We were lucky to catch up with Elissa Kravetz recently and have shared our conversation below.

Elissa, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you share a story with us from back when you were an intern or apprentice? Maybe it’s a story that illustrates an important lesson you learned or maybe it’s a just a story that makes you laugh (or cry)? Looking back at internships and apprenticeships can be interesting, because there is so much variety in people’s experiences – and often those experiences inform our own leadership style.

When I was a junior at the University of Maryland in 1998, I met Steve Madden while he was at the mall doing a personal appearance at Nordstrom.
I got into line to meet him, my friend and I both wearing his shoes at the time, I looked him in the eyes and said “I need to work for you.”

I followed him around the mall until he gave me the number to his assistant, and I then proceeded to call his office every Monday for 3 months. It took 12 phone calls before he called me back.

I was offered an internship the following Summer.

I moved to New York City for 3 months, lived in the NYU dorms and was interning in the marketing department. After a few days at work, I wondered into his office and shared my opinions on a shoe that was being discussed in a product meeting.

The next day over the intercom in the office I heard “intern Elissa come into my office”.

From that day forward, I was his personal intern. I worked beside him all summer sharing feedback on shoes. Steve saw me as his target customer — a 21 year old shoe obsessed girl — and I saw it as the first step in my career in fashion.

I was offered a full time position after graduation.

Elissa, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I’ve been in the Fashion Industry for 25 years. First working for Steve Madden in New York and then moved to LA where I worked at a PR firm for a year.

After that I opened my own agency with 2 partners – we had bicoastal offices and represented brands like Equinox Fitness, Nobu Malibu, Fred Segal & Shopbop.com

When I turned 30, I began a bit of an “Eat Pray Love” spiritual journey, traveling to India and Bali, studying Kabbalah and practicing different healing modalities.

I began an anti-bullying organization called The Farley Project, traveled around the country speaking at various high schools and middle schools, sharing about the long term effects of bullying and even writing a “Love & Kindness Curriculum” that was put into place at a few schools.

In 2014 I traveled to Goa on a yoga retreat. It was on that trip I met an incredible local family who sourced vintage Saris and turned them in to dresses. I had an overwhelming feeling that I wanted to help this family so I began buying dresses from them and bringing them home to the US and selling them to my friends and family. This sparked my idea to create a brand; a few years later, Sun Child was born! While the brand has grown quite a bit since then, I still work closely with this family, I’ve watched all of their kids grow up! It is a very sweet relationship. Giving back to the local community here is part of the ethos of the brand.

I have been Creative Directing and running Sun Child since 2016, and during Covid I moved to Goa full time. I spend most of the year here and several months back in LA. I am proud of what I’ve built and slightly in awe of it all.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

From the inception of Sun Child, I would travel from Los Angeles to Goa twice a year to create a new collection.

In 2019, a few weeks before I was supposed to make the trip, I was hit with a shooting pain in my abdomen. I was rushed to the hospital and the doctors found an 18 cm tumor on my kidney. I was internally bleeding and needed emergency surgery.

I had 11 blood transfusions and was in the ICU for almost a week.

I underwent 3 different surgeries in 2019, and needless to say, I did not travel to India that year. My dog passed away in the middle of all of this and my dad was diagnosed with stage 3 pancreatic cancer.

And through this all, by way of a miracle perhaps, I kept Sun Child running.

In January 2020, I decided to travel to Goa for a creation trip. Even though its a journey I had made countless times before, this felt time different – I was frightened and nervous to go — I couldn’t pin point what why. But I went anyway.

Two weeks later, the world shut down as Covid hit. For about 6 weeks I was stuck in India. After some time, countries began sending repatriation flights to pick up their citizens, but I stayed put.

What was supposed to be a 6 week trip turned into my staying in India for 2 and a half years.

I learned how to drive here (wheel on opposite side of the car). I built a home on the paddy fields in the Goan Jungle. I grew my brand. I made friends that are now family. This part of the journey tested me to no end, and took a tremendous amount of trust. Its been a wild ride to say the least! To get to experience life here, is truly truly incredible.

I now reverse commute a few times a year to Los Angeles to visit my Topanga Canyon Showroom.

Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?

I absolutely love and have been listening to Abraham Hicks for Years. I sometimes fall asleep listening to her lectures. I also really love Martha Beck. She breaks down anxiety (which is all too common for business owners) and talks a lot about the tie between anxiety and creativity. She also gives a nice mix of scientific and spiritual perspective.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.iamsunchild.com
• Instagram: @sun.c.h.i.l.d
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/IamSunChild/