Girlboss Founder Sophia Amoruso Is Not Afraid of Failure
*By Carlo Versano*
When Sophia Amoruso's Nasty Gal filed for bankruptcy in 2016, it marked a stunning reversal of fortune for an "It Girl" of the fashion world who groomed her vintage eBay shop into what was once one of the [fastest-growing](https://www.inc.com/profile/nasty-gal) retailers in America.
Roughly two years later, Amoruso owns the failure. Speaking to Cheddar from the JPMorgan Chase [Women on the Move] (https://www.jpmorganchase.com/corporate/About-JPMC/women-on-the-move.htm) conference, she admitted that she "blew it with Nasty Gal."
The company was purchased out of Chapter 11 in April 2017 by the BooHoo Group and still operates today, though Amoruso is no longer involved. Now she runs Girlboss, a media venture for young women that's part LinkedIn, part event promoter, and part podcast producer.
The site takes the name of the Amoruso's book and an [ill-fated](https://deadline.com/2017/06/girlboss-canceled-netflix-one-season-comedy-series-1202119606/) Netflix show that, in a stroke of epically bad timing, premiered just as Nasty Gal was collapsing.
With those connotations, Amoruso would be forgiven for choosing a new title for her company. But as she told us, the Girlboss brand felt ever-relevant, especially for the audience of ambitious millennial women that Amoruso herself had cultivated.
"A 'girlboss' is someone who doesn't take no for an answer," she said. "It's a philosophy."
A key part of that philosophy is "saying yes" and persisting. Amoruso said the trait that is often praised in men is too often dismissed in women. "You don't get what you don't ask for," she tells her followers and employees. "There's a way to be graceful ー and annoying ー to get what you want."
Amoruso, who as a female entrepreneur was praised for "killing it," "blowing it," and "everything in between," wanted her new company to reflect the values she holds as a founder. So every new Girlboss employee is also named a "co-founder" and given equity, she said.
"Being a founder is lonely," she said, speaking from experience.
For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/how-girlboss-is-turning-failure-into-opportunity).
Joe Cecela, Dream Exchange CEO, explains how they are aiming to form the first minority-controlled company to operate an exchange in U.S. history. Watch!
A Michigan judge is putting sponges in the hands of shoplifters and ordering them to wash cars in a Walmart parking lot when spring weather arrives. Genesee County Judge Jeffrey Clothier hopes the unusual form of community service discourages people from stealing from Walmart. The judge also wants to reward shoppers with free car washes. Clothier says he began ordering “Walmart wash” sentences this week for shoplifting at the store in Grand Blanc Township. He believes 75 to 100 people eventually will be ordered to wash cars this spring. Clothier says he will be washing cars alongside them when the time comes.
The State Department had been in talks with Elon Musk’s Tesla company to buy armored electric vehicles, but the plans have been put on hold by the Trump administration after reports emerged about a potential $400 million purchase. A State Department spokesperson said the electric car company owned by Musk was the only one that expressed interest back in May 2024. The deal with Tesla was only in its planning phases but it was forecast to be the largest contract of the year. It shows how some of his wealth has come and was still expected to come from taxpayers.
At 100 years old, the Goodyear Blimp is an ageless star in the sky. The 246-foot-long airship will be in the background of the Daytona 500 — flying roughly 1,500 feet above Daytona International Speedway, actually — to celebrate its greatest anniversary tour. Even though remote camera technologies are improving regularly and changing the landscape of aerial footage, the blimp continues to carve out a niche. At Daytona, with the usual 40-car field racing around a 2½-mile superspeedway, views from the blimp aptly provide the scope of the event.
