An Interview with…

Emma Tymczyszyn

Why have you decided to share your advice and experiences with Girl Economics? 

I think it’s important to have a community of like-minded women who can empower each other with knowledge. I’m happy I can get to share my experiences in entrepreneurship and marketing and contribute positively to this community. It’s always encouraging to see other women share their experiences in business, specifically because it is such a male dominated field, but I am glad to be seeing an increase in female entrepreneurs and business leaders in the industry, despite there still being significant gender gaps and disparities. Representation like this in the industry is important for growth.

2. Could you tell us a bit about your experience setting up DEDIOS Apparel and the lessons you have learned from running it?

DEDIOS is a streetwear company, whose mission is to empower individuals through the beauty of originality and self-expression. DEDIOS started as part of a compulsory module when I was on study exchange inHong Kong. Starting a company from scratch, having to consider everything from operations, costs, product development and branding, taught me a plethora of things. I worked closely within the marketing team, so this means I was responsible for figuring out strategy, creating content pillars and analysing insights and data to make informed decisions.

The biggest lesson I learnt was the power of community for a brand. A lot of the focus nowadays is on going viral, which is a great boost for exposure for a brand, but it does not achieve long-term sustainable growth, and in my opinion should not be used as a marker of success. Instead, what is more valuable for a brand, and what we were able to achieve at DEDIOS, is social proof. In standard psychology, it is widely recognised that we are influenced by our peers. For DEDIOS, having our designs worn by university students as they walked around campus was a critical factor of success. It essentially served as word-of-mouth advertising because students were eager to be part of a growing community, amplifying our brands presence on campus. It’s vital to not underscore the power of reviews as well, as again consumers are more likely to trust other consumers rather than the company itself. Having said this, when starting a company, specifically a product-based business I’d say branding, focusing on how you make your consumer feel and building a community are the most important lessons I learned.

Reflecting on the experience, I wish I has been more involved in the financial planning and operations aspect of the business, being responsible for marketing was very much in my comfort zone and I feel that in order to grow you need to venture out of that zone. Nevertheless, the first-hand experience I got was invaluable and I hope to carry these lessons with me as I start my own entrepreneurial journey.

For those interested, I wrote a short LinkedIn post, highlighting our key achievements here: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/emma-tymczyszyn-113905245_sustainabledevelopment-startupstrategy-growthstrategy-activity-7158049774041014273-Fj7O?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop

3. What have you learned about marketing from running your own lifestyle blog, and why do you think marketing is so important to businesses in the modern economy?

In 2018 I owned a fashion and lifestyle blog and an Instagram page alongside that, posting my (questionable) fashion taste, beauty reviews and more, as a young teen. Looking back at this now, it was an interesting time in the digital marketing sector, brands were increasingly recognising the value of user-generated content and influencers, but it was still in the very early stages.

My biggest takeaway from this experience is to just START, put yourself out there and you’ll learn along the way as opportunities present itself. It was 2018, I was 14, I wasn’t exactly thinking strategically when posting my content, apart from how to make my page look aesthetically pleasing, despite this, people still found value in my posts. I grew my page to over 1,500 followers completely organically in a few months, presently this might not seem so profound but that goes to show how revolutionary the growth of social media has impacted digital marketing, how even one viral video can completely transform the journey of a brand.This takes me into my second point, I think this organic growth was due to understanding that consumers really value authenticity and transparency when it comes to content creation, brand deals etc. and I’d like to believe because it was the early stages of this way of marketing, people embraced authenticity. As now, with the massive increase of the digital landscape, audiences are more discerning than ever, as this aspect of authenticity has been diluted with the influx of celebrities and influencers in the UGC space.

Marketing is all about persuasion and hence with our current massive consumption of social media and video content e.g. reels and TikTok’s, it has never been more important for a company to utilise social media, specifically staying on top of trends, in their marketing strategies. We see companies like Ryanair and Duolingo create a huge online following with their relatable, humorous, and witty content. Rather than strictly focusing on ‘educational’ and ‘promotional’ content, brands are now prioritising content that humanises the brand and forges an emotional connection, to build strong relationships, drive engagement and most importantly, loyalty. This has always been the aim after all, but the digital space has allowed this to be highly achievable with the correct set of minds behind strategy. I have noticed that even on LinkedIn, the content that performs the best is always personal content, sharing experiences that are personal to you whilst also providing value, whether that is humorous or educational.

