Entrepreneurial pivot: When corporate doesn’t fit
Catherine Scott (BS Marketing ’04) and Ashley Walton (BS Supply Chain Management ’04) have a great deal in common — both hail from California, played on ASU’s water polo team, and now live in North Carolina with their families, each with two children — but their reasons for pivoting into business ownership are as varied as the businesses they founded.

Scott is the creator of Honest Hazel, a beauty brand that offers hydrating and firming under-eye gel patches now sold at Anthropologie, Nordstrom, Aillea Beauty, Credo, and local beauty boutiques — as well as on Gwyneth Paltrow’s website, Goop. Online and in-person word-of-mouth has also helped the company garner spotlights on The Today Show and in Glamour, Forbes, and Elle.

It all began, says Scott, after a cross-country move for a corporate job that uprooted her family. Within two weeks of relocating she learned of the company’s pending acquisition, and her position was eliminated just months later. When she was told by HR, “This is just business,” Scott thought, “No, this is not just business — this is my family,” and she vowed to leverage her experience in launching and growing social selling companies to create a different kind of company in 2014 — her own. “I will never say, ‘This is business.’ I will be good to people and for people.” The name Honest Hazel (hazel for her eye color) and the tagline “Beautifully Honest” reflect Scott’s business philosophy.

Walton, on the other hand, was led away from the corporate world by witnessing poor corporate decision-making by an employer. “Sometimes you have to get to that place where it’s not working for you anymore,” says the co-founder and partner of San Diego-based Aptus Court Reporting. “You have to make a change anyway, so why jump into something where someone else has control over your livelihood and business when you can do it yourself?”

That’s precisely what she and her co-founder did with Aptus in 2011. With seven offices in California and a presence in Washington state, Texas, and New York, the company provides court reporters and videographers for law firms and corporations taking depositions. Having previously worked in sales for a court reporting firm, Walton saw that a partnership with the court reporters themselves was missing. “We started to build those relationships.” The result: Satisfied court reporters refer law firms in need of Aptus’ services, including deposition transcription, videography, and equipment rentals.

E is for experience (and entrepreneur)
“I wouldn’t have gotten here without getting experience first,” says Walton of her previous corporate sales — or “hunting” — history. “When you achieve success in sales, you realize that’s where business grows and happens. And once you know you can hunt, you ask yourself, ‘What do I have to be scared of if I start my own business?’” Employment as a recruiter also influenced her relationship-development philosophy with court reporters at Aptus.

Scott applauds on-the-job experience as well. Previous positions working in the jewelry market and as a sales, strategy, and marketing consultant with e-commerce businesses taught her about fulfillment, operations, supply chain, and product imports. “Even so, there was a lot of trial and error for me,” she says of the manufacturing and product formulation process. “But I’ve always been scrappy and willing to do whatever it takes to figure out answers.”

A bright future
In 2020, Scott hopes to grow her product across different regional channels while undergoing a site brand refresh. “My goal always was to build the business big, sell it, and start something else,” she says. “Growing a business is a lot of my passion, and I have other ideas I eventually want to pursue.”

Walton — who’s also a real estate broker managing Oaks Domaine, a short-term rental company in Raleigh, North Carolina, with her husband and parents — says she’s focused on recruiting and building relationships with future court reporters in the East. With so much economic growth in the Research Triangle Area, she sees a great opportunity to help new corporations mitigate their legal spending.

“I feel 100% more satisfaction as a business owner versus as an employee,” says Walton. “It’s like having a baby: You raise it, nourish it, and take care of it, but know that what is coming back is tenfold.”

Even the awareness that failures start at the top with the owner is satisfying, says Scott. “I knew I wanted to be in charge of my destiny, and I can’t believe I ever let someone else dictate my future.”

Walton agrees. “So many people believe in the corporation being the safety zone, but that’s not true. The safety zone is when you believe in yourself.”

Catherine Scott portrait
Catherine Scott
Ashley Walton portrait
Ashley Walton
Catherine Scott portrait
Catherine Scott
Ashley Walton portrait
Ashley Walton