Phoebe Gates and Sophia Kianni are Sticking Together & Commanding Attention - and They Told Être All About It
All images courtesy of Mary Fix for Command™ Brand
Ready to head to campus in epic style and hang with your BFFs? Yes, it’s early to be thinking about decorating dorm rooms, but then again founders Phoebe Gates and Sophia Kianni have always been one step ahead of the crowd.
That's why this back to college season these recent Stanford grads, co-founders of the fashion startup Phia and co-hosts of the podcast The Burnouts are partnering with Command™ Brand to help every new student feel at home. As only roommates know, surrounding yourself with inspo brings on the big ideas. Just listen to the podcast episode Sticking With Style dropping later today to hear their tips and recommendations alongside interior decorator and DIY expert Tay Nakamoto (AKA Tay BeepBoop) about the hottest dorm trends, how to balance classes and college social life...and everything in between.
Remembering when I first met Sophia Kianni and interviewed her about her Stanford startup, I was thrilled to read today's press release and get the chance to chat again. Here’s a lightly edited version of Être's convo with these co-founders, with deep gratitude for their time and energy:
Ê: Thank you both, so much – Phoebe, it’s great to meet you and Sophia, it's so nice to talk to you again! I interviewed you years ago for Climate Cardinals when Être first started…
SK: Yes! I remember everything - you guys are the best!
Ê: I'm particularly excited about your new partnership with Command, so let's start with that. For girls today, whether it's their first time in a dorm or they're heading back to campus, talk to us about the current trends? What are you seeing to keep dorm rooms standing out but still on budget and did you always love Command?
SK: Yes! When Phoebe and I were roommates at Stanford, we obviously used Command products to accessorize our dorm rooms. Honestly, even with the simplest things like being able to hang up our jewelry or being able to hang posters, photos, and display different memories – we loved Command! So, I think we were excited by this opportunity to talk about an authentic experience that we had, because you can’t use tape or anything like that without getting a campus fine. We loved that there were all these different no-stick solutions from Command and that you could swap out stuff you already had for new inspiration.
Ê: I love that. Phoebe, are there Command products or trends you’re seeing now that you wish you guys had when you were at Stanford?
PG: Absolutely, yes. I feel like the biggest trend we're seeing is people decorating to really express their own personalities. I can't even tell you - Sophia and I had two halves of the room and they were completely different! So, I think having that flexibility to hang things up and take things down super easily is really important. I'd say the other big trend we're seeing is in tandem with what we're doing with Phia - secondhand shopping is big! Whether that's for furniture, for fashion or decorating in general, you can still get affordable stuff - which matters, especially if you're not going to be in that space for a long time.
Ê: And with places like Pinterest, where Command has such a big presence, it's even easier for people to discover the latest trend and then adapt it exactly to what they want to do. Actually, Être girls just visited Pinterest, so in keeping with that the next questions are from girls in Club Être after-school chapters:
Let’s talk about your podcast, Burnouts. This question comes from high school girls: Is there a Burnouts episode that you feel every next gen girl should be listening to? Whether that's Sophia Bush or Paris Hilton or Vivian Tu, is there one guest where you would say, hands down, rising girls have to hear this episode?
PG: I would say the Mrs. Dow Jones episode, to be honest. Haley Sacks was incredible because she laid out financial literacy so clearly, and I feel like so much of financial literacy is made much too complicated. The way she broke it all down was amazing – like the five steps to being financially independent, or things to think about in your 20’s. I thought that was an incredible episode, and frankly I learned a lot from it as well.
SK: I, still to this day, loved the Sara Blakely episode so much - and we've heard similar feedback from other people. I think everyone can relate to a lot of the stuff that she talked about, like when she had a moment, stopped her car and said, I'm in the wrong movie. This is not my movie. I need to change the plot. I just loved the way that she spoke about how she was so in tune with what she wanted in life, and she really was able to develop this level of self-trust and self-belief.
“That’s so important for everyone to have a true understanding of who you are, what you’re good at, and what you want to do with your life. It was so inspiring to hear [Sara Blakely] say, everyone told me to do certain things, like talk to the experts. But that at the end of the day, you need to really know yourself and trust yourself, and that’s what got her so far in her life.”
Ê: Yes! That realization that you're not necessarily in the right movie, or maybe the movie needs a sequel, is a valuable thing to know. This leads into our next question from two college students, related to your new co-founded fashion venture, Phia:
How long do each of you spend thinking about an idea before you know that it's sticky? If there are girls out there and they've got a great idea, or they keep doodling the same thing in a notebook about a gap in the market or a product they feel like is missing…how long do you both feel like you were sitting with ideas before you knew that there was something there?
PG: I think it's about going from sitting to talking. I would have sat with things forever if I didn't talk to people. So, I think getting out there and asking real customers, okay, is this something you would use?
“Come up with a very early version of it – you can make a TikTok about your product even if you don’t have it - and see if people want it. That’s how we started to learn: we would go out and ask other people. Once you get there, you can learn and scale pretty quickly.”
SK: I would say, similarly, that it’s easy to understand whether something makes sense by going and putting it in front of your power users. So, for us, being able to talk to incredible women who love to secondhand shop every single week and ask for their thoughts on different ideas and features that we have, has been critical - to make sure that we don't get overly siloed.
Ê: I, personally, think the one-click comparison aspect of Phia is amazing, and I love that it is so trusted; that echoes your new partnership with Command - it is such a trusted brand! Any mom who's helping to shop for dorm rooms, any big sister looking over her shoulder, or anyone in our network, really, knows and trusts that name. Last question - what's your biggest hope for this collaboration with Command?
PG: I think that if young girls in college listen to this and are like, Oh, great. I can go start a business, or I can do interior design, looking at what Tay Nakamoto has done, that would be amazing. I hope people are inspired by this collaboration and think, This is amazing…this is a brand I can trust that lets me express who I can be when I’m older.
And isn’t that what it’s all about?
Heading back to campus to find fresh styles, design new dorm rooms and envision next steps?
Setting up spaces where innovative ideas spark and tomorrow’s companies take shape?
Because when we surround ourselves with décor that expresses who we are and everything we hope to be, we not only command authentic attention…we just might find our future co-founder.
Looking forward with deep thanks to Sophia and Phoebe,
Illana
ÊXTRAS: Three more things about this epic Command partnership you won't want to miss: Listen to the full podcast episode “Sticking With Style” that just dropped on Command Brand’s YouTube channel here, explore the full Command product line and discover where to shop for dorm and apartment décor essentials at Command.com here; and for more Back to College inspo, DIY hacks and behind-the-scenes content from Tay, Phoebe and Sophia, follow @Command on Instagram, Pinterest and TikTok. We'll meet you there!
