A Female-First Perspective: Matriarchy Build's Gabriella Ainslie and Lacey Soslow on Growth, Risks, and Empowerment
By Julia Gamolina
Gabriella Ainslie is the Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Matriarchy Build, an online platform with a female perspective on DIY and home improvement. Prior to Matriarchy Build, her career has been in home and fashion retail, most notably ABC Home, Terrain, and Bunkhouse Group hotels. She studied literature at the George Washington University in Washington, D.C. She lives with her husband and daughter in Austin, TX and whenever possible they decamp to the high desert of West Texas for hiking or the verdant, beachy abundance of Puerto Rico for time near the ocean.
Lacey Soslow is Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Matriarchy Build, the female-first home improvement and DIY platform. Prior to launching Matriarchy Build, Lacey spent 12.5 years heading up marketing and digital for Terrain, the home and garden brand from the URBN/Anthropologie folks. In addition to her time at Terrain, Lacey also spent the past six years renovating old homes in South Philly with her Mom. The two partnered on six renovation projects, planting the seed for her love of the home improvement space. Homegrown in Philadelphia, Lacey splits her time between Philly and NYC with her wife Michelle.
In their interview, Gabriella and Lacey talk about a female-centric approach to DIY and home improvement, advising those just starting their careers to embrace change.
JG: Tell me about your foundational years - where did you grow up and what did you like to do as a kid?
GA: I grew up in Austin, Texas when it was a bit more of a college town with a strong hippie undercurrent. My father is from Mexico City, so vacations and school holidays were often spent in Mexico with an emphasis on exploring remote regions of the country. I remember waking up and stepping off of a train we’d been on since the day before to find that we were very up high in the mountains in an indigenous community where it was difficult to find anyone who speaking Spanish.
Experiences like those shaped me. My parents are both psychoanalysts, and they instilled in my brother and I the value of empathy and listening closely to others. My mom’s family are Italian immigrants, so both branches of the family knew the value of hard work and what it took to find a foothold in the USA. I was a pretty spunky, active kid, and I was happiest running around outdoors — particularly in the central Texas Hill Country — whenever possible. I actually dreamed of being a rancher. Since childhood, music and reading have been two of my greatest loves.
LS: I grew up in the Philadelphia suburbs in that fleeting moment where the internet was starting to take form but social media was far, far away. An elder millennial! I went to a pretty academically rigorous all girls school from first grade through twelfth grade — and I was consistently the class clown. During my elementary school years, I was on the brink of being kicked out of school for being too disruptive but eventually I mellowed out!
Aside from goofing around, I loved playing sports and was a pretty classic “tomboy” type as a kid. I was on an all boys traveling baseball team and an all boys basketball team and generally loved being super active. As I got older I channeled much of that athletic energy into music and film and always was intrigued by “counter culture” — though in all reality I was pretty square! I feel pretty grateful because my formative years were pretty uneventful and I have strong friendships with eight of my friends from grade school, and we’ve all known each other for almost over thirty years now.
Gabriella and Lacey in Brooklyn this summer with Pros from Matriarchy Build.
What did you both do before with your careers in the lead up to Matriarchy Build?
GA: In college, I interned at Christie’s auction house. My love of beautiful “things” led me to seek out that internship because I knew I’d see a wide range of art and furniture and design objects up close, which was thrilling for me. After graduation, I interned at a fashion showroom in Milan for six months and then an auction house in London before I made my way to New York City where I started a position in the jewelry department at Christie’s. I eventually moved into retail buying at ABC Home and followed that path for quite a while. After a stint in Philadelphia, at Terrain, where Lacey and I worked together, I moved back to Austin but remained in the world of retail buying moving first into fashion and later into retail operations and finance.
LS: I wasn’t one of those people who had a clear professional path — even after college, I studied film and bounced between the fantasy of screenwriting and the reality of film journalism or academia. I didn’t really know which lane made sense and moved back to Philadelphia to figure it out. I got a part-time job at an advertising agency helping with a local film project — doing PR for this small indie that was shooting in Philly. I just kind of fell into the marketing space and the idea of “getting people excited about things that I’m excited about” made sense. I was at the ad agency for a little over a year before moving to a Philly based publisher that specialized in quirky, irreverent nonfiction aka the kind of books you’d find at Urban Outfitters in the early aughts. It was a total blast and really scratched my fun, creative itch but 2008 hit and the publishing company had to lay off ⅓ of their staff, including marketing.
