As a part of New York Fashion Week Friday, Visa teamed up with โThe Talks,โ and a group of female fashion entrepreneurs to present the โFashion is Changingโ panel. With a roster of of big names rising in the fashion industry, the panel came together to discuss inclusion, supporting each other, and avoiding having their voices stifled.
Included on the panel was, Heather Philp, a Senior VP at Wells Fargo, supermodel/founder of swimwear brand โTropic of Cโ Candice Swanepoel, co-founder of Rent the Runway Jennifer Fleiss, and Aurora James, founder and creative director of Brother Vellies.
โIts hard to talk about money and convince people why your product is great, especially for me, in all the meetings,โ said Swanepoel, โIt’s hard for women to talk about money, Iโve been on the other side of it for so long so now Iโm learning every day to be stronger and be more confident.โ
Aurora later emphasized that in order to increase representation there needs to be a change in perception. โAs women, weโve been taught so much that there can only be one final rose itโs part of the culture. How can we get rid of that? Weโre not competing for anythingย ย thereโs enough capital for all of us. We just havenโt stood up and been willing to take it.โ She continued,ย ย โWe need to change that stereotype that women are frivolous with money yet we are controlling 80% of household purchasing decisions.โ
โHow can you stretch your mind to think of the full market potential?โ Jennifer Fleiss asks of aspiring business owners,โ โYou really need to have the guts and the confidence. We all need to push ourselves more if we want to compete in this landscape of men who are doing that.โ
