This week on Don’t F*ck This Up, Lauren hosts the CEO, Founder, and Inventor of Shhhowercap, Jacquelyn De Jesu Center. The multi-million dollar patent portfolio holder takes us through creating her wildly successful product and what it takes to build a brand that pulses and lives.
We talk about some important things: being intuitive, rising above the imitators, and the tension between being a ball-buster and being vulnerable. Plus, Jacquelyn divulges the types of people she surrounds herself with to be effective in the C-suite.
“People call it authenticity, but that’s such a played-out word.” - Jacquelyn De Jesu Center
Follow Don’t Fuck This Up on IG: @dontfuckthisup.podcast
Follow Lauren Alvarez on IG: @LaurentheAlvarez
Follow Jacquelyn on IG: @deejayzoo
Follow Shhhowercap on IG: @shhhowercap
Buy Shhhowercap: www.shhhowercap.com
Email the show at advice@dontfckthisup.com for your questions to be answered on an upcoming episode!
This week on Don’t F*ck This Up, Lauren hosts the CEO, Founder, and Inventor of Shhhowercap, Jacquelyn De Jesu Center. The multi-million dollar patent portfolio holder takes us through creating her wildly successful product and what it takes to build a brand that pulses and lives.
We talk about some important things: being intuitive, rising above the imitators, and the tension between being a ball-buster and being vulnerable. Plus, Jacquelyn divulges the types of people she surrounds herself with to be effective in the C-suite.
“People call it authenticity, but that’s such a played-out word.” - Jacquelyn De Jesu Center
Follow Don’t Fuck This Up on IG: @dontfuckthisup.podcast
Follow Lauren Alvarez on IG: @LaurentheAlvarez
Follow Jacquelyn on IG: @deejayzoo
Follow Shhhowercap on IG: @shhhowercap
Buy Shhhowercap: www.shhhowercap.com
Email the show at advice@dontfckthisup.com for your questions to be answered on an upcoming episode!
Jacquelyn De Jesu Center (00:00)
Thanks for having me. I'm really excited to be here.
Lauren Alvarez (00:01)
And I think it's so cool. I love that when even in your notes coming over, I was like, how do you wanna be introduced? And you're like, I don't know, an icon who created a category? I was like, yes, that is the energy that we should all be bringing into our interviews, our conversations, and just our days in general. So thank you for that. Yeah.
Jacquelyn De Jesu Center (00:19)
Thanks. Yeah, no, I appreciate it. It's nice to be at a stage in our growth story where like I can lead with my entire personality, you know?
Lauren Alvarez (00:28)
Fuck yeah, yeah. And I think that's the thing is like, I think so often, I definitely wanna talk about this, I think especially as women, but I think we're kind of taught to like dim ourselves or to hold back or to be like, ooh, is this acceptable? Or like, is this gonna make me liked? And when you can get to that stage of like liberation revenue, honestly, like there's certain things you have to accomplish to be able to be like, I'm gonna fully embrace exactly where I'm at and who I am. And I think when you get to show up that way, then you also continue to attract the right people who you want to buy your shit.
Jacquelyn De Jesu Center (00:56)
Yeah, and I think you and I spoke about this. We have very similar backgrounds, but if you ask anybody that I worked with at my first junior AD job, like I was the same person. So I think what was really interesting was when I launched and I needed to not be that thing and the years that it took for me to be comfortable being that thing again, which is exactly 100% everything that I am and nothing besides that, you
Lauren Alvarez (01:06)
Yeah.
Mm.
Jacquelyn De Jesu Center (01:22)
people call it authenticity, but that's such a played out word.
Lauren Alvarez (01:26)
It is. I mean, I think it's just like, are you real? Are you fake? Check one or the other. Go left, go right. Thank you. I mean, you wrapped like such a busy month, season, quarter, I don't even know, like, it's been a busy 2024. You've shot out of a cannon. You're here. I'm glad we could even get time together for this because I know that you're running 100 miles an hour. And I love that. I live that way. Before we get into all that.
Jacquelyn De Jesu Center (01:32)
Yeah.
Lauren Alvarez (01:52)
How are you doing? For real, how are you doing?
Jacquelyn De Jesu Center (01:54)
Not great. The reality is that the past couple of years of my entrepreneurial journey have been really, really impacted by some pretty offensive competitive behavior. And yeah, now I'm the Phoenix rising from the ashes and that's a hard earned right.
Lauren Alvarez (01:56)
I'm sorry.
Mm.
Jacquelyn De Jesu Center (02:19)
But I'm running as fast as I can and just taking every opportunity that's always existed for this brand because there have been so many years where we weren't able to not because of anyone's efforts other than ours.
Lauren Alvarez (02:30)
Yeah, and I think like, you know, it's funny because I am not kissing ass. I actually am the proud owner of two shower caps, one of which I bought like six years ago. I am a woman who hates washing my hair. I have always been this way and I was double processed blonde for a long time. So like that's a great permission to not have to wash your hair. I was using dry shampoo when it was first created. I worked in editorial back in the day and like I
I hate washing my hair. I also believe you can train your hair to not have to wash it all the time when you stop just stop washing your hair every day. But I will say that, yes, Shhhowercap was honestly, to me, a necessity that I could never find. I was always getting like, you know, the Nana we've all seen like the hideous shower caps that leave the horrible ring impression on your forehead. And like, or I was like,
Jacquelyn De Jesu Center (03:04)
Greetings.
Lauren Alvarez (03:19)
tying my hair up in a really intricate way and still getting it wet. And nothing pisses me off more than getting my hair wet, honestly. Like, if I'm not trying to wash my hair, it is the worst feeling. So I just want to say, like, thank you. I mean, I'm such a fan.
Jacquelyn De Jesu Center (03:34)
Thank you. No, that means the world to me, honestly, like, it's what brought all of the blessings and it's also what's brought the curse, right? Like I did, I did create a category with this patented invention. It is a better product. It is a better mousetrap, right. And it's something that everyone needed and no one had until I created it. So that's not cockiness. Like, it is just like
It's what gets me out of bed. The fact that people feel the way that you just played back people do. And like, it's so much of what's carried us through the years is that love and like that genuine love and the recognition that it, it wasn't available. You know what I mean? It's like that. That is what carries the brands. That's what's carried our sell through at retailers, even when I'm not the one pitching it and.
Lauren Alvarez (04:17)
Yeah, totally.
Jacquelyn De Jesu Center (04:27)
That's really that brand magic that like you can't buy, you can't pay for, you can't raise for, like you can't out invent, you know? Like we created something that needed to exist and the world embraced it as such. And as much as I love what you just played back, I love even more that I hear it every day. Does that make sense? I get that and I think about you naked. So you're, you know.
Lauren Alvarez (04:30)
Mm.
Yes.
Yeah, so you think I'm basic? No. I mean, yes and yes. That's I mean, I wish everyone could have that blessing, right? That's amazing.
Jacquelyn De Jesu Center (04:58)
People come up to me and then there's that, there's that what you just said, which is like, thank you, which is like, honestly, like, thank you for thinking, thank you for that. But then there's I thought about you naked this morning. That like, the amount of times that I've heard that from women, from men, like, just because my thing is in their showers, it's such an interesting interaction in a professional setting. But it's also quite, quite.
Lauren Alvarez (05:06)
Yes.
Hehe
Yeah.
Yes. Yeah, as an HR professional, I'm hoping that this isn't something your employees say to you. But we'll leave that alone. We'll just put that over there. No.
Jacquelyn De Jesu Center (05:27)
Ridiculous.
No, no, it's not employees. It's not employees. It's random people at conferences typically. Or like if I meet them for the first time off. Or Bob.
Lauren Alvarez (05:39)
Oh, yeah. You're like, thank you, Sandra.
