Sonny and Natalie Rogers of Klassy Network.courtesy of Rogers November 19th marks Women’s Entrepreneurship Day, celebrating female founders worldwide.Insider spoke with five mother-daughter duos about starting businesses together.Here’s their advice for balancing personal and professional relationships.Sign up for our weekday newsletter, packed with original analysis, news, and trends — delivered right to your inbox.Loading Something is loading.
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Thanks for signing up! Access your favorite topics in a personalized feed while you’re on the go.download the app Email address By clicking ‘Sign up’, you agree to receive marketing emails from Insider as well as other partner offers and accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy .Natalie Rogers was on a mission to create a product that combined her active lifestyle with her love of fashion — passions she’d inherited from her mother, Sonny.
Rogers didn’t know about design, merchandising, or production when she set out to launch the apparel brand Klassy Network , so she again looked to her mother.
“My passion is combining function and fashion, but in a cute way so I feel good wearing it,” Rogers said.”I told my mom about my idea, and she was super supportive of the concept.”
Rogers’ creativity and skills in social-media marketing coupled with her mother’s organization fueled Klassy Network’s growth: In 2021 it booked seven figures in sales, which Insider verified with documentation.
While many mothers and daughters — including those interviewed for this story — can be very different, sometimes that difference is what makes the partnerships work.
“When you’re running a business, it’s your mom’s livelihood too,” said Marcy Vieau-Goetz, an owner of Chocolate Inspirations, an artisan chocolate shop.
“That makes it a little bit more scary, but it also makes you more determined — it gives you that extra pull.”
Insider spoke with five mother-daughter pairs.They shared how they’re scaling six- and seven-figure businesses, their advice for sticking to family values, and managing work responsibilities with someone you love.
Klassy Network Sonny and Natalie Rogers.courtesy of Rogers Natalie Rogers, 27, CEO and cofounder
Sonny Rogers, 60, product manager
Klassy Network is a fashion brand based in Orlando, Florida, known for its brami tops , which went viral on TikTok in September 2020.Natalie and her husband, Jacob Soto, hired both of their mothers and Rogers’ father to grow the brand in 2021.
“I’m so proud of my daughter,” Sonny said.
“It doesn’t surprise me to see her blossom.It’s incredible to watch.”
Why they decided to go into business together
“She’s so organized, knows exactly what I like, and I can trust her,” Natalie said.
How they separate their work from their personal lives
“It’s definitely not been easy, but every single person in this company knows how I am personally,” Natalie said, adding that she strives to keep the company’s energy positive and optimistic.”If there’s anything that is sucking that out, we have a conversation and remind people why we started this and what we’re all about.”
Chocolate Inspirations Pam Vieau and Marcy Vieau-Goetz.courtesy of Vieau-Goetz Marcy Vieau-Goetz, 53, owner and chief happy officer
Pam Vieau, 73, owner and chocolatier, 73
Pam launched Chocolate Inspirations , an artisanal chocolate and vegan-desserts brand, in 1994 after taking a chocolate class for fun while pursuing a career in court reporting.The company has steadily grown and counts three generations of the family as employees, including Pam’s daughter Marcy, who joined the company full time in April 2018, and her 94-year-old mother, Charlotte.
While Pam is the chocolate visionary, Marcy is the business visionary — she’s grown Chocolate Inspirations into a business that booked six figures in sales in 2021, which Insider verified with documentation.
What made them want to become business partners
“When she gave the English toffee to friends, I saw the change in people after they had it,” Marcy said of her mom’s first few batches.”It was like nothing I’d seen, so it was a train I wanted to jump onto.”
She said they work well together because she’s Pam’s top supporter and believes in her creations — she was willing to spread the word and ensure Pam was charging the right prices.
Their advice for mothers and daughters in a business relationship
Their biggest tips are not to take that connection for granted, to celebrate even the little victories, and to be thankful that you’re in it together.
“We are closer now,” Marcy said.”I can’t imagine not seeing her every day.”
