YouSaid · the spoken record

Missy Park

lines on the record: 102
first: 2021-10-18
most recent: 2021-10-18
sittings or episodes: 1
sources: podcast

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“I remember, you know, I remember exactly because I was so relieved there was an earthquake because we were going through the financials. Not to make light of the earthquake at all, but I just so, I mean, it just is how much the finances weighed on me”
2021-10-18 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Title Nine: Missy Park · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“It did not make statistical, it didn't make any sense to me. You're correct. But one thing that I did notice in this, that all of the people that I didn't know, and many of the ones I did know put a sports bra on their order. And so, while I may not have been the quickest study, you don't have to tell me twice. And I realized like, wow, sports bras, that is probably now I know, the most essential piece of sports equipment for the average American woman.”
2021-10-18 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Title Nine: Missy Park · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah. And our suppliers were our bankers, so I would order stuff, let's say in November, and then I would say I'd like you to ship it to me in May. And then I would like to pay you in September. I mean, it's a little bit of a Ponzi scheme that you hope for.”
2021-10-18 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Title Nine: Missy Park · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yep. I'll like it. People mostly that I played Ultimate Frisbee with or went road riding or mountain biking with or that I worked with at the North Face.”
2021-10-18 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Title Nine: Missy Park · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, in the catalog. And then there's an order form in there. And so I put them in there. And I think we sent out like 15,000 catalogs.”
2021-10-18 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Title Nine: Missy Park · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“So, anyway, as almost an afterthought, we bought some sports braz and we'd done all the shooting, it was all in color. And so I just had time to take some real quick black and white photos and we put them on what was then called the order form.”
2021-10-18 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Title Nine: Missy Park · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Well, so I put together this assortment of stuff, and it's a tiny little flyer of stuff, and I really do not know anything about the apparel industry. I knew what I was able to glean at the North Face, but I'm just putting, assembling a group of merchandise that I can get people to sell to me on credit. And then at the last minute, I got in touch with a sales rep who was representing two women who had invented, I didn't know this at the time, but it invented the first sports bra. I'm super flat chested. We're going to say AA on a good day. So that's an afterthought for me. But this guy, it was a guy because most of the sales reps at that time were guys.”
2021-10-18 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Title Nine: Missy Park · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, well, remember, the customer was me, so very narrow group of people, but it was me I had, we had tights, we had running shorts, we had cycling shorts, we really didn't have much in the way of tops because you got all your tops for free At the races and the tournaments that you wanted to. I was not a merchant. I mean,”
2021-10-18 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Title Nine: Missy Park · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Thought of that? Yeah. That was the thing that was kind of hanging me up as I couldn't come up with a name. I've gone through like four or five and somebody had all of them, you know, it's like, oh, it'll be cheetah sports because the female cheetah is whatever. Yeah, faster. And then I remember I was up on telegraph. Maybe walking around Moe's books or that other bookstore that was right next to it. And I was just looking through books and I picked up this book and it was writing about the history of women's sports in America. And I started reading it. And I was like, oh. Title 9 That's what I'll name, and that was it. You know, no one wanted that name, unsurprisingly. So I named it Title IX after that piece of legislation that ensured that I got to play sports all the way through high school and college.”
2021-10-18 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Title Nine: Missy Park · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“My teammates, right? I was playing Ultimate Frisbee. My teammates were my early models. And then one of my teammates happened to be a woman who was an editor at a women's sports and fitness magazine. So she became my first copy editor. She had a friend who was a graphic designer. So she designed the catalog for free. I had another friend who I met playing basketball, and she designed, because you had to have a corporate package. I don't know why, but that's what you needed. A corporate package was like a logo Letterhead, an envelope, all these things”
2021-10-18 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Title Nine: Missy Park · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Exactly. It was pre-everything. So, how am I going to fake this? And then finally, one I'm asking is like, so what's going on here? And it ended up being the sales rep for moving comfort. And so then I just said, well, I'm starting and I really don't have an office. This is my brother's office. And she was very kind to me. She said, well, look, I'm going to, I've met you. I can see your real. Why don't we just come? I'll just come and show you the line. I'll show it to you in your living room. And moving comfort was one of the first businesses that, I mean, they became our bank. I mean.”
2021-10-18 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Title Nine: Missy Park · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, I'm living in a group house And I wanted the cheapest rent, so I got the room that was actually the garage So, yeah, nice. So I have to go outside to go to the bathroom to come back in the house, go to the bathroom. Yeah, whatever. And I'm trying to get these manufacturers to talk to me, but they're not going to talk to me if I'm meeting them in my garage. So I would go down to my brother's. Office in Foster City. I can't remember where he was, and I would meet people there in his office so it would be like official, right?”
