Cristina Palomo-Nelson + Megan Papay
A unique blend of San Francisco pragmatism--it’s hard to climb a hill in a heel--and be cool-girl chic, it’s no wonder many of us have hungered after our own pair of Freda’s. After 12 years of fashioning the women of the city, it’s safe to say that Freda Salvador, like Heath Ceramics or Ritual Coffee, is a San Francisco staple.
Like an old married couple, founders Cristina Palomo-Nelson and Megan Papay have figured out how to make it all work, even as their lives and company have become more complex. Like any good marriage, theirs is a partnership grounded in trust, humility, and respect. Trust in one another, as their success has meant they’ve needed to divvy up the work with Cristina taking the lead on finance and operations, and Megan on marketing and creative strategy; humble to their accomplishments and continuing to listen to their community of loyal “Freda Girls”; respect for each other’s ideas, even when they don’t always see eye-to-eye. In late November, we sat down with them at the new Equator Cafe in Sausalito, their home base, to chat about their take on balance as a mindset, the importance of community, and how they stay true to Freda.
“We do have disagreements, but we find a way to speak about it respectfully.”
How do you balance Freda with other things in life?
Cristina Palermo-Nelson: You don’t, balance is not really a thing. As long as the balance exists within what I love, it makes everything else worth it.
Megan Papay: Balance is a mindset. There is no such thing. You’re holding yourself to your own standard and as long as you feel positive about your work life and your family is healthy, and of course, you could be doing more at work, you could be doing more at home. It’s your own family’s collective mindset of what works.
What is your day to day like?
CPN: Have you ever seen a chicken running without its head? It’s so exciting, it’s such a crazy time and we’re lucky that we’re so passionate about what we’re building...
M: Literally run. Run to the bathroom, run to the next meeting, run to the car.
How has your relationship changed as your company has grown?
CPN: We were like Siamese twins--like truly, joined completely and we had to force our separation so our business could grow. Our partnership required it and I think having the trust in each other that even though I’m not at every single marketing meeting, she’s leading marketing with me in mind and similarly, with anything I’m doing Megan is very much present in my mind.
MP: Always trust in what’s best for the company, so even in the end, if there is a conflicting opinion, there is an easy resolution because it’s always what is best for Freda.
Make it stand out
Do you ever have disagreements?
CPN: We do have disagreements, but we find a way to speak about it respectfully.
MP: We’re always comfortable to challenge each other because we know where the other is coming from and we know the goal. We also know we’re separately and together working our asses off.
How do you feel you nurture each other’s strengths or build each other’s weaknesses?
CPN: I don’t know if it’s part of being a woman, or if it’s unique to us, we always laugh that we have the healthiest marriage because when somebody is down, we know how to pick each other up in a very authentic way. When something is not well, the other person steps in and looks at it with a different lens. I feel like it really comes from a shared vision of the brand; we’re always coming back to how is Freda going to move forward, how are you helping, how am I helping. Maybe we take it for granted, but it’s very natural for us.
MP: Safety in saying to the other, “I’m over my head here, I’m struggling” and get the support that you need instead of like, oh shit, I need to fake it until I make it or not show weakness.
How do your partners factor in your relationship?
CPN: It’s hysterical, Megan is exactly like my husband.
MP: Same.
Freda has an iconic look to it. How do you stay relevant while keeping it uniquely Freda?
CPN: The relevance to the market is always important, and knowing what people are buying, what are they looking for, and where there is room for new. We’re evolving our current designs so they’re relevant to today, without being too trendy.
MP: Filling voids in your closet. We were wearing Vans and Chuck Taylors on the weekend and we were like, we need a sneaker and how do we make a Freda sneaker.
CPN: In today’s world with Instagram, and so much noise, it’s so difficult to stay original and authentic and what was truly an original idea and what was derived from something you saw but didn’t process at the time. For us, where it’s good and bad, is we don’t really have time to pay attention (this is where they both admit that they don’t know a fairly ubiquitous brand that won’t be revealed) to a fault, and everyone in our office was like ‘what rock are you living under?’ From a business perspective, we need to keep up, but from a design perspective, it’s good that we kind of have blinders on so we stay true to our aesthetic and our point of view.
What would you say is your secret to success? I’m just kidding, but really.
CPN: Our community. Being based here gave us a platform, so we never encountered the snarky competition in other markets. Instead, everyone embraced us and wanted us to be successful and grow.
MP: San Francisco has so many challenges, but if we had launched in another city...who knows. Any person we reached out to was like ‘how can I help?’ to the point of being like, ‘here are my secrets’. It’s so special.