Create & Cultivate 100: Entertainment: Shay Mitchell

We talk about career shifts a lot at Create & Cultivate because there’s nothing more inspiring than seeing someone push their doubts and fears aside to embark on a completely new path, oftentimes without any previous experience or education. Shay Mitchell is one of those people. While she launched her career as the character Emily Fields on the hit show Pretty Little Liars (or as Peach on season one of Netflix’s new hit show You), that might not be where many of you reading this found out about her. Why? Thanks to Mitchell’s entrepreneurial mindset, she recognized the opportunity on YouTube very early on.

Five years into filming the show, Mitchell started creating videos for her channel across beauty, fashion, fitness, food, and travel. She has now amassed over four million subscribers on the platform—and almost 27 million followers on Instagram—and the popularity of her travel series, SHAYCATION led to the formation of her sell-out travel accessories line, BÉIS. Since it’s 2018 launch, the brand has seen more than 200% growth and is on track to deliver more than $20 million in profitable revenue. Oh, and did we mention that Mitchell recently became a mom too? Yep, she really is a pivot pioneer.

Read on to hear how Mitchell successfully switched lanes from actor to vlogger to entrepreneur and why she believes self-doubt is totally normal.

CREATE & CULTIVATE: Your career launched playing Emily Fields in the television series Pretty Little Liars but it continues to span across so much more than entertainment—your YouTube channel documents fashion, hair, and makeup tips, your favorite food recipes, travels, fitness routines and now your journey as a new mom. How did you make the pivot from actor to creative director and more? What advice do you have for people reading this who want to make a similar pivot in their career but don't know where to start or fear the leap?

SHAY MITCHELL: I’m a super passionate person, and I love to have my hands in as many projects as possible. At the time that I joined YouTube, I was five years into filming Pretty Little Liars and found myself itching to flex my own creative muscle. I was constantly surrounded by super fun, artistic and smart people, and thought it would be fulfilling to create original content with my friends and colleagues. My travel series, SHAYCATION, on YouTube, and my lifelong passion for travel, gave me real-life experience and inspiration for my travel accessories line, BÉIS. I purchased a lot of luggage and travel items over the years, and always felt that I was compromising for either form or function, and would doodle ideas for luggage and accessories that had both all the time.

When the opportunity popped-up for me to start my own brand, I literally jumped at it. To be perfectly honest, I am not one that likes really likes to give advice because I feel like what works for me might not work for others and vice versa. That said, as cheesy as it might sound I would say the principles that I try to live by are to follow my heart, vision, and intuition. If you take no risks, where will you be in three years? Probably still unhappy and stuck. Vulnerability is one of life’s greatest givers of lessons. It’s also okay to fail, so long as you use it as an opportunity for growth and not shutting down.

You launched your travel accessories company BÉIS! and the success has been phenomenal—congrats! What has been the biggest lesson you've learned through launching and expanding your business? What advice do you have for women with small businesses hoping to grow or change their businesses and achieve your success?

It was actually just a little over a year ago that we launched BÉIS! and again, I don’t really like to give advice but would say that authenticity in approach and execution are penultimate. I do things because I feel like I understand there is an opportunity or because I really believe in what I’m doing and think I can do a better job of what is already available. I don't think it is ever smart to do something exclusively for money or clout. You should do it because you really care about what you’re setting out to achieve.

“If you take no risks, where will you be in three years? Probably still unhappy and stuck.”

When you hit a bump or hurdle in your career, how do you #FindNewRoads + switch gears to find success?

First and foremost, I never view things as failures. If I make a decision and it doesn’t succeed then I feel it’s a learning curve and lesson from which to learn. Finding new paths and switching gears can be challenging, but if we’ve exhausted the roads we are on then the best thing to do is to find another way to forge ahead.

You always seem so bold and self-assured. Where do you think this confidence stems from? What advice do you have for people who are feeling self-doubt and want to have more courage?

