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Entrepreneurship

What #BeABoss Means to Someone Who Never Thought She’d #BeABoss

alex-shadrowLessons from a PR girl who ended up speaking at Harvard Business School

Did I set out to be a “boss,” NO.

Did I think I’d own a business? Certainly not.

But I do, and I did.

I’m the 24 year old CEO behind UNItiques.com, the world’s first fashion marketplace where everything’s sold by deserving college girls. You may have seen me on Lifetimes‘ new hit show: Project Runway Fashion Startup this past November.  Just 2.5 years after launching from my dorm room, UNItiques has sellers on over 500 campuses with $200,000 in sales. Here’s how it works: EVERYONE can join for free and shop our incredible deals, but only college students can list items for sale. What makes us special is our fashion-forward team actually CURATES the most stylish, relevant inventory for unbeatable prices – like suede Louboutins #redbottoms for $180 (use code: TENOFF at checkout for 10% off any order).

As for me, my mantra is “In Life, You Only Get What You Ask For.” That’s why you need to enter in the #BossKit sweepstakes. Not tomorrow, now. Why? Because in life, you ONLY get what you ask for / apply for. And I mean that. It’s how I ended up TV- filming Lifetime’s Project Runway Fashion Startup. Plus, just by entering you will get 10 #Boss Career Tips for free – in this sweepstakes even the “losers” win!

As for UNItiques, we’re facing a startup’s #1 challenge: fundraising. It’s what separates the ideas from the realities. Make no mistake, I’m struggling because I don’t have an MBA or a formal education on how to make business plans and financial projections. From audio books to Reddit, I try the best I can, but I’m learning the hard way that nothing compares to a formal education. In the life of an entrepreneur, an MBA really does matter and luckily for us, Forte can help us pick out the right programs.

So what does it mean to #BeABoss?

More than anything it means to want more and to go out there and at least try to get it. Whether that’s continuing your education or simply joining a gym there are thousands of ways we can #BeABoss everyday.

It means to go father.  Farther means longer hours, more effort, and more impact.

Of all my accomplishments from the front page of the Boston Globe’s Business Section, to landing myself on TV, to speaking at Harvard Undergraduate Women in Business Conference (a school I could only have dreamed of attending), I am most proud of the first moment that I decided to really go for it – to create UNItiques.com. I was a junior in college and I decided to take a semester off to build my business. I decided to go father. That decision is without a doubt, #MyBossStory !

Now go, and go farther!

Alex Shadrow is the 24 year old founder of UNItiques.com, most recently seen on Lifetime’s Project Runway Fashion Startup. Everything you need to know about Alex can be summarized in the words of Christine Hunsicker, who sold her company Right Media to Yahoo for $650M, “Alex will make it come hell or high water, she will eat through a wall.” 

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