side of things, you needed to explore whether you're going to raise money, whether you were going to invest your own money potentially. How did you go about financing the brand in the beginning and what kind of capital did you need to get started? We saw it and I both put our own money in, which I think was very important. We felt very, very invested in the idea. We knew it was going to work. So we did that and then we put together, you know, very, very good investor deck and we started knocking on people's doors and you know, what's incredible.
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And somebody told us very, very early on, I think it's really one of the most exciting and life affirming things is when you think about the idea of knocking on people's doors and you've never done it before, that you think there's going to be a lot of doors slammed in your face is in both our faces. And what's amazing is they weren't slammed in our faces. People listened some very quick to invest, some not so quick, but everybody willing to listen. And I talked about that once to Stephanie Perez, who's head of the british fashion council and she said, Lucinda, what you've got to understand is everybody wants to hear about a good idea because you'll make this idea really successful, You will then sell the company in 10 years time and you will then become an investor yourself and that is what they were banking on it. And I always, even in kind of quite dark times when you think, is it a good idea, is it a good idea? You know, you hold on to that and you think, you know what enough, really interesting, motivated successful people think this is a really good idea.
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So yeah, people were prepared and luckily soon. And I, you know, I think what was very, very fortunate, which I don't think really is like is that we had built huge relationships with people during our time at vogue. So we have, you know, we have a fantastic address book. We've done business very, very well with people in the past. We both have a tremendous work ethic and I think people out there know that. So I think even if people, you know something didn't invest in, some did invest, they always open the door, which was incredibly fortunate. I think I think also one piece of advice, someone told me early on actually this was, you know, when I started my career of american vote because you know, networking and you don't know where you're going to find your friends, your work colleagues, your investors and actually one of our first investors came through just a girl I was chatting to after I had my first baby at monkey music and she said, what do you do? And I said, well, you know, I'm I'm, you know, we got to talking and and so anyway, we just that's talking and we thought, you know, she said, she said, I think this is a great idea.
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I'm gonna help you, I'm gonna help you on the investment side. And I guess what it is, you never think, you know, a class with your child is going to, you know, maybe help steer you to building your company. But so true. And I think we've learned that you know that it can come from all sorts of different sources, you know, and you just have to be open and you have to be on receive mode all the time, you know, and to talk and get it out there and you know, and talk about it and uh, yeah, which we're really happy to do and we love doing absolutely. I'm interested to know about securing the partnerships that you have with these brands, whether it's on the, you know, the specific partnership side or through just the website alone, obviously you do have that little black book of contacts, you've, you've got that reputation and that credibility coming from vogue. But for anyone listening who's interested in securing partnerships with people for whatever it might be, How do you go about pitching and securing partnerships like that? Well, I think today we're so fortunate to be living in a landscape and starting a business where communication is, you know, at your fingertips.
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So, you know, well, some partnerships have come through previous contacts. There are also some who haven't, and that's been through, you know, a brown reaching out on instagram and DM and me saying we love collage very, uh, how can we work together or linked in, you know, just reaching out. So, you know, I would say that, you know, use what's at your disposal and don't be scared to ask, You know, I think that's another thing as well as if you have a question, you don't know the answer, Find someone who might, and don't be scared to ask for advice. But I think on the other side of that, you don't also get too much advice because sometimes that can, you know, prove to be a distraction too. But just to going back to the band partnership question, I mean, also the other thing is that, you know, a lot of bands come to us for ideas. You know, they've got a marketing spends, they've seen collage very, they don't quite know what to do with it or where they could go with it. So I think that's part of the, you know, part of the really exciting offering is that, as we said before, that we can look at those bands with a fresh lens, you know, and suggest all sorts of quite left to feel things that they wouldn't have thought about.
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Absolutely. I want to switch gears and talk about the marketing side of things, especially going back and free rewind again back to when you launched, how are you actually getting the word out there spreading, spreading the word that you've launched the company and getting people to your site driving that traffic to get the eyeballs on what you were doing? Well, I mean a word of mouth word of milk goes a long way. It's been pretty organic. Yeah, it has, it really has the other thing, I think from the very beginning Sweet and I felt, you know, when we started the instagram, which we launched kind of probably a good few months before we actually launched the site is that we thought, you know what we wanted everybody to feel about the lottery and the difference that would set us apart was that it would be uplifting and joyous and something to really kind of not the anxiety inducing that it wouldn't be the endless quarterback. Right? So our instagram was the first thing that we started and we want it just to give pleasure. I mean, not to like plug product, but actually just to really, you know, a bit of joy, a bit of color, bit of daily inspiration.
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So we started like that and almost in a funny way, I think if you start in a very authentic, I know it's very overused word, but heartfelt way, you know, and you tell everybody and you reach out to everybody and you talk back with everybody and you start the conversation with everybody and you're always there answering their questions and being on the end of the messaging, I think very quickly, you know, you gain your following and people know that you're very accessible, you know, and that you're never not going to answer every single person that asks collage your question. And so I think, you know, instagram France was a really big driver and the same goes for our emails, you know, we have an incredible email, open rate because we want to, you know, we never want to bombard you, we always want to give you that that hit of inspiration. You know, we want to bring you the one thing over everything. So I think people think our emails are dangerous because it really inspires them shot. But you know, I think everything we do is totally customer centric.
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You know, it's always saying, what would it be like to get those emails, what would it be like to land on your instagram, what would it be like? You know, we are the customer, we are the customers. So I think everything has been you know, totally organic with really not pay for any marketing at all. So so far so good. But we are going to, you know, we are making new hires so one will be in marketing so that's exciting. So we'll check in with you in a few months time and then we'll tell you what we're, you know spending on and what we're doing about marketing, but right now it's authentic, it's organic. We will have a strategy. But yeah, we're working on it, we'll work on it. Perfect. And where is the brand today? What does the team look like and what does the next, say 12 months or 24 months look like for you? Well, I think what, you know what we've done in a year has shown us a lot, you know a lot about our customer, what they're enjoying what they're not enjoying and you know in terms of growing the team, what we want to do is really grow up the parts that are working. So, you know, hiring marketing so that we can reach a new customer and also keep the current customer we have and continue to give them what they're loving and evolve the site and bring new products.
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So that's part of it. You know, hiring partnerships. We also want to build our own in house tech team because obviously our product is a website and you know, we're now at a stage where we're ready to really, you know, have a, have a pilot in the house who's, who's, you know, driving that plane. So, you know, it is an exciting time. It's grown from a team of it was serena me and our right hand executive editor with some very two wonderful interns. And now, you know, we've had in tech, We've got three people on board, we're hiring in marketing, we've got one person on board. It's such an exciting time because it's just over a year and we're literally gonna double our team. So, you know, we've moved offices once we've gone from a cupboard into a lovely white attic, a bigger, bigger, much bigger cupboard, a cupboard with a beautiful rug, company rug, which looks really gorgeous. So we're, you know, we can see what's so exciting is we can see huge progress within a year. It's unbelievable and I think the best thing, um dune, which is what we see every day is that the idea is working, and people love it, and we have a huge returning customer.
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So, you know, whatever they're loving, they want to come back and back and back, and they love it even more. And so, I think what's incredibly reassuring and gratifying and really, most of all, unbelievably exciting is that the idea has worked. So now it's scaling it now, It's scaling it, I think, especially when you hear from, you know, someone who's been who shopped oncology and they say now I don't buy from a brand unless I see it on calorie. That's when you think, oh my gosh, wow, like, wow. You know, and that's actually feedback. I don't think we could have anticipated, to be honest. You know, when we had that idea sitting around this in this kitchen table, if that's Not a five star review, I don't know what it is. I know, I know we'll take that. We love not take that with a big smile. I I really enjoy the collaboration you've done with PPL yes, we enjoy doing that. Is that how you say it? People think it's papier Yeah, Poppy Poppy Poppy Paper is good as well. I think, you know, like that could be good, looks great. That came actually from a very, again, organic kind of meeting.
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We were, you know, we were invited to a meeting with some other founders again through, kind of, just networking, and putting the word out that we were starting a business, and we met him when we started it, and I think, you know, that was that was the beginning, and we said we'd love to do something with you and we've been doing it. Yeah, and I think that's a really good point actually that serena makes, I think really, really useful for your listeners because there were so many forms and founders events, and if you can hook up as many as you can possibly do, obviously these days it's fire zoom anything like that, go to them, you know, once you allow it out, go to everything, nothing, you know, we we go to everything that we're invited to, it's never a wasted opportunity because you meet somebody there who then, you know, six months down the line thinks of you for something, something something or you think of them for something, something something, you know, there's sort of connections, you know, connectivity, one of my sons always says positivity and connectivity, you know, it is so never sort of think, oh my God, I'm just too busy to actually listen in on that podcast, I'm too busy to join in on that forum or I'm too busy to give that advice, you know, whenever you ask advice, whenever you're asked to chat, whenever you asked, you know, join anything do, because it's never ever wasted, never waste, you're always either learn something or you'll make a connection that will develop into something amazing.
