Jen Atkinson 5:35
I think all of the above, we always prioritize family dinner. So kind of risk taking was part of what was expected. Like, I feel like that’s a piece of it. Like every time we failed, like the motto in my house was you’re one step closer to success. So they kind of bred this aptitude for risk taking and except, like, celebrating failure to like, come back stronger, or learn from it. And I think that’s a quality and an entrepreneur that I admire. I think creativity and kind of problem solving was a big piece that my parents raised my sisters and I with and it like, if we were in arguments are needed to figure something out, they didn’t come and solve it for us, they literally would say go downstairs and figure it out, like, and just that negotiation between my sisters and I like needing to solve our own problems. Same with friendships, like they just didn’t get involved. That coddled us in that way, it was like problem solving. It was be creative, it was take risks, I would say, um, Teamwork was a big one in our house, it was, we always basically needed to be part of a team that was kind of an expectation. It fell into gymnastics. For most of us, when gymnastics was done, we all there’s a lot of track and field, there was swimming. We’re just always part of teams. And I think that’s another piece. Um, yeah, I think the flexibility though, like my parents basically always said, like, if you work for yourself, you can work when you need to when you want to. And, like my dad and mom lived that life, they they showed us how great it was, they took trips, like me, I started taking six, eight week, motorhome trips across the country, because my dad unplugged. And that was his choice, even though he was still able to provide for the family. Because he was sort of an entrepreneur. So that was like the essence of what running your own company could give to you.
John Corcoran 7:31
And I know that that’s been a priority for you as well, I want to get into that. You, you, you prioritize family time, as a working mom, as well. But first before we get into that, so you end up going off to UC Berkeley and studying business. And after that going and getting your MBA also, and you actually spent a number of years, kind of in the corporate world. So it was a while before you got around to that business ownership that had been so instilled in you from a young age. Looking back on that now, imagine that time, there are a lot of lessons that you apply in the work that you do now as the head of a
Jen Atkinson 8:12
company. Oh, yeah, I feel so fortunate to have learned from like to establish brands, both at Gap and Adobe, um, my experience with Kellogg was also instrumental, I feel like in the way I run the company, but most often I look back to two literal jobs I held at Gap or Adobe leadership decision decisions or management decisions I had to make. And I think being at those larger corporations that gave me like the structure that I’ve been able to bring to this era, but without the bureaucracy, I would say like, like we’re still agile, but we have sort of aspirations for the structure and goal and standard operating procedures that we need to run by to make sure the wheels don’t fall off as we grow. So we’re really focused on like setting foundation with, like, clarity and roles, expectations, processes, and I think a lot of that I’ve been able to bring from my past work experiences.
John Corcoran 9:12
You joined the Gap in 2002, after getting your MBA after graduating, no, sorry, after graduating from undergraduate, you joined the Gap. And you are in merchandising, something that today must be so incredibly valuable having that perspective for a company that sells into companies like the Gap. Do you think that was intentional in retrospect, like you think that you went into merchandising in part because of the business that your mom was running? at all, or was there some was there a larger picture like one day I’m going to join the family business it’ll be helpful having worked for the Gap.
Jen Atkinson 9:50
Right? Um, I think again, I think it’s both I always in the back of my mind had Destira on my mind is something I would eventually want to do. But I needed to kind of find my own place and time to make it the right. The right choice like, and it wasn’t in the beginning. It wasn’t in when I graduated I was I sort of had this passion to get out there and, and learn I think more before I think it’s my social nature as well. Like I really enjoyed meeting other merchandisers and merchandise planners and designers, we traveled to New York and Hong Kong, like it was a buzz of young energy in that retail space at Gap that I’m very grateful for.
John Corcoran 10:40
Yeah, well, at what point did you you’re so you see your sister joined the company before you it is it was your mom and your sister? And then at what point? Did it cross your mind? Or did you guys have a conversation about you joining the family business?
Jen Atkinson 10:57
Oh, it’s rare, very clear. So my sister joined about 10 years before me and she and my mom built the business. When I went off to business school, my application was about wanting to join Destira and I, I took classes with intention to add value to Destira sort of as consultancy. So there was, by that time, I was like really thinking about to Sierra, but when I graduated, I went to Adobe for another five years.
John Corcoran 11:22
Because it a long term plan, you get 20 years.
Jen Atkinson 11:27
And I don’t regret it. Ultimately, I don’t regret it at all. But what happened is my first daughter Payton was born in 2012. And I had a beautiful maternity leave, I went back to Adobe for another year. But right when she like, when she turned one, it just when I went back to a big company, I couldn’t quite find the value I was seeking. And each hour of my time spent at work, like, like, I just wanted to be somewhere else. So having a child like up the bar on the contribution and impact I wanted to make on each hour away. Like I don’t know how that’s like how I valued it. And it triggered me to be like, let’s figure this out. So it took another like, the price six months of planning between my mom and sister and I, especially my sister and I to make sure it felt like equitable. We had very clear division of labor roles and responsibilities. And I feel fortunate my sister Jodi, and I really fit together like a puzzle, our experience and our passions and what we’re good at our skill sets, like, we really don’t, fortunately, duplicate many areas. But man, we’re very intentional about the way we lead as sister than and partners. Right.
