Jan 9, 2018
Leili McKinley is a business and personal branding expert who developed a system of questions to identify a solid foundation of brand characteristics.
In this episode of Your Stories Don't Define You. How You Share Them Will., she introduces the concept of building a foundation, a structure, to help you step out of your comfort zone and explore. She uses a metaphor that's pretty unique to the fashion design industry: Boning a corset. That means using real whale bones to provide a solid structure on a model for a wedding gown, the final, most complex piece used for a fashion show.
Leili and Sarah had a great conversation about Leili's first entrepreneurial experience after completing her degree at Otis Parson's in NYC, when she impulsively hauled a suitcase full of unique, one-of-a-kind sample designs of throws and pillows to a variety of high-end department stores, like Barney's.
This is a story with a happy ending, not only because she walked away with orders, but because she walked away with a great story to share.