Park Slope Therapy Ellen and Alexandra Jacowitz.courtesy of Jacowitz Alexandra Jacowitz, 37, cofounder and clinical director
Ellen Jacowitz, 70, cofounder and assistant clinical director
Park Slope Therapy is a mental-health private practice in Brooklyn, New York.
The company was founded in 2019 after Alexandra, known as Ali, finished her clinical psychology doctoral program and obtained her license.
Ellen, a licensed social worker, was ready to leave her role at another private practice.
Today the duo and their team of four provide support for couples, children, and millennials facing burnout.Last year they booked six figures in income, which Insider verified with documentation.
What inspired Ali to follow in her mom’s footsteps and pursue a career in mental health
“Growing up with her, we had a very psychologically minded family,” Ali said.”I don’t think I realized how it was embedded in the structure of our household until I was older.”
Ellen said that as a mental-health worker, she made vulnerable and honest communication a consistent part of Ali’s upbringing.
“Ali was raised to question people’s behavioral styles,” Ellen said.
“It was just the culture of our family to always be talking about it, and when you talk about things, you keep a lot of the anger and frustration out of your family.”
Why they work so well together
While the two have different specialties, they said their complementary skills, interests, and personalities make them such good partners.
“That balance is the best thing that you can do,” Ali said, adding that her mother’s experience running a business combined with her personal passion for psychology was the collaboration needed to launch the company.
“If there was somebody else like me partnered with me, I think I would burn out, because there would be no yin and yang — there would be no white space for my dark space,” Ali said.
Their best piece of advice for other mother-daughter duos
“The core of the relationship has to be a good one,” Ellen said.”When you run into roadblocks, you have to know how to resolve conflicts and keep going.”
Go Dash Dot Melissa and Hannah Fastov.
courtesy of Fastov Hannah Fastov, 31, founder and CEO
Melissa Fastov, 61, chief operating officer
Go Dash Dot was founded in October 2016.Hannah had failed to find a bag that could accommodate her busy days, which included exercise, work, and evening plans.
Her solution was a tote with a padded computer compartment, a shoe pocket, and a shoulder strap.When she brought the idea to her mom, Melissa, she supported it right away.
Last year the company sold six figures’ worth of goods, which Insider verified with documentation.
Roadblocks they’ve had to overcome together
“When the pandemic hit, that threw us for a loop,” Hannah said.”But fortunately we were able to take a step back and say, ‘Let’s use this opportunity to continue connecting with our consumer.'”
Hannah said a customer’s story of how her Go Dash Dot bag had helped her as a healthcare worker “resonated with me so much.”
“After feeling so useless, I actually felt useful,” she said.
Hannah and her mother sent 1,000 cross-body bags to healthcare workers around the US.
Their best advice for other mother-daughter duos
“From a mom’s perspective, be nonjudgmental,” Melissa said.”Sometimes your first tendency is to say, ‘That’s wrong,’ but it’s actually not necessarily wrong, and you have to step back and listen.”
Heavenly Beauty Supply Heavenly and Alaura Kimes.courtesy of Kimes Alaura Kimes, 16, fashion designer and owner
Heavenly Kimes, 51, dentist and owner
Heavenly Kimes is a dentist who gained fame when she joined Bravo’s second season of “Married to Medicine” in 2014.Since then she’s continued to run her dentistry business, built a personal brand, written a book, and cofounded a beauty company, Heavenly Beauty Supply , with her daughter, Alaura.
When they launched the business in Atlanta in August 2021, they had a joint mission of sharing their love of beauty products while uplifting other Black beauty brands.Today they sell other Black-owned products in their store and welcome Black-owned businesses to sample products with Heavenly Beauty Supply shoppers.
“Before, when I went to a beauty supply store, it wasn’t primarily Black-owned,” Alaura said.”This is a fresh start to Black beauty.”
Their business booked six figures in sales last year, which Insider verified with documentation.
How running the business has affected their relationship
“It’s really strengthened our relationship, not only in an aspect of mother and daughter, but it’s being able to talk to somebody about business and understanding that person,” Alaura said.
It helps that they’ve always been close, Heavenly added.”We don’t always agree, but I’m the mama and I make the final decision,” she said, laughing.
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