While looking for my next role, my good pal Gabriella Ainslie had just started at this cool new garden concept from the Urban Outfitters folks — it was called Terrain. Within a few weeks they listed a role for a “Web Manager” and my 12.5 years growing the Terrain brand began. I knew I was passionate about home and design — especially while I was entrenched in this huge home remodel project, but I’d never worked at a company so connected to the intangibles of creativity and inspiration. When I started at Terrain, I was doing it all for the web — writing product copy, taking photos with my iPhone, uploading inventory, emailing bloggers asking them to write about the brand. It was incredibly fulfilling to watch this scrappy little garden brand grow into multiple stores, a thriving ecommerce business — but most importantly, watch the team grow. As much as I adored the entrepreneurial culture of Terrain and the brand felt like my baby, I knew I wanted more.
“...the objective is the same: to get sound advice from someone you feel comfortable with and trust. We like to say that with our Pros there’s ‘no mansplaining, ever!’”
How did Matriarchy Build come to be?
GA: I’ve always had an entrepreneurial streak and thought that one day I would have my own business, but I always imagined it would be in the retail sector since it’s where I’m most comfortable. My husband is an architect and we share a love of Tropical Architecture — Geoffrey Bawa & Henry Klumb, in particular. Proximity to his work and seeing how he imagines residential spaces and plans for all the parts of life that take place within their walls has been inspiring. When Lacey and I began talking about the need we saw in the home improvement sector and how we could fill that gap, the momentum and energy built naturally.
LS: As insane as this sounds — my ex-husband and I bought our first house off of Craigslist in 2008. While searching for something in our desired neighborhood with loads of character we kept coming up short — finally we saw this incredible house with tons of potential — “For Sale by Owner” listed on Craigslist. As wild as the prospect sounded, it checked all the boxes and was my first big project.
We were able to save all the original hardwood floors, original tin ceilings, cast iron clawfoot tub, and more. I fell in love with the “after” part of the project and while the marriage didn’t last, the enthusiasm around renovation projects certainly did. Following that, I helped my Mom tackle another fixer upper, and then we continued renovating homes in Philly. It was through this process that I saw such a lack of representation of women in the space….basically my “a ha” moment that Matriarchy Build needed to exist. COVID, remote work, and turning forty totally upended my typical risk aversion and I felt compelled to say “fuck it” and do my own thing. Gabriella and I had always mused about “oh what if we started a business” but nothing ever felt right. This time we were both lamenting about the lack of women in the home improvement space, and it just clicked. Pie in the sky brainstorms turned into serious business calls, and all of a sudden, we had a business plan, and Matriarchy Build was coming to life.
Lacey with the Terrain book.
Tell me about the company.
GA: Matriarchy Build is a community dedicated women who are engaged with the building and construction trades. We want to be the first resource for women considering a home renovation or just a small DIY project or repair.
The ways that you can utilize the site are myriad, but the objective is the same: to get sound advice from someone you feel comfortable with and trust. We like to say that with our Pros there’s “no mansplaining, ever!” We are exciting to grow the community in a number of different ways: a forum, a subscription service with retailer discounts and more how-to content.
LS: Our goal is to provide a female-first perspective on the home improvement space and empower folks to tackle their own projects — whether that’s literally doing home repairs and DIYs or learning more about the process, materials, and vocabulary of a renovation. Our site launched a few weeks ago with “tele-DIY” offerings where we have a roster of Pros from GC’s to electricians to plumbers to handypeople, and folks can sign up for 1:1 consultations to talk through their projects. We are also producing articles and how-to videos demystifying the home renovation world. This is our starting point. We are actively growing our roster and listening to our community in hopes of offering new services and products as best we can.
Where are you in your career today? What is on your mind most at the moment?
GA: By launching Matriarchy Build, my career struck out on a course that I couldn’t have imagined a few years ago, and I’m very much enjoying the challenges of building this company and learning how we can best serve our growing community. After many years as a merchant, a shift into a new industry is electrifying and humbling. We are in uncharted waters in so many ways with the business, and at the same time, I’m a first time mom to a two year old. I feel like a rookie both at work and at home! So there is a lot of learning is going on in my world currently. Beyond the responsibility I feel to do my best for Matriarchy Build, I’m intent on spending every minute possible enjoying my daughter.
LS: I’m grateful and humbled to be able to build the Matriarchy Build community. The entrepreneurial spirit of starting a business wasn’t entirely new to me but the start-up world and culture certainly is an enormous education. My mind is constantly toggling between trying to do it all, and preserving quality, integrity and focus on the project at hand.
“I think the biggest challenges are often self-imposed. Fear of change, fear of failure...I’m a big subscriber to growth and empowerment from struggle — both personal and professional.”
Looking back at it all, what have been the biggest challenges? How did you manage through a disappointment or a perceived setback?
