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She Built It® Podcast
Welcome to the She Built It® podcast. Join me as I talk to women who have successfully built it - a life and business that they love. We dive into the topic of “how” they built it and talk about everything from having the courage to make career leaps to the details of how to lead effectively, build teams, implement growth strategies, and infuse tech innovation. Magic happens when we focus on the part of ourselves and our business that brings us joy so let’s dive in.
She Built It® Podcast
The Fashion Brand Built on Comfort, Community, and a Very Clear Point of View
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On She Built It®, Lauren Dudley Stephens, co-founder and CEO of Dudley Stephens, shares the origin story behind one of the most beloved family-owned fashion brands in the lifestyle space. What started as her mother's frustration with finding stylish, washable fleece that could go from boat to dinner became a 10-year brand built entirely on family funding, community, and the belief that women should never have to choose between looking chic and feeling comfortable. Lauren talks about how she grew Dudley Stephens through the early days of Instagram influencer culture, how AI is changing what's possible for small fashion brands, why going viral doesn't always translate to sales, and what leading a team for the first time really taught her about herself. This conversation is warm, honest, and full of the kind of real talk you only get from a founder who is still in it, every single day.
Connect with us:
Lauren Dudley Stephens LinkedIn
Lauren Dudley Stephens Instagram
Two Sisters in Business Podcast
Confessions of a Type B Founder Substack
She Built It® CEO, Melanie Barr Instagram
We are a small business. With that comes limited budgets, limited headcount, time. This technology can change all of that for us as small businesses, and it can really help us compete with the big brands and put ourselves out there in ways that we couldn't before.
SPEAKER_01I'm Melanie Barr. Welcome back to the Sheeple Tip Podcast, your go-to place to empower you to live the life and business that you crave. I'm here to talk about everything from having the courage to make life and career leads to the details of how to lead effectively, create successful teams, implement strategies for growth, and infuse tech innovation. I'm here to celebrate your wins and navigate through your challenges. I live in the city now, but I grew up in a town of a thousand people. I've navigated major life leads, a senior-level corporate career, worked in professional sports, and now as a successful entrepreneur who loves business, technology, family, and making meaningful connections with you and the She Built It community. I also love a good workout and dose of self-care. Magic happens when we focus on the part of ourselves and our business that brings us joy. So turn up the audio, open your favorite notes app, grab your favorite drink, and here we go. Welcome to She Built It. I'm your host, Melanie Barr. Building a business means making a bet on yourself and on an idea that others have not seen the way you see it. The founders who break through are usually the ones who stopped waiting for someone else to make the thing that they knew the world needed. Today's guest did not build around a trend. She built around a feeling. The feeling of being put together and comfortable at the same time, without ever having to choose between the two. Lauren Stevens is the co-founder and CEO of Dudley Stevens, a fashion brand known for its elevated fleece styles designed for real life. The school run, the weekend, the office, and the outdoors. She turned a very clear point of view into a loyal and growing customer community, and she did it by staying close to who she was building it for. Lauren is also a podcaster, a writer, and someone who has built her brand and her personal platform at the same time, sharing her journey in fashion, beauty, and wellness alongside the business she's growing. She is a mom, a wife, and a founder who understands that a strong brand is not just about what you sell. It's about how you make people feel and why they keep coming back. I cannot wait to get into how she thinks about growth, community, and building something with staying power. Lauren, thank you for being here.
SPEAKER_00Thank you so much for having me. It's great to see you and we've met before as we're just discussing. So it's so nice to chat today.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so fun. We met at Reese Witherspoon's Shine Away. It's so nice to be talking again and hearing more about your brand. What is the moment or belief when you said that Dudley Stevens, the brand, needed to exist?
SPEAKER_00It was in 2014. I was working in beauty at the time, but I was in the corporate world. I had a long career in fashion prior to working. I was working for Longcomb at the time, and I missed fashion. I missed working in fashion. And my mom had this idea with my sister and I, where she had just picked up boating as a hobby with my dad. And she felt like there wasn't anything that she could find that was warm and a fleece, like washable, versatile, like durable fabric that can go from being on the boat, then just coming off and going to dinner. And when she said this to my sister and I, a light bulb went off. And we both thought, okay, that needs to exist. And how do we make it? And we always talked about having a family company, but it was really that light bulb moment when our mom said that to us and probably one moment where she said that, but then we just continued to talk about it and continued to discuss how there just was not enough out there for women that are stylish women, like my mom is very stylish, but that is outdoorsy, but not super outdoorsy, if that makes sense.
