As someone who built a successful business in the fashion industry from the ground up, Corinne McCormack, CCAS BA ’76, wants to inspire and offer tips and support to budding entrepreneurs.
“If you think there is something you want to do, you should go for it,” she says. “I knew I wanted my own company at 22, but it took me 15 years until I had the resources to do it. So, don’t give up on yourself, just keep going and keep moving forward, and you’ll make it happen.”
This outlook is the premise of her new book, From Living Room to Boardroom: How I Launched and Sold a Multi-million Dollar Business, in which she shares her story of how she turned a severance package into her dream of owning her own business, as well as the eight characteristics she believes a person needs to be a successful entrepreneur.
Driven to excel in school and find a unique and challenging career, likely in medicine, McCormack’s always had an entrepreneurial spirit. Growing up in New Jersey, she didn’t feel destined to stay close to home, and she was intrigued with the idea of living in a big city. Ultimately, she decided that being in the nation’s capital was the right fit and that GW would be a great place to prepare for medical school.
“But the longer I was in school, I became less interested in science,” she laughs. However, after graduation, while studying for the Medical College Admissions Test (MCAT), she was recruited and accepted into Macy’s executive training program in New York.
After several months of classroom instruction on retail, she became a sales manager with nearly 30 people reporting to her. “It all came so easy to me. I was a natural, but I didn’t realize that until looking back,” she recalls.
By this time, she knew that being a doctor wasn’t for her — she was already on her path. Within three years, she had moved up the ranks as a buyer. “I was able to travel to Europe and Asia, and this opened up the world to me,” she says. “It was quite glamorous.”
McCormack left the retail world after five years and moved into product development, marketing, and strategy. Over the next 10 years, she developed a variety of product lines, ranging from small leather goods to jewelry, and she also provided design direction. 
“This gave me the ability to understand that I could develop things on my own,” she says.
So, when the company she worked for filed for bankruptcy and she got a pink slip, she was more than ready to start her own jewelry business — and a six-month severance package allowed her to make the jump.
Starting out small and working from her apartment, her first product was an eyewear chain to help prevent people from losing their glasses and sunglasses.
“I wanted to buy one for myself,” she recalls. “But none of them were pretty. All the options were boring.”
Her designs, marketing and packaging were an immediate hit, and within six months, she had orders from LensCrafters and Sunglass Hut.
A few years later, she saw another opportunity — designing fashionable reading glasses. “I also wanted these to be a fashion accessory, and at the time they didn’t exist,” she recalls. “There were only boring, drugstore readers.” Her first sale: purple cat eye glasses.
And things only grew from there. Her product lines eventually expanded to Bloomingdale’s and Nordstrom, and she was highlighted as a featured designer in the New York Times.
It wasn’t long before she was courted by companies that wanted to acquire what she had built, but she didn’t sell until in 2009. However, she stayed on as a vice president for eight years, where she continued to hone her design skills and leadership prowess, and in 2018, she stepped away from the eyewear industry to pursue other interests, including starting her own consulting company.
Over the years, McCormack was asked numerous times to share her story and for advice. These conversations inspired her to write this book, which was five years in the making. (Another reason she wanted to write it: her son, Adam McCormack, SEAS BS ’13, who’s an entrepreneur as well.)
“It was a process, but it was something I really wanted,” she explains. “You have to really know what you want and visualize it. Don’t stop. Keep going for it. That’s the story of my book and career.”comp
When asked what advice she’d give GW students and alumni, she says that it’s important to not only find your passion but to be good at it.
“Everyone is unique, so you need to find your own path. And don’t compare yourself to others,” she says. “Tap into your own unique talent and passion, and you’ll be successful.”
-Christine Cole
