Philanthropist and Founder & Executive Chairwoman of Kendra Scott, LLC
Kendra Scott: Biography at a Glance
- Kendra Scott is Executive Chairwoman and Founder of Kendra Scott, LLC, an American fashion and lifestyle brand with over 100 stand-alone retail stores across the United States. Her products are sold internationally in the finest specialty and department stores, as well as online at kendrascott.com
- With just $500, she built the brand into a billion-dollar company spanning fashion jewelry, fine jewelry, home, and beauty.
- Her memoir Born to Shine: Do Good, Find Your Joy, and Build a Life You Love details her journey to becoming a self-made billionaire while also building a life rooted in joy, purpose, and doing good.
- An active philanthropist with a history of supporting women and children’s causes, the company has given back over $40 million to local, national, and international causes.
- Kendra was inducted into the Texas Business Hall of Fame and awarded Texas Businesswoman of the Year by the Women’s Chamber of Commerce.
- She was listed by Forbes as one of America's Richest Self-Made Women and named among the Top 100 Entrepreneurs of the Year by Upstart Business Journal.
- Other awards include the EY Entrepreneur of the Year National Award, the Breakthrough Award from the Accessories Council Excellence Awards, Outstanding Mother of the Year by the Mother’s Day Council, and Best CEO by Austin Business Journal.
Media
KendraScott.comForbes: "How Kendra Scott Built A Billion-Dollar Jewelry Company"Forbes: "Jewelry Mogul Kendra Scott Joins America's Richest Self-Made Women List...Success: "Meet Kendra Scott, Homemade Millionaire"Harper's Bazaar: "Kendra Scott: What it really means to be self-made"Book: Born to Shine: Do Good, Find Your Joy, and Build a Life You Love
Videos
Biography
Designer, founder, and philanthropist Kendra Scott started her company with only $500 just three months after her first son was born. Going door-to-door to Austin boutiques armed only with a tea box full of her jewelry, Kendra captivated businesses and customers with her vibrant personality and unique eye for design.
Known for her dynamic use of color and genuine materials, Kendra’s commitment to innovation, quality, and detail has brought her from a small start-up to a billion-dollar business and has won over loyal fans, media, and celebrities alike. With over 2,000 employees, Kendra Scott boasts a thriving web business and over 100 standalone stores and has expanded beyond fashion jewelry into the categories of fine jewelry, home décor, and beauty. Today, her company continues to operate out of Austin, TX, with its state-of-the-art corporate office complete with a design lab and an industry-leading distribution center both catering to her employees’ career goals and family-life balance.
With Family and Fashion as two core pillars of her business, Kendra maintains a focus on her other core pillar of Philanthropy in all she does. Since 2010, the company has given back over $40 million to local, national, and international causes. In 2018 alone, the company gave over $5 million in monetary donations, almost $10 million in in-kind donations, over 2,000 volunteer hours to philanthropic organizations, and partnered with more than 8,000 philanthropic organizations nationwide.
Kendra has been awarded the EY Entrepreneur of the Year National Award; the Breakthrough Award from the Accessories Council Excellence Awards; named Outstanding Mother of the Year by the Mother’s
Day Council; awarded Texas Businesswoman of the Year by the Women’s Chamber of Commerce; listed by Forbes as one of America’s Richest Self-Made Women; Top 100 Entrepreneurs of the Year by Upstart Business Journal; Best CEO by Austin Business Journal; and Honorary Celebrity Chair for the Ronald McDonald House Charities of Central Texas. She is a member of the Council of Fashion Designers of America and maintains her position as Executive Chairwoman of the Board of Kendra Scott, LLC.
Topics
Born to Shine: Kendra Scott’s Journey to Doing Good, Finding Joy, and Building a Life She Loves
By any measure, Kendra Scott is a woman who has it all: a self-made billionaire, a generous philanthropist, and a mother of three with a squad of strong female friendships. Sounds pretty perfect, right? But perfection is a myth that doesn’t serve any of us. Perfection isn’t just a lie, it’s exhausting, and Kendra is tired of it.
In this conversation, Kendra takes audiences on a journey of personal stories and hard-earned life lessons, from her humble beginnings as an awkward, bullied young girl in small-town Wisconsin to launching a business in her spare bedroom with $500. Despite pitfalls, missteps, and failures, Kendra discusses how she built a life—and a career—rooted in joy, purpose, and doing good. Audiences will walk away inspired to embrace both the messiness and the magic that life has in store for them.
