Madeline Ritaccio and Amy Kallman
Courtesy of Sense of Shelf.
Age || Both 28
Company Name || SENSE of SHELF
Job Title || Madeline: Co-Founder, CEO; Amy: Co-Founder, COO
Years Living In New York || M: 2 years; A: 8 months
Social Handles || insta: @sense.of.shelf
Company Website || SENSE of SHELF
What did you want to be while growing up?
Madeline: Believe it or not, but I really, really wanted to be an archaeologist. Well, egyptologist to be super exact. I worked on a dig the summer after my freshman year of college and still consider it one of the more life-changing experiences I’ve had to date.
Amy: My mom worked at a regional bank when I was growing up and I spent a lot of time there as a kid on the weekends as she was trying to work her way up the ladder, so I wanted to do something in business to be like her. I was a very practical child!
What’s the best piece of advice you were given when you were starting your company?
M: Creating a mission-driven company is like making a promise—the choices you make each day will either reinforce the mission or break that promise.
A: Use your network—it’s all about who you know that can help you.
How do you define success?
M: Success to me is a by-product of a lot of hard work, iteration, and self-motivation.
A: I think Maya Angelou said it best: “Success is liking yourself, liking what you do, and liking how you do it.”
What is the most important thing you’ve learned since starting out?
M: To not be embarrassed to speak the vision. The event next week you’re planning or the three-year plan may not track exactly as you see it now, but working towards something (however big or small) is something that should be celebrated.
Amy: You’re never going to feel like you have all the resources you need but you have to be scrappy and figure out how to work with what you have.
Courtesy of Sense of Shelf.
What is your go-to motivational quote?
M: I’m not so sure I have one! But a lil’ dance break before you need to sit down and focus is always a good idea.
A: “Doing the best at this moment puts you in the best place for the next moment.” - Oprah Winfrey
What made you interested in starting your company?
M: Frustration and love. Frustration that the fashion industry operates with a profit-first mindset and love for all the small, indie labels I was seeing out there who were taking the extra time and consideration to create something better for the world.
A: I loved the idea of building something from the ground up and being able to clearly see my hard work pay off.
Do you have a personal motto?
M: “It’s Physics!” is a family motto that has stuck with me. It’s kind of like Ross’s “Pivot!! Pivot!!” from Friends in that it applies literally and metaphorically to just about any difficult situation when you think you may be stuck.
A: Every experience is an opportunity to learn and grow.
Which women inspire you?
M: All womxn!!
A: Women who go against the expectations of society and succeed on their own terms inspire me.
Courtesy of Sense of Shelf.
How do you overcome moments of self-doubt?
M: I usually ask myself a series of “What ifs.” That sounds very robotic and weird now that I’m saying it, but it usually goes something like, “What if you tried it and it worked out? What if you tried it and they said ‘No?’ What if you never tried it and had to live with not knowing?” That cold email you feel like a fraud sending, that meeting you’re terrified to set up, that event you’re planning that you think no one will come to—could you live with the feeling of not knowing because you didn’t try?
A: I remind myself how prepared I am for the moment and that everyone has these moments and it will pass.
How do you balance your schedule?
M: I don’t worry too much about balance. When I need to disengage on a Wednesday afternoon to go for a walk, I go for a walk! If I’m feeling productive on a Sunday morning, I open my laptop! Sometimes it’s best not to over-engineer it.
A: I keep detailed to-do lists and prioritize at the beginning of the week what must get done that week so that I know when I can turn off work and relax.
How do you handle situations where you feel overwhelmed?
M: When I get overwhelmed with tasks I’ll start an excel sheet listing items and self-imposed due dates, then I just use the sort function to list them by what absolutely has to get done first and start knocking them off. It’s pretty invigorating to open an old one up and look back at all the small steps it took to pull off a big initiative.
A: I try to break it down into less daunting bites or tasks so that I can start to chip away at the overwhelming task and feel progress.
Courtesy of Sense of Shelf.
What has been the most rewarding thing since starting out?
M: Building this community and sharing this love for people, planet, and fashion you can feel good about, is so rewarding.
A: Being chosen to pitch for our first time at the Brooklyn Bounty Pitch competition and getting positive feedback from the audience.
What advice would you give to other women trying to create their own business?
M: We all start out not knowing what the hell we are doing. Take a breath. Google everything. Go ahead and reach out to that friend of a friend. Introduce yourself at that networking event. I promise, you’ve got this.
A: Take it one small step at a time and remember to take time to look back at the progress you’ve made along the way.
What are some of your goals moving forward for your company?
M: Size inclusivity! Funding! Growth!
A: Continue building our community of conscious consumers in Brooklyn and beyond and expand our offering to speak to even more of these consumers.
This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.