That's what I wanted. Yeah, thanks, Bob. I really wanted to hear that from you. Oh my God, people just, no filter. I also loved when I was reading a little bit about kind of what led you to this, and I'd love to hear in your words, but I love that you called out that shit's so ugly out there before you created Shhhowercap It was like fucking crystals and ruffles and giant bows. I don't wanna look like a giant baby when I'm getting in the shower. I wanna feel otherwise amazing and sexy and powerful. I always feel, but like.
Jacquelyn De Jesu Center (06:02)
Hahaha
Lauren Alvarez (06:15)
Yeah, some tacky ass medallion on my head is not going to make me feel amazing. So I really appreciated just that you shared that, but is there anything else? I mean, when you were creating this category, was it literally just like, you wanted this thing and you couldn't find it? Was there something else that you were like, when, when did the, I guess, when did the light go off that you were like, this is a fucking business opportunity.
Jacquelyn De Jesu Center (06:35)
Yeah, I can speak to that. So I was working in advertising for almost 10 years. I had risen to kind of the ACD level, but I was always pitching really big pieces of business and I was very lucky to have those types of opportunities really early in my career. So I was head to head with CMOs and like the highest level of brand thought leadership, not only on the agency side, but on the client side.
Lauren Alvarez (06:40)
Yeah.
Jacquelyn De Jesu Center (07:02)
And I'm the daughter of a hairdresser and a professional makeup artist. And my dad is a set builder. I wish that made me an Epo baby, but really it just like gave me a sad card because I was cute on set all the time when I was an only child. But very really, the daughter of two creative entrepreneurs. Right? And they were successful enough.
Lauren Alvarez (07:09)
Wow.
Mm.
Jacquelyn De Jesu Center (07:29)
to have a family, there were certain months that were harder than others, but they were very much in the gig economy, right? And I was raised that creativity is a superpower and that it's something that not everyone has. And if you hone it, you can do really big things with it, right? But when I went to go look for my first step forward, right? In my collegiate career, I always...
Lauren Alvarez (07:38)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Jacquelyn De Jesu Center (07:59)
I always tell this story, my dad brought home, um, a one club annual, um, that he bought for like 50 cents at the library. And I hadn't picked a major yet. I hadn't picked a college, but I knew that like advertising was it. I was fascinated by the fact that you could win an award from.
Lauren Alvarez (08:05)
Damn.
Jacquelyn De Jesu Center (08:21)
for like a print campaign that had no language on it, but it communicated everything. And I just read it cover to cover and I became obsessed with how visuals and tone and all of these kind of subliminal things actually create a feeling, right? And that feeling makes you either wanna purchase a product or not, right? Incorporate something into your routine or not, change your behavior or not.
Lauren Alvarez (08:25)
Oh, yes.
Right.
Jacquelyn De Jesu Center (08:49)
convert from one thing to another or not, right? And mainly I was like, I wanna make money creatively. I want a 401k, I want a salary. Like I want a career to rise into with these skills that my parents have literally like ran back and forth to propaint every weekend for 18 years, you know? Won't it? And...
Lauren Alvarez (08:57)
Mmm.
Yeah, totally.
Jacquelyn De Jesu Center (09:13)
So it's a combination of all of those things, but really I wound up in advertising. I was working, I had a pretty lucrative career. I had a really good reputation. I was known for kind of like, I realized this now actually after leaving the industry and how people play back to me my Shhhowercap story. But what I was known for, especially when I was a freelancer was like, she'll crack the brief in a very simple, big way. Does that make sense? Like that was my art direction.
Lauren Alvarez (09:28)
Mm-hmm.
Fuck yeah, that makes sense.
Jacquelyn De Jesu Center (09:41)
creative kind of reputation. So that tracks back to like my senior thesis. I did a campaign about herpes where it was just like a very simple red dot all over my college campus, went up blind, you know? But then it was what drove a lot of my ideas and what would book me and what people would look for me for when I was working in advertising. And then honestly, I was just...
Lauren Alvarez (09:55)
Yeah.
Jacquelyn De Jesu Center (10:08)
burning the candle at both ends, like classic ad kid. And I had to look a certain way when I was working on Olay. Like I couldn't just roll up with my hair in a top knot and like throw on a red lip. Like I had to look the part, it was Olay, you know? So that was when I realized I just didn't have time to do all this hair. Like I just didn't have time for it. And I went to go look for a Showercap because my mom told me I needed one.
Lauren Alvarez (10:15)
Yes.
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Yeah.
Jacquelyn De Jesu Center (10:36)
And I was like, oh, I must have one at home. And the first light bulb was that I didn't have one at home. I just assumed that I would have that staple, right? I grew up not washing my hair every day. I grew up using a shower cap My mom's a hairdresser. I was educated. And I just assumed that there would be one in any of the things of all of the beauty products that I had shoved somewhere. And there wasn't. In whatever moves, by the time I was in my late 20s, I just didn't have one available for when I needed it.
And so that was like, was like the assumption that I would have one and I didn't. Right. And then, and then I.
Lauren Alvarez (11:11)
I love that. Yeah. That's so, it's actually like, as you said that it's so relatable. I was just thinking about like, oh yeah, like when you go for something and you're like, obviously I have this and you're just like, wait, what? No. Yeah. I love that. Keep going. I'm sorry. I jumped in because I got so excited.
Jacquelyn De Jesu Center (11:22)
It's like a commodity. Like, no, I'm glad. I'm glad the story resonates. And from there, I went to the internet, as one does. I'm married to a pretty prolific branding graphic designer. We've been together since college. It'll be 17 years next year, or in November of this year. Thanks. Married eight, but together for seven years.
Lauren Alvarez (11:45)
Rats.
Yeah.
Jacquelyn De Jesu Center (11:52)
And so I'm married to a designer and I was an art director and like we choose the things in our house very intentionally. And a lot of that starts with best designed blank, right? Or most innovative whatever. Like those are the search terms that get me to the things that I want and need. It doesn't matter if it's an expensive item or a cheap item, it's just always the qualifier. And when I put that into, in front of Shhhowercap,
2013. I always say that it's not that nothing came up, it was what did. The internet told me that fashionable shower caps were bows and rosettes and like everything had that Miss Muffet shape. There were rhinestones, there were medallions, all of the things that you played back and then there was this entirely separate category of like plastic animals and food, right? The strawberries, the frogs, the sharks.
Lauren Alvarez (12:25)
Mmm.
Oh my God.
Jacquelyn De Jesu Center (12:50)
the ice cream cones, and neither one of those things were the types of things that our demographic would be interested in, right? The modern woman, and that was the insight that really got me, but that was the ad kid in me. There was no brand, right? There was no brand, there was also no brand strategy for any of these wannabe brands. There were people that were selling things.
Lauren Alvarez (12:59)
Yeah.
Oh, I love that. Yeah.
Jacquelyn De Jesu Center (13:16)
that were broken product experiences that no one really wanted, right? So the modern woman was avoiding the category altogether. But meanwhile, we were all blowing through dry shampoo. We were all spending money at Drybar. We were all working our tushes off because it was before COVID and like there was no lax, right? And we were built different. But like all of those things were true. And then we were putting on the equivalent of granny panties or, or.
Lauren Alvarez (13:21)
Yeah.
Totally.
Jacquelyn De Jesu Center (13:44)
quite often we were avoiding the category altogether and putting our hair up in top knots, right? So.
Lauren Alvarez (13:49)
Yes, yeah.
Jacquelyn De Jesu Center (13:50)
so yeah, I mean that's really what got me started was like I went to my this is my this is gonna date me. Um, I went to my ADM list. Do you remember ADM? I aggregated everything. Exactly.
Lauren Alvarez (14:02)
Oh, yeah, I'm like so dated together. Yeah, we share a yearbook, yeah.
