This autobiography is amazing. I love the inspirational story and how honest Kendra shares her beginning struggle and humbleness. The creativity and ingenuity. This book is a great one for any woman looking for inspiration, starting a career or listening for hope through a struggle.

This may have the most inspiring book I’ve read yet. I laughed, I cried…those good cries you know them…. because it hit me deep. I found myself in this book over and over.

What a beautiful, empowering manifesto! This is such an anthem for anyone who has dared to have big dreams, who has battled their inner demons, who has had the smarts to raise other women up. LOVED!

I could not love this book any more! Kendra is funny and engaging, someone you want as your best friend. So many messages and a-ha moments for my own life! I am gifting this book to all my best girl friends.

Born to Shine by Kendra Scott is a mix of an autobiography and a business book. Part of this book tells Scott's story and how she grew up in the Midwest. Then she also talks about how she created her jewelry business carrying her Kendra Scott name. I honestly wasn't familiar with her jewelry but I found the book to be interesting and enjoyed reading it.

Scott talks about her Midwestern roots and growing up in Kenosha, Wisconsin. As a Midwestern gal myself, I could understand the family values and hard work ethic that was a thread woven through her family. Her parents divorced and when she was in high school, her mom moved to Texas when she re-married. Not long after, Kendra moved to Texas to live with her mom and ended up staying there for many years. She started her business there and continues to run it from Texas. While her personal life was interesting, I also found how she created her business to be interesting. I have a background in fashion and a mother who worked in that industry for years so I could follow the business part easily.

In Born to Shine, I liked how Scott integrated family life with her business and made family a priority, not just for her, but also for all of her employees. I liked how she shared her failures, challenges, and her successes. She seems to be down-to-earth and straightforward in how she deals with her business and people. I really like that. She offers some good advice for figuring out what is important to you and starting a business in the book. There are a handful of mild cuss words which may bother some people. However, for the most part, this is an uplifting read, especially for someone interested in business but it isn't necessarily a Christian book. I like how she cared for her family and friends with cancer and how she supports breast cancer patients but some of those parts were difficult for me to read as someone who has received a cancer diagnosis.

From a visual standpoint, I liked the yellow cover of Born to Shine as yellow is a significant color for Scott's business, but I found the white print on the yellow to be difficult to read. I wish it were black on yellow, but that doesn't reflect my rating.

As a whole, Born to Shine was an enjoyable read. Scott writes well and her book was a quick and interesting read for me.

This book was good
I liked learning about Kendra Scott and how she got to where she is.

The anecdotes were interesting.
I felt like some parts were overwritten but overall a good book

This is the exact same book as Girl, Wash Your Face, but I wanted to read the dumpster fire for myself. We didn't need another white woman feminism book, and Kendra Scott is no longer cool. This book would have been perfect in 2010, but this topic is overdone and dry.

I really enjoyed learning more about Kendra Scott. To be honest, I really knew nothing about her outside of the jewelery company. The book was motivating and empowering to read. If you own your own business or just like personal development book, this one is worth
the read.

I was first introduced to Kendra Scott's jewelry more than 10 years ago when a family I babysat for from Austin, TX gifted me her jewelry. Living in MN, I hadn't heard of the jewelry before and I instantly thought it was gorgeous. Over the years I was gifted more and more of the jewelry and would buy my own and gift it to family/friends as well. I've also received Kendra's jewelry to donate for charity events - which is an amazing thing that Kendra does. For a long time I have admired her and her business practices. However, reading her book was even more inspiring. I loved hearing about how Kendra started her businesses, what worked, didn't work, and her life experiences that made her the person she is today.

I’m a Texas girl, born and raised, so I’ve obviously heard of Kendra Scott, but I was never a fan of trends, and she was a huge trend. Friends and coworkers gushed over her jewelry and I’m like, okay, whatever. No thanks. Not because it wasn't nice jewelry (I honestly wouldn't have known) but because I'm allergic to trends.

But after reading this book, my whole opinion has changed. First of all, the woman herself is a huge inspiration. Yes, she had a lot of great business guidance in her life, as she explains in the book with her mom and dad’s values, but she also had a wonderful attitude from the get-go, standing up for her own creativity and personality when others didn’t understand. I didn’t find this book bragging at all, but a vulnerable story of a woman who built an empire despite the struggles and losses she faced. She shares her heartbreaks, her hard work, and her personality amongst these pages.

She also shares about the really truly important thing in life, which is life, family, compassion, treating others right, and learning that not all fights must be won, or even fought, but that standing up for yourself is a virtue when done the right way.

This book was really, really good. Not like a self-help of all the things a person should do to succeed (thank goodness it wasn’t that) but a book of meaning. A book of a woman’s life, her valued successes amongst hardships, and written by a woman who learned that her mindset and belief in herself was the only way to shine.

I am grateful I was allowed to review this book through Netgalley. Highly recommended.

