Jennifer Potter is Chief Operating Officer for Bunny Williams Home, a luxury line of home furnishings and accessories. Jennifer graduated from Dickinson College with a BA in Psychology. She spent eight years in the financial services industry and assisted with the launch of Northern Border Investments LP, a Canadian-focused hedge fund. In 2008, Jennifer began working for renowned Interior Designer, Bunny Williams, and facilitated the launch of Bunny Williams Home. The collection began with 30 SKUs and was originally distributed to a curated group of design oriented stores. Since inception, the collection has grown to well over 150 SKUs. It continues to grow in popularity and has been featured by every major shelter publication. Product is available to the interior design trade, hospitality community as well as consumers via the company’s ecommerce site, flagship showroom (232 East 59th, NYC) and through distribution partners and home stores across the country.
How has your life experience made you the leader you are today?
My family is the bedrock of who I am. My father was a quiet and thoughtful leader who was widely respected. My mother, an artist, is a creative genius and exudes passion for her everything that she does. I believe I’m lucky to have inherited the best of both and I hope that comes out in my work. Beyond this, the people that I respect most, my parents, mentors and my husband, all believe in hard work. It is simple but valuable and underrated in today’s world. I’ve done my share of grunt work and I think everyone should. There is nothing more valuable than learning how a business operates from the absolute ground level and there is no better way to do that than to dig in.
How has your previous employment experience aided your tenure at Bunny Williams Home?
I spent the first part of my career in the financial services industry. My experiences taught me fundamentals that strengthen the decisions I make on a daily basis. I was also very fortunate to have had mentors whose tutelage made a great impact on me. My experiences were invaluable but I learned that I wasn’t wired for a lifetime of evaluating other businesses from the outside looking in. I’m a “get your hands dirty” kind of girl and while numbers appeal to me, the operational practices and processes of a business are what I find sexy (go figure). Bunny Williams Home has allowed me to put theories into action and see them flourish.
What have the highlights and challenges been during your tenure at Bunny Williams Home?
Bunny Williams Home is unique in that our furniture and lighting collection is entirely private label. We design in house, oversee sample development and production, manage global logistics and distribute worldwide. Focusing on growth and brand recognition while maintaining good design, quality and customer service is a big undertaking for what is a relatively small team. We all wear many hats and that can be a challenge with so much to accomplish. All of this said, we’ve celebrated enormous victories. In 2015 we opened our flagship showroom at The Fine Arts Building (232 East 59th Street) in NYC. In 2016 we expanded our collections to include 50 new SKUs in addition to doubling our ecommerce business. Every victory is that much more satisfying because of our size and because we’ve stay true to our core principles.
What advice can you offer to women who want a career in your industry?
Stay humble and stay hungry. There are always other people that know more than you. Look for them, respect them, do anything you can to work for them and then ask endless questions.
What is the most important lesson you’ve learned in your career to date?
Multitasking will let you down. Do one thing at a time and do it well.
How do you maintain a work/life balance?
At any given time, one aspect of my life is always falling victim to the sheer fact that there is only one of me. Each Monday I awake to a swollen inbox, sad faces of my children as I leave for work or friendships that I feel tortured about unintentionally neglecting. And then I realize that it has been months since I saw the inside of the gym. There is no easy formula other than to keep moving, not fall victim to feeling overwhelmed and to surround yourself with the best team possible because none of us can do it all on our own. A difficult lesson to learn but true.
What do you think is the biggest issue for women in the workplace?
Gender inequality and sexism certainly still exist. Wear a thick skin, work your tail off and do not let anything get in your way. The bigger issue in my opinion is that we (present company included) want it all (career, relationship, family – all in perfect order) and we aren’t recognizing that to achieve it, we need to do more than demand equal jobs and pay. I certainly don’t have all the answers but perhaps admitting that we aren’t equal, that women generally carry more than men do, is step one. Being mindful and supportive of one another is also paramount.
How has mentorship made a difference in your professional and personal life?
I had the great privilege to work for Lewis Lehrman early on in my career. He was one of two people that taught me the fundamentals of business from a financial, ethical and practical standpoint. The second was my brother, one of the most deliberately earnest people one would come across in business. Everything I learned from them is impactful on what I do today. Beyond the lessons, the time they both spent with me was done so entirely unselfishly. There is no way to directly repay this education and so I look to pay it forward to as many people as possible.
Which other female leaders do you admire and why?
There are many strong and powerful women in the workforce now and that is an amazing fact for younger generations to experience. However my mother is it for me. Beliefs, morals, honesty and loyalty have never and will never be called into question when it comes to her. She has a vision in life and in her career. She stays true to that vision and others around her are inspired by it. If that isn’t a leader, I’m not sure what it.
What do you want Bunny Williams Home to accomplish in the next year?
Rule the world of course. And if we come up short, furnish it.