Motherhood Identity Series with entrepreneur Kassia Davis
This mom of two is running two companies—and has big aspirations for her career and family's future.
Kassia Davis has always been driven by a desire to carve her own path in the world of fashion and entrepreneurship. As founder, CEO and executive chair of KADA and CEO of P.F. Flyers, she combines her experience in the apparel industry with a passion for building something uniquely her own.
After years at New Balance, Kassia made the decision to step away from the family business and face the challenges of starting her own brand—without the safety net of a global corporation. Since launching KADA and acquiring P.F. Flyers in 2021, Kassia has defied industry odds, embracing the full spectrum of entrepreneurial highs and lows.
Her commitment to creating something new is evident in the rapid success of P.F. Flyers, which saw nearly $4 million in revenue last year and has already surpassed that number in 2024, even before the holiday season. With KADA, Kassia is growing a promising retailer strategy, driving expansion across wholesale channels.
Motherhood has added new layers to Kassia’s journey. Her son Willie, nearly 2, and daughter Poppy, just six months old, were born after she took on the challenge of founding her own brands, making her path even more meaningful.
As part of our Motherhood Identity Series, Kassia shares how her experiences as a mother and business owner have shaped her approach to leadership, resilience, and redefining what’s possible for women in business.
How do you balance being a mother of two and your career?
I try my best to balance it all, but I don’t always succeed. I’m very fortunate to have help at home, and I prioritize having breakfast with Willie, nursing Poppy before I leave for work, and being home for dinner and bedtime. If my work isn’t done, I finish after the kids go to bed—when I’m home and they’re awake, it’s all about being completely present with them.
What advice would you give to a new mother about pursuing a career?
Don’t avoid pursuing your dreams because you’re experiencing mom guilt. Having a life outside of motherhood can help you find a sense of fulfillment and a creative outlet that ultimately makes you a better mom. Patience is key—set goals and strategize a plan to achieve them, taking it one day at a time.
You note that you think fashion needs to better serve the needs of real women. Can you talk about that and how KADA caters to real women?
My goal is for KADA to be a “one stop shop” for the modern multitasking woman. I want her to be able to come to KADA to find all the staples across all silhouettes for her closet. She needs her clothes to be made of versatile, durable, and forgiving fabrics because you can look polished and put together while also feeling comfortable. Fashion plays a crucial role in shaping our perceptions of ourselves, and I want women to feel their best when they’re wearing KADA.
How has motherhood shaped your approach to leadership and running your own businesses?
When I became a mother, it was like everything came into focus for me. I found I wasn't just balancing life as a businesswoman and a mother, but I was intertwining the two; the intuitive leadership I possessed as an entrepreneur was aiding me in my role as a mom and the empathy I was gaining as a mother was furthering my ability as a businesswoman. Balance, I have learned, means that there is a relationship between two things, not that they are mutually exclusive.
How do you champion women in and out of the workplace?
For starters, between both brands I have eight female employees and three male employees. I understand firsthand how important it is to have a work/life balance, so I allow for flexibility in my team members’ schedules. For example, you can leave at 2 p.m. to pick up your kids from the bus stop, if you log on later to finish your work. I will only address this if I start to see a decline in performance.
We set clear personal and professional goals to ensure we stay on track with career development, and I do my best to demonstrate active listening.
I hope my team knows I’m always here for them to talk through any challenges they’re experiencing whether they’re work related or not. Out of the workplace, I support non-profits that help women, like the Big Sister Association, and I hope to expand my involvement in championing and empowering women, specifically working moms, out of the workplace.
You launched your brand during the pandemic, what was that experience like?
There’s never a “good” time to launch a brand, and when you have a pandemic working against you, you have no choice but to roll with the punches. I had so many visions for my brands. I wanted to share my passions with the world, create workplaces that empower women, and create something positive during such a dark time.
When launching KADA, because of supply chain and wholesale partnership challenges, the pandemic forced me to think more about the behind-the-scenes aspects of the business; like what I envisioned as the brand identity, the core values, and everything that really encompassed how the brand would be perceived during such a challenging period of history.
What conversations do you think are missing from the larger discussion around motherhood and work?
Conversations around coping with the emotional demands of juggling motherhood and work. We talk about the obvious challenges of balancing being a mom and being career focused and what it does to our schedules, but at least in my experience, we rarely talk about the emotional toll that “trying to do it all” takes on us.
With my first child I struggled with postpartum anxiety and depression because I felt lost, alone, and like I didn’t have an identity. I was trying to do so much and felt like I was failing at everything. Thankfully, this experience helped me find the tools I needed to be much better equipped to face the same challenges after having my second child.
Do you ever struggle with mom guilt?
Yes—the mom guilt is real, but I do think it’s important that my kids see me follow my passion, work hard and stay true to the identity I had pre-kids. There aren’t many women in positions of leadership in the sneaker industry, and I’m excited at the thought of my kids growing up watching me work hard to be one of those women.
How do you prioritize self-care?
I have to make sure I schedule me-time—whether that’s simply blocking time off on my calendar, scheduling a therapy session or a personal training session. I find that if it’s not scheduled and I’m not held accountable, I rarely do it because motherhood or work take priority.
What’s next for you and your businesses?
Eventually I want to step away from the day to day responsibilities of being a CEO and continue building a portfolio of brands. This will allow for more flexibility in my schedule, and it will allow me to be involved in the parts of my brands that I love: product and marketing. For now I’m focused on my two business babies, but keep an eye out for new launches from me in the coming years.