SPEAKER_01Yes. I remember when I saw your clothing at Shine Away, I remember thinking it's so great for travel. So for any woman who travels for work or business, coming on and off planes, I thought you could look elevated but also comfortable at the same time.
SPEAKER_00That has also just been this nice little surprise while we were launching and while we're designing now. And we realized that over the course of the years, we were like, wait, this is actually the perfect thing to wear on an airplane or a train or wherever you're going. In fact, we just got some new fall samples in, which is crazy thinking about fall already. But I'm going on a trip next week and I'm like, oh shoot, I'm gonna just borrow this, even though we need to photograph them. Yes, but there is so good for travel.
SPEAKER_01I'm a mom of twins and I traveled every two months from when they were five months old until they started kindergarten on so many airplanes. And it's just so nice when you feel like you're comfortable, but you also look good. It just changes everything.
SPEAKER_00I know it really changes your mood and your motivation with your traveling for work and just feeling good. And I feel like that's really what our customers love about our brand and us too, is that it's almost like a security blanket, like when you're wearing one of our turtlenecks or our pullovers. It just is something that you really can put on and feel a warm hug. And then you still look good too. You still feel stylish and like you could go to work also. It really does all those things.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and I don't know about you, but I'm always cold. So I always have something with me in case you walk into air conditioning and all of a sudden you're freezing.
SPEAKER_00There is not a day, even when it's like I live in Connecticut, when it's 95 degrees and there's a heat wave in August. I always have a Dudley Stevens with me. Like I, it's just always in my bag around my shoulders. I hate air conditioner when it's too cold.
SPEAKER_01I know you walk in from 100 degree weather and all of a sudden you're freezing.
SPEAKER_00And you're like, how is this possible with the weather outside? And we have lightweight fabrics too, fleece fabrics. We have new fabrics that we've launched in the past 10 years, but we do have like lighter weight things that work in the summer too. So they're perfect for layering.
SPEAKER_01Tell us more about who you are, what Dudley Stevens is, and the work you're leading right now as your brand grows. I'm a mom of two also.
SPEAKER_00I didn't have twins, I had Irish twins. So just as busy. Yeah, just as busy. And I live in Connecticut. Yeah, our kids are nine and ten. And we started the company in 2015. So over the course of 10 years, things can change and shape shift in a way, like what as what they were when we launched. We launched a really small company when we began in 2015, and we were just very scrappy, and we still are very scrappy, honestly. But today we have this wonderful brand that we're all so proud of. It's still all family-owned and operated between my mom and dad and my sister. And so we really lean on each other as it relates to day in and day out, and like what you would call like the work day and just work in general. And so we're just feel really thankful that we've gotten here to this place. And I would say every day our mission is to make stylish fleece clothing for women. We have men and children styles as well. We say fleece, but like we we do have other fabrics, like I mentioned. There's never a dull day, there's always something going on with the kids, with Dudley Stevens. And with fashion, we're always designing a year ahead, right? So right now, I'm actually thinking about fall 2027 at the moment. So, you know, it's funny talking to you now and like discussing what's going on with our brand now, but we're already like thinking ahead in all ways. But I love what I do. I feel so thankful to have built this company and to be running it every day. I just love meeting new women such as yourself and speaking on podcasts and just trying to like really get the word out because I think every day we're just on a mission to find new women that we know will love our product. And so those are like my goals every day. Like find new women that will love Dudley Stevens, be with the kids, and then run our amazing team and our company that works so hard to help us every day.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. And I know all of everyone listening is busy traveling and building businesses and can relate to everything you're going through and your daily life. What lights you up the most about working on Dudley Stevens?
SPEAKER_00I would say the product. I'm at the office today, and I just unpacked two boxes of new fall samples that we will start launching in August timing. And we're approaching in on July. So, like our fall drops start in August, which seems like it's around the corner. But what's funny is that opening these boxes still feels like Christmas to me. Like I get so excited to see the new styles that we've put so much time into. And we've only seen them like in a fitting and they're not done yet in the fittings. And then we adjust them in the final fitting, and then they make the samples that we will then use for photo shoots and whatever we need in the office. When I open the final samples, it's so exciting. And so I think that's really what drives us every day is the product, how it relates to our lives and how much easier it makes my life wearing our product, how excited it makes me, and how just good it looks, and how it feels on. So, like all of those things together really light me up every day. That's what for the course of now almost 11 years motivates me so much is that like I just want every woman to have something like this in her closet from Dudley Stevens because I truly believe in it. And then I would say working with amazing women. I know you interview and speak to so many of them as well. And I'm just constantly inspired by women that we work with, that I meet, and it really gets me going. And I'm just such a proponent for all of that. It just really thrills me to be able to work with such amazing women.
