Founders ✓ Claim

Key Takeaways

Top insights from the episode
- Ambush your customer and pay a premium for prime real estate to do so
- Follow your instincts and make what you want to see in the world
- Learn where your customers aggregate, then put your product in front of them
- If you love what you do, never give up control; retention of total control is paramount
- Find an earned secret and then exploit the hell out of it for decades
- Mediocrity is invisible until passion shows up and exposes it
Surround yourself with the best people: You will make thousands of little decisions with the people you work with; the consequences of these compound with time, hence why it is critical to work with the best decision-makers possible
Despite the situation that you are born into, know that you have the agency to improve your standing in the world
Embrace whatever it is that makes you different from others; this is your competitive edge, and it is best to lean into it
“It may seem that now and then I need a rescuer. But over time, I learned to rescue myself.” – Tamara Mellon

When Tamara Mellon’s father lent her the seed money to start a high-end shoe company, he cautioned her: “Don’t let the accountants run your business.” Little did he know that over the next fifteen years, the struggle between “financial” and “creative” would become one of the central themes as Mellon’s business.

Mellon grew Jimmy Choo into a billion dollar brand and her personal glamour made her an object of global media fascination. Vogue photographed her wedding. Vanity Fair covered her divorce and the criminal trial that followed. The Wall Street Journal reported on her relentless battle between “the suits” and “the creatives" and Mellon’s triumph against a brutally hostile takeover attempt.

But despite her eventual fame and fortune, Mellon didn’t have an easy road to success. Her early life was marked by a tumultuous and broken family life, battles with anxiety and depression, and a stint in rehab. Determined not to end up unemployed, penniless, and living in her parents’ basement under the control of her alcoholic mother, Mellon honed her natural business sense and invested in what she knew best—fashion.

In creating the shoes that became a fixture on Sex and the City and red carpets around the world, Mellon relied on her own impeccable sense of what the customer wanted—because she was that customer. What she didn’t know at the time was that success would come at a high price—after struggles with an obstinate business partner, a conniving first CEO, a turbulent marriage, and a mother who tried to steal her hard-earned wealth.

Now Mellon shares the whole larger-than-life story, with shocking details that have never been presented before. From her troubled childhood to her time as a young editor at Vogue to her partnership with the cobbler Jimmy Choo, to her very public relationships, Mellon offers an honest and gripping account of the episodes that have made her who she is today.

In My Shoes is a definitive book for fashion aficionados, aspiring entrepreneurs, and anyone who loves a juicy true story about sex, drugs, money, power, high heels, and overcoming adversity. This episode is what I learned from reading In My Shoes: A Memoir by Tamara Mellon.

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#389 The Founder of Jimmy Choo: Tamara Mellon

Podcast Notes Playlist: Business