4. Who is your biggest inspiration and why?

I don’t have anyone specific I look up to, instead, I believe there’s something to learn from everyone around me, never be the smartest person in the room! Even a scroll on LinkedIn can teach me a new thing or two as my feed is full of inspirational people. Books, specifically ones exploring topics like self-discovery and existentialism, I hold a lot of value for as they offer valuable new perspectives on life. Ted Talks are also super helpful for self-development and overall life lessons, my favourite has been ‘How to not take things personally’ by Frederik Imbo. Having said this, I do look up to successful founders, especially female founders, and I try to make meaningful connections with people who I aspire to be and learn from.

I believe in the power of self-inspiration, always striving to push your own boundaries. In my view, there is no such thing as being over ambitious, opportunities are endless if you open your heart to them! However, it’s important to acknowledge that unfortunately, not everyone has the same scope of opportunities available to them. So, special appreciation to individuals who come from less privileged social backgrounds and have had to build themselves, their companies and their networks up, by themselves. Resilience + Determination = Success.

5. What are your plans for the future?

In the next 2 years I will be graduating from university which is crazy to think about, I have a year in industry placement starting in July to get practical experience in the corporate world of work. For a while now my goal is to start my own business, recently, an idea has come to mind for a product-based business, so I’ve started to work on it gradually. It’s still a work in progress and it will be for a while whilst I manage university and work, but it’s a project that I’m excited to start working on and I believe that this is the moment that my university studies and previous experiences/projects have been preparing me for. After going on study exchange in Hong Kong, I am so eager to travel and continue travelling the world. I noticed the importance of a positive environment both socially and physically, therefore, it’s a goal of mine to relocate outside of the UK in the future, to somewhere greener and warmer. For now, I’m so grateful that London has provided me with so many fantastic opportunities and people, so I will continue to utilise that for the time being!

Got something else you’d like to ask?

If you have burning questions you’d like me to pose to future Girl Economics Interviewees, do reach out on LinkedIn!

A deep dive into…

How Can A Loss-Making Company Have A Multi-Billion Pound Valuation?

In 2023, Uber made a $1.1 billion profit after recording losses every year since its founding in 2009. Yet, despite this, in 2015 Uber became the most valuable start-up ever created up to that point after raising $51 billion in funding, and is currently valued at $157 billion making it the 79th most valuable company in the world. How is it that a company that has never made a penny of profit can be worth tens of billions?

Funnily enough, current profit is not the primary metric which investors use to value a company. What tends to be more important is the possibility for a firm to achieve future profits through doing something disruptive. Let’s take a look at some examples;

→ Electric Car Manufacturer Tesla attracted investors due to its primary position as a disruptor in the electric vehicles market, using innovative new technologies and changing the way that consumers view their car e.g. by implementing features such as Netflix, games, and custom car horns (it probably helped that Mr Musk was already a very well known entrepreneur!)

→ Biotech companies such as Moderna will often attract investors due to their potential to create large volumes of highly valuable intellectual property (and these firms were greatly helped by the COVID-19 pandemic reinvigorating the biotech market)

→ Twitter (which, funnily enough, is now struggling to make money under the very same Mr Musk) and other social media networks can attract investors due to the prospective user base that these platforms can attract. Lots of users provide a clear route to monetisation through advertising.

→ Investors might also act irrationally (who knew!?) and market speculation can lead to a significant amount of hype around certain sectors or companies. For example the dot-com bubble involved lots of digital companies went public and achieved soaring valuations despite making no profit (see: Pets.com)

Ultimately, the value of certain companies is tied more to how much investors think it will succeed than its actual assets or sales. Can you see why financial markets are so unstable…

5 Daily Articles

1. Modi Uncovers Election Promises Days Before Election

2. Understanding the Trump Hush Money Trial

3. Does a Higher Minimum Wage Just Increase Automation?

4. Tesla to Lay Off 10% of Workforce

5. Falling Oil Prices Following Crisis in Middle East

Opportunity Corner

Quantitative Analyst summer internship with Neuberger Berman.

That is all for this issue, remember to share Girl Economics with anyone you think would enjoy reading it! See you in the next issue,

Erin McGurk