Sophia Amoruso

Sophia Amoruso

Amoruso at TechCrunch Disrupt NY 2014
Born (1984-04-20) April 20, 1984
San Diego, California
Nationality American
Known for

Founder & Ownder of Nasty Gal

Author of #GIRLBOSS
Spouse(s) Joel Jarek DeGraff

Sophia Amoruso (born April 20, 1984, in San Diego, California)[1] is the founder and owner of Nasty Gal, which sells women's fashion including modern and vintage clothing, shoes and accessories for young women which can all be found on the brand's website. It was called one of "the fastest growing companies" by Inc. Magazine in 2012.[2] After being diagnosed with depression and attention deficit disorder (ADD), she dropped out of school and began homeschooling. She had many jobs as a teenager, her first ever job being in Subway. After discovering she had a hernia in her groin, she realized that she needed to get a job with health insurance to pay for the required medical treatments. At this job, which was checking student's ID at the lobby of a school, Amoruso found her passion in Myspace and eBay. That is when she sold her first item on her eBay shop, called Nasty Gal Vintage, a stolen book.[3]

As a young adult, she spent her time hitchhiking near West Coast, dumpster diving and stealing.[3] The first ever object she sold on her online eBay shop was a stolen book. Since she had little money, she took stealing very seriously and stole almost everything from bras to oil pastels. In 2003, while living in Portland, Oregon, Amoruso got caught stealing and decided to stop stealing permanently. She didn't want to have a criminal record, therefore after getting caught, she admitted to customer service that she has stole from them. Loss-prevention fined her and that was the end of her stealing from then on because she believed that stealing was a way that was "killing my [her] inner #GIRLBOSS" and how glad she was to be alive.[3]

Career

eBay store

At age 22, Greek-American Amoruso began her fashion career with an eBay store called "Nasty Gal Vintage", where she sold vintage and designer clothing pieces. She styled, photographed, captioned and shipped the products herself using what she was taught in a photography class.[4]

She admits to have used a friend-adding software while on Myspace, although it was against policy.[3]

Nasty Gal

She was kicked off eBay in 2008 for posting hyperlinks in feedback to customers and launched Nasty Gal as its own retail website.[5] She chose the name "Nasty Gal" after the 1975 album by Betty Davis, a funk singer and style icon.[4]

Nasty Gal developed a devoted online following of young women on social media, and quickly grew with revenues increasing from $223,000 in 2008 to almost $23 million in 2011.[2] The New York Times has called her "a Cinderella of tech".[4] In 2013, Inc. Magazine named her to its 30 under 30 list.[6]

In 2014, Amoruso's book #GIRLBOSS was published by Portfolio, a Penguin imprint that specializes in books about business.[7][8]

In an interview with Forbes Magazine Dan Schawbel, Amoruso admitted that she learnt the hard way when it comes to becoming a CEO and states that anyone interested in become a CEO should continue to seek managerial positions.[9] Although she had no managerial positions before becoming the manager of Nasty Gal Vintage, she had many previous jobs before that.

On January 12, 2015, Amoruso announced she was stepping down as CEO of Nasty Gal.[10]

References

  1. ↑ Amy Lamare (March 17, 2014). "How Sophia Amoruso Built A $250 Million Online Retail Empire Before Turning 30". Celebrity Net Worth. Retrieved June 15, 2015.
  2. 1 2 Fenn, Donna. "Unselfconsciously Sexy Style". Inc. Magazine. Retrieved December 19, 2013.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Amoruso, Sophia (2014). #GIRLBOSS. New York: the Penguin Group. p. 3. ISBN 978-0-399-16927-4.
  4. 1 2 3 Perlroth, Nicole. "Naughty in Name Only". The New York Times. Retrieved December 19, 2013.
  5. ↑ Barrett, Victoria (June 28, 2012). "Nasty Gal's Sophia Amoruso: Fashion's New Phenom". Forbes. Retrieved December 19, 2013.
  6. ↑ "Meet the 30 Under 30, Class of 2013". Inc. Magazine. Retrieved December 19, 2013.
  7. ↑ Amoruso, Sophia (6 May 2014). #GIRLBOSS. Portfolio Hardcover. ISBN 039916927X.
  8. ↑ Jacobs, Alexandra (January 11, 2015). "Who Will Be America’s Next Top Mentor?". New York Times.
  9. ↑ "Work For A Company Then Become An Entrepreneur". Forbes. September 29, 2015.
  10. ↑ Del Rey, Jason; Swisher, Kara (January 12, 2015). "Nasty Gal Founder Sophia Amoruso Steps Down As CEO". Re/code. Retrieved February 10, 2015.
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