Exclusive Video: 3 Self-Made Women Get Away From It All

in partnership with Marriott Hotels

photo credit: Brecht Vanthof

Want to know how boss women manage their busy careers with travel? We headed to the Wailea Beach Resort in Maui this past weekend in partnership with Marriott Hotels to chat with female entrepreneurs, an NY Times best-selling author, lifestyle bloggers, and all around badasses to host our #CCxMarriott popup. We luau'd and clinked our Mai Tai glasses as the sun went down, but we also made time for talking about the travel business of business. 

Watch the below videos to see what Kelly Oxford, Grasie Mercedes, and Leura Fine all know about traveling brilliantly.  

KELLY OXFORD, BEST-SELLING AUTHOR & WRITER  

GRASIE MERCEDES, BLOGGER & ACTRESS

LEURA FINE, CEO & FOUNDER OF LAUREL & WOLF 

video credit: Brecht Vanthof

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MORE FROM OUR BLOG

STEM: Leura Fine, Laurel & Wolf

This article is part of our Create & Cultivate 100 List created in collaboration with KEDS, you can view the full STEM List Here.

Democratizing design. 

Leura Fine, CEO and founder of Laurel & Wolf, the interior design company that offers its services online only, has come a long way and is bringing the design world along with her. 

A Jewish, southern girl who grew up in Alabama, Leura moved to Montreal to study at McGill University. But she graduated early, moved to LA where she worked for a world famous Burlesque dancer, all the while building a career as an interior designer. Then, she started a tech company. All before the age of 30. 

An innovator in the online design space, Laurel & Wolf has developed a platform and software to allow for easy communication between a client and a designer, from anywhere. The entire service takes place in the digital world, and has opened the industry of interior design to people who never thought they could afford such services. 

Luckily her experiences in the interior design world made a few things quite clear to the budding techie. 

First, “the days of physical style boards and long, unproductive in-person meetings,” needed to go. “The future of design could be digital.” 

Second, she noticed that most designers could not afford to support themselves because their were not enough people who could pay traditional industry rate. 

And third, and most important, people wanted interior design help, but couldn’t afford it. There was a design hole. 

“It was time to figure out a path to allow designers to earn a living doing what they love,” says Leura, “and for far more people to be able to afford access to those services. It was time to democratize design.” 

In January 2014 Leura began concentrating full-time on Laurel & Wolf. The first version of the site was up that month. "I was the algorithm" she says about the company's beta site, a very bare-bones version of what exists today. Instead of spending 100k on a website build out, she paid a local LA-based developer 5k to build out eight pages with no backend. "I started spreading the word through friends and friends of family, putting it out on social media, saying, 'Hey who is looking for interior design services that only cost 300 dollars?'"

She had about 1,500 people sign up over the course of six weeks. The first iteration of Laurel & Wolf took users through a "style quiz,"-- that had no outcome. What Leura was testing was the public's interest. The BIG question: Would people be willing to pay for an interior design service online? 

It's a simple, but brilliant idea-- take a service that only a small percentage of households can afford, and open it up to more people. More people=more work=more revenue. 

And then there were more questions, more late nights, and the step of raising money. 

“There are all sorts of moments you have as a founder and CEO where you might question the path you are on,” says Leura. “However, usually after a good venting session, a good cry, a few glasses of wine, I feel refreshed and ready to conquer the world.” Feeling failure she explains is an important part of the process, but you can’t dwell. “Take a deep breath and move on! You will realize that you are a lot stronger than you think.” 

You’d have to be to work her hours. “My career has evolved from having a job to being the job. My life life is Laurel & Wolf, which is how it should be when you start your own company.” 

But she says she can rely on herself more than ever before. “In my job, I’m constantly having to push myself harder to learn more, do more, be more, and as fast as possible. For the first time, I’ve realized I can actually meet those demands along the way.” That doesn’t mean she always gets it right, nor does she have the expectation she will, but knows if she’s willing to fight for it, there’s nothing she won’t accomplish. Which includes taking Laurel & Wolf public. 

Beyond democratizing design, Leura wants to level the playing field for dreams as well. “Little girls should dream of being scientists, designers, or CEOs and they should have women to look up to in every single field.When I was a little girl, I never dreamed I could be a CEO because I never saw one. We have the power to change that and therefore change the course of history.”

Styling provided by Reservoir LA. Hair and makeup provided by Glamsquad. Photography courtesy of Light Lab and Woodnote Photography.

