Whether you’ve shopped at Nasty Gal, read and re-read Girlboss, or watched the TV show of the same name, you’ve probably heard of Sophia Amoruso at one point or another. The businesswoman has done a lot in her career, from penning books to running a fashion business, and it seems she has no intention of stopping anytime soon.
The next venture? A new book: The Girlboss Workbook: An Interactive Journal for Winning at Life, a fully illustrated journal-like book and a way for readers to engineer their own paths, which is pretty cool if you ask us. Amoruso thinks so too. Chatting with InStyle, the entrepreneur got refreshingly candid about everything from her advice for young girls to what it was like watching a TV show about her own life.
Is this book something you would’ve used when you were younger?
Yes, and I have had books like this. It’s actually kind of sad, my grandmother bought me a book called Liking Myself when I was like 8 or 9. I’ve always been really hard on myself and maybe not the happiest kid. I’ve always been attracted to workbooks and interactive books. I love filling in the blanks. It’s enough framework for me to take in the advice but make it my own. That’s how I learn. I don’t really learn by just listening. Interacting has always been a big part of what makes me successful in the world.
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What have you learned since the original Girlboss book came out?
The power of intention is huge. I thought it could get me farther than it could. Don’t underestimate how important it is to know what you’re doing. You don’t know what you’re doing until you sometimes learn from experience. And on the flip side, I feel like there was a time when I felt my luck had ran out to a certain extent and that intention setting no longer worked. And I kind of gave up on it, and it’s really been in the last couple of weeks that I’ve gotten myself back in it. It’s a way to inspire yourself.
In Girlboss I said you don’t get what you don’t ask for, and that’s true, and I’ve manifested a lot asking for things in the world and in business, whether it be in meetings or with investors, but you also don’t get what you don’t ask the universe for. That’s something I’ve neglected the past few years. I’m remembering now that that’s as important as asking for things in the workplace or in your relationships if you want to make things happen.
Who inspires you to push yourself and do better?
Honestly my boyfriend is really important but also really challenging. He challenges me to think about my patterns. It’s so easy to fall into patterns that are negative or maybe were positive at some point but no longer serve you, so I’m in a place where I’m constantly rethinking who I am and what I want, which feels really freeing but also terrifying. He’s a great coach in that regard.
It can be scary to rethink things, especially when it’s so easy to look at other peoples lives and compare.
Don’t let people who are on Getty Images or whatever convince you that they have it figured it out. 99 percent of us are really lost. It’s funny I said to my boyfriend over text the other day, I’m lost, and he said lost is another word for free.
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You don’t shy away from getting political in the book. Why was it important to you to include that?
We’re in a time where it’s clear that the change that needs to be made in the world also happens at the policy level, and it would be irresponsible to not urge people to take action, not just in their personal lives or in their work lives but in the world at large. That was something that I was really late to wake up to, and I think that’s OK. You don’t have to understand everything. I still don’t understand everything about how the government works, but I know at the very least understanding what issues that matter to you and knowing how to make change for those issues is really important. There’s so much information out there now,;it’s no longer this mysterious thing. There are resources to find out who to call and what we can do to make even the smallest changes, because those add up to a lot.
Your path to success has been fairly well documented. What has it been like watching that play out in a public way?
It’s really fascinating and also a mindf*ck because there’s who I really am and then there’s who the media says I am, and then there’s a Netflix series that’s a scripted comedy. It’s scripted, it’s not a documentary, and it’s not a historical reenactment. To be in a space where I’m starting over and have a story told about someone I was 10 years ago happen at the same time was really challenging but also exhilarating and legacy making. If I have kids someday, I hope they can watch and laugh at it.
VIDEO: Girlboss – Official Trailer
Does fashion play a role in your future ventures at all, or in the way you’re envisioning your path going forward?
I will always love style and fashion, but right now it’s not the thing that’s really calling me. It feels like the world means something different right now for me. After 10, 11 years of just doing fashion, it’s a nice break to be doing something different. I get more excited about beauty than fashion. I love accessories. But I don’t know, it’s not on the schedule right now.
What is your Holy Grail tip for girls who want to be the bosses of their own lives but feel like they aren’t right now?
That’s a big one. Be honest with yourself and where you are and what you have to learn, and once you’ve done that, accept no less than what you’re worth.
This interview has been edited and condensed.