Entrepreneur Chat

Ever dream about the career pivot? There's no better time than the present. The Veronicas did it—and it's what led to Veronica Beard and the very site you're on right now. Our latest VB Edit profile, Dani Evans—whom you may recognize as the season six winner of America's Next Top Model—set off on the same path in 2017, too. That's when she launched Monrowe, a unisex hat collection named after and inspired by her jazz-musician grandfather.

While on the surface it looks like she's hopping from one success to the next, as any entrepreneur will tell you, there's a lot of sweat and grit you don't see behind the scenes. Here, she shares them all, from the startup challenges to her secret to maintaining a strong brand identity. "If Monrowe was a sound, it would be bass. If it was a drink, it would be a bourbon," she says, as a perfect case in point for the latter. Any entrepreneurs reading, take note...

What inspired the move from model to milliner?
I still model full-time—that's my bread and butter until things shift with Monrowe. But even before I launched the company, I knew I was going to build something of my own.

Why hats?
At the time, it could have been anything—something in fashion or home decor. One friend even suggested golf clothes because I think they're hideous. Then another friend, visiting from L.A., pointed out I was always in a hat. "You're going to be a little old lady with a hat," she told me. That's when everything inside me exploded. That was it! I knew I was doing hats.

What inspired the name, Monrowe?
Monrowe is named after my grandfather, Monrowe Franklin, who had his own jazz band in the South. I never met him—he passed away when my mom was 17—but she kept his legacy alive through photos and stories. My brother and I grew up feeling like we knew him. He was a badass. Once I knew I was going to design hats, I put the two together and started to implement my grandfather's legacy into the brand. That's why there's a jazz influence. Whenever I design, I think, What would my grandfather and his bandmates wear today? If Monrowe was a sound, it would be bass. If it was a drink, it would be a bourbon.

What about the names behind the different styles?
They're influences from real life. Johnny is my grandfather's stage name. Roe is named after the street he lived on. James is named after my friend who planted the seed to design hats—it's her nickname.

Was there a learning curve? Because millinery is such a specific, and little known, craft…
It was a huge learning curve. I had to learn everything in the beginning, from the lingo to what a hat body looks like. But it's become such a beautiful process for me. The creative part is very therapeutic.

How did you land on your signature style—strong and structured silhouettes?
Everything is super personal to me. I've always identified with a wide-brim hat. Nothing against floppy hats, but if I'm going to design one, it's going to be more structured in shape. Everything I design, I would wear myself. Don't let people deter you or steer you away from your vision. You have to be really careful and protective of your brand.

Personal favorite topper?
It fluctuates, but right now it's the Cruz, a straw boater (above). If my grandparents were on a cruise, this is what they would be wearing.

You know how people say that wearing a pair of heels changes how you stand and walk? What's the hat equivalent?
With Monrowe, we are selling confidence. There's something to be said about putting on a look and then topping it off with a crown. I always have people tell me, "Oh, I wish I could wear hats, but I'm not confident enough." Trust me—when you put on a hat, the confidence level automatically goes up. It elevates your look one hundred percent.

What's the best part about owning your own business?
When you own your own business, you decide whether the ship moves and how fast or slow. No one can ever take away the pride of knowing you built this.

And the challenges?
There are so many! I ignorantly thought that by becoming an entrepreneur, it was going to be easy to be my own boss—that whole idea is foolish. You have to stay on top of your game so the ship can run smoothly. You have so many people to manage and take care of… Because if the head is sick, then the entire body is going to be sick. It's much easier to sit at home and wait for my agent at Elite to call me and tell me where to go for this shoot or that cover.
Also, businesses can change so much. Even now, as we're starting to reopen [after the lockdown], I found out our trim store completely shut down. You have to figure out what's next and, for someone like me, there's no other person I can look to—I have to figure this out as I go.

That's something a lot entrepreneurs face…
I'm a huge intuition person. It's definitely OK to get wisdom from other people, but at the end of the day, it's your business and you have to move in accordance with what resonates the loudest with you. Know that the answer may not manifest itself within the hour or day. Take the pressure off yourself to meet a certain standard by a certain time. Deadlines are necessary, I understand that, but sometimes that pressure forces you to go in the opposite direction that you should be going in. Something may not manifest itself for weeks—know that that's the process. Respect it and be gentle to yourself.

What's one thing you know now that you wish you knew when you started?
That slow beginnings are everything. I was very overzealous when I launched and placed a huge order with my manufacturer. Looking back, as a new designer, I would never do that. I would have been more realistic, starting small and seeing how that goes. I had to think back to my own career as a model and realize that it's very similar. When you're the new kid on the block, people are interested, they're staring at you, but they're waiting for someone to take the leap and first chance before jumping on the bandwagon.

Other lessons to share about the startup life?
1. The tools that you need in the beginning are going to drastically change as you grow as an entrepreneur. You constantly have to learn and develop as a business woman.
2. Take the time to invest in yourself. There were key things I needed to learn before I could even evolve the brand. In the beginning—and still now—I was buying Harvard books so, for example, I could understand the importance of managing myself, then others.
3. Be flexible enough to bend with the market.
4. Always check your gut. If something is not sitting right with me, I can't move forward with it.