Hi guys, it's Rebecca. You're listening to superwomen today's guest is Catherine Duryea the founder of year and day. I don't know about you, but maybe it's my age a while ago probably was around the time. I got married. I started getting interested in dishes and I was sort of upset that you could only buy the really cool stuff that was really expensive and then the cheap stuff breaks all the time and is really that special so she created your day I think for me because it is beautifully crafted. Stood dishware in colors that are I don't know make me maybe it's the millennial in me really happy and we talked about her finding a niche in a market that was sort of untapped and how she grew it into a really amazing company. I would love to start at the beginning like what made you want to disrupt this industry, which is like filled with these big box retailers. Well exactly that I felt like this was well, it actually came from a personal experience. It made me realize how broken the industry is. I had moved back to San Francisco where I grew up from New York City in my early 30s and had kind of was Furnishing my bachelorette apartment and I was looking forward to having dinner parties and realized that some of my dishes had broken in the move and they were hand-me-down dishes from my mother who's always been a big plate obsessed person and collector. And so I was actually kind of excited to have this right-hand ring moment oftentimes people. All our associate buying nice dinner where with getting married and I wasn't married or engaged or I had met my husband and it was actually excited to embrace this the shopping experience and and went out to all of the different stores department stores specialty stores and was totally overwhelmed by the amount of choice in the market and it was very difficult for me to find anything. Aesthetically that I liked. And when I finally did the plates were You know more than 50 dollars per plate which was going to result in this like multi-thousand dollar dishware investment. And I thought that wasn't fair and it wasn't right and that there should be beautiful dishes that are accessible to everyone from a price point standpoint, but that also are very high quality and ethically and responsibly made and sustainably sourced and so I started digging into the industry and realized that Table, where is this seven billion dollar, you know Market inside the broader, you know, multibillion-dollar Home Market and thought well, maybe I could build a big business here. And so little by little started gathering information on the industry realized how much it relied on, you know, really kind of now Antiquated Distribution Systems licensing sales Distributors, you know department stores that weren't necessarily delivering a delightful customer experience on Mine or in person. So I went to trade shows I travel the world. I saw Factory floors and then had this design and my mind's eye of a really simple shape with beautiful contemporary. But Timeless colors that look beautiful individually or could be mixed in match. But but essentially had guardrails of being foolproof. So no matter what combination of colors that you pick your going to have a Chic table no matter what and brought that together into this idea of of around a table. So year and day is all about time and quality of time and celebrating kind of our daily rituals and you know annual celebrations or celebrations that happen on a less regular Cadence and realize that this product is such as witness to these really important moments and so it should have meaning and and that this generation we should all be inspired to build community at home and build community around the table at home and yet you know, we're all very busy you have women Much in the workforce and not necessarily having the time all day to cook and you know prepare arranged fly now, why don't we have that kind of time arrange a beautiful table scape Allah, you know icons of the past but that we shouldn't have to compromise, you know the outcome which is, you know, a beautiful table Community friends family conversation love humor all of the good things that happen there. That don't happen, you know take out on the sofa with the TV on so I'd love to pinpoint like a lot of people have great ideas and then they never actualize them right or they or they have a great idea and it seems like something that's like sort of Within Reach but you had this idea. So what within you occurred or what do you think you credit like here's an idea for you know, seemingly like I wouldn't have thought of that right or most people wouldn't have to create this. Where did that come from? Well, I think that I had built up a lot of inspiration from other brands that were kind of disrupting different areas of the retail universe. So that was there were some models out in the world of companies that had kind of like approaches. I think similarly there were models of other female entrepreneurs who had kind of like seemingly, you know out of nowhere out of left field ideas that had actualized them and she like real big businesses and raised money and built great teams. And you know, I'm lucky that I became an entrepreneur after many of them who forged the way I think for for people like me to see them as models and as icons and and