The Importance of Celebrating Our Biggest Accomplishments

As we move on up through our careers and lives, there are always those little souvenirs that remind us of how far we’ve come. Whether it is our college diplomas, our very first ultrasound, our first signed deal with a client, or a heartfelt recommendation letter from a boss, these all symbolize great achievements on our journey. And yet we are often so consumed (and excited) by the hustle, we often forget to stop and be proud of or give attention to our accomplishments. 

So we're taking a moment to highlight moments we are proud of--  the experiences that might not seem big to the world, but mean the world to us.

Framebridge asked Sona Gasparian, Grasie Mercedes, Leura Fine of Laurel & Wolf, and our very own founder Jaclyn Johnson to frame special moments or achievements in their lives.

Check out the frames below, and see the story behind why Sona, Grasie, Leura, and Jaclyn chose them! 

AN ENGAGEMENT 

"This was one of the most exciting, happy and natural moments of my life. We snapped this photo right after he asked and you can see I still have tears in my eyes. It's something that I treasure very much!"

--Jaclyn Johnson, Create & Cultivate 

AN INVITATION 

"I'm a huge fan of Chanel and a little obsessed to be honest, so to be able to attend the show in Paris was a total dream come true."

-Sona Gasparian, Simply Sona

MEMENTOS FROM A FIRST JOB

"I decided to go with a bunch of lanyards and my ID from my days working at MTV. It was my first job out of college and being a PA then a producer really trained me for the hard work, organizational skills and personality it takes to be a good actress and blogger. "

-Grasie Mercedes, Blogger + Actress, Style Me Grasie

A THANK YOU NOTE

"I chose the thank you note that Kelsea Ballerini sent us because it represents the incredible work we do at Laurel & Wolf everyday. The opportunity to design Kelsea's dream apartment and knowing the way we have changed her life in such a meaningful way is something that is truly inspiring. It is humbling to have worked with such a gifted and exciting young talent but most importantly, I'm inspired by helping all people design the life they deserve."

-Leura Fine, CEO of Laurel & Wolf

About Framebridge:

Framebridge is an online custom framing company, and the easiest way to custom frame and highlight all the special moments in your life as well as the things you love.
                    
They're making what has typically been a frustrating and expensive process into something easy, accessible, and beautiful. Whether it’s having them print and frame special photos or sending them a meaningful painting, invitation or textile - Framebridge is all about celebrating the things that matter most to you. Best part? Prices start at $39 and only go up to $159 - making it a fraction of traditional custom framing. 

How it works: If you have a photo or a digital print (you can pull right from your Instagram feed!), just upload it to their site or app. They'll print it, frame it and ship it to you ready to hang. If you have a physical piece you want to frame (canvas art, old photos, flags, matches - anything!) just tell them the size of the piece and they'll send you pre-paid packaging. You'll just put your piece inside and drop it off at UPS. It will come to their studio, where their team will custom frame it for you and ship it back to you in just a few days.

Not sure what frame looks best with your piece? They have in house designers ready to help. Oh, and they also have a gallery wall service! Check them out at framebridge.com.

More from our blog:

Never Make It Perfect: Laurel & Wolf CEO Breaks Down How to Launch

LAUREL & WOLF IS THE FUTURE OF DESIGN. 

At least if Leura Fine, CEO and Founder of the interior design company that offers its services online only, has a say.  

An innovator in the online design space, Laurel & Wolf has developed a platform and software to allow for easy communication between a client and a designer, from anywhere. The entire service takes place in the digital world, and has opened the industry of interior design to people who never thought they could afford such services. 

We put 30 minutes on the clock with the busy entrepreneur to pick her brain on everything from bootstrapping your business to the future of tech. 

IN THE BEGINNING YOU MAKE IT WORK & GET IT DONE, NO EXCUSES

In January 2014 Leura began concentrating full-time on Laurel & Wolf. The first version of the site was up that month. 

"I was the algorithm" she says about the company's beta site, a very bare-bones version of what exists today. Instead of spending 100k on a website build out, she paid a local LA-based developer 5k to build out eight pages with no backend. "I started spreading the word through friends and friends of family, putting it out on social media, saying, 'Hey who is looking for interior design services that only cost 300 dollars?'"

She had about 1,500 people signup over the course of six weeks. The first iteration of Laurel & Wolf took users through a "style quiz,"-- that had no outcome. What Leura was testing was the public's interest. The BIG question: Would people be willing to pay for an interior design service online? 

"It was many, many long nights, of me staying up, calculating and emailing people their style quiz results. If you had this many As and this many Bs, you were 'Contemporary Eclectic.' It was terrible to demo, but between the MVP and servicing actual paying clients, we validated that not only there was a demand for the market, but what it would be like to acquire customers."

By the time they were ready raise money the company (which was two people at that point) also had a good, working idea of what the basic functions of the platform needed to do.  