Jacquelyn De Jesu Center (14:08)
This is exactly, I'm not an elder millennial, so I can hold on to that. But I went to my adium because after that search result, I was like, oh my God, there's no brand. Like, I have to do this. I don't wanna be the person that like claims they invented the Post-It and then didn't. Like, how has no one done this yet, you know?
Lauren Alvarez (14:28)
Yes.
Jacquelyn De Jesu Center (14:28)
But mainly what it needed was my skills. It needed a brand, it needed a brand insight, it needed a visual aesthetic overhaul, it needed a repositioning, and that's what art directors do. So I was like, I'm uniquely poised to do this thing. But when I went to my Aneum, I asked everybody that was online, it was random girls that were to pledge classes underneath me from my sorority, chicks from high school that I hadn't spoken to in years.
Lauren Alvarez (14:41)
Yeah. A thousand percent.
Jacquelyn De Jesu Center (14:58)
And I just like anyone who was on, I was like, hey, random question, you may not even remember me. One, do you wash your hair every day? Waited for the answer. Two, do you use a Shhhowercap? And it was the fact that in that earliest snapshot of what we can call a loose focus group, that no one said that they were washing their hair every day. Not one person, not one girl that I asked that was online in that random spattering of people.
said that they wash their hair every day, and only one person said that they actually use the Shhhowercap actively. And I was like, that is the opportunity. That is the business opportunity. If I can crack this, it's a million dollar invention overnight, let alone did I know that it would be like a live wire the second I put the pre-order on the internet, but that's what I get for being an overachiever.
Lauren Alvarez (15:26)
Yeah.
Yeah.
I mean, yeah, just casually overachieving. I mean, yeah, because I mean, you sold out really quickly, right? So when you first launched, and I'm skipping ahead here, and we can talk about the creation process as much as you like. I mean, I'm just thinking about when you're launching.
Jacquelyn De Jesu Center (16:01)
We should use, you know who does, no creation process, all the knockoffs.
Lauren Alvarez (16:05)
Yeah. I mean, I feel like, you know, when you're when you're launching something, you're kind of putting your full self into it, right? Like you're pouring yourself out. So even talking about like, before we get into the launch part, how long did it take you where you were working two jobs at the same time? I mean, were you still were you freelancing at this point? Were you still tied to were you going into LA? Like, when did you kind of make the call that you're like?
Jacquelyn De Jesu Center (16:10)
There's a lady about there.
Lauren Alvarez (16:32)
Oh, fuck, I need to like dedicate my time to this. Was it a revenue threshold? Was it a, you know, time thing? What was it for you? You were like, fuck no.
Jacquelyn De Jesu Center (16:35)
Yeah.
I wish it was a revenue threshold. I wish it was some sort of safety net that I had to find. The way that I had managed it was I had a really lucrative career. I think I was making $378 at the age of 27. It's like stupid. I heard that people don't even make... You worked at KidHR. I heard that it's not even the same anymore.
Lauren Alvarez (16:47)
Yeah, don't we all?
Mm-hmm. Yeah. That's amazing.
Yeah.
No.
Jacquelyn De Jesu Center (17:07)
Um, so there's not as much to miss, but, but I was very privileged in the career that I had built for myself by that time gave me a little bit of discretionary income to kind of siphon things off. I had the idea and decided to leave my full-time job probably like four months later, um, but I was planning as soon as I like had the light bulb moment, I was planning lining up my recruiters and trying to like, like get back into the freelance zeitgeist.
Lauren Alvarez (17:26)
Yeah.
Jacquelyn De Jesu Center (17:36)
And then I freelance and that's what carried me the two years for, through development, because I would basically take a gig and then push on development, working those two jobs. But then at certain junctures where I wanted to give it my all, I would just say no for a little bit and do like a full month straight sprint on Shhhowercap. Um, and it was waffling kind of not waffling, like strategically using the opportunities and the junctures of wherever I was in the time.
Lauren Alvarez (17:36)
Yes.
Mm-hmm.
Yes.
Jacquelyn De Jesu Center (18:07)
that allowed me to get through. But I was in development for almost two and a half years.
Lauren Alvarez (18:13)
I mean, that's incredible too, because I think one thing, I think it's often misunderstood about creatives is that they struggle to focus, they struggle to dive in, or they're too focused. I've heard that too. But I actually think when you have that sort of tension between being incredibly brand driven, incredibly creative, but then also you're able to see a vision that's much bigger than the immediate, and you're looking at something long-term, that is that bigger strategy. That's actually a very important piece of launching something,
of knowing that like you might throw 15 samples in the trash, you know, and start over. But if you've ever worked on a campaign, you also know that like you could be like, we've got the thing, we nailed the brief, and then, you know, the client comes in and it's, yep, it's over. Yeah, and I'm very decorative as well. So like we live this in our household every day, you know, and I think that it is like, it's part of like the heart goes into it, but the kind of confidence carries you through when it doesn't work out. I mean,
Jacquelyn De Jesu Center (18:56)
Thank you.
Lauren Alvarez (19:12)
talking about the development process, two years is no small animal. So what was it like for you, kind of the first time that you held your sample and you were like, holy shit, this is becoming real.
Jacquelyn De Jesu Center (19:26)
Um, honestly, it was terrifying. Like I just knew, I knew how big it was about to be and it was exciting, but it was also like, okay, now what? You know, like there's a, there's a slide transition in my keynote. That's like, cause I tell this story like on big stages and design conferences and stuff, but I, there's a slide that says I had one prototype and I needed like a hundred thousand more.
Lauren Alvarez (19:39)
Yeah, totally.
Jacquelyn De Jesu Center (19:56)
You know, it's, you can get it to one thing from a sample room and then you're still like, okay, how do I make a tech pack? Like what's a paper pattern? Like who's this contract manufacturer? What machines are they using? Um, but through the development process, I was, I was able to effectively learn a lot of those things. And then that, that really kind of put me on the path to, to who I was going to reach out to.
Lauren Alvarez (19:56)
Yeah.
Right.
I'm sorry.
Yeah.
Jacquelyn De Jesu Center (20:25)
to make this thing for real. And I think that's also just a really interesting story for entrepreneurs, which is I called so many factories
I had a very short list of contract manufacturers in the US because we wanted to make sure that we were made in the US or at least cut and sewn in the US. And now we're printed, cut, sewn, assembled proudly in the US, which is just nice because none of them can claim that I know of.
Lauren Alvarez (20:47)
Fuck yeah.
Yeah.
Jacquelyn De Jesu Center (20:51)
Um, the
The thing that this factory owner told me after like a do-si-do of phone tag, he was like, I don't make shower caps. And I was like, well, neither do I. This is a waterproof turban. Like, this isn't a Shhhowercap. I can't go to the Shhhowercap factories because the Shhhowercap factories don't make this thing. Right? Like that was the rub was like, he's like, I've never...
Lauren Alvarez (21:17)
Yeah.
Jacquelyn De Jesu Center (21:21)
I don't make shower caps, I don't make the category. And I was like, right, but you fundamentally have the technical skills to make this waterproof head covering, right? And I had to convince him to get in.
Lauren Alvarez (21:24)
Mm-hmm.
Yeah. I think also setting yourself apart, you're like, well, I haven't done this thing either. Also, I'm creating a category. You just said it without saying it, but you're creating a category. And so you're like, are you in or are you out? You're just staring each other down.
Jacquelyn De Jesu Center (21:46)
Yeah. And then I was like, I was like, just, just do my first run and I ordered 980 of them. And I had these boxes in my house for like four months while we were in pre-order. And we sold out, I think in the first 10 days of the site going live as a solo entrepreneur. And he was just like, okay, let's go. You know, I believe you. Yeah.
Lauren Alvarez (22:03)
Yeah.