John Corcoran 12:43
And so now, talk to me a little bit about what the business is, like, especially now is after, you know, two and a half years later after COVID. Well, actually, let’s go back to that. So, you know, COVID hits, you are a business that as I believed at the time, a lot of your business was funneled through local gymnastics gymnasiums, which I imagine many of them shut down because these are indoor spaces. What was that like for you in March 2020? What’s going through your head?
Jen Atkinson 13:18
Um, all gyms closed, our business literally came to a screaming halt. Like we might even had a couple days of zero sales.
John Corcoran 13:27
Which were for I imagine at your size that wasn’t happening.
Jen Atkinson 13:30
No, it was it was absolutely insane. It was the highest levels of stress and like business failure I’ve ever experienced to date. Um, we acted very quickly, with downsizing our team, forward looking canceling production on orders. A lot of like, really hard decisions had to be made, like made immediately and that allowed us to stay profitable, stay alive and ultimately come back stronger. And then we were able to hire back the majority of the team.
John Corcoran 14:03
What was that like that when you realize you had to lay people off or furlough them wherever you did it.
Jen Atkinson 14:11
It was sickening, like literally I got hives sickening, but she was it was, it was perfect. Um, I think it was a lot of time for reflection, though, ultimately. Like we talked a lot, like with our core group about leadership during the pandemic in the downturn, and what I feel like became even more important than ever was our community. It was literally our community and our consumer because like, we had so much brand advocacy that like the coaches and the gym owners who loved us, like, like came out of the woodworks to really help us spread the word on how we can help their gyms and we pivoted, we created online fundraisers for gyms to sell product to make money to help them get through. So we all were able to kind of work together To ultimately fundraise and make money to get through the pandemic together, and it felt like we felt so integrated with our community. And it really was a kickstart, for us to move any of our offline businesses online to give even our gym clubs the opportunity to sell their custom leotards through the stereo.com, where in the past, they had to sell them by hand through forums in their club. So we did a lot of online kind of digital work.
John Corcoran 15:31
I bought, I believe before the pandemic, what was the state of your direct to consumer ecommerce sales through your website.
Jen Atkinson 15:40
We were it was strong, but the pandemic we almost doubled our direct to consumer sales. And fortunately, it basically forced us to find all new avenues to really drive drive that channel with the gym closures. So we were able to work with basically, we found new Facebook advertising partners, Google advertising partners, the list goes on affiliate advertising partners, and we’ve been able to really top of funnel like raise our brand awareness through our digital marketing strategy and and we’ve continued to do that now. So we’ve had the what we call our b2b build back that gyms are reopened, we’re now able to sell wholesale again. But we’ve continued on the E commerce path though that we are trajectory around. So now we have larger market share than we did before.
John Corcoran 16:31
How long after things dropped down? Did things start to pick back up again? Did you find that, you know, families were buying leotards for girls stuck at home to give them activities even if they weren’t going to the gym?
Jen Atkinson 16:46
Oh, yeah, we, um, we actually made like coloring pages with the prints of our design leotard that we were trying to be involved in our gymnasts at home life, to get them engaged with our brand, even if they weren’t buying leotards. And we tried to feature stories of our gymnasts and our community on our website and through our social media. So like how they were entertaining themselves, how they’re doing school at home, how they’re practicing gymnastics at home. So we really tried to be that like that brand to help them express themselves and kind of find joy in even if they weren’t finally it’s hard. I would say it was those three, four months were that like, that was our whole marketing communication strategy was to staying connected, engage. And then when I would say school hit, like fall, July, so it was really those that March, April, May, June, this four months were really rough. And then the trajectory started, like building back up again. Yeah, we sell across the country. And by all means, it was it was a fascinating study of the states. We do business with we do we do in every state, but the volume really increase of America compared to the coasts
John Corcoran 18:00
and you’re saying, yeah, the ones that weren’t as locked down? Exactly, yeah,
Jen Atkinson 18:05
we built a lot of new relationships with the areas of the US that were not locked down during the pandemic.
John Corcoran 18:11
And we talked earlier about prioritizing family. And I know that this actually gave you the opportunity to do some travel during the pandemic, where you traveled around a little bit. So talk a little bit about that, and how you managed to balance the company while also, you know, spending some time with your family.