[define it: Minimum Viable Product (MVP): In product development, the minimum viable product (MVP) is a product which has just enough features to gather validated learning about the product and its continued development.] 

By June 2014, just six months later, they had launched the site. 

WHEN RAISING MONEY, YOUR RESPONSIBILITY AS FOUNDER IS TO CONTROL THE PROCESS

The interior design world provides a service that typically 1 percent of the population can afford. People like venture capitalists and those with money to invest in the business. In the beginning, there was a little pushback-- angel investors who didn't understand the service, but what Leura had was proof: the basic function of what the service needed to provide. With that proof she had the confidence to control her fundraising. The goal of Laurel & Wolf's seed round was $500k. They hit $650k in a month and a half. 

[define it: Seed Round: The initial capital used to start a business. Seed capital often comes from the company founders' personal assets or from friends and family. The amount of money is usually relatively small because the business is still in the idea or conceptual stage.]

"I received this advice early on and tell every founder I meet who is fundraising the same thing," Fine explains. "You as the founder, your job is to control the fundraising process."

"You as the founder, your job is to control the fundraising process."

Tweet this. 

She was resolute, telling potential investors: "'This is the amount we’re raising, this is the day we’re closing, you’re either in or you’re out.'" And she got it done that way. "I couldn't continue to chase people in circles, it was crazy towns. I had to build a business." 

In both Series A and Series B she took a similar approach. She was strategic and thoughtful, meeting with VCs when it made sense and getting to know them. When it came time to raise, it was go time. She took meetings, had term sheets by the end of those meetings, and then made decisions very quickly. 

[define it: Series A: Series A is usually the first level of fundraising where VCs get involved. The name refers to the class of preferred stock sold to investors in exchange for their investment. Usually in this round you will see the company's first valuation.]

Another part of controlling the process she says, is taking all of the multifaceted variables into account. "There are questions," she explains, "that you need to ask yourself when you talk about why you're raising money. Are you raising money to accelerate growth? Could you build this business without raising money? Do you know what your business model is? Do you know the metrics that you’re trying to hit?"

That's your job as founder: to have a business model and monetization strategy in place from day one.  

Your job as founder is to have a business model and monetization strategy in place, from day one.

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TAKE A SERVICE ONLY AVAILABLE TO 1% AND DEMOCRATIZE IT

It's a simple, but brilliant idea-- take a service that only a small percentage of households can afford, and open it up to more people. More people=more work=more revenue. 

"You’re talking about taking a small pool of people in the U.S. who could afford to hire interior designers. We’ve opened up the market to 30% of the U.S." 

This represents enormous opportunity for growing a consumer base, while offering designers the ability to extend the arm of their business. It's simple supply and demand, where both parties benefit. People get spaces they loves; interior designers get to do the work they love. 

"Design is more of a science than I think people realize," Fine says. "You don't have to be in a space to make it impactful. As long as you have good assets in place— whether that’s photos, video, and obviously dimensions, then you have the opportunity and ability to design just as well as if you were in person. And most importantly, make an impact in someone's life." 

CHICKEN OR EGG? DOESN'T MATTER, JUST LAUNCH

"I’ve been meeting with a lot of female founders," Fine says, "and I’ve had the same conversation the last three meetings. They tell me they want to wait to launch until they feel that they’re ready."

There is however, no such thing as ready. Sometimes the founders don't want too many eyeballs on an unfinished product. Sometimes they are worried about letting down a customer or not being able to deliver. 

But, Fine notes, "When you’re building a company from the ground-up there is always the chicken and the egg. You have to go for it. You have to put it out there and see what it does." 

"When you’re building a company from the ground-up, you have to go for it. You have to put it out there and see what it does."

Tweet this. 

In the beginning Laurel & Wolf was far from perfect, but that didn't matter. "The last thing you want to do as a tech company is go out and build the entire working product from A to Z," says Fine. "You really have no idea what it needs to do and what it's going to look like."

Adding, "There is no such thing as perfect." 

THE FUTURE IS MAN & MACHINE, WORKING TOGETHER

"Our software," she says, "represents the best combination of humans and technology working together to really transform people’s lives. Our clients get to live a better way through the spaces that they spend time in." 

At the end of the day, she realizes that all the product recommendation and algorithms can’t predict how someone will feel in their space. But that’s where the designer comes in.

“A designer,” says Fine, “really understands, beyond the aesthetics of the space, the aesthetics of the person."

Arianna Schioldager is Create & Cultivate's editorial director. You can find her on IG @ariannawrotethis and more about her at www.ariannawrotethis.com