Spirit Of 608: Fashion, Entrepreneurship, Sustainability + Tech

I love startup stories that involve taking a manual, real-life process and creating a tech solution that mimics it and stories from founders who, in the quest to solve their own problems, end up bringing needed new ways of doing things into areas begging for innovation. This week’s guest is doing BOTH. During her years as a fashion brand rep, Melodie found herself going the extra mile to serve the stores she visited. In fact, she was quite literally going the extra mile by driving her retail clients’ excess inventory to other stores, swapping out merch even though it sometimes meant driving across state lines — all in the name of helping the brands she worked with maintain value (vs. ending up on the sale rack) and the store owners sell through their merchandise. After discovering that one retailer in her network might be able to easily sell what wasn’t moving n another store, she founded Swap Retail to help brands and retailers buy, sell and swap their excess inventory. Now a retailer herself and co-founde

Everyone is talking about Clubhouse, the less-than-a-year old audio app that caught wildfire last fall. Its invite-only nature has added to the hype. But the real question is whether you should care. Should you spend time creating, building and maintaining a Clubhouse presence -- essentially adding yet another social media platform to your plate? For FEST founders, there are special considerations -- how will an audio-only social networking platform benefit your highly-visual, probably product-based business? We'll dive into all of that on this week's episode of the Spirit of 608 podcast.

Starting a business in the middle of pandemic, when the future seems a little unpredictable, doesn't seem like the smartest of ideas, but for Laura Mallows, it was the best one. Laura talks about how being real gave her an identity that everyone resonated with, even though it was totally against how the traditional beauty market presents itself. From showing off scars, bad hair days, and even bad skin days, Laura talks about how Mallows Beauty let everyone be unafraid to be REAL, even herself.

It’s easy to get swept away by the glitz and glamour of the fashion industry, and for Lauren Tanaka, it certainly was a glamourous start. From rubbing elbows with celebrities like Charlize Theron and the cast of The Lord of the Rings, Lauren’s first gigs in the industry were every stylist and designer’s dream. But even as she was living the dream, some eye-opening moments drove Lauren to ask some tough questions about the fashion industry and her why. Listen to this week’s episode of the Spirit of 608 podcast to find out what exactly drove Lauren away from Hollywood and full-time into sustainability. Get inspired by her belief in empowering others through positive messages and sustainable fashion. Meet this week's guest, Lauren Tanaka, Founder of Global Garbs and Good & Services.

Want to get visible? You need a story. Better yet, you need to know the version of your story you want to tell right now. One of the things I get asked most often when brands are starting out in their journey toward more visibility is what they should say when they start trying to reach that goal. When they’re wavering and hesitating on visibility projects like pitching more media and launching regular content marketing, one of two things is almost always at play: Either 1) they’re not sure what to do next and/or 2) they’re completely unsure what to say. There’s an easy answer to both. For the former, the best thing you can do right now is check out the free replay of the LIVE PressDope DIY PR training that’s up until PressDope closes. If you’re here after that, you can grab the PressDope DIY PR Quick Start Kit, and it will help you get started today. Get it here. For the latter one, oh yes, we are going to get into that in this episode of the Spirit of 608 podcast. We’ll be diving into three easy exercises

Do you believe in the power of a business to not only be a part of a community, but also be instrumental in building one? In today’s episode, Linnea, a.k.a owner and CFSO (chief of figuring sh*t out) at ecommerce and IRL shop Darling talks about how she bought the store 6 years ago at the age of 25 and has been cultivating a dream from her heart all these years. It was a special treat to have a Charlottesville entrepreneur on the show during my five-year anniversary of moving to here from San Francisco. She’s all about sustainable fashion (especially secondhand + handmade) and using her platform as a consignment shop to educate and empower consumers in their own sustainable style journeys. Darling believes in the power of investing in your own community by supporting women through inspiring social media and IRL content, amazing consignment finds and local artisan handmade goods. Last year, Darling made bold moves during the pandemic to expand from brick-and-mortar into ecommerce — which is NOT easy for a

This year, we’re closing out our interview episodes with one that speaks to the good stuff that bubbled up from 2020: connections in new and unlikely places. Plus, we’re ending content for the year to take a pause, but leaving you with media intel to get you thinking and thirsty for more visibility next year — and how better to do that than to talk to one of the footwear industry’s longest-blogging and most knowledgeable influencers? Meet this week's guest, Lois Sakany, Founder of Snobette & OTR.