I love that. Also, I mean, launching and selling out that quickly, I'm sure you were really anxious during that time because how could you not be? It's like watching your baby take a breath and you're like, oh my God. Did you, having the experience that you've had working in the creative space, did you kind of rally for PR? I think pre-order is actually a really interesting concept and if you're open and talking about it, I think that when you're building hype for a brand but it's for something completely new,
What are kind of the standards that you would approach if somebody is like, okay, I wanna do a product drop, I wanna do a pre-order, how do I approach that? Because I think that is something that comes up and a lot of folks are like, ah, and it's not just for hype, right? It is also for planning. But can you talk a little bit about your decision to do pre-order?
Jacquelyn De Jesu Center (22:56)
Yeah, again, it was 2015. So now there's like actual playbooks and frameworks for my recommendations that are different than what I did. But I think generally an allocation towards seeding, whatever taste makers are in your network, even if they're friends, just like that early pop of UGC, the key there is to trust your gut instinct versus the feedback that might come because it can really sway you in the early days. You kind of.
Lauren Alvarez (23:04)
Yeah.
Jacquelyn De Jesu Center (23:24)
need to be able to get to that volume before you start like letting one person's opinion kind of change your trajectory. And then to be honest, I probably wouldn't preorder. I would probably just start the newsletter list with some really compelling imagery with the stock ready to ship. Because I think what people really want is making sure that things get there like Amazon
Lauren Alvarez (23:31)
Yeah.
love. Yeah.
Jacquelyn De Jesu Center (23:53)
increase since the days of COVID. So I just think that there's less tolerance than ever for anything to go wrong in that way. So like, especially with how many people have kind of burned the bridge on like the pre-order trust, like it's just really important to like be able to have the physical proof that like you have what you need in your warehouse and that like what people are basically ordering into or expressing interest in is available to them.
Lauren Alvarez (23:56)
Yeah.
It's not a Kickstarter, you know, it's not like, I mean, yeah.
Jacquelyn De Jesu Center (24:23)
Yeah, it's not a Kickstarter, but if you wanted a Kickstarter, like go do a Kickstarter, you know, but if you're going to put your domain name live, then it's just like, what, what does that really mean to you and what's your obligation
Lauren Alvarez (24:28)
Right, definitely.
yeah, your earliest supporters. And also, there's a concept, I don't know if you've heard of the concept of 1000 true fans. It's like if you have 1000 people who like really fuck with you, they ride with you, they are like, I got you, they're buying what you're selling, they're into it. That's enough to sustain like a kind of growth cycle of you growing up through. So kind of activating your 1000 true fans of like, you know, who are the people who are going to be, is it 100? And then it's 200 true fans. And can we get to 1000? And then, you know, kind of building that
And I think that's a huge challenge. And I think
are new when you're doing something new. Who's supporting you in those moments?
Jacquelyn De Jesu Center (25:40)
Um, my friends, I had a really, like a lot of really great mentors. Um, one now who's on my board, but I always tell this story. Like when I, I was freelancing at 360i and she, I, she was basically like recruiting me to lead Clinique. And I would have been working with one of my best girlfriends as my, like CD. And then.
Lauren Alvarez (26:00)
Mm-hmm.
Jacquelyn De Jesu Center (26:06)
her as ECD or whatever her title was above her. And then my partner was one of my best friends. It was like a dream job if I didn't have this thing that I needed to go launch. And that gig crossed over to like when I was actually ready to go shoot. And I'll never forget it, cause she was basically like, you need to go do this now. And I just want you to know that no matter where I am, you'll always have a job with me. And I was just like, huh.
Like the security in that, even just emotionally, to know that it wasn't just my freelancer reputation, but that like literally this woman who I knew had more can lions than she had shelf space, was like saying that no matter where I went, if this didn't work out, that I would be okay with her, or that I could always call. And now almost.
Lauren Alvarez (26:57)
Yeah.
Jacquelyn De Jesu Center (27:01)
what, nine years later, she's on my board and like, we're working on the future of the brand together. And it's like a really powerful, different, very interesting dynamic. But there's that, there's my husband. Um, there's, you know, my girlfriends, I think, but really a lot of that, that support and that like consistent, okay, I'm going to go do this is because of the response from the world. Like the press was immediate.
Lauren Alvarez (27:10)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Jacquelyn De Jesu Center (27:28)
Fast Company picked it up the day after the site went live. I think before that we had, we had NotCot. You remember NotCot is NotCot still around. Yeah, but like NotCot had posted something, someone posted it on NotCot. And then Adweek was like right after Fast Company. But we got Vogue Allure, Entertainment Tonight,
Lauren Alvarez (27:35)
Mm-hmm. Yeah, I was like, I don't think it's still around, yeah.
Jacquelyn De Jesu Center (27:53)
Fast Co, Inc, Glamour, Cosmo, like anything that you could imagine, we got in the first four months. And a lot of those were over-indexed over the next four months, but were in the first four days, four weeks. It was like love for like the nuances of like the thickness of the band and how sticky the grip is. Like people write in and they're like, how did you get the gripper?
Lauren Alvarez (28:07)
Yeah.
Jacquelyn De Jesu Center (28:23)
to be the perfect amount of stickiness. And we're like, we chose it based off of gut instinct. We're so glad that you like it like that, you know? But it's not like I was zoning in with the supplier being like, I need this amount of stickiness. It was like, there's nuances like that around all of the other aspects of the invention, but like, yeah, so I don't know. I mean, it's just, it's a really interesting time in my life to be having this conversation because it's so reflective, but like.
Lauren Alvarez (28:27)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yes.
Jacquelyn De Jesu Center (28:52)
But it is, it's true, we made something that actually really matters in the world and I think all products should do that, you know, otherwise it's just waste.
Lauren Alvarez (28:56)
No.
Yeah, it's like, what the fuck are you doing this for if it doesn't matter? And I think like the other thing I love is that you, I mean, I grew up in the suburbs, I love a fucking mall. And you talked about being in malls. You talked about, hey, if there's one thing I know about this product, it sells no matter where I put it. But that you had, yes, you had like one of those mall like island carts that was completely beautifully branded with shower cab and that they're selling all over the place. So when you set out,
Jacquelyn De Jesu Center (29:04)
I think originally.
It's a great question. Originally I set out to create a cool Shhhowercap. I used to say in development, I'm going to make the Shhhowercap cool. And everyone would be like, cool, how? You know, like it was so far and of a concept, but that was my goal was to reposition how people thought about the category, right? I think our launch did that pretty immediately. Like the way that we shot it did that pretty immediately. Even with the logo looks like the packaging box checked, right?
Lauren Alvarez (29:28)
I think you spoke a little bit about this earlier in our conversation, but you said around like you wanted something cool and actually aesthetically beautiful, but the clientele has expanded way beyond like the people who are, I'll say like us, or like people who are driven by these specific things. So appealing to different clientels, I mean, switching up patterns, things like that, how much of that plays into like...
Jacquelyn De Jesu Center (29:35)
And our earliest retailers validated that with, violet gray was one of our first ever, you know? And Bloomingdale's, nice, you have great taste. And Bloomingdale's was right after, so it became a really interesting kind of analysis of like, it's not just the violet gray and the net girly, you know? And our e-comm has sold in every state in the US, even as a bootstrap brand since 2016.
Lauren Alvarez (29:51)
wanting to appeal to like, you know, Kathy and St. Louis is going to be different than like somebody who lives in like Tribeca, right? So I think like understanding your clientele, how has that shifted since launching the brand nine years ago?
Jacquelyn De Jesu Center (30:05)
meaning we had coverage in Missouri, like over and over and over again, when we were working with pennies, you know? So that to me like really, really identified that this has always been a mass appeal play. I think that's because we created something that every woman wanted and every woman needed, right? And now we're expanding even further from there because guys are washing their hair less than ever.
