When Julianne Goldmark launched what is now known as the sought-after hair accessory brand with celebrity clout, Emi Jay, at age 14 (yes, you read this correctly!), it was a different era.

The year was 2009, so Instagram didn’t exist yet—the only “likes” we knew of were those captured on Facebook—and celebrity-focused fashion magazines were still highly relevant and very much in circulation.

While the worlds of fashion and accessories leverage social media and the influencer “halo” effect in order to help with branding and virality, Emi Jay’s trending hair accessories have not only stood the test of time—they have maintained “It factor” status, 12 years later.

So what compelled Goldmark to launch the brand? It started as a way to express herself while in the 8th grade.

“As a teenager, I grew up with a school uniform, and the only way to really accessorize and self-express was through hair and jewelry,” Goldmark explains. “All of the hair accessories I fell in love with were way out of my 14-year-old budget, so I would spend hours in Downtown Los Angeles with my mom pulling all kinds of materials to make my own hair accessories, which I eventually sold to my friends. I realized there was a major gap in the market for accessible, yet quality hair accessories—which is where Emi Jay came in. What started as a hobby, turned into an accidental business and has now transcended into a mission to create hair essentials and elevated accessories for all, at every stage of life.”

And nothing about the rest of Emi Jay’s success has been accidental, although there were some celebrity-level serendipitous events that helped the brand’s star skyrocket.

The first? Chris McMillan, famous for creating “The Rachel” as Jennifer Aniston’s hairstylist.

“Our first piece of press was in Marie Claire magazine,” Goldmark shares. “Chris McMillan had used one of our ribbon-like hair ties on Jennifer Aniston, and the magazine picked it up and did a feature. They included our one-page website at the time, and orders started to flood. That was today’s version of someone with influence endorsing a brand on Instagram.”

Today, after 12 years, the direct-to-consumer hair accessory brand Emi Jay has enjoyed a successful collaboration with beauty brand Summer Fridays, and as of today, launched on Revolve (the collection includes some exclusive pieces with the global e-tailer, as well as some of Emi Jay’s best-selling clips and scrunchies).

I spoke with Goldmark to talk about growth during the pandemic (some highlights: for 2021, Emi Jay’s e-commerce sales are up 380% YOY, with overall revenues on track to increase by minimum 200%), the other big celebrity moment that catapulted the brand, and her thoughts as an Asian female founder.

Karin Eldor: At what point did you know you had taken this passion to a legitimate, self-funded business?

Julianne Goldmark: We got our first office in 2012, three years after Emi Jay began, and up until then were working out of a guest room in my childhood home. That milestone was when I began to realize we were building something special. That same year, we were featured in Oprah’s Favorite Things, which I consider our first major accomplishment as a small business. 

Eldor: Emi-Jay has been around since 2009, which is incredible and so inspiring. How have you maintained consistency for over a decade, in a fickle industry like fashion accessories that have seen trends come and go, and evolve?

Goldmark: Gaining brand loyalty has been essential for our longevity. I do my best to read every email and DM so that we can listen to our customers and appreciate their input and creativity. The way I approach Emi Jay is through wanting to co-create products with our loyal community, in order to ensure we’re delivering pieces that they need and love.

I’ve also learned that it’s important to immerse myself into our customers’ worlds. I love to see how girls are accessorizing their hair, what they’re wearing and what colors or prints they’re gravitating towards. Especially with social media, things are changing rapidly. What’s cool is evolving at a rate faster than ever, so educating myself on these trends has been important to growing our brand. Socializing, getting honest feedback from friends, and seeing first-hand what girls want to wear has been invaluable.    

Eldor: Tell me about some of your collaborations! I know the one with Marianna Hewitt’s Summer Fridays was successful. How did that come to be?

Goldmark: Working with other brands that we look up to has been the most fun part of this whole journey. Our most recent collab with Summer Fridays was for its ‘Cloud Dew’ launch. Marianna and Lauren (Gores) have been long-time friends and customers of Emi Jay, so when their team reached out, we felt it was the perfect partnership. They knew they wanted a uniquely shaped clip and for it to match their new product. We went back and forth on colors and textures, and ended up choosing a solid jelly-like pink acrylic that was custom to match their product’s Pantone.

Everyone went crazy for the clip and we ended up selling out on both of our sites! My mom always says that the best results come from collaboration, and this definitely proved to be true.  

Eldor: How did the collaboration with Revolve come to be?

Goldmark: In March, we did a beautiful edit of eight pieces with Matilda Djerf. She’s a very brilliant and loved influencer from Sweden–she also has her own clothing line! All of the accessories were designed very true to Matilda’s aesthetic, and the drop was a huge success. A buyer from Revolve had seen it on her Instagram, and reached out to us immediately. We designed some exclusive clips for the site, which will be launching throughout summer. It had been a goal of mine for a while to get on Revolve, so this is a huge moment for us – all thanks to social media. 

Eldor: How has Covid and the pandemic impacted your growth as a business? 

Goldmark: With everyone spending so much time indoors, it made us rethink our strategy. We decided to focus a lot more on digital marketing and strengthening that, which all paid off. Quarantine gave us the opportunity to redefine our brand and engage more with our customers. On the design side of things, we were intentional about creating products that our customers would be able to wear at home. 

Eldor: This month is Asian Heritage Month. Any words of inspiration as a female Asian founder? 

Goldmark: I know sometimes there’s a lot of pressure to be good at everything and to try to be everything all the time, but I’ve learned to embrace both my skills and weaknesses. The best results with Emi Jay have come with collaboration—whether it’s the creative, the business side of things, or general admin work. Recognizing my strengths and leaning into those, while also noticing what I am lacking has enabled me to create a strong team that I can trust. Bringing together all of our skills is what makes it all happen! 

Eldor: What is coming up next for Emi Jay, in 2021?

Goldmark: In June, we’ll be launching on Urban Outfitters U.S. and Europe. We have a lot of overseas customers, so having that platform will be great. We’re also teaming up with HBX, Hypebeast’s new e-commerce site—we designed a special clip with them. Overall, I want to continue delivering hair essentials that excite people and allow them to express themselves throughout the various moments of their lives.

Being transparent, it’s taken me until now at age 25, to wholeheartedly embrace this role as a female small business owner. In 2020, I took over as CEO and was able to give the business every ounce of my being. It took years as a teenager and into my early 20s to find both my pride and confidence to embrace that Emi Jay wasn’t just a passion project. I’ve now gotten to a place where I’m deeply proud of our products and community.

Emi Jay started as a middle schooler’s hobby in 2009, and now in 2021 has evolved greatly, while continuing to carry out my initial mission.