Sophia Amoruso wants you to know she is no Elizabeth Holmes.
In 2022, the two female founders were named as “favorite disgraced girlboss” Halloween costume ideas in a story published by tech outlet The Information.
In a profile published in Elle on February 29, Amoruso described her fury over the comparison.
“I raised a too-high valuation, didn’t know how to build a great culture, and didn’t live up to people’s fucking expectations. And years later, that’s who I am? Elizabeth Holmes, who put dying people at risk and is in fucking prison?” Amoruso told Elle.
In the 2010s, Amoruso became synonymous with the term “Girlboss,” which is also the name of her 2014 book. The Elle profile explores her rejection of the now-loaded term and her attempts at moving past it.
Amoruso founded the now-bankrupt fashion company Nasty Gal in 2006 and became a self-made multimillionaire in the process. Nasty Gal filed for bankruptcy in 2016 following a slew of troubles including layoffs, a CEO change, and employee lawsuits.
Holmes was convicted of fraud and conspiracy in 2022. Her blood-testing startup Theranos collapsed in 2018. She’s currently serving a prison sentence that has been shortened to nine-and-a-half years, down from 11 years.
After Amoruso took to Twitter in November 2022 to call out The Information for its story, the outlet took down the article. Its CEO and editor in chief, Jessica Lessin, apologized on the platform, calling it a mistake.
“Hi. We’ve removed it and apologize for the pain it caused. It was mistake. Thanks for pointing it out and we are sorry,” Lessin wrote at the time.
Amoruso is now the founder and managing partner of Trust Fund, an early-stage venture fund focused on tech-enabled products. It celebrated its first anniversary in December 2023. She attended a female professionals’ summit hosted by The Information in Napa Valley in October.
“I don’t use the word. I don’t really identify with it,” she said in a panel discussion when asked about her views on the term “girlboss.”
Read the whole Elle profile here.
