As soon as Sara and Erin Foster enter into Rakuten‘s pop-up shop in New York City’s Noho neighborhood, they immediately were in awe of their booth, Favorite Daughter. From touching the clothes to gushing over their fabulous corner, you can immediately tell the sisters care immensely about the product — something that was immediately proven during the interview.
At one point, Sara and Erin’s pal Kate Hudson, who was also at the event, as her product INBLOOM was on display, asked if she could borrow something off the racks since her sweater was making her overheat. Immediately, the girls sifted through the apparel to find something the lovely actress could wear. While waiting for Hudson to return, Sara was either nervous it wouldn’t look as good or she wanted to bring her more options. Fortunately, the How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days star pulled off one of their black velvet dresses seamlessly, and the ladies couldn’t have been happier with the results.
“All I can think about is running a company. It’s stressful!” Sara exclusively tells GRAZIA USA. “But we don’t take one second for granted of the opportunity we were given. We are not standard founders — we haven’t been pounding the pavement forever. We were given a really incredible opportunity and we seized it. We have amazing partners, and I don’t think we could have anticipated that people would gravitate towards the brand in the way they have. I don’t think it will ever fully resonate with me, but I am grateful.”
Though the brand is only two years old — the development began pre-pandemic, though revisions were made in 2020 — the two have already “learned so much” from the process. Despite people flocking to their website or their two storefronts in California to buy jeans, dresses, hoodies and more, the siblings still think about every minor detail as they want to get everything just right. “All I can see is the zipper isn’t the way it used to be,” Erin says. “Nobody else probably notices it, but we do. Every time we get a message from someone saying, ‘I ordered these and they’re too short for me,’ we immediately respond to the person and send them something new.”
Sara and Erin, whose father is music producer David Foster and mother is former model Rebecca Dyer, have made a name for themselves over the years — not only has Favorite Daughter put them on the map, but they’re also hilarious and honest on their podcast, “The World’s First Podcast with Erin & Sara Foster,” in addition to having a television development deal with Disney’s 20th Century Fox and working on a Netflix comedy show called Shiksa with Modern Family co-creator Steven Levitan.
Prior to that, Sara and Erin had people in stitches with their VH1 reality show parady series Barely Famous — “At some point we need to revive Barely Famous as aging influencers,” Sara quips — but they’re just thrilled with how far they’ve come.
“We were setting ourselves up for this moment,” Sara notes, while Erin adds, “We were trying to make it in the fields we were in, and we decided to start coming from a place of saying yes. I always always fear-based, and I was like, ‘No, no, no, we can’t do that.’ We’re not qualified to do that, but we were like, ‘We’re going to say yes. We’re going to figure it out later.'”
Of course, there are days where the two don’t upload or share everything they’re going through. “We’re both married, we have work commitments, but every day is different and we never get bored,” Erin says. “It’s one of those things where every part of your life feels like they’re not getting enough of you and that’s always the struggle of anyone balancing everything. We’re always trying to balance, especially as women. There’s so many expectations for us to do everything well — all the time. And we put pressure on ourselves. It’s so great we’re coming across as nailing, but to us, all we see is us failing.”
Well, that’s far from true, but the duo have the opportunity to candid on the podcast, which is an outlet for them to express what they’re going through. “When you’re really open and honest, it does sometimes make people a little bold and they’ll ask us personal questions we might not want to talk about, but you leave yourself vulnerable to that,” Erin says. “I think it’s a balance between keeping things private that are important to stay private, but also knowing that talking about a lot of things we talk about make other people feel better about their journey — and that’s important to us.”
Looking back on how far they’ve come, Sara says, “I was a struggling actress going on audition after audition after audition. Erin was a writer on a Ryan Murphy show. We really didn’t come into power until our 30s — our 20s were horrible! Now I think we’re seeing a lot more people having those conversations, but we’ve always said we did not figure out s**t out until our 30s. Women put pressure on themselves to do everything in their 20s and that’s something Erin and I always try to bring to people’s attention. It’s not like we’re trying to inspire women, we’re just trying to be ourselves.”
“We’re not trying to be gurus of anything. We didn’t go to college. We’re not experts in anything other than trying to be yourself,” Sara continues. “And if that helps somebody else feel better about where they’re at, then that is fantastic. But I think we can’t try too hard at anything — all we can do is live our lives the way we want to and hope that helps somebody else live their life in the best way they can. The number one rule that we always live by is don’t watch what somebody else is doing. We tried to mimic other people in our lives, but that never works. We’re just always trying to be ourselves — and that doesn’t mean you have to be like us. That means be yourself.”
Erin adds, “Don’t get stressed out that somebody else sold their company, don’t be worried someone went to that party — you only need to be accountable for yourself and the people that are in your life.”
As for what’s next, Erin is working on the Netflix show — “It feels exciting to be in such good company,” she says — and the girls will still focus on Favorite Daughter. “The sky is the limit! We’re not international yet, but we’d like to expand with wholesalers too,” Sara gushes.
Additionally, the ladies jumped at the chance to work with Rakuten for the second time. The Hollywood stars were first featured in a Super Bowl commercial with Rakuten, and now the pop-up experience — Rakuten’s “Sleigh Your Shopping,” will be the leading shopping destination that offers Cash Back and rewards — is something they can’t wait for their customers to experience. “We’re really proud that Favorite Daughter is on Rakuten. We try to run our business so that it focuses on customer service and our relationship with the customer, and Rakuten’s the exact same kind of company. It’s all about making sure the customer has the best experience possible.”
Erin adds, “We want longterm partners and to build meaningful relationships with these people, which has been special. It’s nice to keep continuing the relationship with people that are good people but also run a great business.”
Some of Erin and Sara’s favorite products include ILIA Limitless Lash Lengthening Clean Mascara After Midnight, COOLA Organic Sunlass Tan Dry Oil Mist, Tatcha The Kissu Lip Mask in Plum Blossom Jelly Lip Mask, in addition to some of their essential Favorite Daughter items.
The two-day pop-up shop will run from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. EST on Saturday, November 12, and Sunday, November 13, showcasing Rakuten’s breadth of retailers across beauty, fashion, wellness and more. Consumers are able to shop their favorite brands including INBLOOM, JVN Hair, Patrick Ta Beauty, Favorite Daughter, and more, scoring 10% Cash Back in-person at the event as well as an additional 10% directly to their Rakuten account.
Not in New York? Shoppers outside of the city can also earn 10 percent Cash Back from some of the season’s most giftable brands by shopping Rakuten’s online holiday gifting destination, “The Holiday Edit” from November 10 to 13.