2021-10-18 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Title Nine: Missy Park · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“So, yes, I could have gone into manufacturing, and that probably would have cost me a half a million dollars more, an unlimited amount of money. But what I realized pretty quickly is there were enough of these small brands, you know, Pearl Azumi, moving comfort was like the first women's running brand So I started calling on folks like that. And, you know, mostly what I did is, well, one, again, I'm operating out of a garage in the house that I have a room in.”
2021-10-18 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Title Nine: Missy Park · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“But the good news is that there are all these big manufacturers and small manufacturers who are starting to think about the coming women's market. Now, the retail stores are not necessarily buying this stuff because obviously they're worried about that a customer coming in today. But these manufacturers have to think about tomorrow So lots of manufacturers were starting to what they used to call shrink it and pink it. And I think they still call it that. They take their men's stuff and they do it over in pink and call it a day and make it smaller. So, but the good news about that is there were a lot of also small brands of women my age or a little bit older who were also starting to design and manufacture women's athletic apparel.”
2021-10-18 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Title Nine: Missy Park · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, I was like, well, I don't have a half a million dollars. I have 30,000 dollars. So I call up my dad. I said, so dad, I'm super excited because I've got an idea for a business. And the best part about it is that no one else is doing it. And he's quiet for a second And he said There might be a good reason for that, Missy.”
2021-10-18 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Title Nine: Missy Park · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Hey, I've decided I want to start a mail order catalog. You have started one, and all of them told me if you're going to do this, you need at least a half a million dollars.”
2021-10-18 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Title Nine: Missy Park · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Okay, but what people were telling me is, you know, this time, right, this is 1989. And I'm talking to as many people as I could possibly talk to. I'm calling anybody that'll talk to me on the phone.”
2021-10-18 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Title Nine: Missy Park · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yes, I did. Exactly. I had like 30,000 bucks, and I can tell you. Sort of, yeah. I mean, 30,000 bucks. It's a nice amount of cash.”
2021-10-18 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Title Nine: Missy Park · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“But I had enough to say, okay, there's not enough people in Berkeley, California to support a So, I need to do something that's more national so I can find all the women who need workout and fitness gear. So I did sort of what is the precursor to the internet is that was a mail order catalog.”
2021-10-18 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Title Nine: Missy Park · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Well, first, I did zero market research. My market research was me and my friends, which let's just be very clear, is a very small group. You just said,”
2021-10-18 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Title Nine: Missy Park · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Right. I mean, those are very like people say, oh, how did you do that when you were 26? And I have to say, it's the only time to do it.”
2021-10-18 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Title Nine: Missy Park · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“You know, so it was frustration. They wouldn't do everything that I wanted them to do. They probably aren't even paying any attention to me. I'm like some entry-level person. You know, they're busy. They've actually got important decisions to make. Where I'm down here seeing how idiotic everything is. So I'm so confident, right?”
2021-10-18 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Title Nine: Missy Park · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I would say probably that, you know, I think about the north face. I had great jobs, but I'm 26. And I'm like, boy, these guys are kind of idiots. If they can run these businesses. Anybody can do it.”
2021-10-18 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Title Nine: Missy Park · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“It was kind of aerobics, right? I mean, Jane Fonda, it's kind of that kind of stuff. I mean, I think about. For me, when you play college sports, you get all your gear given to you ill fitting or not. It's given to you. It's given to you. They wash it for you. If it wears out, you get a new one. It's not your concern. Then I graduate from college and all of a sudden I'm having to buy. My own gear and there's nowhere to find anything that's built or designed specifically women. You know, there's no Lulu lemons. There's no, there's nothing. Literally, there is nothing. And really, I mean, if you think about it, it's just math, right? Title IX was passed in 72. So I was in that first generation. There was no market.”
2021-10-18 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Title Nine: Missy Park · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yes, exactly. And I think that's it. I can look back and I can see the thread. It's like I can look back on my As a kid, you know, I'm like eight or nine or ten years old, and at the time there was basically one sports magazine. Sports Illustrated. And I would go through every single one of them and try and find pictures of women athletes. And I would painstakingly cut them out and put them on a poster board and have it up in my room. So, you could say it was already in me then. I wasn't thinking like and therefore I am going to start. A women's athletic apparel company. But the seeds were there early trying to create a vision of what I could be.”
2021-10-18 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Title Nine: Missy Park · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Right, I'm just bouncing around 500 points free ball. Yay, okay. I'm gonna play, I'm gonna keep playing. But so I want to make sure like that part of it is clear. This was, I mean, I am not foresighted enough to have planned what happened to me.”
