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Boss Files with Poppy Harlow

Rent the Runway CEO: Building a Closet in the Cloud

Boss Files with Poppy Harlow

CNN

Business, Entrepreneurship

4.6538 Ratings

🗓️ 2 July 2018

⏱️ 57 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Rent the Runway CEO Jenn Hyman recently equalized benefits for all company employees giving both salaried and hourly workers the same bereavement, parental leave, family sick leave, and sabbatical packages. She says she was perpetuating income inequality and it is the responsibility of business leaders to act like moral leaders.. She also opens up about her pledge to put H&M and Zara out of business and she shares her advice for female entrepreneurs today. Produced by Haley Draznin, CNN.To learn more about how CNN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

In this episode of Boss Files, we rent clothes so that you could start buying less stuff.

0:05.8

We have built a closet in the cloud so that you have a subscription to getting dressed

0:11.1

and can wear new things every single day.

0:13.8

And we will also rent you clothing for special events.

0:17.5

Rent the Runway CEO Jen Hyman.

0:20.6

She co-founded the company while she was at Harvard

0:22.8

to help girls afford designer gown without breaking the bank. Why she said she dreamed of

0:28.0

democratizing the fashion industry. With the company's explosive success, though, she feels a

0:33.5

responsibility to level the playing field for all of her employees. This year, she announced

0:38.9

equal benefits for all, something many American companies lack. She made the announcement in front

0:45.2

of hundreds of warehouse workers, and she calls those hours some of the most profound

0:50.9

of her life. What I realized was that we were perpetuating income inequality in this

0:57.1

country. We're living in a really interesting time where it is incumbent that business leaders have

1:04.3

to start acting like moral leaders. Wall Street has to start having a morality index because

1:10.0

70% of millennials will not work for an employer unless that employer represents their values.

1:18.0

And she says there's no excuse for companies not to be diverse today. Plus, her dream lunch date, Amazon's Jeff Bezos.

1:26.5

And be aggressive, her advice to female entrepreneurs.

1:30.2

Here's my conversation with Rent the Runways, Jen Hyman.

1:33.4

Jen Hyman, thanks for being here.

1:34.8

I'm psyched to be here with you.

1:36.3

Co-founder, CEO, Rent the Runway.

1:38.7

If there is a person that doesn't know what Rent the Runway is, hard to believe at this point,

...

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