Kathy Gendel is the Founder and CEO of The Gendel Girls, the family behind QVC’s largest intimate apparel brand, Breezies. Kathy left a comfy corporate job back in 1994 to pursue her true passion of starting a line of intimates. After a lot of perseverance and a lucky encounter on Madison Avenue, she found a home at QVC. What started with selling underwear at 2am – and selling more than $138k worth of panties in only 7 minutes! – has become a family empire, with Kathy as both the matriarch and CEO.
Based outside Philadelphia and operating on a family farm, The Gendel Girls are first and foremost a family business with Kathy at the helm and her three daughters: Kalina Gendel, Chief Operating Officer, and Laurissa Gendel, President, in tandem leadership, and Catherine Gendel, VP of Creative Marketing. One of only a handful of on-air family personalities in the entire home-shopping genre, The Gendel Girls have been a mainstay on QVC for 23 years.
How has your life experience made you the leader you are today?
I think the most important quality in any great leader is discipline, and that is something that comes with time and experience. Sticking to your principles can be hard when you’re just starting out, and it can be easy to just give in to try to please people or make others happy. Understanding what is important to you and your business, and sticking with it, is what makes someone a great leader. It wasn’t always easy for me, but over time I have learned the importance of running a tight ship and taking calculated risks. I think risk-taking is at the heart of all entrepreneurs, as long as you are adhering to your own personal beliefs and what you believe is best for your business and yourself. For me, being a great leader is a result of energy and discipline, and it’s just as important whether you’re leading a top Fortune 500 company or a mom-and-pop shop.
How has your previous employment experience aided your tenure at The Gendel Girls?
I believe my early days in working for retailers and marketers really set a wonderful foundation for my role as a CEO and entrepreneur. During my years working at a major department store, I was fortunate enough to have traveled the fashion cities of the world, visiting many factories and fashion showrooms. I had first-hand experience to see how a silhouette was developed from concept to pattern to actual production. I think retailing and sales are just inherent, not to mention it’s in my blood. Both of my parents were fabulous retailers and marketers, working for major department stores throughout their careers.
What have the highlights and challenges been during your tenure at The Gendel Girls?
Most of my highlights and challenges come from my company being a family business – my three daughters are integral parts of The Gendel Girls. I adore being in business with Kalina (COO), Laurissa (President) and Catherine (VP) and feel very fortunate. They all have their own strengths and abilities to perform, and it’s amazing to see them succeed and follow my footsteps. But we also have our differences, and all four of us have pretty strong personalities. My daughters are sometimes so focused and determined that we can have our knock-down, drag-out fights over an issue in which we feel so passionate. I’ve actually fired each of them several times, but I always re-hire them quickly. At the end of the day, we come up for air and all believe we've made a great decision. As in all relationships, it's give and take.
What advice can you offer to women who want a career in your industry?
The advice I can give to women who want a career in the lingerie industry is to be patient and proceed quickly, but surely. While the lingerie business is somewhat niche, it’s also so important since every woman wears it! I’ve found that the pieces that sell the best are the ones that make women feel their best – being able to combine comfort with style in such an affordable, accessible way is what sets our products apart.
Find out what you do really well and continue to hone it and update it to keep up changing trends. I’ve also learned not to try to do too much. While you want to be able to expand your business, try not to stray too far from what you do best. I believe what sets many entrepreneurs apart is the fact that we are creative. My husband and I hold a few patents for a high performance fabric we developed for the use in bras and panties. So, if you have a unique idea, by all means, do a little research and go for it!
What is the most important lesson you’ve learned in your career to date?
The most important lesson I have learned to date is to remain flexible. No two days will ever be alike, otherwise, one never steps out of the box. I truly love learning something new every day. I have always told my family to tell me something I don't already know. It does lead to awesome creativity in both one's personal and business life. Equally important, I’ve learned to take one day at a time and never make a decision at night. Sleep on it, because most times, you’ll have a different outlook by morning.
How do you maintain a work/life balance?
I maintain a strong work/life balance by surrounding myself with amazing friends. None of my friends are high-maintenance, and do not require heavy-duty nurturing. I think demands and expectations of women today are high, and it’s important to have a strong support group. Since I work with my family, I need a great group of friends who aren’t obsessed with intimates to relax with! We do try to do it all (and I believe that we can), and we have selected that lifestyle. It is quite a feat to juggle your career with your personal life, but being able to do both also gives me a strong sense of satisfaction.
What do you think is the biggest issue for women in the workplace?
I think something that is both a blessing and a curse for myself and many other women is being very goal-oriented. While it’s so important to set goals and work towards achieving them, getting hung up on one goal can restrict being able to see the bigger picture and knowing when to move on to the next. Many of us, myself included, stay too focused on achieving a certain accomplishment, rather than moving forward. When this happens, I always try something new and then come back to it. Taking a break or getting a new perspective always helps me to find a new way to achieve a goal.
How has mentorship made a difference in your professional and personal life?
Mentorship has made a huge impact on me – my father was definitely my mentor, particularly in my professional life. His subliminal messaging was unsurpassed. He would just have to hand me an article or as much as an entire booklet, and I would just know there was something very significant to learn. He delivered the greatest advice by his own life experiences, and even though he was from a different generation, everything he said was so relatable.
I think mentorship has also had a big impact on my girls – growing up with their mom as the CEO of a company and ultimately having each of them join the family business means that I did something right! It’s important to me to be a role model to them both at work and at home and serve as their mentor in more ways than one. They are all working mothers themselves now, and while the lines between work and family in our house are gray at best (I sometimes forget they need my motherly wisdom and not my corporate jargon), they’ve had a front-row seat to running a company and a family, and I think have learned a lot from me over the years.
]Which other female leaders do you admire and why?
I admire is my maternal grandmother. She was a milliner and always looked so glamorous. In her spare time, she worked for the county, supplying food donations to the needy. Unfortunately, she developed breast cancer, which, then, became my drive and passion in life to be in the bra business. Because of her and many other breast cancer survivors, I made it a personal goal to develop a bra to not only hold a prosthetic enhancer, but to give a woman a beautiful shape with added comfort.
What do you want to accomplish in the next year?
We are working very diligently to expand our customer base and make Breezies with UltimAir the go-to intimates brand. When starting out in business, many people don't realize the “value” in building their brand. There will always be competition in any industry, but being the first matters! We are in the process of hiring additional team members to help grow our brand and lead us through some trenches. I believe the Gendel Girls has some staying power for years to come.