Frances Valentine Co-Founder Elyce Arons Reflects on Her Friendship with Kate Spade

Summary

Podcast Summary: "All Of It" Featuring Elise Ahrens on Her Memoir about Kate Spade

Episode Information:

• Title: Frances Valentine Co-Founder Elise Ahrens Reflects on Her Friendship with Kate Spade
• Release Date: July 8, 2025
• Host: Alison Stewart
• Guest: Elise Ahrens, author of We Might Just Make It After All: My Best Friendship With Kate Spade

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Introduction

In this heartfelt episode of "All Of It" on WNYC, host Alison Stewart welcomes Elise Ahrens, co-founder of Frances Valentine and author of the memoir We Might Just Make It After All: My Best Friendship With Kate Spade. The conversation explores Elise's upbringing, her deep friendship with Kate Spade, the creation and evolution of their iconic fashion brand, and the personal challenges they faced together and individually.

Elise Ahrens' Background ([02:28] - [05:21])

Elise Ahrens opens up about her roots, revealing that she grew up on a farm in Kansas as one of four daughters. Despite residing in New York since 1986 and maintaining a sophisticated home in Long Island, Elise proudly identifies as a "farm girl." She shares how her agricultural upbringing instilled a strong work ethic and a love for gardening and cooking, traits that have remained integral to her identity.

Elise Ahrens ([03:18]): "Waking up super early every day, I just have never been able to stop doing it."

Elise emphasizes the relentless work ethic learned on the farm, where chores were a daily necessity, shaping her approach to both personal and professional life.

Passion for Fashion and Early Influences ([03:53] - [05:02])

Elise credits her mother, an illustrator for local businesses and fashion publications, and her three older sisters for igniting her passion for fashion. From a young age, she was immersed in the world of design, vintage clothing, and craftsmanship.

Elise Ahrens ([04:51]): "I really have a love for all of those nostalgic pieces and who wore them and how they were made."

Her early experiences visiting vintage shops, though not commonly referred to as such at the time, fostered a deep appreciation for the artistry and stories behind each garment.

Meeting Katie Brozhan and the Birth of Kate Spade NYC ([05:02] - [07:23])

Elise recounts her college days at the University of Kansas, where she met Katie Brozhan, who would later become the renowned designer Kate Spade. Despite their contrasting styles—Elise in bold, eclectic fashion and Katie in preppy attire—their shared interests in journalism and admiration for the Mary Tyler Moore Show forged a strong bond.

Elise Ahrens ([05:47]): "She was the ultimate prankster and probably the funniest person I've ever met."

Their friendship quickly blossomed into a professional partnership, laying the foundation for what would become the multimillion-dollar Kate Spade NYC brand.

Legacy of Kate Spade ([07:38] - [09:20])

Elise discusses her motivation for writing her memoir, aiming to celebrate Kate Spade's vibrant personality and their enduring friendship rather than solely focusing on her tragic death.

Elise Ahrens ([07:45]): "There were so many great years in there where she's so inspiring and funny and wonderful that I wanted people to know the real her."

She highlights anecdotes that showcase Kate's authentic and playful nature, shedding light on the dimensions often overshadowed by her public image.

Challenges and Corporate Changes ([20:49] - [22:39])

The conversation shifts to the challenges faced during the growth of Kate Spade NYC. Elise shares her difficult experiences working at the China Club in New York, a male-dominated environment where she endured inappropriate behavior without rapport or support.

Elise Ahrens ([20:09]): "The China Club was the worst job I ever had."

As the company expanded and was eventually sold to Neiman Marcus and later Liz Claiborne, Elise reflects on the inevitable office politics and shifts in company culture that strained her relationships and the original vision.

Elise Ahrens ([22:34]): "It's office politics, which I never thought would happen in my own company."

Starting Frances Valentine ([22:39] - [24:32])

After stepping away from Kate Spade NYC, Elise took time to focus on her family and community involvement. In 2016, alongside Katie and their partner Pamela, Elise co-founded Frances Valentine, aiming to rekindle their passion for fashion with a fresh perspective.

Elise Ahrens ([23:24]): "Katie and I both missed fashion, and we missed creating and designing things."

Frances Valentine was launched with handbags and shoes, targeting women who appreciated joyful, confident designs—echoing the values that originally fueled Kate Spade NYC.

