Productivity
Meet the UK fashion CEO making waves in America
Northern Irish entrepreneur Emma McIlroy, the outspoken owner of upstart clothing brand Wildfang, has three great pieces of advice for you.
The first thing you might notice about Emma McIlroy is her accent. The Irish brogue isn’t exactly the most common sound you’ll hear on the streets of Portland, Oregon, but, then again, McIlroy isn’t the most common person you’ll meet in the Pacific Northwest either. As the CEO and founder of Wildfang — a clothing company making waves in Portland — McIlroy is a savvy businesswoman with an excellent sense of style, however, it’s commitment to her community and her internal strength that makes her stand out in a crowd.
Emma Mcilroy
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Within the latest episode of MAVENS– Red Bull's video series heroing extraordinary women – McIlroy bares her soul, stands her ground and shows us how she creates a safe space for Portland’s women and LGBT community within her store. It’s amazing to think that all of this came from one fateful trip to Urban Outfitters …
Watch McIlroy’s episode above and read the three best pieces of advice that she’s ever received (and actually took!) below.
Advice from Emma
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Pick yourself back up
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"Yeah, maybe"
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Only the best
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Fail fast and reflect on every failure.
"I’ve worked in several places where there was no room for failure, in fact we created spin to cover up our failures. At Wildfang we have a culture of discussing failure, assessing our failures and learning from them. In order to have an accountable team, you have to allow them to fail. I utterly believe that those who can learn fastest and can recover fastest from failure, are ultimately the most successful."
Try to say "Yeah, maybe" more than "Yeah, right."
"It’s easy to shut ideas down and criticize others, or even yourself. It’s easy to break things down — it’s so much harder to build things up. Some of our best ideas have come from either failures or unlikely sources, so I try to remain open to possibility. It’s a mental skill for sure. If you can be a ‘yeah, maybe’ person [instead,] you’ll be someone others want to follow. Remember opportunity often comes from the unexpected."
Surround yourself with fucking awesome people.
"Accept nothing less. If you look around you and the people you see aren’t amazing — then something has to change. It takes a village to create anything great and at some point you’re gonna fall and need someone else to pick you up. In the past I’ve settled for average partners and I’ve learned to never do that again. Surround yourself with people who care as much as you and are willing to work as hard as you — your momentum will be unstoppable."