Lauren Alvarez (30:15)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Jacquelyn De Jesu Center (30:34)
So like guys are being educated by like head and shoulder content or I don't know, like they're barbers that over washing creates more friction, increases hair loss, right? Like prematurely, et cetera, et cetera. I'm sorry if I'm in a shadow. But they're being educated. So we as a brand don't need to educate them. So now we have guys, not just the dreadlocks guys that have always been my customer base, but like the average, the average dude.
Lauren Alvarez (30:35)
Mm-hmm.
That's where I bought mine.
Mm-hmm.
Jacquelyn De Jesu Center (31:03)
you know, that doesn't have protective styles and doesn't have a ton of hair, is just like so scared to lose it, and we come up as an opportunity. But I think, you know, where it really plays out is tone. Like one of the earliest things that I got kind of confronted by in the proof that we weren't just this feminist cool kid like D to C brand was because there was a school shooting and I posted something anti-gun. And my comments lit up.
Lauren Alvarez (31:08)
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
Yes.
Jacquelyn De Jesu Center (31:33)
Like basically Shhhowercap, how dare you? Like I'm from Texas and hacks. Right. And my PR team at the time, I won't name them, but I, they, they get a lot of credit for this was like, I was like, WTF, like, what am I supposed to do? Just not put my political opinions there. And they were just like, well, you have a mass appeal brand. Not everyone does. Right. If there's an incumbent going after Tampax or Trojan.
Lauren Alvarez (31:34)
Yes.
Every man's nightmare.
Jacquelyn De Jesu Center (32:01)
right? That's this D2C player, then you can assume that they lean feminist, right? Because that's how they're getting the chomp out of the market share. They're attacking the pink tax against razors. They're, you know, coming at it from a sexual empowerment place versus Trojan selling to guys, right? Or whatever. And for us, we really needed to define what the parameters around our advocacy looked like, knowing that we had a more mass appeal brand.
Lauren Alvarez (32:04)
Yeah.
Hmm.
Jacquelyn De Jesu Center (32:31)
because our brand didn't play that way. We created something new in market, created a new opportunity. There is no incumbent, right? And therefore it wasn't just our feminist narrative that was selling our product. It wasn't just the brand and our principles that was selling the product. So the way that we defined it is like, if it's kind of like a female issue, a woman's issue, if you will, it's fair game. Like that's where our opinions lie.
Lauren Alvarez (32:36)
Mm.
Jacquelyn De Jesu Center (33:00)
Anything outside of that, we try to stay nonpartisan. Like, is it something that I'm super happy about? No, but do I need to respect my customer base and know that like, even though I'm not a Trump supporter, like there's a lot of people that are, you know, and like they buy shower caps every day and some of them are our highest supporters. So it's just like, I kind of need to please everyone. And that means not polarizing anyone, you know? I'm polarizing myself.
Lauren Alvarez (33:07)
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah, I think there's also something to be, and I mean, I get it. I think there's also something to be said about, it's kind of knowing your category, like you said. I mean, if you have a podcast about sex and relationships, you don't have to make a statement about Gaza in every single episode. You could at one point leave an opinion, but it's very polarizing. And I've actually seen people going in and comment sections for various people who have a show or a brand, and they want them to make a statement.
Jacquelyn De Jesu Center (34:35)
the blue areas.
Aries is hilarious. It's the only thing keeping me chill.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Lauren Alvarez (34:55)
like we shouldn't all be forced to make a statement on something. It's like, why force someone if they, one, they may or they may not have an opinion. And like that's on them. Like they should work on that. Right. But they probably do. And like, why, why force them to talk about it when they're not really trained to talk about it in that way? I mean, like, you know, I'm really not qualified to make statements on
war. I don't really know that much about it. I mean, I know what I know. I have my own opinions, but I'm not qualified. So like, why should I be asked to comment on that? And I think that it's really interesting. I think it's smart advice from your PR firm, but also probably tough, you know, when you are fiercely independent, you are like, you have that fire. I can feel it. Like, I love that. And I think that it's, oh my God. Yeah, like, yeah, I'm surprised there isn't a fire right next to you right now.
Jacquelyn De Jesu Center (35:43)
Yeah, no, totally. And I think there's, yeah. I mean, all of that said is like, we all have a responsibility now because we all have a platform, right? Like even my friends that are teachers on Long Island, like they still have a platform and their students can still find them on the internet. And like, that's such a shift from any decades prior that now that's commonplace, you know what I mean? And I think-
Lauren Alvarez (35:45)
I mean, I think that, I mean, listen, I'm a Libra with a rising Pisces, but the thing that keeps me tied down is I'm a Taurus moon. We just keep it breezy, keep it even. But I think it is really, it's hard not to fly off and say, oh, I feel this. I mean, and I'm constantly with that, with HR, with like partnering with my clients, people that I coach that are executives. It's not really up to me to have an opinion. Like people always wanna know like how I feel about return to office. It's like, honestly like,
Jacquelyn De Jesu Center (36:11)
It doesn't always mean that we need to be vocal about every topic that flies in our purview, but it does mean that we should be having the right conversations behind closed doors and be advocates in our own way, in our own way on our own personal channels and like how that intersects with business. Like I'm still trying to figure out just given the nature of my customer base. But I think in general, like showing up and doing the work is really important.
Lauren Alvarez (36:13)
I'm neutral, not because I don't have an opinion, but because I can see benefits on both sides. Such a Libra thing. But I can see both sides of it being having benefits, having downsides. And so I try to hear everyone out. I try to hold my own opinion as much as possible from the conversation. And then having people who are like my personal board of directors, my husband, my friends that I can really unleash to, that's really helpful because I don't need everyone to hear every opinion that I have. It's totally okay.
Yes.
Yes.
Yeah.
Absolutely.
Yeah.
Yeah, and I think when your name is, you know, you have a separate company name, then you know that the brand is not your name, but your name is so, so tied with the brand. So, you know, a quick Google of only your name is going to pull up the brand and vice versa. So there is going to always naturally be that Venn diagram that overlaps and it is hard. I mean, speaking of the comment section, I mean, I think it's interesting because social can have so much influence on how we kind of see our own brand, how we see our own work and you know, things like
Jacquelyn De Jesu Center (37:48)
Tell me.
I think.
When it comes to dupes, counterfeits, and intellectual property as a whole, my own personal channel is where I'm having those conversations. I think me as a thought leader, having the experiences that I've had, having a multi-million dollar, seven patent deep global portfolio on something that was defined, like. Um.
Lauren Alvarez (38:07)
dupes and intellectual property and your customers are so die hard, right? And they're seeing things and they're calling it out, right? And I think that how do you kind of balance participating? Do you participate as a brand in the comment section? Do you try to withhold? Do you...
Do you respond to it or do you try to just like let them speak amongst themselves and sort of stay above it? Because I think that it's a challenge for a lot of business owners to kind of decide when, I don't know if you've seen, there's like the free people micro shorts comment section, which is maybe it's just like an elder millennial like heyday right now, but it's like the comment section is probably the funniest thing I've ever seen. Yeah.
Jacquelyn De Jesu Center (38:33)
Yeah, I mean, while there's actively competitors that are literally trying to dismantle those assets and those rights based off of legal loopholes and bullshit, like, yeah, it's a really important story for me to tell, but I don't think that I should muddy the waters with that on my brand page. You know, I think as far as the brand, like we win by winning, and the truth will come out and everyone can see the side by sides and like,
Lauren Alvarez (38:48)
I mean, yes, well, these are shorts. These are shorts that are essentially, somebody called them chaps for my flaps and that's where I'll leave that and you can look that up on your own. But yeah, so like when do you choose to participate and when do you not?
Jacquelyn De Jesu Center (39:01)
The way that we look at the Amazon landscape, which is kind of what we call it, because they're complicit. The Amazon landscape is selling a whole bunch of things that missed the plot. No one needed a $12 shitty fucking Shhhowercap out of a cheap material. If they did, I would have not had an entry point to market. So I think that what we built is a brand that pulses and lives and stands for something and people care about. What we built.
