Amy Smilovic: Success on Your Own Terms
Founder & Creative Director of Tibi, Author | Serious Business® 2027 Speaker
You can build a thriving business and still realize you’re chasing someone else’s version of success.
Amy Smilovic knows that moment firsthand. As the founder and creative director of Tibi, she has built a global fashion brand by pairing creative instinct with practical decision-making—and learning when to question the path in front of her.
Her perspective challenges entrepreneurs, leaders, and creatives to ask a deceptively simple question: Is what you’re building aligned with who you are?
Building a Brand. Defining a Direction.
Amy launched Tibi in 1997 with $15,000 and no formal fashion training. What followed was a business that grew far beyond what she—or anyone in her industry—could have envisioned.
But growth brought a turning point. With Tibi thriving as a $70 million business and $150 million in sight, Amy recognized that she was working toward someone else’s idea of success.
She chose to rethink her direction and trust her own instincts. That decision became the foundation of her newest book, Almost Reckless: A Creative and Pragmatic Approach to Taking Risks.
Also the author of The Creative Pragmatist, Amy explores how to define your principles, develop your judgment, and create your own measure of success. Her approach combines the courage to take risks with the practicality to make them intentional.
Getting Clear on What You Actually Want
For salon owners, stylists, and creative leaders, ambition can take many forms: a bigger business, a fuller book, a stronger team, or more freedom to create.
Amy’s story connects directly to Getting Clear, the Serious Business® 2027 theme. It invites us to examine the goals we’ve inherited, identify the principles that matter to us, and make decisions with greater confidence.
Her work offers a perspective for anyone navigating the tension between creative expression and running a business. What does success look like to you? Which risks are worth taking? And when is it time to change direction?
Join us at Serious Business® 2027 as we welcome Amy Smilovic and explore what it means to build a working life that reflects who you are.
