From Underwear and Bras to Balance Sheets and P&L's
The first time I met Fran Dunaway, she made me cry. I had shared with her the journey and struggle of our transgender son and she gave me a hug and let me know that everything was going to be okay. Fran was right. I was just scared.
We could all use a little Fran in our lives. That Fran that knows that everything is going to work out. That Fran that sees uncertainty but runs toward it because if not now, when? That Fran that will figure it out as she goes along. And she does.
The stratospheric success of gender neutral apparel company, TomboyX, is a product of her and her wife’s (Naomi) vision to create a world where human beings are more comfortable...being. But building an apparel company after years as a political consultant is new territory for sure. But they faced down the uncertainty and took a bold move to run a grand experiment that has become TomboyX. Fran shares in the book, One Life to Lead:
We just lucked out that we got the trademark for Tomboy and TomboyX. And so, that was a really interesting moment, because my background has been in politics, and it was about a week into the Kickstarter campaign when we thought, Gosh, this is really resonating in a powerful way. And then we almost felt a responsibility to solve that problem for our community because there were a lot of people like us that had never been seen or heard in the fashion industry. And we had a lot of very specific needs and wants. And so, that was where the fixers in us kicked in and kind of took it on as a responsibility to figure out what the hell we had and then what to do with it. Because honestly, we didn’t know a knit from a woven or P&L from a balance sheet, so we had a lot to learn.
When you listen to Fran tell her story before TomboyX and then you see her light up when she talks about what has been built at TomboyX, it’s like listening to two different people. The energy inside of Fran simply emanates and it’s infectious. When you are energized, you are a magnet of attraction and people just want to be part of the journey. And today, millions of people are part of the TomboyX revolution.
When I interviewed Fran as a life designer in One Life to Lead, I knew immediately that she would share her story in a way that is nothing more than someone who wanted something they did not see in the world and went to make it happen. She is amazing, yes. But she isn’t unique. Inside all of us is the capacity to make it happen, to design our lives. Fran shows how taking that leap opened her up to an entirely new frequency of energy that transformed her. It can happen to you.
To learn more, check out One Life to Lead today.
Russell Benaroya is an entrepreneur, coach, speaker and author of One Life to Lead and Free Yourself to Work on Your Business. To learn more, visit www.russellbenaroya.com.