That’s so nice to hear, though I will be the first one to admit, as most humans do, that I have self-doubt often. I doubt myself all the time, and I think that is totally normal. No one is ever really sure of themselves 100% of the time. As humans, we have to question ourselves because we care. To me, this is similar as to when people ask me if I'm nervous before an audition. Of course, I’m nervous! If I'm not nervous then it concerns me more because deep down I feel like it means I don’t care that much and that I probably shouldn’t be there in the first place. My “advice” (aye yi yi) would be to embrace the self-doubt. Questioning yourself is an important part of growing as a person and growing a brand—making sure you’re doing the right thing—its also a way to keep your intuition in check.

You've achieved phenomenal success but that didn't come without hard work and determination. What does it take to be successful today? What personality traits do you need in this competitive environment? Why?

The first word that comes to mind is tenacity. Being dedicated. Seeing things through—even when things seem impossible or difficult. Maintaining a positive outlook. Having a strong team and community to depend on.

What’s the biggest challenge you’ve faced during your business and how did you turn it into an opportunity?

I think one of the biggest challenges we faced was during launch when we sold out of six months of supply, of most products, almost immediately. We had invested so much in marketing and brand building and then didn’t have any product to sell. Some would say it’s a good problem to have, and yes, it was great to have early success but the team and I saw the opportunity cost in lost sales and frustrated consumers.

To turn it into an opportunity we decided to be very transparent with consumers and told them what was happening, which in some ways we feel resulted in a more emotional connection with our audience. Being out of stock also created pent up demand and a sense of scarcity which has proven to be a super-strong sales lever for us. We translated that into a strategy for some of our more seasonal and limited-edition styles: “get it while it lasts” if you will.

You have an incredibly busy schedule juggling multiple businesses, acting, and family—What are your productivity hacks to get it all done? What apps or is there a hack you use every day to help keep you organized and on track?

Truthfully, no hacks or apps, just a really steady head and have taken great care to surround myself with passionate people that are experts at what they do to support me along the way. My team is small but mighty, and they can always be counted on to keep me organized and on track.

“Questioning yourself is an important part of growing as a person and growing a brand.”

What is your 2020 vision? What is in store for Shay Mitchell this year? Why?

Nothing radically different, just more, more more! It’s the nature of my personality and the beast.

What is the #1 book you always recommend and why?

The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz. It’s an amazing read, pertinent to almost everyone and riddled with pertinent lessons we should take to heart.

VIEW THE FULL CREATE & CULTIVATE 100 ENTERTAINMENT LIST HERE.

Create & Cultivate 100: Fashion: Disney’s Minnie Mouse

What does it take to be a pioneer? From the many interviews we’ve conducted on the Create & Cultivate stage, we’ve identified four key attributes that set them apart: Bold—they step outside of their comfort zone to shift culture; Fun—they do what they love for a living; Fashionable—they bring a design eye to everything they do; Classic—their ideas transcend the era they live in.

If we were to apply these traits to one person throughout history, there’s one name that instantly comes to mind: Minnie Mouse. From the moment she stepped onto the scene, Minnie Mouse has been a style icon. With her polka dot dress and yellow heels, she has inspired generation after generation with her loveable personality and undeniable influence in the fashion and lifestyle space. 

She is and always has been, positively herself, #PositivelyMinnie.

Read on to learn how you can embody Minnie’s key characteristics—Bold, Fashionable, Fun, and Classic—and inject more joy and confidence into your everyday life on the journey to being positively you.   

CREATE & CULTIVATE: You’ve been a fashion icon for over 90 years—how do you stay ahead of the curve and fashionable after all this time? What is your secret?

MINNIE MOUSE: Oh, you’re so sweet! Well, I suppose my secret is that I stick to my classic look but always try to add a contemporary twist. And of course, I love to have fun with what I wear by adding a touch of something whimsical, like sequins or a fabulous bow.

You are an inspiration to all of us but we’d love to know, where do you get your style and fashion inspiration?

