If you read one book about business this year, let it be this one. I had ZERO idea at all exactly how difficult it is to turn an idea into a global brand. I knew nothing of the trials and hoops you have to jump through and how many difficult personalities you might encounter along the way. I've always admired Tamara Mellon but I admire her more for writing this honest and open book. Whenever you read about women business owners in magazines, it's always fluff piece about how everything just happens magically and "you should feel bad about yourself because nothing in your life has happened this magically". No magazine article ever tells you about crooked partners, breaking into enclosed circles (shoe factories in Italy) and how much of a headache business contracts are. Thanks you Tamara Mellon for sharing your story. You're an inspiration! In My Shoes is written by the co-founder of Jimmy Choo, Tamara Mellon. It is an interesting read, with a little bout of insomnia it kept me reading for a couple of hours. Growing up with an entrepreneurial father, Tamara grows up in Los Angeles, with two younger brothers and an alcoholic mother. As a teenager she is sent off to boarding school in the UK and finishing school in Switzerland. Her parents move back to the UK and even though she has a job editing accessories at Vogue magazine, she lives in their Belgravia basement while out partying every night, with lots of drugs and alcohol. When that job ends and after a stint in rehab, she convinces her father to invest in a venture of producing shoes with a cobbler Jimmy Choo. Setting up the business and the convoluted world of business deals takes up a lots of the story, there are lots of tales of lawyers and meetings throughout her business dealings. One can't help but feel that she expected a life of privilege and was slightly spoilt, and that had their been less exotic holidays, private jets and cocaine their might have been a bit more sensible decision making and money in the bank. Once her father dies, her mother goes a bit cra cra as she is already the major benefactor of the earlier deals, but still takes her daughter to court in a disagreement over some disputed shares.Entertaining insight into what you might think is a glamorous world.
What do You think about In My Shoes: A Memoir (2013)?
Very inspiring! The 'Lean In' of fashion business.
—lianeduartedasilva
