The Key to Living your Purpose is Finding the Perfect Fit featuring Diana Nguyen, Founder and CEO of Madison / Savile
About this episode:
Founder and CEO of Madison / Savile, Diana Nguyen joins us on the She Built It™ Experience today. She shares her journey on leaving her corporate job in finance to reinvent women’s workwear, resulting in impeccably designed suits and blazers that will become a staple in your closet. Diana’s mission is to help every woman be her best, true self through perfectly designed and functional fashion.
Topics Discussed:
How Diana left her corporate finance career of 15 years to transition into the fashion industry
How she stays motivated to pursue her purpose
Her goals for empowering women by helping them feel their best inside and out
How her brand gives back by supporting women in need
Why Diana strives to create workwear that reminds women how unstoppable we all are
About Diana:
Diana Nguyen is a Finance Consultant turned Fashion Designer and Entrepreneur. She quit her corporate job almost 4 years ago to reinvent, redesign and modernize a woman's blazer. During her 15 years in finance she watched countless women struggle looking for the right blazer including herself. After spending years researching and iterating, Diana has created timeless jackets with a bespoke look and feel: jackets that fit like your favorite pair of gloves.
Madison / Savile is a Los Angeles-based label offering contemporary women’s blazers and pantsuits. Believing that the most essential element of any long-lasting garment is its fit.
Diana Nguyen started Madison / Savile to do more than offer women perfectly tailored, comfortable, and functional workwear. Madison / Savile is a lifestyle brand with a purpose to inspire, to help each woman realize her gifts and to let her light shine, to make an impact and inspire women to be their best self, her true self.
Diana lives in Los Angeles with her husband after living in Seattle, Washington for 30 years. She is a foodie and loves to travel.
Resources:
Read a raw, unedited transcript of this episode:
Speaker 1 Diana, thank you so much for joining us. You are a finance consultant turned fashion designer and entrepreneur, your company was created to empower women to realize her gifts and let her light shine. Please tell us more about who you are and your early career and what led you to launch your brand.
Speaker 2 thank you for having me. I am excited to be here and love what you're doing and how you're helping the women out there.
Speaker 1 Thank you.
Speaker 2 I majored in accounting and marketing, and so I ended up joining the big four accounting firms when I graduated. used to be an auditor, project management consulting for the last 15 years. took a while to make that big, big leap over the corporate world. I was working at Microsoft before I left. And so it was a great job. But it took me a while to make that leap because it's scary. It's into the unknown. You've had this steady, amazing income for so long. can do it in my sleep,And now I'm going into a completely different industry, So finance to fashion, in finance, you're good at what you do because of the experience and your education, but it's not necessarily your passion. And it took me a while and a couple career coaches completely different methods that both to the same conclusion, which is, Oh, you're an entrepreneur, that's where you're going to thrive. so eventually it came to me with women's blazers because I absolutely love a blazer. A blazer is very much a power staple, a classic staple in your closet forever, I believe. And I always had the problems of finding the right blazer because I do five million things day and I can't have whatever I'm wearing restrict me And then also with the women around me that I worked with corporate swimwear issue. It wasn't enough for me to leave until]that calling where you're like, there's something more like, I am on this earth for a purpose. There is a calling that I need to do more and be more and make more of an impact, and I can't do that in this position right now. pairing the Blazers with the fact that Madison Saville and this is how I came up with the name is Saville's for salario, famous street in London, known for bespoke tailoring of suits for men.I want to bring that to women. But Madison means the gift of God and warrior. it very much aligns with Madison Saville and the Blazers are just the beginning. It's a catalyst to so much more that I want to do with this company, and that is to create, change and empower and inspire women in this new era. And then many hats that we're wearing. Where we're career. Women were mothers or wives or daughters, sisters, And we need to create that change. And I want to create that change and have a seat at the table to make those changes.
Speaker 1 [00:11:54] I love that because what we wear has so much to do with our confidence, how we feel about ourselves, absolutely when we enter a room.
Speaker 2 absolutely it is. I've been asked what makes it that way in terms of a blazer?I believe it's because of the structure of it, right? It gives you that Shuckers structure and it gives you that, that power and that confidence. I don't know about you, but every time I put on a blazer, whether I'm wearing a sweats underneath, right, it does change my attitude.
Speaker 1 So true and good for you for making that pivot because so often we get into our careers and we've spent years in training or in school or gaining the knowledge needed. you can be really good at what you're doing. It's just really hard to find that courage to say, I'm going to do something completely different. Do you remember the moment, that pivotal moment where you said, I'm going to do this? What gave you the courage to make that leap?
Speaker 2 [Great question. It is definitely that purpose, that that faith when we're talking about love, for example, people are just like, Oh, you just know, and you just end up hitting those people for saying that until it happens to you, right, that you're like, Oh, I get it So that's what happened? career coaches. And then it all just aligned one day, and I was that aha moment, but I didn't make the jump right away. I was still working at Microsoft, but I was very transparent with what I wanted to do. And in my meetings with my manager, for example, they always ask you, have I had your quarterly annual, touch base about what are your long term goals? And I would be very honest. my long term goal is to create a company for impact and change, so I won't be here for long. But while I'm here, I'll give you 100 percent.