to think okay, I could do that too. And then I think like inside of me this desire to have creativity not only in the expression of the product design but in thinking about customer Experience in this category and business and and how you could both make money and improve the way that this category is bought and sold. It just seemed like this Unique once-in-a-lifetime Kind of inside an opportunity to really try and I had gone to business school and I'd been out of business school for several years and it was kind of this moment of like if not now then when and so I was doing like Consulting at the time so I had some flexibility to do. Do work on your and day on the side without compromising kind of where my rent money was coming from. And so that that was helpful. But at some point you have to just embrace the unknown and kind of like walk into an unclear murky future, but with kind of like a sense that you have a compass inside of you both kind of business wise and artistically that will move that will Propel the vision forward and you Now we're two years in selling to customers three years into the journey and and it works. It worked people. We have people who bought it people bought it people bought it and and and love it and come back and buy more and it's the customers and their love of our product and they show us how they love it. They write in but they post on Instagram and their stories their tablescapes and their shell fees and that just fuels My passion to build a bigger business. So how big is your team now? My team now is eight people including myself in San Francisco. We have an incredible team right now. We're all women and it's the team inspires me so much because they all you know, entrepreneurial work startup work. I like to say you're we're kind of we're trying to break through the inertia of the world, you know. People want you know kind of have habits and routines or like there is a top of mine brand here. And even if it's delivering a subpar experience, like, you know, there's inertia there. And so if you're a startup you have to like cut through that and please tell me how we have let you know. It's like it's an everyday exercise and the team is incredible and they show up every day with new ideas new approaches energy horsepower. We had like our best week ever last. Weak and the team is the most important thing when it comes to scale because an individual can have an idea and a vision and kind of architect things. But at some point the amount that you can carry in your own basket is topped off and and so finding incredible people who share the vision who have a lot of fire and passion and and skill. Our team now is very skilled and smart and they're amazing. How could do it up that up to the team shout out to the team? So one thing I struggle with? And I'm curious how you deal with this is I I know what I like when I see it, but I have a lot of trouble articulating especially on a visual like not design not when it comes down to the actual design of a bag that's very easy. But when you're communicating anesthetic, which yours is so tight right, there is no crack. Thank you in my little fairy. That's very high pressures no cracks in that but I have trouble that like when I'm trying to direct people or we have a new graphic designer come in. I'm like no no no, yes, but like I wish I could just say this is the lane do not Veer from it and then they get it right. So how have you been able to have the business mind the artistic mind and like really have a vision that doesn't I've never it's always the same in a good way. They know here for saying that I credit actually for that years of work in the brand management team at Tiffany sitting alongside. exceptionally talented creative team who guarded and protected that now a hundred and eighty year old brand with very specific guardrails many of which, you know aren't necessarily documented but kind of become a culture and so that taught me a lot about the importance of specificity of vision and brand and I've brought that rigor to year and day and it's harder than it looks there's There's many iterations before we get to that that outcome and again, you know, I think it's about finding the right people who not only I think at that point see your vision, but then also have you know, the flexibility and the willingness to iterate and continue to learn right? Because I do think that like an eye is not something that you can just you can't write it down. Nobody else can jump in your brain and be like, but he I see it this way, but I think people who are good listeners, who are Flexible who are curious who are you know actually kind of take to that exercise and and enjoy it and that's so far how it's worked a I think we'll probably need to do more like actual documentation as we continue to grow as a brand which is something I'm like kind of both very excited about and then nervous for because elements of the brand also need oxygen. So you also like their places where you want flexibility and then places where you want more rigidity and and it's kind of that balance. I think that makes a brand both feel Timeless and lasting and powerful and understood alongside. Its relevance make sense. So prior to us recording I we we touched on struggle and you're like every day and I was like