We were lucky to catch up with Kowa Mattern recently and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Kowa, thanks for sharing your insights with our community today. Part of your success, no doubt, is due to your work ethic and so we’d love if you could open up about where you got your work ethic from?
Like many people my age and of the Millennial generation, I used to really align my personality with my career. Starting out at my first jobs, I would often be the last person of my team to leave, I would do extra work on the weekends, and I felt a sense of purpose by always being busy. Unfortunately, in much of corporate life today, the give and take between employees and businesses is not an equal give and take. And my attitude of feeling like I had to give my job my all became a downward spiral into burnout and a general lack of fulfillment.
So in short, I have mixed feelings about the phrase “work ethic” because I think that it is important to have a strong sense of doing a job well, but I also believe that corporate life really takes advantage of young people who come in with a lot of energy and desire to work hard. As I get older, I view work and life very differently than I used to. I think that balance is the key, along with finding out how to maintain focus in the age of distraction in which we live. To me, knowing when to rest and take a break is a really important aspect of having a good work ethic.
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
My name is Kowa, and I am the founder of the jewelry brand Herself Collections. I make most of my pieces by hand and use high quality materials that allows the wearer to enjoy their jewelry for years to come (not just a season). I spent most of my corporate life in the fashion industry, and saw the waste that was involved with seasonal trends and poor craftsmanship. This has inspired me to focus my attention on classic designs that don’t go in and out of style and that can be worn year after year.
I started my company at the end of 2019, just before the pandemic hit, so I had to focus most of my sales efforts online, but as the pandemic subsided, I began attending local, in-person markets. I saw a real shift in my business once I was able to present my collection in person and share the story behind each piece. I really love getting to meet the customers who wear Herself Collections and to hear their direct feedback. Sometimes I am able to design a new piece based off a customer’s requests, and that is one of my favorite things because the customer ends up with a special piece that they helped design and that was made just for them.
My next in-person event will be with Markets for Makers in Industry City, Brooklyn on Nov 22-23, 2025.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
In my opinion, in order to start your own endeavor, you really need a strong (and perhaps naive) sense that everything will work out and to not stress out on the things you can’t control. Hard work does not always mean that the business will be a success. It is easy to get discouraged when things are slow or you are just not getting sales, and those time periods don’t necessarily align with how much work you are putting into your brand. There is also a lot of luck and support from your team and customers that plays a strong role in if your brand will succeed or not.
A second quality is knowing when you need help. Owning a small business is a huge undertaking and one person really cannot do it all. I have certain areas that I excel in, but I also know that there are areas, like accounting or legal, where it is best for me to seek outside help. Sure, you could learn how to get by on your own, but in order to build a strong business foundation, it is important to have things done well and correctly. Because as you grow, you will quickly see that even small oversights can create big problems.
Lastly, if you are looking to start a business, and this is something that I struggle with to this day, it is important to have a strong ability to focus. As a small business owner, you will have a million things on your plate and so many wheels turning at one time. The ability to not get overwhelmed, and to do one task with focus and attention will really help you out in the long run.
Do you think it’s better to go all in on our strengths or to try to be more well-rounded by investing effort on improving areas you aren’t as strong in?
I think that this question is really dependent on the personality of the person or the aim they are trying to achieve. For example, some people, like professional athletes, are really able to dedicate their lives to one thing and find happiness in building their life around that one thing. I think most people though, thrive in variety and new experiences, and that as humans, we really learn more about ourselves when we try new things or learn a new skill. That said, time is also limited and it is equally as important to know when something is just not worth doing. For example, Herself Collections recently received a US trademark certificate. I could have tried to learn all the legal steps on how to apply for the trademark and submit the application, but it was simply more efficient and less risky for me to hire a lawyer to complete the process for me. So, like most things in life, I don’t think there is a direct yes or no answer to this question and that part of living is discovering what works best for you.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.herselfcollections.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/herselfcollections/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/herselfcollections/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/herselfcollections
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