SPEAKER_01And it has to be so fun to have something go from an idea to seeing it live. And it has to be so fun to open the boxes and see that come to life.
SPEAKER_00Yes, exactly. Yeah, it's crazy like how that all happens. You just see a sketch on paper that our designer has done, and then all of a sudden you open the box and you have it in real life, and it's so great.
SPEAKER_01And I'm sure the early days wasn't easy, especially as a mom with a family. But it's so great you can lean on your other family members throughout the business. But I know what it's like, and I know anyone listening knows what it's like to think I want to be farther along and want to be farther along every day. But then you look back over the years and think, wow, we've created this really amazing business.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, exactly. There's all of that. I feel like it's like raising children. You're in the hard stages when they're toddlers and you're like, oh, I can't wait till they can do XYZ. And like what you just said is so spot on. Sometimes as an entrepreneur, you're like, oh, we're not here yet, or we're not doing this yet. And then you have to look around and just appreciate everything that you have at the moment, what you've already built, even if you're one year in. It's so important to do that.
SPEAKER_01How are you using AI in your business today? And where do you see the biggest opportunity for AI to support fashion and a lifestyle brand like Dudley Stevens?
SPEAKER_00It's such a hot topic right now, right? Everybody's discussing this. And yeah, it's almost too much.
SPEAKER_01Even though it's important, we have to.
SPEAKER_00We have to. We really have to. And I think that's the tricky part with all of this is that if we don't learn and we don't stay up with everything, then we will fall behind and it's not going away. I think that's the the scare of it is that this is here to stay, and how we implement it and use it and educate ourselves on it is so important. So we are using it in a lot of ways. We're using it with our customer service. And I would love to preface that because I know it's so controversial right now, right? Like it can be really triggering for people. And I think there was someone that gave a college graduation speech and was like booed when he mentioned AI in the speech because the college graduates didn't want to hear that. So it's a hot button item right now. It's very polarizing. But the way I view it, and I'm hoping others can too, is we are a small business, right? We're a great business. We're somewhat large, but on the spectrum, we are a small business. And with that comes limited budgets, limited headcount. Time, especially as a mom, time is so valuable. And time is like money right now for me. It's everything. So the way I see it is that this technology can change all of that for us as small businesses, and it can really help us compete with the big brands and put ourselves out there in ways that we couldn't before, that we our hands were tied. So, in a way, for me, it's really freeing and it feels like such an exciting time. And there's so much opportunity out there to implement it in the right ways if we can do that. So we're using it in our customer service. We have one amazing woman who runs our customer service, and we've been able to implement it and cut down on her tickets, we call them, with customers, because it can respond to things quick and one-off that are quick questions. So we're starting to use it in that way. And we've seen a lot of productivity there. We are starting to use it for photography, also, which is so controversial in the fashion industry right now. And I've listened to many podcasts with other founders of bigger companies, and some will come out and say, We're never using it. And I want to just reach through and talk to them myself. It's too much to say that right now. You don't know. And because it's the technology is getting better by the minute, in fact.
SPEAKER_01Soon you're not going to be able to know. You won't know.
SPEAKER_00I I think we don't know already. I think a lot of companies are using it already, and we don't know. I think that like food, like WordAff is using it for food. And like in the medical world, it's already being used. Like, which in healthcare, it's gonna who knows what it's amazing what they might be able to do because of all this technology. To say that you're never gonna use it is such a bold statement. And I'm the founder and running this company, and I'm never gonna say that. What we're seeing already and what we're researching is insane. And if it's used right and properly, it can be a one-up for us as a female-founded small company. And like, who wouldn't want that if you're also female founded and a small company, small business? My sister and I have employees, we have agencies. I think it's adding to our headcount, to be honest, right now. We just hired an agency to help us with it. And we didn't have that before. You know, I'm sure it's gonna eliminate certain areas and certain jobs, but I think if you're in any industry right now, I encourage everyone to embrace it and start using it and start showing your boss or your colleagues, whoever you're working with, that you know how to use it because those are the people that everyone wants right now. If you go to your boss and you say, I'm using it to do this and I know I can do this, I'm gonna say, Oh my God, that's awesome. Show me what you're doing. I don't know. I don't understand that. We need to embrace it and use it to our advantage. And I know there's a lot that comes with that. Like it's heavy. There's the controversies with the data centers being built and like the environmental impacts of all that. But I think we're all still learning so much about it. And I think as female founders, like we need to do the research and we need to know and we need to know all the implications and then make decisions for ourselves and our company based on those decisions and like our beliefs too, like what where we stand on things. Never say no to all this technology, right?
