What does it take to build a new American luxury automotive brand in an industry defined by more than a century of heritage?

Kristie D’Ambrosio-Correll is the co-founder and CEO of Dacora, an American luxury automotive house combining coach-built craftsmanship, deeply personalized design, and AI-native technology. Before Dacora, Kristie served as CTO of Mirror, helping scale the company through its $500 million acquisition by Lululemon. Now, she’s applying those lessons to an entirely different kind of challenge: building a car company from the ground up.

In this episode of If I’m Honest, Julia and Kristie talk about the childhood experiences that sparked her love of building, learning to trust her own creative instincts, and why putting your vision into the world can feel more like risking rejection than risking failure.

Kristie also shares what Mirror taught her about growth and profitability, why Dacora is taking a more patient approach to building a company, what it means to “hustle softer,” and how she thinks about creating a luxury brand without 100 years of heritage behind it. They dig into designing cars for a wider range of people (not just the 95th-percentile male) the role of AI in creating a more human driving experience, and what it’s really like to build a company alongside your spouse.

Most importantly, Kristie offers a different way to think about success: celebrate the milestones along the way, accept that the story will be messier than it looks from the outside, and don’t stop writing it just because things get hard.

Buckle up for an honest conversation about creativity, conviction, partnership, resilience, and building the thing you’d regret never trying.

Learn more about Dacora at https://www.dacora.com and @dacoramotors on Instagram.

 

What does it take to build a new American luxury automotive brand in an industry defined by more than a century of heritage?
Kristie D&rsquo;Ambrosio-Correll is the co-founder and CEO of Dacora, an American luxury automotive house combining coach-built craftsmanship, deeply personalized design, and AI-native technology. Before Dacora, Kristie served as CTO of Mirror, helping scale the company through its $500 million acquisition by Lululemon. Now, she&rsquo;s applying those lessons to an entirely different kind of challenge: building a car company from the ground up.
In this episode of If I&rsquo;m Honest, Julia and Kristie talk about the childhood experiences that sparked her love of building, learning to trust her own creative instincts, and why putting your vision into the world can feel more like risking rejection than risking failure.
Kristie also shares what Mirror taught her about growth and profitability, why Dacora is taking a more patient approach to building a company, what it means to &ldquo;hustle softer,&rdquo; and how she thinks about creating a luxury brand without 100 years of heritage behind it. They dig into designing cars for a wider range of people (not just the 95th-percentile male) the role of AI in creating a more human driving experience, and what it&rsquo;s really like to build a company alongside your spouse.
Most importantly, Kristie offers a different way to think about success: celebrate the milestones along the way, accept that the story will be messier than it looks from the outside, and don&rsquo;t stop writing it just because things get hard.
Buckle up for an honest conversation about creativity, conviction, partnership, resilience, and building the thing you&rsquo;d regret never trying.
Learn more about Dacora at https://www.dacora.com and @dacoramotors on Instagram.
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Honest conversations. Cool people. Real lessons. If I’m Honest with Julia Landauer is a podcast for people who are building, growing, and pushing themselves to the next level. Hosted by champion racecar driver and keynote speaker Julia Landauer, the show features candid conversations about chasing dreams, grit, resilience, and what it really takes to build something meaningful. With a focus on guest conversations and occasional solo episodes, Julia and her guests share stories about ambition, setbacks, confidence, and the habits that help you stay in the race till the checkered flag.


For more about Julia, you can follow her on Instagram and Twitter @julialandauer and check out her website julialandauer.com

 

Honest conversations. Cool people. Real lessons. If I&rsquo;m Honest with Julia Landauer is a podcast for people who are building, growing, and pushing themselves to the next level. Hosted by champion racecar driver and keynote speaker Julia Landauer, the show features candid conversations about chasing dreams, grit, resilience, and what it really takes to build something meaningful. With a focus on guest conversations and occasional solo episodes, Julia and her guests share stories about ambition, setbacks, confidence, and the habits that help you stay in the race till the checkered flag.
 For more about Julia, you can follow her on Instagram and Twitter @julialandauer and check out her website <a href="https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://julialandauer.com__;!!N96JrnIq8IfO5w!nUJcDCLyGS4dm05mIlZPqIGZ6oElE1v7h8HV8uEN9cZow19DFCuORX6_-_jixSoV8HyTBN4yFB0XJX5LkexYCP6sINeL$">julialandauer.com</a>
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If I'm Honest with Julia Landauer

Ep 69: Building a New American Luxury Car Brand with Kristie D’Ambrosio-Correll 

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/346593a0-5773-4f84-9a8a-b4bf0021ac8f/transcript