Personal Reflections and Literary Process ([25:11] - [26:50])

Elise delves into the emotional journey of writing her memoir, particularly the inclusion of a heartfelt letter from Katie. She describes the difficulty of reliving painful memories while striving to honor Katie's legacy authentically.

Elise Ahrens ([26:00]): "I wanted people to really authentically hear her voice."

Elise's candid storytelling offers readers an intimate glimpse into their friendship and the profound impact Katie had on her life both personally and professionally.

Listener Interaction: Sharon’s Story ([14:34] - [16:36])

During the episode, a listener named Sharon from Queens shares her admiration for Kate Spade as a symbol of strength in a male-dominated banking industry. She explains how owning Kate Spade bags was a personal milestone, representing achievement and empowerment.

Sharon ([14:43]): "This is a testimony to a beautiful woman who was probably an outstanding, outstanding lead in a male-dominated world."

Elise acknowledges the significance of such stories, noting how many women associated their personal successes with owning a Kate Spade bag.

Elise Ahrens ([16:36]): "It's about what that thing meant to them personally."

Business Advice for Aspiring Entrepreneurs ([25:11] - [25:52])

When asked to offer advice to listeners with entrepreneurial aspirations, Elise emphasizes the importance of gaining experience by working with admired companies, ensuring product uniqueness, and having the courage to pursue one's vision.

Elise Ahrens ([25:32]): "Work for companies you admire and learn how to do everything that they do."

She encourages aspiring entrepreneurs to immerse themselves in their chosen field, learn from established practices, and bring distinctive value to the market.

Unaddressed Topics and Personal Insights ([25:52] - [26:59])

Elise touches upon the deeply personal aspects of her memoir, particularly the inclusion of Katie's personal letter. She explains that this decision was pivotal in conveying Katie's true essence to readers.

Elise Ahrens ([26:50]): "It's because I wanted people to really authentically hear her voice."

This candid inclusion serves to humanize Katie, presenting her as more than just a successful designer but as a cherished friend with whom Elise shared a profound connection.

Conclusion

The episode culminates with reflections on the enduring legacy of Kate Spade and the lasting impact of Elise and Katie's friendship. Elise highlights that We Might Just Make It After All: My Best Friendship With Kate Spade serves as both a personal memoir and a tribute to a beloved friend and business partner, offering readers an authentic and multifaceted portrayal of Kate Spade's life and their shared journey.

Elise Ahrens ([26:59]): "Thank you so much for having me."

Notable Quotes:

• Elise on Work Ethic: “We had to take care of our chores first. And they were seven days a week.” ([03:15])
• Elise on Authentic Storytelling: “There were so many great years in there where she's so inspiring and funny and wonderful that I wanted people to know the real her.” ([07:45])
• Elise on Entrepreneurial Advice: “Work for companies you admire and learn how to do everything that they do.” ([25:32])

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This episode of "All Of It" provides a comprehensive and emotionally resonant look into the life of Elise Ahrens, her friendship with Kate Spade, and the creation of an enduring fashion legacy. Through personal anecdotes, professional insights, and heartfelt reflections, listeners gain a deep understanding of both the triumphs and tribulations that shaped their journey together.

Transcript

[Alison Stewart]

This is all of it on wnyc. I'm Alison Stewart. I am so very grateful right now to be sitting in an air conditioned studio here at wnyc. It's really brutal outside. I wish my kitchen had this level of temperature control, but it doesn't and neither does yours probably. So. Coming up later this hour, we'll talk about summer meals. New York Times cooking editor Margot Lasky will join us with her list. And we want to know what you like to eat when turning on the oven is a no go. Now let's get this hour started with Elise Ahrens, the author of We Might Just Make It After All My Best Friendship With Kate Spade. Imagine five people crammed into an apartment in the 1990s who made money by waiting tables and they came to New York in search of something. In that group were Elise Aaron and Katie Brosnahan, who would go on to become two of the founders of Kate Spade nyc, the multimillion dollar company that started as a pattern and some nylon. In Elise's new memoir, We Might Just make it after My Best Friendship With Kate Spade, she revisits the moment she met Katie in college, bonding over their love for the Mary Tyler Moore show, the two transferring from Kansas University to Arizona State University to coming to New York City. The book details how Kate Spade came together and the good times. They got married, they had kids, but they hit bumps too. Separated by cities, company infighting, a takeover of the company, a rift between the two, being a female in the C Suite. When the dust settled and with Kate Spade sold to a big corporation, they took time off, but they weren't done yet. In 2016, Elise and Katie started a new enterprise called Francis Valentine. Two years later, Katie Brosnahan Spade took her own life. At 55. It's taken seven years for Elise to talk about the life of her best friend. A Rolling Stone review states the story is a powerful read for anyone who's admired Kate Spade's work over the years and has had an interest in fashion or is navigating their own journey through grief and is looking for comforting words from someone who's faced a similar loss. The book is titled We Might Just Make It After All. It's out now. Elise Ahrens joins us in studio. It is nice to meet you.

