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Tiffany Dufu

@tdufu

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Catalyst for Women & Girls.
President of @toryburchfoundation
Founder of @thecru.
Author of #droptheball.

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I’m excited to share that applications for the 2027 Tory Burch Fellowship are officially open.

The mission of the @toryburchfoundation is to increase women’s economic power by supporting entrepreneurs to build businesses that last. Here’s what I’m most proud of about what we’re doing and why I hope you’ll share this opportunity with a founder you know:

1. We have a solid track record.
91% of the entrepreneurs we’ve supported over the past decade are still in business. Half of businesses fail within the first five years. And a third of our Fellows are now running multimillion-dollar businesses, while less than 2% of women-owned businesses reach $1M in revenue.

2. Once you’re a Fellow, you’re always a Fellow.
Unlike a lot of time-bound programs and accelerators, the Tory Burch Foundation is committed to our Fellows for the long haul. Even Fellows who have exited their businesses remain a vital part of our ecosystem. Building a business is a roller coaster and it takes time. We’re here through all of the ups and downs.

3. The Fellows Community is the heartbeat.
I’ve personally met with more than 150 Fellows, and when I ask them about the most valuable part of their experience, the answer is nearly always the same: the other founders. They laugh, cry, exchange resources and give one another advice. Most importantly, they do deals together that accelerate their businesses. That’s the power of community.

Are you an entrepreneur who could use a community that gets it, advisors who deliver, support that grows with you and recognition that matters? Do you need access to capital through one of our financial partners?
If the answer is yes, I hope you’ll apply. And if this isn’t you, please send it to a founder who needs to see it.

Learn more at the link in bio. by @tdufu

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4 days ago

In 2010, I had the opportunity to interview Gloria Steinem. She asked me to call her Gloria because I kept referring to her as “Ms. Steinem,” but my cultural upbringing collided with her instructions. I simply couldn’t bring myself to call an elder of her stature by her first name. I explained that, out of respect, I would need to put either “Ms.” or “Aunty” in front of Gloria.

She preferred the latter.

I’ve called her Aunty Gloria ever since.

I was introduced to Aunty Gloria by my political mother, Marie Wilson. They built the @msfoundation together, along with its other founders, and it was incredible to witness their collaborative activism after Marie left to launch The White House Project. From them, I learned that movement building will always involve tension, and that the force of addressing it head on can lift you up. I also learned that social change requires investing in the next generation because you might not solve all of the problems in your lifetime.

I’m just one woman who is the product of Aunty Gloria’s investment.

There aren’t enough words to capture the gratitude I have for the doors she opened, the constructive feedback she delivered, and the wisdom she offered, all without judgment. Once, when I felt I was facing the biggest setback of my career, she suggested I simply be still. When I asked her if she would write the foreword to Drop the Ball, she said yes before I could even tell her what the book was about.

Looking back, of course the topic didn’t matter.

She was planting seeds.

During that 2010 interview, I asked Aunty Gloria what advice she had for the next generation of women.
“My advice is to not listen to me, but to listen to their own voice,” she said.

Through her work as a writer, founder, advocate, and champion for humanity, she inspired all of us to live a life of purpose. My wish is for every woman to find enough stillness to hear her own voice, and then to take action.

Rest well, Aunty Gloria. I promise to work hard to ensure the world receives a return on the investment you made in me and so many others.

Please further her legacy through a gift to @gloriasfoundation ➡️ #linkinbio by @tdufu

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a month ago

Just as we were all mourning the loss of Dolly Parton, @sarabareilles gifted us with her seventh studio album, Good Grief. As if on divine cue, it’s a musical respite for any sorrowed soul. On the day of Good Grief’s release, I stayed up so late looping the tracks that, in an ironic role reversal, my teenage daughter came into my room, took my phone and headset, and told me to go to bed.

Bareilles has been on my life’s soundtrack since her 2007 hit “Love Song” topped the Billboard charts. She crosses pop, rock and country, but all I ever hear in her music is the soul. Her beautiful vocal range and melodies are usually layered over deeply moving lyrics. It’s no wonder the @nytimes named Bareilles one of the 100 greatest living American songwriters. She’s an artist who requires you to listen to her music like some people watch movies in a theater: with all of your senses.

On Good Grief, Bareilles’ interpretation of loss is personal and political. The second song, “Just A Kid,” is a tribute to her best friend who died of cancer. One of the most powerful tracks, “Hands Off My Body,” is a feminist protest against the demise of our bodily autonomy. The album takes you on a ride through the waves of grief that traverse the human experience: birth, love, death and everything in between.

If you can only play one song and need a pick-me-up from the current news cycle, turn off the TV and play “Capsize Me.” If you’re a Sara Bareilles fan and binge-listen to her albums like me, share your favorite song for my new playlist. I’ll see you on tour.