same same if I could only walk you through what really happened today would be one for the books. I know we could sit here all day all night. Yeah. Every every day is highs and lows. It's truly. I have to say the kinship and it's you know, we met over female founder Collective, which is this incredible amazing community of women that you've brought together. I'd say that though. The one thing that's given me the most inspiration in the process of urine day aside from our customers is other women Founders because they truly understand and you don't even have to say just know and that solidarity T you know, I've forged friendships where we've only met in person once but we like text and talk on the phone and there's just like real solid support. And anyway, I won't continue but no I don't I always say like I have my best friends that I don't talk about work with it's just like whatever kids sex or not if that ever happens ever again like that kind of stuff and then I have like my female business ladies were I'm like, oh I can share with you what exactly just happened today and how awful that was and how and how I wasn't it. Debating it and I said to myself you can't make it. You can't make this fucking shit up. Yes, right. It's true. You're like it's constantly surprised by the different iterations of ways that things can go both right and wrong and but it but it's this exceptional you're like on the edge and so we're all exposed to these things. But what's funny is somebody said something to me the other week. They're like, you know, you're probably not experiencing any anything that nobody else has experienced before the seems. So Edge the seem so crazy this seems so bizarre, but And that's where I think the solidarity as we all have kind of when you actually unpack that with the founder friends are like, oh, yeah that reminds me of XY and totally and you realize like it just makes you feel like you're not alone on this journey, which is really scary and hard. I wish there could be an anonymous slack group where you could just like, right? What happened to you and everyone can be like, oh that happened to me too. But like no one has to know I love that idea. I've never throw those apps for a while like secret and whatnot where people wrote things and see if the problem is that I probably I trust the Founder he would keep it positive and it like on the up and up but it's you can start that business. Now, we can start that. This is a subscription to start the business and I will be our first two customers. So what were so you were at Tiffany before which is how you got your incredible ability to be rigid in the best way and brand forward. What was your what sort of was your journey prior that gave you the good business sense you went to business school to business school. I was at I was at Stanford for for business school, which is an incredible. Place for being inspired by entrepreneurs. It's a school that really tends to encourage students to pursue either working at a start-up or becoming an entrepreneur. And so those are all the ideas that I was exploring there and you know actually kind of wanted to work at a consumer or Commerce start up after business school, but I graduated in 2009, which was I don't know if you know you were I know what there was like me. That's when we slashed our prices. I 50% you go see business exactly exactly. Right and so finding a job in that market was not easy. But you know, I ended up finding my way to this path, you know a little bit non in a long linear way started, you know business school. I did my internship actually at Bare Essentials Cosmetics, which is this mineral makeup company that has like tremendous brand love. This was 2008 and I was in there e comment online Marketing Group and e-commerce. Cam we are just starting to kind of like open our eyes to the idea that e-comm was delivering all this great data about the customer about replenishment Behavior Etc. And then the second thing that was interesting that I learned there was about building Community online because their customers were so fanatical about the brand that they started bulletin boards to like talk about make up the different kits and tips and this was kind of before Instagram and Pinterest and kind of all these other places where now Brands, you know, kind of have room Is where customers can build community and so is very inspired by that idea. And really it directed kind of the next I guess 10 years and I worked for a year at a consulting firm here in New York and then kind of use that to to get started at Tiffany and Tiffany was just this incredible a global brand experience. I worked a lot on our Asia Pacific Market and traveled there and help get the brand up on, you know platforms like WeChat and just have this incredible exposure to you know, the mobile world of retailing and luxury retailing and yet also saw kind of all of the ways that retail could be made better by technology and digital and so again kind of back to the 2008 mind I thought okay. I think I want to get on the other side of this and that Insight combined with my love of the table, you know tabletop and home got me into this thing that's now yearned. So I would love to touch on you had mentioned like your Father and he had a huge role. So can you talk a little bit