[Elise Ahrens]

Nice to meet you too. Thanks for having me.

[Alison Stewart]

Well, people know you as the CEO of Francis Valentine. You are elegant. People on Instagram saw your gorgeous house on the inside but and you've been here since 1986, but you are a farm girl Yes.

[Elise Ahrens]

I grew up on a farm in Kansas, one of four daughters.

[Alison Stewart]

You had a steer named Harry.

[Elise Ahrens]

Yeah.

[Alison Stewart]

So tell me something about you, even after all this time, that is still a farm girl. Something from that that you.

[Unnamed Interviewer]

You still relate to.

[Elise Ahrens]

Well, I have a big vegetable garden in Long island that I. And I'm out in it as often as I can be. I grow vegetables and flowers, and I love to cook. So that all came from growing up on a farm.

[Alison Stewart]

One of the things that came up in the book repeatedly was work ethic.

[Elise Ahrens]

Yes.

[Alison Stewart]

And I have to imagine that comes from the farm.

[Elise Ahrens]

It definitely does. And waking up super early every day, I just have never been able to stop doing it.

[Alison Stewart]

What does work ethic mean to you now?

[Elise Ahrens]

Well, it is. I'm kind of a busy person anyway. But on the farm, it's seven days a week because we had. We raised Angus cattle. So my mother would always say, you know, on Christmas morning, we want to go open our stockings immediately. And she'd say, nope, nope. Go out and feed the cattle first. Because they don't know it's your birthday. They don't know it's the weekend, and they don't know it's Christmas. So we always had to take care of our chores first. And they were seven days a week.

[Alison Stewart]

When did you become interested in fashion?

[Elise Ahrens]

You know, really, since I was young. My mother is an illustrator, so she illustrated for all of the businesses in Wichita for the Wichita Eagle Beacon, and really did all the fashion illustrations for so many companies there. And she took a copy of Women's Wear Daily every day. And I would come home from school and read Women's Wear Daily. And then I had three older sisters who were very interested in fashion, as most teens are, and they took a subscription or 17. And so I've just always loved it. And we were constantly going to vintage shops way back when. And they weren't really called vintage shops. They were like hand stores. They were Salvation Armies. But we'd find these treasures there. And I just really had a love for all of those nostalgic pieces and who wore them and how they were made and the craftsmanship that went into all of them, which I still do today.

[Alison Stewart]

Yeah, you can find that in vintage stores or secondhand stores. It really is amazing when you turn them over and you look at the seams and how they're made, you can really tell the difference between. And something that's really valuable.

[Elise Ahrens]

Exactly, exactly. And the craftsmanship and all the details and, you know, when you find one who's. When someone's name is sewn into the back of the label. And you know, that woman had all of these different experiences in that piece.

[Alison Stewart]

What made you decide to go off to college?

[Elise Ahrens]

Well, I was. My sisters had all kind of gone their own separate ways. I was the youngest and my father took me to a K State KU game hoping I would fall in love with K State. But the game was actually played at the University of Kansas, which is a sprawling, gorgeous, green rolling hills campus. So of course I fell in love with ku and that was the place I wanted to go.

[Unnamed Interviewer]

And that is where you met Katie?

[Elise Ahrens]

Yes, yes.

[Unnamed Interviewer]

What initially drew you to Katie?