#WomenWonders by @tdufu

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a month ago

I’m embarrassed to admit that I didn’t know who @zarnagarg was when I met her earlier this year.

We were both being honored by Women in Retail, and our photos were featured on a giant billboard in Times Square. It was drizzling as we headed outside for the group photo when Zarna turned to me and apologized for the rain.

“It’s not your fault,” I laughed.

“It definitely is,” she replied. “My mother-in-law hates me. So, on the day I get a blowout and my picture is on a billboard in Times Square, she sent the rain.”

I howled.

Later that evening, Zarna’s daughter told me her mom was a comedian and invited me to a show. The next night, I found myself in the front row at the West Side Comedy Club. I never laughed so hard. That weekend, I picked up her memoir, American Woman. It’s extraordinary.

Zarna’s story begins in India, where she loses her beloved mother at 14, is disowned after refusing an arranged marriage, and survives on the streets of Mumbai through the kindness of people who had loved her mother. She eventually makes her way to America, where she rebuilds her life from the ground up.

Three decades later, her videos have been viewed more than a billion times. She’s opened for Amy Poehler and Tina Fey. Mindy Kaling calls her “the funniest person I know.” And now she’s a New York Times bestselling author. But what stayed with me wasn’t her success. It was her refusal to let anyone else define the limits of her life.

American Woman is about the courage to reject the boxes society hands us and the resilience to build a life on your own terms. It’s heartbreaking, hilarious, and ultimately full of hope.

Do yourself a favor: buy Zarna’s book. Then follow her on every social media platform you use.

You’ll laugh. You’ll cry. And you’ll come away believing that the American dream is still worth reimagining.

#WOMN #WhatsOnMyNightstand by @tdufu

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2 months ago

There are two types of people in the world: People who talk about things and people who make things happen. Entrepreneurs are the latter. I was reminded of this truth at the @toryburchfoundation’s inaugural Founders Circle. For the first time, we convened all of the Fellows we’ve supported over the past decade, including the first 2016 cohort. Being in their orbit for three days reminded me why I have so much respect for builders.

1)They’re curious and hungry to learn. When you’re running a growing business there is no space for stagnation. As soon as you snap one pile of legos into a masterpiece, you have to move on to hundreds more pieces strewn all over the floor. If you’re not thirsty for knowledge your enterprise will plateau.

2)They evolve personally. Launching, building and growing a company tests your resolve like no other human experience. The endeavor forces you to deal with ALL of yourself - your insecurities, vulnerabilities and demons. I don’t know any founder who has exited without a coach, therapist or both.

3)They see what’s possible. Most people are trying to accomplish what’s feasible. Entrepreneurs race toward the toughest problems to engineer solutions that will achieve dramatic breakthroughs.

4)They have a bias toward action. Real builders roll their eyes at people who draft fancy business plans and are worried about their ideas being stolen. They know that execution eats ideas for breakfast.

It was my honor and joy to hold space for women who are growing businesses with the current headwinds while simultaneously taking care of their teams, families, and communities. For three days, we took care of you and you deserved every moment.

Thank you to our sponsors @bankofamerica, @bloombergdotorg, @delta, @fossil, @nordstrom, @paypal and @onepeloton.

To Alicia Houston, Allie Weiss, CarmenRose Fiallo, Desiree Browne, Grace King, Heesun Lho, Molly Heffernan, Regina Gwynn, Sahara Lake, and Serena Walker: You are the best team any leader could hope for. We did it.

#ToryBurchFoundation #TBFFellows #FoundersCircle by @tdufu

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4 months ago

I was recently asked to name a founder and to share one quality that I admire about them. The first person I thought of was Regina Gwynn, who I’m pleased to announce has just joined the @toryburchfoundation as our Vice President of Experience.

Regina is intentional about understanding the needs of whoever she is serving. I’ve experienced this first hand as a consumer. In 2014 she Co-Founded TresseNoire, a beauty tech platform that sent traveling natural-hair stylists to your house, hotel or office. I used TresseNoire as a busy working mom to ensure my daughter felt confident about her cornrows and was blown away by the thoughtfulness of each stylist, one of whom would bring a coloring book and crayons to each appointment.

I experienced Regina’s obsession with the customer experience a second time as an entrepreneur. She is the Co-Founder of Black Women Talk Tech, a national platform supporting women of color in tech with over 150,000 members. Their Roadmap to Billions conference was a lifeline for me as I was building my company. Black Women Talk Tech curated the perfect mix of investors, service providers and sister founders that I needed to manifest my dream.

The mission of the Tory Burch Foundation is to increase women’s economic power by supporting entrepreneurs to build businesses that last. Regina will be leading one of our most important transformations – evolving from a program-centric organization to an experience-led platform spanning digital, community and live touchpoints that meets women entrepreneurs where they are—and grows with them as their businesses scale. I’m confident that her experience as a retail executive, venture backed entrepreneur and community weaver positions her as the most innovative leader to help us take our work to the next level.

