Sali Christeson was born and raised on a farm in South Carolina, attending school in Savannah, Georgia. She studied Business at Furman University and went on to work in Private Banking in Chicago. She reluctantly left Chicago for grad school and after earning her MBA, Sali moved to California and joined Cisco as a participant in their Supply Chain Leadership Rotational Program. She settled into a role heading the Customer Advocacy team for their new cloud initiative—including defining, hiring, and managing the team. In 2015, she left Cisco to start working full-time on an idea she'd had for a long time - building an apparel brand to shake up the long-neglected women's workwear category. She teamed up with a designer, Eleanor Turner, and they launched Argent in June of 2016. Sali serves as CEO and fosters a continued appreciation for the madness involved in launching a startup.
When Eleanor Turner was 8, she decided she was going to become a fashion designer and move to NYC someday. She went on to do that very thing—working in various roles for Tommy Hilfiger and in women's design for Tory Burch and J.Crew. (She'd like to think her 8 year old self would be pretty proud.) Born and raised in Lynchburg, VA, Eleanor attended Savannah College of Art and Design where she competed on the SCAD equestrian team and earned a BFA in Fashion. By her senior year, she had been featured in several publications, local and national, as “one to watch,” and was awarded the YMA Geoffrey Beene Fashion Scholarship Award and the SCAD Outstanding Achievement Award in Fashion. In 2008, Eleanor moved to New York City and began her design career. After working in corporate fashion for 8 years, she was ready for a bigger challenge and shifted gears to tackle women’s work apparel and start-up life. She co-founded Argent in 2015 where she currently serves as Chief Creative Officer, overseeing creative direction, design and development. She finds the entrepreneurial challenges energizing and is incredibly excited about making—and wearing—innovative, boundary-pushing workwear that changes the game for women.
How has your life experience made you the leader you are today?
Sali: My parents have been great and supportive role models. They provided an environment for me to comfortably grow within. Early on, I was inspired by both of their work ethic and was encouraged to push outside of my comfort zone. My professional career has definitely helped shape my leadership skills, but the two most defining experiences happened at a young age and established a solid foundation for me to build on. The first were my entrepreneurial endeavors; I painted and sold piggy banks, ran lemonade stands and sold horseshoe picture frames, to name a few. My father is a Turkish immigrant and entrepreneur and I have always been so inspired by his story. From him and my numerous “startups” I learned money and time management, sales skills and hard work. The second was participating in sports. I was playing baseball, basketball, soccer and running at a young age. In high school, I was the captain of our basketball and volleyball teams. Sports taught me discipline, helped me learn failure and instilled an appreciation for the power of teamwork, communication and goal-setting.
El: I attribute my leadership abilities to the examples set by the leaders in my life. Growing up, I always heard stories about my great grandparents and the influence they had as business and community leaders. My great grandmother was a well-known folklorist who transcended social norms to bring attention to African-American music. My great grandfather, an entrepreneur in the fashion and textile industries, employed more women in the South than any manufacturer. They both inspired out of the box thinking, a mentality that was passed down through generations of my family. My Dad was also an entrepreneur. Growing up, I watched him start companies and saw how tough it was. He told me that a lot of mediocre people do incredible things simply because they persist. My parents and great grandparents taught me to follow my dreams, challenge the status quo, work hard, and above all, persist. When I entered the working world, I was fortunate to get incredible exposure to some of the most influential personalities in the industry, Tommy Hilfiger, Tory Burch and Mickey Drexler at J.Crew. They are all very different and amazing leaders. Each one inspired various aspects of my own leadership style.
How has your previous employment experience aided your tenure at Argent?
Sali: For as long as I can remember, I’ve wanted to start a company, though I never knew if I’d actually pursue it. With that in mind, all of my schooling and work pursuits were based on preparing myself to the best of my ability. I spent time in banking, supply chain and tech. My time at Cisco was especially instrumental, as I had the opportunity to learn best in class supply chain practices and the dynamic pace of Silicon Valley. The last year plus at Cisco was spent in Cloud helping to define, build and manage our Customer Advocacy team. I learned my strengths and weaknesses and had the opportunity to be part of a startup within the safety of a large organization. It provided accelerated learning and gave me the confidence that I needed to take the leap into Argent.