[Elise Ahrens]

You know, we were just two doors down from each other. She was a B and I was a C. My last name was Cox at the time and I had just come from a trip visiting my sister in New York. So I had on crazy purple parachute pants and pointy toed leather boots that I'd bought on 8th Street. And I just thought I was the coolest thing in the world. Katie, on the other hand, had on a popped, you know, collared polo shirt, loafers and khaki shorts. She was the ultimate preppy person. You would not think that we would be friends, but we were both journalism majors and we started walking to classes together and going to fraternity parties together. And she was the funniest person I've ever met, but also kind hearted and sweet and authentic. And we just became close over a really short period of time.

[Unnamed Interviewer]

What is something that you would want people to know about her or it feels sort of incomplete when they describe, this is Kate Spade. This is what Kate Spade was like. What are they missing?

[Elise Ahrens]

That she was the ultimate prankster and probably the funniest person I've ever met. Her brother in law, David Spade, always says she was the funniest person I've ever known because people didn't really get to know her deeply. They saw her, you know, how great she was at design, and they really appreciated how kind and authentic and her midwestern values. But they didn't get to know her well enough to see that funny side of her.

[Alison Stewart]

Someone texted in to say, many years ago, he and Kate Spade were in the same elevator in Tribeca. His young daughter was upset and she comforted her. He said, I saw Kate as an especially compassionate and caring young woman consoling my child. What a beautiful person.

[Elise Ahrens]

Yeah. And she was certainly.

[Alison Stewart]

Why did this feel like the right time for you to write a memoir?

[Elise Ahrens]

You know, it took me many years. It was a painful time, of course, and I still Miss her every day. But after about five years, I had had so many people ask me about our partnerships and our relationship and to tell them all about her and, oh, you should write a book. Every time I would launch into a funny story, they'd say, oh, you should write a book. You should write a book. So I started two years ago and just started really writing down all the stories of the things I wanted to talk about. I didn't, you know, there's been so many speculations about why. And I didn't want to talk about how she left us. I wanted to talk about how she lived. Because there were so many great years in there where she's so inspiring and funny and wonderful that I wanted people to know the real her.

[Unnamed Interviewer]

This is sort of a nuts and.

[Alison Stewart]

Bolts kind of question, is you deal.

[Unnamed Interviewer]

With her death by suicide right up front.

[Alison Stewart]

You're very clear about it, very clear how hard it was for your family and for you.

[Unnamed Interviewer]

And then the rest of the book, most of the book is about your life.

[Elise Ahrens]

Why did you decide to put it.

[Unnamed Interviewer]

At the front of the book versus.

[Alison Stewart]

The end of the book?

[Elise Ahrens]

Well, it's really the elephant in the room. And I wanted to say it up front. And in the author's note, I said, that's not what this book is about. So that people understood when they bought it, before they bought it, what the book was really about. It was a celebration of her life and of our best friendship and the times we had together.

[Unnamed Interviewer]

Who was the first person you showed the book to?

[Elise Ahrens]

Oh, my goodness. Well, my husband and I worked on it together, so he was with me along for the whole ride. But family and friends, really close friends.

[Unnamed Interviewer]

And I, you know, I listened.

[Alison Stewart]

I read the first half and I.

[Unnamed Interviewer]

Listened to the second half while I was gardening. And you read the book and there are a couple of passages which sound like you might cry or you might have been really choked up reading the book. What did it feel like to read it?

[Elise Ahrens]

I have read it so many times, and those places still choke me up today when I was recording it, because I feel like if you're writing a memoir, it should be in your own voice if it's at all possible. So as I was recording it, I did. I was crying. There were tears running down my cheeks. And I looked over at the producer and I said, if you want me to re record that, I'll get myself together and I'll redo it. And she said, no, it's real, it's emotional. That's what this chapter is. And it's you should feel this way when you're reading it. So she used the original.

[Unnamed Interviewer]

A new memoir provides a portrait of Kate Spade's founders, Elise Ahrens and Kate Spade. It's titled We Might Just Make It After All, My best friendship with Kate Spade. Elise Ahrens is with me now. You and Katie both wanted to become journalists.

[Elise Ahrens]

Yes.

[Unnamed Interviewer]

And you bonded over Mary Tyler Moore.

[Elise Ahrens]

What was it about Mary Tyler Moore?

[Unnamed Interviewer]

I know I loved Mary Tyler Moore. What did you love about Mary Tyler Moore?

