#RICE24 Community Convos: Amy Jain, Co-Founder & CEO, BaubleBar – Retail Innovation Conference & Expo

Founded in 2010, BaubleBar has become one of the most popular destinations for statement-making styles, affordable jewelry and personalized accessories. (Personally, I’m a big fan of the partnerships the brand has tapped into with the MLB, NBA, NFL and Disney.) BaubleBar has done a tremendous job of truly capturing the passions and cultural moments that consumers gravitate to and, in turn, has helped spark joy and connections online and even in-store. The brand has even become a celebrity favorite among style icons like Erin Andrews, Jennifer Aniston, Blake Lively and Julia Roberts! That’s why I’m especially excited to welcome Amy Jain, Co-founder & CEO at BaubleBar to the esteemed speaking faculty for #RICE24! Amy started BaubleBar with her best friend of more than two decades, Daniella Yacobovsky. While successful partnership is a key driver of the company’s success, celebrating individuality is at the heart and soul of the brand. In fact, BaubleBar’s mission is to inspire happiness every day. That guiding principle defines the brand’s design perspective and has driven the company’s successful expansion into new categories, price points and retail partnerships. The company has even built a worldwide supply chain that allows customers to personalize a wide range of products that fit into their wardrobes and their homes. In addition to its flagship ecommerce store, BaubleBar.com, the brand is available in over 5,000 department and specialty stores worldwide. In 2017, BaubleBar launched its lower priced brand, SUGARFIX by BaubleBar, which is sold exclusively at all 1,900 Target stores in the U.S. Learn more about Amy’s career and background in the Q&A below! Note: Amy will be speaking in the C-Suite Corner Track at the Retail Innovation Conference & Expo on Thursday, June 6, to share her perspective on the “Retail Fundamentals: What Keeps You Up at Night?” panel discussion! See the full agenda .     Retail Innovation Conference & Expo (RICE): What do you enjoy most about your role? Amy Jain: I have had the incredible opportunity to build a business from the ground up and I’ve gotten to do it with my best friend Daniella. Starting a company from an idea on the back of a napkin (literally this was us!) is not for everyone, but wow what a perfect fit it has been for me.   Every year feels like an entirely new job at BaubleBar. I have to (get to?) rewrite my job description every January — and I’m often adding things to my roles and responsibilities that I have absolutely no clue how to do. I thrive off that environment of continuous learning, constant change and rapid growth. I love to dig into new challenges and solve problems. When I reflect on the past 13 years, I often have a moment of ‘Wait, we did that?’ And I am so grateful to the people who believed in us and still do today — have loved every single moment of building BaubleBar and we are just getting started. RICE: Can you share a project or initiative that you’re particularly proud of? Jain: We always say the customer leads the design of our products, and our ‘Custom’ assortment is a direct reflection of that. We had a vision for how we wanted to create a playground for our customers, where we offer a toolkit for them to make a product ‘their own.’  Today we offer customization across our entire assortment — it’s not only one of the fastest growing parts of our business, but the program has made us a gifting destination for our customers. Operationally executing this vision has been an incredibly complex undertaking. At any moment in time, you need to know where tens of thousands of individual SKUs are in the manufacturing process. But it’s also been very rewarding. We have built a truly unique capability, and the platform has created many growth opportunities for the company. RICE: What’s one motto that you live by? Jain: Hope is not a strategy! Consumers are dynamic — their tastes, preferences and behaviors are constantly changing. That’s why we have to be armed with a plan but still ready to adapt as we see real-time results.  RICE: What do you believe is the most underestimated leadership trait today? Jain: One of the most important roles of a leader is to build a team of leaders. This has been a focus of ours since we started BaubleBar and while there are many skills we hope to inspire, the one trait I am most proud of fostering across our team is resilience.   We joke that at BaubleBar, when someone tells us no, we hear yes. To accomplish what we have as a company, we needed a team who believed that to succeed, we would fail and that we would have to keep iterating to get it right. That takes a lot of patience, stamina and resilience. And I truly believe it’s one of those skills that will carry you so far in your career…and in life! Get your pass today to hear from Amy as well as many other incredible leaders in the retail industry.  Register now before rates increase on April 26 !