Julie Singer Kerwin ’92 and Dawn Wells Nadeau ’95 have just launched their own startup, IAmElemental, which creates action figures for girls. IAmElemental started with two friends – and moms – who were frustrated by what they saw and, more importantly, didn’t see in the toy market. Their mission is to create toys for play experiences that allow girls to envision themselves as strong, powerful and connected beings at the center of a story of their own making. More information on their project is available here.
Julie and Dawn were kind enough to take time out of their busy schedules to share some career advice with their fellow Wellesley graduates.
Share a brief background of your career.
Dawn: Right out of Wellesley I went to work at a management consulting company called Renaissance Solutions with about five other women from my graduating class. From there, I embarked on what has become an overarching theme for my career: following people, not jobs. In my early career, I ended up with some great jobs – primarily because I was willing to follow a mentor or boss to a new position. When I went from Renaissance Solutions to Nextera Enterprises, it was to follow a senior executive who was leaving Renaissance. I was given a much more senior role at Nextera than I had at Renaissance because of my willingness to follow him, and it was a huge boost. Again, much later, when I was at Goldman Sachs, I followed my longtime mentor, leaving the division I was working in to work for her as she moved into the Chairman’s Office. This turned out to be a fabulous role. I learned much more than if I had stayed in my original position. Many years later, when I was ramping up after the birth of my second daughter, it was the same mentor who called to offer me a job with the nonprofit Women Moving Millions, where she was now CEO. In between, I worked at both Fast Company and Fortune magazine. It was fascinating to work in the same industry, but for two very different brands and companies.
Julie: Immediately after graduation, I headed to New York and law school. I was interested in Educational Public Policy, and I had dreams of singlehandedly overhauling the American Public School System (yes, really). Law school quickly disabused me of that notion. I realized early on that I had made a tactical mistake. Nevertheless, I don’t regret the three years I spent studying the law. At my core, I am a reader and a researcher. I love learning for learning’s sake. So, while I knew that I would never practice law, I also knew that the skills I was developing would only help me on my professional path. What I did not expect, however, was how slow I would be out of the gate. Having lost my own mother to breast cancer when I was eight, I lived with fears regarding my own genetic predisposition, and concerns that my time with my own children might be similarly limited. As a result, after the birth of my first son sixteen years ago, I chose to stay at home with him. In hindsight, I am surprised at how easily I made that choice. Before her death, my mother instilled in me a very strong “you can be anything you want to be” ethos, and my father continued to promote that message (he still does). Instead, while acting as family “facilitator,” I wrote a book (and put it in a drawer), formed a 501c3 (the parent company was sold off shortly afterward), and spent five years as an accidental music producer (my first taste of entrepreneurship). Not exactly what my eighteen-year-old self had planned for me. And, yet, I have always been very happy with my choices.
How has Wellesley contributed to your career?
Dawn: As a tour guide at Wellesley, I would often say that what I was learning outside of the classroom was as valuable as what I learned inside of it. And while the depth and quality of the academic education I received at Wellesley was, I feel, unparalleled, over the course of my career it has been the strength of the leadership roles I held while in school, and the network of amazing women I continue to draw upon, that are the most powerful contributions. The most obvious example is that my business partner is a fellow Wellesley alum. However, there are many women with whom I am in regular contact professionally who offer their insights, resources and own networks to help me in many ways. One of the women in the same group of five with me at Renaissance Solutions when we graduated from Wellesley continues to be a regular professional mentor and coach. While we were not close friends in college, over the years we have developed a deep personal and professional connection that I consider invaluable. One thing I have learned over the years is to go to my network when I am facing a “getting dressed in the dark” moment. When I don’t know what to do, or how to get started, but have a vague sense of needing some advice, I will reach out and start asking questions. People, most especially my fellow Wellesley friends, but people in general, are always willing to help. And, in exchange, when I get an email with a request that I can easily answer or asking for a contact that I can easily provide, I do.
Julie: Despite the fact that I am raising two boys, I am, and always have been, all about Girl Power. My friends and I grew up in a world where we fervently believed that we were equal to boys, and that we could accomplish any goal we set for ourselves. It was the early days of MS Magazine, and “Free To Be, You And Me” and we internalized this message as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. Wellesley, for me, was not just a college. It was the living and breathing embodiment of that ideal; an ideal that is still a driving force in my life. No matter what, I always know that, if I want something to happen, there is a way to make it happen. My first year in law school, a female classmate approached me one day after class and marveled at my confidence and willingness to speak up. I probably looked at her as if she had three heads. “Of course I raise my hand and speak up in class!” I retorted, “Why wouldn’t I?” Speaking up with confidence is a way of life at Wellesley, it is a way of life for me, and, hopefully, as the IAmElemental Girl Power message spreads, it will be a way of life for young girls everywhere.
What is a typical work day or work week like for you?
Dawn: Over ten years ago, I left a structured 9-5 type corporate job and went out on my own. I began by consulting with the companies I used to work for as a freelancer. I realized I loved the flexibility and freedom it gave me. I have no typical work day. Every day and every week involves a balance of creation, collaboration, and connecting. In creation mode, I might be alone, at my home office, writing, working on timelines or budgets, or emailing people, moving things forward. In collaboration, I will be working with Julie or one of our partners, often on the phone or via a web based tool like GoToMeeting. I spend a fair amount of time every week connecting. Sometimes this is via email exchanges, or on the phone. When I can, I prefer face-to-face meetings with potential partners, co-conspirators, mentors, and people who can help push our project and idea forward. Often my connections come through someone whom I have asked for help. This flexible schedule has allowed me to adjust my work to fit my life, rather than my life to fit my work, thankfully.
