Sophia Amoruso on Why Failing Forward is the Key to Designing Your Path
What is your relationship to failure?
My guest this week, Sophia Amoruso, believes that as long as you’re learning from your experiences, there’s no such thing as failure. The founder of Girlboss Media and author of #GIRLBOSS, Sophia watched her first business, online fashion retailer Nasty Gal, go bankrupt after a successful run. Rather than hide or quit when the challenges came, she chose instead to learn from the experience her first business gave her.
Sophia started her new venture, Girlboss Media, in 2017, with a fresh perspective on what success really means and a healthy relationship to failure. In this interview, you’ll hear how Sophia emerged from the challenges of losing her first business and the way these trials shaped who she is today. Even when the darkest days come and life puts obstacles in your path, there’s always something you can be grateful for.
Featured Moment
Majo: I’m curious, how do you feel like you were made through these trials?
Sophia: We are all capable of having our own heroine’s journey. The scale of which, how publicly that happens, shouldn’t make any difference. When we watch these examples of people fail, or succeed, it’s awesome, it gives us license to go do the same thing. Your feelings are just as valid as theirs, your failures are just as valid. Do I feel like my trials have created who I am today, and how? Absolutely. There’s these binary concepts of success — the top of the food chain, the cover of Forbes, money, a dude, a baby, a nice Instagram feed — we all have a different definition of it. But culture has a relatively narrow definition of it.
Show Notes
Growing up a troublemaker who had a distaste for authority and convention.
Hear about Sophia’s high school years with ADHD and mental health struggles.
A few compelling reasons why the traditional education system fails many people.
Leaving home at 17 to live in the city in a purple “closet” with a bunch of musicians.
How Sophia's teenage anti-establishment phase spilled over into her mischievous life in Portland.
Find out why Sophia describes her time as a stripper as a positive experience.
How privilege and special treatment made her feel entitled to indulge in delinquent behavior.
The lessons in social engineering and acting that help Sophia to combat imposter syndrome.
Learn about Sophia's journey to starting Nasty Gal and its exponential growth.
2016: the year her husband left her, her company went bankrupt, and Trump was elected.
Breaking free from the binary concepts of success and failure.
Seeing the good things in life amid the difficulty and embracing the mystery of our existence.
The wonderful hindsight that comes with being a second-time entrepreneur.
References
Featured Black Female Voice
This week’s Black or Indigenous female spotlight is Tiffany Dufu.
You may remember Tiffany from our episode “Drop the Ball” where we talk about the value of delegating with joy, and a concept she calls “strategic chaos,” which has been very helpful to me.
Here’s what Tiffany is up to now:
She founded The Cru, which pairs women together in small, local groups to support one another in community
Featured as one of Entrepreneur’s 100 Powerful Women
You can find more about Tiffany’s work on tiffanydufu.com and on Instagram @tdufu.
One Last Thing
My book, Break the Good Girl Myth is now available! The first few weeks of a book’s publication really determines whether it gets picked up by the media and included on reading/bestseller lists, etc. Every single order counts. If I’ve supported you in any way ever through this newsletter or the podcast, it would truly mean so much and be incredibly helpful if you bought the book right now (vs. later). Order the book. Deep thanks to you!