Last week, for the first time ever, I shared the full, unedited version of my fashion journey with you. It included: The painful (and ugly) beginnings of my own fashion line How my dream fashion job turned into my worst nightmare What industry experts don’t tell you about launching your own fashion line Your secret to surviving in the fashion industry And your response was overwhelming. My inbox was flooded with 100s of emails from you, and to my surprise, you were all thankful. Because no one else is talking about this stuff, you were relieved someone finally was. Initially, I was anxious and nervous about how you would react. Would you think I was a fraud (because my fashion line turned into a collection of guitar pick earrings that I hated!) or a dream crusher (because I told you the harsh financial realities of having your own fashion brand and how FUCKING hard it is to sell product!)? But you didn’t. I didn’t get one negative or mad response. You were happy to hear honesty and refreshed. And even more important, you realized you weren’t alone. That there are other people going through the same exact things as you are. Your story and my story and everyone else’s stories are surprisingly similar. I’ve never gotten this much reaction to anything I’ve put out. I’ve never gotten this many emails, and your replies have never been this emotional. So, I wanted to continue the conversation. I wanted to share some further thoughts on all of this and to emphasize the importance that none of us is alone. Which is why I bumped the previously scheduled episode to next week, and did an impromptu recording to further discuss what we’re all going through and the realities of working in fashion. Because this is really important stuff. And no one else is talking about it. We’ll be back next week with a regular episode, but in the meantime, I hope you enjoy what I have to say. If you want to continue this conversation, follow me on Patreon. In an effort to talk more about this, give you additional behind the scenes bonus content, and to listen more to what you want, we’re committing 6 months to doing Patreon. The effort is not to collect money but rather to have more honest and quality conversation about working in fashion. You can follow at Patreon.com/SFD. And you can find the promised (and embarrassing) photos of my fashion line, Funklectic, at SFDNetwork.com/37.