A Fearless Future with Rebecca Minkoff

<p>For Jewish girls, the bat mitzvah is a pivotal moment of becoming a young adult and joining the adult community. For Rebecca Minkoff, who had been designing and sewing clothes since she was eight years old, the celebration was also a chance to showcase her fashion skills—and her “newly budding rack.” Pulling inspiration from the 1700s (think <i>Bridgerton</i>), Rebecca designed a square-necked, Empire-waist number that checked her boxes (and her parents made sure it stayed PG-13). For Rebecca, this was a foundational step in the lifelong process of becoming a fashion mogul. Now, in 2021, Rebecca Minkoff has flagship stores in LA, Hong Kong and New York City, among others; she’s also distributed by more than 900 companies worldwide. </p><p>While Rebecca has enjoyed early boosts to her brand—Jenna Elfman wore her <a href="https://www.glamour.com/gallery/fashion-designers-on-the-first-item-they-ever-sold" target="_blank">“I Love New York” shirt</a> on The Jay Leno Show in 2001—Rebecca has also worked hard to cultivate her business’s profile. For example, when she launched the Morning After Bag (also known as the M.A.B.) in 2005, she leveraged her industry connections, working relationships with Hollywood agents and stylists to ensure that the highly photographed celebrities of the early aughts all had a Rebecca Minkoff bag on their arm. </p><p>But getting there wasn’t easy: she’s navigated debts, doubts, and setbacks along the way. For example, Rebecca tells us she was once fired from a job after the CEO pulled her aside and told her that  if she didn’t start channelling the passion she was putting into her own side hustle into the CEO’s fashion business, she’d be let go. Rebecca countered with, “I don’t honestly think I can do that.” At the time, Rebecca had small collections in only a handful of New York City stores, but her dedication to her own vision meant letting go of her main gig. “There was no safety net,” she recalls. Rebecca has since been in the CEO’s position, and she’s made the same tough call. “Whe