Cynthia Rowley Says Daughters Won't Take Over Her Fashion Brand Because They "Don’t Want to Work as Hard"
Cynthia Rowley is getting candid about the future of her fashion empire.
While the designer is mom to two grown daughters—Kit Keenan, 23, and Gigi Powers, 18—it's unlikely that they'll be taking over her eponymous label any time soon, she recently revealed.
"They don't want to work as hard as I do," Cynthia told The Daily Mail in an interview published March 6. "They're not really interested."
The 54-year-old went on to explain that Kit, whose father is sculptor William Keenan Jr., "is in the fashion world but she's not a designer." Meanwhile, Cynthia said Gigi, who she shares with husband Bill Powers, is "still in high school."
So, what is Cynthia's plan for her widely popular brand then? As she put it, "I'm just going to work until I'm 110 and ride bikes."
Cynthia launched her fashion collection back in the '80s after studying at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Since then, the line has expanded from clothing and accessories to include home decor, eyewear and fragrances.
However, that's not to say Cynthia's daughters aren't carving out their own paths. After dabbling in fashion with her own 2018 line and appearing on Matt James' season of The Bachelor in 2021, Kit has turned her focus to a full-time career in content creation.
"I started sharing my life on Instagram in high school. Then I started sharing recipe content," she recalled of her journey to E! News last month. "I was so scared because I didn't know how my audience was going to react. But I realized I was gaining a different community."
But while she was in college during the COVID-19 pandemic, she got an unexpected offer that changed her path. "I got a DM from one of the casting people for Bachelor," Kit shared. "I decided to take the risk because I thought this is probably the only time I'd be able to pause my life and do something like this. So that was a whole other audience. I've been doing this for so long that naturally, after college, I was like, ‘OK, this is going to be my full-time job.'"
As an influencer working her "dream job," Kit said her schedule is often packed with shoots and events. "You have to create the structure yourself," she explained. "Before 3 p.m., I'm shooting content. And then once it starts getting dark, I'm editing. And then we have events literally every night. "
And even though there are times that Kit admittedly felt "overwhelmed or stressed out," she wouldn't trade her job for another career.
"I can't imagine comparing it to a 9-to-5, because I feel so lucky to have such flexibility," Kit added. "The pros so exponentially outweigh the cons. The cons are the troll comments here and there or when it's cloudy outside and we can't take photos. So, silly in comparison to how happy I am to wake up and realize that this is my job every day."
Sign up for E! Insider! Unlock exclusive content, custom alerts & more!