about your father's role? He played in your journey. Absolutely. So I an unfortunate loss of my father when I was 12 and my father and I were very close Kindred. I was very inspired by him and he was incredibly kind of supportive of my interest. I mean, I was 12 at the time so ballet and science or what I really care about then but it nevertheless like we're very very close and he was kind of an honor. Preneur in his own right? He was a lawyer but he had his own practice and employees and Etc and when you know, he was diagnosed with brain cancer and within a year he died and it was a tremendously formative experience in my life, you know, it taught me a lot about resilience. You know, like life is hard. It's going to throw really difficult things that you and you can build yourself back up and build your own community and build your sense of self. And yet still you know, I feel the presence of him with me. He's such a part of me and about in my kind of fire and and energy and drive but it's so sad that he's not here totally totally. Sorry. I wasn't no thank you. I'm normally pretty buttoned-up even when I talk about him, but sometimes you know, I get it man, I think about this stuff all the time because when I was younger I Just thought I took for granted like oh when I'm older, I won't need my parents and I need them now more than I've ever needed them. And so I'm just like, oh my gosh, you know where I have an eight-year-old. So I'm just putting myself into your shoes. Like if that happened to one of us. It's just like fuck. It's not an ideal life experience and it's funny because I have friends now who are losing, you know, as adults are starting to lose their parents, which is still incredibly heartbreaking to see that loss and and I love you know, As an expert. I like to be there to support the journey, but it's truly. It's this inexplicable, you know, darkness and sadness and hole that I think again can be a great source of strength and what surprises me a little emotional today like is that you can tap into that pain, even you know, this was the 25 year anniversary of my father's death will be this December. So 25 years of healing and You know, I'm an entrepreneur. I'm married. I have a lovely life. I'm like so grateful for all of the wonderful things that have come my way since then and yet that lost can still be very palpable. But I think again, I I truly believe that it taught me so much about standing up in the face of being kicked down and that is like as you know in the entrepreneurial Journey like you are just constantly having to push forward push. Push push push push yourself up and move forward and and so I feel like that experience Miss almost this like massively horrible, but very powerful training ground and resilience. And you know, I would prefer to have my father be alive and have lived through my kind of teenage years and twenties and walk me down the aisle at my wedding and all of those things that many people have the pleasure or you know in their life. But I did not and yet I have other strengths that I derived from the absence of that which I'm proud of totally I found it fascinating and interesting to explore those deep moments of failure and like what you got out of it and while it totally fucking sucks, you're like, oh there's a silver lining there, you know and not a silver lining but there's like something that grew out of it you guys learning there's growth there's building there. And so I think from that you can kind of you see like, you know again in the It's like we're lucky because like, you know, we're getting more things right than wrong. And there's more good than harm. You know, like there's there's momentum to what we're building and yet like there's always that backs. And so I think like you you just your muscle for for managing setbacks. It's just like a little stronger. So you raised money. I did did you find that experience tough? Did you feel viewed as a woman? You know, it's Or not I would say fundraising I think is really hard. I think it's probably hard for men and women. I do think it's more difficult for women particularly women who are working in the in consumer-facing Industries and Brands where I think that you know our product and what we the problem that were solving and the way we're approaching it is like intuitively understood by most women and yet most investors are men. And so you have to kind of start a couple stages earlier kind of explaining why why this problem is what it is and why it exists and like also that it's a massive business opportunity and how your day is approaching it differently. And so, you know nevertheless I would say the majority of our cap table is woman, like which I'm super proud of we have amazing investors who you know, I think fundraising is an exercise that like anything else it becomes kind of a skill that I think over time you You know get better and better at but it's definitely difficult. It's also an exercise in resilience. You know, we've had a lot of amazing yeses. We have again incredible people in our cap table, but we've also had some like amazing nose and that's hard and it sucks but you get up the next morning and you go after it again and again like it's Groundhog Day, right? Exactly, right? You can't you can't let the setbacks like set you