2021-10-18 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Title Nine: Missy Park · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“No, I was just, and I guess I think I used to think to use an old school analogy. I used to think I was the person operating the flippers on the pinball machine. The ball Know, I mean, I think that's so I'm having all of these experiences. You were bouncing around.”
2021-10-18 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Title Nine: Missy Park · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, you know, guy, it's funny because here's the thing I think about a lot. I mean, I'm assuming you know about the narrative fallacy, right? Like this idea that we end up at a certain place and then we make up this really nice story that proceeds logically from point A to point Z. It's just a lie. So I want to tell all this to you. But it's going to be completely misleading that, like, oh, and then I went to Europe where I found ill fitting uniforms. And then I went to the north face and was frustrated.”
2021-10-18 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Title Nine: Missy Park · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And I think good job experience is wasted on the young. That's what I get my short version is that. So I went to work at Fisher and Inside Sales. And that was me calling on bike shops. But suffice it to say, most bike shop guys were not used to having a woman calling them on the phone. I mean, you must have read.”
2021-10-18 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Title Nine: Missy Park · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I didn't get the job at Fisher Mountain Bikes, but my parents raised me right and they told me to make sure to write thank you notes. And the person they did hire ended up not working out. And they called me and said, hey, the job's yours if you want it. So I went to work at Fisher, which was one of the first, if not the first mountain bike company.”
2021-10-18 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Title Nine: Missy Park · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“That's right, actually. How I met her is Sally had recommended that all of the managers, Sally McCoy, the original woman I want to talk to, had recommended that all the managers take a look and see if they had any job openings. And Dana, my wife, happened to have one. So I actually interviewed with Dana for the job that she had that I really, really wanted, even though I was colossally unsuited for it. So I did not get the job, but more importantly, I got the girl. And the truth of the matter is that my buddy Michael Phillips, who was not an axe murderer, but ended up being a very good man who mentored me. He actually hooked me up with Fisher Mountain Bikes and I applied for a job there.”
2021-10-18 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Title Nine: Missy Park · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I mean, like literally zero skills. And there I am. I'm working with a graphic designer. I'm working with photographers. I'm going on photo shoots. I wrote copy about products that I didn't really know anything about. Fortunately, there was a lot of supervision. I really wasn't doing all that, but I was sort of the person kind of making sure everything held together in the end.”
2021-10-18 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Title Nine: Missy Park · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Well, I think that was it. They had this thing that needed doing, and it was very entrepreneurial. You just had such a broad range of things that you could do. I mean, they strongly believed in the it's easier to be forgiven than to obtain permission So it's a great, and right. Honestly, I think about it. It was such a good. So the first job I got, strangely enough, was putting together a retail point of sale catalog for them. So it's going to be like a magazine that was going to sit in their retail stores. I mean, I don't have any skills.”
2021-10-18 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Title Nine: Missy Park · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And finally, this guy comes down the stairs that jump into the front lobby. And he's like, you know, you've been here a long time. Is there anybody helping you? I'm like, well, no, I really want to talk to this woman, Sally McCoy, but she seems to be very busy. He goes, well, maybe I can help you. This guy's name was Mark Erickson, and he was, I think, the vice president of product. I was super disappointed to be talking to him, but he ended up getting my foot in the door at the north face and I ended up meeting Sally McCoy and a really interesting group of businesswomen. And that was really my first exposure to a real job.”
2021-10-18 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Title Nine: Missy Park · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Find my way into the north face, and I had heard at the time that there was another young woman about my age that was leading up the equipment division at the north face, a woman by the name of Sally McCoy, who was from Charlotte, North Carolina and had gone to Dartmouth. Was a little bit older than I was. I was like, okay, she's the person I need to talk to. But I can't get anybody right. You know, you're not emailing people. Like maybe you write them a letter. I don't know what you do. Well, what I do is I find out 999 Harrison Street and I. Walk into the reception area and I'm like, I'd like to see Sally McCoy. Well, do you have an appointment? No, I don't, but well, she's busy. I'm like, okay, well, I'll just wait. So I wait and I wait and I'm there pretty much all day.”
2021-10-18 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Title Nine: Missy Park · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“So I started just walking into bike shops, asking them, you know, about bike companies that were in California and how I might get a job. And one of those bike shops, I ran into a guy by the name of Michael Phillips who happened to be a sales rep for some old bike brand And he's like, You're looking for a job? He's like, well, why don't you come ride with me in my van for a day while I call on customers? I can teach you about the business. Well, my brother had different ideas. He was like”
2021-10-18 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Title Nine: Missy Park · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“That's it, right? Like, who, what southern parent? I mean, like, who would do that? Right? But they knew I wanted a tent. So in those days, you had to seam seal the tent to seal up all the little needle holes so it wouldn't leak. And I'm unrolling the tent and I'm taking off the hang tag and I look at it and it says the north face 999 Harrison Street Berkeley, California. So I moved in with my brother. I'd also led some bike trips for kids. And so I really loved cycling and It's like, okay, I either want to work for a bike company or I want to work for the North Face. Yeah.”
