She Quit Her Coveted Role at ELLE to Launch a Fashion Startup No One Thought Would Work

Kate Davidson Hudson was supposed to climb the career ladder every fashion girl dreamed of. 

Instead, she walked away and built a tech company from scratch.

This week on SUPERWOMEN, I sit down with the founder and CEO of a shoppable AI closet platform, Vêtir, and a longtime force in fashion media and luxury tech. From her early days at Harper’s Bazaar and Elle Magazine to co-founding the content-meets-commerce platform Editorialist, Kate has always been at the intersection of editorial storytelling and digital innovation.

Kate opens up about the pressure of leaving a dream job, learning to lead without a playbook, and why she became obsessed with personalization and automation. We also get into the risks of fundraising, being a woman in tech, and what happens when you sell a company but stay attached to its soul.

Episode Guide:

(00:00) Meet Kate Davidson Hudson, founder and CEO of Vêtir

(02:42) How she broke into magazines at 21

(10:00) Leaving ELLE to launch a fashion startup

(11:52) When she knew Editorialist was working

(15:12) Walking away after selling her company

(17:16) Facing bias as a female founder in tech

(20:30) Why AI needs more diverse perspectives

(22:51) What Vêtir does and how it works

(27:40) Balancing creative instinct with business pressure

(29:40) Hard lessons on hiring friends and co-leading startups