Getting press rarely starts with a pitch. For Irene Chen, co-founder of Parker Thatch, it started years earlier with relationships she built long before she had a bag to sell.

On this episode of Dear FoundHer, host Lindsay Pinchuk talks with Irene Chen about turning a stationery line called Iomoi into Parker Thatch, a founder story rooted in scrappy beginnings. Irene shares how she cut her first pattern with the woman who hemmed her pants and bought canvas at Joann's with a 50% off coupon.

Bootstrapping forced Irene and her husband to figure out bag production from the ground up, despite Irene’s background in fashion and finance. She also explains how her friendship with Kate and Andy Spade helped shape two major turning points for the company, with Kate encouraging the move into leather and Kate and Andy pushing them to rethink the Iomoi name.

Getting press came easier once those relationships were already in place. Earned media and word of mouth remain one of her biggest drivers of growth today, proof that building relationships in business and networking for women pay off years later. Publicity followed the story, not the other way around. Listen to hear how one friendship changed the direction of an entire company.

Episode Breakdown:

00:00 Meet Irene Chen, Co-Founder of Parker Thatch

02:30 The Original Idea: E-Stationery Before the Web

05:15 From Paper Goods to Home Products

07:00 Cutting the First Bag Pattern at a Dry Cleaner

09:30 Sourcing Fabric and Leather on a Shoestring Budget

11:00 Getting Press Through Editor Relationships, Not Pitches

12:26 How Kate Spade Sparked the Leather Pivot

13:03 Renaming the Brand From Iomoi to Parker Thatch

17:00 Keeping Customization Alive at Scale

26:19 The Friendship With Kate Spade Beyond Business

39:50 Three Pieces of Advice for New Founders

Connect with Irene Chen:

Follow Parker Thatch on Instagram

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RSVP and join us on Thursday, September 10 for: Your Next Chapter on LinkedIn: Turn Your Experience, Expertise and Network Into Opportunity

Host, Lindsay Pinchuk shares her personal journey with public relations, gaining visibility and the challenges small business owners face. She emphasizes that entrepreneurs can achieve visibility without a publicist by mastering the art of pitching and leveraging local and niche media. She provides a four-part framework for effective pitching, strategies for post-press engagement, and real-life examples of success.

In this episode you'll find:

• The importance of owning your visibility foundation
• Four-part framework for effective pitching
• Strategies for post-press engagement and leverage
• Real-life success stories of entrepreneurs landing press independently
• The difference between earned and owned media
• How to identify and target the right media outlets and contacts

For more follow us on Instagram @dearfoundher.

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Rachel Berliner built Amy's Kitchen for nearly 40 years without taking on a single outside investor. No outside investors, just a loan against her car, $2,000 from her mother, and a $10,000 bank loan. That is bootstrapping in its truest form, and it turned into a company whose products are sold in 57,000 stores today.

On this episode of Dear FoundHer, host Lindsay Pinchuk talks with Rachel Berliner, co-founder of Amy's Kitchen, about what real founder stories look like once the funding rounds are stripped away. Rachel explains the decision-making behind her very first product and why she chose the best ingredients over the cheapest ones, even when it meant slower profit for the company.

Rachel also walks through scaling responsibly, from the moment Publix came on board to the years spent building new plants and working with farmers to expand organic production enough to keep up with Amy's growth. She shares how the company approached sustainable business growth without ever taking on outside investors, and why her advice speaks directly to women business owners building at any stage of their journey.

Press play to hear how a bootstrapping mindset turned a kitchen experiment into a private company still owned by her family, and the advice Rachel has for any founder who refuses to give up.

Episode Breakdown:

00:00 Community update and today's guest introduction

03:58 Pregnant, bedridden, and craving real food

12:30 First trade show and instant customer demand

13:07 Losing their production partner and taking production in-house

14:18 Bootstrapping the pot pie machine themselves

17:55 The Publix meeting that changed everything

22:20 Building new plants and scaling with farmers

28:03 Letting go and building a leadership team

34:10 57,000 stores and Walmart entry

37:11 Advice for women founders just starting out

Connect with Rachel Berliner:

Follow Amy's Kitchen on Instagram

Subscribe to The FoundHer Files

Follow Dear FoundHer on Instagram

Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.