You'll Never Forget This Career Advice From the Founder of Paige Denim

Welcome to Second Life, a podcast spotlighting successful women who've made major career changes—and fearlessly mastered the pivot. Hosted by Hillary Kerr, co-founder and chief content officer at Who What Wear, each episode will give you a direct line to women who are game changers in their fields. Subscribe to Second Life on iTunes, and stay tuned. We'll be releasing new episodes on Mondays.

You're probably already aware that Paige is one of the top premium denim brands—it has been since its inception in 2005—has a slew of celebrity fans, and is beloved by men and women around the world. For this, we have Paige Adams-Geller to thank.

To give you a little backstory, after modeling as a teen, she attended USC for broadcast journalism and communications. Post-college, Adams-Geller went on to work as a fit model while she pursued an acting career. Many of the brands she modeled for were L.A.-based premium denim brands, and she took her time immersed in that world as a crash course in the business aspect of running a fashion company, where she was privy to the inner workings of every aspect from merchandising to marketing to design. Adams-Geller was sexually assaulted and developed an eating disorder while modeling, and it was then that she knew she had to make a change in her life.

Upon deciding to take her learnings and start her own denim brand (which was initially self-funded), Adams-Geller's vision for Paige Denim came to fruition surprisingly quickly, and now, 15 years after the launch of the brand, it's become an industry leader, boasting both women's and men's lines of denim and apparel, a successful shoe collection that launched last year, and a presence in over 80 countries around the world. 

Needless to say, Adams-Geller is the type of founder you'd want to take career advice from. As she put it Second Life when asked what advice she'd give women who are interested in changing lanes, "I'd say you have to go for it. If there is passion in that decision and wanting to switch gears and you're connecting your head and your heart together at the same time, you have to go for it. Because really, you don't want to live your life being a dreamer, just dreaming and not taking action and doing it, because you will have regrets." She added, "And the minute my husband said to me, "You've got to do it or you're going to regret it the rest of your life", that I took to heart. And I'm like, "You're right. What have I got to lose? If I fail, I fail."

Head to iTunes and subscribe to Second Life to listen to this episode and hear all about Adams-Geller's fascinating career path, and shop Paige must-have pieces below.

Up next, the woman behind the fastest-growing haircare brand at Sephora.