Before reading this book, I had no idea who Sophia Amoruso was. I had never visited or purchased anything from Nasty Gal. I had simply heard people talking about the book #Girlboss and I thought it was pretty cool to have a simple hashtag as a book title.
So for those who don’t know, Sophia Amoruso is the 31-year-old founder of Nasty Gal, an online retail company that sells modern and vintage clothing, shoes and accessories for women. She launched the business at the age of 22 and has grown the company from very humble beginnings as an eBay vintage clothing reseller to a huge, $100 million-plus online empire. #Girlboss is her New York Times bestselling book.
In #Girlboss, Sophia (yes, I’m using her first name because that’s the familiar vibe you get from the book) describes her very unique entrepreneurial journey. She gives glimpses of her childhood and how she was a bit of a loner and free spirit in high school. She chronicles her string of “shitty” jobs and later how she hitchhiked, dumpster dived, and even shoplifted. It’s not what anybody probably would expect of a young woman who owns a multimillion dollar clothing empire, but it is HER story.
As she wrote,
“A #Girlboss is someone who’s in charge of her own life. She gets what she wants because she works for it.”
And let me just say, she worked HARD and relied on her instincts to achieve her success. In the early days she scoured thrift stores, trolled MySpace, took photos, styled models and wrote copy in order to make sales on eBay.
This book is geared toward millennial women who have an entrepreneurial drive. These are #Girlbosses on whom she imparts her lessons learned and provides business advice. Most of all, she encourages young women to be themselves and tells them “don’t idolize anyone.” Also included in the book between chapters are short, personal stories of other #Girlbosses.
#Girlboss is not your typical business book nor is it the all-too-common rags-to-riches memoir. Like the author, it’s different, interesting, cool, and yes, empowering. All in all, it’s a quick read and I give it 4 stars.
~Reviewed by Joan B. Stanford