back because the customers are what like, I don't know like if I ever / I don't know. I just like go. I have a rough day or like I hear no from an investor. I like going to like our dashboard and look at our sales and then I look at our like Instagram user generated content and I look at our feedback from our customers and in and I'm just like wow, like people love this. We are really doing something right and it's all about finding the folks who see that too and see they opportunity there. My husband will see the light and Daybreak day break which is my favorite color Daybreak look it up people. Beautiful and it's a great way to start your day. Yes, very cheerful seems to get over his aversion to Pink. It's really a subtle pink. It's a very gender-neutral ping, you know, it's and it truly like for breakfast makes you happy. It makes you happy. I know like Sparks Joy. Yeah Sparks joy in the home a great. So I yes, I'm II think that when he sees the Daybreak mugs in your home, he will convert because it Will let's hope so we'll strike an emotional chord. It's just like there's no going back. Once that one side happened. Yes. I like to ask my guests to questions, which I'm sure you know, the answer are you know them but something would be surprised to know about you something you'd be surprised to know about funny habit and a weird Quirk don't be afraid to share a lot of things like last week. I told everyone I peed in a diaper because I wasn't near a bathroom. I just listened to the Ali Wong book and she talks about peeing in a diaper. Then the diapers were quite small. And anyway, it leaks and her car anyway, which is like that book is she's coincidentally grew up in San Francisco and I knew her a little bit growing up in any way, but I think she's so incredible and was very anyway, so you're not alone. I'm not I have not paid in the diaper. I do not yet have children. I'm just trying to think of I mean, I'm sure I have a gazillion crazy quirks. In fact, I know I do. I really, you know, I probably I have watched every Law and Order ever. Wow. I mean I had as like legit. It was kind of embarrassing. It's a lot of episodes whenever I'm traveling for work. I like to put it on in the background when you like to be watched them occasionally, but what's bad as I have a really good memory and like they're not that fun to once you know the hook. You're like, okay, but I always like I'm up on the current season. I always have it at like when I travel I put it on but again, I'm I think I'm in repeat sound because I think I've watched so you're a dick Wolf's superfan. Yeah. Yeah. I think I like I mean, I'm comforted by the formula. Yeah, you know and so yeah, it's not super hyper out but I love it and there and what is some great advice you'd love to pass on whether you learn it yourself or someone gave it to you and it worked. I think that the advice I've learned kind of most recently and is about finding great. People surrounding herself with a great team. There's you know a it's important in any kind of career or you know to have a vision of what you want to become and and to move yourself closer and closer to that vision. And then I think like it's the people around you that make that a journey worth going on and you know, whether that's a team you hire or the people that you choose to work within a job or your friends and family like that. I guess not your family. You don't know. Sara Lee juice, but I think really think carefully about the people you surround yourself with especially the people you work with and it makes really a lot of difference. I think in the day-to-day, but also kind of the outcome of your career. So thank you. Thank you. That was Catherine Duryea the founder of year and day for more information about her company. You can follow at your and a thank you so much for listening. As always. Don't forget to rate me, wherever you listen to a podcast leave a review. I do read them all.
What’s the 7 billion dollar industry that’s perched on your shelves, resting on your table, even held in your hands multiple times a day? It’s not your phone. It’s not even digital. It’s – wait for it – your dishes! That’s right, the tools we use to deliver food to our hungry bodies everyday is a goldmine, and an industry that hasn’t seen many changes in operations in the last several decades. Enter Kathryn Duryea, whose personal journey to create a nice table for herself resulted in frustration. When she did find designs she liked, the prices were far too high. Not everyone has thousands of dollars to put towards plates and forks. Years spent on the brand management team for Tiffany, coupled with her mother’s love of dishware, gave Kathryn the skills, passion and inspiration to start her own brand. Now just two years old, Year and Day has already been critically acclaimed by the likes of Vogue and GQ. According to Kathryn, when it comes to creating a beautiful table for friends and family, “We shouldn’t have to compromise.” Thanks for listening! We love our listeners! Follow Superwomen on Instagram. Big Ideas The greater goal in creating community and a place for friends and family to share beautiful memories together. [03:28] Creating clear and consistent branding. [09:52]  ---   Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/superwomen/support 