[Elise Ahrens]

Well, I think for my generation of women and probably many others, Mary was at a time when women didn't have these kind of roles. She started her career in a predominantly male dominated field. And she was confident and a modern woman, but she was also very stylish and funny and fun, and she had great friends and a great apartment. And we wanted to be like Mary. And journalism seemed like a route to go. And it was because of her that we really went into that field. And that's when we started talking, right when Katie and I met that we had that in common. And we thought it was a fluke. But of course, every woman our age, everybody who's sort of in our vintage.

[Unnamed Interviewer]

Was like, mary Tyler Moore is the best.

[Elise Ahrens]

I know. And we got to meet her at one point, oh, my gosh. When we started Kate Spade, her agent called and said, mary would like to see your handbags. This was our first office on 29th street, so it wasn't very nice. And I said, okay, well, she could go to Saks or Barney's. And she said, no, no, no. Mary wants to come and see everything at your office. So cut to a couple of days later, Mary Tyler Moore herself walks into our office. And of course, I was speechless. I didn't even know what to say to her because it was like this icon is walking into the room. She was lovely. She couldn't have been nicer. So thoughtful. And I said, you are the reason that we even got into journalism. You're the reason we started this business. And she said, wasn't that show just great and full of such good values and just fun?

[Alison Stewart]

Yeah.

[Unnamed Interviewer]

When you think about that show, the Mary Tyler Moore show, how did it shape your ideas about feminism and what you could do with your life?

[Elise Ahrens]

Well, it told me and my generation of women that we could make it, that we could make our own path and forge our own way in a career that we wanted. Thus the title of the book, you Might Just Make it after all, is one of the words or the lines from the song in the book.

[Alison Stewart]

You and Katie, you share that Katie loves Susan Lucci's look as Erica Cain, all my children. And she said, someday I'm going to be able to dress like that. This surprised you A little bit. Why? Because.

[Elise Ahrens]

Because she was such a preppy person at the time, but we had never been outside of our worlds in the Midwest. And when she looked at Susan Lucci, she saw someone who was a powerful woman and dressed the way she wanted to and had tailored clothing and really beautiful things. And that's really what she was talking about.

[Alison Stewart]

When Andy came into the conversation, Andy Spade, who Kate Spade married. It seemed like it was the three of you.

[Elise Ahrens]

Yes. Going out. They included me in everything. And I don't know if I would have been so generous if I had a new boyfriend, but they were really thoughtful, always trying to find me a boyfriend, but they really included me all the time. They never wanted to make me feel like a third wheel.

[Alison Stewart]

Did having such a good relationship with the two of them, did that help your business?

[Unnamed Interviewer]

Did it?

[Alison Stewart]

Was it a moment of pause, like, these are my two great friends. I don't know if I want to go into business with them.

[Elise Ahrens]

We were all in from the very beginning, and I didn't pause. Probably most people should pause. And I wouldn't necessarily recommend being in business with your best friends, but it worked great for us. I think it's because all four of us shared the same values and we trusted each other. We were very loyal to each other, and we stuck by each other the whole time.

[Alison Stewart]

We've got a call. Om and Sharon from Queens who wants to share something with you.

[Elise Ahrens]

Okay.

[Alison Stewart]

Hi, Sharon, thank you for making the time to call, all of it.

[Sharon]

Hi. I just wanted to say, as a woman of color, I worked in the banking industry as a very male dominated place without any people of color. I was a corporate trainer. And what happens is I bought four bags, Kate Spade bags. I love the style. I carried them so proudly because I said, you know, I was able to afford them and I just loved Kate Spade bags. And as a testimony to both you and her, I am just telling you how much they meant to me that I've gifted two of them to my daughter to give her strength in her male dominated world to say that this is a testimony to a beautiful woman who was probably an outstanding, outstanding lead in a male dominated world. Thank you so much.

[Elise Ahrens]

Thank you. That's really, really sweet. And there are so many stories like yours, Sharon, because when I go out to trunk shows for Frances Valentine, women come up and tell me their Stories about their first Kate Spade bag. And it was at a time in their lives much like her story, when they were just starting out and they treated themselves for the very first time, something special. It was a designer bag, but it was accessible enough and you saved up for it and you bought it with your own money and it meant you had arrived on your own terms. And I think when women look back at those bags, it wasn't necessarily about the fabric or the style of the bag or the design. It's about what that thing meant to them personally. And I know when Katie and I finally made enough money where we could go out and treat ourselves to something special, those items took on so much more significance because we were able to buy them with our own money.

