i first met my friend lisa through our mutual contact, collage artist michael desutter. lisa and mike share a studio space in east williamsburg but i knew mike for a long time before i met lisa. our courtship was quite cute: we stalked each other over instagram for a while, sharing an affinity for all things girl power and when we finally met in person, it was pure magic. lisa is the ultimate lady hustler and her fashion brand, two eggs, well-represents that. lisa runs two eggs totally on her own, teaches and has three other jobs. wowza. and she does it all with impeccable style (she's been known to have an outfit for every occasion), straight class and the sunniest personality. lisa has become my go-to-girl for sharing the highs and lows of doing passion projects and we've even started our own little gathering of other lady hustlers. two eggs also has a blog so the two of us decided to interview each other -- catch my two eggs interview here and use the special discount code CULTUREISLAND for 20% off two eggs products (offer valid til may 12th).

cultureisland: tell us more about you.

lisa pastor: i was born in dallas, texas. i loved growing up there and had the most “normal” childhood in the suburbs. it became clear from a super young age that i was really creative and my parents were really supportive in letting me explore whatever i wanted. i dressed myself from the start and always had opinions about how i wanted to present myself. i loved performing and started dancing when i was two years old. i decided i wanted to be a professional ballerina when i was in elementary school and spent all my time outside of school working towards that goal. performing, acting, playing a part - these are all things that came really naturally to me. the only other thing i was at all into when i was a kid was fashion. i have always seen getting dressed as an opportunity to express yourself. it’s almost like a costume you put on to play a part for the day or the hour. i love that aspect of clothes and style and if you know me, you know that i have a “look” for literally any possible situation i could find myself in.

whenever i had free time, me, my mom, and my sister would always go shopping. we weren’t poor, but we certainly weren’t rich and i learned early that i definitely had expensive taste. my mom took us to all the discount stores, thrift stores, and consignment shops we could handle. it was so much fun grabbing a bunch of random stuff, trying it on, giggling nonstop in the fitting room, and always leaving with bags full of goodies! i think this is where i really developed my keen eye. i’d see a look i liked in a magazine or on tv and i’d scour every store until i found the thing that would get me a similar look at a fraction of the price. and if i absolutely couldn’t find it, i’d make it. i was a really crafty kid and have always made stuff. for example, when those tiffany’s charm bracelet things were really in style, i decide to make my own version with parts and pieces i found in a thrift store. that independent spirit and scrappiness is what i think made me want to become an entrepreneur.

when i was 12, we moved to atlanta and i continued dancing and doing school and thrifting and making stuff. i was dancing a ton at this point, and eventually my body had had enough and i was forced to walk away from my professional ballerina dreams. i was completely devastated and went through a pretty rough depression during this time. luckily my mom saw the silver lining and secretly applied me to colleges online. i got in to the university of georgia and decided to make the most of it. once i got there, i was obsessed with college. it was everything mtv had advertised it as and more. i was in a sorority, i had tons of friends, there were boys (!), and i felt like i was finally getting on track towards a new career i might like.

i graduated with a finance degree and got a dream job working at google in austin. i spent the next year and a half learning how to cold call people, speak tech jargon, and use gmail better than you. google was an incredible place to start a career, but it just felt way too big for me, so i found a small digital agency in nyc that would hire me. i was with them for about a year and a half, doing strategy and sales. i went freelance from there and have been doing that ever since, helping companies with their digital marketing and advertising. it wasn’t until about a year ago that my inner creative fashion-y person started breaking out again, and i decided to start two eggs to really pursue that.

cultureisland: tell us more about two eggs. how did it come about?

lisa pastor: i was on the train one day heading to a meeting with a client when i had a vision of the perfect skirt. it was a tulle tutu skirt in like a light pink/peach/nude color and it had dollar signs embroidered right into the tulle. i actually chuckled out loud when this fanciful vision appeared in my head. it was so ridiculous and yet so chic. i pushed the idea to the back of my mind because i am an adult person and i had a business to run being an important digital marketing consultant. but the skirt wouldn’t go away. it haunted me. i started seeing tulle skirts everywhere, but none of them felt like something i would wear. eventually i bit the bullet and had someone make the skirt for me. the first time i put the skirt on, i felt something amazing - it was like a spark was ignited in my tummy and exploding happiness crystals throughout my whole body. it was incredible and i knew in that moment that if i could find a way to help other people feel this good, i’d have an amazing business on my hands. i started two eggs shortly thereafter and have been making accessories ever since. the name two eggs comes from the two eggs you add when you make boxed cake mix. it’s the only real thing you’re adding to the cake and represents your individuality and real-ness.

cultureisland: what is your process for making a collection?

lisa pastor: i’m a really visual person and i have this insane photographic memory that is always capturing little images of stuff i see. i pull from this large library of images to determine what the trends are and how i can make them my own. outside of just clothes, i also look at bigger macro trends in the media. i like asking questions like: what is everyone talking about? what do people need? what kind of lifestyles are people trying to live right now? once i decide on a theme using these techniques, the ideas just flow out of me. i imagine that it’s a lifetime of using clothes as costume that allows me to really freely brainstorm ideas from a concept. the next step from there is to decide on the color scheme and symbols i want to use. for girl gang, the colors were baby pink and baby blue and the symbols were the dollar sign and the rose. for slow n’ steady, the colors were forest green, burnt orange, black, and white and the symbols were the peace sign and the wave.

cultureisland: what inspires you to create? where do you find inspiration for your pieces?