Lauren Alvarez (39:28)
Yeah, I was like, can we take a pause for that? Just like drop the mic real quick. Like, hello.
Jacquelyn De Jesu Center (39:30)
created and what we sell is a product that people love, that they don't want to replace, that they'll buy three of, that they'll put their friends on too. And I think what the knockoffs do is sell some pleated shower caps in the best way that they can legally try to get away with it. And that's not what this category needed. So like, we'll always continue to be able to rise above when that's the way that the others are playing, you know?
Lauren Alvarez (39:51)
Yeah.
Hmm.
Jacquelyn De Jesu Center (40:07)
That's exactly what I mean. It's like having style, right? Like that's a great analogy. Like understanding brand building at the head of an organization, right? That's the exact analogy. Like when you have founders like Jen from away, or not to name another Jen, but like Jen of Kin, right?
Lauren Alvarez (40:20)
Yeah.
Jacquelyn De Jesu Center (40:30)
Like people who are actually creating things and doing new things in the world, or like Eva from Mod, right? Like all of them are brand builders. They understand brands and you can see it everywhere. And it's the difference between having style or going shopping and having a personal shopper shop for you. Like you can tell when the clothes are wearing you versus you putting an outfit together yourself.
Lauren Alvarez (40:47)
Hmm.
Yeah, I think that's so, I mean, it's so spot on. And as someone who, like, I love fashion, you know, I pay attention to aesthetics. I can always see when someone just went into the store and they were like, I'll take the mannequin versus having like, you know, an idea of like what style is.
Jacquelyn De Jesu Center (40:55)
And brand is literally everywhere. Like I always tell the girls this, like brand is down to not just the hats, right? Like there's a reason there's not a screaming Shhhowercap logo on my hat for our merch and that it's just a drip. Like, because it's cooler, right? And like, I think our knockoffs would put a big, huge logo on their hat. You know? Does that make sense?
Lauren Alvarez (41:18)
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Right.
100% because they don't get it. Of course it makes sense. They don't get the thing. Also, I mean, I see the drip on the drip. You know what I'm saying? Like you gotta like, yeah, you gotta play with it a little. I think it's like also thinking about, I love that you just named other women who are also founders and inventors and thinking about their categories. I mean, you had a pretty cool post about International Women's Day. I like that you were late because that's also like, if you're a woman that is doing things, you are booked and busy and we're not on time. It also brought up,
Jacquelyn De Jesu Center (42:20)
Loser!
I'm sorry.
Lauren Alvarez (42:48)
My International Women's Day terrible, like hilarious memory was like, I had this like horrible boyfriend back in the day and like he was just being such a complete shit. And then I kicked him out. He wasn't able to stay at the apartment. I mean, he was a real bad dude. And then I got a text on March 8th and it's like, happy International Women's Day, babe. Just wanna let you know that you're doing really great things in the world. You should be so proud. And I was like, this motherfucker.
Jacquelyn De Jesu Center (43:10)
Well, he's incoming, just to clarify. He's been on my board for two years where we've developed a really good relationship and like working in that capacity of like effectively consulting COO with me one-on-one and like that's how our relationship was born and now he's stepping in, so very, very grateful. But I think he's a perfect example, right? Like I can show up as my full self in front of him. I can be.
Lauren Alvarez (43:18)
We broke up that day. I was like, there's nothing. What a loser. I love that, what a loser. I just share that because it's like, and I always say happy International Women's Day, babe. But I love like, you know, that you called it like, I love being a woman, I love women. And I think also being in an industry where you're saying, hey, our clients aren't only women. Like we have a lot of people who are buying shower caps.
Jacquelyn De Jesu Center (43:38)
the boldest, most aggressive version, right? And he can still say something to me respectfully that'll calm me down or call me out of my shit, right? I tend, and that's our relationship, right? It's transparent, it's direct, it's clear. We have great communication. Like I'm very, very fortunate that a man like that has cosigned. And like the reason, the reason why it's so important is because
Lauren Alvarez (43:44)
not a sex specific thing, but I think that you talk about being surrounded by the patriarchy and I wanted to talk about that because I think that when you are in, I'm very anti boss bitch girl boss, like that thing of like, it has to just be me and it's us and it's da and fuck all men, but I think finding the right people to support you. Can you talk a little bit about that? I mean, I know you recently hired a man as your CFO. Oh my God. I'd love to talk. Incoming.
Jacquelyn De Jesu Center (44:08)
truly we should run like a bombast case study on this product. Do you know what I mean? And it always, it always, always was perceived as small from the outside, but not because of what I did or its velocity or the cult love or the traction, but truly fundamentally in the same archetype as like when Lolo was fundraising, they needed to literally dip those
Lauren Alvarez (44:13)
Okay.
Okay.
Yeah.
Yes.
Jacquelyn De Jesu Center (44:38)
in water and explain how they expanded because VC dudes didn't understand how tampons worked, right?
So like that story is similar to ours. Like I literally needed to at one point unlock pages in the deck by realizing that a man played back to me how, and I'm like losing the plot a little bit, but I'll get there, I promise. Like a man played back to me effectively, oh, so every Shhhowercap that you've sold validates your insight that 90% of women don't wash their hair every day. And I was like, wait.
Lauren Alvarez (44:49)
Mm.
Yeah.
I love that. Yeah.
Jacquelyn De Jesu Center (45:16)
Oh my God, we need to start there. Like we need to start at the fact that women don't wash their hair every day and this product protects your hair from the shower water. Like that's where we're starting. And that was years ago from someone that was smart and it was literally an actual brand strategist. So smart enough that it was shocking that was a light bulb moment for them. Offensive enough that they like mansplained my own brand insight back to me.
Lauren Alvarez (45:45)
My god, yeah.
Jacquelyn De Jesu Center (45:45)
but then such an unlock to say the hundreds of thousands of these that I've made and distributed across the world that are in use daily, like cult obsessed in use, are in households on heads where it validates the behavior of not washing their hair every day. And what gets really interesting about that is that families and friends then start to have the word of mouth with the similar, right? But it's like.
I think men have always respected my hustle. And I think men have always respected the way I navigate things and how strong I am and how like inherently kind of female I am, but also how I can play with the boys. And what I've really felt is that especially through COVID when I needed to kind of boss up and be a little bit rougher around the edges and like throw my weight around and like.
Lauren Alvarez (46:19)
Yeah.
It's amazing.
Mm-hmm.
Jacquelyn De Jesu Center (46:38)
Be like, yeah, I have red lipstick, but that's also because it's blood, like that kind of thing. I mean, to be honest, like I can be kind of a ball buster and like heading into my forties, like whether it's in my marriage or like in my interpersonal dynamics or with my junior employees, like I'm recalibrating on that, you know? But what I know that I don't wanna have to do is soften myself.
in the C level conversations and with that level of like business that I have to do. Like I'm learning to soften it when I kind of reach down and nurture and mentor and all of those things. It's like you can't just drive people to achieve. Like that's not what a good boss or a good culture is. But I do think that like in the context of like the things that I need to deal with.
Lauren Alvarez (47:12)
Yes.
Yeah.
Jacquelyn De Jesu Center (47:32)
protecting literally global distribution on a multimillion dollar patent portfolio, it's nice to have an old white guy pick up the phone. Like it just is, it behaves differently. It behaves differently when there's a Rob on the back end of the phone versus a Nancy. It just does. And I've seen it in so many different ways. And most notably what I noticed, and this is as much of a fault of us as women, as it is kind of
Lauren Alvarez (47:45)
From everyone you've chewed up and spit out, yeah.
Jacquelyn De Jesu Center (48:02)
the society that effectively births this type of competition. But I have had more in-fighting me personally, and with the team, when it's woman on woman, I think men and women respect each other's lanes in business and like have a healthier sense of like how they're expected to communicate with each other and a healthier respect when there's a miscommunication. Whereas I think often women expect to be understood.
