NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather forecasts

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
    • The Great NZ Road Trip
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
    • Cooking the Books
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • What the Actual
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Business

Fashion site CEO Sophia Amoruso - being a female boss in the tech world

Washington Post
5 Jun, 2014 02:00 AM6 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Nasty Gal founder and CEO Sophia Amoruso.

Nasty Gal founder and CEO Sophia Amoruso.

Sophia Amoruso, the "Cinderella of tech", CEO of online fashion site Nasty Gal and author of the new book #GIRLBOSS, is not your typical CEO.

Sophia Amoruso, the CEO of online fashion site Nasty Gal and author of the new book #GIRLBOSS, is not your typical CEO.

The 30-year-old started the site in 2006 as an eBay project, selling vintage clothing while she worked as a security guard checking IDs at an art school. She had no college degree, no experience in business, and writes that as a teenager and in her early 20s, "I thought that I would never embrace capitalism."

Yet without taking out a dime in loans, she started a business that has led her to be called the "Cinderella of tech." Eight years later, the site is an online mecca for stylish women, with more than $100 million in revenue. Excerpts:

Q: Why did you decide to write the book?

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

A: There's no one really speaking to the audience I'm trying to reach. Every woman who has a business book has a platform. For the most part they're either a television personality or someone who had the perfect pedigree and worked their way up the career ladder.

If you look at my Instagram, girls are just beating down my door for tips or a job or mentorship. I can't hire every single one of them. My story is an unconventional story with anecdotes, commonsense advice and a big dose of permission to figure things out for yourself.

Q: What are some of your favourite or most influential business books?

A: Well it's not really a business book, but The Richest Man in Babylon is a must-read that's more about managing your own personal finances.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Q: What's the story behind the title #GIRLBOSS? Why did you choose to focus on women?

A: Well, I'm a girl. I'm a boss. I think it would be boring to call the book "Boss," but it's not just for girls. There are a lot of parents who've come to me and said about their daughters, "Oh my God, she's 21, she's totally flailing. Your story gives me hope." I put my mum through that. She's totally earned what she's experiencing today.

As for the hashtag, part of my story is about using social media as free marketing. The title is also a riff on this '70s Japanese movie called Girl Boss Guerilla, which is like a female revenge movie. It's very campy - something like the style of film Quentin Tarantino stole from.

Q: The company has grown immensely. How has your job as a leader changed?

Discover more

New Zealand|politics

Push for more women in leadership roles

28 Aug 05:30 PM
New Zealand

Helen Clark ranked 21st most powerful woman

22 May 07:41 PM
Opinion

Wendyl Nissen: You say bossy, I say results person

13 Mar 08:30 PM
Opinion

Shelley Bridgeman: Be bossy and proud

19 Mar 08:30 PM

A: As the company grows, you have to move from a team of generalists to a team of specialists. I was the ultimate generalist. I hired the first employee, another generalist. And even today I preach that there's no such thing as "that's not my job." Everyone needs to do what they need to do to get the job done.

But my job also went from whatever it takes to get job done to leading people, hiring people directly under me, and creating strategy and holding the company accountable to it.

I'm making long-term goals, which I never had in the beginning, and am trying to create meaning and have conversations about it, so that everybody can take that and do a better job. It's a different team I'm managing today compared to six years ago.

Q: One challenge of being a young CEO is how to deal with having senior executives who are older than you. The book recounts meetings where people incorrectly addressed them as the decision makers. What do you do when that happens?

A: That rarely happens, and those are the people I usually don't have a meeting with more than once. It's generally pretty clear that I'm the one running the business. I'm the one calling the shots. I own the majority of the business. I control the board.

There's mostly upside [to having older executives on the team]. Not only do the people who need mentorship have amazing, experienced managers; but for the most part, I get to manage people who need to be managed very little.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Tweets by @Sophia_Amoruso

Q: What was the hardest thing you had to learn as a new leader?

A: I think it was being loyal to the company as a whole rather than any individual person. That's really, really hard because I care a lot about the people I work with. But ultimately I have to set the company up for success. There have been times when the company outgrew somebody. I've tried to rectify that as quickly as possible.

Q: There's a lot of talk about the macho culture in the tech world. As an e-commerce site run by a woman, how much have you faced that?

A: It may be for some, but for me that hasn't been the fact. I waited to talk to venture capitalists until I didn't need anything from them. I think as a person and especially as a woman, putting yourself in a position where you've already done something - where you've proven something, where you don't need anything - is key. I'd proven that I could responsibly run a profitable business that was growing very quickly before I talked to them, so the macho piece didn't really come into play.

Amoruso's book #GIRLBOSS.

Q: What about when women haven't yet proven themselves? What would your advice be to them?

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

A: You don't have to be a dude at the table. If you think they're going to treat you differently as a woman, they're going to treat you differently. What you expect will happen, if that's what you think about it.

I never want to be in a position where I owe anyone anything unless I'm 100 per cent sure I can keep my promise. That's how I work. I know that's not the case for everyone and some businesses are more capital-intensive. But I would never have an idea on a piece of paper and ask someone to give me money. I just wouldn't do it.

I have a pretty healthy sense of entitlement, but only in places where I feel like I can bring something to the table. Be a peer in any relationship. It's much healthier than being indebted to anyone.

- Washington Post

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Business

Premium
Media Insider

Noise ban, off-limit interviews: TVNZ's rules as RNZ moves in; Ad agencies take aim at global merger

09 May 10:58 AM
Premium
Tourism

'Nothing was going to stop me': Pioneer who built ski resort from scratch sells up

09 May 07:00 AM
Premium
Shares

Market close: NZ sharemarket rises as gentailers make gains

09 May 06:03 AM

“Not an invisible footprint”: Why technology supply chains need optimising

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Business

Premium
Noise ban, off-limit interviews: TVNZ's rules as RNZ moves in; Ad agencies take aim at global merger

Noise ban, off-limit interviews: TVNZ's rules as RNZ moves in; Ad agencies take aim at global merger

09 May 10:58 AM

Untimely deaths of 3 respected NZ journalists; NZME set to take on Trade Me for car sales.

Premium
'Nothing was going to stop me': Pioneer who built ski resort from scratch sells up

'Nothing was going to stop me': Pioneer who built ski resort from scratch sells up

09 May 07:00 AM
Premium
Market close: NZ sharemarket rises as gentailers make gains

Market close: NZ sharemarket rises as gentailers make gains

09 May 06:03 AM
Premium
'Very happy': Jim Grenon to join NZME board with Steven Joyce in peace deal that ends bitter battle

'Very happy': Jim Grenon to join NZME board with Steven Joyce in peace deal that ends bitter battle

09 May 05:42 AM
Deposit scheme reduces risk, boosts trust – General Finance
sponsored

Deposit scheme reduces risk, boosts trust – General Finance

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • What the Actual
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven CarGuide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP