Oscar-winning actress, noted author, singer and entrepreneur Gwyneth Paltrow will discuss entrepreneurship and navigating barriers to fostering innovation when Vanderbilt University hosts “A Conversation with Gwyneth Paltrow” on Friday, Dec. 1, at Blair School of Music’s Ingram Hall. The conversation, which is scheduled from 4 to 5 p.m., is free and open to the Vanderbilt community.
In 2008, Paltrow founded goop from her kitchen table. The company has grown into a brand devoted to helping women make their own choices count in the various facets of their lives—from style, travel, work, food and beauty to physical, mental and spiritual wellness. Goop is curious about what it means to self-optimize, how we can gain autonomy over our health, and how we can push uncomfortable, important questions forward without shame. In line with this mantra of making choices count, goop also makes and curates products across beauty, fashion, wellness and home.
After serving as goop’s chief creative officer since its inception, Paltrow assumed the CEO mantle in 2016, leading the company’s primarily female team of more than 240 to exponential growth. She also helped facilitate the #MeToo movement, as Paltrow has always been comfortable pushing important conversations into the mainstream.
In fall 2018, on its 10-year anniversary, goop expanded internationally to the European Union. Goop’s ventures include the goop lab with Gwyneth Paltrow, a series on Netflix; a book imprint; permanent and pop-up retail stores; and live events, such as the renowned In goop Health summit. In addition, goop has a tightly edited digital shop and its own product lines, including skin care, fragrances, apparel, bath and body, and supplements.
Paltrow’s 1998 turn in Shakespeare in Love garnered her Best Actress honors at the Golden Globes, Screen Actors Guild Awards and Academy Awards. In 2011, she won an Emmy for Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for playing substitute teacher Holly Holiday on Glee, and her song “Coming Home,” from the soundtrack for Country Strong, was nominated for an Oscar; the soundtrack also went gold. In addition, Paltrow has authored four New York Times best-selling cookbooks: My Father’s Daughter (2011), It’s All Good (2013), It’s All Easy (2016) and The Clean Plate (2019).
Kelly Goldsmith, a professor of marketing who holds the E. Bronson Ingram Chair, along with David A. Owens, professor of the practice of management and innovation and executive director of The Wond’ry, Vanderbilt’s center for creativity, innovation, design and making, will moderate the Dec. 1 discussion. Goldsmith and Owens are professors in the Owen Graduate School of Management.