Long time entertainment industry tastemakers, Tasha Boue and Cristen Mills have teamed up to create a new online platform called, Heart of Cool. The site, www.heartofcool.com is a multi-platform outlet the veterans hope will change the way fashion, food, and anything cool is discovered. Tasha Boue worked alongside Academy Award winner, Jamie Foxx, as his creative director and stylist for over 10 years. Cristen Mills worked with Academy Award winner, Common, as his right hand and personal liaison. So the duo know a thing or two about discovering and developing the cool. We talked to the pair about their platform and all things cool. Check out the interview here…
Parlé Mag: Tell us how the two of you met.
Tasha: So a year ago this time, Cristen had a think tank in Miami at Art Basel, and I had just put in my resignation from Jamie Foxx, who I worked for ten years. I was his in-house stylist and creative director. So shortly after I put in my resignation, I was wondering what I was going to do, and I ran into Cristen. I happened to have known her in the business through other people. She mentioned to me that she was going to Miami and she was having a think tank. I was thinking to myself, “I don’t know how I’m going to get to Miami.” Luckily, I ended up in Miami and I went to Cristen’s think tank. The event was superb. There were thought leaders, trailblazers, doctors, lawyers, and a little bit of everyone else in the room, and we were all there just giving these ideas about businesses we thought could be new ventures. From that venture, Cristen and I were supposed to do something in fashion. That was the reason I initially came to her. So by the time we got through with the think tank, we were working on this skateboard accessory company called “Wardrobe” that she had picked up. Cristen brought me in to creative direct that. We went to Art Basel, did an event there, which was phenomenal. While leaving Miami, we were both thinking what’s next. As soon as we got back to Los Angeles, we attend an event, and Cristen was stopped by a girl attending. The girl was freaking out telling Cris, “I know who you are. You’re that blogger.” In my mind I’m like oh no, of all the things she could’ve said, she said blogger. That for us was an eye opener. Were people placing us in the blogger category? It sparked the idea that we are working on now called Heart of Cool. We’ve created this platform for people like us with the concept by creative for creative.
Cristen: We had kind of known each other because we’ve been colleagues. She styled for Jamie Foxx for ten plus years, and I worked for Common for five years. I just transitioned from him a little over a year ago. I met Tasha at a think tank in Miami while I was still working for Common. It consisted of a group of really powerful, young leaders from Wall Street, the entertainment and fashion industries. We all talked about collaborative economics and how people can come together with their ideas. We talked about social entrepreneurialism and this whole idea of doing business and the main objective not being to make money. The objective would be to help and improve the world and the people around you. I think one of the reasons why I became so powerful is because in entertainment, people tend only to look out for themselves, and it’s a very self-loathing environment. Heart of Cool is a fashion, art, and lifestyle movement. Everywhere we went, people would always say, “oh you guys are so cool, are you stylists?” We are defining what cool is and what success looks like. We have been going at this a little over six months. It’s a platform for creativity. I’m a supreme artist advocate. Tasha and I are both Scorpios and we kind of have that Diddy complex, creative but business as well. I feel like we live in a world where a lot of others have a lot of agencies, they have a lot of power. Sometimes they don’t know how to utilize that power because they are still going off the old system and the traditional way of doing things. Whereas others, who are younger and on the new path, are catching on more quickly. We just believe in doing great business and creating amazing art and design and being brand ambassadors. We believe in creating content. There is no limitation on anything we want to do because we serve entertainers, and we are able to use those relationships today. It’s all about leveraging your resources and understanding the acronym TEAM, Together Everyone Achieves More. There is enough abundance and prosperity out here for everyone. This is a movement; it’s a movement of us saying “hey, you don’t have to sell your soul to be successful. You don’t have to s**t on other people. You can build and grow organically.”
Parlé: What made you decide to create Heart of Cool?
Cristen: I tried a few endeavors before Heart of Cool and it is the closest to my heart because I just want to provide a safe environment to make a lot of money, change a lot of lives and not be limited. I wrote an article about Jessica Alba, who has the Honest company, and it tells the story of how she is an actress and the people around, who she thought would support her the most, laughed at her amazing idea. Now, she has created one of the first subscription companies and is making a huge imprint on toxic materials in the market. She is truly changing the game. If I have children in the future, I have an option of my children having healthy products.
Tasha: We created Heart of Cool because of the structure that business is currently in. We come from entertainment, and we know the back end of things. We have seen people cosign on things without having a genuine connection to it. We thought we could create this place and cosign on things we like and other people will like it because we do. I truly genuinely love what we do and want others to like it as well. I think our ultimate goal will be to do global business. We want to take this company to London, Paris, Europe and get the site exposed so people can go there and get true information. This site is not a blog; it is an informative platform. If you’re someone who is conscience and living life, and you are trying to figure out what is the new thing and what’s cool, I think that you will be able to find that all with us. This is a one-stop shop.
Parlé: Why the name Heart of Cool?
Tasha: I created the name. I came up with the name because I was going over market-ready names and as I was doing that, I kid not God sent a message to me and told me it was Heart of Cool. I remember waking up in the middle of the night telling Cristen “what do you think of the name Heart of Cool?” I was so excited. I felt like it was the greatest thing I had ever come up with even though this is what I do. I build companies that build businesses and I help people get their creative desires in order. I had the name and I just wanted Cristen to cosign it. When she did, I knew immediately that was it. The Heart of Cool is difficult to describe. It’s a name that when you hear it, you automatically get the idea. I think that Cris and I are the core of cool. When you think about cool, whether it’s in lifestyle, traveling, food, we are 9 times out of 10 doing them to the highest capacity. I’ve traveled all over the world twice with Jamie, and I’ve been exposed to a lot of amazing things.
Parlé: What gives you ladies the courage to be so bold with your fashion?
Tasha: I think in all honesty there isn’t anything about what we do that we think about. We get up and dress how we feel, and we stay true to that. If you have the courage to come and talk to us, you’ll find out certain things that you probably never thought you would find out. The same courage it takes us to be us is the same courage we are calling out in others so they can be themselves.
Cristen: For me personally, I would say unconditional love. I just dress how I feel; it’s that simple. In this day and age, people are very impressionable. We don’t do things because celebrities are doing them. A lot of celebrities look to us because we are on more of a ground level and their lives are so busy. We don’t do it because it costs a lot of money. We are doing it because we feel it and if we feel it, it must be in alignment with who we are and our souls. Steve Jobs did a speech about fear and how it is the opposite of love. He was questioning why are people fearful. Everyone is eventually going to transition. Everyone has an expiration date. That’s is the biggest fear of a lot of humans, death. If we all know that we are going to transition, what is this fear really all about? Be who you are and have the courage to do so. I think we just kind of get our weirdness, which is something everyone has. You have to get to know your weirdness for yourself and when you do that is when everything falls into place. It’s about having faith and choosing a way to live life every day.
Parlé: What are your last words for readers?
Cristen: Be fearless, be courageous and be love. Don’t be scared to be who you are no matter what it looks like. When you are real and accountable with yourself it leads to greatness. We all are a work in progress and you have to be before you become.
Tasha: I would have to quote Charlie Chaplin, “it takes courage to make a fool of yourself.” Charlie Chaplin was amazing because he just gave you a different look. Sometimes people just need to know that there are multiple ways of doing things. Be foolish. I’m foolish all the time. I do things and questions why I did them, but I know it was done for a reason.
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