How a fashion blog became a growing media and commerce company
NEW YORK (FOX 5 NY) - An entrepreneur who turned a fashion blog into a global media brand is offering up career and style advice for local women.
At a breakfast in Manhattan this week, I sat down with Hillary Kerr of Who What Wear to hear how she went from being an editor at Elle to the co-founder of her own media group.
Hillary and business partner Katherine Power started their company with a website called Who What Wear back in 2006. They designed the site to help women make smarter shopping decisions and develop their personal style.
Hillary says they wanted to create something that had all of the amazing content you would see in a print fashion magazine, but do it online and make every single item "shoppable."
Today, Hillary and Katherine run Clique Media Group with 250 employees, five different websites, three books, and their very own Who What Wear clothing line for Target. All of it is designed to make women's lives easier.
Hillary says women have such limited time and want to know what the best go-to thing is, whether that's the greatest jean jacket for a certain price point or the best in beauty or home, whatever that may be.
The company also released a brand-new app called Shop Who What Wear, which makes shopping simpler than ever. Hillary says it has 30 different retailers, 2,000 different brands, and one single-cart checkout, so it makes shopping from your phone dangerously easy.
Hillary is based out in L.A. but came to New York to host a breakfast where she dispensed advice on finding work-life balance. Her No. 1 life hack is from her last book, The Career Code. She says you should always come from a place of "yes." Never present a problem without a solution. Hillary and Katherine devoted an entire chapter of the book to this concept. She believes whether you're an entrepreneur, you have a career, whatever you're doing with your life, don't just bring a problem to the table. Bring a solution, too.
And, do it with style. Hillary believes in uniform dressing. She says she knows that a handful of colors, styles, and silhouettes will always work for her. She thinks every woman should know what her uniform is so she can just get dressed without having to think too much about it.
Hillary is launching a podcast next month called Second Life where she talks to women who have started new chapters in their lives and careers to find out how they did it. And Hillary says she is already thinking about her next book.
Who What Wear is also launching shoes in Target stores at the end of the summer.