SPEAKER_01At the very start of this, I thought I can run towards it or away from it. And I thought I'm absolutely going to run towards it because I have people say to me, because I produce and manage podcasts, what do you think about this? And the podcast hosts that I work with, we all want to have conversations with real people. And yes, you can create one that's not real, but podcasts are being used today for a lot of different reasons. And every brand uses it in a slightly different way. And like you said, AI can help with customer service to a certain point. At a certain point, you might want a real person, but you can use it every day to find answers more quickly. And you're right, to your point, a small business can now much more easily compete with large businesses or even surpass them in some areas if AI is mapped out in the right way.
SPEAKER_00Exactly. Like we can only afford to have one customer service person, but now we have this technology built in and we can have cut down on stuff and answer more people and efficiently get back to people. It's awesome in that sense.
SPEAKER_01As you built your brand, how are you thinking about visibility and positioning in a world where algorithms are changing and owned media matters more than ever?
SPEAKER_00It's been so tricky. Ten years ago, when we launched, I saw that Instagram was becoming this thing, right? And there were fashion bloggers arising and mommy bloggers starting. And my background was in fashion PR before, where we worked with magazines that print, which is like now seems no longer. I saw this opportunity to use this social media tool to get our brand out there. And it was as simple as that. And it was like free advertising, post a picture. I would just model the product. We reached all these new women, and we also reached out to fashion bloggers and sent them product and we paid them a very small amount to like post about us. And they did, and then they loved it. And then organically and word of mouth, people would just talk and that and we grew through that. And now in 2026, it's become a whole new ball game, and it's totally different. Like there's video, there's reels, like all these things that didn't exist in 2015 that none of us knew I'd be like speaking to camera and doing video. Like that's just it was that never even crossed my mind. So it goes back to the AI conversation. Like, we all need to just stay on top of all these trends and things, and it can be so exhausting. And there are days when I really feel as if I never am gonna understand it. But I think that if we continue to stay true to our message and true to our mission and who we are, we can overcome that algorithm issue. There's so many interesting things on Instagram right now, and I feel like the brands that are really doing a good job are the ones who are speaking to camera, being honest, being authentic, showing how the product is really warm. AI can't do that. Or maybe it will in the future. I don't know, as a founder, having that recognizable figure who's in the reels talking about things. We have our podcast so that we can get extra content. And it's my sister and I chatting and bantering about business. All of those things remain really important with the new algorithms and how things are going and where people are seeing things and where people are discovering new brands. It's just changing so much constantly. But I think that if we continue to speak to our customer, speak to women who are like us who would like our product and just keep doing that and really staying true to our core. I'm not a big fan of following trends on Instagram just to like get eyes. There's always crazy trends, like I hate to use this example, but people smoking cigarettes on Instagram. Like that seemed to be like people were like, oh yeah, let's just be real. Because it was showing that people were just being real in a way. It felt authentic in a way that everyone's just fed up with trying to be this perfect facade or whatever. And so I think that was the explanation behind why people resonated with that. But we're always just gonna be who we are as a brand and stick true to that and not just pick up on a silly trend that doesn't feel on brand. Sure, if it feels on brand, it's cute and we can do it, whatever, that makes sense. But just because you have a million views, it doesn't necessarily sell the product. I think that's also part of it. Going viral, you might not sell anything. You really might not. Because if it's a viral reel that's not speaking to your brand or your product or who you are, people just are gonna like it and move on and scroll up and think it's funny, but that's it. So yeah, so I think that your social media and who you are and your brand and what you're promoting needs to stay and be consistent, no matter the algorithm, because otherwise you're gonna find yourself with a viral video that was funny that didn't sell anything. And then you're like, oh, we should do that again because it went viral, but you're like, it didn't translate. So I think as much as we want to try to keep up with the algorithm, we still need to think about who we are.
SPEAKER_01And it's so smart that you're taking your customers on the business journey with you and going through all the challenges because we're all going through the challenges. Every day there's a new update or a new something happening, and it is a lot to keep up with. It's exciting. At the same time, it's a lot. Yeah, exactly. What is your biggest growth challenge right now? And how are you thinking about solving it?