I was vaguely familiar with Kendra Scott Jewelry, but really knew nothing about it, about her or her business. It was interesting to learn how it all began, how she grew a small homebased business into a billion dollar company. Kendra is very likeable, I could see her being my neighbor whom I would hang out with and laugh and talk. She's smart too, her business sense is pretty much spot on. I love her passion, how she is focused not just on work and business, but on family and joy and being in the moment.
She shares a wealth of business wisdom that can be applied to everyday life as well.
I wish her happiness and success on the rest of her journey.

I love Kendra Scott jewelry so it is very interesting to really get to know the woman behind the yellow packaging. Her backstory was really cool to learn about.

I love Kendra Scott jewelry so I was very excited to read this. It is sort of a memoir/self-help book in a way, but I liked that. I really enjoyed her story and would recommend it to anyone that is familiar with Kendra!

I am pretty familiar with Kendra Scott. A lot of my friends are into her jewelry and I have a couple of pieces myself. Although I am not a huge jewelry person, reading this really made me want to go to a storefront and use the Color Bar to buy a new piece! But besides recognizing her signature colorful gems I knew nothing about her or her business, including the fact that it was a billion dollar business.

To me this book was part memoir, part business, and part self-help. Scott has a lot of details about her personal life and how she started and grew her business as well as life lessons she has learned and how to apply them to your dreams, goals, or just life in general. I thought it was incredibly positive and uplifting with a lot of great takeaways tied into an interesting storyline.

Scott is incredibly vulnerable and optimistic throughout the book and I thoroughly enjoyed reading her story. It was far from cliche and instead was unique, inspiring, and funny. At times it seemed a bit scattered and less organized with the nonlinear timeline but overall I thought it tied together well. I’ve read so many incredible memoirs lately but this was still able to compete and I definitely recommend it!

Thanks to NetGalley and Worthy Books for an ARC of this book.

Pros: I’ve been a fan of Kendra Scott jewelry for years, but my appreciation for the business has grown as I’ve witnessed its involvement with non-profits and philanthropy. I was interested to read this book to learn more about Kendra Scott the person and the business.

Cons: This is not anything the book does wrong but is all about my reading taste—I am not a fan of self-help books. Although I found the memoir parts of this book interesting, the self-help aspects were not for me. That being said, I can see how some readers will be inspired by those parts of the book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Worthy Publishing for the opportunity to read this book.

As a long-time lover of Kendra Scott jewelry, I knew this was a must-read for me! What a remarkable story of grit, determination, and tenacity. Scott inserts tidbits of inspiration and nuggets of leadership lessons learned on her journey of creating the world-famous, iconic brand that women have grown to know and love, Kendra Scott. Great read and well-written. It read like you were having coffee with the gal next door. Can't wait to share with my friends!

The stories about Scott's relationship with her father and her sons is moving, and I appreciate several of the business decisions she shares in the book (family first, how one of the core values is generosity, etc), I struggle to look past how much bragging is found within Born to Shine. At times, it's truly uncomfortable and really does take away from the writing. Own what you've done, absolutely. It's no small feat. But there's a way to share and inspire without bragging about yourself and how absolutely amazing you and your company are time and time again. Let the reader land on that opinion without it being forced upon them and written out chapter after chapter. Trust that we'll arrive at that conclusion without you saying so, and know that when you say so -- it backfires.

Not the best book. Was definitely expecting more from KS. I thought that after reading this book I would be inspired but def left wanting more.

I wish I could give this 100 stars. I have always loved Kendra Scott jewelry and I was excited to read her story. I found her book enlightening and inspiring. My shopping experience at KS has always been one of joy and I really enjoyed reading about her vision and thoughtful curating to make it so. She clearly runs her business with positivity, generosity, thoughtfulness, strength, and hope. All values we need more of in the world! There are so many great leadership lessons in these pages. I highly recommend it!

Born to Shine
By: Kendra Scott
Review Score: 5 Stars

Five Key Feels

-Scott’s story is so inspiring!

-I love her constant optimism.

-I laughed, I cried, I took notes, all while I read this book.

-Her explanation about how they thrived in a recession was super interesting.

-There are so many important and relatable life lessons that she shares.

——

Born To Shine was kindly provided as an ARC by Netgalley and Worthy Publishing. Thank you for allowing me to read this wonderful book!

Release Date: 9/20/22

To Date, I think this is the most exciting ARC I have been gifted. I literally SQUEALED when I got the email from Netgalley.

My love of the jewelry brand Kendra Scott is a long one. I remember buying her necklaces and earrings online, when the nearest store was an hour away. I remember making my husband take a picture with the billboard when they opened a store near our home. I remember going there for every birthday to get my half off necklace or earrings. I remember, when they added engraving in store, making a pendant with my daughter’s monogram after she was born.

My Kendra Scott jewelry collection is IMPRESSIVE. My Mom and I love to visit when new collections come out. I knew the store’s origins were based out of Austin, but I didn’t know much more than that.

Born to Shine completely opened my eyes to how Kendra made her company. She is such an impressive women. Her relationships with her family, friends, and coworkers left me in tears, and inspired me to be better.

This is one of my favorite books that I have read this year. Funny, thought provoking, and at times sad, Kendra really puts everything out there for you. Obviously I have loved the brand for years, but I now feel even more drawn to the brand, and the woman who started it all.


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