2021-10-18 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Title Nine: Missy Park · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I knew I didn't want to live in the south I knew I didn't want to be cold I knew I didn't have any money My brother lived in California, so I packed up my, I had a Toyota pickup truck. I packed up all of my worldly belongings. And my parents had given me a tent for graduation from college because They knew exactly what I would want”
2021-10-18 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Title Nine: Missy Park · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Right. I was lucky enough to be offered a job at our arch rival at Harvard. And then I found it very difficult to coach against my former teammates. And a job opened up at Yale the following year. But I think I realized at that point that coaching a team was never going to be the same thing as playing. A team”
2021-10-18 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Title Nine: Missy Park · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Finance, Procter Gamble, Microsoft. And I was the only one that actually ended up not getting one of those good jobs, so I had to figure out something else to do.”
2021-10-18 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Title Nine: Missy Park · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, well, I think it also goes to sort of the genesis of. On the company is me and my teammates are getting uniforms that are hand me down men's uniforms. I remember my buddy Regina Sullivan. She wore, I think, like a size six and a half women's shoe, but they don't make women's shoes. So she had to go to like. The little kids department at Macy's and buy some little boy's sneakers. So the sense of having to create the traditions around a team, what it means to get success, while at the same time fighting for the good practice times, marketing support in the community, those were battles being fought on two fronts for sure. And as I said, the genesis of Title IX, I remember my buddies and I were all like, oh, when we graduate from college, we're going to go get some experience. And then we're going to start the women's version of Nike.”
2021-10-18 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Title Nine: Missy Park · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Exactly. And in some ways, yes, that was true. It's like all of a sudden the men's basketball team doesn't have the pick of all of the basketball practice times. They have to share them with the women's team”
2021-10-18 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Title Nine: Missy Park · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Well, I think a lot with my generation in particular guy, you know, yes, Title IX was passed. Yes, the 70s had happened, but we were still in that place of everything that we gain is a loss for the guys on the other side of it. That was a...”
2021-10-18 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Title Nine: Missy Park · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, yeah. Well, I will also tell you this, we joke about it in my family, but my parent's single greatest failing is that they have a daughter that went to Yale. There's an awful lot of good schools in the South. There are so I think. I think my parents really wanted me to go to one of those great southern schools.”
2021-10-18 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Title Nine: Missy Park · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“No. Definitely not a pleaser. I would say I'm pretty loud. I speak before I think I have strong opinions That can change quickly. I think it was an okay student. I think I got along well with most folks.”
2021-10-18 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Title Nine: Missy Park · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“You know, here's the danger of things like that. I'm just a kid. This is where I grow up. And now I look back on it and I see it differently. But it was one of those things, you know, I love my mom and dad and had very quickly understood like there's some battles that if you can give in and it's not much skin off my back I should just do it because it's going to make my mom so happy But it is the source of a lot of amusement amongst my family and close friends.”
2021-10-18 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Title Nine: Missy Park · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Oh my gosh, I hate your guts right now. So let's just go on the record right now. I hate your guts. Yes, I was a debutante. Now, you and me and all of your listeners know that. And in my home office here, you could see my little rebellion against that. There's a picture of me about 19 in a white gown with long gloves that actually won't go up above my upper arm and biceps sadly. And I'm spending a basketball and I have my basketball sneakers on.”
2021-10-18 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Title Nine: Missy Park · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yes, I got to play every sport. Coming up when I did, especially as a girl, you just played all the sports. And if you were willing to play and you were willing to try You were pretty good because there weren't as many women pouring into the sports and fields. As there are now. So, yes, we will say, guy, I think that I was a big fish in a very small pond. That's what I'll say.”
2021-10-18 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Title Nine: Missy Park · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“No, I would say I'm the kind of person that maybe everybody else is for sure about it and no one's more surprised than me. You know, I really loved growing up in Greenville. It was at the time a great place for me. It's a small place. I could ride my bike everywhere. I was in that first generation of girls and women that were able to grow up with Title IX being in effect. All the way through high school and all the way through college.”
2021-10-18 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Title Nine: Missy Park · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, well, you know, my parents were so unusual. Like my mom was in charge of the girls and our allowances. And we had budgets and we had to reconcile at the end of every month and we had to give money to savings and to offerings. And each year we would take on other responsibilities. It was her expectation that we would go up to be financially independent women capable of running our own. Finances in our own life.”
2021-10-18 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Title Nine: Missy Park · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT