FC/LA: A Meeting Of The Most Creative Minds
Join Fast Company editors and writers live from our creativity counter-conference in Los Angeles on May 6th & 7th!
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Oprah Announces A New Reality Show
Fast CompanyThe new show, called For Peete's Sake, will star actress Holly Robinson Peete and her husband, former NFL player Rodney Peete. -
Proud to welcome #FCLA15 to Los Angeles! Welcome @FastCompany, to the capital of #entertainment, #tech, #fashion, & #design. #longLA #techLAby LA Mayor's Office via twitter 5/7/2015 4:56:54 PM -
Fast Company writer Nicole LaPorte is kicking off the first session.
How can a company really have two CEOs? Erik Logan, co-CEO of OWN Network, says "I speak for Sheri [Salata, co-CEO], and Sheri speaks for me." They both work on business and creative. "If we can't reconcile art and commerce, how is the rest of the company going to do it?"
They tell staff that they're so aligned, an update only needs to go through one of them. It's their responsibility to update each other--not everyone else. Having Oprah being the inspiring soul of the company helps. -
It may be surprising to think about, but the OWN network didn't just spring up. Over the past four years, the focus of OWN has had many iterations. The first years were spent learning the cable world. Now, a Tyler Perry partnership has signaled another pivot in programming. The driving factor has been a desire for storytelling, and that's how the network has grown.
That's been a thread throughout the conversations at FCLA. Realizing that creative, successful brands were not at that scale from day one. Having the courage and desire to create and keep creating is how every one of this big ideas has grown. -
OWN Co-Presidents Sheri Salata and Erik Logan share some thoughts on how they are able to work so well together and what makes their partnership so successful:
"This only works if there's love. If there's mistrust or fear, it won't work. Oprah knows we take our relationship very seriously and that if she speaks to one of us it's the other's job to update the other one."
"Call in the miracles you want to happen and leave that space in your life."
"We've signed up to play the long game here that will represent Oprah's legacy for a long time. The big decisions we make are much bigger than any single debate."
"We're on a heartfelt spirit-driven road together so if something doesn't feel right, it usually doesn't feel right to most of us."
"We don't divide our roles into business and creative. If we divided art and commerce there would be a chasm in the company we didn't want."
"Anytime I was in trouble, I had somebody here that had my back. It felt like magic."
"We don't make really fast decisions because that's when you get into trouble. We take our time and will spin it around then try it on for size first." -
Nicole LaPorte to OWN co-CEOs: OWN was losing money not too long ago. How has the turnaround happened?
Sheri Salata says "We didn't believe what people were writing." She says if most of her team had done even 10% better than the day before, they had the right recipe: momentum. -
Lots of science-y talk here about all the chemicals in home and hygiene products. Alba's answer to that in women's products? "Organic cotton." Pretty simple.
FYI, the conversation has already veered to reengineering the tampon here. The Honest Company's version is all organic and doesn't pinch. "Ladies, you know what I'm talking about," Jessica Alba (founder) says. -
"With our retail partners they agreed to display our products as a suite of products so people can really understand our range of products. There are plenty of retailers that have been doing it for a very long day, so unless we created a retail store that is a destination and adds value, we aren't planning an expansion into that yet." - Jessica Alba on her plans for The Honest Company's expansion into retail stores #FCLA15
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Rainn Wilson and Shabnam Mogharabi of Soul Pancake are up next, talking about how the uplifting web video company got its start.
Eight years ago when they were thinking about how to start a web content business, "the worst of humanity" was on the Internet. They wanted to change that.
So with Mogharabi, they decided to make uplifting video content that had an edge - nothing smarmy, sappy, or Oprah-esque (oh, snap!!)
