#7 | CAMILLE GABBI, entrepreneur and co-founder of Imparfaite
Welcome to POING FORT, the podcast that will give you the weapons of self-confidence. In this first season, 10 guests remove the mask to speak frankly to us about the failures and doubts they had to overcome to achieve their ambitions.
In this episode, I have the pleasure of welcoming a former colleague from L'Oréal, Camille Gabbi, co-founder of Imparfaite . Together, we talked about her childhood - she was one of the first in vitro babies in France, her journey at L'Oréal and the keys to her entrepreneurial journey.
A graduate of HEC in 2011, Camille traced her path within the biggest beauty and luxury brands before embarking on the Imparfaite adventure alongside her friend Ariane in 2017. Their platform has become a fashion reference vintage online and the standard of a more responsible mode of consumption.
Entrepreneurship is not easy, she thinks she will hit rock bottom in 2021 when her search for financing is met with multiple refusals. But Camille is a fighter that nothing can stop... Surrounded, and confident that Imparfaite is one of those actors who will be able to change the fashion industry from the inside, she moves forward with determination.
How do you build an online fashion leader?
What is a good associate?
How to develop your network?
So many questions that my guest will try to answer...
KIRA EAR SCULPTURE - KIRA EAR RING
MARGAUX: Were you encouraged to take risks when you were younger?
CAMILLE: Yes, very young, my father told me: "You have to work, because it will give you the freedom to do what you want. So, have confidence in yourself, try, there is no mistake, there is only learning. ”
He told me: “You need to be financially independent. You need to be able to be free and make your choices and be who you want.” So yes, I think my parents encouraged me a lot.
KIRA EAR SCULPTURE - KIRA EAR RING
MARGAUX: We met on the benches of L'Oréal, but what happened between the moment you left this big name in cosmetics and the birth of Imparfaite?
CAMILLE: I was going around in circles when I was in London for the group, I didn't like what I was doing there so I was thinking about returning to France to work on the creative direction at the brand level.
At that moment, completely by chance, a friend told me about Jean de la Roche-Brochard who is basically responsible for Xavier Niel's investment fund, KIMA Ventures. He will train a small group for a year in everything related to entrepreneurship. I say to myself: he who doesn't try, gets nothing, let's go.
I fill out the application, I have an appointment with him and I'm taken! It was just the trigger I needed to do something else. So, I'm resigning from L'Oréal. Before taking this “no MBA”, I said to myself, “entrepreneurship is great, but to start a company, you need genius”. In reality, entrepreneurs are just people who want to do something, who have enormous resilience, who try, who don't give up. And that's one of my strengths: being resilient, not giving up.
MARGAUX: Have you ever wanted to give up?
CAMILLE: Every day. Even this morning, three hours ago. My box excites me in many ways, it is as much a source of frustration and annoyance as it is of achievement and joy.
But the story is too good. It 's not the result that counts, it's the journey. I work with one of my best friends, we have people in the office who are as much a part of the company as we are, who are super involved, with whom it is a joy to work every day. There are tons of hassles, there are tons of problems, but if it were easy, it would bore me too.
