Business savvy and ridiculously cool, Sophia Amoruso has built an empire from the ground up. Keep on reading to see why our Queen Sheva of the week is the true #GirlBoss of the year.
Growing up in San Diego was no walk in the park for Amoruso. After being diagnosed with depression and ADD, and being homeschooled, Amoruso moved into a house of musicians near Sacramento. It was during this time, at only age 22, that she got the idea to sell vintage clothing on eBay under her brand, Nasty Gal Vintage. Many of the clothes she sold were found from dumpster diving, and unfortunately, Amoruso had significant trouble in getting her business started.
An initial lack of traction didn’t discourage the young Amoruso. After being kicked off of eBay due to a spat with fellow users, she decided to launch her own retail site, Nastgal.com (named after Betty Davis’ 1975 album), which sells handpicked vintage clothing and accessories.
Amoruso’s keen eye for fashion, savvy use of social media and relentless work allowed Nasty Gal to grow into an empire. What initially began as a one-woman show with no outside funding has now become a company of more than 350 employees, 550,000 daily customers and over $30 million in revenue. Nasty Gal nabbed over $40 million in funding in 2012 to expand and now sells to customers in over 60 countries. Although Amoruso stepped down from being CEO earlier this January, she continues to be the creative director and executive chairman of her multi-million dollar brand.
Already worth more than $100 million, Amoruso isn’t just a creative visionary and modern-day entrepreneur— with her book #GirlBoss, Amoruso can now add New York Times bestselling author to her list. #GirlBoss tells Amoruso’s story in a way that inspires other women to kick-start their dreams. As Vanity Fair writes, #GirlBoss is “a power manifesto for strong, ambitious women”. One of our favorite #GirlBoss quotes is: “You don’t get taken seriously by asking someone to take you seriously. You’ve got to show up and own it. If this is a man’s world, who cares? I’m still really glad to be a girl in it.”
We hope you feel inspired by Amoruso to pursue something that scares you a little and fascinates you a lot. After all, as Sophia Amoruso believes, “Bad bitches are taking over the world”.