lisa pastor: i’m inspired by the conversations i have! i am obsessed with talking to random people and will strike up a conversation with literally anyone. as an extrovert, i leave these conversations energized and excited to create, usually having learned something i can use in one of my collections. because we’re still a small business and i’m the only one designing, i’m fortunate to have the flexibility to create on my own design schedule. accessories also don’t need to be seasonal, so most of our stuff is available year-round.

cultureisland: tell us more about the different collections you've created.

lisa pastor: the girl gang collection is about female badassery and the concept that we all get further in life if we support each other. nice girls really do finish first and i’ll be the first to tell you that two eggs would be nothing without the support i’ve received from friends far and wide. i’d been seeing a lot of famous women showcasing their #squads and was inspired by this idea around the time i was launching two eggs. it seemed like a surprisingly novel concept since i’d never really seen famous women openly being like, “hey, go buy my friend’s book!”, or like, “hey! i’m on the cover of this magazine and i’m wearing my friend’s line because i like it and i like her!”. it was really refreshing. i really thought about what pieces a real “girl gang” might be into, and it totally took me back to childhood when me and my friends would coordinate outfits or all buy the same thing to look like a crew. the jackets are an updated version of the pink lady jacket from grease because honestly who didn’t want those growing up? i decided to use vintage jackets because vintage denim is just the best. the idea for the money bag came from a fat stack of bills that you’d get from the bank. the bag sends a message to everyone that you are a badass woman who takes care of herself and doesn’t take no shit from nobody.

the slow n’ steady collection came about when i noticed things like meditation, fitness, moving to california, self-care, and radical transparency gaining popularity. all my friends, especially those that are entrepreneurs, were talking about how they were trying to be more mindful to reduce stress and increase their health and happiness every day. i started thinking about what that kind of lifestyle looks and feels like to me, and i came up with the idea of taking things ‘slow n’ steady’. we really glamourize the “overnight success story” in the media and it breeds super unrealistic expectations for everyone. the best things in life take time, like a lot of time. i hope that the pieces i created for the collection work as reminders that slow n’ steady totally wins the race.

cultureisland: what are your own 'words to live'?

lisa pastor: i have a few! the first is no. i’m working right now on getting better about saying no. i’m such a yes-person and i can sometimes be too agreeable in situations where i should stand my ground. i also constantly having to remind myself that saying ‘no’ to someone else is saying ‘yes’ to you. the second is chill -- i say some version of this a lot every day. mostly, this just means that i don’t get my panties in a bunch over stuff. i’m working right now on letting go of trying to control everything and taking responsibility for me and my own actions only. and last but not least, please. did i say ‘nice girls finish first’, yet? throughout this whole process with two eggs, i’ve had to call in a lot of favors and ask a lot of uncomfortable questions. being grateful and thankful and generous in the ways you can afford go a long way in this world.

cultureisland: how has two eggs evolved since you started? how do you hope it evolves in the future?

lisa pastor: two eggs has evolved a lot from the beginning and continues to change almost every day. originally, i wanted to make and sell tutu skirts. but i realized that would be really hard considering i don’t have access to a factory or any official knowledge of garment production. from there, i started creating these highly conceptual accessories collections and building a community through lifestyle content (i.e. girl gang and slow n’ steady). now i’m transitioning to focus more on the products themselves and really go deep in a few product categories. we got a lot of feedback in the past about how much people liked our content, but weren’t clear on what it was that we sold or made. though that was somewhat intentional in the earliest stages of two eggs, we’re now being more up-front with the fact that yes, this is a business, and we sell cool accessories. i hope we’re building the right foundation now so that two eggs can grow and evolve as the world changes. right now, i love what we’re doing, but we definitely have a lot more to give.

cultureisland: who are some of your favorite designers and artists?

lisa pastor: there are so many, but here are a few highlights of designers i love: sandy liang (if i were to imagine what two eggs clothes would look like if i was an extremely talented designer, this is them), johanna ortiz, rosie assoulin, miuccia prada, elsa schiaparelli, sophia webster, poppy lissiman, rachel antonoff, valfre, etre cecile, julien david, jacquemus, molly goddard, and a bajillion more that i am forgetting. for art, my feed is basically flooded with people using egg imagery in their stuff. i was actually lucky enough to acquire one of the eggs from the christopher chiappa show that was at the kate werble gallery this year. i’m officially an “art collector” now.

cultureisland: what are you listening to right now?

lisa pastor: podcasts and my spotify discover weekly playlist. i love another round, all the manrepeller podcasts, mystery show (come back already!), this american life, everything from gimlet (startup, reply all, sampler, etc.), and modern love.

cultureisland: have you watched anything inspiring lately?

lisa pastor: yes! i’ve been watching the cfda show on amazon and i’m really into it. it’s fascinating to see these designers that you idolize going through exactly the same struggles as you. also, girls is really good this season, and broad city is always good for a laugh. love those ladies. mostly right now, i’m inspired by real life stuff. i have made so many new friends throughout this journey that are doing incredible work that is so inspiring. i love looking to the guys at pintrill or baron von fancy or concrete + water or kurt lyle or kara bags or ban.do for inspiration. if they can do it, so can i!

cultureisland: what are your favorite places to eat, shop and drink coffee in your neighborhood?

lisa pastor: around my neighborhood, east williamsburg, i frequent pokito, diner, dokebi, best pizza andchamps. for shopping: narnia vintage, amarcord vintage, mociun, concrete + water. and for coffee, i go to sweatshop, blind barber bk and freehold.

* check out more of two eggs here // instagram // read my interview on the two eggs blog here *