SPEAKER_00It really goes down to reaching new women and it's become more expensive. We still advertise on Meta and Google. That's a big part of our business, is that that advertising. But we set out from the beginning to have our own email lists. Those things we own are really priceless now. And I think reaching new women has become harder than ever. Reaching new customers therein is the biggest challenge. How do we get to that next layer of women? I met a woman this past week through a friend. We were playing golf actually, and I didn't know her. And she lives in Marin County in San Francisco, and she had never heard of us. I don't want to stand on my high horse and be like, I can't believe you've never heard of us, but where you live is perfect for our products, like climate-wise and all that and lifestyle. So there's always women there that there's so many that have never even heard of us. And that is my challenge every day. I literally think of it every day. That's the biggest hurdle now. And I think because it came so easy in the beginning, because of where Instagram was and social media was then, we've had to shift our thinking and bend and shape and figure out different ways to reach women. So that is definitely the biggest growth challenge for us. And we do not have investment money. We are all family funded from the beginning. So we don't have a bankroll. We really are all always scrappy. So growth is hard right now. It's definitely a challenge.
SPEAKER_01I love that. But you also can now make your own decisions. You're not relying on having to do things due to investors. Yeah, it's very nice. What is one honest lesson about building a brand that you wish more founders talked about more openly?
SPEAKER_00Leading a team. All of a sudden you get to a place where you're hiring people. It's the hardest thing. It was the hardest thing for me to do. And I failed in many ways and I succeeded in others. And I learned so much about myself. It's like placing a mirror in front of yourself and having all the things you've been worried about that you do reflected back to you. It's humbling. So I think that had I known more and had I been a little more careful and more educated on what it's like to lead people going into that, that would have been a huge help.
SPEAKER_01I think coming from working with family too, it had to be because you're probably a small team. And then as you add people that are not family members, that had to be interesting. And not every business leader is good. I'm certainly not good at everything. And so it's interesting when you find those areas where you're like, okay, I'm really good. I'm loving doing this, but I need to improve in this area. And everyone has it. Exactly.
SPEAKER_00Yes, exactly. That was definitely the hardest thing I think that I experienced as we were really growing. And I just became so overwhelmed with it and felt like I was failing at so many points. But as I'm telling my kids now or trying to, the only way you're ever gonna grow is to fail. And it sounds so cliche, but we won't know until we see what we can't do or we see what we did wrong or how we handled all the situations. So I value all of this experience so much. And it's led me to grow as a person. So if we shut down tomorrow, I I look at it like that. Oh my God, I've learned so much.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, being an entrepreneur takes so much tenacity because it's being on a roller coaster and it's getting up every day and not knowing the hurdles you're gonna have to jump. But it is also exciting and fun at the same time. Exactly. Yeah. How do you make sure to protect and cultivate your joy as you're growing your business?
SPEAKER_00It's having downtime and alone time to think through things that I need big time. I love being creative. It's my joy. That would be another answer to your earlier question. So in order to be creative, I have to give myself time and quietness and space. And I'm I don't have a creative background before I started this company. Like I was working in public relations and I was on the flip side of like all the creatives. So I toggle between this business-minded person and creative-minded person, which I think is a very huge advantage for running a company. Being able to tap into both sides and also appreciate both sides is really important, especially in the retail world. But I think that having the downtime and to tap in and come up with ideas and strategize and get to that headspace, because that's what we are as entrepreneurs. There's nothing that excites me more than having a new idea and running with it. That literally gets me up in the morning when I think of something exciting that could happen. And how do we get there? What's the challenge? What are we gonna do to make it happen? I really need that time to like get there. Otherwise, it's too chaotic.
SPEAKER_01I smiled because I'm a mom and it's really hard to find that self-time. And this morning, I usually watch something as I'm drinking my morning coffee, but I sat there in silence and I thought, is something wrong? And then I thought, no, I just need silence for my morning coffee to have ideas and to let those sink in because the second I get my day going, it's gonna go till I fall asleep.
SPEAKER_00Exactly. And then before you know it, it's 10 p.m. You're in bed and you're like, wait, what did I do today? And you did a lot, but like you did if you don't have that business time, that you time to like really think through about stuff, it's so helpful.
SPEAKER_01Thank you so much for joining us today and for building this amazing clothing line that we can travel and feel elevated in. Please share with us how and where we can find you.
SPEAKER_00Great. So our website is Dudley-stevens.com, and that's with a pH. And we're on Instagram at Dudley underscore Stevens.
SPEAKER_01Thank you for joining us today. I'd love to hear from you. Reach out to me at hello at shtbuilt it.com on our She Built It website or at Shibiltit on social. Thank you to my editor, Rich Drafalino, who always makes us sound good. Until next time, let nothing stop you from experiencing effectively business that you crave.