I met Cozy close to a year ago at an event she hosted at her children’s salon. She was everything you would expect from a Mompreneur. She was confident, knowledgeable, passionate about her brand and all around fabulous. I just knew I had to feature her in a #MompreneurMonday post. It took some time but here she is. You already know the SoCozy brand, now is your chance to get to know the woman behind the brand! Wait until you see what she says about Mom Guilt. I’m trying to get on her level!!!
What did you want to be when you grew up?
I always wanted to be in advertising when I grew up because it seemed so creative and exciting, and in fact and my first job out of college was in advertising. However, I was unhappy from the start and after nine months I knew it wasn’t for me so I quit. That’s when I turned to fashion.
What were you doing before you came up with the idea for your business?
I had a fantastic job in fashion, running the denim division for Z Cavaricci, which was THE brand at the time. So, as you can imagine, it was a huge leap of faith to leave such a fantastic job at a hot brand to pursue starting my own business.
How did you come up with the name of your business?
When I turned 18 years old, my mother got me this old, used car, with the license plate “SoCozy”. So, when I was in the early stages of starting this business and trying to nail down a name, I kept going back to the license plate on my first car and it seemed so obvious to me – there wasn’t a decision to be made, really.
Three things you’ve learned since starting the company.
1. Don’t be wishy-washy – set clear goals for yourself. Clear goals produce clear results, while vague goals produce vague results.
2. Build a team of people that are smarter than yourself. This might be a tough pill for some people to swallow, but you can’t be the best or most knowledgeable about everything. So, when you build up a really great team, it makes everything run that much smoother and thrive that much quicker.
3. You have to love what you’re doing in order to come into work and do it every day. I won’t say ‘if you love what you do, you’ll never work a day in your life’ – because there’s a lot of hard work to be done and not every day will be easy, but when you truly love what you do, the payoff is infinitely greater.
Where do you see the business being in five years? In fifteen?
My vision for SoCozy in five years is to be the global leader in kids’ hair care. When mom needs products that work fast, with clean formulas that she can trust, I want it to be a no-brainer for her to go to SoCozy for her kids.
Similarly, in fifteen years, I see SoCozy has the global leader in kids’ personal care, so really stepping outside of just haircare and more into body care and personal hygiene.
Who is your biggest supporter?
Definitely my husband. He’s my biggest cheerleader and he keeps the faith – which is so important not just during the tough times, but the good times, too.
Who is your biggest inspiration?
I’m so inspired by my hairstylists in my salons. They’ve been with me for so long and they work so, so hard day in and day out. While every child is delightful, not every haircut is a breeze – they’re moving targets, some of them are crying, and so on – so to work with children day in and day out and never lose their enthusiasm is just so incredible to me.
Parenting advice you would like to share.
As a parent, naturally, you want your kids to succeed at everything they set their minds too, but I think even more important than that, is allowing your kids the freedom to fail. I think doing that, especially at an early age, really teaches them the life lessons and gives them the thick skin they’ll need to get them through challenges later on in life and the ability to make better choices.
#momguilt – do you feel it? How do you cope?
I don’t think I’ve ever felt mom guilt. I learned very early on that, like most things in life, it’s all about balance. Sometimes you have to leave work to be with your kids, and sometimes you have to leave your kids for work, but I try not to sweat it – it’s just the give and
take
of being a mom and an entrepreneur.
Favorite knock-knock joke.
Knock-Knock
Who’s there?
Chicken
Chicken Who?
Chicken to see if you’re home.