Almost every entrepreneur is, in one way or another, in the habit of constantly seeking more. That’s never been truer than with this week’s guest, a self-described renegade from her childhood days growing up in a small Texas town and onto a career steeped in impactful marketing campaigns and, from there, to her current status challenging the fashion industry’s status quo. Meet this week's guest, Elizabeth Cline, author of The Conscious Closet. Now decades into her quest to change the way the fashion industry approaches fit through a scientific study of body shape, this female founder has pushed new ideas in an industry notoriously resistant to change, especially when it comes to new technology and new production norms. With her latest company, BOTASCI (a.k.a. body, data, science), Lee aims to make it possible for women to shop only for the clothes that fit their bodies seamlessly using technology that any retailer could adopt and, by getting the right garments to the right people at the right time, reduce t

Need a fix for your next (current?!) creative rut or when resistance comes up — something that’s super common at this busy time of year? Here are 10 tools I use and love for amping up creativity, visibility and motivation so I can move forward with creating content and continue reaching new audiences. From an Instagram stories editing tool that will allow you to place video on top of animated, moving images for a cool picture-in-picture look to the audio-video editing platform we use to create our audiograms for each episode, this is a show packed with practical information you can use to infuse your next adventure in content creation with a fresh approach. Listen to this week’s episode of the Spirit of 608 podcast to hear the quick and dirty on all 10 tools. In a hurry? You can download the full list right here. Be on the Podcast: Ask Spirit of 608 a Question

Almost every entrepreneur is, in one way or another, in the habit of constantly seeking more. That’s never been truer than with this week’s guest, a self-described renegade from her childhood days growing up in a small Texas town and onto a career steeped in impactful marketing campaigns and, from there, to her current status challenging the fashion industry’s status quo. Meet this week's guest, Cricket Lee, Founder of BOTASCI. Now decades into her quest to change the way the fashion industry approaches fit through a scientific study of body shape, this female founder has pushed new ideas in an industry notoriously resistant to change, especially when it comes to new technology and new production norms. With her latest company, BOTASCI (a.k.a. body, data, science), Lee aims to make it possible for women to shop only for the clothes that fit their bodies seamlessly using technology that any retailer could adopt and, by getting the right garments to the right people at the right time, reduce throwaway clothes,

Hear more on this week's solo episode of the Spirit of 608 podcast. Ask Spirit of 608 a question

On the heels of one of her most high-profile acting roles, Benita Robledo made the move to channel her celebrity into a platform promoting a more positive approach to fashion. Currently reviving her original blog after a two-year hiatus and launching a number of brand collaborations, this week's guest has built a loyal following by showcasing her candid thoughts on conscious consumption, secondhand style, ethical fashion brands, sustainable apparel and just about everything in between. Listen to this week's show for her journey from acting in Hollywood to building an online presence and moving cross-country to Pennsylvania, where she lives with her husband and baby girl. You'll hear how this pop culture star and ethical fashion activist thinks about life in the spotlight, how she makes decisions about what to share on Instagram and when, as well as her approach to working with ethical fashion brands.  Meet this week's guest, Benita Robledo, Ethical Fashion Activist.

We're thrilled to have the woman who coined the term EcoFashion on the show this week letting us in on how she built her empire of eco-minded brands, which range from a sustainable line Farm to Home to women's apparel label Yes And to businesses in manufacturing and consulting. Oh and she's also an author, as well as a frequent speaker at high-profile industry events and a thought leader in the sustainability movement.  Listen to this week's show for her journey from the early days of her first business as an ahead-of-her-time innovator in the health and wellness space to today, when she's primed to push responsible textiles even further into the mainstream with the introduction of a new product offering for the QVC audience. If you're a big believer in how much mindset matters like I am, you'll revel in her words of wisdom that appear through this motivating and inspiring conversation. Meet this week's guest, Marci Zaroff, Founder and CEO of EcoFashion Corp.  

Have you been hoping to get press, get published + grow your impact? Then this episode is for you. On this week's episode of the Spirit of 608 podcast, I'm keeping it super practical. I love creating episodes that focus on mindset and strategy because those things have made such a difference in my life and the business lives of my clients, but this one isn't that at all. Instead, this episode is all about connecting you with very specific places you can go -- today -- and start getting press, getting published, building credibility, social proof and SEO value. It's like a rapid fire primer that you can put into use in your business immediately. I introduce you to the 10 media destinations that are a great fit for FEST founders and beyond and give you direct access to their contributor guidelines and submission forms. And more good news: If you're a creative entrepreneur, in the beauty or skincare biz, a practicing wellness professional or innovative female startup founder, these destinations will also work

When it comes to business, being super comfortable can be a bad sign. But with fashion? Bring it on. For that, we have self-described Queen of Comfort Taylor Jay, an Oakland entrepreneur and designer who has built a brand intertwining ultra comfy womenswear with social justice, body positivity, responsible fair labor manufacturing and no small amount of grace and style.  During this week's show, she'll walk us through how a 20-something with zero design training ended up with an eponymous brand of elegant clothes that look like they'd fit in at your chicest friend's next socially distanced gathering as they would a Saturday afternoon sofa fest (what, a I the only one who has those). With a loyal fan base in the midst of retail closures and fabric face masks recently spotted on San Francisco Mayor London Breed's public rounds, this is an business that exemplifies FEST and what the Spirit of 608 podcast is all about in so many ways.  Listen as she walks us through her career path, the early challenges that mad