Hi everyone, I'm your host Hilary Kerr and this is Second Life, a podcast spotlighting

women who have truly inspiring careers.

We're talking about their work journeys, what they've learned from the process of setting

aside their doubts or fears and what happens when they embark on their Second Life.

Today, I am so very pleased to have one of the most incredible women I have ever met in the studio,

someone who has a truly inspiring self-made success story,

jewelry designer Kendra Scott. Kendra is the incredibly charismatic and talented founder,

chairman and CEO of her company, which includes her signature line of jewelry, fine jewelry,

home goods and more, all of which is available in her 90 retail stores plus Nordstrom,

Neiman Marcus and hundreds of boutiques. In the 16 years since she launched her business with a

$500 investment, Kendra has grown it into a billion-dollar business. But before she was leading a

billion-dollar business, Kendra actually struggled to find her way and had another career as a hatmaker.

Yes, a hatmaker. She's going to tell us all about how a failed business led to her wildly

successful one and so much more now on Second Life, it's Kendra Scott. So, Kendra, on this podcast,

we like to start at the beginning. So, what did you study in school and what did you think you

were going to be when you grew up? You know, I grew up in Kenosha, Wisconsin. My aunt was a fashion

director for a small department store called Gimbals in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. My mom's family

were farmers and coal miners. We lived in a very simple kind of blue collar town. People did not

grow up to become designers where I grew up. And I remember being exposed to fashion through my

aunt and her experiences as a fashion director and going into her closet and what that was like.

And I realized, like, for me, that was magical. Fashion just could transform you to be anybody

you wanted to be. And really, it was my childhood dream to be in fashion someday. And if I could be

...