Mastering the Entrepreneurial Mindset

Kendra Scott and other female entrepreneurs shared tips and insight into how to master the entrepreneurial mindset at the first Kendra Scott Women’s Summit. Kendra, joined by Emily Ramshaw, Tiffany Masterson, Sheinelle Jones, Nastia Liukin, and Maria Menounos, discussed the challenges, values, and methods of pioneering your own business and how to immerse yourself in the mindset of being the most equipped to handle all that is entailed when launching something new.

“An entrepreneur is so much more than simply starting a business,” Kendra said. “An entrepreneur is a leader, a game changer, and someone who is not afraid to see the world differently.”

1. Embracing the Leadership Role

Entrepreneurship entails taking charge and stepping into leadership roles. Kendra asked the panel to reflect on when they first recognized themselves as leaders. Maria Menounos and Sheinelle Jones drew on their upbringing as the foundation of their leadership skills, referencing leadership roles such as class president or taking charge as an older sibling or navigating things for parents with limited English knowledge.

“Before you know it, you almost project that you can be that person (who is a leader),” Sheinelle said.

Emily Ramshaw, however, said her realization of leadership occurred much later. “I was great at being number two,” Emily said. “I’m a great executor. I knew if somebody else had the vision, I could execute it.”

It wasn’t until Emily’s growing dissatisfaction with the way women were portrayed in politics as “too ambitious” or “wanting it too much” that Emily reconsidered her position as #2. Emily said that while these terms were a shift from “selectability” and “likability” that headlined the 2016 election, the new phrases regarding women in the 2020 race were rooted not only in sexism, but racism as well.

The desire to address this double standard enforced by sexism and racism ushered her into an entrepreneurial endeavor of building a national news platform, The 19th, for women across the ideological spectrum. The platform launched in August in the thick of the COVID-19 pandemic, and was built overwhelmingly by women with kids at home.

“If I hadn’t had this nerve, if I hadn’t been propelled to believe that I wasn’t just number two and that I could be number one, none of this would have happened,” Emily said.

Kendra said that the plunge Emily took to be #1 were indicative of a leader.

“That’s courage and that’s bravery, and those are all instincts of becoming a leader,” Kendra said.

Kendra said that the purpose and passion behind what you do is the heart of the entrepreneurial mindset that helps set the roadmap to get you from point A to point B.

2. Values of an Entrepreneurial Mindset

Kendra inquired about a value of the entrepreneurial mindset that the panel learned early in their career.

“You don’t have to do one thing,” Sheinelle Jones said. “The more people I meet who I admire have that passion, but then they use that passion to do other things.”

Sheinelle said that exploring different passions and gifts is a good thing and something she tries to emphasize to her children.

Maria Menonous agreed that you don’t have to limit yourself to one thing, and navigated the mindset of wanting to do everything. Maria said that she explored pushing the boundaries of wanting to juggle various roles such as being on a magazine cover and the nightly news, all while running a Pantene ad. From taking on different roles, she learned that you can’t let people tell you who you are or who you want to be.

‘You can have advisors who you solely trust and have your best interest at heart, because there will be people who try to derail you for their own purposes,” Maria said. “Building your own brand is just as important as the work you’re contributing everywhere else.”

Five time Olympic Medalist Nastia Liukin said that her mentors taught her not to put herself in a box.

“When you achieve a certain amount of success or an accomplishment in one area of life, that doesn’t mean you can’t do anything else.”

Nastia said that her mentor Kobe Bryant had wanted to explore other things after he retired, but was met with skepticism since people only knew him as an athlete.

“I was finally able to realize that I was more than just a gymnast and that gymnastics and Olympic medals doesn’t define who I am,” Natsia said.

Emily Ramshaw said that a value she came to learn was that empathetic leadership was a selling point and not a weakness.

Emily was told early in her career that as a manager and editor, she needed to adopt a tougher leadership style.

“I didn’t have it in me to lose that empathetic faith in people and their ability to improve and evolve, and finally I realized that was my strength,” Emily said. “I am a beloved leader because of my empathy.”

Emily said she thinks women are often faced with expectations that go against who they are to conform to traditional standards of leadership, but empathetic leadership is of great value in the workplace and we need more workplaces on a national and international scale to embrace that type of leadership.

Tiffany Masterson agreed with Emily that it was important to stay aligned with yourself throughout your entrepreneurial journey.

“It’s important as an entrepreneur to remember no matter what you have a DNA you have to stick with,” Tiffany said.

“We have a unique fingerprint for a reason,” Kendra agreed. “We’re supposed to leave our mark. If we’re doing what everyone else is doing, we’ve already failed. We’ve got to be disruptive, we have to be bold and not afraid to color outside the lines.”

3. Risk, Struggles, and Failures Pave the Way

Tiffany Masteron said that failure in starting something new is inevitable, but it’s how you handle failure that defines you and your business. Tiffany reflected on a product that was released prematurely and didn’t deliver in the way the other products of Drunk Elephant did. Instead of pushing the product onto her customers, she dealt with the matter with full transparency and worked hard to deliver a product that lived up to its promise.

“We changed it to Beste Number 9 because it took nine formulations to get there,” Tiffany said. “We thought it was a great way to let them know that we’re listening to you, we’re owning it, we’re accountable, and we’re not trying to hide when we make mistakes.”

Emily Ramshaw left a comfortable job to launch The 19th, and was tasked with raising 10 million dollars in 2020 to make The 19th viable. This task was aggravated by the pandemic that left her with a smaller team than originally anticipated, but with COVID-19 having a negative impact on women more than men in virtually every arena, she knew that the mission of the 19th was more important now than ever before.

Natsia reflected on her second time in the Olympics, having a lot more eyes and expectation on her, she felt the pressure to perform. At her best event, the uneven bars, Natsia fell, invoking a mixture of emotions such as embarrassment, wanting nothing more than to hide from the 20,000 people in the stadium, but pushing through anyway.

“My parents always taught me that no matter what you do you have to finish what you’ve started,” Natsia said. “For the very first time in my entire life and career, I got a standing ovation for the worst routine of my life.”

Natsia said it took literally falling on her face to learn that it was about picking yourself back up rather than the outcome or where you finish.

4. Mentors and Support Systems

Sheinelle Jones emphasized thought partners are crucial. Thought partners are people who see you and believe in you, and will provide constructive advice throughout your undertakings as an entrepreneur. Sheinelle said her mother and grandmother have been great thought partners in her life, giving her advice from lipstick shade to advising against speaking too fast for her audience.

“You need people like that who have always been there, but I also think it’s important to find new mentors and new people who you can meet along the way,” Sheinelle said.

Women empowering other women is a great mentality to adopt, Sheinelle said, and a great way to build a support system. Having someone to pick you back up and others to learn from are great ways to re-energize and better yourself for your own path.

“To know that you have a sister girl to call and has your back is priceless,” Sheinelle said. “You want someone to do that for you and you have to promise yourself that you’ll do that for someone else.”