Last year, Tory Burch Foundation Fellows fueled the American economy with $470M in collective revenue. Our goal is $1B by 2030. With Regina Gwynn, we’ll get there. I can’t wait to learn and grow with her. by @tdufu

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5 months ago

I had a warning for the guests I greeted before the @toryburchfoundation’s second annual Founders Breakfast: you’re going to need Kleenex.

By the time our third honoree took the stage, the tears—and the inspiration—were flowing.
Pilar Guzmán, CEO and Founder of Half Moon Empanadas, shared a grainy photo of herself as a young girl with her late father. She told the story of walking with him through downtown Los Angeles at 15, looking up at the high-rises and declaring, “Papi, one day I’m going to work in one of those buildings.” She never imagined she would do so much more.

@guzman_pilar joined the Tory Burch Foundation as a Fellow in 2021. Today, she’s grown @halfmoonempanadas into a $30 million empire. 78% of her employees are women. 63% are Hispanic. She pays $24.75 per hour—56% higher than the national average. She is one of hundreds of Fellows increasing their economic power through entrepreneurship—and using that power to create opportunity for others. We also honored 2020 Fellow Viola Sutanto, Founder & CEO of @maikagoods, and 2023 Fellow Andrea Seymour, Co-Founder & CEO of @springdalecustombuilders—each building companies that reflect both ambition and impact.

Then there was Anna.

During her conversation with Tory, Anna Wintour gently corrected a few myths—she wears the glasses because she’s sensitive to light; she has nothing against wearing black. But what stayed with me was something else entirely. Earlier this year, Anna passed the baton to @chloemalle, @voguemagazine’s new Editor, who was in the room. She spoke about Chloe’s humor, her eye, and her vision for the future. To witness someone who has reached the pinnacle of power so publicly and so definitively send the elevator back down for another woman was breathtaking.

It reminded me why we do this work.

As Pilar said, “In the end, it isn’t just our story. It’s about who gets to come next. Who gets to build. Who gets to lead. Who gets to dream bigger than they thought possible.”

That is the future we’re building.

More tissues, please.

#TiffanysFinds #ToryBurchFoundersBreakfast #ToryBurchFellows by @tdufu

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5 months ago

All moms have dreams for their daughters. As a Lifetime Girl Scout, one of mine involved her selling cookies. (Now that she’s touring colleges, I’ve started checking for Delta chapters—but that’s for another post.) So it meant a lot to have her by my side for a full-circle moment: being inducted into the National Board Alum Society for @girlscouts of the USA.

Girl Scouts gave me two competencies I still use every day. The first is servant leadership. Whether I’m picking up litter in a movie theater after the credits roll or executing a strategy to advance an organization, my goal is the same: leave it better than I found it. The second is solicitation. I learned how to ask—again and again. Being a Girl Scout is how I eventually raised two rounds of venture capital and more than $25 million for nonprofits.

When people ask how to cultivate confidence and leadership in the girls they love, I always come back to two things. First, imagine yourself as the future version of her—and be the kind of woman you hope she becomes. Second, expose her to at least one of the formative experiences many women leaders share: organized sports, single-sex education, or Girl Scouts.

Organized sports teach girls that you can fail publicly and the earth keeps spinning. That builds risk-taking. Single-sex education cultivates ambition. If a girl is always president of the student council, it never occurs to her that she can’t be. That belief becomes powerful armor in the real world. Girl Scouts cultivates civic responsibility and entrepreneurship.

I’ve tried to model for my daughter both the joy and the failure that come with living a purposeful life—as a daughter, sister, soror, wife, mother, volunteer, founder, executive, and everything in between. I’m in awe as I watch her carve her own path. And if somewhere along the way she gives Girl Scouts a shout-out, I won’t be mad about it.

#TiffanysFinds #GirlScouts by @tdufu

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5 months ago

My younger sister once told me, “Tiffany, you’re so boring. You never want to learn a lesson yourself.” I knew exactly what she meant. Whenever I want to accomplish something, my first move is to find someone who has already done the thing and ask for their advice. Why reinvent the wheel when I can learn from someone else’s mistakes?

The upside of this approach is that I win faster. The downside is that I don’t get as much practice failing publicly—which is how you build resilience. Still, my obsession with seeking wisdom has paid off. Over the years, I’ve collected a lot of it.

One of the most pivotal moments came from a mentor, Joan Hochman. I reached out to her when I was considering applying for a dream role that would have required me to uproot my young family and move to a new city. After a few minutes of listening to me wrestle with the “dilemma,” she interrupted me with this:
“One observation I’ve made in getting to know you is that you spend a lot of time worrying about decisions you don’t have to make. You’re worried about moving your family, but you don’t have a job offer. You haven’t even thrown your hat in the ring. You’ll be more successful once you focus your energy on generating options instead of worrying about options you don’t even have.”