Oh, from so many things, like my friends and all the wonderful places I get to travel. I’ve always found that fashion is a celebration of everyone’s unique style and personality. If you’re bold and wear what makes you happy, you’ll always be stylish!

“I think it’s important to have a vision and believe in yourself.”

You’ve had an incredibly successful career—what is your best advice for someone trying to break into the fashion or entertainment industry? 

Hmm… Well, I think it’s important to have a vision and believe in yourself. If your choices come from your heart, and you do your very best, you’re sure to be a success. And of course, always remember to have fun!

What do you wish you could go back and tell yourself when you were first starting out? Why? 

Oh, I’ll have to think about that… Well, I’ve had the most wonderful journey and met so many amazing friends, so I guess I would tell myself to get ready for a very exciting ride!

You always seem so bold and self-assured—where do you think this confidence stems from? What advice do you have for people who are feeling self-doubt and want to have more courage?

Well, I know that my friends help me to be brave and bold. We always support and encourage each other to try new things and follow our dreams. So, I suppose I’d say that if you’re feeling doubtful, look to your friends or family.

You’ve achieved phenomenal success but that didn’t come without hard work and determination. What are some of the biggest lessons you’ve learned along the way and what have they taught you?

One of the most important things I’ve learned is that when faced with a challenge, always be positively you! Be there with a helping hand or a hug for the ones you love, don’t ever be afraid to ask questions, and take time to enjoy the wonderful world around you.

You have worn so many amazing outfits through the years—can you recall one of your favorite looks, where you wore it, and why it was so iconic?

Goodness, I’ve been so lucky to work with amazing designers like Christian Siriano, Vivian Tam, Diane von Furstenberg, Stuart Vevers, Stacey Bendet and many more. They’ve all created such pretty dresses for me. But I suppose my most iconic look is my classic polka dot dress. And you know, the classics never go out of style! Oh, and this year, I’m very excited to be working with Paige! 

Fun is in your DNA—what advice do you have for people who want to inject more joy and fun into their every day from personal to professional?

Oh, just think about the things that make you happy—even if they’re little things like reading a book or listening to your favorite song, and try to do one of those each and every day. And always remember to stay positively you!

Photographer: Jenna Peffley

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Create & Cultivate 100: Small Business: Chelsea Moore

Every successful business idea comes from a need, a gap. It's in this whitespace where Chelsea Moore and her two co-founders, Jenni Olivero and Sabena Suri stumbled upon the idea for their gifting company, BOXFOX.

After a close friend became sick, Moore and her cofounders, Jenni Olivero and Sabena Suri, realized there was a serious lack of options that could show you were “there” for someone even when you couldn't be there physically. “We wanted something that went beyond flowers and the typical overpriced (and wasteful) gift basket,” she tells Create & Cultivate. “Our standards were high: we wanted something presentable, personal, and with a purposeful product that was simple to send.”

So, they did some research and discovered a lot of people were also looking for a modern and seamless gifting experience, too. It didn't exist, so they built it and they’ve been disrupting the space ever since. Now, five years later, they have an easy-to-use consumer platform with a pre-curated ready-to-ship collection, a Build a BOXFOX platform where customers can build their own gifts and care packages from all the best brands in one place, and a corporate gifting arm called BOXFOX Concierge, with a dedicated sales team and a members-only platform.

Read on to hear more about how they are redefining the gifting model, how they work together as co-founders, and why they decided to bootstrap the business over raising VC.

CREATE & CULTIVATE: As the co-founder and CEO of BOXFOX you have your hand across all areas of the business—but for those of us who don't know what it's like to be a CEO or aspire to, can you share what your role entails? Can you give our readers a snapshot into what your day-to-day of a CEO looks like? Does the reality of your role stack up to your expectations?

