The Secrets of a Nasty Gal

"The first thing I ever sold online was stolen," admits Sophia Amoruso, who in seven years went from having a string of dead-end jobs to CEO of Nasty Gal, the online clothing retailer with an impossibly cool rep and $100 million-plus in revenue. In 2006, while working security at an art school, Amoruso opened an eBay store to sell vintage clothes, after noticing that similar stores were friending girls like her on Myspace. She had an eye for style, photography and thrift stores, and knew she could make cast-off pieces look irresistible by using her cute friends as models.