Our Origin Story

From Rejected Model to Creative Director: Gianna

Skye and Mallory welcome Gianna, their new full-time Creative Director at hope&plum and co-owner of Archer Wren, for what is technically her first real podcast appearance (the previous recording was accidentally on mute the whole time). They trace Gianna's origin story: she applied to be a hope&plum model, got rejected, showed up at a meetup anyway, and eventually became their primary photographer and designer. After years of juggling creative work part-time alongside a law career, she recently went full-time. A decision that felt scary but fits the pattern of their best calls as a business (the Lark, delegating fulfillment, moving warehouses, starting Archer Wren). The conversation touches on the challenges of working with friends, the difficulty of letting go of things you've built yourself, the tension of stepping into CEO/leadership roles while staying approachable, and the very different energy of running hope&plum (high-stakes, regulatory, always on fire) versus Archer Wren (passion project, easier to set down).

Our Origin Story

Every business has a beginning, but not every business begins with a friendship. In this episode, Skye and Mallory tell the story of how they met, how hope&plum [https://www.hopeandplum.co/pages/about] went from an idea to a real company, and what the last several years of building it together have actually looked like. The chaos, the growth, the moments they almost quit, and why they didn't.