Mums and daughters: the new power pairing
Martha Keogh, left, and mum Mimi O’Brien Keogh of lifestyle brand Mimi + Martha.
With the cross-generational benefit of youth and experience — as well as shared values and trust — mother-daughter ventures are proving a powerful force across a variety of industries, says Marie Kelly.
One of the very early pieces of business advice Karen Yates and her then 23-year-old daughter, Ellen, were given in 2014 — when they launched their Northern Ireland-based accessories brand, Taylor Yates — was: “Just make sure it doesn’t look like some sort of mother/ daughter hobby.”
With more than 20 years of experience on the design and marketing side of fashion retail herself, coupled with Ellen’s degree in fashion business management, 55-year-old Yates was surprised and frustrated to be patronised in such a manner. It’s not as if the duo were crocheting tea cosies — handbags are a billion-euro business and the pair’s combined skill set meant they were well placed to take a piece of this luxury pie for themselves.
The assumption that women are not serious business people or viable entrepreneurs, that they merely ‘dabble’ on the periphery of their domestic realm, has been propagated for centuries. Of course, at one time it was true simply because women didn’t have the freedoms or resources to make their own money.
Some mothers and daughters try to compete with each other. If that’s the relationship you have, then your business probably won’t succeed.
Unfortunately, the fallout from the systematic exclusion of women from the workforce still exists. Karen tells me that, in the UK, the 2019 Alison Rose Review of Female Entrepreneurship found that less than 1pc of venture capital went to female-backed businesses and that there remain significant barriers to female entrepreneurs, which, as well as access to funding, include perception of skills. Taylor Yates was created with £10,000 of Karen’s own money: “We never received any outside investment.”
However, it is starting to look like there’s a power shift in play, from traditional patriarchal power structures to a new kind of matriarchy. From the fashion might of Kate Moss and daughter Lila Grace, who walked the Fendi spring/summer catwalk together in Paris in January, and the feminist writings of Hillary and Chelsea Clinton, who co-authored The Book of Gutsy Women: Favorite Stories of Courage and Resilience in 2019, to the phenomenal success of Dublin-based brand White & Green, founded by Sari Winckworth and her two daughters Rebecca and Danielle, and endorsed by Vogue as “the world’s best organic cotton bed linen”, mother-daughter teams are proving a powerful force across a variety of industries.
There have always been a few elite examples of powerful motherdaughter partnerships, Angela and Margherita Missoni of the Italian heritage fashion house for one. But there’s a difference between being born into a global fashion brand and assuming your inheritance, and actively choosing to build a business together from scratch, as is happening in family homes all around the country.
Mimi O’Brien Keogh and daughter Martha Keogh launched their online lifestyle emporium, Mimi + Martha, last August. The website offers a beautiful curation of items from 63 Irish designers and has completely captured the imagination of its founders — as well as its contributors and customers — who, before going into business together, worked as a Montessori teacher and opera singer respectively.
The two say they have always been best friends, and there is only a 20-year age gap between them. What’s more, 48-year-old Mimi has a seven-year-old daughter, while daughter Martha has a six-year-old son, so they have a lot in common while also benefiting from their different generational perspectives.
Mimi explains that her Generation X outlook combined with Martha’s millennial attitude have been a huge benefit to their business. “Martha instinctively knows how to communicate with our younger customers. She understood from the beginning that community and accountability were critical to our brand’s success. She brought these values to the table.” Mimi adds that the energy of youth is a great counterpoint to the experience of midlife.
The women run their business cross-country, as Mimi lives in Limerick and Martha in Dublin. I suggest that might help them to create boundaries between their professional and personal lives, but it’s not so easy, says Martha.
“We never switch off,” she says, laughing. “I’ve never had a nine-tofive job, so I’m used to being ‘on’ in the evenings and at weekends. We text relentlessly, sharing ideas and images.” Mimi agrees that they talk about the business all the time, but with the caveat that, “We do have to be careful to remember that we are still mother and daughter, not just partners.”
Martha is sure that even if they didn’t know each other, she and Mimi would still work well together as their personalities are so complementary. That’s something Karen Yates understands. “You have to genuinely get along to make a success of a mother-daughter partnership,” she says. “Some mothers and daughters try to compete with each other. If that’s the relationship you have, then your business probably won’t succeed. Ellen and I are similar in lots of ways and, most importantly, this venture is both our dreams.”
Paulette Egan, meanwhile, made it her business, you might say, to prioritise her relationship with 22-year-old Louise, who began working with her mother while still at school. “From the very start I was determined to have a wonderful relationship with Louise, both as my daughter and business partner.”
The pair are founders of Co Clare-based fitness clothing brand I-Spy. Paulette (55) explains that I-Spy’s brand values comprise ‘quality, community and positivity’. “We try to incorporate these values into everything we do and build a personal connection with each of our customers. Every order sent out is accompanied by a personalised note, and the more often a customer buys from us, the more special we try to make them feel, and the more included in our I-Spy team.”
Louise adds that sustainability is something they’re both very focused on. “All of our packaging is recycled or biodegradable, and we’re looking into developing a sustainable fitness range.”
Karen, left, and Ellen Yates, owners of luxury handbag brand Taylor Yates.
There appears to be a thread of social responsibility that connects many of these creative mother-daughter enterprises. Taylor Yates’s mission statement is ‘people, planet, purpose’. The company has been awarded the Butterfly Mark, a third-party accreditation that identifies the luxury brands that meet the highest standards of transparency and environmental performance; it is a supporter of Women for Women International, raising funds and sponsoring individuals in areas of war and conflict; and the brand is also committed to planting a tree for every handbag sold, and in 2020 planted 1,000 in total.
When I ask Karen if she thinks women in business feel a greater social responsibility, she explains that, “I think instinctively, women don’t just consider themselves but have a wider viewpoint.”
Having traditionally been the primary carers, it’s not surprising, perhaps, that many mother-daughter businesses value community and sustainability as much as profitability. Mimi + Martha is singing from the same hymn sheet, and is dedicated to slowing down consumerism, and encouraging customers to understand and appreciate where each product comes from. They are striving to create a community around makers and buyers, and when the pandemic ends, they have plans to include events and experiences under the Mimi + Martha umbrella.
The single piece of advice these successful mother-daughter entrepreneurs offer to others who might be thinking of joining forces professionally is: “Always listen”. But it must be tricky, especially for a mum who is used to determining what’s best for her daughter, and who is used to having the final say?
I’m involved in a lot of coaching and mentoring, so it was important that I became open to listening to someone else.
Karen admits she had to learn to listen to daughter Ellen. “I’m involved a lot in coaching and mentoring, so it was important that I became open to listening to someone else.”
Mimi, meanwhile, explains that she and Martha have never taken each other’s opinions for granted, while Martha reveals that it’s only by listening to her mother that she’s been able to shake the imposter syndrome she was beset with when the business was first set up. “Coming from an operatic background, I sometimes felt like a fraud. But mum’s advice to me was, ‘You don’t need to have all of the answers right away’.”
What’s wonderful about these cross-generational partnerships, too, is that they give a voice and profile to women in midlife, a generation that up until recently was considered past its prime. Middle-aged equated to over the hill, but not any more. These mums are as vibrant as their offspring. As mother-of-five Mimi explains, “It’s the combination of old and new thinking that makes these partnerships special.”
Far from flailing around the kitchen table with cutesy cottage industries, these mother-daughter duos are putting the heart and soul back into retail with their circular approach to consumerism, and if that’s not worth investing in, I don’t know what is.
Originally published in the Sunday Independent Life magazine, March 2021