[Alison Stewart]

My guest is Elise Ahrens. We're talking about a book. We might just make it after my best friendship with Kate Spade, Lest you think it happened automatically, as I mentioned, there were five people in one room, one apartment. You just started in New York and I'm gonna ask you to read from chapter six in the book. This is when you first got to New York and you realize you had to make a living to survive here.

[Elise Ahrens]

Yes, well, you know all the bills. I knew early on that New York City was right for me and I was there to stay. My salary at chromacopy was decent, but I would need more money long term if I was going to get my own place and be able to save anything. I started asking around for part time jobs where I could work at night. A block away from Willows was the Beacon Theater on Broadway and 75th Street. And underneath that was the China Club, one of the hottest clubs at the time. I'd been there and I'd heard that David Bowie, Iggy Pop, Stevie Nicks and other huge stars of the day would occasionally jump on stage and do a set. A lot of Cafe Central regulars went to the China Club after hours. Willow, my sister, went occasionally to and would come home with stories about dancing with Miguel Brezhnikov or spinning around on the dance floor with John Travolta. While it wasn't really a dance club, when it got late, people would often move tables and create a dance floor. Her co worker Christina also ran the coat room at the China Club and offered to introduce me to the owners. I wanted that job. I could pay off my student loans at Hyperspeed, cover the rent and and save a few bucks. So I applied to be a coat check girl at the China Club. I was hired as a cocktail waitress instead. I'D waited tables my whole life and I thought I knew what to expect. The issue wasn't the hours, which were definitely rough. I started at 11pm, sold drinks until 4am and woke up at 7:30 to get to Chromacopy. By 9 at the end of each shift, I was barely able to speak from screaming at customers to be overheard over the music. Men would hold onto my waist or wrist while ordering a drink. Being casually groped was part of the job. The bosses told me I would get used to it. I really didn't though. Nor did I know any of the other waitresses who did. There was a lot of cocaine and the customers barely tried to be discreet. They needed some of that added firepower to party and dance until four on a Monday, which was one of our most popular nights, and get to work the next day. The China Club was the worst job I ever had. The primary reason the job was so bad was the ownership. They made us wear aerobics, inspired leotards and constantly pushed all the servers to show more bum and cleavage. My response was to wear crewneck sweaters on top of leotards. I stuck it out because the tips were so good.

[Alison Stewart]

That's Elise Ahrens reading from her book the 90s. You look back on them with great fondness. But it was a time when things were allowed. Men were allowed to grab you by the waist.

[Unnamed Interviewer]

You were told to put up with it.

[Alison Stewart]

How did you put up with it?

[Unnamed Interviewer]

How did you use it as fuel to get to where you wanted to go?

[Elise Ahrens]

Well, I think back then we just did because we had to. If you said anything, you were fired. It was just the way it was. Thank goodness it's different now and people can speak up and, you know, we have training and, you know, we know how to behave. I think it allowed us to creatively dodge and weave so many situations where you knew something was going to be an issue. And, you know, luckily our business was really a women's business and we didn't have a lot of men to deal with necessarily at that time. Yeah, that was kind of interesting.

[Unnamed Interviewer]

I thought in the book of, like, how many women worked at Kate Spade and how you got along until sort of the corporate interests got in the way. What were the early days like? And then how did things shift when corporate interests and people bought into the company?

[Elise Ahrens]

Generally, the early days were terrific. And, you know, when you have a hard time, you don't really remember the hard time so much. You remember the good part of it. And all of these great things were Happening to us at the beginning where, when Katie won the CFDA Award for the Council of Fashion Designers of America for accessories, our first orders from Barneys and Charavari and Saks Fifth Avenue, all of that was so thrilling and exciting. Coming up with the money to produce things, you know, that was a different story. It was hard. So we had hard times, but they. Honestly, if I think back, those were some of the best times because we had to make it work and we had to get creative. As far as how that all happened later with the corporation, Neiman Marcus ended up buying us in 2006 and then sold it to Liz Claiborne. We were only involved for about six months after they purchased the company. It was the time we had agreed to stay on for the transition period. And things changed during that time. They still treated us very respectfully as the founders. However, you know, we noticed things starting to change, and it was, you know, we were happy to leave when we did.