That counsel gave me permission to act sooner rather than later. I’ve manifested so many more of my dreams because I stopped assuming I had something to lose before I even had a choice.

This article (linked in bio) features advice from leaders I deeply respect, including Melissa Mash and Sheila Marcelo. I needed a church fan while reading it—I was saying “Amen!” after every paragraph.

Please share it with every current or aspiring entrepreneur you know. by @tdufu

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6 months ago

The @toryburchfoundation recently took @sxsw by storm. We were on six stages, hosted a reception with our incredible partners at @pivotaldotcom, and stopped by sister organization events in between. It was a marvel to witness our team’s brilliance on the ground. Thank you Molly, Alicia, Allie and Serena for your creativity, coordination, and care. Special shout out to Haven, Jailan and Charles for your insights on our SXSW panel and for your unwavering support on my own leadership journey.

The most meaningful SXSW moment for me was breaking bread with a few of our Tory Burch Foundation Fellows. Our mission is to increase women’s economic power by supporting extraordinary entrepreneurs and their wisdom was palpable during a community dinner. Here are some of their responses to the question: “If you could sit down with yourself the day you founded your business - what would you say?”

✦ ”It’s going to take longer than you think to build this business. Hustle, but be patient.”
✦ “Pay yourself.”
✦ “Know that it’s going to be hard as an entrepreneur, especially as a woman. But also know that it’s going to be rewarding.
✦ “Listen to yourself. Don’t try to fit into someone else’s definition of what a founder is supposed to be.”
✦ “Read every legal document. Highlight anything you don’t understand and ask questions.”
✦ “Entrepreneurship and storytellers are similar because they both have to live in the world of imagination. It’s easy to get bogged down operationally. Remember that imagination is the work.”

To our extraordinary Fellows @its_aimomo, @judytsuei Lisa Weiss, Mia Diya-Bernhard @instagraham.rene, @sammydeats, and Tricia Taitt. Your leadership and innovation as builders inspires me every day. by @tdufu

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6 months ago

A more inclusive future for entrepreneurship starts with rethinking what founders really need to thrive: not just capital, but connection, visibility, trusted support and policies that make growth more possible.

In our SXSW stage conversation moderated by Foundation President @tdufu, @nasdaq’s Jailan Griffiths, @precursorvc’s Charles Hudson and @pivotaldotcom’s Haven Ley emphasized the importance of stronger ecosystems around women entrepreneurs. They highlighted peer support and early belief, local community investment, institutional backing and policies like affordable childcare and elder care as key elements of what make entrepreneurship possible and sustainable

Because when entrepreneurship is more accessible, more people can build businesses that strengthen communities and create lasting economic impact for all of us. Thank you to our partners at @nasdaq, @precursorvc and @pivotaldotcom for joining us.

Watch the full conversation from the link in our bio. #SXSW #SXSW2026 taken in SXSW Austin, Texas by @tdufu

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6 months ago

Every year the @nytimes solicits readers for the best wisdom they’ve received over the past 12 months. Last week, when the list was published I immediately started pasting the most relevant quotes into our family chat:

🔅“Stop trying to calm the storm. Calm yourself, the storm will pass.”
🔅“It’ll be fine or it’ll be over.”
🔅“We tend to forget that baby steps still move us forward.”
🔅“Don’t think harder, breathe deeper. Most of us are surviving on shallow sips of air.”

Needless to say, 2025 was rough.

I’m grateful for the wins. Beyonce won Album of the Year for Cowboy Carter, we can still watch Sesame Street, and the Pope’s from Chicago (God knew Americans needed a native son in high office who could be a role model for our children).

Nevertheless for the small business owners whose margins were decimated by tariffs, the parents whose childcare is more than their rent, and everyone who is under threat for simply living in their own body, 2026 can’t come soon enough.

I spent most of the Fall managing a personal crisis and only got through the storm with the support of an incredible village plus bingeing Maya Angelou interviews on YouTube. If you’re looking for wisdom, Angelou delivers. In one interview she said the best piece of advice she had ever been given was to forgive. “To forgive is to protect oneself.” In another interview she was asked if she considered herself wise. She responded, “Well, I’m en route.”

As you head into 2026, and especially if you have a habit of making annual promises to yourself, my favorite piece of wisdom from the New York Times list was this one: “Nothing changes if nothing changes.”

Happy New Year. Here’s to living en route.

P.S. I’d love to hear the best advice you’ve ever received.

#TiffanysFinds #TiffanysEpiphanies #HappyNewYear taken in 2025 by @tdufu

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9 months ago