El: After a decade in the industry, I’ve worked for established brands like Tommy Hilfiger, Tory Burch, and J.Crew. During my time at Tommy, I worked as a liaison within and around Design, Marketing, PR, and Event Coordination. I was the only person in the role. I had to be resourceful, problem-solve quickly, and be scrappy. I also spent time working for a menswear start-up where the experience was quite similar. When I moved on to work for Tory Burch and J.Crew, I worked specifically in women’s design. I was so lucky to have worked with some of the most talented people in the industry. I had unique experiences at each company, but one thing they all had in common was great leadership. These experiences have no doubt shaped my ability to make tough decisions at Argent.
What have the highlights and challenges been during your tenure at Argent?
Sali: Loaded question, as it feels like every day is packed with little (and big) victories and challenges. A recent highlight was a January weekend in DC, where we launched a pop-up shop in Shinola that coincided with the Women’s March. El and I both marched, which was such an inspiring and empowering thing to be a part of. We wore pantsuits, of course, and one of the most memorable interactions was with an older gentleman who complimented our pantsuits as a tear casually ran down his cheek. It was simple and very emotional. We spent much of the weekend in our newly opened store. Tons of people came through, men and women from all over the country who had come to the city to march. It was therapeutic and we got to connect with a diverse set of individuals on a deep level. Argent is all about community, and this was such an awesome way to connect on shared values. As for challenges, the list is long, but that’s what makes it all the more rewarding. We have a larger purpose that no one single event or setback can distract us from.
What advice can you offer to women who want a career in your industry?
Sali: Progress for me has hinged on resilience, confidence, and communication. I’ve faced a lot of pushback in my career, none as apparent as what El and I have had to endure with Argent. Entrepreneurialism is intense and impossibly hard, especially as female founders. We’ve seen our fair share of setbacks, bias and small failures, but we persevere due to our commitment to our larger goal of giving women their seat at the table. It’s cliché, but we don’t always know exactly what we’re doing or how to get it done, but we’re confident in the why enough to figure it out. And lastly, I always make a point to communicate bias as I see it, which is something I started doing at Cisco with my manager. It was one of the healthiest relationships that I’ve experienced, as I trusted him enough to highlight his unconscious biases and he changed his behavior and supported me through the challenges I experienced being on a predominantly male team. My goal is to identify unfair treatment as it happens. To remain silent is not an option as I want to see a shift and break barriers for future female leaders.
El: Working in fashion as a female may seem like a natural fit given that women are the primary end consumer of fashion. The fact of the matter is that women are still underrepresented in leadership across the industry. My best advice to a woman wanting a career in this industry would be to ‘stay in your power.’ In other words, be confident and don’t let people shake your intuition or values. My first boss in this industry always empowered me to have an opinion. Even if he didn’t agree, he always respected it. It cultivated a confidence in me that was unshakeable. That served me well in a lot of ways. As I moved on from that role, I faced bias and was challenged. Confidence was the single most important tool that kept me hungry and ambitious. It is especially important for women today in the shifting landscape of the industry. What was always deemed “the way to do things” is no longer working. Following intuition and having confidence is what gave Sali and I the courage to start Argent. And it’s what we ultimately seek to empower within our community.
The second piece of advice is to listen to your customer. This was a huge part of the initial stages of launching Argent. For too long, work apparel has been a stagnant category, with no one listening to what women actually wanted from their workwear. Through conversations with working women about their days, I understood that functionality needed to be incorporated into the clothes, so the designs incorporate features to streamline the life of a working woman. We believe starting out with this input (and continuing to gather it) is a significant factor in our success, and our advice to others who want a career in this industry would be to keep your ear to the ground and make a product that answers the needs of the customer.
What is the most important lesson you’ve learned in your career to date?
El: Founding Argent has been the most rewarding thing Sali and I have ever done. It’s not without its challenges, and we’ve faced a lot of adversity, especially as female founders. The most important lesson we’ve learned is to not let those challenges distract us from our larger goal. In order to make Argent a success, we need to be laser-focused on moving things forward. We cannot afford to get distracted, so when things do get tough, we say “well, shit,” and reset to focus on a solution.