GA: So far, the biggest challenge for me was finding the right time to leave my former position, a job that I loved at an incredible company. I don’t think there is ever a perfect moment for taking that sort of risk: leaving behind something familiar for something that feels unproven or uncertain. Making those decisions with my business partner and relying on our strong collaboration and mutual trust was what guided me through.
LS: I think the biggest challenges are often self-imposed. Fear of change, fear of failure. It sounds trite, but there’s never a perfect time to take a risk, as Gabriella said. I’ve notoriously been risk averse and pushing myself to finally take a big swing and start my own company was an enormous challenge. As far as disappointment or perceived setbacks — I’m a big subscriber to growth and empowerment from struggle — both personal and professional. For example, in my early thirties I went through a divorce. It was a huge life change but was the most empowering moment to reevaluate my life, engage with my support network, and carve out new opportunities.
What are you most excited about right now?
GA: We are adding Landscape Architects to our roster of Pros for next spring, and I’m over the moon about it! I’m already plotting out all of the projects that I personally would like help with, so I know that the users on our site are going to get a lot out of their contributions as well. We missed the good planting window for veggies in Central Texas last spring, so I want to get our beds prepped earlier next year and I also plan to add a shade garden in our backyard.
LS: Since the Matriarchy Build concept is so new, the possibilities feel endless. I’m so excited to watch the community grow and evolve, and I’m so humbled and excited by the initial enthusiasm we’ve received. More specifically, we are adding architects to our roster in the fall and I’m pretty pumped to add an important part of the build process to our community.
Gabriella and Lacey for Matriarchy Build.
I’m sure you’re not surprised that I’m super excited for you both to add these professionals to your roster. On this note, who else are you admiring right now and why?
GA: I’m admiring Judaline Cassidy, New York’s feminist plumber. She founded the organization Tools & Tiaras, which aims to inspire more girls to pursue careers in the trades through exposure to those job skills and all the fun that can be had working with tools. Judaline’s energy is boundless and her spirit is magnetic. She is having a profound impact on the girls in her camps and workshops, and I deeply admire her mission and what she’s built.
LS: Mercury Stardust the Trans HandyMa’am. Mercury is a rising star on TikTok. She started posting helpful, handy “How-to” videos on TikTok and her warm, generous energy just instantly connected with folks. She now has nearly 2M followers and has used that platform to continue to help people and do good. She recently raised over $100K to provide gender reaffirming healthcare support from Plume to folks in the trans community. We were total fangirls from day one of Matriarchy Build and love seeing how much positive impact she’s making in the growing home improvement space.
What is the impact you’d like to have on the world? What is your core mission? And, what does success in that look like to you?
GA: I believe that the building trades are a tremendously important career sector. There are careers that allow people to have a very tangible impact on the others, particularly when the work is in the residential arena, and the demand is high for these skills. I hope that we encourage more women to pursue these careers and also that Matriarchy Build continues to help women who haven’t traditionally been taught how to use tools and how to fix things to do just that. By providing that service we help women and other people traditionally excluded from this space to feel confident and empowered to take care of themselves and their homes.
To add another layer, I feel that caring for our current resources and possessions — whether that is repairing the hem on a pair of pants, or repairing a drafty window in your home — rather than replacing those things with new purchases is an act of conserving natural resources as much as financial resources. I would love for Matriarchy Build to eventually be able to support people with more education around green building materials, passive climate design, etc.
LS: Our core north star with Matriarchy Build is getting tools into the hands of women. If we can empower more folks to tackle their own projects — whether doing the work themselves or feeling confident engaging with the process — that will be success. I’d love to empower more women to enter the skilled trades. And ultimately create a sustainable business that serves this community.
Finally, what advice do you have for those starting their career? Would your advice be any different for women?
GA: Study what excites you and seek out careers that will allow you to grow, but don’t worry so much about whether a given path is your “forever” career. I’ve come to understand that learning new skills and changing career tracks can happen at any age or career stage. Those moments of shifting course bring with them enormous benefits and opportunities for growth and new possibility. It is scary to leap into the new and unknown, but explore prospects as they arise — you might have a wonderful surprise!
LS: Don’t be afraid of change. Lean into new experiences and evolution. It’s so easy to be comfortable and risk averse but getting outside of your comfort zone, or being pushed to do so, can be so rewarding. For me, it took a global pandemic to really take a big risk. Also, always remember you don’t need to know everything — ask questions, be curious, get help. I remember being younger in my career and thinking I had to know it all — and often the smartest people in the room are the ones asking questions, not afraid to show they didn’t know everything. Stay curious. Keep learning.