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Kendra Scott is sharing how her early love of fashion guided her toward building a billion dollar jewelry brand.<\/p>\n
In a Sunday, July 27 Instagram post,<\/a> Scott wrote that ever since she was a kid, \u201cI was always enamored with fashion and design,\u201d alongside a photo of herself dressed to the nines as a child.<\/p>\n As her passion for fashion remained, Scott said that she dropped out of college at the age of 19 to \u201cpurse my dream of being an entrepreneur in the fashion space.\u201d<\/p>\n And it was her stepfather\u2019s cancer diagnosis that inspired her to build her first company \u201cThe Hat Box.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI wanted to create comfortable and stylish headwear for people experiencing hair loss due to chemotherapy,\u201d Scott explained. But after five years, \u201cit failed. Big time!\u201d<\/p>\n Although Scott admitted defeat and \u201calmost gave up,\u201d she noticed one part of \u201cThe Hat Box\u201d that was successful, the jewelry she was making and selling at the register.<\/p>\n \u201cThe jewelry I was making and selling at the register would sell out the same day,\u201d Scott revealed. \u201cGame time!\u201d<\/p>\n It was 2002 and Scott was pregnant with her first child, a son, Cade, when she used her last $500 to design her first collection in her spare bedroom.<\/p>\n \u201cMy first big break came when Nordstrom purchased a large order,\u201d Scott shared. \u201cBut I was living off of credit card debt and putting every single item I owned up for collateral.\u201d<\/p>\n Scott knew she needed an investor, \u201cbad.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIf you build it, they will come,\u201d Scott wrote, quoting the popular 1989 film Field of Dreams. <\/i>And \u201cafter 10 years, a mentor of mine offered to invest.\u201d<\/p>\n And the rest as they say is history.<\/p>\n \u201cFrom there, Kendra Scott grew fast,\u201d Scott wrote, adding that despite their mega success her team \u201cnever lost sight of what mattered; family, fashion and philanthropy.\u201d<\/p>\n By 2016, 14 years after she designed her first line for Kendra Scott, \u201cwe were valued at over one billion dollars.\u201d And now Kendra Scott has \u201cover 150 retail stores\u201d and has \u201cgiven back over $70 million to women and youth causes.\u201d<\/p>\n Even with all that success, Scott, now a mother of three, says she and her team \u201care just getting started.\u201d<\/p>\n Scott made it clear that her success \u201cwasn\u2019t luck. This was sheer determination, grit, and a passion for doing good.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cLet this be proof,\u201d Scott said of her story. \u201cYour greatest failures can catapult you into your greatest successes.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI bootstraped this baby all the way,\u201d Scott said at the time. \u201cMy father always said, \u2018Honey, don\u2019t be intimidated by the men in suits.\u2019 I\u2019ve walked into so many rooms, and nobody in that room looks like me.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnd I had to have that confidence within myself to know I know what I\u2019m talking about. I know that I can do this and I\u2019m not going to let anybody scare me today. You got to walk in there and be like, watch out here I come.\u201d<\/p>\n Most recently, the Texas native brought back her Everlyne bracelet<\/a> to raise money for those affected by the floods in central Texas and her Kendra Scott Foundation accepted essential donations for those who have been displaced<\/a>.<\/p>\n She and country music star Zac Brown have also shared news <\/a>of their engagement earlier in July.<\/p>\n