Ep 98: From Devil Wears Prada to Web3 High Fashion?! | Francine Ballard (Founder, Metagolden)

Devil Wears Prada is the closest thing I have to the world of high fashion. When I asked Francine Ballard how closely it mimicked reality, she said, “There is some truth to that.” And she should know. Francine Ballard has worked in the fashion industry for a while. She was the American Fashion Director at Time Inc (InStyle), Conde Nast (Lucky magazine), and PaperCity Magazine as Style Editor at Large, working with fashion and jewelry brands Hermès, Gucci, Fendi, Dolce & Gabbana, Cartier among others before transitioning to the technology space. Francine is also a founding member of BFF, along with Gwyneth Paltrow, Kate Hudson, Paris Hilton and founders Brit Morin and Jaime Schmidt, and co-founder of several startups including Metagolden - a web3 emporium selling luxury phygitals. In this episode, we tackle how Francine went from a small island in Hawaii to the world of high fashion publication, what it takes to rise to the top, how she got into the web3 space, how the fashion industry is shifting, why phygitals and more. Highlights: 2:52 Growing up in Hawaii 4:24 Speed until you get a ticket 6:26 Devil Wears Prada in real life? 8:10 Climbing to the top of US high fashion publication 9:40 Founding a registered resale startup 13:09 Testing an idea 15:04 Fashion Industry x Web3 17:11 Origins of Metagolden 20:35 Phygitals 21:54 Traditional fashion house v fashion house of the future 24:51 Building community 38:06 Are brands afraid of web3? 30:09 Interesting use cases 32:07 Launching Francine’s 1st collection 37:07 How to decide on pricing 40:38 Where community comes from 43:31 Building partnerships 45:00 Dream partner 46:51 How to create a sense of belonging 47:55 Being a founding member of BFF 📍Show notes: www.sothisismywhy.com/98 🙊 Like STIMY? Buy us a ☕️?: https://beacons.ai/sothisismywhy 💌 Weekly Newsletter on upcoming STIMY guests/interesting reads to make you smarter: https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/ebf231f605