Speaker 1 I love that. I can only imagine the reaction that came out of that.
Speaker 2 I was just so blessed with a great manager and great team because they understood and they fully supported it.
Speaker 1 How do you want women to feel when they wear your brand?
Speaker 2 Our first collection is called unstoppable and fierce, because that is what's lined on the inside. Everything that I do is thoughtfully designed where every aspect is going to help you or inspire you in some way. it is the Superman superwoman, Kate. Once you put on that blazer, it's a reminder of how unstoppable you are, we have a unique gift in each of us. bring out that gift. Don't be afraid to show the world your gift, because that's why you're here and you're doing a disservice to the world if you don't share your unique gift with the world. I mean, that's the Blazer and Madison symbol in every way.
Speaker 1 I love it. I mean, we it's a gift that we were even born, we won that lottery and we're here and you're right with social media, we can get so in a lane of doing what we do every day that we forget. to show the world, our guests and who we are.
Speaker 2 Absolutely.I love what you're doing with building that community because with that community, it is helping each other break down those walls and go, Show us who you are. Just the true beauty is what I call it from within. one of our taglines is, are you from the outside with our blazers? And then building up from within. So it's doing all these things like the podcasts and community events and portion of our the proceeds for these blazers go to Elizabeth House, and it's a nonprofit that helps women and their children experiencing homelessness, whether that's through domestic violence, sex trafficking. Everything we do is to help those around us and the women that wear these blazers.
Speaker 1 So I love that community is so important because when you want to celebrate with someone and when someone in the shipbuilding community experiences a win, I'm so happy to celebrate it with because I want to feel that same way.
Speaker 2 Yes, that's what brings me joy, and that's what I hope to bring to those around me and those that wear. The Madison Blazers. Yes, absolutely.
Speaker 1 What has been your most challenging obstacle in launching and growing your brand in business? And how did you overcome it?
Speaker 2 Uh, how many days you have, like, it's only an hour, OK? And in fashion,
Speaker 1 I'm sure that fashion is not any of the industry at all. No, I
Speaker 2 everybody was like, why did you go into a very hard industry? And then also starting with something that's very challenging in the fashion industry, which is the woman's blazer? So as you know and L.ACalifornia, it's about loungewear. your sweatpants and your athleisure. And then of course, I'm coming in with a very tailored piece. So very technical. As an entrepreneur, there are so many challenges already. It is definitely a learning curve, from finance to fashion, going from an industry where it's just it's numbers, it's compliance, it's deadlines, you have to meet those deadlines. There's no excuses, but in the fashion industry, you're working with creatives and it's just a different way of working at the different working style in this industry. And that's one of the things I had to get used to. Your will will pick you up and your wife will pull you forward. And that is thank you. And that is something that, to be honest, I had to remind myself of this past month because, like I said, a lot of life change has happened and it really tests you. And when you're so in the weeds I am right down to the threat of a blazer. It's very much in the weeds. You ask you to remind yourself what your y is and that this is bigger than you. And that's what gives you perspective again.
Speaker 1 So, so true. What do you like the most about helping women realize their gifts and empowering them to shine their light?
Speaker 2 it's that sparkle in that person's eyes when they are alive again. That is its currency for my soul, and my heart is when I see I made a difference in someone's life for the better. To know that, that ripple effect of impacting and changing people's lives. if I wasn't there, would it have changed their lives for the better? And you said alive
Speaker 1 I think coming out of COVID, we all want to feel that way. And I think and I think we're going to hit this tipping point where we're like, OK, no more loungewear. We want to feel a little more dressed up again. My daughter just went through all my jewelry and she's like, Bob, why don't you ever wear this? And so I just recently just started putting it on. I'm like, Whatever I have on, I'm just going to wear it. Otherwise, it's just going to fit in my closet forever.
Speaker 2 Exactly. And I actually, I don't know about you, but I forget what's in my closet now. Yeah, I'm like, Oh, I have that. I should wear it.
Speaker 1 I asked this question at the end of every episode because I believe finding joy in what we do is so important to our daily lives. Magic happens when we focus on the part of ourselves and our business. That brings us joy. What is one tip you can leave with us today about how you find and live your joy?
Speaker 2 My twenty twenty two goal is leave space and room for wonder because we are so much adulting. We have to do this. You have to. You have to. It is leaving that space for wonder, because it creates that space for childlike energy, wonder and play. That's all within us that we tend to forget or we tend to share. Down within us wonder equals joy. Wonder equals creativity. Wonder equals you being happy.
Speaker 1 Congrats to you for making your leap into your new business, and we all can't wait to check it out. Can you please tell our listeners how and where they can find you?
Speaker 2 Madison Saville dot com and Zappos say the elite Follow us on Instagram at Madison. We have a Facebook insiders group for those that want to join that community. any time we're looking at a new design or a new color, we asked that group for their opinion and then sign up for our newsletter on our website.