Lauren Alvarez (48:03)
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Jacquelyn De Jesu Center (48:32)
by other women and therefore when they're not or when they don't get their way or their point isn't landing it creates a different type of unrest or frustration or drama and like I don't know that's all I'm saying I feel like I shouldn't talk about it anymore but like boys and men around yeah and I want to be seen too everyone does you know but it's what happens when you're not seen.
Lauren Alvarez (48:41)
Yeah. A thousand percent. Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
Jacquelyn De Jesu Center (49:02)
you know, is the difference.
Yeah.
Lauren Alvarez (49:18)
Mm-hmm.
Hmm.
I think it's a good thing. I mean, we want to be seen. Yeah. Exactly. Everyone does.
Jacquelyn De Jesu Center (49:59)
And that's the thing though, even that, even knowing that is so intimidating for a lot of women. Like, I hate to say it like that. Like, we talk about how strong women intimidate men all of the time. I have to be honest, I get so much respect for being a strong woman with men. Where I find I'm the most intimidating is not with men with egos. It's with women with egos.
Lauren Alvarez (50:02)
Right. And how do you react to that? And I think I've been told I'm a lot or whatever. You're a lot. I'm like, oh, you know what that means. Yeah, I'm sure you've never been told that either. I actually love that. I hold that to be something that is one of my hallmarks. And I also know that means I'm not for everybody. And so conflict with a neighbor. Yeah, conflict with the neighbor, though, sending my Bay Area native husband out to like.
maybe be a little smug, but probably a lot nicer than my Boston ass, like that's what you want, okay? You don't want me to come across the street and tell you to move your car, you want him, trust me. So it's like knowing my moments of like, I don't actually need to do this has been like something for me, like as I move into my 40s, it's like protecting my energy, protecting like, and that's very like LA of me to say, but I do think it's like, whatever I put my weight behind is gonna happen, like I know that power is within me, so why don't I just pick and choose what I'm doing?
Jacquelyn De Jesu Center (50:36)
Yeah. You know, Hardy.
over party.
Lauren Alvarez (51:06)
Oh yes.
Yes.
Yeah, yeah. It's like there's not enough space in the room for multiple egos, where I'm actually like the more the merrier, can you bring your ego over and we can have a little bit of a party and like talk about how great we are? Because like it's good, an ego party. Men do that all the time, I am sure. But I think that, you know, I think it is really, it's really important. And also in advertising, you know, there weren't a lot of women who were like hyping me and supporting me. I do think there was like kind of this, you know, conflict of like,
Jacquelyn De Jesu Center (51:32)
Yeah.
Of course. But everyone's different.
Really want to know? You really want to know? I like, don't even want to say this publicly, but fuck it. I have to. I, I used to fight. We have a people ops advisor at, we have an incredible board, like talk about who supports me, like once we really got humming, like our board is rock star. And, and honestly, Andrew is one of the latest to join.
Lauren Alvarez (51:55)
you know, oh, well, you're kind of ruling up on me. So now I need to act like I don't like you. And there was a lot of that. And moving out of advertising and now into my own spaces, I coach so many women and nine times out of 10, these executives are saying like, I'm having a really hard time like creating space for other women because I came up this way. And I'm kind of, you know, talk about intergenerational trauma. Well, in the workplace, it goes.
Jacquelyn De Jesu Center (52:14)
Right? So like our relationship is closest and he's coming in, but like one of the reasons why he joined is because who he's joining is just excellent. So one of our people ops advisors, like we've been fighting this for years and I'm just like, I don't like it. Like, I don't like it. I don't know if I have time in my schedule. I don't like it. I don't know that it's the type of founder that I want to be also being in the weeds on like day to day people management. And we would fight about the fact that like, I couldn't have.
Lauren Alvarez (52:17)
Hey, I had to really grind coming up, so now you're gonna have to go through the same shit. And so kind of unlearning those behaviors is huge. It's something that like a lot of people need to spend more time with. Honestly, I don't really hear that from men. I really don't. They have a lot of other problems that I coach them on, but that is not the one, you know? Yeah, I think that's interesting. For you, you know...
Everyone's different, right? And I was gonna say, and as you've hired and grown people on your teams, what have you learned about yourself as a leader in that way? Because yes, you were managing people and clients and expectations when you were working advertising. Fuck yeah, I wanna know. Tell me.
Jacquelyn De Jesu Center (52:42)
people manager until we were over a certain headcount. Right. And recently what I've started doing is just making sure that the women that I'm hiring at an executive level have excellent managerial skills and also the expectation is set in their relationships that they're not just championing their own teams that are working underneath them, but they're championing the teams that
are the entirety of the Shhhowercap team. Like the expectation is that if they had a rough day or someone had a rough day and it's not on their, for whatever reason, it doesn't have to do with the business. But like say they had a boyfriend, right? Issue. I don't have room for that. Like if you cry to me about your boyfriend breaking up with you at like the age of 25, like it's just not something I have space in my CEO schedule for. Does that make me an awful boss? No, I have to run the company.
Lauren Alvarez (53:15)
Yeah.
Jacquelyn De Jesu Center (53:38)
but like having people in place that can be that and then play it back to me so that I can be like, hey, I heard you had a tough day yesterday, like, do you wanna go for a coffee with me? That's my role, right? Not listening to the tears. So like, I've just started like pushing and putting my like executive people and hiring them for the soft skills and making sure that they have the bandwidth and they have the opportunity, but like the way that we joke about it is like, they have to be the mom so that I can be the queen.
Lauren Alvarez (53:46)
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
Jacquelyn De Jesu Center (54:25)
I'm a leader and I'm a mentor, but I'm not the day to day, don't tell me when your vacation is, don't expect me to remember. That part of things needs someone in order to be successful, because I'm the visionary cheerleader champion, and then also the mentor. But it's that middle piece.
Lauren Alvarez (54:35)
Yeah.
Yes.
Yeah.
I mean, I actually love that. I think that also knowing what you're good at, like that you just defined it so perfectly. Like this is something like I tell people in nature all the time. It's like you don't have to be there's management, there's leadership and there's mentorship. You might not be in it for people management and that is totally fine. But you exactly.
Jacquelyn De Jesu Center (55:16)
Yeah.
Huh. What? I'm sorry, that felt like such a boomerang. I thought you were gonna ask me about people. What am I, one life hack though, if you do have like one professional life hack, Emmet Shine told me this, that you can't be a good creative director and also be a good people manager because your job is to crit and being a visionary founder is not to crit.
Lauren Alvarez (55:44)
Yeah, absolutely. And also just knowing.
Well, it's admin, but it's also just not something you enjoy. And delegation is one of the biggest things that holds founders back, is that their inability to delegate, their inability to pull themselves up out of the weeds and say, OK, I got to rise up. I got to do this. And I got to move past what you just shared with me. Hey, I'm sorry about the breakup, but I've got seven meetings in a pitch today. So what are we doing? So I think knowing that part, delegating, and then there's someone on your team, or you're hiring people on your team who want to do that. They're like, that's my jam. I'm so good at it. You're like, perfect.
Jacquelyn De Jesu Center (56:05)
They're like fundamentally at odds. So what he passed along to me is something I've tried to incorporate, which is I just have weekly walks where I rotate with everyone. So everybody always gets FaceTime. And that's been the easiest way. Cause for me, it's always locked, right? My assistants know not to book over it. I never book over it, but I'll always have space for people. And like just passing that along, however it could be helpful. How people get wrong launching a brand.
Lauren Alvarez (56:18)
Please take that and run. I mean, yes, that's huge. I mean, what on that note, when it comes to people teams or just in general, I mean, what is one idea? There's a million. What's one idea you think majority of people get wrong about launching a brand?
Jacquelyn De Jesu Center (56:35)
Okay.