How do you maintain a work/life balance?
Sali: Everyone needs an outlet from their work. For me, it’s exercise: hiking, spinning, running, yoga. That’s something I always find time for. That said, I can’t say that either of us is necessarily nailing the whole work/life balance thing. We are doing what we love and it’s all consuming.
El: At present, it’s certainly really hard! As start-up co-founders, we usually find ourselves working around the clock. There’s so much to do and we are still in the process of building our team, so we usually end up wearing a lot of different hats and working outside of normal business hours. One thing that has helped is bringing our friends and family into the Argent community. They’ve been incredibly supportive since day one and major contributors to our success, and have helped us stay sane!
What do you think is the biggest issue for women in the workplace?
Sali: Launching Argent has given us exposure to a variety of industries, which all share some common themes with regard to the challenges women are facing. Exclusion from informal networking opportunities, pay inequality and a lack of diversity at the top for the most part have been consistent. There is also day to day subtleties and biases women are forced to endure, which include sexual harassment, requests to do menial tasks and numerous double standards. In my opinion, the biggest issue is that women are not keeping up with men in terms of career advancement and the resulting pay increases by no fault of their own. For example, a number of contacts who are taking maternity leave are not being considered for promotions at a critical juncture in their careers though they are still employed with their companies. Once women are held back, catch up is nearly impossible. Every stakeholder needs to participate in preventing this from continuing to happen.
El: With Argent, we are trying to tackle one of many challenges for women, dressing for your unique place of work. Sali and I have very different backgrounds and have filled opposite roles within corporate companies. Yet, when we set out to research shopping for work apparel, traditional retailers pulled suiting for both of us. Suiting doesn’t work for me in a creative role, and it wasn’t appropriate for Sali’s every day in tech. A woman’s appearance can affect her career trajectory. It is incredibly easy to misstep. We saw an opportunity to make dressing for different kinds of office environments easier and more intuitive. That’s why we have leveraged Pinterest and redefined dress codes by creating four style categories—from casual to formal -- giving every woman an option. Working women derive confidence from their clothing, are judged based on appearance, and don’t have time to make dressing for work top priority. It’s not to say that workwear is the biggest challenge, but looking great and having confidence are tools women can use to navigate the workplace and tackle the many issues that exist.
How has mentorship made a difference in your professional and personal life?
Sali: We have been fortunate to have advocates and mentors in our previous roles and now with Argent. One thing we recognize is that there are too few women at the top and they receive a large number of requests for time and mentoring. This inspired our vision for our community, which connects individuals, male and female, across all levels. I think it’s really important to stress that mentorship does not have to always be a formal agreement and it does not have to just be exec-level or female to female. Diversity in mentoring is critically important. In addition to mentoring, our community provides tools for achieving professional goals. We host career coaching, financial literacy courses, speed negotiating with real executives and networking.
El: Mentorship has been huge for me. My very first boss is a dear friend and mentor of mine. He has extensive experience within the fashion industry. If I ever need advice, he’s my go-to resource. He always offers an unbiased and direct opinion, and calls me on my shit! I am grateful to have his support. I highly encourage everyone to have mentors, and provide mentorship to others. Mentorship is something that Sali and I strongly believe in and want to provide more access to with Argent.
Which other female leaders do you admire and why?
El: Oh boy. We admire our community, women who take charge, make noise, and drop-kick the glass ceiling. There are tons of great examples across business, politics, and entertainment, including Michelle Obama, Hillary Clinton, Emma Stone, Tavi Gevinson, Angela Ahrendts, and Amal Clooney. We admire female leaders with voices, who take risks, and raise awareness. We are strong proponents of swimming against the tide and standing up for what you believe in.
What do you want Argent to accomplish in the next year?
Sali: Startup success requires a bit of fluidity, but our ultimate goal remains the same: to evolve with professional women. When we launched 9 months ago we identified the needs of our customers and offered solutions with functional workwear, which we will continue to iterate on. Another major priority for the next year is to expand our community and impact, introducing more women to Argent, and inspiring them to be bold in their respective career journey.