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So make the most, I always think make the most of every opportunity and I think as well when you're going to networking events and these kind of forums and groups and things like that, that's where serendipity comes and to play a lot because there are those slight subtle moments or small connections that like you said, serena lead to something amazing down the track and I love that positivity and connectivity, that's really cool. All right, I have a question for you both now, what advice do you have for women who have a big idea and want to start their own business, we'll start with you serena Well I would say don't be afraid, you know, everyone's in different circumstances, you know whether you're in a job that you think, oh gosh, if I leave this, you know, what does that mean? Or if you're to stage um like I was where I had one child, I was pregnant with my next baby and I thought, oh my gosh is a start up, but I want to take on, but you know, I would say that you know, don't be scared, do your research. So you know, ask questions, network if you don't know somebody that you want to reach out to try to find a way that you can you can get to them and you know, I think in this case I was very lucky because I've had a business partner, your business partner who every step of the way I feel very blessed that we have the working relationship we do and I think also you know we're not two best friends, starting a business.
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We had worked together for five years and I think that put us in a very strong position in a way. So I would say that you know, if you do have an idea maybe think about whether there is someone you worked well within the past and whether you do want to team up with them and start something together because I have to say you know, none of this I could have done without my business partner and you know, I feel truly best in that sense, pick someone to go on the journey with. I totally agree. Yeah, absolutely, because there are days where you get to share in the exhilaration and the excitement, but then also the days and there are those days where you know you think oh my gosh, you know is this a good idea? You know there are tears. There are those moments where you walk out and you have to get a breath of fresh air and they're there by your side. Absolutely. What about you Lucinda? What's your key piece of advice for women with a big idea? Well, I definitely second serena, I mean I think having a business partner is and a business partner who's different from you, I think you know because serena and I have very different tastes very different ways of going about things that I've learned so much from Serena so much and I have to say the best piece of advice was one that my mother gave, My mother wanted to write a book in Japan, she couldn't speak japanese, she knew nobody in Japan, she hasn't got any money and she said to me, I'm just not going to think of the whole thing, like I want to write a book in Japan, I'm going to do the next right thing and that was the best piece of advice you ever said, don't look at the huge picture, if you've got an idea for a business or got an idea for a company, don't look at it as a massive, massive picture with all its problems and difficulties, do you live with it, do the next right thing, which is phone that person in order to understand that.
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And so I think that was like the most incredible piece of advice she got to write your book in Japan, you know, she rung somebody who knew somebody who had worked, who worked in the foreign office in Japan and they put in touch with and so on it goes. So just do the next right thing whether that's writing the letter, writing the email, picking up the phone, just think of the next step ahead. Don't look at the whole big picture things, you never do Something we talk about on the show often is that compound effect. And it's just a series of small actions that if you keep doing every single day in 10 years time, you're gonna wake up and be like holy cow. It's so true. I love, I've never heard that the compound effect, I've never heard of that. Love that. Me neither. just aim for 1% every day. Serena is very good at that. I have to say she's very, very good at that. You know, following something doing a formula and then, and then that's the outcome. Yeah, that's really true. Love it. All right. We are up to the 6th quick question. So I'll run through it with you individually. Each, we'll start with you Lucinda question number one is, what's your why?
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Why do you do what you do? Passionate, passionate about products and creativity. Just passion. Yeah. Beautiful Question # two is what do you think has been the number one marketing moment that's made your business pop so far. Do you know what? I think there's one thing that I absolutely love doing on Calgary and it's doing the box and because it's a giveaway of the most incredible product and we didn't do it as a kind of all marketing exercise. We did it. Like, would it be amazing if you could win a box of the most incredible unbelievable product. And that box was painted by the most amazing artists. Let's do it, let's do it. and we did it and it's beautiful and each month we do it and there are more and more beautiful and the product gets better and better and it's just like a total giveaway and it's just just for the sheer hell of it, it's wonderful. Oh my God, that sounds amazing. It is amazing. And we want to win it, we're going and I entered to win this box. You can enter, it's on there now, yes, it's on there now and it's gorgeous. It's on instagram, oh my goodness, hopping on immediately after this Question # three is where do you happen to get smarter?