CHELSEA MOORE: Here at BOXFOX, as co-founders, we lead equally, so we share a lot of the long-term planning, people management, and financial responsibility. However, we've all settled into the verticals we spearhead, with each other’s support, of course. As the CEO, I oversee all creative, marketing, legal, and web development. On a daily basis, I'm either diving right into emails, design work, photography, approving content calendars, web development projects, putting out fires, or planning meetings. Being our CEO is everything I expected, in that I believe there is sometimes stuff you want to do and stuff you have to do, and I was prepared for that roll-up-your-sleeves reality. The one aspect of the job I wasn't expecting though was how much more complex it all gets as you grow. There's more to oversee, more to manage, and more at stake.

Gifting is such a saturated space. What makes BOXFOX different? How have you differentiated the brand so it stands out above the competition and in a crowded industry? Why do you think BOXFOX has been so successful?

We didn't invent gifting, but we did make it modern in a way no one else was doing. We prioritized being a business built with scalable customization at its core, empowering customers to gift well and often. For B2B, corporate gifting lacked a ‘go-to’, elevated, all-in-one solution. BOXFOX has built a brand with a diverse, loyal following who seek approachable, no-fluff, tech-forward, personalized service to make life easier for everything from small tokens to grand gestures. We're proud to share an office space with our warehouse and be an approachable, authentic gifting resource for our loyal customers.

“Do your research, be prepared, and be ready to work 10x harder than you could have ever expected.”

You proudly run a self-funded startup, so can you talk us through the bootstrapping process? Would you recommend that route to other entrepreneurs? Do you have plans to scale? Do you have plans to raise?

For us, bootstrapping from the start was intentional: we wanted to prove the effectiveness of our business model, perfect our systems, and decide what type of company we wanted to build—how quickly or slowly, how much control we wanted to maintain, and what our priorities were. Early on, our goals were to achieve steady, organic growth, build a meaningful workplace, and reinforce the human side of e-commerce. We weren’t necessarily thinking about an exit strategy, which raising money would have necessitated, so it wasn’t the path for us.

Of course, there are so many businesses that raising makes sense for; the best advice I’ve ever gotten is to truly think about what your priorities are, and whether those objectives line up with taking on capital. It all comes down to what kind of business you want to run.

When you're a small business you have to fall in love with the numbers, what have been some of the hardest money lessons you've learned along the way? What is your #1 money tip for small business owners? Why?

Do not be afraid of numbers—run into their arms and embrace them. Understanding them is the key to really understanding your business. If they intimidate you, take classes on Skillshare or Lynda, find a family friend who will sit down with you for an hour and explain more advanced concepts. Don't just find accountants and bookkeepers who you delegate to, find ones that will educate you and make you a stronger business owner.

What were the immediate things you had to take care of to set up the business?

I'm not sure if there is a perfect order for these initial items, but we bought our website domain, went through the city/county/state to set up all business license documents, got a CA resale ID, and then started our social channels about six months prior to launch. Then in the meantime, we were building our website and coordinating our first BOXFOX box samples.

There are three co-founders at BoxFox—do you recommend having partners in business? Why? What is the secret to a successful working relationship?

I think every business can have different needs when it comes to solo founders versus co-founders, but for us, it has been such a blessing to have each other on this journey. We each bring complementary strengths to the table and different backgrounds which only bring out the best in each other and our business. The secret to our successful relationship is a shared long term vision for where we want this to go, respect for each other's personal and professional needs, and over-communication.

When you hit a bump or hurdle in your career, how do you #FindNewRoads + switch gears to find success

On a business level, there can be setbacks or mistakes and our company philosophy is always to analyze, find the silver lining, and never make the same mistake twice. When it's a personal bump or hurdle, like creative burnout or management overload, I've always believed in taking action. Identify the issue, come up with a plan, and move forward, because life is way too short. Before BOXFOX, I was so unhappy at my old job, but after a month-long pity party, I quit and we set off on this entrepreneurial journey.

You have had so much success, but if you could go back to the beginning with the knowledge you have now, what's one thing you would tell yourself and why?

