Hundreds gathered in Jesse Auditorium to hear renowned entrepreneur and philanthropist Kendra Scott answer questions about how she turned her $500 startup into a billion-dollar business.
Kendra Scott is the designer, founder, and executive chairwoman of Kendra Scott, LLC — jewelry brand worn by countless women around the world. But Scott’s success did not come easy. For many years in her entrepreneurial journey, success did not seem likely.
An attendee shops for jewelry at the pop-up shop that occurred just before the event began on Thursday, Oct. 5, 2023 in Columbia, Mo.
“What people like to call struggles and failures, I like to call little gifts because I think I couldn’t be where I am today if I didn’t have those lessons,” Scott said during her visit to MU.
Jesse Auditorium rang with resounding applause when Scott took the stage for the 2023 Delta Gamma Foundation Lectureship in Values and Ethics on Oct. 5. The Kendra Scott pop-up shop before the event had been crowded with women excited to shop and then hear Scott’s story. When the curtain rose, she danced her way onto the stage to Pharell Willliams’ “Happy,” laughing and smiling as she sang along.
In charge of moderating the Q&A event was Emily Spain, an Emmy-winning evening anchor for KOMU-8 news. Spain began by asking Scott why yellow is the color of her brand.
Yellow, which also happens to be Scott’s favorite color, is “the happiest color in the world,” according to Scott. According to the Kendra Scott website, the brand’s jewelry is handmade to push the boundaries of design and innovation while staying true to their principles: color, shape, material, and value. Scott explained that she hoped wearers would find a deeper meaning in her jewelry by finding joy as they wore it.
Scott has valued positivity since she was a little girl. As her company grew, she ensured that spreading joy remained a core value of the brand. Scott’s optimism has never wavered, even in the face of heartache and misfortune.
Being a single mom and college dropout with $500, a tea box full of handmade jewelry in one hand and a baby in the other, she certainly had the odds stacked against her. Life was not kind to Scott in her early 20s. She lost her chance at a degree, her step-father, her marriage, and her first startup in just a few years — but she persevered.
She pressed onwards, her kindness and positivity never wavering. Ten years later, Scott found herself the CEO of an incredibly successful jewelry company. She could finally say she had made it.
“We all go through peaks and valleys in our life,” Scott explained. “And every valley I’ve had, there has been a bigger peak, and I learned so much from that.”
The billion-dollar company has donated over $50 million since 2010 to local, national and international organizations. Philanthropy has been named as a core pillar of the brand since its founding. According to the Kendra Scott website, the brand donates to events, causes, and organizations supporting “women and youth in the areas of health & wellness, education & entrepreneurship, and empowerment.”
“You don’t just forget the struggle,” Scott said. “And I am so grateful. I wake up every day and I can’t believe we’re able to now inspire other women, other moms like me when I started this business.”
As people wait in line for the event to begin, items also wait to be bought at the pop-up shop on Thursday, Oct. 5, 2023 in Columbia, Mo.
Scott fulfills her desire to empower and inspire women by attending speaker events like the one held in Jesse Auditorium. The auditorium saw hundreds of women and girls from all walks of life take their seats for the same reason: to hear Kendra Scott’s story.
Grace Bishop, Lectureship Director of Delta Gamma and a MU nursing student, oversaw most of the event’s planning phases. She and her team felt Scott was a perfect choice because of her success, passion for philanthropy and commitment to women.
“It was just funny. DG’s motto is ‘Do good,’” Bishop said. “And on Kendra’s website, it says ‘Shine bright, do good.’ Like, that’s her whole thing.”
Scott’s rags-to-riches story and values aligned precisely with the Delta Gamma Foundation’s Lectureship Board’s intentions for the annual speaker event.
Before the lectureship event, Kendra Scott hosted a pop-up shop for attendees to browse before heading in to hear Scott’s story.
Attendees look over the jewelry on display at the Kendra Scott pop-up shop before they enter the auditorium on Thursday, Oct. 5, 2023 in Columbia, Mo.
Jill Villasana, an AP U.S. Government teacher at Battle High School and MU Delta Gamma alum, browsed the pop-up shop with her friends, some of whom were fellow DG alums. Villasana was a student when Delta Gamma founded the lectureship at MU in 1999 and has continued to be “blown away” by its increasing reach every year.
“Delta Gamma gave me something that connects me with other women,” Villasana said. “Before Delta Gamma, I had friends that were girls. But the friends I made in DG were truly like my sisters. It’s a deeper level of connection.”
A Kendra Scott employee helps an attendee of the event check out the merchandise she is buying on Thursday, Oct. 5, 2023 in Columbia, Mo.
Villasana will always be proud to be a member of the “Do Good Sisterhood.”
“As a teacher, there’s so many ways for me to serve my students,” Villasana said. “I still do what I can to emulate ‘do good’ in my daily life.”
Emily Spain dove into all aspects of Scott’s story: her personal life, her philanthropy and her struggles. Speaking about Kendra Scott’s success and Scott’s role as founder and chairwoman, Spain asked how Scott personally balanced her mental health, family and work.
“By the way,” Scott began, grinning, “men never get asked that question.” The women in the audience laughed, Spain included.
Scott then continued, saying that there is so much power in vulnerability, and asking for help is not a sign of weakness — it is a sign of strength.
“You have to remember, there’s a reason Wonder Woman is just a fictional character!” Scott said.
Later, Spain asked what obstacles Kendra encountered in her journey to succeed in business as a woman.
“Oh, I’ve never had any of those!” Scott joked. “Obstacles? As a woman? Never.”
Then solemnly, she explained some of the barriers she had experienced.
“I mean, there are so many creative ways people tell you no,” Scott said. But for Scott, “no” was nothing more than a word.
Rather than taking “no” for an answer, she took critiques, doubts, and dissent in stride, pushing forward to create an empire that her critics couldn’t ignore.
“The more people told me I couldn’t do it, the more it drove me to want to do it,” Scott said. “I can’t even begin to tell you how many times I’ve walked into a board meeting full of people who look nothing like me.”
Bishop was excited to hear Scott’s encouragement to the women in Thursday’s audience.
“I think that no matter if you’re in business or not, just being able to see a woman in a powerful role is important,” Bishop said.
According to a study conducted by the Pew Research Center, at least seven out of 10 women believe that women have to do more to prove themselves in the workplace, attributing this as a reason for the underrepresentation of females in top political and business positions.
Maya Disher, a new member of Delta Gamma’s 2023 pledge class, is a journalism major who wants to pursue sports media.
“It’s a very male-dominated field,” Disher said. “But I know that every single girl on campus — whether they’re health science majors or business majors or anything else — has something in common with me.”
Disher commented on female strength and the power of sticking together.
“We’re all women preparing to enter a male-dominated world,” Disher said. “And because of that, at the end of the day it’s just so important for girls to build up girls. Kendra really seems to value that. She’s so supportive of the women around her. I just felt so inspired afterwards.”
Scott emphasized to the hundreds of women in attendance the importance of authenticity, especially when faced with a world dominated by men in positions of power.
“It’s so easy to give up when you fail,” Bishop said. “It’s really amazing that she has stuck with what she’s wanted to do and really didn’t let anything stop her. Her work ethic is super admirable, and I love that.”
Bishop continued, “You don’t have to like jewelry to appreciate somebody who came from nothing.”
Edited by Annie Goldman | agoldman@themaneater.com
Copy edited by Grace Knight and Audrey Dae Bush