Jen Atkinson 18:30
Yeah, I that’s the silver lining in a nutshell for me is the pandemic made me realize we can accomplish great things remotely, um, until the pandemic, I was in the office every day. Morning tonight, I even brought my babies. I never took maternity leave, like I was at the office and I was present. And that was sort of, I think the expectation I had of myself and my team had of me. And the pandemic helped us bring communication tools and processes. Like, I mean, everything from slack to air table to Dropbox, like all of the ways we were communicating, are just so different before the pandemic. And now we can stay connected through different software’s like 15, five and reviews and pulse checks and check it like, like all day, every day, I almost feel like I know my team in Portland better post pandemic because we’re connected remotely in such a better way than we were before. Yeah, and with that, I now I can really work from anywhere. And we enjoy spending summers up in Portland, Oregon, where my parents live, and we enjoy spending time up in Tahoe. And with the help of a lot of incredible family and grandparents as well as friends, Nanny sitters, we’re able to really enjoy time with the kids mashed together with quality time at work.
John Corcoran 19:51
Another interesting thing I think you’ve done with the company is you’ve collaborated with some professional gymnasts well known you know Olympians and things like that. Um, and really kind of focused in on this message around empowering girls supporting girls. So talk a little bit about how that’s become a focus for you and how you’ve made it
Jen Atkinson 20:10
a part of this Tara. Yeah, our, our really, our mission is to empower girls and what we’ve actually done not as much with Olympians, but we partnered with a nonprofit, like Community Center, an organization, nonprofit in Berkeley, or Oakland, California called Girls leadership. And they kind of have a shared mission to teach girls who identify and celebrate like their strength, right, their well being the power of their voice. And they’ve done a ton of like research. And they provide a bunch of curriculum. And we’ve partnered with them to sponsor workshops for both our gymnasts and gym families, as well as coaches and gym owners. To really honor like the leadership of girls that are in their clubs, but also to create brave spaces, so girls can know their own power. And we’ve put a we’ve done a ton of fundraising work in partnership with them and our community, to give back to them to continue to do research to empower girls. And we just feel like, it’s so important to ensure that this, the work they’re doing is brought to our gymnastics community. And that’s our goal to make that positive impact with them.
John Corcoran 21:26
A lot of entrepreneurs, founders that I have on this show will talk about how that feels great to do, but it also helps with the team and with recruitment and, and building a great culture within the company. So to speak a little bit to that how having this larger mission has affected the culture within the company.
Jen Atkinson 21:50
Yeah, I mean, I think our mission is to empower all girls and those that love them. And that includes our team. Um, and absolutely, it’s, it’s like this, the essence of how we get things done versus not not just what we get done. So I think in working with girls leadership, there it is, there’s like this icon, if you will, like, it’s it’s representative of what we believe, but we bring that same intent to every conversation, every leadership discussion. It’s like the expectation of our team to operate sort of with, like, authentic purpose, right, like accountability. We really want to make sure every person’s heard like that they come to work, feeling confident, and clarity, and like their roles, their responsibility, and also help them reach their full, you know, leadership potential. Yeah.
John Corcoran 22:47
I love that you’re also sharing this with your girls. So you came from three girls, you got three girls of your own. And also, now you’re paying it forward, you believe you and your mom are teaching a course. After many years of wanting to do this, you’re teaching a course about entrepreneurship talk about
Jen Atkinson 23:05
It’s very true. It’s I have been wanting to do it for a while now. And I think had to actually psych up more to teach a course. And if I can call it a course let’s call it a class, I guess seminar to third and fourth graders and I don’t
John Corcoran 23:21
know Yeah, sure. That’s, that’s college level.
Jen Atkinson 23:24
Like the content I had down but it’s like how how do I make it fun for third and fourth graders to take in the concepts. So it’s been awesome. My mom and I go and and for our daughter, my daughter’s school. And we’ve taught lessons of entrepreneurship around the qualities of an entrepreneur through different games that teach teamwork, communication, problem solving. Last week, we did a hot chocolate Stan, which was really fun. And we talked about like the marketing mix, and the four P’s. And it was great, they talked about how they can differentiate the product and where they can place it. And it has to be on a cold day with, you know, a busy intersection. And the price was super fun for them to kind of light bulb light bulb clicked when they I was like, it’s not the price that you sell it for. It’s really the profit you have to think about. And we kind of work through what it means to have a profit margin versus just making the money that you sell it at, because you have to pay for everything. And it’s just a it’s a rewarding, fulfilling experience. It definitely takes away the time I have from my home and family and work, but it’s all interrelated. And it’s, um, and one of your daughters. Isn’t it true to one of the classes I’m teaching too, but yeah, I’m loving it. Yeah.
John Corcoran 24:46
Well, I think some of those lessons are pretty powerful. You might have some other entrepreneurs no matter how long they’ve been an entrepreneur who might benefit from those lessons. So Jen, this has been great. Where can people go to connect with you and learn more about you and Destira?
Jen Atkinson 24:57
Go to Destira.com and I am always here. I’m ready to talk by phone by email. And we’re on social media at Destira Leotards as well.
John Corcoran 25:09
Excellent. Thanks so much, Jen.
Jen Atkinson 25:10
Thank you, John.
Outro 25:12
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