This week I interview Tamar Miller, founder of luxury shoe brand Bells & Becks. Tamar’s experience in the retail space is impressive, to put it mildly. She’s been head of merchandising at Old Navy online, head of merchandising at Banana Republic online, director of merchandising for women’s shoes at Piperlime, and earlier in her career she was a buyer at Macy’s and Pottery Barn.
Her education is equally stellar: she graduated from UC Berkeley and Harvard business school. And at a time when she had reached what some might call the pinnacle of her career, she decided to jump off the corporate ladder and become an entrepreneur.
When we recorded our interview, we were in the earlier stages of the coronavirus pandemic, and you can probably hear in our voices that we were both a little shellshocked. Tamar had returned from Italy, of all places, just weeks before, so you don’t want to miss that story.
We also discuss how becoming an entrepreneur when you are approaching 50 might be unconventional but it also might be optimal. Tamar goes into some detail about her decision-making around slowly but steadily growing her shoe brand, and how bootstrapping the business has served her well, especially in the time of coronavirus. She also shares some gems about her experience with Facebook advertising and her thoughts on the pros and cons of a brick and mortar shop.
It's a really meaty conversation that I think you’ll get a lot out of, especially if you happen to be an entrepreneur.
Plus, the shoes are so cute!
And as always, we also touch on the personal perks of getting older. I really enjoyed this conversation with Tamar and I learned so much. I hope you will to!
Audio editing by Sofija Jovanov
Relevant Links:
Bells & Becks International Women's Day survey data on shopping habits/desires of 40+ women
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