Page 33 - Entrepreneur-November 2018

RJ Scaringe Reese Witherspoon
Founder and CEO/ Rivian Founder/ Hello Sunshine
Bold move/ Going stealth— Bold move/ Proving
for seven years that women will watch—
and read, and listen
( W I T H E R S P O O N ) ; P H O T O G R A P H B Y LYA N L E X B E R N A L E S O F LYA N L E X B E R N A L E S P H O T O G R A P H Y ( C H I N ) ; P H O T O G R A P H C O U R T E S Y O F C K R ( K R A M E R ) ; P H O T OGR A PH BY GE T T Y
ack in 2011, RJ Scaringe
veryone knows Reese
B started an electric vehicle E Witherspoon can make a
company with one ambition: build
/S T R I N GER a sporty car, and become quickly good movie. The Academy Award–
winning actress long ago proved
known. But after raising some
money and hiring a team, he asked
Gone Girl and Wild. But in 2016,
himself a question. “Why did we her production chops with the films Chance the Rapper
P H O T O G R A P H C O U R T E S Y O F R A L P H L A U R E N ( L O U V E T ) ; P H O T O G R A P H C O U R T E S Y O F R I V I A N ( S C A R I N G E ) ; P H O T O G R A P H B Y G E T T Y I M A G E S /J O N K O PA L O F F
exist?” he says. Tesla already did Witherspoon launched produc- Musician
what he’d set out to do. So he piv- tion company Hello Sunshine to Bold move/ Tackling an industry harder than music
oted to electric SUVs and trucks create wide-ranging content for
built for adventures, and worked qui- women and in the past year alone ocal news can be a revolving door of disappointment. Big-money
I M A G E S / D A N I E L B O C Z A R S K I ( C H A N C E ) ; P H O T O G R A P H B Y P E T E M O N S A N T O ( R O B I N S O N ) ; P H O T O G R A P H B Y T R A C E Y C O L E M A N ( G R O U P P H O T O )
etly for years. “We wanted to make announced a podcast network L players come in to buy a local news property, like when TD
something real first,” he says. This with Rooster Teeth, an Oprah-style Ameritrade founder Joe Ricketts bought DNAInfo and Gothamist, and
month, the secret is out: Rivian will book club and partnership with then walk out a little poorer…like when he folded both those proper-
debut vehicles at the Los Angeles Audible, and a brand-new VOD ties in 2017. But this past June, Chicagoist (the Chicago offshoot of
Auto Show. The team is excited but television channel. With every Gothamist) found an unexpected savior: Twenty-five-year-old hip-hop
adapting. “We’ve built muscle mem- project, Witherspoon is investing in artist Chance the Rapper, the sole winner of a Grammy for a streaming-
ory on being stealth,” says Scaringe. her big-picture goal: proving that only album, bought and relaunched the news site. He says he sees it as
“Until three weeks ago, we didn’t women are valuable, hungry con- an opportunity to give “the people of Chicago an independent media
have a sign on our door.” sumers of content. outlet focused on amplifying diverse voices and content.”

Patrice Louvet Cindy Chin and
CEO/ Ralph Lauren Alexandra Levin Kramer
Bold move/ Making a classic Cofounders/ Women on the Block
fashion brand cool again Bold move/ Staking a claim Evita Robinson
to blockchain
n 2017, Patrice Louvet walked Creator/ Nomadness
I away from a 25-year career ick any random tech company Travel Tribe
at Procter & Gamble to join Ralph P and a majority of the time, the Bold move/ Busting
Lauren, a 50-year-old clothing executive teams are men,” says stereotypes, in transit
company struggling to reclaim its Cindy Chin, CEO of the consul-
“cool” factor. To make Ralph relevant tancy CLC Advisors. “Blockchain his past summer, Oakland, Calif.,
again, Louvet is building off what he and crypto currency are no different.” T played host to the first-ever
learned reviving brands like Pantene Upset by the lack of recognition for travel festival for millennial travelers of
and Clairol—but of course, he’s now women in crypto, Chin teamed up color—which created what organizer
working at a higher price point. To with CKR Law partner Alexandra Evita Robinson admits were some
that end, one of his first moves was Levin Kramer to put the spotlight unexpected sights. “So all of a sudden, there’s this park in the middle of
to pull stock from 25 percent of all on the hundreds of women already Oakland, and you see black people rock climbing,” she says with a laugh.
department stores—part of his war on thriving in cryptocurrency and block- Members of this demographic have been stereotyped as non-travelers,
markdowns, which he believes have chain. They gathered an all-women but statistics show that the black community is traveling in increasingly
cheapened the brand. Louvet is also panel and launched Women on the higher numbers—so Robinson is taking the lead. Her company began as
overhauling digital efforts, rebooting Block, the first all-female blockchain an online community but evolved into an event producer, consultancy, and
e-commerce, developing “smart” conference; proceeds supported retailer focused on millennial travelers of color, attracting 21,000 members
in-store changing rooms, hiring a digi- women in technology. “You see the and partnerships from big brands like GoPro, Hyatt, and Airbnb. “We’re
tal chief, and fleshing out the board gaps everywhere,” says Chin. “The all about breaking stereotypes and doing things they say people who look
with Apple and Etsy executives. time to close those gaps is now.” like us don’t do, because we know it’s bullshit.”

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