We have such great lawyers, accountants, insurance brokers and outside partners that we rely on so heavily. It can be scary to reach outside of your immediate circle to find the experts you need, but if I could go back, I would have prioritized finding these superstars sooner.

“The biggest lesson we’ve learned along the way is that business is personal and management is a muscle that has to be strengthened.”

Creating buzz so people know about your brand can be challenging for small businesses. How do you market your business? How are people aware of your business? What are some unique social media and marketing tools you've used to grow organically?

We didn't have the money for digital marketing or PR in the beginning, so we got creative. We have a very strong visual identity, so we took the time to perfect that and lean into free tools, like Instagram and Pinterest. Beyond that, we leveraged our network and told everyone we knew and met about our company and mission. We definitely got lucky with some organic press hits in the beginning too. As we've gotten bigger, we've experimented with PR and digital marketing in small bursts of concentrated effort, but the overwhelming majority of our traffic is still organic or word of mouth.

What are some of the biggest lessons you’ve learned along the way and what have they taught you?

The biggest lesson we've learned along the way is that business is personal and management is a muscle that has to be strengthened. Leading a company requires empathy, interpersonal skills, a desire to connect with employees, partners, and vendors in a meaningful way. It takes practice, and it's never perfect, but the reinforcement of those skills has happily become a big part of my life.

What advice would you give to young entrepreneurs who have an idea but don’t know where to start to execute it?

Do your research, be prepared, and be ready to work 10x harder than you could have ever expected. I always share with fellow entrepreneurs to just get started. Perfect those product samples, start setting up the business paperwork, test the software. Once you get going, it really will snowball from there. Also, never agree to start doing anything without a signed contract (you will thank me for this later, I promise!).

Photographer: Lexi Hatch

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Create & Cultivate 100: Fashion: Eva Chen

INSTAGRAM'S NORTH STAR. 

photo credit: Jeff Thibodeau 

She's never had a master plan, but Eva Chen, current Head of Fashion Partnerships at Instagram, has had one hell of a career.

The fashion boss spent a decade running leading fashion publications, including Lucky and Teen Vogue, where she worked in various roles for eight years, chiefly as the teenage fashion magazine’s beauty editor. During her time at the glossy, she finessed her digital savvy and grew her own social media (now 600k), before joining IG in 2015. 

She's worked under the masterful Anna Wintour, is heralded by the Business of Fashion as one of the 500 hand-selected people shaping the $2.4 trillion fashion industry.

More below.

Name: Eva Chen

Instagram Handle: @evachen212

You're fluent in the language of fashion. With your move to IG to you feel more fluent in the language of tech?

I am barely proficient in the language of tech and look forward to becoming more fluent. The team here at Instagram is wonderful and so inspiring to learn from.

What has surprised you most about being a woman in the tech sector?

Facebook has been an incredibly supportive place to work, especially as a mom to two young kids. And having women in positions of authority, like IG COO Marne Levine and Facebook's Sheryl Sandberg, is very important to me.

What's your biggest pet peeve?

People who stand on moving walkways at the airport.

What would you consider your superpower?

Ability to function despite prolonged sleep deprivation from children.

From pre-med to Lucky to Instagram. What has been the most surprising element of your career?

I've never had a master plan, I've always just gone where opportunities have arisen.

"I've never had a master plan, I've always just gone where opportunities have arisen."

Tweet this.

What has proven to be the biggest bump in the road?

My inability to say 'no'....

And how did you get over it?

Working on it for 2018!

Is there an early-on piece of advice that Anna Wintour gave you that you ignored?

No—Anna has the really vexing quality of pretty much being right about everything, at least in my personal experience.

What about your career makes you feel the most complete?

When I can help someone understand how to use Instagram better!

If you had to trade jobs with anyone else in the world, who would it be and why?

I don't want to trade with Oprah, but I'd love to meet her simply to absorb some of her magic.

At what point in your career did you find the confidence to really take charge and become the woman you are today?

Working on it! I think part of becoming an adult is realizing that life is an ongoing work in progress.

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