Just last summer, Blake Lively added “entrepreneur” to her long list of achievements when she launched Preserve, her lifestyle site and e-boutique featuring artisan-crafted style, beauty, food and decor. In the past year, the actress’s new venture has garnered plenty of criticism, from the undeserved (like the skepticism Lively faced based on the fact that she’s a celeb) to the justified (like the backlash Preserve got after doing a photoshoot celebrating the old, pre-war South).
Lively admitted to Vogue that she knows what’s headed her way now that she’s officially shutting the site down. “I know what it’ll look like, what I’m facing publicly, that people are just going to have a heyday with this,” she told the magazine. “But it’s so much worse to continue to put something out there—to ask my team to put something out there—that isn’t the best we can do. I’m going to take this hit, and the only way I can prove all the negative reactions wrong is to come back with a plan that will rock people. And I have that plan.”
Though we, too, are expecting to see plenty of those “we told you so” reactions, we actually think it’s commendable for Lively herself to come out and speak openly about her company and why she’s decided to take this step. Reaching our fullest potential involves taking big risks, and so many of us shy away from doing so because we fear failure. For Lively to admit failure—to be able to say to Vogue, “You know what? I haven’t created something that is as true and impactful as I know it can and will be. And I’m not going to continue to chase my tail and continue to put a product out there that we, as a team, are not proud of”—shows us all that it’s okay when the risks we take don’t turn out the results we hope for. What’s important is how we deal with the challenge; and for Lively, that means starting over (she’s certainly not giving up).
“…I’m so excited about it,” she said of her new plan, adding, “and that’s what gave me the courage to do this, to say, ‘You know what, I’m going to give myself one more shot at this, and I really have to do it as well as I can do it this time.’ And that is the only thing that will impact people. And that’s what I’m doing. And I’m totally terrified out of my mind!”
As for how she’s dealing with this temporary hurdle? “I’ve asked my husband to just play ‘Shake It Off’ on a loop—it feels really good to listen to it on a loop!”