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What are you reading or listening to or subscribing to that other people need to know about. I think it's uh I think it's been endlessly curious and I think it's talking to different people about what their watching, what they're listening to, what they're reading. I always remember working with a really wonderful model called Carmen Katz And every trip she went on, she would ask every single person. And bearing in mind these are people aged 22, 65, 70, what were their 10 top films and I really took that from her. I always asked everybody what their top 10 films are? I love a recommendation. Even if it's somebody who's not a like minded person just because how interesting to see what they're watching, reading, looking at. So endlessly curious about what other people are looking at what's your top film, Top # one film, I would have to say that Darjeeling Wes Anderson the Darjeeling Limited because it's about three boys and they're all exactly like our sons and I like my sons and they love it too. So is our kind of family film and I love where I'm son.
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So me too, love Wes Anderson question number four is how do you win the day? What are your am or PM rituals that keep you feeling happy and motivated and successful? I have to say it's a punch in the gut feeling when you find the perfect product for the perfect piece of content for Calgary. I never not get wildly excited about finding that thing that you know that very few people have seen it and you're going to put it under the nose of people are just I never get sick of that punch in the gut feeling. I have never heard that before. That's the first on the show. I love that. So good question number five is if you only had $1000 left in your business bank account, where would you spend it? I would probably buy 100 things for £10 that I really loved. And then I would put a trestle table up in bush better road and I would sell those 100 things and then I would make £2,000 and then I'd sell 200 things for And so it would go, it would definitely be an investment of something that I love that?
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I could tell? 100% amazing. And last question question number six is how do you deal with failure? What's your mindset and approach? Well, I think it's really interesting, I think, I think it was Barack Obama who said something like, I'm sure I'm not, don't quote me on this quote, but it was something like never let a crisis go to waste and I think it was a really wonderful thing to see That failure is an opportunity to grow. I really do think that, I think okay and also there's no shame in failure. Everybody fails, you're never going to be 100% successful. But I think if you don't learn from it and I think optimism is a great thing, you know, pick yourself up, dust yourself off and remember that everybody's been in the same boat. No shame, no shame. Just learn just a learning curve. Amazing, thank you, Lucinda serena. We are up to your six quick questions. Question number one is what's your way? Why do you do what you do? I can't imagine doing anything else and I mean collage tree is a culmination of everything, I've loved, you know product shopping design, working with brands networking, I mean everything and yeah, I don't look at this as a job, I look at it as you know, my my third baby, your life.
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I love that question number two is what do you think has been the number one marketing moment that made your business pop? I would say? I think that particular, there were two moments where I really thought, wow, this is something, you know, when we launched and Being, you know quoted in Forbes as you know, collage gets a facelift, online shopping has been looking for, I mean that was a wow moment, especially on day one and then I think you know what we touched the, what we touched on before, when you know, when you hear from someone that they trust collage really that they don't shop anywhere else and that, you know, it's addictive and it's the first thing they do in the morning and the last thing they do at night. I mean, you know, we love hearing that and I would say that that makes us think that something's working absolutely that Forbes coverage was so good. I really enjoyed reading it. Question # three is where do you hang out to get smarter? What are you reading or listening to or subscribing to that everyone needs to know about.
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Well, I would say, I mean honestly podcasts like yours, I mean listening to stories of founders, I've had to, I've had to kick my husband off of history hits and I listened to pass now about, you know, building businesses and entrepreneurs, so you know, I learned a lot from there. I love it. Me Too. Question number four is how do you win the day, what are your am or PM rituals that keep you feeling happy and successful and productive? I mean I have to say if I'm honest, I mean it's it's having breakfast and kids and coming on at the end of the day and you know putting them to bed actually as you know the best way to start in the best way to end the day. It's amazing. Question number five is if you only had $1000 left in your business bank account, where would you spend it? I think Lucinda, you know, we would take the team out for dinner when we can go out again, you know what we're going to turn around and what we're going to build and you know how we're gonna get it all going again, brainstorm session clever with some margaritas yet involved, I'm dreaming of that brainstorm sessions with margaritas featuring other people other than my husband, Bless him.
00:40:31Edit And question # six, last question is how do you deal with failure? What is your mindset and approach? I think first with me, I have to just stop and breathe and take a moment, you know, I would say after I've done that, I will have a glass of red wine and then that failure propels me forward to actually, you know, solve them, it's a challenge, right? You take the value turned into a challenge and you turn it into an opportunity and make a plan. I think Serena and I are very good at like, you know, when we have had a door, you know, pops in our faces like, okay, exactly what Serena says, We have a glass of red wine and then make a plan. Yeah, your birth, make a plan and open that next door. Yeah, so True. Love it. or even to two Doors or two glasses of wine, definitely both, Lucinda serena, thank you so much for taking the time to join me on female startup club today. I have loved listening to you talk about your business and what you're building and I'm so excited to see what's next.