Lauren Alvarez (56:36)
Your expression said everything.
Nope.
Jacquelyn De Jesu Center (56:47)
Yeah, I think a lot of people don't understand what brands are when they pay and inherit them, which we kind of touched on earlier. I don't know if you're going to keep it in, which is just as much of an importance in understanding skill and like what's needed in business as it is to like read a P&L, you know?
Lauren Alvarez (56:58)
That's right.
Yeah.
Jacquelyn De Jesu Center (57:14)
I think that a lot of people stress about the things that like their parents tell them that they need to know before they go into business, but not what really moves the needle on like, it doesn't even need to be a category defining product, let alone just a successful brand entry, right? Like you need to know how to do something differently or do something better. You need to know how to create a world in a physical space from a brand book that was about pack.
Lauren Alvarez (57:22)
Yeah.
Yeah.
And it could be on the people side too. The reason I asked in that order is I think that there is like, when you're hiring people teams, you are growing your brand. I think there's a lot of gaps that people miss, which is why I wanted to ask you here.
Jacquelyn De Jesu Center (57:44)
You know, like, and those, it's a holistic skill set of an entire side of the world that a lot of people don't understand, right? They just know it when it's wrong, right? And then that becomes really, really frustrating for founders that have a clear vision, but don't know how to articulate it. Um, the other is, I think this was very, um,
This came very naturally to me and maybe it's just the types of founders that I respect and gravitate towards. But like my most successful founder friends can sell. Can sell. They can sell to anyone for any reason, for anything. And they have a way of making it so that you didn't even know that you were being pitched to. And if you were being pitched to, you actually liked it, you know? Like...
Lauren Alvarez (58:13)
care.
Jacquelyn De Jesu Center (58:43)
It's just selling is not something that you can outsource. Brand is not something that you can outsource because you are literally selling for 24 hours a day or 12 or 14 or 16, depending on how you work. You're selling in your off periods. You're selling at the wedding when someone asks what you do. You're selling day in and day out. It's not just a salesperson and a rep on the street. And the same thing for brands. You're brand building every single day.
Lauren Alvarez (58:48)
Yeah, I'm like, yes, yes. Check, check, check.
Jacquelyn De Jesu Center (59:13)
every single day with every decision that you make. You're either brand building or brand crushing.
Lauren Alvarez (59:38)
Mmm.
I like that.
Jacquelyn De Jesu Center (59:45)
They're all my babies. The Kent is definitely my favorite. It's the only one that we've had. We change our collections. We call them collections. We use a lot of fashion vernacular, which you will see if you go to shop on showercap.com. It's S-H- That's also the Instagram handle.
Lauren Alvarez (59:56)
Yep.
Mm-hmm.
Jacquelyn De Jesu Center (1:00:10)
And you can also support us at some of our incredible retailers, Revolve, 13 Loon, Violet Grey, um, who else am I forgetting that I should, Anthropologie, although they have some other turban shower cups. Um, just make sure that you buy the original. Um, and yeah, and Saks. But I also think that like, generally.
Lauren Alvarez (1:00:11)
Yeah.
Wow. I mean, I really, I also just, I'm enjoying this conversation like to the max. I feel like there's so much wisdom here. There's so much to take from it. Knowing we don't have all day, I like, love to just like, I wanna go on a walk with you. Just a couple of questions in closing. Where can people go to learn more about you? Where can they go to learn about the brand? Where can they buy? What's your favorite pattern of Shhhowercap? Tell us everything.
Jacquelyn De Jesu Center (1:00:41)
The Kent is my favorite because it was the first printed prototype. That question that you asked me of like which one was in my hands, like that was the first one. And every time it's... can you see it actually? Let's see. Hold on, let's see. Sorry, you can edit this out but... Oh, it's 217, it's my angel number. We have to end on 217.
Lauren Alvarez (1:00:47)
I know.
Yeah.
Jacquelyn De Jesu Center (1:01:03)
But like this is the Kent pattern and I literally like, you know how people have like motivating quotes on the back of their phone? I changed it to the Kent pattern in COVID and I never changed it back because it really is my why. You know, it like reminds me of those. Yeah, exactly. But it's also like, I get up every day and I do it for that print, for that feeling, for that excitement, for that memory, you know? Like.
Lauren Alvarez (1:01:25)
Hmm.
Jacquelyn De Jesu Center (1:01:31)
The silhouette is incredible, but like that print hits me in like the deepest part of my souls and that's why the it's like the only one that we still have from 2015. I'll never get rid of it even if it's like a soft sale season. I'm like no people want it. It looks like Marvel.
Lauren Alvarez (1:01:50)
I love that.
Jacquelyn De Jesu Center (1:01:53)
Thank you.
Lauren Alvarez (1:01:55)
Yeah. Show me.
Jacquelyn De Jesu Center (1:01:58)
Oh, and then you can follow me. Can we get people to follow me?
Lauren Alvarez (1:02:03)
Oh.
Jacquelyn De Jesu Center (1:02:04)
Um, then you can follow me. Thanks. Um, she's referenced a couple of my posts because I am, I'm going like multi-paragraph hot takes these days and it's not going to stop, which is great. Uh, my personal is D E J A Y Z O O. And that's the phonetic spelling of my last name, DJ Zoo.
Lauren Alvarez (1:02:17)
You have your picture of your baby on your phone. Yeah.
Jacquelyn De Jesu Center (1:02:24)
This has been really great, Lauren.
Oh, thanks.
Like, this is so cheesy, but if you dream it, you can achieve it, you know? Especially if you live in a major city or you have access to one. It's really just a series of putting one foot in front of the other and starting and asking the right people when you need help and knowing when to ask for help and when you get it, knowing when to listen and knowing to when not listen, you know? And all of that just kind of...
Lauren Alvarez (1:02:45)
So fucking cool. I love that. I mean, it's, yeah, it's so beautiful. I haven't bought that one, but now I'm like, I think I need a third. So, I mean, Jacqueline, you've shared so much today. What is one final thought you wanna leave our listeners with? Yeah. Oh yeah, please, tell us and follow you. Plug it.
Jacquelyn De Jesu Center (1:03:09)
really resolves in trusting your gut. So the more intuitive you can be, the more self-work that you can do, the more energetic healing, the closer you'll get to zoning in on what that means for you because as ball buster as I am, like that's truly what paces my world is the way that synchronicities play out and the way that my intuition leads me to certain paths or certain things. And I think that like it is one of the strongest things and tools that we have as women.
Lauren Alvarez (1:03:13)
I like it.
which I love. Thank you so much for that. Oh my gosh, it's been so fun having you. Can you give our listeners that super special one final thought? I mean, they should just listen to this on repeat till they get it.
Jacquelyn De Jesu Center (1:03:40)
is the ability to do that and to ground ourselves in that and to be supported in often circles that at least one or two people will also want to play ball with you when you want to talk about astrology and things that matter like energetic healing. So just find your gut and listen to it and have enough people around you that when your gut's saying something that needs more guidance that you have those people to say it to you too.
Yeah, thank you.
Yeah, that's the dichotomy of it. Yeah, no, seriously. That's true. It really is. It's like, I'll scream as much as I'll smile. But truly, follow. Follow if you want more of what you heard today. Yeah, thanks for having me. That's just great.
Thanks. Thank you. Bye.
Lauren Alvarez (1:05:09)
I love that. I'm like, I'm over here just beaming because I just feel like I'm going to have a higher vibration day from this conversation. So thank you so much for sharing that and just being open and Hey, ball buster aside, I think we got pretty vulnerable. I like the tension between the two and that's like super, super cool. That's a lot. That's a modern f*****g woman there. The dichotomy of Jacqueline.
I'm sorry.
I love that. Jacqueline, thank you so much for joining me. This has been so fun. Yes, you're a blast and I'm watching you. You're doing big things. So thanks again.