Julie: My work day starts with a walk. After I drop my boys off at school, I head home through Central Park. On that walk, I think and create. For weeks, I spent every morning composing the Kickstarter video script in my head. When I finally sat down to write it, most of my key phrases and themes had already been outlined on my morning stroll, and it flowed right out of me. Once I arrive at home, I spend some time on the Internet reading about current events and researching whatever questions I have pertaining to my current project. I find this just as helpful to my creative process as my freethinking walks. I love to amass applicable knowledge. It makes me more productive. Dawn and I generally have a few collaborative conference calls with various partners in crime throughout the week. We instituted a one-hour meeting limit early on to maximize the effectiveness of our time together, and I find that I quite like it. I consider three o’clock to be the start of round two of my day. I like to spend as much time with my boys as I can. “The days are long, but the years are short” plays as a constant loop inside my head, and I find myself wistful at the thought of my older son leaving for college in two years. We are a tightknit tribe. Maintaining that closeness as Dawn and I build our business is a huge priority for me. I appreciate that self-employment through entrepreneurship affords me that flexibility.
What piece of advice would you offer students looking to be an entrepreneur?
Dawn: I think students who feel that someday they may want to do their own thing should consider adding several types of work experiences to their personal portfolio. Work inside a startup, where, if possible, you are working with the founders. But also, work inside a big company. I am so grateful I had experiences in both small, growing organizations, and also with large multinational corporations before beginning IAmElemental. Big established organizations are very, very different from small, fast growing companies. However, there is something valuable to be learned inside both. If you ever want to sell or do business with a big company, it helps to know intuitively how they are structured, how decisions get made, how you build consensus, how large corporations evaluate risk. These are all important things to know. On the flip side, startups sound really exciting, and they are. A single, talented individual can have a huge impact on the direction of a product or a brand from inside a small company. You can leapfrog “rungs” on the career ladder, simply by being willing to raise your hand. Yet, sometimes your infrastructure doesn’t work, and you might have to be both the Director of Marketing and the person to fix the copier. All the time. If you see yourself as someone who might want to create your own company someday, look at your career as a tapestry. Make sure you have woven a very vivid and colorful set of experiences into it before you begin, and it will become the net you will fall back upon when you are standing in the dark, wondering which way to turn next.
Julie: My boys are big fans of the show Mythbusters. One of the hosts, Adam Savage, popularized the saying “failure is always an option”. I would urge anyone thinking about entrepreneurship to embrace that motto and learn to love it. Because, even if your business endeavor ultimately succeeds, there will be failures along the way. It is unavoidable. The key is flexibility, and the ability to brainstorm your way out of a problem. I feared failure my whole life. This fear served me well in a lot of ways. But, it doesn’t make for a good entrepreneur. My younger son is the complete opposite of me. He knows a lot for his age, and is more often right than wrong. But, he isn’t afraid to be wrong in order to learn what is right. I marveled at his skill for a very long time, but it wasn’t until I embraced it myself that I was able to make the leap into this brave new world. Action Figure Designer? Me? Yes! Me! Why not? What’s the worst that could happen? There’s always Plan B.
What do you wish you had known as a student?
Dawn: I wish I had known that sometimes you have to take a step back to move forward. The best career move I ever made came about four years out of Wellesley, when I left a good paying job in consulting to join a then-startup magazine called Fast Company. I had to cut my salary by 2/3 because the magazine was brand new and they created a role for me after I camped out and begged to be interviewed. In less than two years, the magazine had exploded in growth. Suddenly, I was the Director of Live Events, I was managing a team of fifteen people, and I was making well over what I made at the job I left. It was the single best work experience of my life. I have never again been afraid to go back, or sideways, or even totally off the course.
Julie: Like many of us, my life at Wellesley was a study in contrasts. While I am the furthest thing from an introvert, and I have always proudly marched to the beat of my own drum without worrying what other people thought, I was nevertheless strangely inhibited when it came to putting myself out there and getting to know people. I was book smart, happy, confident in my own choices, and comfortable in my own skin. I never had any trouble speaking to adults (even when I was very young). Nevertheless, I very noticeably lacked certain social skills. I was not comfortable walking into the Tower Court cafeteria by myself, for instance, and sitting at a table of girls I knew only by sight. I did not yet know how easy it is to introduce oneself and turn a stranger into an acquaintance, if not a friend. Don’t get me wrong, I made wonderful friends at Wellesley whom I adore. I loved my four years there, and would happily relive them if offered the chance. But, there were lots of wonderful Wellesley women I never got to know because of my own inhibition. Not wanting my children to have the same experience, I knew that I had to make a change in order to be a better role model for them. It has been a gratifying and satisfying experience in every way. I only wish that I had learned how to do it earlier in life. It would have opened up new worlds for me.
What other careers did you consider as a student:
Dawn: I wanted to join the FBI. I still do, kind of. I became a Krav Maga self-defense instructor instead.
Julie: I did not know this about Dawn until this interview. Oddly enough, I used to say that my dream was to be the head of the CIA. Lucky for me, someone invented the Internet. It turned every single one of us into a super spy on some level, didn’t it?