“If there was a Squarespace when I started my business ten years ago, I would’ve been a very happy camper,” Sophia Amoruso tells me. It is early October and the website template inspired by Amoruso and her Girl Boss empire has just launched onSquarespace, marking the first time the one-stop-shop, website management and creation company has offered templates inspired by notable customers.
Starting an online business used to involve a lot of trial and error, prayers to god, and some measure of dumb luck. But now a company like Squarespace will set you apart from the masses, and hold your hand as it elevates you above the hubbub of the thriving online marketplace.
This fall, Squarespace has teamed up with Google’s work apps provider G Suite for a new ad campaign of intelligent short films that feature successful business owners such asSophia Amoruso of Nasty Gal, and Michael Faye of Kombucha Dog. These businesses all use Squarespace, both for running their online sales, and to highlight the missions of the various causes they support.
The campaign aims to promote businesses that seek a positive impact on their community as well as profit. We spoke to Sophia Amoruso—an exemplar of conscientious commerce who encourages women to pursue their passion through her #GirlBoss Foundation— about the endeavor.
Even if you’re not one of Nasty Gal’s 500,000 customers, the chances are good that you’ve heard of Amoruso anyway. Her output is impressive: a best-selling debut book#GirlBoss, a second on the way (Nasty Galaxy), an upcoming Netflix series produced by Charlize Theron, and a successful podcast. The Google Suite x Squarespace present Girl Boss video can be viewed here, and gives an interesting insight into the personal trajectory that led Amoruso to be listed by Forbes as one of the richest self-made women in the world.
Amoruso’s #girlboss foundation is dedicated to empowering creative women, and has given over $90,000 in grants thus far. Amoruso tells me that focusing on female empowerment was a natural goal: “I have a lot of friends who are creatives and figuring out how to apply your creativity in a way that is commercial enough to make a living, but not lose your soul is a huge challenge for a lot of people. And when you are of a creative mind, having that business headset is sometimes not totally natural. So to provide tools and resources and a place for people to share those things through Girl Boss is something I’m really proud of.”
As for the role Squarespace has begun to play in this success, Amoruso is grateful, admitting: “They’ve been such a great supporter and I love the platform, its so easy to use and the sites are so beautiful, its just a really powerful tool and now we have our own custom template that I’m really excited about.”
Squarespace Chief Creative Officer David Lee tells me that the feeling is mutual, and that his company are in turn: “Inspired each and every day by the incredible work our customers do. By collaborating on these particular templates, we wanted to pay homage to three customers who do a truly incredible job of impacting the communities around them…we felt that the mission of each of these businesses would resonate with our larger audience.”
For those entering the game with a new business in mind, Lee advises that: “When you’re establishing an online presence, it’s critical to determine what kind of impression you’d like to leave. Understanding your own values and point of view is essential for creating a website that is the best reflection of yourself. This is much more than just creating a website, as you’re leaving your legacy in a search result in Google.” If there ever was a time to take that leap, and live your dream with an online commercial presence, this may just be it: “The world is much more curated,” Amoruso explains, “and I think that ups the ante for people and will separate who has something to say and who knows how to present it from the people who don’t.”