[Alison Stewart]

There was a woman, though, who gave you a really hard time. Gave you specifically a really hard time. As you look back on it. Do you understand what was going on?

[Elise Ahrens]

Yeah. It's office politics.

[Alison Stewart]

Yeah.

[Elise Ahrens]

Which I never thought would happen in my own company.

[Alison Stewart]

Yeah.

[Elise Ahrens]

But it did. And for her, I'm sure she thought she was doing the right thing for the business or for herself to get further ahead, but I just wasn't anticipating it at my own company. And we resolved it, and she moved on to another company, and we were, the four of us, happily ever after again until we sold in 2006.

[Alison Stewart]

Once you decided to start Francis Valentine, you took some time off. You became a big wig at your kid's school, the whole thing. What made you want to get back in the game to start sort of at. Not at ground zero, because you had some finances now, but you had to start somewhere, Right?

[Elise Ahrens]

Right. So when we sold Kate Spade, I was a little bit nervous about not having something to do, but I had three small children, so I really did fill my time with my kids. And I. I have no illusions about it. I'm one of the luckiest people in the world. I got to have both. I got to have a business career, and I got to be with my kids. And then I got involved in their school and was PA president for a long time, and then the board chair of the school because we were building a new high school at the time, which was a really great thing for me because I learned so much about it. But Katie and I both missed fashion, and we missed creating and designing things and we started talking in 2014 about getting into the business again. We talked to Andy and our other partner, Pamela about it. They had both started their own companies and so encouraged Katie and me to start Frances Valentine. And we started with handbags and shoes and launched the business on Valentine's Day in 2016 and were off to the races and starting our business again. We were super excited.

[Unnamed Interviewer]

Who did you have in your mind as your customer at Frances Valentine?

[Elise Ahrens]

The same woman who loved our original design. And it's a woman who loves joyful pieces, who likes to feel confident in what she's wearing and feel really good every day.

[Unnamed Interviewer]

Got a nice text. Katie and I were teenagers together in Kansas City.

[Alison Stewart]

She was sweet, genuine, and kind.

[Unnamed Interviewer]

It was years ago, but she sorely miss and I think of her all the time.

[Alison Stewart]

Elise, I look forward to her.

[Unnamed Interviewer]

Forward to reading your book Heart.

[Elise Ahrens]

Oh, thank you so much. Well, I'll be back in Kansas City in the fall.

[Unnamed Interviewer]

So your book is also. I mean, it's a really good book. It's a business book as well.

[Elise Ahrens]

I mean, there's a subtext of business underneath. It's definitely a subtext. Yes.

[Alison Stewart]

For someone who is listening to this right now, who has a great idea, who's behind their sewing machine, is thinking, I've got the next big thing. I've got the next Telfar bag. You know, what advice, like, practical advice would you give someone?

[Elise Ahrens]

I would say work for companies you admire and learn how to do everything that they do. In smaller companies, you can obviously learn so much more because everyone's doing everything and make sure that your product is the best it can be and that it's different than anything else out there, and then just go for it.

[Alison Stewart]

Has anybody not asked you something that you've just wanted to talk about this book? I know you've been on book tour, but I wanted to always something that somebody hasn't asked yet.

[Elise Ahrens]

Oh, my goodness. That is a really. You know, one thing that did come up and I didn't have an opportunity to answer it was there is a letter that Katie wrote me in the book. It's very heartfelt and I cry every time I read it. I really hesitated about including it because it is such a personal letter. But one of the things that really made me put it in the book, after all, was because I wanted people to really authentically hear her voice. And it's in that letter. And it just goes to show what a fabulously wonderful best friend she was. And that's really. It's why I put the personal letter in there. Normally I wouldn't have done it, and I really hesitated about it. But when you come across the letter when you're reading it, you'll understand why.

[Alison Stewart]

The name of the book is We Might Just Make It After All, My Best Friendship with Kate Spade it is. By Elise Ahrens Elise, thanks for coming to the studio.

[Elise Ahrens]

Thank you so much for having me.

[Unnamed Announcer]

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